Chapter 121: Rigged (1)

"Is this any good?" Wrik asked Dairyl, showing the runes he drew on the notebook—which was specially made for inscribing. 

Dairyl, who was instructing Lora, took the notebook. She skimmed through, only for a while to nod. "This is good," she said. "You can go to the next phase now."

For the past few days Wrik had not compromised his study with Dairyl, and she too did not fool around. She instructed him well in all the mistakes he had done. After practising on stones for a couple of days, she had given him the notebook to practise, which made his progress even faster.

"There is no time for today," Wrik said. "It is just the designated time for the meeting. They will be coming soon."

"Right," Dairyl said, standing up.

"By the way, Dairyl," Wrik asked, looking at her. "As you said, designing was two types. Carving and Breaking." 

Dairyl nodded, not understanding why Wrik was asking such an obvious question. She waited for Wrik to say further.

"The slave brand is a product of designers, right?" he asked. Actually, he already know the slave brand was made with omega runes, but he needed to confirm from her. Wrik only continued, seeing her nodding. "You see. Anton, my brother, had a slave mark on him as well. Can you break it?" 

Wrik had another reason for asking this as well, but he could not say that now.

"Yes," Dairyl did not let him down. "Creating those complicated runes may be quite difficult, but the ones that were supplied to the test were quite easy to break. It may be quite tiresome, but I can break it."

"Thank you." 

Nodding, Dairyl glanced at Lora and said, "Lora, your lesson is over for today. Help me make the tea for everyone." 

The two ladies moved from there while Wrik waited in the room. It was him that asked for discussions about their future operations. He had asked for anyone in their group who had some recognition to take part in the discussions. Lily and others had no qualms about it, so they agreed. 

The first ones to arrive were Tanya, Byul and Michelle while the Archer called Sitara that came from the fortress was behind them. Tanya nodded to Wrik before sitting on his right, and the others sat beside Tanya. 

"Where are the others?" he asked.

"Don't know about everyone, but your dear brother is playing around with the spear maidens," Tanya answered, crooking her lips. "Jake and Davin are with him too."

Wrik raised an eyebrow but did not know what to say. It seemed regaining his freedom from the seal, Anton regained his temperament as well. Wrik could not say it was a bad thing, though.

The next one that came was Lily. She gave a faint smile to sit across from them. Then, one after another, everyone came. Anton came just after the three maidens who were of the same clan as Lily. Then came Jacob and Davin with sweat on their exterior.

What were they doing to get this much sweat? Wrik thought. That too in this weather.

Wasting no time, they seated one after another. Anton sat on the left of Wrik while Jacob and Davin were beside him. The three maidens choose to sit with Lily. Well, that was unsurprising. In the end, Dairyl came and served the herbal tea to everyone with Lora before taking a seat. With all the seats at the stone table booked, Lora was the only one standing.

"Lora, you can go play around now," Dairyl said to the adolescent girl.

"No, I am not going," Lora said, shaking her head. "Who will I be playing with when everyone is here?"

Dairyl looked at Lily for help who said:

"Let her stay, she will be bored soon."

Lora remained standing behind Dairyl as the discussion began.

"So everyone's here. Let's start the debate, shall we?" Wrik said. He continued, gaining everyone's approval. "Is there anyone who would like to take the lead? If not, I'll begin." 

"Pretty brother, you are the one that asked for the meeting. You should be the one to take the lead as well," Lily said, smiling like she did every time. 

Wrik did not bother to respond to the addressing, and came to the main topic. "Today is the tenth day for me here in the test while you all have been here for that long or more. For today's discussion, I would like to address our future agenda, threats and their solution. If anyone has any suggestions, feel free to voice them out.

"Well then, let's talk about our threats first." 

Wrik paused for a moment to look at everyone. "The biggest threat to us is Scythe. Anyone would like to add something or have any disagreement about it?"

None opened their lips. Well, they very well know about the reputation of the Scythe, there was no need to discuss it further. Still, Wrik was disappointed. He did not let the silence grow further, and opened his lips, gesturing at Anton. "Ton, would you like to say something about your encounter with Scythe?" 

Everyone's attention was transferred to Anton, who tilted his head at Wrik, complaining about why he had pulled him into the discussion.

Wrik nodded to Anton, raising his eyebrows. 

"Well, it was a short encounter per se," Anton said, rubbing his forehead. He looked at the stone ceilings to recall the past and said. "It was a guy dressed in black, oh there was that creepy mask too. I think this guy is a psycho. . ."

Everyone's expression turned strange as they waited for Anton to finish his phrase.

"But there was another guy, Ben, or something. He is definitely crazy." 

"Anything else you would like to add?" Wrik eyed Anton.

Anton frowned in his thoughts. "Their powers, both Scythe or the Crazy guy, were a little similar. The only encounter I had with Scythe he somehow dealt a blow to my chest, breaking a few of my ribs, but the surprising thing was I did not see where the impact came from. It was like a rush of force hit me out of nowhere. While for Crazy Ben, I could very well sense the pressure of the force that attacked me. It was like the pressure of a wave, similar to gravity." 

Wrik nodded. He heard these before from Anton, but he would like to tell everyone about them. He already told Anton to mention it during the debate, though Anton was embarrassed to show his terrible performance. 

"That means you were so abused the first time we met because of that?" Seriel of the maidens voiced out. "Seriously, how did you get away from there?"

"Let's not talk about that," Anton said. 

It was not time to tell everyone about the bet, or anything about it. Wrik even lectured Anton a couple of times to seal his lips about it. Anton was easy to understand why Wrik did that. The reputation Scythe built so far was so high that, if he said that they would be against him, many of the men would flee just hearing it.

"Let's talk about Scythe a little further," Wrik joined the conversation again, and returned to the topic. He eyed carefully at all of them to ask slowly. "What do you guys think about this Mysterious Scythe? Why do all the participants fear him so much?" 

Lily smiled like she knew something but said nothing. Nor did any of the maidens, they clearly have no idea why Wrik was asking such an obvious question.

"Yes, Davin," Wrik eyed, Davin was listening all the time. "What do you think? Why are all the participants so frightened of Scythe?"

Davin said cautiously. "Is not it because of his strength? Moreover, he had hundreds of men under him? Who would not fear him?"

"A simple, but valid answer," Wrik nodded. "But this is not what I am looking for. The fear Scythe created among the participants is not natural, and it is not possible with just strength and men. Anyone else would like to add?"

Wrik eyed Lily for the change, but that wild woman sat there silently with her lips curved upwards. Disappointed, Wrik looked at others: Jacob, Anton, Byul or Michelle had no clue, where Tanya appeared, she wanted to say something.

"I think the name 'Scythe' adds a little to his reputation," Tanya said. "It does sound quite creepy and forceful." 

"That is right, but there is more to it," Wrik chose to come clean with his thoughts. It would only waste time if he wanted to get the answer from others. "For one thing, Scythe is not a name anymore. That guy made it into a symbol. A symbol of fear. A mysterious guy who has everything in his palm. I don't know how he created such an image, but I am very sure it was not him alone. Even if rumours need time to spread, yet we found frightening rumours about him just the very day we entered the test.

"He may have frightening strength, but it was not enough to declare himself the winner of the test in just a couple of weeks, and the crazy thing was that many believed that as well. I think there is a scheme behind it that would need further findings."

The cave chamber grew silent the moment Wrik finished his phrase. Everyone thought about what Wrik said. They could not pinpoint if his opinion was right or not, but they couldn't refuse it as well.

"That was quite right, Pretty Bother," Lily opened her lips finally. "But we can't do anything about it. The image was already established."

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