"Vale, Vale," Iris called out, tapping his shoulder.
"Ugh." Vale jerked back, peeling his eyes off the papers. Beads of sweat had formed on his forehead without his knowledge.
"What's up with you?" Iris asked with a frown. "You just zoned out."
Vale shook his head. "It's nothing," he replied, placing the papers on the table. "I was just wondering who could have done something so gruesome."
"Yeah, you're right." Iris let out a sigh, "It's really awful. Thankfully such things don't happen often. Still, we gotta be careful."
"Yeah," Vale said with a distant expression.
"Quite some people saw the killer," she added. "I'm sure they're going to release a sketch of the killer real soon."
This information caused Vale to raise a brow, but he didn't say anything.
He had previously thought his actions on the previous day were purely driven by paranoia. But now he was sure he would've been the one on the papers if he hadn't taken those steps.
Still, he couldn't be sure that the threat was gone. If it were just a simple robbery, he doubted the killer would've been so gruesome.
There was still the chance that the victims had tried to struggle with the robber, but something told Vale that this was much deeper than a robbery gone wrong.
The previous Vale didn't have any enemies as far as he knew, at least none that would actively try to kill him.
This left him with no clue to even guess the killer's identity or relationship with him.
As of now, all he could do was move as cautiously as possible.
Hopefully, his assumptions were wrong, and it was just a robbery gone wrong. That would be for the best.
He still had to attend the exams today, so he couldn't spend the whole day brainstorming on a murder case. He ordered a sandwich and Iris ordered some bread and bread soup. They both ate in silence.
The exams weren't starting too early, but Iris seemed obsessed with punctuality as she suggested they start moving immediately after they both finished their meals
With a helpless sigh, Vale could only comply.
Before they left, he headed back in and changed into a hooded cloak. At least this would reduce his chances of getting spotted if someone actually wanted to kill him.
They left and stopped a carriage in a few minutes.
"The exam centre," she said to the grumpy man controlling the horse.
He kissed his teeth and looked at her, "Ten dons for both of you and I ain't taking anything less."
Iris thought for a moment and found the price to be fair considering the distance and potential traffic.
She nodded and entered the carriage. Vale followed behind her, but the coachman stopped him dead in his tracks.
"Take off your hood boy, ain't nothing to hide over here."
Vale turned to him and they gazed at each other for a while. The air grew tense as the silence stretched; with a sigh, he took off the hood, revealing his face.
The tension died instantly and the coachman snickered.
"I ain't planning on having no killers in my cart," the grumpy man said, then turned back to the road as Vale got in.
The ride was uneventful and Vale spent most of it gazing out of the window. He noticed multiple wanted posters of what he guessed to be the perpetrator of yesterday's incident stuck on numerous parts of the city.
He couldn't get a good glance as the carriage was moving, but there was no rush. He would get a good look when they stopped.
One thing he could infer, though, was that the killer was a woman.
They arrived at the exam centre rather quickly. This was thanks to the fact that they moved early, avoiding the harrowing traffic.
The exam centre was in the central area of the city—that was where the upper class of Druti lived.
Getting down, they paid the coachman. Vale was surprised by the number of luxurious mansions populating the area.
Druti wasn't such a rich city, so, he didn't expect to find luxury here.
What truly amazed him, though, was the "exam centre".
He had previously expected a large building. But what stood in front of him was a freaking coliseum. It was a large, oval-shaped building lacking a roof.
Iris didn't seem surprised as she strode to the gate. Vale quickly followed her as they reached the ticket counter.
At the counter was a sick-looking girl with more piercings than fingers on her face.
She looked at both of them a little bit surprised.
"The exam's starting in two hours," she said to them while filling her nails.
"I know," Iris replied with a smile.
The girl raised a brow but didn't say anything, just straightened herself.
"So… are you spectating, or do you wanna sign up?"
"I'm spectating and he's going to sign up." Iris pointed at Vale.
The lady's gaze flashed over Vale for a second.
"Spectating costs 500 dons; participating costs 50,000 dons or 50 gold coins—although we'd rather not accept coins."
Iris brought out a card and handed it to her.
The lady scanned the card with a small ball-like machine.
"All done."
After that, they were let in. Although Iris went to the spectator's section, Vale was taken to a different sector after they checked his details through his hunter's card.
The room was small, with a bed and a few other items.
He was told this was his resting area and where he would stay until the exams were over. It was directly under the spectators' seats.
It didn't take long for the two hours to pass. Vale could already hear the chattering of hundreds of people above him.
A voice rang out: "All participants are to leave their resting area and head to the arena through the tunnels. The Hunter College entrance exam is about to begin."
Without wasting an extra second, Vale got out of the room. And along with a few other teenagers, he strode through the tunnels, towards the only light source that was the Arena.
No one said a word to him, not even when they all stood in the sun, facing a crowd numbering in the thousands.
At the prime location in the audience—the place where guests of honour were seated—a man adorned in luxury and gold, stood up.
He cleared his throat and spoke: "With my power as the current Lord of Druti, let the annual Druti Hunter Exam commence."
[Author's note: Ten power stones and I'll post an extra chapter today.]