Festival Over

*Emma POV* 

It had been some time since I'd seen the mysterious boy who saved my brother, in that short time he'd changed a lot. 

He always looked otherworldly, but his eyes were now even stranger, his pupils becoming X shaped adding to their already strange multicolored appearance. 

Before he had appeared frail, but his arms now seemed to be a bit more muscular a likely effect of an increase in stats. 

"Right, this is Ajax. He's the one who saved my life back there." 

"...Nice to meet you." 

Nodding at Markus and Gabriel, he greeted them, having already met me, Adam and...

"Wait. Clair how do you know him?" 

Looking back at her, I realized that she'd been the first to recognize him. 

"Hm? Oh, he's the one I was telling you about, The wounded boy at the shelter!" 

A little while ago, she'd talked about an odd personality she'd met at the shelter she volunteered at. 

"Wounded?" Adam asked, a strict gaze at Ajax. 

"Yes! He had a huge claw mark on his back! When I met him, I hadn't been able to talk to him for too long, so I didn't know he was friends with you guys." 

"..." 

Those aren't things you reveal about someone without asking them first, but Clair was a bit slow in these matters. 

"That's the first time I'm hearing of this." Adam said with a sigh. 

I knew that Ajax had signed up as a mercenary and despite not wanting to be intrusive, my brother was pretty worried about him. 

Hearing this, probably confirmed those worries but I wasn't sure why this surprised him, every awakened who fought would accumulate injuries especially in their early years. 

Gabriel had a gaze full of respect directed to Ajax, similar to that of Clair, they both heavily looked up to my brother, so any savior of his was a hero in their book. 

Meanwhile, Markus had a curious gaze one that I recognized and so did Adam. 

"Don't even think about it." He said strictly. 

"What? I didn't say anything." Markus replied. 

"You don't have to, you were thinking of bribing him as well, weren't you?" 

Markus gave a light chuckle as he knew he was caught but felt like he had to justify himself. 

"If he's not a student he's a mercenary right? I'm legally allowed to recruit him once his free agency is over." 

That was true, my family didn't even have a mercenary branch, considering it a waste of resources but the Reinhold family was the largest mercenary group in the nation. 

"His free agency isn't over, and I don't want you to try and sway him before it is." Adam scolded. 

"Well, if he's talented enough for you to invest resources in, surely I'm not the first one." 

Markus was a bit off here, we didn't 'invest' resources in him as much as we were repaying a debt, but it seemed he wasn't wrong as my brother stared at him in annoyance.

"I fucking hate when you're right." Adam said.

"Does Dimitri count?" Ajax asked my brother to which he nodded.

"It was very casual, but yes it does. He basically recruited you." 

"Dimitri? Dimitri Volkonov?" Markus asked after hearing their conversation. 

Ajax nodded to which Markus looked like he'd just remembered something. 

"Do you use a bow and arrow?" he asked. 

Ajax confirmed again and Markus looked like he'd just solved a puzzle. 

"The handsome dude who was a monster with a bow and arrow! You're the one he was talking about!" 

"You've met Dimitri?" Ajax asked Markus. 

"Of course, his family supplies my family with the materials we use to build weapons." 

To be fair the Volkonov family supplies almost every major weapon manufacturer with raw materials. 

I'd met Dimitri too, he was a decently talented fire mage, but he was much closer friends with Markus than I. 

'This is how he gets them.' 

He uses connections, immense wealth and his charisma to lure whoever he was trying to recruit to his side. 

Markus now having a reference for Ajax's strength was even more interested in recruiting him but couldn't make too many moves for now. 

"Enough business, I'm here for a festival you know? I have work every other day of the week." 

My brother said as he stopped at yet another food stall, I was convinced that if not for the ludicrous amounts of money he earnt, he'd have spent it all on food. 

It seemed Gabriel was no different, sharing my brother enthusiasm for food although Markus funded his purchases who tried bribing Ajax as well but he refused. 

"How did you get the claw mark though?" Gabriel asked. 

He got a few odd looks as response to which he shrugged. 

"What? It's a mark of bravery and victory over a strong opponent, I'm just curious about the beast he killed." 

Adam was going to say something but Ajax replied, not minding the question. 

"Windstepper hound." 

"Nice! A fully matured one or a cub?" Gabriel asked excitedly. 

"Matured one." 

"Nice! Those things are ridiculously fast, and their attacks are nothing to scoff at." 

Gabriel was oddly knowledgeable about monsters, maybe it was an interest of his.

"It's reckless though, fighting a monster like that alone. The wound would have left a serious scar without healing." Clair said. 

I agreed, for someone who seemed rational and withdrawn, it was an odd choice. 

I'd fought monsters before but always under the protection of those stronger than me and willing to help me at a moment's notice. 

"Dimitri told me that you killed a true aberration almost entirely by yourself, is that true?" 

Markus asked to which Ajax shook his head not claiming the kill.

"Without the other three crippling the monster, I would have lost very quickly." 

A marksman who was competent and didn't have an ego the size of an owlbear? Guilds would froth at the mouth at such a prospect. 

"If you worked with a party to kill a monster to kill it, you can still take credit for it you know?" 

My brother said with a laugh as he stopped at yet another stall. 

"If the academy listened to your advice, I might have gotten a higher score." Gabriel said in a slightly gloomy tone. 

"You got 5th place man, be proud!" my brother said as he pat Gabriel on the shoulder. 

"Tanks and supports rarely get the credit they deserve, don't feel too bad about it." I added, trying to comfort Clair as well who was a bit disappointed in her score. 

The two seemed to cheer up a little especially as we continued down the festival stalls. 

Even the reserved Ajax seemed to lighten up a bit, engaging lightly in conversation and even breaking into a smile on the rare occasion. 

Despite the disappointment I'd gotten from being in second, the day ended pretty well with most of us going to check out the dorms we would be living in as Ajax and my brother left for home. 

"Do you think he'll be alright?" Clair asked, her concern for Ajax still evident. 

"He seemed levelheaded and strong; I wouldn't worry about him too much." It was pretty typical of Clair to get hung up over a patient's health. 

"Yeah, hopefully he keeps himself out of trouble for now."