Nafız, seeking answers to her question, read the other books about orcs too, but to no avail; she couldn't find a record regarding the person she encountered twice inside the dungeons and once while in seclusion in the tent. She read the volume describing the empire's process of collapse over and over again; each time, her hands gripped the cover tighter.
"As if humans are so different. The moment power is lost, don't looting, theft, and all other kinds of banditry begin?"
Nafız finished ten books describing orcs; meanwhile, three days passed. Following the strange events experienced on the first day, no one approached her; even when she went up to the upper floors to research the world in general, those who saw her quickly moved out of her way.
While the energy wrapping her body forcibly threw her out, the happiness of accessing the information she wanted could be read from her face; a few breaths later, when her feet stepped on the grass, Jashua and Lareina were in front of her.
"Sir!"
Nafız, surprised to see the hulking young man, later learned the truth of the matter; Jashua had waited here every evening for five days.
"Let's go!"
Nafız turned her direction to the Garbage House, but Jashua wasn't following her.
"I will drop Lareina off at the Temple and come, sir!"
"Okay!"
Nafız didn't insist, but after taking a few steps, she called out to the girl covering her face with her hair.
"Little one, you are using the gifts left by your mother, right?"
Lareina didn't speak; she wanted to say yes by nodding her head up and down.
"Very good, don't slack off. Soon things will speed up so much that no one will be able to understand what is happening!"
Making a few veiled remarks, Nafız passed through the groves formed by trees bending from the wind and arrived at her residence, the Garbage House. Five people were waiting at the door; these people, who were Jashua's followers, involuntarily took a step back when they saw her.
"You, do you always wait at the door like this? Why don't you come inside; it's not much different from the outside anyway!"
When the red-haired girl spoke, the group tensed up thoroughly and leaned their backs against the house wall; only one of them could open his mouth and speak.
"Sir, Lord Jashua ordered us to wait here!"
"Fine, do whatever the hell you want!"
Opening the broken door and entering inside, Nafız turned her head a step later and looked at the door held by a single hinge. Almost every side of the structure was open, yet it persistently tried to hold on. And no one despised this wish of its, didn't roughly pull and take it from where it was. The door of the Garbage House continued its existence where it wanted to be, despite everything.
Before evening came, Jashua arrived, and they continued the training battle they started in front of the Garbage House with the five people who were his followers inside the valley. Jashua returned before midnight, but his followers continued to hunt; the nights were theirs now.
The Young Count asked for permission and left the Garbage House; although Nafız guessed where he went, she didn't say anything, preferring to let events take their course. After the unusual days passed, life caught its normal flow; calm days chased each other until a full voice echoed over the Holy Blood Sect.
"Blood Valley will open in three days!"
When she heard the voice, Nafız was halfway to the Blood Arena; when she entered the structure extending towards the depths of the earth, she found the inside in commotion. The place where she got the points required to enter the library resembled a witch's cauldron. While a voice came from every head, Nafız found some interesting.
"Blood Valley is opening in three days apparently!"
"So, why did you get so excited? Hasn't quite some time passed since the first year?"
"How can I not get excited? Due to the birthday organized by the Royal Family, this year the Blood Valley will be open to all disciples!"
"What, you mean we can enter for the second time?"
"Yes, luck smiled on us. Last time I came back empty-handed, but this time I will definitely gain something good!"
What Nafız heard while taking a small tour inside the arena did not contradict each other; rules and traditions had been stretched specific to this year.
"Clan Representatives will apparently enter with all their men; let's pray we don't get sent to the same place. Although killing is forbidden inside the sect, Blood Valley is another story. If you don't leave witnesses behind, no one can prove anything!"
The expression on Nafız's sullen face began to change slowly. Her lips were advancing towards her ears by pressing on her cheeks.
"So this was the plan. The reason they allowed us to run wild comfortably was that they were waiting for the trial named Blood Valley to finish our job!"
Muttering while walking, Nafız jumped onto the battlefield in a single move; the noise resembling a beehive ceased instantly, people turned their eyes to her.
"Trembling disciples of the Holy Blood Sect, which of you will accompany me to get points today?"
The silence continued; receiving no answer to her question, Nafız looked first at the betting office, then at the registration officials. After a few dozen breaths passed, she walked slowly, climbed over the low wall surrounding the arena, and threw herself outside; the points that would allow her to enter the library were also accompanying her.
"Bully!"
"Where did the Clan Representatives disappear to; how can they leave the square to this newbie!"
Although the disciples rebelled, they did all of this after Nafız left the structure; instead of going out to the battlefield and confronting her, they adopted such a way. Following the red-haired girl, a few more people left the arena. Their addresses were large mansions, each having different emblems on their doors.
"Sir, the target came to the arena today too. She is currently proceeding to enter the library!"
Although the Third Elder told them not to wander around, the Clan Representatives had assigned spies to watch their enemies. Some of these disappeared around the Garbage House and were never seen again, but six people were not giving up on their goals.
"Three days left, only three days. You will pay the price for what you did to my brother!"
Nafız, leaning her back against the stone wall, sneezed violently; the sound coming out was enough to make the three-story library groan.
"Bless me, I guess someone mentioned me!"
Nafız returned to reading again; for a long time, she had been spending her days understanding the world she lived in better. Although she had two of the items she needed to collect for Sangre's resurrection, the remaining four were scattered among civilizations. The deeper she understood the general order and the workings of the world, the more easily she could reach her goal. Knowledge was perhaps the most important tool on this path.
As for Jashua, he had gotten quite close with Lareina; the lovers, inseparable day and night, spent the large part of the day together. In a room inside the Temple, the girl, who had tied her hair back, threw the powder she took from the container in her hand into her mouth and swallowed it using the dark red liquid in the other bottle.
"Lareina, doesn't swallowing your mother's remains give you pain?"
Jashua had understood what the powder and liquid were a long time ago; although he didn't say anything, he knew Lareina also knew these were her mother's ashes and blood.
"There is nothing else I can do. If my mother left these behind, surely there is a logical reason!"
Against the young girl's fortitude, Jashua remained silent; the Young Count, who adopted violence to express himself, was experiencing another method.
When evening came, the five in front of the Garbage House entered through the broken door and left themselves into the cool arms of the valley; right behind them was the young man they called Count Jashua. This routine repeated every day was to improve their teamwork; the struggle they put up against wild creature packs carried them forward with each passing day.