Anti- Climactic

Heavy footsteps followed Deon.

'I have to shake them off!' he thought, but the alley was nothing more than a straight path leading to a darker and more sinister exit.

Deon felt like he was running to his doom. The farther away he was from the town center, the more desolate and lightless his surroundings became.

A sense of foreboding swallowed Deon, 'Where am I heading? Should I continue running? What if more enemies are waiting for me beyond this alley?'

Despite his hesitation, Deon never stopped running—Even as his legs screamed of exhaustion.

He looked over his shoulder, finding his pursuers.

"Hah! Hah! Haah!.." white fog rose from his mouth as he heavily breathed.

His hazel brown eyes glinted like a terrified prey's beneath the helmet's narrow eye-slits. He could only see a fraction of his surroundings due to his headgear, and with his compromised vision, it took him longer than necessary to see the tall shadows closing in on him.

They were near. SO NEAR.

Thud!

Deon's legs seemed to have lost their strength as he tripped over a small rock, jutting out of the cracked pavement.

He fell on his bottom.

The silhouette of three large men cast dark shadows that swallowed his cowering figure.

Deon was suddenly reminded of Mikael's test of courage. The painful memory of a goblin carcass chasing him still sent shivers down his spine. He hated that all he could do was to run away. He hated his weakness. Most of all, he hated that his instinct was to escape with his tail between his legs**

'Is this the end? Will I die as a pathetic coward?' he thought, brows furrowed as he fought back tears that threatened to fall down his cheeks. At the very least, he wanted to maintain his dignity.

"GET UP AND RUN! I'LL STALL THEM!" Mikael shouted as he gloriously emerged from the white world like a genie.

Mikael faced the approaching men and controlled anything that littered the narrow alley— a shattered glass bottle, pieces of rock, and trash.

Fwoosh!

But to their surprise, the three men ignored Deon and continued down the straight path.

"huh?" Deon dazedly asked.

"huh?" Mikael asked back, releasing his hold on the objects and staring at the three distant figures, "What just happened?"

Krooo~

Several birds cooed overhead and as the minutes passed, Mikael and Deon realized the truth of the situation.

They had been wrong!

There were no enemies! The men were simply passing by the alley but their large physiques made them look menacing.

Deon's cheeks flushed scarlet red, 'AAAAHHHH!! SO EMBARRASSING!!'

As his partner was wallowing in shame, Mikael cleared his throat "Ehem… well… that was anti-climactic. Haha… looks like we were wrong. Ahaha..haha…"

Deon curled in a fetal position and hid his burning face with both hands. He could not believe that he accused his second brother of a crime that he did not commit, 'I'm sorry brother… I didn't trust you…'

"Hey. That's enough. Get up, kid! Let's just apologize to them in our hearts and remember not to judge a book by its cover." Mikael said, bowing in the direction of the three men.

'Yeah. Also, I shouldn't feel so self-important. Just because I'm royalty doesn't mean that the world revolved around me.' Deon reflected as he stood, using his spear as a cane, "But where did everyone go? I haven't heard of anything like this."

"There's only one way to find out." Mikael said, floating beside his partner, "Let's tail them."

"Okay," Deon replied with a resolute expression and the two of them followed after the men.

Minutes later, the alley opened to a larger road filled with bustling people. Mercenaries and commoners shook their heads in disappointment while knights haggled with a woman who blocked the entrance to a three-story establishment.

"10 gold! I'll pay you 10 gold for one night! I don't care if it's small just give me a spare room!" A wealthy knight negotiated.

"I'm really sorry, sir. Even if you pay a hundred gold, all our rooms are now occupied. I suggest you find another inn…" the woman respectfully declined.

"ANOTHER INN?! Do you know how far the other inns are?! By the time I get there, there'd be no more rooms left!" the knight fumed.

The woman bowed, not daring to argue with the knight.

All the innkeepers have become accustomed to these kinds of situations. Since the location of the competition is only announced at the last minute, the participants cannot reserve a room ahead of time. And so, it is a common occurrence to see them rushing toward Inns the moment that they were told to rest. After all, it would be their last night to sleep in comfort as they would be staying in the wilderness for three whole days during the event.

"Haah… Let's just go set up camp somewhere." A mercenary tapped his comrade's shoulder when he deemed it unlikely that they'd be able to snag a room anywhere.

"But!" his comrade protested, "Camping is dangerous! I saw Brad's group earlier at the registration… you know they still hold a grudge against us for stealing their prey."

"Don't ya worry. I'll smack 'em unconscious if they ever try to mug us." The mercenary flexed his veiny biceps, confidently grinning as they passed by a dazed Deon.

"Oh! So, this was why…" Mikael murmured beside the prince, "Come to think of it, you DO need to sleep somewhere."

Mikael had grown so used to 'living' as a spirit that he forgot the basic human needs that his partner requires—eating and sleeping.

The crowd slowly dispersed, leaving only the stubborn knights and some combat Almagi by the entrance.

"Sir Mikael, Let's check out the other places. Maybe there's a room or two left." Deon trudged back to the dark alley, not waiting for Mikael's reply.

"No." Mikael said firmly, "you don't even know where the other inns are. How will you find them at this hour? Your body is exhausted. I bet you can barely lift your arms right now. Wandering at night will only invite thugs. Think you can ward them off in your current state?"

Mikael's words pierced Deon like sharp daggers. He was calling out* Deon's incompetence and the poor prince could not even retort. He was right, after all. Deon was supposed to know more about this world but all he had done since contracting with Mikael was to show how pathetic he was.

"Then what do we do, sir Mikael?"

"Go there and tell the lady that you just want to eat. I'll figure something out."

--Chapter end--

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**'Tail between legs' means to display embarrassment or shame, especially after losing a fight.

*'Call out' means to criticize someone about something they have said or done and challenge them to explain it.