n

n

nFoster, Octer and Lynol made their way back to the Red Riverside Inn, so that they could head back to one of their rooms and talk about this a bit more. The claim that Foster made was something one really had to think about for a while, after all.

nBut when they stepped into the building, they were met with something that would cause this discussion to be pushed to the background for a little while. There were two people waiting there by the entrance, and they were both rather familiar to Foster. Although he was more than annoyed by the fact that he had to see these two again, since he knew what was going to happen now.

nThese two people were Jasmin and Argo, the two other winners of one of the initial rounds of the tournament, the same one that Foster took part in yesterday.

n

"You!

" Jasmin exclaimed as she stood in front of Foster, trying to block his path as much as possible,

"Finally you're here! Listen, we don't have much time to train, so just come on already!

"

nFoster rolled his eyes and proceeded to simply... walk past Jasmin. This entrance area was rather large, there was no way for her to completely stop him from going inside.

n

"Wait, what are you doing? I'm talking to you!

" Rather angrily, Jasmin came rushing after Foster and grabbed his arm to pull him back. So of course, he stopped and slowly turned around, while Jasmin looked back at him triumphantly.

n

"Listen kiddo, I only joined in yesterday because I wanted to see how I compare to the maniacs of this city. As we could see, I did pretty well. I know what I want to know, and now I'm moving on.

"

n

"And I told you that you can't do that! Don't you know that the next round is a team-competition? You're the third-strongest person that took part in that round, so why would we want to get the fourth?!

" Jasmin exclaimed, and Foster's eye suddenly twitched,

"Alright, let me make a few things clear here, alright, kid? One, don't act like you're stronger than me. Both of us know that's just not true. Not in the slightest. And I don't know why you're so obsessed with having me join your little team, but it won't happen. Alright? Cool.

"

nOnce more, Foster just stepped past Jasmin, before he felt himself being grabbed once more. This time, it was Argo's hand that was placed right on his shoulder,

"Then how about we make a bet? You and I have a fight. If you win, you don't have to join us. And if I win, then-

"

nBefore Argo was able to finish his sentence, Foster had grabbed his arm and twisted it around. He kicked the side of Argo's body, and then pulled his foot away. He fell to the ground within just a moment. And then, Foster just kicked Argo into his stomach and sent him flying a few meters.

n

"Welp, seems like I won.

" Foster said, completely unimpressed by this guy trying to do this. Of course, Foster basically did the same thing with Zhaine earlier, just using alcohol as the medium instead of combat, but at least Foster wasn't forcing anything on Zhaine. Right now, it felt like Argo and Jasmin wouldn't stop bothering him until he complied.

n

"You-You're just a coward!

" Argo yelled out, as Foster just let his head slump down. He slowly approached the young man in front of him and squatted down as he was trying to stand up,

"I'm just going to say this one more time. Stop bothering me. I already officially dropped out. Even if I wanted to join back in, I literally couldn't. I was explicitly told so.

"

n

"H-Huh?

" Argo muttered,

"What do you mean..?

"

n

"Exactly what I said. I dropped out of the tournament. So please, just save all of us some time, and leave me alone? Alright, kid?

" Foster said as he quickly pushed himself back up, and quickly turned around. Jasmin quickly rushed over to Argo to help him up. It seemed like they were slowly giving up on Foster.

nHe approached Octer and Lynol again, and the group just made their way back to Foster's room, since it was the closest.

nOnce Foster closed the door, it was clear that both of the others wanted to hear what all of that was about. And so, he explained it to them, although Lynol already heard most of it.

n

"Huh? Really?

" Octer let out surprised,

"I didn't know you liked participating in stuff like that.

"

n

"I mean, as I said, I really just did it to figure out how strong I am compared to others here. And clearly, I'm doing pretty well.

" Foster explained,

"But I have absolutely no interest in fighting in more of the tournament.

"

n

"Wait, since you're not continuing, does that mean those two are disqualified?

"

n

"Nah, not at all. They're getting a replacement for me in their team or something, I don't care.

" Foster pointed out,

"But that reminds me, I do have to tell that guy that I'm not continuing...

"

nImmediately, Octer and Lynol stared at Foster confused,

"Did you not just say you already did that?

" Lynol asked, while Foster just laughed,

"Yeah, that was a blatant lie, that one. I just didn't wanna deal with them anymore. But let's just ignore all that, I really don't wanna keep thinking about that anymore.

"

n

"Right, so let's instead talk about the idea that this city is filled with Otherworlders at such high positions that they can influence the way that Arcadum works from the ground-up.

" Lynol replied, and Foster smiled back at them,

"I mean, that's not a bad thing, right? Rather, it means we might be able to find people that can help us out more easily. What else to bond over but being from the same world, right?

"

nSlowly, Octer and Lynol looked at each other, before turning back toward Foster,

"You don't have Otherworlders in your world, right?

"

n

"...Alright, what's that supposed to mean?

"

n

"It means that not all otherworlders are... like you.

" Octer explained with a complicated expression on his face,

"In simple terms, otherworlders are split up into two categories...

"

n

"Villain and Hero types?

" Foster said, and Octer quickly nodded his head,

"That's exactly it, yeah... How much do you know about it?

"

n

"Literally just the terms.

"

n

"Alright, then let's explain it like this.

" Lynol said,

"The ones chosen to come to this world from yours usually turn out to be extremely powerful.. And then, the rest depends on their personality. Will they become a hero that can save people, or will they become a villain that will doom them?

"

n