156 *Secret* Real Title is in Author Notes (1/2)

It took around a day of straight flight to finally arrive at the gates of Lunar City once again. Exhausted from the drain on his mana through sustaining Zephyr's flight and time outside, Greyson dragged his feet to his room before passing out. Lucius, Theo, and Snow were all curious about what happened, but they could only hold in their questions. They could see that Greyson was not faking his exhaustion.

Late afternoon rolled around when Greyson finally opened his eyes once again. Feeling groggy, he took a moment to regain his bearings. Checking the sun outside, he was shocked to see that it was already closer to evening than noon. This was the first time he had slept so much in a long time. It was truly so refreshing. Energy filled to the brim, he jumped out of bed and felt his stomach grumbling in protest. Now that he fulfilled his sleep requirements, it was time to satisfy his stomach as well! Poking at the lazing animals, they all immediately popped up at the mention of food. Almost drooling, they ended up rushing Greyson out the door barely dressed. As he jumped down the steps, Greyson tried to tuck his shirt in and button it properly before tying the laces of his boots. The other customers let out good-natured chuckles at the sight of this young boy rushing to go out.

”Hehe, little guy, don't worry! I'm sure your lover will wait for you!”

”True, young love is so passionate and blind to faults~”

The older gentlemen all teased him while winking suggestively. Greyson was struck dumb by their assumptions before just ignoring them. He knew that defending himself would only egg these drunkards on.

”Bahaha, that girl must have quite the fiery temper, look at how rushed the lad is!”

Their calls were still audible as Greyson was leaving. Shaking his head, Greyson did not pay them any mind. Instead, his mind was filled with food options.

...

This simple life of meditating, eating, and sleeping continued for one more week before everyone once again returned from the dungeon. It seemed that only 30 people ended up exiting. The rest could only be assumed to have died in the dungeon or were otherwise stuck. Even Greyson was slightly shocked by the ease with which their presumed deaths were accepted. He knew that Braiden warned them, but it was still unexpected to witness the callousness of the different groups. Even the people from the same Kingdom as those missing participants did not seem very broken up about losing them.

Prince Braiden sent out an announcement for everyone to gather in the palace square to learn of the specifics of the next round. Thus, Greyson woke up bright and early this day and made his way to the square with more than enough time to spare. Seemingly not the only one excited for this competition to end, the square was already full of people waiting. Everyone chattered endlessly while giving their own guesses as to what this last round would entail. Not joining in the fun, Greyson sat down silently and began to meditate. He did not open his eyes until he felt someone tapping on his shoulder. Glancing over, he saw the familiar face of Leilena. After getting back, the two of them actually did not meet up much.

”Teacher.” Greyson nodded in greeting.

”You rascal, have you been avoiding me? How could I have not seen even a trace of you this entire week?!” Leilena joked.

”Yes, I was avoiding you. I thought you would drag me around shopping and eating again. I did not want to waste my time with such things.” Bluntly admitting it himself, Greyson was not afraid to be honest.

”Oh? You've grown more and more cheeky these days~” Twisting on Greyson's ear violently, Leilena kept a friendly smile on her face while her tone was anything but.

Greyson just shrugged as if he could not feel her efforts to punish him. Are you kidding? With his physique, it would take a lot more force for him to actually feel that pain.