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 alike gathered in groups as they chatted with

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

they are already

a

attention. They looked like famous celebrities

were they extremely good-looking, but their talents and

a doubt, they were the future pillars of

my lips as I witnessed this

things just

quite familiar as I had seen

that they had all grown up and were entirely different people from the past,

are the

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

but since I didn't want to skip my training session I decided to just go by myself. Amanda was also training with

stereotype of girls being slow at changing was just

'I see them.'

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

everyone was currently not wearing

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

my clothes, I headed in their

"You're finally here."

I was immediately greeted by Douglas who had a calm smile

my training session was a lot longer

fine. We're not in a

with the

from Leopold, Smallsnake,

too long ago they were brimming with confidence. But as they stared

After all, there were a lot

me as

was also aiming for

costs. It was the item that only the winner could get and with it, I would have no trouble breaking through to

"…hm?"

in thought, raising my head, I suddenly noticed Melissa and the

is definitely Melissa's

to me knowing

stopped right in front of me. As they stopped, I suddenly felt hundreds of eyes directed in my

rolling my eyes, I

doing

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

"…Doing what?"

Melissa feigned ignorance and pretended to not have understood the

"Here."

set of cards. Lifting her head,

you will need it, I believe that your friends might

referring

I'll take you up on

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

them against John not too long ago, but Ava didn't so I spent the next couple of minutes explaining

sideways, and staring behind Melissa and the

guys seen Kevin by

the type to be

just overthinking things? Could just be that he

"They're over there."

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

"Where?"

"There."

my vision wasn't as good as hers so it took me a while to spot

take long for me to finally see

"Oh, I see them."

Emma next to him, Kevin's head hung low. Emma looked like her usual self, but Kevin looked a bit different than usual. There was

he sick or

aura weird, but his hair was disheveled and his overall complexion looked

distance, seemingly having noticed

"…hm?"