After a night of taking down illegal slave traders, the trio and their new team member went back to the inn. In their room, Hajime asked Elisa and Lily to take the beast girl along, since Elisa was going for her training session with Lily. Elisa wanted to know how she could summon an apparition of Isolde. However, at here current strength, summoning Isolde was a bad idea. The only reason Hajime was not affected by the blood thirsty tendencies of vampires, was because he devoured soul energy.
However, because Elisa cannot absorb soul energy, she needs to train herself.
This is mainly because, if she looses control of her newly attained dark mana, she might go on a never ending blood thirsty rampage.
Elisa went along with Lily, holding the hand of the beast girl as they entered a void portal to the garden. As they left, the beast girl turned to see her saviour, as if wanting to stay with him a while longer.
Hajime's had planned to enter the famous, Brave Warrior Tournament. It was an monthly occurrence, where mercenaries and butting adventurers had the opportunity to impress the three princes and perhaps gain access into their knighthood or guard factions.
Also, the price money was immensely generous. Hajime had a plan to use the money in order to purchase the materials he needed for the time regulation artifact.
He also wanted to see, just how strong he had become since his battle with the assassins.
He decided to use his two new artifacts. He equiped the dark scale armor from his battle with the dark basilisk as well as the dark Knight's Weapon, the dark dagger he attained, two days before.
They now had just nine days to the new awakener's ceremony, and nine days to create the artifacts necessary to disguise their ages and bodies. At the Grand Arena in the heart of the second district, mercenaries from all around were gathered for the tournament.
The tournament would consist of a maximum of a hundred participants. To enter, one had to pass the qualifications round, which was an aptitude test. Using the element a person was most attuned to, he or she would need to strike the magically reinforced straw doll. Once the person is able to deal damage to the doll, they would gain a position in the tournament the next day.
After a long wait, it was now Hajime's turn, his right hand firmly grasped the hilt of the dagger as he moved with a slow yet confident air around him. The element of darkness within him roared to life, shocking those around who were looking in awe. They did not expect a person to wield such intense dark magic. They wondered who he was. Around Hajime's neck, he wore the pendant, Elisa was wearing on their first day in the capital. He used it to change his hair colour to just black.
With the dagger aimed at the straw doll, Hajime used an infusion to imbued the sword with the spell, darkened claw slash. The spell, upon activation, tore through fibres of straw like butter. When he had made his way throught half the width of the doll, he stopped, not wanting to show too much power. He turned around, took the dagger and walked away.
As he was moving from the assessment field, he felt a gaze. The stalker thought he wasn't noticed, little did the individual know that Hajime was waiting for them.
The night before, the office of the harvenger, Hajime had seen the insignia of the secret task force that answered to only nobility close to the imperial family. The task force were known as The Night Shade, their name taken from a well know flower that bloomed only at night in the Imperial Capital.
He was curious whether the third prince knew of his origins or the figure was simply scouting for potential strong pawns.
In truth, he had noticed the gaze far before he was called to demonstrate his skill. He simply chose to show off a bit and have some fun, hence his reason for going alone.
He left with a satisfied smile, knowing that the pieces of the puzzle were falling into place. He made a turn in a nearby alleyway, with hopes of going to Alfonse's shop to see if he had the necessary materials he needed.
In the alleyway, he felt another unsettling gaze. It was different from that of the Night Shade member, far more different. This gaze belonged to someone weaker that Hajime and he could feel it from their blood lust density. He decided to ignore and bait the person to attack him. The person responded on cue. The mystery assailant dashed at Hajime with a knife in hand, hoping to finish him off. Hajime turned and watched as the knife came in contact with the dark scale armor.
He could've caught it, but chose to scare the person instead. As the knife made contact, It snapped at the edge, falling from the attacker's grip. Hajime took hold of his neck, raising the attacker high as the wind took of the hood the attacker wore. The attacker was revealed to be a young girl. Hajime was not surprised. The grip strength used to thrust the knife was barely comparable to a child.
" Hey kid, I'll give you one chance to talk. Now, use it wisely to answer the question... ...". He lowers his tone ominously and continues,
" who sent you?!".
The air hung low, a sense of fear washing over the red- haired young lady as she asked in a choked tone, " who, a~are you?!".
Hajime was still incredibly annoyed. He tightens his grip around her neck.
" Shouldn't I be asking that question, little brat!!? I'm feeling generous today so I'll ask you once more, who the heck, are you!!?".
As the words came out, the intense blood lust of the menace skill oozed of his being in waves. The girl could barely breathe. Hajime assessed her body until he saw something that intrigued him. It was on her chest, glowing with a faint crimson aura. Hajime's pupils dilated as the words came out in rage, " A slave crest!!!!?".