"Master Hide, Master Hide are you awake?"
Knocking could be heard and it seems to be Priscilla on the other side of the door.
Priscilla quietly opens the door and sees Hide still sleeping.
"He's quite cute when he's sleeping." As she thinks to herself.
Hide wakes up with one eye and sees Priscilla looking at him.
Priscilla jolts up and scooted back a bit and is somewhat nervous.
"Sorry did I wake you?"
Hide gets up on the bed and wipes his eyes.
"Is it already morning?"
"Yes, and breakfast is ready." As Priscilla puts down a set of clothes on a table.
"Uncle told me to wake you up for breakfast."
"I see, I'll be down in a minute."
"Umm...right." As Priscilla leaves the room.
Hide sighs and looks at the new set of clothes on the table.
"I don't think I can get used to this life after all I went through. It sure sounds nice but I don't think I can get back to it. Might take time to get used to it."
Hide gets out of his bed. He takes off his old clothes and changes into a set of clothes from Priscilla.
Hide looks at himself in the mirror.
"Not quite adventurer-like and somewhat noble-like. I might wear these on the travel if they don't tear." As Hide thinks to himself.
It seems that Hide seems to wear a dress shirt, coat, and some shorts. The clothes seem to be a perfect fit for him despite them not knowing his size.
Hide gets out of his room and makes it to the dining hall.
"Morning Master Hide, I hope that you had good rest." As Jisan seems to bring in an entrée.
"It was quite nice, although my body has gotten used to sleeping in the wilds." As Hide somewhat yawns.
Jisan somewhat chuckles.
"Well, I fare that my lord will enjoy the change of a comforting bed. Although I will say that it will take time for you to adjust."
"Indeed."
Jisan sets opens the entrée. In the dish lies some eggs and bacon.
Hide starts to take a bite out of it.
Some minutes passed.
Hide seems to be done eating and seems to be out in the yard. Seems that Priscilla is giving him a tour.
"If you look to your right, that is our garden right there. Not much has been grown here but the gardener here is trying their best to make a garden until your arrival. And well, you got here quicker than we imagine." As Priscilla somewhat sarcastically laughs.
Hide walks up to the garden and crouches down on a patch of wilting flowers. Hide looks at it intensely and soon the flowers start to bloom back to life.
Priscilla somewhat was amazed at how the flower came back to life. She goes up to him.
"How...How did you get that flower to come back to life?"
Hide stands back up.
"A simple trick of magic. More to say restoration magic." As Hide starts to scratch the back of his neck and somewhat laughs.
"Magic." As Priscilla was somewhat amazed.
"Yes my child, magic exists in this world as those who are born with abilities. But magic is more common than those who have abilities." As Jisan makes it to them.
"But how can two coexist?" As Priscilla was confused.
"That's because the EverGleam is infinite and its source is what that gives us life. The EverGleam isn't something that one can see but it's always have been with us in this world."
"Although the source is from the EverGleam, the world calls it Evers. Evers is the energy that flows around us as we are breathing and living."
"So the EverGleam is the one that creates these so-called Evers?"
"Indeed, isn't that right Master Hide."
Hide sighs.
"Correct, although there is more to them than ever. I will say that Evers is something unique, allowing us to manipulate it. In addition, the Evers is also inside of us that can be turned into abilities or magic or many more. The EverGleam is quite something once you learn about it."
"I see."
"Well, I shall be heading back to the town then. It seems that I have to go to the Colosseum."
"What?" Jisan and Priscilla were shocked.
Hide chuckles.
"You see. I signed up when I was about to find a place to sleep. But it seems that you two managed to stumble onto me when I already signed up. So, I can't back out now."
"But Sir, how are you going to get out?" As Jisan looks at hiding.
"Easy, just win the tournament." As Hide somewhat seems happy.
"But won't you get hurt?"
"Don't worry about it. After all, the reward seems to be quite enticing."
"Reward?"
"About five hundred thousand Kez and an item that can fare well for me."
"Very well, if the Master has decided to join the tournament then I do not need to argue with." As Jisan somewhat seems worried.
"Priscilla, why don't you go with Master Hide while I tend to the housework and business paper."
"Sure, but you sure that I should go with Master Hide. I mean I don't tend to leave the manor other than grabbing groceries."
Jisan gives Priscilla a stern look.
Priscilla felt the fear and quickly agrees to join Hide.
Some minutes passed.
"Well, here we are at the Colosseum."
"Why don't you join the audience while I go check-in?"
"Right."
Hide goes up to one of the receptionists.
"Hi, there! How may I help you?"
"I'm here to check-in."
"I'm sorry but we don't take in kids as contenders for this tournament."
Hide takes out a badge number.
The receptionist was surprised.
"Oh...sorry about that. You are?"
"Cyrus Saki."
The receptionist checks her list and sees his name.
"Well, nice to see that you are here number 715. Hopefully, this tournament doesn't kill you. You do know that it is an all-out tournament right?"
"Yes."
"Well, I'll go over the rules even if you know it. An all-out tournament means that every contender will face each other. So only one victor can come out on top. Along with that, the rules of killing and other is applied. Any weapon is allowed along with magic and all."
"Are you certain that you are willing to partake in the tournament?"
"Of course."
"Very well then, go join the others in the waiting room. Try not to die out there." As the receptionist smiles at him.
Hide goes to the waiting room. He sits down on a bench and looks at the other contender. Ranging from different ages and sizes. Each and everyone seems to be strong and weak. Either they came here for fame or wealth who knows.
As the contenders seem to be preparing, Hide on the other hand seems to be sitting down and watching other contenders.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, are you ready for the astonishing and breathtaking fight today in the Arena of Valor. In today's match, we will see how our fighters go against each other."
"Either it is brains or brawns, I believe that each fighter is strong in their ways, and not just that but we also have a contender added into the arena."
"Look around the Arena, what do you see? That's right, it has been surrounded by water. The arena will enclose once everybody has made it onto the arena. But beware, in those water lies the one and only, Drasnir."
The crowd goes wild.
"That's right, a beast captured by none other than your fortunate host Mr. Stein."
A glimpse of Mr. Stein in white formal clothes waves to the crowd who seems to be seated in the VIP area.
"Drasnir, has many countless people died to its hand but who will come out on top. So, ladies and gentlemen, are you ready for the best fight of your life?"
The crowd cheers even louder.
Priscilla seems to be sitting with some crowd while also being close to the front row. She looks around the arena.
"Can't believe Master, is doing this? What will happen if he dies in there. I guess I'll have to step in if I have to."
She sighs.
As Hide could hear the crowd going wild. He looks up at the dark roof of the waiting room.
Some minutes passed.
A bell could be heard.
Hide gets up and goes to the gate where other contenders were waiting.
"Let the game begin." He sighs.
The gates open and soon the contenders swarm the arena. The arena seems to be big and has some holes in the middle where the beast can come up.
Hide walks out and sees Priscilla in the distance. She seems to be cheering him on.
"Go, Master!"
Hide scratches his head and continues to go to a spot in the arena.
As he makes it to a spot in the arena, he looks to his side to see other contenders and how excited they are to fight.
In the arena, it approximately seems to have about 750 contenders.
Soon a bell was alarmed and the tournament begins.
Fighters immediately scream and run toward each other, taking down one another.
The crowd goes wild.
Hide seems to be keeping himself off from fighting and taking down those who try to fight him.
"Go, Master! Woohoo!" As Priscilla seems to be happy to see her Master fighting.
As Hide was busy keeping himself in the arena, a contender seems to have caught his eye. Seems to be number 431, a huge man that seems to carry an ax.
The huge man soon lets out a war cry.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, look at that, number 431 just unleash his special war cry. Baron is one of our well-known fighters of the Arena of Valor. It seems that he is getting heated in this arena."
A man next to Priscilla seems to be cheering for number 431.
"That's right Baron, show them what you got!"
As the battle continues, it seems that the arena was also slowly closing in and the water seems to be slightly enclosing them.
Hide runs toward the areas that haven't been enclosed by water yet and seems to be followed by someone.
As he was running, an arrow flies past him.
He looks behind him and sees a man in a cloak carrying a bow who seems to be following him. He sees the number tag on him, number 237.
The man soon shoots a barrage of arrows from the skies flying toward Hide and other contenders. Hide quickly finds a shield and blocks the arrows.
"This guy is targeting me. Not just that but seems like he wants to kill me."
As he was undercover from the shield, another arrow was shot at him. Hide throws the shield and rolls nearly dodging the arrow.
Hide gets up and runs toward the archer while dodging the arrows. As he dodges the arrow, one arrow manages to cut his shirt and pants.
Hide makes it to the man. The two were face to face. He could see the archer's face and noticed the man smiling.
It was a trap.
Hide turned around, but it was too late, one arrow was flying straight toward his head.
Priscilla stands up but was too late to act.
The arrows stopped straight in front of Hide's head. It was stopped by strings.
Hide sighs.
"What, how?"
"Guess, I was just lucky." As strings seem to be coming out from Hide's fingers.
The archer prepares another shot but Hide stops him by wrapping him up in strings. The man struggles to get out from the strings but couldn't.
"See ya." As Hide starts to run towards the middle the water behind the archer seems to be enclosed on them.
"Wait!" As the archer shouted.
Hide didn't seem to even listen and continued running. He could hear a scream behind him as a tail pulls the man into the waters.
As Hide continues going toward the middle, he noticed that the fighters were getting lower and lower.
The announcer seems to be announcing the battle as Hide runs through the battlefield. And the crowd seems to be cheering even louder.
Hide was so caught in his battle that only 100 contenders were left including himself.
He noticed that the Baron is still not out yet and it seems that those that are left standing seem to be the strongest out of the others.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, we only have 100 contenders left, despite having so many contestants, it seems that some of our well-known champions were too strong, and seems that many have also lost to the Drasnir as well."
Hide wipes the dust off his clothes. He somewhat seems to be quite rough up after fighting the archer and some other fighters.
A huge explosion could be seen in the distance as Hide was done wiping the dust off his clothes.
It seems to be a mage who is using high magic.
Some contenders seem to be knocked out cold from the explosion into the waters.
As Hide looks at the explosion, someone seems to be charging toward him.
"Master, look out!" As Priscilla shouts at Hide.
Hide crouches which the man couldn't grab him.
It was number 431, Baron.
Hide noticed that the man seems to let off some steam and noticed that his skin is somewhat gray as if he changed forms.
Baron seems to have lost his ax and seems to be in grappler mode.
Baron starts throwing some punches which Hide dodges and hits back. It seems that his hit wasn't getting to him. Baron seems to not be fazed by the punches.
Baron retaliates by throwing a sucker punch which Hides blocks. As he blocks it, some bones could be heard crackling.
Hide got pushed back by some couple of feet.
He holds onto his left arm.
"That was quite a hit." As Hide waves and move his left hand around which seems to slowly regenerate.
Baron doesn't seem to care but only be in his berserk state. Hide inspects Baron and notices that his chest plate armor seems to have some crack on it.
As some explosions happen around the two. The two seem to be facing each other and intending to take one down or another.
In that split second of the next explosion, the two charge toward each other.
Baron throws a heavy left punch while Hide throws a right punch towards the crack of the chest plate.
Hide dodges under the heavy left punch and lands his punch at where the crack of the chest plate is. Completely shattering the chest plate and knocking out cold Baron.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, would you look at that number 715 have taken down Baron. Not just by sheer luck but his sheer power." The crowd goes wild and some didn't seem to be happy.
As Hide regains his energy. The explosions stop and the battlefield seems to be covered in smoke. The water has stopped and the arena seems to be small enough for just about 2-3 people.
The smoke fades, and Hide sees a figure ahead of him.
"Ladies and Gentlemen it seems that these two are our last fighters. It seems that the number 120 and 715 are the last two. Who will come out on top? Will it be Aren, the renowned mage adventurer, or Cyrus, the youngest fighter today?"
It was intense and the crowd seems to be silent, along with the announcer.
Hide looks at Aren and notices that he didn't even seem to have a scratch or any sign of exhaustion. Aren seems to be wearing a robe and holding a book.
"This is going to be a rough one." As he thinks to himself.
Aren cast a huge fireball flying toward Hide. Hide throws a weapon from the ground at it which explodes.
Another one was flying toward Hide. Hide quickly hides behind some smoke that was caused by the fireballs earlier which the fireballs went inside the water.
In doing so, a different spell was cast. A huge lightning bolt was aiming toward Hide from above.
"Twinkles."
A smoke cloud appears before Hide and the lightning bolt disappears. Not even the sound of it could be heard when it reach Hide.
The smoke faded and a big figure could be seen standing near Hide.
"What the hell just happened? And what the hell is that?" As the announcer seems to be surprised along with the crowd.
Standing next to Hide seems to be a huge teddy bear that seems to have a happy smile and some sewing marks on its arm.
"Twinkles, an ability similar to Rose, but created not as a creature but as a plushie doll."
Aren casts another lightning bolt but as the lightning bolt flies straight down. Twinkles seems to eat the lightning bolt-like it was nothing. Twinkles seem to get bigger as well from eating them.
"Well, you look at that, it seems that number 715 has tricks upon his sleeve. Not just that but his teddy bear seems to be able to eat the magic cast from Aren himself."
Aren notices the bear growing as he cast magic and comes up with another plan. He cast another fireball and seems to be running towards Hide. As the fireball was eaten by Twinkles, Twinkles vanished from thin air as it eat the spell and got too big.
As Twinkles vanishes, the ground below Hide starts to be forming into ice which traps Hide's feet. Hide struggles to get out.
As Aren makes in front of Hide, he goes for the finishing blow but suddenly was stopped by Twinkles who seems to grab ahold of Aren.
Aren struggles to get out of Twinkle's grasp.
"It won't kill you, but it will knock you out cold. The magic it has eaten from you will be returned to you."
Twinkles soon start to shine and then explode and Aren was knocked out from the explosion. Hide stood there exhausted and beaten up.
"There you have it, ladies and gentlemen. Our winner is number 715, Cyrus."
It seems that some people in the VIP section seems to be interested while Priscilla on the other hand was cheering and happy that Hide won.
As the crowd cheers for the new winner of the tournament. The arena below somewhat trembles and out came the water came to a huge serpent.
The announcer screams in terror.
"Oh no, it seems that the beast itself has come out from the depths. And it seems to be ready for carnage."
The crowd starts to cheer again as the battle was not over.
Hide sighs.
"Can't it just be over already?"
Drasnir shoots out a beam of ice toward Hide which he dodges and ice forms where he dodges.
The serpent then comes out of the water and onto the land slithering around Hide and suddenly closes in on him. Having a grasp on Hide with its tail.
The two were face to face.
"Will this be it for our winner?"
Drasnir lets out a roar at Hide.
"Enough." As Hide stares at the huge serpent and unleash a terror presence on it. The serpent lets go of Hide and didn't seem to move.
Priscilla somewhat started to shake her leg as she felt the presence of Hide himself.
"Leave!" The serpent suddenly leaves the arena by slithering out the arena and was gone in a quick second.
"No way!" As the announcer was shocked by what just happened in that split second.
"Was it fate or luck that made him survive the mighty Drasnir? But now it's nowhere to be seen. It seems that our winner is no doubt a winner among these strong fighters."
The crowd cheers and it was over.
Some minutes passed.
The arena was cleaned with some fighters being tended to their wounds.
The announcer walks onto the arena and hands Hide his reward. It seems that he obtain five hundred thousand Kez as the prize money and a piece of material.
"That was some amazing battle out there. Will we see you again?" As the announcer seems to be amazed about what Hide did.
Hide didn't answer him.
"Well, if you. The Arena of Valor will be here waiting for you." As the announcer somewhat laughs.
Hours passed.
Hide and Priscilla was returning to the mansion.
"Master, I can't believe that you are so strong." As Priscilla seems to be happy.
"I was just lucky." As Hide didn't seem to care too much about it.
"That wasn't luck. You show them what you are capable of and how strong you are. I didn't know that you were that strong."
Hide didn't respond.
"Master?"
"Let's just get back home. I'm all worn out from today." As Hide seems to be laying down and exhausted.
The two make it back to the mansion and Jisan seems to be waiting at the gate waiting for their return.
Jisan opens the gate and opens the carriage door.
"Master, how was the tournament?"
"Good, but exhausting." As Hide stands up.
"That's good to hear. I hope that not much happen to you while you were there." As Jisan looks at Priscilla.
"Not that many things happen but I won." As hide yawns and climbs down the carriage.
"You what-!" As Jisan was surprised and looks at Priscilla.
Priscilla looks at her uncle and somewhat sarcastically laughs.
"Well, if the Master has won the tournament, how about a feast?"
"Guess, I'll take a bath before food then."
"As you wish." As Jisan bows down and Hide head inside the manor.
Jisan looks at Priscilla.
"So, how was it?"
Priscilla couldn't keep up her straight face and suddenly burst into excitement telling all about what happened.
Hide seems to be sitting in a bathtub looking up at the roof.
"That was a long day. I guess it went over a bit more than I thought it was going to be. But I guess, I got to meet some strong people out there. Hopefully Master and the others are doing fine."
Hide sighs and sinks into the bathtub closing his eyes.
Minutes passed.
Hide was done with his bath and seems to be wearing some casual clothes and in the dining hall with Jisan, Priscilla, and two other servants.
"Congrats to the Master, for winning the tournament and that he wasn't harmed in many ways." As Jisan makes a toast.
The others applaud and cheer. They soon dine in on the food. Hide sat there and looks at the others as if they were happy and enjoying themselves. Hide smiles.
An old memory was seen.
It was a memory of Hide eating food at the beach with his friends where the endless sea could be seen and the blue sky. And everyone is happy.