The clan representatives on both sides waited standing until the Third Elder, who came swaying his head resembling a snake's head that completed his thin body and sat at the head of the table, lowered his hand.
"Virgen, I am listening to you!"
When the voice coming out in a blood-curdling timbre reached the youth with the tattoo on his face, an involuntary shiver wrapped around his body. The aura the Third Elder emitted was nothing like the one in the participation tests.
"Sir, when the person named Jashua clashed with the team I assigned to stir up the first years in the arena, I wanted to seize the situation the very next day!"
"Clash? The man single-handedly beat them all into an unrecognizable state!"
"Valle!"
When the short-haired scary girl intervened, the Third Elder roared; the crack appearing on the table advanced rapidly and exploded upon reaching in front of the girl carrying a valley sign full of blood on her chest.
The exploding parts of the table were moving towards Valle's face, but the young girl didn't turn her head away even for a moment. Some pieces grazed her, while others pricked her face as small splinters; as thin streams of blood flowing from the formed cuts reached her chin, the young girl bowed her head and spoke.
"I overstepped my bounds; I beg the Third Elder's forgiveness!"
Watching what happened with half-closed eyes, the Third Elder turned his gaze onto the others; the youths were about to moan under the pressure of a predatory animal.
"Yes, you overstepped your bounds. That is what all of you do, overstepping your bounds by going outside of what you were told!"
Then silence fell upon the room with stone walls; no one spoke for dozens of breaths until the Third Elder opened his mouth again.
"Your duty was to create injustice at every level of the sect and cause chaos; who told you that you could make a show of power with those pathetic abilities of yours? How hard can it be to use the privileges I provided you to carry out secret business behind closed doors and make the students believe that whatever they do, it won't work?"
Why do you think I have been enduring the insults of that lustful fool for all this time; do you see yourselves superior to me?
The Third Elder swung his right fist and punched the empty air as if hitting a wall; his hand hadn't hit anything, but two breaths later, a painful cracking sound rose from the foundation of the stone-walled house.
"From this moment on, you will not appear inside the Blood Arena, and those affiliated with you will not challenge those two either. Until the Blood Valley opens, you will withdraw and go into seclusion; no one will see your faces before the secret area.
Until then, you will think about how to kill the two of them together with your subordinates; I want you to finish this job inside. If both can't be done, killing one of them is acceptable. With the end of entries to the special area, I will make it mandatory for students to visit their clans or fiefdoms.
Your second chance will be during the journey; you can also receive support from the powers you are affiliated with during this time.
There are two turning points in front of you; you succeeded, you succeeded. If you fail to fulfill your duty, neither you nor your families will have a role in the new order!"
The thin-physiqued man vanished instantly just as he came. He left behind six people crushed under the weight of the fear he created. Not much later, there was no trace of the lively atmosphere from an hour ago; the six clan representatives left one by one without saying a single word.
For them, the night was over, and the time for feverish work that would last until the Blood Valley opened had come. Contrary to their silent state, the conversation of the two young people in the large room inside the Temple was continuing, increasing moment by moment.
"So you don't remember many things; doesn't this situation bother you?"
Jashua found a place for himself right next to Lareina, who was sitting on the corner of the wide bed, and started asking questions about some subjects stuck in his mind.
"I remember almost nothing; memories are piecemeal and very dull. However, they come to my mind when there are things to trigger them!"
"What kind of things are these?"
"Sometimes a sound, sometimes a smell, or things whose images can appear in my mind allow me to remember my memories. Like what happened when I saw the painting today, it's as if they turn into keys unlocking the locked areas of my mind!"
Although the young girl seemed introverted, she was actually a talkative type; she was narrating so sweetly that she seemed as if she had been waiting for these moments for a long time.
"So, what is your story, Jashua, Lord of the Bloody Moon Fiefdom?"
When Lareina addressed him by his title, Jashua's cheeks flushed; it was so obvious he was embarrassed that he didn't know where to put his hands and feet to cover it up.
"If I say a city called Nikonia on this world, would you know its location?"
The Young Count waited a bit after asking his question and continued upon seeing no answer came.
"Well, I am the child of a family condemned to be used in cruel experiments by the lord of that city!"
"No way!"
Lareina jumped in fear; although she wasn't aware, she had hugged Jashua's right arm.
"It didn't happen either; fortunately, the man named Gulag was merciful contrary to his appearance and was someone who saved people like us and hid them in the shelter he used as a laboratory."
Lareina's tensed shoulders relaxed, and that was the moment she saw what she was doing. immediately letting go of the muscular arm she was hugging tightly, she moved herself a span to the other side.
"You don't need to be afraid; no harm will come to you from me, but I understand you too, I killed so many living beings with these hands!"
When Jashua noticed the girl's condition, he spoke as he felt inside; this move would make Lareina even more embarrassed.
"You misunderstood; I just panicked thinking I might be disturbing you!"
When the words of the girl with strange-looking hair finished, the two young people turned to each other; their laughter, starting slowly at first, turned into guffaws moment by moment. The strange misunderstandings experienced allowed all the tension accumulated on them to come out as huge smiles; they laughed uproariously until their stomachs hurt.
"How did you escape from that dungeon?"
Lareina, wiping the tears flowing from her eyes, took the initiative to restart the interrupted conversation.
"One day, two creatures I had never seen before entered the dungeon. I learned later that these creatures, one skinny and the other hulking, were called orcs.
The name of the person larger than even the biggest man I saw was Alyon, and the other with blood-red hair was Nafız. Since they came to Nikonia where the entry of Orcs was forbidden, they had been sent to Gulag's dungeon, but their actions were not like they were scared at all.
After talking for a while, when Nafız said they would get out of here and kill Gulag before doing this, I found myself in front of the old man. I didn't want this man, who saved us from death and kept us alive by risking his life, to be killed.
Then Nafız caught me with her whip and shoved the thing I later learned was the First Sheikh's remnant into my mouth. The next day we left the dungeon; the City Lord was living, but somehow whatever Gulag said went from then on.
In the following days, the effects of the thing I swallowed started to show themselves, and thus my process of leaving humanity began. From that moment until today, I have done nothing but war, blood, and killing not to die!"
Jashua had fixed his gaze on the wall opposite the bed; two drops of tears trickling from his eyes slowly descended and reached his hand placed on his knees. Lareina said nothing; they stood like this for a few dozen breaths until Jashua felt the head of a human on his right arm.
The Young Count turned in that direction with panic and saw the girl with strange hair leaning her head on him and falling asleep. Jashua panicked even more; how could he not?
For long years, another person touching his body only happened during attacks made on him. And now, someone completely defenseless was sleeping leaning on his shoulder, and this was truly scaring him.