“My grandfather lost his leg while facing Lord Asa,” Jurot said, his hand firmly gripping Adam’s shoulder. He pulled the young man down beside him, before he crossed his arms. “I only know great pride for my grandfather, whose leg was taken by the Blood Knight while he fought Lord Asa.”

Thomas cleared his throat, awkwardly. “I meant no disrespect to your grandfather. I just meant to say that those who should have fought are not those who should remain within the Iyr to retire peacefully, but those more suitable.”

“My grandaunt fought Lord Asa with his grandfather,” Jaygak said. “They fought alongside a Vice Commander of the Thousand Hunts, Sir Kris Huntsmaster. He fought bravely beside the Iyrmen, but Lord Asa’s strength far surpasses most.”

“To the Iyr, Lord Asa is considered of similar strength to Great Jaeryael,” Kitool said. 

“I understand your proclivity to speak so highly of Lord Asa, since he defeated your elders, but to compare that fellow to the magnificence of Lady Jaeryael, it is humorous at best, and insulting at worst.”

“It is a great shame that Lord Asa did not defeat our elders,” Jaygak stated. 

“The bout was undecided,” Jurot said. 

“It is a great shame,” Kitool stated.

“Though the emphasis has been placed on Lord Asa, it was King Merryweather who caused such death. His brilliant mind, and his great blade, was what caused so much avoidable death.” Thomas shook his head. “It is a great shame.” However, he could say no more, not since he had grown up hearing such great tales about the previous King’s Sword, to the point they overshadowed even the current King’s Sword. 

Adam still felt the simmering anger within himself. ‘Stupid Aldishmen and their stupid stupidness.’ “I mean, it’s not like King Merryweather is… actually, he is pretty strong.”

Thomas smiled ever so slightly. Not even the braggart was stupid enough to speak so poorly of the Florian King. 

“Speaking of King Merryweather, my brother here got to face him a few years back.”

“I’m sure you’ll say he won.”

“No, that would be ridiculous, Hope Thomas,” Adam said, raising his brow. “However, he did use two Fourth Gate spells against my brother.”

Jurot’s lips twitched into a small smile. “Yes.”

“Of course, I am certain,” Thomas replied, almost sighing out.

“Since you won’t listen to we commonfolk, you can ask… what was his name?”

“Sir Landon.”

“That’s right, Sir Landon Littlesea. He was with us. We went on to defeat a twilight fox for him. He’s been rather decent to us, considering that he’s a-,”

“Adam,” Jaygak said, raising her brows.

“Anyway, he’s a great fellow. Speaking of which, we didn’t go see him when we were in East Port.”

“Sir Landon has married,” Jurot said. 

“Really? Ah, right, he wanted a gift for the Lady he was courting. We should go congratulate him at some point.” 

Thomas glanced at the group before them all. “What else would you like to speak of? That you have slain dragons?”

“I mean… yes, but they weren’t, you know, big dragons.”

“You slew Vandra,” Jurot said.

“I assisted in slaying Vandra,” Adam corrected. 

“Did you slay Forgryn too?” Thomas asked.

“No, his grandfather did.”

“I am certain.”

Adam grew flush hot again. “You know, it’s very Aldish of you to speak so poorly of visitors to your temple. If you want to test out whether I’m telling the truth, it’s pretty easy.”

“What need of I to hear the words of a braggart?”

“Well, someone was trying to strong arm me to donate a certain amount to the temple, so why don’t we say a thousand gold?”

“What?”

“A thousand gold. We’ll donate a thousand gold to the temple. If you win, I’ll double it to two thousand. If you lose, then you need to apologise for speaking ill of the Iyrmen.”

“I have only spoken the truth.”

“You were so scared of the truth that you didn’t even wish to cast the spell,” Adam replied, his face still flushed red. “I’m not going to let you speak ill of my children’s babo and get away with it, punk.”

“You should not speak so disrespectfully to others, young man,” Thomas said, his eyes growing darker. 

“A thousand gold. Such might be a paltry sum, but I heard that you used over three thousand gold for bringing back the lives of the fiends who wished harm upon children, and yet you will not fight for the sake of truth?”

“What is this speak of a donation?” Hope Robert asked, approaching the group.

“I merely wanted to offer the temple a thousand gold for a simple spar with the Hope,” Adam said. “It will be two thousand gold if the Hope defeats me, and if I win, then Hope Thomas here will need to apologise for trying to-,”

“Adam,” Jaygak interrupted, trying to stop him from picking a fight.

“Hope Thomas spoke of misconceptions of the Iyrmen, especially my grandfather,” Jurot said, his eyes dark. “We gave up our weapons and armour as a show of good faith, and now that we are unarmed and unarmoured, you speak ill of our elders? My grandfather?” Jurot’s face began to turn red hot with rage. “The Order of Life’s Rose…” Jurot felt Kitool’s hand on his shoulder. “I expected better of the Order of Life’s Rose.”

“It seems there is a misunderstanding that can be resolved with a simple bout,” Hope Robert said. “Hope Thomas, will you accept?”

Thomas noted the look within Robert’s eyes. It was almost… playful? He understood what the First Hope wanted. “I can only accept since the donation will further the Great Mother’s will.” ‘Since the braggart wishes to be beaten, I will have to teach him a lesson. Mother Soza, please show him your light.’

“Just to be clear, because I’m uncertain of how it works here, what with you asking us to remove our weapons and armour before picking a fight, are you going to be beating a poor priest without his armour and his weapons?” Adam asked, his tone as polite as it could possibly be, his smile so radiant.

“We will send for your armour,” Robert said, and at his word, a few acolytes slipped away. The First Hope stepped beside the Seventh Hope, who had stood to one side to ready himself. “I believe you will be able to teach him properly, but be careful, there is something about the young man which you should not underestimate.”

“Of course, Hope Robert,” Thomas replied, unsure of the First Hope was worried about, but he was no fool to ignore the words of the First Hope.

“Mister Adam’s going to fight?” Copper asked, his eyes glued to the scene.

“Mister Adam’s so strong.”

“He’s not as strong as a Hope!”

“He can fight knights.”

“A Hope isn’t a knight, it’s a Hope.”

“Yeah, Hope’s a Hope, everyone knows that.”

“Yeah, yeah, everyone knows that.”

“I know that too!”

“Me too.”

“Me too.”

The children chattered between one another, while Cobra watched with a curious look. ‘Did he pick a fight with a Hope.’ She glanced aside to Rick, who raised his brows in a way to say that this was about as expected. ‘It’s a Hope!’

Dunes sighed, sipping on the milk the Fourth Hope had offered to him. “It is Lady Arya who teases me. The moment I speak of Adam and his proclivity to causing trouble, I hear him challenge the Seventh Hope.” 

“He would trouble even a Hope?” Hope Willow asked, raising her brow curiously.

“If Adam could, he would trouble the Divine themselves,” Dunes said, before recalling the events of the previous year. ‘No, he’s already troubled them.’

“Is causing trouble within our temple so praiseworthy?”

“Adam might cause trouble, he might be disrespectful, but he had a good heart. Jurot mentioned something about his grandfather being spoke ill of. I am sure the Hope did not mean any disrespect, but Adam is very twitchy about his family.”

“His family? He is no Iyrman.”

“From what I know, Adam has lost his family, and it was the Iyr which adopted him. It seems Hope Robert wishes to see Adam’s abilities. I hope he is willing to accept the consequences of such an action.”

“Should he be reminded that this is the Holy Temple of Our Great Mother, the Goddess of Life?”

“I’m sure Adam…” Dunes leaned back. “Adam.”

Adam, who was putting on his breastplate, turned slightly. “Yeah?”

“This is a temple of life,” Dunes said. “Please.”

“I’m not stupid enough to kill someone in the temple of life,” Adam replied, only to hear Dunes loudly slurping on his cup.

“You seem so certain Adam is going to win.”

“Do you wish to bet?”

“Are you asking a Hope to bet?”

“Are you suggesting a priest has asked a Hope to bet?”

“We will welcome a donation of one hundred gold to the temple if Adam defeats our Seventh Hope.”

“I will welcome your support in keeping Adam alive in case he does something ridiculous,” Dunes replied. “It would be beneficial for you.”

Hope Willow, a pretty woman with short hair, dark eyes, and a large build, that which would have been best for a member of Black Mountain, smiled wide. “What has he done for you to speak so highly of him?”

“There is a saying in the Iyr,” Dunes said, before sipping the last of his milk.

‘Are you trying to get me killed?’ Lucy’s eyes pierced towards Adam’s back as he changed. ‘Damn it! Adam! Damn you to the Fires of Averzon!’

Dunes placed down his cup, before glancing aside to his companions, who had gotten so used to Adam’s antics, they continued their conversations casually while preparing to watch the fight. 

“Adam is Adam.”

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