“…Blood Lord?”

  “…No wonder…”

  “…My Roots were right!” Daes said, staring at Alnea with a mix of excitement and hope, the same as one on Tia’s face, while Nubia just stared at him with a blank expression on her face. Just like Nanya. Tivya, on the other hand, having overcome her shock, let out a sigh, and looked at Alnea with regret.

  “If only I had known him a little earlier…”

  “…Wanderer Tivya?”

  “…My apologies for what you just witnessed,” Tivya said after a few moments, elbowing Nanya in her chest to bring her back to her senses. And though she did not dare to be as presumptuous to the other three Wanderers, she did not miss the chance to embarrass all three of them at once. All she had to do, was to feign a cough, and remind them of the stupid expressions on their faces—

  “It’s alright,” Alnea said, glancing at the three Wanderers with a smile, breaking all of Tivya’s plans with just a sentence. “I can understand their reactions.”

  “…Still,” Nubia said, coming back to her senses. “Tivya is right. We do need to apologise for showing such a shameful behaviour.”

  “…Who cares about that?” Daes said, still bursting with excitement. “He is a Blood Lord! Do you not understand what that means?”

  “We know what that means, Daes. But that is not an excuse for us to forget who we are.”

  “Tsk. You are getting just as stubborn as those old men on the council.”

  “…You should not keep on badmouthing the council while still in the in inner city.”

  “What will they do? Punish me? It is not like they have not punished me before,” Daes said with a snort, but did not continue cursing the city’s council. Instead, she turned back to Alnea, though with a much more subdued expression, showing only a smile on her face.

  “And I am sure that Alnea will not mind our little transgression, right?”

  “Do not play this back around on him,” Tia said, rolling her eyes at Daes. “No matter the reason, if you lose your bearing, and set a bad example, then you must apologise.”

  “…You are talking as if you did not make any mistake.”

  “I did,” Tia said, turning towards Alnea. “And for that, I am willing to apologise.”

  “…It is alright, Wanderer Tia. I—

  “Tia.”

  “What?”

  “Since you are already a Blood Lord, you are qualified to call me Tia. The same with this knucklehead next to me. You can just call her Daes. Or Thunderbird. Whichever one you like. In short, there is no need to continue addressing her so respectfully. Though you should still maintain your etiquettes with other Wanderers.”

  “…That would be—

  “You should understand what I mean, Alnea.”

  “But—

  “Though I do not like the way she put it, she is right,” Daes said, glancing at Tia with a disgusted expression, before turning back towards Alnea with a smile. “Just call me Daes from now on. And I will tell you a secret. On the surface, she shows that she does not like being called by the name of her clan, but she will be very happy if you call her Bluestorm.”

  “…Daes!”

  “What? Am I wrong?” Daes said, laughing out in the face of Tia’s glare, who in turn, looked ready to pouch on the former, stopping only when Nubia stepped in between them.

  “You two… Have you not embarrassed yourself enough already?” Nubia said, glancing between the two women, before turning towards Alnea. “Let me apologise on their behalf.”

  “There is no need, Wanderer Nubia. I… I can understand their reaction.”

  “…They do indeed have a reason to be excited,” Nubia said, glancing at Daes and Tia. “Like Tivya said before, it is rare to see False Wanderers like you come to the inner city with the privileges of a Blood General, let alone a Blood Lord. And for people like them, who still yearn to leave the city, a Blood Lord holds a special meaning. Especially if that Blood Lord has yet to become a Mystic Wanderer… But that is not an excuse to embarrass themselves in front of everyone.”

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “I—

  “Let me stop you right there,” Nubia said, glancing at Daes and Tia. “Your emotions are too agitated right now. Instead of continuing to embarrass yourselves any further, it would be better if you take some time to reign in your Heart. You have waited for years. You can wait for a few more hours. In the meantime, Alnea can also complete all his formalities, and learn more about the inner city.”

  “I—We understand…”

  “Tivya.”

  “…Right,” Tivya said, turning her attention back to Alnea. “Where was I?”

  “…Nowhere. You have not even begun with the formalities yet.”

  “…Of course, I know where I was. I was just trying to lighten the mood,” Tivya said, smiling awkwardly, as she took back the Blood Card from Nanya’s hands, and placed it with the rest, before scanning them on the black box resting on the table. The one that looked similar to the black boxes in the outer city’s Blood Hall, just a little larger. And more refined.

  “…You are also supposed to tell them about the inner city, Tivya.”

  “…I know that. I was just wondering where to begin.”

  “From the very beginning, of course.”

  “…Well, that makes sense,” Tivya said, as her awkward smile turned into an awkward laugh, that soon puttered away, when she saw the look in the faces of the other Wanderers. Grumbling under her breath, she turned back to the Star Seekers, and began giving them the explanation they had been waiting for.

  “As you already know, the outer city is divided into four Districts. North, South, East, and West. Each with fifteen gates, and a Blood Hall corresponding to each gate. And though the inner city has no such division, it does have four gates, one for each District of the outer city. Can you guess how many Blood Halls the inner city has?”

  “…Four?”

  “Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western,” Tivya said, nodding at Norren’s answer. “This is the Northern Blood Hall. All the Wanderers who come from the Northern District have to register their identities here. Similarly, the Wanderers who come from the Southern District have to register their identities at the Southern Blood Hall… You get the gist.”

  “It is like the Blood Halls of the outer city.”

  “Only in terms where you register your identity. And a few other things. But there are also quite a few differences between the Blood Halls of the inner and outer city.”

  “Like its size?”

  “…That is the just most basic difference, but yes, you could say that. Unlike your previous Blood Hall, there are no floors above this main hall.”

  “Does that mean that there are no Trials in the inner city?”

  “You are all Blood Commanders now. Not Blood Soldiers. What do you need the Trials for?”

  “…You need to first explain them the reason for Trials, Tivya.”

  “…I was about to do that,” Tivya grumbled at Nubia, before resuming her explanation. “When you entered the city as False Wanderers, you entered as Blood Soldiers. And you had to go through the Trials, because that is the way city selects its Blood Commanders. Since you are already a Blood Commander now, you will naturally not have to go through any Trials anymore. Though you should have guessed that already from the name of the Final Trial. It was literally your Final Trial in the Lost City.”

  “…We have learned not to trust things by just their names.”

  “And if there are no more Trials, then how are we supposed to raise our privilege level?”

  “By contributing to the city. That is why you were given access to the inner city in the first place. Because the city deemed you worthy of contributing towards its prosperity. And the more you contribute to the city, the more Contribution Points you get. Which brings me to the question I have been dying to ask for a while,” Tivya said, and paused for a moment, as she focused all her attention on Alnea.

  “How did you gain ten thousand Contribution Points before even entering the inner city?”

  “What?”

  “Ten thousand Contribution Points?”

  “But… How?”

  “…What about all my preparations? What about all the grievances I suffered in the past month? Were they all in vain?”

  “…You are crying about spending a month in the inner city?”

  “You do not understand what I went through this past month!”

  “…And I do not want to understand,” Tia said, before turning back towards Alnea, waiting for his answer. But he had none. At least not one that he could give to anyone, but those closest to his Heart. And though he trusted the Wanderers before him, that trust was not blind. Or stupid. So, he could only put on a wry smile on his face and shrug his shoulders.

  “This is the first time I am even hearing about Contribution points.”

  “…There must be some reason…”

  “Let us leave it at that,” Nubia said, reigning in her curiosity, before glancing at the other Wanderers, giving them a silent warning. Did she notice something?

  “Continue with your explanation, Tivya.”

  “…As I was saying, you need Contribution Points to increase your privileges. Ten Points from one to one and half star, hundred Points from one and half to two stars, thousand Points from two to two and a half stars, and ten thousand Points from two and a half to three stars.”

  “What about three to three and a half stars? Would we need a hundred thousand Contribution Points? And a million from three and a half to four stars?”

  “…That is not something I can know. The highest privilege the inner city can grant is three stars. If you want to raise your privilege even higher, you must go to the core city.”

  “…And how do we go to the core city?”

  “There is no hurry,” Tivya said, as she collected all the Blood Cards, and put them back on the table, motioning for Alnea to pick them up. “Why not take a look at your Blood Cards first?”

  Alnea glanced at the Blood Cards, but did not move to pick them up. And neither did any other Star Seeker. Instead, they glanced at each other, and after some hesitation, nodded at each other, before turning back towards Tivya.

  “Before we take back our Blood Cards, there is something else that we would like you to do, Wanderer Tivya.”

  “…What is it?”

  Alnea took a deep breath, and said, “Disband our team.”