Chapter 9

The night sky was twinkling with stars and the moon was shining brightly. Under the night sky, in a quiet part of the market, two people were eating while sitting down on a table in front of a small food stall when one of them noticed a banner hanging high above .

“Hey! Look at that!” Sasa pointed towards the banner.

“Hmm…” Hemon finished gulping down the last piece of a delicious fish fry from his plate before looking up to where Sasa was pointing.

Both of them had one arm in a sling, faces swollen, bandaged lips and on nose. It seemed the two of them were in a war which accurately showed what they had gone through.

“Not that far too from here” Sasa added after finishing her plate of fish fry. She looked at him and asked, “Want to check it out?”

Hemon stared at her for a few moments before sighing a little. He licked his fingers one last time then extended his working arm and said “Help me please”.

Sasa smiled and helped him to get up on his feet with a grunt herself. He took out 200 Rias from his purse and paid the young man manning the counter of the stall. Beside the young man, an old man was sitting on a stool in front of the pan and frying a few more delicious pieces of fish and chicken.

“Uncle, I loved your fish fry. I had never seen them in a diamond shape and it was full of fish and less batter, just the way I love them.” Hemon complimented the old man. One thing about Hemon, he loved himself a good piece of fish fry now and then. The old man looked up at him and smiled when he heard and replied “Next time try the chicken cutlets, son. I even fry them with a batter made from eggs. You’ll love them too”.

“Oh! That brings water to my mouth. You sure they are as delicious as you are making it to be?” Hemon asked to which the old man replied smiling “Son, I have been in this business since I was as young as my son here and my wife still loves my chicken cutlets. So there’s two reasons right there.”

“If aunty loves them then I will definitely try it next time” Hemon replied before walking away from the stall with Sasa.

He put his good arm around Sasa’s shoulder for support and both slowly limped towards another part of the market while supporting each other.

When they reached Madam Weiser’s, a sign directed them towards the back of the bar. They found only an employee sweeping the floor in front of a door and no line in front of it.

“Hey! Is the event still open?” Sasa asked the employee.

The employee turned his attention towards them. He measured them up and down then replied, “Wait a moment”.

He went inside the bar through the door. They didn’t have to wait for long as the employee opened the door from the inside and signaled for them to enter. Upon entering, they saw an open door beside a staircase. Through the door they could see people packed within the bar, waitresses carrying trays of mugs to customers. People were enjoying their beer while listening to music performed by musicians. An employee beckoned them to follow him up the stairs.

They slowly walked up the wooden stairs to the second floor trailing the employee. Upon reaching the second floor, they saw the entire floor had been cleared save for one table. The entire floor only had three people on it. The bar was lit properly with wall mounted torches and they had no problem recognizing the person in front of them. Both of their breaths got caught as they saw the new champion, sitting on the table. The table was set in such a way that the champion was facing the guests walking the stairs with the overview from the balcony behind him. There was a big gold championship belt kept on the table for people to see and recognize him.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

The champion was looking from the balcony holding a half filled mug of beer. Two more people were standing at either side of him and by the look of their uniform, they were employees of the bar. The Champion, Jann, didn’t pay attention when they walked up to his table. The bar employee on the right went and whispered something to his ears before he looked forward and saw them standing in front of him.

Jann gazed at both of their faces when his smile got bigger.

“You both look like you had fun before coming here.” He commented on their appearance.

Sasa was the first to reply.