I keep my arms raised toward the crowd for longer than my body wants to allow. I already feel cringey and sore.

Every wave pulls at the freshly-closed abdomen, and my ribs argue with Zhang Xi’s healing every time I draw a deeper breath. Even so, I keep smiling as if all of this had been planned. As if I hadn’t been a few seconds from dying on the floor. As if Rahul Sharma weren’t close enough to turn my victory into a footnote in a funeral broadcast—the kind I used to watch with my mother.

The crowd needs to see a winner.

More importantly: Rahul needs to be seen seeing a winner.

"Azure Prime Oathring!" I shout, forcing the voice to come out clean. "You witnessed Lord Sharma’s champion fight with honor!"

His name crosses the arena, and the crowd reacts the way crowds react when they don’t know whether to cheer or stay quiet. Some voices shout. Others hesitate. Most turn to look at Rahul.

’Perfect.’

I turn just enough to include him in the scene without staring at him as a challenge.

"Lord Sharma came personally to ensure his champion received the respect he deserved. That is mercy. That is greatness."

Rahul doesn’t smile.

He also doesn’t interrupt me. I feel him reading every word and every trace of my face.

He knows what I’m doing, and I know he knows. That’s exactly why I keep the limit. I don’t force him to pay. I don’t put too many words in his mouth. I just build a public frame where crushing a nearly-dead man, right after being called merciful by hundreds of witnesses, would look ugly even for a Crime King.

I pull five Shards from my inventory and lift them between my fingers.

[Scales: 58,900 → 58,400]

"Five Shards to any healer who stabilizes Cassio Veil now. In honor of the mercy Lord Sharma has just shown—he gifts this money to you!"

I toss the Shards toward the center, near the attendants already running in Cassio’s direction.

Rahul looks at me as if deciding whether it’s worth ripping my tongue out right here.

I smile a little wider but only a little...

Zhang Xi is still kneeling beside me, hands stained by the residual light of her own healing. When I look at her, I find an expression that isn’t quite admiration. It’s something more careful. As if she’d just watched a knife slip past a throat because the victim chose the right angle to escape.

"You handled that..." she begins, but stops before complimenting me in front of the wrong person.

"You saved me," I answer, low enough not to turn it into a show. "And I pay what I promise."

I transfer the amount.

[Scales: 58,400 → 51,400]

Her eyes widen for half a second.

"Sir, I haven’t finished the healing. The tissue closed, but there’s internal damage. Your breathing is still unstable, and—"

"I’m from the academy. You can find me there."

"But—"

"Zhang Xi." I use her name on purpose. "You’ve already done more than you should have in this place."

She understands, but doesn’t leave. She stays there, quiet.

Rahul finally speaks.

"Out of my sight, Dryden Sands... Before I trade my fame for your head."

His voice comes low, but it carries enough weight that the entire arena understands the spectacle is over.

I tilt my head.

"As you wish, Lord Sharma."

"Come back in one week. The team match starts in seven days."

A week.

He has just handed me a deadline and a threat in the same sentence.

"I’ll be there."

I turn before my expression can give away anything useful. Veric and Oliver stay close enough to catch me if my legs fail, but far enough to pretend I’m walking on my own. Rhayne doesn’t say anything. She only watches me as if she’s still seeing the hole in my body.

When I reach the edge of the Oathring, someone starts.

"Uncle Den!"

One voice. Then three. Then an entire section.

"Uncle Den! Uncle Den! Uncle Den!"

The arena picks up the name as if it had been waiting for permission.

I keep walking.

I keep wondering what Lili would think if she could see this.

The thought arrives so fast it almost knocks me down harder than the pain.

I murmur to myself:

"But she’s still a baby in this life... that’ll have to wait."

[Hadal Notoriety +115]

[Your Hadal Notoriety has risen in Ranking]

[Hadal Notoriety: Local Rumor -> Folk Character]

Folk Character.

On the next climb, I’d start appearing on the visible ranking inside the Ocean’s Law system. Something I never even dreamed of touching in my last life. I had lived as a shadow. An error. A leftover in someone else’s math. Now an entire arena is shouting a stupid name a child gave me.

Before leaving, I stop next to Zhang Xi, who has been keeping pace with us.

"Your mail number."

She blinks.

"My...?"

"Mail."

She blushes as she passes me the identifier, still not entirely sure she wants to be tied to me. I save it anyway. I really need her.

"Thank you, Zhang Xi."

"Take care of the wound, Mister Sands."

"I’m trying to make a habit of it."

Rhayne waits until we’re far enough from the arena to ask.

"What’s a mail number?"

I look at her.

"You’ve been here almost three years and never sent a letter?"

"No."

"How did you communicate?"

She looks at the ground.

"Comm. Only with one person, the one..."

The answer drops between us heavy enough that nobody jokes.

I breathe slowly.

"In Thirstfall, you can send letters as if it were real mail, but with virtual delivery. You write on paper, go to an Oathmark, and register the letter in the device. The system sends it to the recipient’s mailbox."

"So they receive it wherever they are?"

"If they’re inside the system, yes. The limit is on the sending side. To send, you need an Oathmark. To receive, you just have to exist on the system."

Rhayne looks at the ground.

"I didn’t know... So we can’t contact Lola..."

"Well... for several reasons, including that—no. We can’t."

We head to a tavern far from the Oathring. I take a private barroom with a sliding door, separate enough for privacy and cheap enough not to draw attention. When everyone is inside, Veric closes the door and crosses his arms.

"So, Sands. What the hell was that?"

I sit down slowly, feeling the healing pull tight from the inside.

"The beginning."

Oliver narrows his eyes.

Rhayne presses her gloves against her chest, gripping the cuffs while blowing onto her sweaty hands.

I rest Eventide on the table.

"Something that’s going to change our lives forever," I say. "And maybe the entire course of Thirstfall."