Dark clouds painted the sky, illuminated by magnificent arcs of golden lightning. A flash lit up a room where a little girl was tightly clutching her toy hammer.
Her teeth gritted. Her fingers sank into the plush fabric. Her eyes stared at the brass knob of the door just an arm's reach away, the source of a quarrel so loud it suppressed even the rolling thunder.
"I'm leaving! And I will never return here ever again! You couldn't give me the life that I wanted!" a woman's voice shrieked. "I was promised a life in the capital! Not this pathetic little village!"
The girl's heart jumped as she took a trembling step back.
"Then leave!" a man's voice roared back. "Leave and don't turn back! I will raise Anthierin on my own!"
"Good! Because I don't want to have anything to do with that child!" the woman shouted.
M-Mama...? The little girl reached out for the handle and pressed it down, but it wouldn't unlock.
"Mama..." warm, heavy tears built up at the corners of her eyes. "Mama!" she shouted, tears sliding down her puffy cheeks. "Mama! Mama! Mama!" she cried, frantically pressing the handle up and down.
Click.
The door opened, but it was her father standing there.
"Mama, where?" Anthierin asked softly.
The man knelt down and pulled her tightly into his embrace.
"Mama..." She saw a silhouette disappearing through the open front door of the house. Her little hand reached out into the empty air. "Mama!!"
But her voice wasn't big enough to compete against the storm.
Anthierin's eyes snapped open. Her arms were raised, as if trying to embrace a ghost from the ceiling.
She gulped, slowly lowering her arms to her sides as her brows furrowed in confusion. She looked around. The room wasn't hers, but it felt familiar.
"This is..."
"Your uncle's room," a familiar voice drifted into her ears as a massive figure stepped into view.
Lexel, already wearing his usual garments, stood fully clothed. He smirked, casually leaning against the wooden doorframe.
"But the last time we... we... WAIT, WE...!" Her eyes widened in absolute horror.
Lexel nodded. "All the way." "All the way...?" "All the way." Lexel gestured with his hand, making a sweeping, deeply suggestive motion.
Her face instantaneously burned a violent shade of red. She practically ripped the blanket up to her neck.
"What are you covering up for? I've seen it all already," Lexel chuckled.
"EVEN SO!" she snapped. "I... I—" "Hahaha, relax. You're already clothed," Lexel said, turning away to leave the room.
"What?" She looked down under the covers, and he was right. She was fully clothed in her usual attire, missing only a few details like her heavy utility belt. "How in the... Hmm!" She forcefully pushed the blanket aside and swung her legs off the bed.
"Ah!" A sharp jolt shot up her spine. She immediately limped to one side, desperately grabbing the stone wall for support. "W-Wha—"
She turned even redder. She knew exactly what was going on; there was absolutely no need to consult a healer or a cleric for this specific soreness. Damn it!
She hobbled out to the living room, where Lexel was already waiting for her.
"L-Listen Lexel, we need to talk about us..." "Yeah? What is it?" Lexel asked lazily. "We... wait."
Anthierin stopped dead in her tracks. The living room had been completely ransacked. Not a single piece of furniture was spared; every chair was splintered, every table overturned. Every cabinet had been forcefully yanked open, their broken hinges groaning in the draft.
Her brows shot up. "Did... Where is Uncle Daren?"
"He's fine, probably," Lexel said, holding up a torn parchment envelope.
Anthierin quickly snatched it from his hands, her eyes frantically tracing the hurried handwriting line by line. Her chest heaved with a heavy sigh of relief.
"Looks like he managed to leave before... whatever this is happened," Anthierin muttered. "Damn that ruthless Baron! He already paid his debt!"
"I don't think it was the Baron," Lexel noted, tapping his nose. "The smell of scorched wood still lingers in the air. Whoever came here... I think it was much more personal."
"Are you... serious? Who could have done this—" "Rin, what exactly is Kain to you?" Lexel interrupted, his golden eyes narrowing slightly.
Anthierin was caught completely off guard by the question. She looked away, letting out a heavy, bitter sigh. "The past."
"I need more than 'the past'," Lexel pushed. "I heard a rumor that you once had a fiancé."
Anthierin silently nodded.
"Oh... I see. Kain was... got it." Lexel nodded in understanding. He slowly closed the distance between them.
He stepped directly into her personal space. His massive shadow loomed entirely over her.
"L-Lexel?" "We had sex, Rin," Lexel stated bluntly.
Please don't say it so casually! she screamed internally. She forced a stiff nod. "But Lexel, it was an accident."
"Maybe," Lexel shrugged his broad shoulders. "I did get poisoned."
"Exactly! You were there, I was there, the aphrodisiac was there, and things just led to one another," Anthierin rationalized quickly, waving her hands. "Listen, it was just a one-time thing... so—"
"Too late," Lexel smirked, effortlessly catching her wrist mid-wave. "From now on, you're my woman."
"W-What?! You can't just declare that—" "I just did," Lexel stated like absolute law. "So that means it definitely won't be a one-time 'thing'. Also, you won't be alone. I will build a harem."
"A HAREM?!" Anthierin's red, flustered face instantly twisted into volcanic fury. "The FUCK do you mean, a HAREM?!"
"It means I will eventually have other women as my wives as well, exactly like my dad," Lexel explained casually, entirely missing her murderous tone. "It's really not that hard to understand."
"That is not... Ugh! We are absolutely not having this conversation right now!" Anthierin yanked her wrist free and stomped past him toward the ruined doorway.
"Where are you going?" Lexel called out.
"To the potion seller, the merchants, the black market—wherever! I refuse to get pregnant after my first ever... c-copulating!"
That sounds way more feral than just saying 'sex', Lexel thought, amused.
He flashed a brilliant, victorious smirk. "Wait for me, wife!" Lexel cheerfully called out, strolling out the door right behind her.
—
The bell above the heavy wooden door chimed.
Anthierin marched into the dimly lit alchemy shop, the pungent smell of dried herbs and bubbling sulfur doing absolutely nothing to mask the furious blush still painting her cheeks. She walked straight up to the wooden counter, her boots thudding aggressively against the floorboards.
Lexel ducked his head to clear the doorframe, his mind entirely elsewhere. As he stepped into the cramped shop, his golden eyes were distant, meticulously replaying the scene at Daren's ransacked house. The splintered wood. The missing stock of premium weapons and armor. Most importantly, the lingering, bitter scent of scorched ozone. It wasn't the Baron's men looking to collect a debt; they would have just taken the gold and left the furniture intact. It was a destructive tantrum. It was Kain.
"Welcome," the elderly clerk said, adjusting his spectacles. "How can I—"
"I need a potion," Anthierin interrupted, slamming her palms flat on the counter. She leaned in close, dropping her voice to a harsh, deeply embarrassed whisper. "A preventative tonic. For the morning after. The strongest one you brew."
The clerk blinked. His eyes darted from her fiercely flushed face to the massive, heavily muscled man standing right behind her.
The old man's jaw practically hit the floor. His hands began to tremble. "Y-You... By the Gods, you're him! The new Champion! The man who cleared the Battle Royale and bankrupted the arena!"
Lexel snapped out of his thoughts. He offered the clerk a lazy, acknowledging smirk. "Word travels fast."
"Fast? It's the only thing anyone in Einjaar is talking about!" The clerk quickly retrieved a small, sealed glass vial from a locked drawer and slid it across the counter to Anthierin, though his wide eyes never left Lexel. "Especially since... well, since the former Champion left."
Lexel's smirk vanished.
The air in the cramped alchemy shop suddenly felt incredibly heavy. Lexel took a slow, deliberate step forward, resting his massive hands on the wooden counter. His golden eyes narrowed into sharp, predatory daggers that instantly pinned the clerk in place.
"Left?" Lexel asked, his voice dropping an entire octave. "What do you mean, left?"
The clerk swallowed hard, sweating profusely under the sheer, suffocating pressure radiating from the young man. "T-The city gates, sir. The guards were whispering about it this morning. Kain and Lady Mera... the Baron's daughter... they packed a royal carriage before dawn. They completely fled Einjaar."
Anthierin's hand froze over the glass vial. He ran away. Again.
"Where did they go?" Lexel demanded, his tone leaving absolutely zero room for hesitation.
"To the east, sir!" the clerk squeaked, shrinking back against his potion shelves. "To the territory of the Marquess! The city of Lanjaar!"
But the mention of other cities sparked a sudden, far more important thought in Lexel's mind. His actual quest.
The heavy, terrifying pressure in the room vanished as quickly as it had appeared. Lexel leaned back, his expression returning to a calm, serious neutral.
"While we're on the subject of travelers," Lexel said, his golden eyes scanning the clerk. "Have you seen two young men pass through here recently? They're foreigners. One is a wandering swordsman with a very sharp mouth, and the other is an archer who knows his way around alchemy."
The clerk let out a shaky breath, clearly relieved the interrogation was over. He adjusted his spectacles and thought for a moment before slowly shaking his head.
"No, Champion," the clerk replied apologetically. "I see many adventurers buy potions and herbs here, but no duo matching that description has passed through my doors."
Lexel let out a quiet sigh. Still no sign of Seleron and Myda.
The bell above the heavy wooden door chimed as they stepped back out into the cool morning air.
Anthierin didn't even wait to clear the alleyway. She uncorked the small glass vial, tipped her head back, and downed the bitter alchemical preventative in a single, grimacing gulp. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, tossing the empty vial into a nearby barrel.
As they walked toward the center of Einjaar, a low, murmuring hum echoed through the streets.
They turned the corner into the grand town square and stopped. A massive crowd of commoners, merchants, and off-duty guards had gathered around the central stone fountain. At the top of the fountain's steps stood an official representative of the Baron, dressed in fine silk and holding a golden scroll.
"Citizens of Einjaar!" the representative called out, his voice magically amplified to reach the edges of the square. "It is with a heavy heart that the Baron delivers this tragic news! The victor of yesterday's Battle Royale, the wandering warrior known as Lexel, has met a sudden and terrible fate!"
Anthierin's eyes widened in sheer, unadulterated shock. She looked from the speaker to the very much alive man standing right next to her.
"The cause of death was a tragic, unavoidable accident late last night in the guest wing of the estate," the representative continued, putting on a flawless mask of false grief. "As he left no next of kin, his winnings shall be returned to the city's treasury to honor his memory!"
Lexel's brows furrowed deeply. A second later, a dark, incredibly dangerous smirk of pure trouble spread across his face.
Lexel cracked his knuckles and stepped right into the dense crowd.
"Excuse me," Lexel called out cheerfully, aggressively shoving his broad shoulders between two burly merchants. "Pardon me! Ghost coming through!"
The merchants turned to yell at him, but the words died instantly in their throats. Gasps rippled through the square like a falling row of dominoes as the crowd violently parted, terrified citizens scrambling backward to clear a wide path to the fountain.
The Baron's representative paused his rehearsed speech, annoyed by the sudden commotion. He looked down at the crowd.
His eyes locked onto Lexel's towering, heavily muscled figure casually strolling up the steps.
The representative's face drained of all color, turning a sickly, ghostly white. He let out a pathetic squeak, taking a frantic step backward. His polished leather shoe caught the wet stone lip of the fountain, and he tripped, flailing backward toward the water.
He never made a splash.
Lexel's hand shot out like a striking viper. He grabbed the official directly by the throat, his massive fingers wrapping entirely around the man's neck.
With absolute, terrifying physical strength, Lexel lifted the grown man off the ground with one arm, holding him suspended over the fountain's edge like a plucked chicken.
The representative's hands clawed desperately at Lexel's iron grip, his legs kicking uselessly in the air as he violently struggled for breath.
"An accident, huh?" Lexel asked, his voice a low, rumbling growl that carried across the dead-silent square. "You know... for a corpse, I'm feeling pretty lively today."