The crowd was deafening. Though, their reactions were plainly mixed.

Very few saw this coming. Even among those who did, not one expected it so quickly.

Many screeched with excitement, exclaimed that the boy's technique was cheating, some just boo'd, some woo'd, and others still simply covered their ears.

The undefeated reigning champion, bested in a matter of moments by a brat with some fancy footwork and a bit of bare-knuckle boxing.

"The f-" Gregor's voice echoed throughout the arena, perhaps unintentionally, followed by the rapid flapping of pages. "Uh, oh sh- I'm already o- AHEM! So, uh, apparently, unarmed attacks aren't against the rules! Kind of seems against the spirit of the game, to be honest! Might, uh, might be time for some amendments, or something- ANYWAYS! 'S' THE WANDERER IS VICTORIOUS!"

People were already shouting and being loud, so the announcement didn't really impact all that much. 

S didn't mind the announcement or the audience, with the exception of a few particular members. He gazed above the north gate, where his companions were-

Not seated.

'Right...' The boy thought to himself. 'That's probably not good.' 

Immediately, he sped towards the gate. It wasn't like Beyes to just get up and leave without warning. S knew better than anyone about Beye's ability to sit still for potentially hours at a time, doing very little. Over the past few days, he'd often caught the guy just staring for ages into the water, the sky, or at his "sister's" face. Which S found both amusing, and slightly concerning. Regardless, he knew that Beyes wouldn't just get up and leave for no reason.

S's thoughts were interrupted, as large hand was placed upon his shoulder. Instinctually, the boy forcefully turned around, and reached his hand out towards Grigor's face.

Of course, nothing came of it. S felt a twinge in his core.

"You and I need to talk." Grigor whispered just loud enough for the boy to hear, reaching into his shirt and throwing a small card at the boy. "We'll meet in my room. You'll show that to anyone who stops you." The man concluded before turning around and putting on a friendly face for the audience. 

S instinctually caught the card, though he immediately rolled his eyes and went to throw the card to the ground.

'Right, as if I'm gonna waste my time with some rich wannabe macho-man.' S thought to himself. 'I gotta figure out what happened to Beyes and the girl, especially with Catface hanging abou-'

. . .

He slowly lowered his arm.

'Well... He's probably just taking a leak. Yeah. Plus, I can't keep a celebrity waiting, or something.' S reasoned to himself, though cursed himself for rationalizing, especially like that. He hated more that he was actually going through with it.

'He's probably just takin' a piss.' He repeated to himself. 

With that, the boy hung his head, and turned over to south gate, and slowly passed through. 

. . .

S looked around the thin hallways of the arena as he wandered with only a vague idea of where Grigor's room might be. 

The walls, he thought, were pretty lame. Just gray, lifeless, boring. Also pretty lacking in terms of direction. 

He didn't usually think about these things.

'What's the deal with individual competitor rooms at a place like this? What, he got makeup and stuff in there?' S joked to himself.

. . .

S looked down at the card he'd been given. It was just blank, pure white, with nothing but Grigor's signature on it.

'Does he just carry these around? That's a bit pretentious.'

. . .

Eventually, he arrived at a door with a sign that read 'Grigor the Eye' hanging from it. 

There was a group of moderately well armed and armored individuals standing by a few of the doors, inclduing Grigor's. Though, when they got one look at S, they let him through with little more than a glance.

It seemed that the card was useless. 

Grigor's room was quite simple, and surprisingly nice. A small bed in the corner, a sofa, small coffee table, small set of weights, and a dresser set with a large mirror. 

And a complete and extensive set of various facial products, beard oils, and assorted hair stuff. S had no idea what most of it was.

'Huh. Guess I was right.' S thought to himself. 

S leapt onto the bed in the corner, immediately making himself at home. Just because he was meeting with a big shot despite his better judgement for the sole purpose of avoiding someone, didn't mean he had any intention of treating them with any respect. 

S lay down and stared at the ceiling for some time. He tried not to, but he couldn't help but think about what Beyes and the girl might be up to, which certainly didn't help with his guilt.

Fortunately, it didn't take Grigor long to arrive. He looked down at S sternly, as his presence seemed to fill the room.

S looked up at him with mild indifference, his face not dissimilar to that of his friend.

"I've only got one thing to say to you." Said Grigor.

"Right, I'm listening." 

Grigor paused for a moment, taking a brief, yet sharp, breath of air.

And he spoke.

"C'mon, h-how did you find out about it?" Grigor asked with a childish whine.

"What, your little magic trick with the pointing?" S asked, utterly lacking the energy to be taken aback by this. 

"Yeah, that! I was so thorough! I've come this far without so much as a hiccup! So how? Who told you?!"

"Nobody told me." S said, carelessly tossing and catching a weight he didn't bother to read the label of. 

"I guess that makes sense, since I've never told anyone, but... How? How'd you find out?!" 

"I could smell it. Could see it, too, if I squinted."

"W-What? Smell it? That doesn't- It was untraceable, I was sure! It's gotten past every magic detection field!" 

"There isn't anything in this world that's untraceable. If it weren't me, I'm sure someone would've found out eventually."

"It's been a decade without so much as a peep!"

"Seriously? Magic or not, hasn't anyone found that pointing thing at least a little odd?"

"Well, almost, a decade. And pre-game poses used to be popular, they've just fallen out of favor recently, but... Agh, it's not important." Grigor said with a sigh. "I guess I shouldn't keep dancing around it... What are your demands, kid?" He said with a little more dignity.

"Demands?"

"Don't play coy with me. Why'd you do this? What must I do to get you to not squeal?" 

"To be honest, I just did it because I needed a quick pick-me up, and I figured it'd be funny to humiliate you."

"Did it help?"

"Eh, kind of."

"Well, that's good, at least."

"Right. Point is, I don't really want anything. I shouldn't really be here at all, honestly." 

"Is there anything you wanna talk about?" Grigor asked. "A-and are you gonna tell anyone?"

"No and probably. Don't worry, I'm not gonna shout it from the rooftops or anything, I'm just not gonna keep it a secret."

"A-are you sure? You don't want money or anything?"

"Please, money's cheap."

"I'm... willing to part with everything I have on me right now."

"And how much is that?"

"300 Coin." 

S chuckled. "That's a lowball. Let me guess... 700?"

. . .

"Nope, too high, isn't it? Anyway, That's not something I'm concerned with." S said. "Though, now that you mention it, I suppose I did go through the trouble of coming here... Right, how 'bout we say you owe me a favor?"

"What kind of favor?"

S shrugged. "I dunno. We'll cross that bridge when I need it. Where are you when you're not doin' these tournaments?"

"Oh, uh, I've got a small cabin on some land, half a days carriage north of here, kind of on the way to Breakford. It's kind of out of the way, but I am out pretty oft-"

"I'm sure I'll be able to find it. I know a guy. Gotta say, I'm surprised you didn't lie to me just now."

"To be honest, I don't really do much when I'm not performing. I have a lot more free time than I thought I would."

"Fair enough."

"Yep."

. . .

"Is that all?" Grigor asked.

"Right, I was gonna ask you the same thing."

"Yeah, this went down a lot easier than I thought."

"Right."

"To be honest, I can't help but be a little disappointed. I've been mentally preparing myself for this for years, coming up with strategies and all that, I guess somewhere along the way I ended up getting excited about it, but that was... Yeah, pretty easy."

"Is that what the whiney voice thing was about? I thought that was weird."

"Yeah, that was part of it. I thought it would... I dunno, man." 

"Right. Oh, that reminds me, what does your magic thing do, exactly?" 

"You don't know?"

"Nah, I just knew that you were doing something. Some sorta applied slowness, or something?"

"Oh, no, nothing like that. I just read minds."

S paused for a moment, having just enough energy to be taken aback by that. "Mind reading? And you're not lying, either... Sheesh, that's some powerful stuff." 

"Nah, it's not that big a de-"

"I'm not complimenting you. You can read minds without detection, and you're using that to cheat at sports? Why not go into, like, politics, or hostage negotiation or something?"

"'Cus politicians and negotiators aren't popular."

". . . Right."

"Yep."

. . .

"Well," Grigor began, "I should be getting back to the thing, we're actually on a tight schedule, what with the head ceremony and all that."

"Right, I should be heading out, too." S didn't ask nor care about whatever the 'head ceremony' was. "I've gotta do... Something."

"I see. Well, in any case, it was a pleasure meeting you, I'm glad we got this sorted out quickly." Grigor said, stepping back towards the door. "And if you ever need that favor, just shoot me a letter or knock on my door. I'll get back to you as soon as I can."

"Right."

"Glad to hear it." Grigor said with a friendly nod, exiting the room.

S stared back up at the ceiling.

. . .

'Right, guess I should hop to it, then.' He thought to himself.

. . .

And lied back down on the bed.

'Just... After this.'

---

'That was a 75 pound weight he was tossing around!' Grigor thought to himself as he strolled back to the gate. 'Who the hell is that kid?'