Grabbing his gun leaning on the wall, he snuck out of his room shared with his wife to be, Alice as the sun was raising leaving behind a message for her in front of the door as he left. She was still recovering after having just given birth days prior and he didn’t want to disturb her rest. His gun had been repaired and now he needed to test it out on something or someone, the most appropriate place for him to do that while in Crocus was none other than the Domus Flau, the great battle arena that typically held Guild Tournaments however those have since become absent in these darker days. He hoped there would be another mage there for him to fight as shooting at targets while sufficient to gauge the efficiency of the weapon left him unsatisfied.

The first issue he would come up against as he made his way through to the Domus Flau would be that the armed militants who seemed to be praying upon the rich or at least those that looked rich. While his clothes were non-descript in that regard, his weapon suggested otherwise with it sparkling from the light of the rising sun. Wanting to avoid such conflicts Kon took detours and went through alleyways weaving his way to the entrance of the battle arena. The staff and guards to the vast building were busy preparing for the start of another busy day and as he walked up to a more senior official trying to get a word in as the woman was instructing a new employee. Rather then even getting a friendly hello the woman instead looked at him briefly and commented. “Fighter?, Go on inside the rest will be on there way.”

Shrugging, he walked inside with his gun resting on his right shoulder while his right hand clasped the handle within the weapon. Entering the building he looked from left to right noticing ticket booths and kiosks opening up, “Did I come in too early?” He thought to himself, after all he would be shooting a gun fairly soon and it was only maybe 7 in the morning perhaps he should watch a few matches before doing anything.

It was around 7 am when Hyōen was located in the large colosseum-like structure called Domus Flau. It was the perfect place to put some final clicks on his almost mastered magic - up until now, he had been troubled with summoning directed fire, forming it to blades and/or orbs that he can throw, and the wings were the worst thing to summon back then. Now, he finds himself decently at ease with this weird Fire Magic, and he was more than eager to see what secrets that lied behind it. Coda was watching from the side-lines as she perched on the very fence that had the function to separate the audience from the battleground. Despite being this early, he actually got an opponent; however, the story following up to this was weird…

A militant had stepped up to him earlier when the Fire Wizard was on his way. Clearly interested in the necklace of his, the militant kept a good eye on Hyōen, and obviously, he took notice of that. It all continued all the way back up to the Domus Flau itself where Hyōen, for the very first time in his life, got to see the inside of a literal arena meant for battles between wizards. The bird boy curiously exposed the militant, naively, and asked if he wanted to help him clear out any last problems about his magic. The militant was shocked and confused at first, but then took it as an honor.

“Alright, I don’t know what ‘problems’ that you may suffer, but feel free to get rid of them through me..!”

“Roger..!”

Or well, until Hyōen actually started manifesting magic. On his right hand, a small orb of bright, orange light was visible, and he quickly rose the arm up in the air to expand the orb into a huge fireball. He would throw that fireball like throwing a football, watching it cross the battlefield with a terrifying trail of burnt earth left behind. The ball itself would crash at one point and emit an explosion that would send heat out in all directions, but the militant managed to get himself out of danger pretty quickly. Having watched the danger behind such magic, he decided not to play around more and dismiss himself. That only left the wizard with no opponent to test out his skills with…

Having spotted a booth ready to serve its first meal of the day, Kon made his way over there watching as the five workers there cramped in the tiny area worked in harmony eventually one of them spotted him. Looking at the menu in the meantime, he spotted a variety of foods he was familiar with and others that he had yet to try, with the absence of other customers he was able to get all the information on the various dishes that he wanted choosing a few dishes alongside a mug of tea. Placing down the cross and leaning it against the booth, kon received the first portions of his order his tea and some aebleskiver or pancake puffs as was described to him, they were gently coated in some powdered sugar and some lemon juice. Resting his back on the cross, he swiftly ate through the puffs before drinking most of his tea, getting a refill, he got the second and final part of his meal, a noodle soup with variety vegetables and an unknown meat.

Completing the noodle soup just as quickly, he promptly paid the server before leaving with his cross and a full belly, he left to register at the ticket booth. The server there looked just as annoyed and busy as the staff who were outside preparing, barked at Kon. “What?!” Wondering what he wanted with him having knocked on the glass to get a response from the teen, Kon spoke in a well-mannered yet firm stance. “I’m here to compete in the arena, where can I register?” The teen looked tempted to respond harshly at the innocent question however from the stern expression and intimidating presence Kon held over him, he chose not only to look away and answer in a whimpering, whisper. “Over there, the doorway with the yellow outline.” Wanting to thank boy who seemed otherwise unable to look at him, kon instead slipped a not small amount of jewels his way through the vents and as he left the area, he shouted out. “Enjoy the money, don’t spend it all at once.”

Cruelty for the sake of cruelty was unnecessary and acts such as these didn’t overly hurt him only his pocket. Finding the aforementioned area, he moved into the darkened room, sensing several people within it all having great power at the forefront was a large man almost obese with a pair of twins one on each side being next to him. All remained still though heads turned as if seeing him in clear daylight, making his way to the clear leader of the group stopping mid way just in front of an metal fireplace, embers bearing going providing minimal lighting to the room. “So you want to fight?” The large man spoke just as Kon opened his own mouth to speak, not here for silly games, he answered bluntly. “Yes, I wish to test my abilities within your arena.”

A serious frown drew upon the man’s face with fierce lines forming on it from Kon’s answer. Fiercely slamming his right hand onto the ground and exhaling a great plume of smoke, As a result all of the men rose up from where they knelt and half-drew their swords still having one knee on the ground. Unfazed by the show of force that the man demonstrated, Kon continued to look at the man with at most serious as he was once more asked. “Do you want to fight?” Not wanting to waste any time for such games as this, Kon took little time flicking his cross from his shoulder instead wielding it with both arms and pointed the opened rifle section directly at the man. “I’m here to fight, not for fun.” Recognizing that he was not one to mess around with the man instead drew up his right hand and returned it to its original position causing the men around him to return as well. “Fine, fine, here you go.” Removing a note from his pockets, the man handed it over to Kon who promptly left the room to punish the teen for leading him into such a place.

Heat still kept pouring everywhere from the battlefield as Hyōen continued his fights. It was mainly locking onto one of the various people - about 4-5 of them were present at the moment - on the field, and then test his luck by calling out to them before launching the large fireball. However, at one point, the Fire Wizard was low on mana, and it would be dumb to run low in the midst of a battle that early, wouldn’t it? Therefore, he took a break from the heat that caused his skin to sweat immensely as he sought the sidelines, maneuvering his way towards the rooms inside the monument where other wizards and warriors were located.

He heard a commotion from a dark room nearby. Once when he turned his gaze towards the door that led into said room, he noticed a little smoke making it out. The next thing that presented itself was a tall man wielding both a cross and some kind of firearm… wait, Hyōen was sure that he knew that man. The bright hair was the same, and his composure hadn’t changed much since Baska. “Oh, hey there, Kon..!” he greeted joyfully, “What are you doing here so early… the same as me, I guess?”

It was most likely that Kon had the same purpose here as himself; in an arena this early in the morning, it was obvious. Perhaps he shouldn’t have asked in the first place, but he couldn’t be too sure about stuff like this. The smoke that came out from the room, though, caught his curiosity too - if he wasn’t wrong, he could fathom a few other people inside the gloomy place. “And what are those guys up to...?” he questioned curiously as he poked his head inside to spot a fair group of mixed heights and builds, archers, brawlers and ordinary engineers.

Coda came flying towards Hyōen with a piece of paper in her beak. It was a flyer, actually, and it flapped on his face when she rapidly swung the flyer in front of him. ”Y-Yeah, yeah, I’ve seen it, Coda..!” he proclaimed to the raptor, and upon grabbing the piece of paper, he skimmed the text and learnt of a future festival at Orchidia. It was the town of his guild, Lamia Scale, so hearing about a festival interested him a lot, and it was apparent on his merry face.

“Well, I better go now! There’s a festival at my hometown,” he stated to Kon before turning around, “I’ll meet ya later..!”

-EXIT-

Much to his surprise, Konstantin was greeted by someone whom he had not expected to see in such an establishment, perhaps he was testing his own abilities just has Kon had aimed to do so. The conversation between the two men was brief with him refraining from uttering nothing more than "Hello." Before giving a brief wave as Hyoen bid his farewell and shaking his head as the young man left the building. Admittedly he too would have to leave the Domus Flau building feeling the need to return to the apartment which he was staying with Alice as he had a feeling that the festival would be at Orchidia and there would likely be arrangements that they would need to take care of, in case Alice opted to have the wedding at or during the festival. He was undecided for the time being and needed more information before he make any decisions. Leaving the building was even easier than first entering it with the employees now having their focus drawn towards the growing crowd who wished to watch the days entertainment, while he wanted to partake himself, he had other matters he had to attend to. Reaching the apartment at a steady pace with his cross on his back, he reached his temporary residences with plenty of time to spare for lunch.

[Exit]