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He sat in place, unmoving, as Lillia headed over to a nearby table to snag a chair for herself. She brought it back over and set it up beside Arwin before sitting down.

“Would you mind telling us a little about your Guild?” Rodrick asked, leaning forward with a slight glint in his eye that the darkness never could have hoped to conceal. “We’ve been very caught up in recent times. Lots of work, expansion, you know the deal.”

“Our guild?” Elias sounded surprised at the question for some reason. “Of course. We were ranked 380 before the previous Proving Grounds.”

“Before the previous competition?” Rodrick tilted his head to the side. “And what about now?”

Elias hesitated for a long second. Then his shoulders slumped. “500.”

Arwin almost choked on his own saliva.

Holy shit. They’re literally the lowest ranked guild. I suppose we don’t really have much room to complain considering the Menagerie is at 499, but still… what’s up with that, Selen? Why would you intentionally set us up with the worst ranked guild?

A flicker of embarrassment passed through Arwin an instant after the thought. Looking down on a guild’s ranks was something he’d expect some random asshole adventurer to pull off. He was more than confident the Menagerie would be able to hold their own against many of the supposedly stronger guilds. The same could be true for Phoenix Circle. There was no point coming to conclusions without information.

“I see,” Rodrick said. He interlaced his fingers. “But, if I’m honest, I don’t think we’re particularly bothered with your rank. We’re more interested in who you are.”

“I’m sorry?” Elias asked, his gaze shooting up to meet Rodrick’s. The man’s entire body tensed in an instant. “I don’t understand.”

He’s defensive. Really defensive. Makes sense for a monster… but reacting that badly isn’t a good sign. Has Elias never been questioned as to his identity before? You’d think a monster faking their identity would have more practice at it.

“You’ve given us a number,” Rodrick said, continuing his questioning while Arwin was lost in his thoughts. “But your rank isn’t who you are. It’s just a number that the Secret Eye gave you. I don’t care about that. I want to know about you. Your guild. What does Phoenix Circle stand for? What goals do you have?”

Elias blinked heavily. He glanced to Maeve, then back to Rodrick. It was evident that he hadn’t been expecting this line of questioning.

“Uh… we just want to get rich,” Elias said, squirming in his chair. “We really want to get rich.”

I don’t even need Rodrick to tell me that he’s lying. It’s so obvious it’s almost painful.

“Starting a relationship on bullshit is generally less than ideal,” Lillia said quietly. “We have a passing interest in this tournament, but not enough to ally ourselves with someone we can’t trust. If you want to work together, then you’ll speak the truth. What does your guild stand for?”

Elias winced and wrung his hands together. Maeve turned to send a pointed look in his direction. He faltered under it, sinking lower into his chair, and let out a small sigh.

“It’s just… very embarrassing.”

“Embarrassing enough to lay all your cards down and walk after telling us how badly you wanted to get into the tournament?” Rodrick asked, arching an eyebrow.

“No,” Elias replied. He straightened back in his chair and adjusted the bandages on his neck. “No. Not at all. I don’t want that. The reason we need to win this tournament so badly is because I have a… condition.”

“A condition?” Arwin asked. “What does that have to do with winning a tournament?”

“The Secret Eye will grant a request from the winners for information,” Elias said. “I’m looking for a specific plant. This plant is what I need to cure my condition. It’s incredibly rare, and the location it grows is almost impossible to find. I’m certain that the Secret Eye knows where it is, though. If we win, they’ll tell us where it is.”

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

That was possibly the worst way he could have worded that. It’s so obvious that he’s trying to hide the name of the plant, which only makes me want to ask why he wants it even more. Is it a plant that lets him keep his human form or something like that?

“I see,” Rodrick said, his voice sharpening. “That’s it? Your whole guild is entering a tournament just so you can ask this one question?”

Arwin glanced at Rodrick out of the corners of his eyes. The former paladin had worded his question quite aggressively to make it sound like they disapproved of the idea of spending a bunch of resources just to help a single person.

Rodrick is trying to see if they bend and give a different reason when we show disapproval for being kind. That’s a good way to weed out if they’re actually telling us the truth or if they’re just trying to look nice.

He’s kind of scary.

“Yes,” Elias said, his tone unwavering. “I know that’s not a very impressive reason, but this is the only chance I have left. I have to get the Secret Eye’s help. This won’t impact you at all. If we can win, your guild will get the same rewards we do.”

“And your entire guild is willing to back you up on that? They’re all going to put the effort into fighting through a whole tournament to get that question answered.”

Elias nodded firmly. “Yes. I love my guild dearly for it. There’s been a lot spent to keep me here. I hope to be able to repay that debt one day in the future.”

Rodrick’s expression relaxed and a smile pulled across his lips. “Good on you, then. We can respect that a lot more than just greed. There are better ways to get money than something like this.”

“Agreed,” Arwin said. “You should have led with that. But from what you’ve said… neither of you are the Guild Leader of Phoenix Circle.”

“We are not,” Elias confirmed. His shoulders tensed, predicting Arwin’s next question before it could even leave his lips.

“Is there a reason that your leader isn’t here?”

“He’s… missing,” Elias said. “He has been for about a year. He can’t participate this year. I know that makes our squad a lot weaker, but we can push through if we just practice enough. I’ve heard stories about your equipment as well. With that—”

“Hold on,” Lillia said. “Missing? How so?”

Maeve elbowed Elias in the side. The bandaged man grimaced, then slumped.

“He went out to a dungeon and didn’t return — but his body wasn’t found! He can’t be dead. I refuse to believe he could have died so easily.”

“But he’s believed to be dead,” Rodrick finished.

“Yes. I don’t believe it for a second, but I can’t go looking for him. Not yet. As soon as we win the tournament, I’ll find him. He must have gotten trapped somewhere, or…” The bandaged man trailed off, then cleared his throat and shook his head. “Sorry. I’m going off topic. This is our guild’s problem, not yours. As I said, I promise it won’t affect our prowess. We’ll find a replacement for the duration of the tournament.”

“You’ll find a replacement?” Lillia asked. “I could be reading into your words too much, but don’t you already have one? Just use a different member from your guild.”

Elias flinched. Even though Arwin couldn’t see his features at all, the man was doing a remarkable impression of a child caught with their hand in a cookie jar after midnight. His shoulders slumped for what must have been the third time that night.

“There’s nobody else in our guild.”

“What?” Reya asked, blinking in surprise. “It’s just the two of you?”

“The three of us,” Elias corrected immediately. He caught himself and cleared his throat into a fist. “But… yes. It’s just me and Maeve. The two of us are very used to fighting together. We’re competent, I swear. We only performed so poorly during the last tournament because the two of us tried to fight on our own and we ran into the Starforge guild in the first round and couldn’t afford proper healing — but we almost won that fight! They ended up getting 2nd place in the whole tournament. We would have gotten much higher if that hadn’t happened.”

He thinks they would have performed well, even with just two people? The Secret Eye isn’t going to be bringing in pushovers. Every single guild there is going to be talented. So either Elias is bullshitting about how strong he and his sister are, or they’re actually quite talented. That will only come by seeing how they can fight, but the thing I’m really interested in is who they are as people… or monsters, I suppose.

Lillia had the same idea. She caught Arwin’s eye and gave him a slight nod. It seemed that it was time to start pulling down a few curtains.

“Let’s forget that for a moment,” Lillia said, leaning forward and bracing her arms against the table. “You came recommended by the Secret Eye. I’ll assume that you can hold your own in a fight. I want to know about you.”

“Me?” Elias asked, blinking. He pulled away from her, as if trying to slide out of his chair. “What about me? I’m a warrior. My name is Elias. I’m pretty fast. That’s pretty much it.”

Maeve elbowed him in the side. Elias coughed, and she crossed her arms in front of her chest, glaring at him.

“It doesn’t seem she agrees,” Lillia observed.

“My sister just enjoys prodding me,” Elias replied crossly. “I’m nothing special. Just—”

Maeve elbowed him again.

“Goddamn it,” Elias wheezed. “Okay. I’m pretty good at stabbing things. I don’t really like talking about my abilities. It’s embarrassing. I swear I can hold my own. If you need, I can spar against one of you—”

Another elbow drove into his side and Elias let out a sputter of pain.

He spun to Maeve, and she arched an eyebrow before nodding to Arwin and Lillia. An unspoken conversation passed between the two of them.

“Oh. Crafting guild,” Elias said, wincing. “Right. I forgot. Sorry. I can spar against someone else, maybe?”

“The offer is appreciated, but unneeded,” Lillia said. “It’s not actually your abilities that I was asking about. That can come later, if we decide to work together.”

“Oh,” Elias said. “What is it, then?”

“I’ve got a few different questions, but I think we can start with the easiest one,” Lillia said, interlacing her fingers and leaning back in her chair. “Could you start by explaining why your heart isn’t beating?”