The Author's POV

Ci Clank—!

Closing the door behind him, Kevin got out of his apartment. Taking a deep breath, he stared at the scenery before him with lethargic eyes.

Closing his eyes for a brief moment of time, he soon opened them again and proceeded to head down.

"There you are, Kevin."

Waiting for him below was Emma who waved her hand in his direction.

Kevin's feet came to a pause. Staring at Emma who was waiting for him from below, Kevin's unfocused eyes became a little bit more focused.

'Emma...she's alive.'

Faint fragments of the vision replayed in his mind as he stared at her. Each time recollection resulted in a stinging sensation inside of his heart.

Smiling weakly, he nodded his head and greeted her back.

"Yeah...I'm here."

His voice was rather weak, but it was loud enough for Emma to hear. Of course, Emma was able to notice that something was wrong as her brows knit together.

"What is up with you? Are you okay?"

"...I'm good."

Kevin gave a short reply. Then, placing his hand on the handrail, he walked down the stairs of the building.

Not convinced by Kevin's words, Emma leaned forward. A worried look flashed across her face.

"…You don't seem to be okay? Should we have you checked?"

"I'm really fine."

Kevin raised his head and met Emma's eyes. They stared off for a good minute before Emma eventually relented.

"Alright, if you say so."

Staring into the distance, she flipped her hat backward.

"Let's go then. The others are probably already waiting for us."

Rummaging through her pockets, Emma took out a pack of gums. Taking one of the gums she placed it in her mouth and started chewing.

"Munch…munch…want one?"

Extending her hand, she offered one to Kevin. Raising his hand, Kevin politely refused.

"No thank you."

"Munch…munch…suit yourself."

Putting the pack of gums away, Emma blew a bubble gum and proceeded to head towards the center of the Issanor.

Pop—

"Ukeh!"

But just as she took two steps, her bubble burst apart and the gum splattered all over her face.

***

Today was the day of the conference tournament.

As the sun slowly rose from the horizon the atmosphere in Issanor became extremely lively and filled with excitement.

This was the event that everyone was eagerly awaiting.

Not just for the prizes, but for its meaning as well. It was the event that decided the fate of the alliance between the three races.

When I arrived at the main tournament square, the place was already boiling with noise.

other, numerous dwarves, elves, orcs, and humans

fairly relaxed, every human wore an expression of nervousness and excitement. This was understandable however as the tournament held a lot more meaning

they are already

distance, I caught a glimpse

without a doubt the center of attention. They looked like famous celebrities surrounded by a bunch of fans, all

not only were they extremely good-looking, but their talents and achievements at their age made them

a doubt, they were

on my lips as I witnessed

just

scene was quite familiar as I had seen it

fact that they had all grown up and were entirely different people from the past, their shine never disappeared. In fact, they shone more brilliantly

are

away from them, I glanced around the crowd and looked for Waylan and

didn't want to skip my training session I

being slow at changing

'I see them.'

corner of the human section I caught a glimpse of a familiar figure. It was Douglas. Behind him were

currently not

they didn't need to. The only ones that had to hide his identity were Waylan and me. The others not so much. I was quite thankful for this. It made the search

my clothes, I headed

"You're finally here."

who had

training session was a lot

fine. We're not in a

the

the others. Apart from Leopold, Smallsnake, and Ryan who weren't planning on participating, Ava and Hein had nervous looks on their

was quite funny to me as not too long ago they were brimming with confidence. But as they stared at the people around them,

a lot of talented

included me as

aiming for

was the item that only the winner could get and with it, I would have no trouble breaking through to rank in half of

"…hm?"

thought, raising my head, I suddenly noticed Melissa and the others heading in my direction. I deeply

is definitely

hated attention, and she was definitely coming to me

the three of them stopped right in front of me. As they

I asked

doing this to

didn't hide the displeasure in my voice as I tried to

"…Doing what?"

ignorance and pretended to not have understood the implications behind

"Here."

a set of cards. Lifting her head, she nudged her head in the

don't think you will need it,

obviously referring to Hein

take you up

took the cards from her. Then, turning around, I handed them to Hein

I spent the next couple of minutes explaining to them how the cards worked. Once I was done, the both of them looked at Melissa with grateful looks on

head sideways, and staring behind Melissa and

way, have you guys seen

the

Or maybe I was just overthinking things? Could just be that he was hanging out with

"They're over there."

cue, just as I was wondering about Kevin's whereabouts, Amanda suddenly spoke as she

"Where?"

"There."

in the direction of where she pointed, but my vision wasn't as

it didn't take long for me to finally see

"Oh, I see them."

Kevin's head hung low. Emma looked like her usual self, but Kevin looked a bit different than usual.

he sick or

and his overall complexion looked extremely pale. The current Kevin looked to

was looking at Kevin in the distance, seemingly having noticed my stare, Kevin raised his head

"…hm?"