"Colosseum? Well, I needed the money right away, so... I found out you can fight fights there and make good money." Zero muttered while eating a red apple, "I didn't know it would go this far, but I actually even liked it. I got a lot stronger there."

'Money...?' Wain inwardly muttered, 'That's right, I still haven't looked at what happened to my Rating after fight...'

Whoooooosh.

[Name: ??? (Nameless)

Chronicle: Fourth

Rating: 36

Money: 44.7 M]

'Holy shit!' Wain exclaimed to himself as his eyes went wide.

"What happened?" Zero asked with a confused look as she tilted her head.

"My Rating is 36! And I got a hell of a lot of money for the last fight!" Wain uttered with a dazed look, slapped his palms on the table, and said, "Check that too!"

Zero nodded, opened her status, and the apple fell from her hands to the ground as it rolled down the slope.

"How is that possible...?" Zero muttered while in disbelief, "My Rating, got higher too... We both won...? No, you definitely won, but then what's going on?"

"Huh, looks like the Colosseum decided we both deserve it. Great, that way, I'll be in the Top 10 soon!" Wain exclaimed as he clenched his hand into a fist.

"Hmm? You need to get into the Top 10?" Zero asked.

"Yeah. I need that for one thing. What about you?" Wain asked with a curious look.

"Well, I want to do that too. When I got popular, I heard a lot of people discussing my possible fight with someone from the Top 10. So I want to see if I can beat some of them since no one believed I could win." Zero said in a serious voice.

"Fine. I'll be watching you. I hope one day you'll be Top-1." Wain smiled as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Hmm?" Zero rested her head on her hand in a thoughtful manner, "Don't you have the same goal? I'm sure you'd like to be the strongest in the Colosseum."

Wain shook his head, "No, that doesn't make sense. What's the point of being Top-1 at Colosseum if I aspire to reach the Fifth Chronicle?"

Zero didn't answer anything. She nodded silently, took another apple, and took a bite out of it while staring intently at Wain as if she was thinking about something.

"By the way, Zero, you went on a trip, right? I mean, besides Teresa, you're the only one I've met from Last Light outside of our territories." Wain said as he shook his hand.

"I just got bored." Zero shrugged, "Last Light has become too quiet, I even missed the times when Gisle was constantly handing out instructions as though they were endless, so I went west and reached Dermin."

"Oh, you've been to Dermin, too?" Wain asked with a curious look.

"Sure. Don't you know we have a branch there now? I used to vacation there when I came back from a long trip." Zero asked while holding her hands behind her head in a relaxed manner.

"Hmmm...? Last Light is already in Dermin?" Wain uttered with a dazed look, then a sly smile appeared on his face, "Is it by any chance in the eastern part of town, near the Green Cats Guild?"

"Yeah... You're absolutely right... but how do you know about that?" Zero asked with a confused look.

Wain smirked, tossed an apple, and said, "Because I'm the one who set it all up. I needed a blacksmith, so Teresa, along with one of the heads of the Green Cats, headed to Last Light. Apparently, Gisle was able to negotiate with them."

"Huh, sure. If Gisle wants, he can convince even the Devil to work for himself, though he's still trying to hide how big we've become." Zero said as a confident smile appeared on her face.

...

For the next hour, Wain and Zero enjoyed sweet fruit and sour wine while talking about their fascinating travels.

All the while, someone was watching them from afar, but they didn't notice it as no hostile aura emanated from the creature.

"These two are talking so nicely, you don't even want to distract them, they look so much like each other... Two lonely warriors." Someone in a gray mantle muttered while looking at Wain and Zero through the eyes of a small bone beast that sat on a branch in the forest, "But... This is absolutely the wrong time for this!"

Sarras, with an angry look, threw the crystal ball to the floor as it shattered into small bits.

"Why the fuck are we sitting here watching them?! We actually have more important things to do!" Sarras shouted as he turned to Elegan, who was sitting not far away from him on a flat rock.

"Hey, calm down. Can't we let them talk in peace?" Elegan shrugged with an awkward look.

"Argh!" Sarras clenched his hand into a fist, turned toward the darkness, and shouted, "You too! Enough with the silence! Say something already!"

Whoooooooosh.

The stream of darkness dissipated as Frigus emerged from it with a calm look.

"So you noticed me, right?"

"Of course! I can see everything! This is, after all, my territory!" Sarras shouted as he spread his arms out to his sides.

"Well, I trust Elegan. I don't think it's worth distracting Wain, a few more hours won't solve anything. You must be patient." Frigus uttered in a confident manner.

Sarras frowned, looked at Elegan, then at Frigus, and headed into the woods.

"To hell with it! I'll tell him myself! I can't take it anymore! They can talk some other time!" Sarras shouted while pacing forward in a menacing manner, "Shit! I always have to do everything myself!"

Step. Step. Step.

In the bright sunlight, a skeleton in a mantle with clenched fists approached the wooden table in the center of the forest.

"Wain!" Sarras exclaimed as he struck the table, which knocked some of the fruit to the ground.

"Sarras...? What the hell are you doing here?"

"We're in big trouble! All because of that new territory!"historical