"I forfeit..."

The moment those words weakly left his mouth, the knight shouted as if he had been waiting for Elias to speak those words.

"The duel is over! The winner is Adrian Caelis Ravenshade! No further combat is permitted now!"

His brother slowly withdrew his foot, then he turned and walked away. Elias blankly watched his back.

The terror he had felt moments ago slowly faded, and what was left after it was something heavy. Only now that the tension of the fight was gone could he think clearly.

Not giving up and continuing to struggle... What did it achieve in the end? His brother might have been right. Elias should’ve forfeited sooner, and it would have saved him from the pain of his brother’s punches and kicks.

Just then, Knight Joran’s voice rang in his mind.

’You have worked hard, and I am sure that hard work will be acknowledged by some, at the very least.’

Lying down with his back against the floor, Elias slowly turned his head and looked towards the audience. Most of the people had stood up and were already leaving. Many avoided making eye contact with him.

And those who did make eye contact gave him pitying looks, as though they all felt sorry for him.

He felt a tightness in his chest.

’No...’

The scene made him feel as though something inside him had cracked.

The more he looked, the more those cracks widened.

In the past month, Elias had given his all, regardless of his exhaustion. Not only that, he had started working hard from the moment he reached Phase One and gained the ability to wield mana.

He had put in so much effort... and yet, not a single person in the crowd seemed to have recognized that effort, let alone acknowledged it.

And then, his gaze landed on his mother.

She was looking at him with her expression twisted into an irritated frown. When their eyes met, she clicked her tongue and turned away.

"Ah..."

This was the moment when something inside Elias broke.

***

Adrian sat at the edge of the elevated platform, observing the now-empty arena.

He could spot several of Alisardarc’s incarnations sitting on the back support of the chairs in multiple places.

Moments later, many of those incarnations disappeared into wisps of bluish mana, leaving only one.

Adrian had run out of mana and could no longer maintain them. The single black bird that hadn’t disappeared was being maintained with the mana that was constantly being replenished.

’Looks like Alisardarc did his best to accomplish his task.’

Adrian had thought that those birds would hover above the people and catch bits and pieces of what they were talking about, but Alisardarc had gone as far as occupying empty seats among the people to listen better.

’I wonder if he did so out of free will or because of the effect of my command.’

Shaking away these idle thoughts, Adrian thought back to his duel with Elias.

’Did I accomplish my objective?’

From the reaction of the people, it looked like he had indeed accomplished it. But Adrian knew better than to simply judge things at face value. Maybe his plan had indeed worked on most of the people watching, but maybe there were still a few who it may not have worked on.

In the end, Adrian would never know.

Still, he had done everything he could. He had made that fight look as one-sided and as utterly futile as he could have.

’I wonder how Mother will react to this.’

His mother had a strange way of making him learn things. From the beginning, her methods had felt less like she was trying to teach a person and more like she was trying to train an animal.

And this was the first time her plans had been thwarted. He wondered just what her reaction would be.

Soon, all the nobles sitting in the audience had left, and the arena now felt completely empty. Adrian, too, was just about to get up and leave.

But at the last moment, someone suddenly hugged him from behind and buried their face in his back. The arms hugging him tight were as small as his own. They seemed to tremble slightly from time to time.

Adrian remained motionless, not reacting to the sudden actions of his younger brother, who was hugging him from behind.

Elias, too, remained still and quiet.

A few moments passed in silence, just like that.

And then, Adrian felt a moist sensation on his back, as though his clothes were slowly becoming wet, and the trembling of Elias’s arms intensified somewhat.

Soon after, Elias called out to him in a weak, shaky voice.

"Brother..."

That voice sounded fragile.

Adrian didn’t answer for some time, but then slowly opened his mouth and asked in his usual tone.

"What is it?"

Another silence stretched between them after that. Then his younger brother’s sobbing voice came.

"Teacher, Knight Joran... H-he said... My efforts will be acknowledged... that my hard work, it will pay off..."

His sobs grew stronger, making the boy struggle to speak.

"I-I worked really hard... I put in all the effort... I swear I did, please believe me..."

His hands grabbed onto Adrian’s clothes tightly, and he buried his face in Adrian’s back even more.

"But they didn’t acknowledge efforts... nobody did... n-not even mother..."

Adrian didn’t react. No, maybe he simply didn’t know how.

But then...

"Brother... it—it hurts so much.... Please... help me, brother..."

Adrian opened his mouth to speak...

...but no words came out.

What was he even supposed to say in this situation? Should he explain their mother’s plans and her objective behind arranging this duel, as well as how he had planned to thwart them?

Or should he turn around and apologize for being harsh on the boy during the duel?

Or was he supposed to say something else?

Adrian didn’t know.

Still, he knew that he had to say something, or things might spiral in an undesirable direction for him in the future. He had that feeling.

But then...

He blinked, and his surroundings had changed, and Adrian was suddenly somewhere else.

The polluted air of Earth made him scrunch his nose.

The surroundings were suddenly much colder, and chilly winds blew across the area.

As he looked around, he was now standing in a rectangular turf field spanning roughly a few hundred meters, enclosed by metal fences. Swings, slides, and monkey bars stood in the corners.

The place was filled with groups of children of different ages, playing around everywhere. The sound of their giggles and laughter was a stark contrast to the arena’s previously quiet atmosphere.

Behind the playground loomed tall buildings with multiple floors, and their shadow fell over the entire playground.

After registering his surroundings and coming to understand the sudden turn of events, Adrian pressed the bridge of his nose.

’Ugh, not again...’