The Guardians' Throne - The First Magic Swordsman

              In the end, the owner of the stall was so surprised that he didn't even try to come up with an excuse. He just gave the rewards, and then Zaos and Nyana left.

"Let's eat something first and then return home to store the prizes," Zaos said. "It will be a pain to carry so many things during the whole day."

"You don't mind staying with me the whole day?" Nyana asked.

"Of course not," Zaos said and then patted her head. "It is pretty refreshing taking the prizes from those scammers."

"Please don't pat my head, I am not a little kid," Nyana said.

"Even normal kids can have their heads patted, you know," Zaos said.

"That is not the point…" Nyana said and then dropped her shoulders and sighed.

            Zaos laughed a little but then decided to stop making fun of his little sister. Besides, he couldn't get carried away since he has bad luck with rumors, and the next one might become that the heir of the Sielders family was bullying a little girl using the authority of his name.

          Although they didn't apparently combine all that well, Zaos bought a sandwich and a citric juice from a stand that belonged to a man of Vezar. That combination seemed pretty famous there, but he never had the chance to eat it while he was there. After that, they returned home to store their spoils of war.

"Here, mom," Nyana said as soon as they met her mother in the living room. "A gift from Zaos."

"Thank you very much, young master," Jeline said and nodded. "Is Nyana bothering you a lot?"

"Nah, I am fine," Zaos said. "It is better if I walk around the capital than staying at home in times like these. After all, the mansion has been having too many tourists. Not like this place is actually a nice spot to visit. Anyway, we still have a lot of time in our hands, but we should hurry in order to pay a visit to all the suspicious stalls."

              Zaos and Nyana quickly returned to the festival. While Nyana was having a lot of fun doing whatever, Zaos had the same fun screwing with the stalls that had some gimmicks made to make people lose money. Thanks to that, they had to return home and store their spoils three times that morning. At some point, they had to take a break because they met Drannor and Ameria.

"Wow, I didn't expect to find Zaos here, much less with someone," Drannor said and then smiled. "My name is Drannor, it is nice to meet you."

"Yes… my name is Nyana," Nyana said while trying to avoid their eyes. "It is nice to meet you too, sir, Your Highness."

"There is no need to be overly formal," Ameria said. "A friend of Zaos is a friend of mine."

"Yes…" Nyana said nervously.

            Nyana seemed a bit weird, Zaos knew that she was originally a shy girl, but five years had passed since the last time he saw her so nervous. If it was due to their fame, Nyana was supposed to feel a bit nervous around Zaos as well.

"Why don't we walk together for a while?" Ameria asked.

"Nah, it is fine," Zaos said. "We aren't doing anything special, just teaching a lesson to some scammers."

"Scammers?" Ameria frowned. "Do you people in the stalls are cheating somehow?"

"You shouldn't make a scene," Zaos said. "After all, you only might make things worse. Besides, it is not like they are doing anything illegal."

"Still…" Ameria said.

"So stubborn… there are other ways of punishing these individuals," Zaos said.

                In the end, Zaos explained to Ameria how to cheat without being caught. While that wasn't something an official of the kingdom should do, there was no reason to hold back against scammers.

"Talking about using your skills for evil purposes," Ameria frowned.

"All's well that ends well," Zaos said. "Drannor should notice the stalls with these types of owners so he can warn you. Now if you excuse us, I don't want to draw more attention to us."

"All right… see you two later," Ameria said.

"Don't make many stalls to go bankrupt, Zaos," Drannor said, and then they left.

"I am Sorry, Zaos," Nyana said. "Because of me you decided not to hang out with your friends."

"Don't mind it," Zaos said. "Besides, right now, it would be a pain to walk with them during the festival. They are bound to draw too much attention."

"You don't like to be the focus of attention? Even though you are already so famous?" Nyana asked.

"Yep, I can't see the point," Zaos replied. "It can be useful sometimes, but most of it, it is only a pain in the ass. Well, rather than talk about that, let's keep checking the game stalls. I was planning to invest my money somewhere, but this works even better."

"All right then," Nyana said. "Still, before that, if you don't like fame, why are you going to participate in the tournament?"

"Well, His Majesty asked me to participate," Zaos replied. "I don't see the point, but I guess that might be a good chance."

"Good chance? For what?" Nyana asked.

"I am going to eventually command five hundred men and I won't have the chance to impose respect any time soon, so I might use the tournament to do that," Zaos explained. "Many people will watch it, also some people that will eventually join my unit, so I have to show them that I deserve their respect by showing my martial skills."

"Oh, I get it," Nyana said. "This indeed looks like a good opportunity…"

            Nyana looked quite interested in the subject, which made Zaos wonder why only soldiers and officials of the kingdom could participate since she was a mage. Zaos also got interested at first when he heard that the tournament prize was the king's sword. It was the sword Zaos saw Dalyor using once, but since it was the same size as Guardian's Heart, Zaos lost interest. He didn't need two swords of that size.