Chapter 120: Two weeks

South of Forest of Michaile.

Outside the tents, the Leader of Princess Alliance, Ayame sat in a chair.

Behind her was Mari.

In front of her were two girls. One of them was Reza and the other was the one who fainted after confronting Rewen. Her name is Aiko. They were standing confused looking straight at Ayame.

Behind were members of the alliance staring intently at both of them.

"How are you both right now?" Ayame asked lightly.

"I'm feeling good. Thank you for your concern." Aiko bowed a little.

"I'm as good as ever!" Reza grinned with energy. If it wasn't for the cut marks on her face, no one would have thought that this girl got beat up an hour ago.

Ayame nodded. "That's good. Both of you should take a rest but before that, I need you to describe to me the appearance of the person who both of you fought."

Both of the girls went quiet.

The stares from the surroundings became more intent. Everyone was curious to learn of the identity of the scumbag.

"I don't know." Reza shook her head. "I fainted before I could properly see his face."

Ayame's eyes squinted. "Did he sneak attack you?"

"Yes, I was careless." Reza lowered her head.

"What about your wounds in your face? Were they done by him after you fainted?"

Reza kept quiet.

'He was that ruthless?' Ayame couldn't believe that there was a person who could hit a thirteen-year-old girl after she fainted. Her hatred towards Rewen increased.

Calming herself down, she turned to Aiko. "Do you remember his face?"

"Sorry, Princess." Aiko lowered her head.

Everyone's face showed disappointment. Ayame was silent for a while before waving her hands indicating everyone to leave.

Reza and Aiko looked at each other and walked away from the crowd.

"Here. I have done what you said. You better give me a satisfactory answer." Reza looked at Aiko with a displeased expression. When she gained consciousness, she found Aiko beside her bed who repeatedly pleaded with her to not reveal the identity of the man who beat her up. At the beginning, she was headstrong and adamant about not changing her decision. 

Later, to her shock, Aiko started crying.

Eventually she complied with the condition that there should be a good reason.

Currently, she was asking for the 'good reason'.

Aiko's face showed reluctance and hesitance which instantly annoyed Reza.

"Are you telling or not!? Fine. Let me go back." 

Aiko grabbed her hand. "Please… listen to me."

Reza folded her arms staring at her with a displeased look. "Go on."

"T-that… that person's eyes looked s-scary…"

"..." Reza's head felt as if she was spinning around in circles. She let out a huge breath. "That's all?"

Aiko's face looked miserable. "Please don't reveal his identity to the Princess. Somehow, I'm scared of that person…"

"Scared? Why the hell are you scared of a person like that!? He is weak as hell!" Reza's head was about to burst.

Tears leaked from Aiko's eyes as she bent her knees and lowered her head doing a full classical dogeza. "Please…"

***

East of Forest of Michaile.

Unaware of what he actually did, Rewen made his way to reach the camp of River Alliance. Unlike his normally neutral look, his complexion was dark for some reason.

"Halt!"

Rewen stopped in his tracks.

Raising his head, he saw a bald young man standing on a tree looking at him. "Why are you here?"

"I'm here to join the alliance," Rewen said in a calm voice. He really was here to join the alliance.

The bald young man frowned, then jumped to the ground. "Come with me. Don't try any funny moves."

"Lead the way." Rewen complied.

A minute later.

"Rewen!" Hase waved his hands with a smile upon seeing Rewen.

Rewen gave a small smile before approaching him. "How have you been?"

"Not bad," Hase said before looking at the young man in front of him from head to toe and smiled. "You have gotten handsome."

Rewen laughed. "That's hilarious. You mean that I have gotten less ugly, right?"

Hase also laughed, then shifted the topic. "Was that sort of your revenge against the Miscellaneous Alliance and Princess Alliance?"

Rewen understood what he was talking about and shook his head. "It's because of this." He pointed to his stomach.

Hase's immediate thought was - 'Pregnant?', then quickly denied the guess. "Could it be something to do with losing your weight?"

"Bingo. The Old King gave me a Light Green Gruer Orb which helped me lose my weight. The moment I'm injured, I would heal myself using the fats from the body." 

"That's… really convenient." Hase wryly smiled. At the same time, he also took a mental note. 'Despite how he looks, he is quite shrewd.'

"Well, well, well." A gentle voice came from the surroundings. 

Rewen and Hase, both of them turned around to see a brown-haired man in his early twenties walking towards them.

"It's a pleasure to meet His Highness Arata once again." Rewen greeted with a respectful tone.

"No problem. Also, nobody here calls me 'His Highness'. Stick with Arata." Arata reminded him with a gentle smile. "I'll ask you formally. Do you want to join our alliance?"

"Yes."

"Very well. In that case, let me give you a bit of overview of how our alliance operates. First things first, although I look like it, I'm not the leader of the alliance. Like everyone else, I'm also a member. There is no leader in the alliance.

"Now, you must be wondering how would that work? Does that mean that the Gruer Orbs collected by an individual goes to the individual himself? No, it goes to our collective treasury. By the end of the event, we all have a battle of strength. The one who wins gets all the Gruer Orb scraps. Any questions?"

"How and where am I going to work?" 

"Since you are targeted by the other two alliances, it's best for you to remain close to our base. Just take a round or two around our base. That will do."

Rewen didn't think too much because he knew that Arata was being generous. "Okay, got it."

With that, Rewen officially joined the River Alliance.

His days were comfortable.

In the morning, he would get up and search for Gruer Orbs.

In the afternoon, he would chat with the fellow members from the alliance. They were surprisingly easy to get along with.

In the evening, he has some fruits for his dinner and falls asleep in his tent. 

Just like that, two weeks passed by.

The two weeks were very uneventful. Because his life was normally eventful, he took some time to adjust with the lifestyle.

Today was the day to decide the representative from the River Alliance.

"Are you sure you don't want to take part?" Hase asked once again.

"Yes." Rewen replied smiling. He no longer had the desire to win the competition. His mind was somewhere else for the past two weeks. 'System, I did get two [Return Tickets], right?'

[Yes. The two [Return Tickets] are stored in inventory. Do you want to use them right now?]

[Yes] [No]

'No. I can't escape this…' A deep look appeared in his eyes.