Numbers x Casket-Chapter 45: Black Bracelet

Efraim chose not to participate in the activities during the first night of the festival. He went straight to his inn and lay on his bed. He wasn’t tired at all, and yet, his mind was exhausted from the constant thoughts about Xenen.

During his contemplation, the Silver Hemlock’s existence came to his thoughts, and he asked her without hesitation.

"What do you think about the woman in that illusion? Is she real, or is that just my mind playing tricks on me?" Efraim stated, his voice laced with curiosity.

Light enveloped his body, and the monarch’s ethereal form came out from his chest. She floated in the air while crossing her arms.

"How about you? What are your thoughts? Who is she, by the way?" the Hemlock bombarded him with questions.

Efraim wanted to give her a concrete answer, but he was not in the mood to talk about their past. Thus, he only replied with the least effort to his words.

"My world before I lost everything. All I know is her death was mentioned during my trial," he said.

Upon hearing his response, the Hemlock shook her head and gave him a questioning glare.

"Hmnn, at first, I thought about her being just an illusion, but after shattering her main body, I felt no resistance, as if she was not even bothered being killed," the Hemlock replied.

However, her words made the appraiser even more confused. He looked at her with squinting eyes.

"Does that mean the one I met was real?" he asked.

The hemlock nodded, and her lips curled into a smile. Then, she started to fade as she gave out her answer.

"That’s for you to take a guess," she said before her silhouette disappeared in complete.

With the appraiser almost contemplating during the whole night, the hours passed by in a blink.

. . . . .

The next day, the open field was still filled with a lot of people. Even though several hundred were already eliminated, the citizens still showed their support towards the festival, and they were simply curious about who would emerge victorious among the remaining participants.

Simply attending its events even as an audience was something they would always be proud of.

"Good morning, people of Celestia!" Alleah’s voice reverberated throughout the open field.

Despite it only being a simple greeting, the crowd went wild, and their non-ending cheers filled up the entire place.

"Are you all excited?" Alleah responded; her tone was overflowing with enthusiasm.

"Yes!" the people yelled in unison.

Upon hearing their reply, the smile on the host’s face turned even brighter. It highlighted her gorgeous appearance even more.

"Great! But before we proceed with today’s main event, let’s first have a little game available for everyone," Alleah announced.

She opened up her palm, and a small magic circle appeared, floating above it. Its pattern had intricate carvings that soon emitted a white hue.

Then, an object resembling a bracelet materialized out of nowhere. Shrouded with a plain black color, it sat on top of the woman’s palm.

"This will be the prize for our little game; it looks like a bracelet, but as you all know, this is not a simple accessory," Alleah stated, her voice tinged with excitement.

She let her energy flow towards the piece of black metal. Then, it began to disintegrate into several fragments, and small black chains appeared between each, attaching to one another.

Afterward, it wrapped around the host’s fingers and crawled to his hand all the way to her elbow.

"See? This is a gauntlet, and it activates by channeling a portion of the user’s energy," Alleah said, her eyes gleaming with pride.

Then in just a wave of her hand, the chains retracted and returned back to their deactivated form.

"Curious about its strength? Then take it, name it, and unleash its abilities. Everyone is free to participate, but only the first twenty individuals who form a line in front of me now could have a chance," she announced.

The horde of equators went straight in Alleah’s direction; they pushed their way to make it on the first twenty.

All of them were warriors, and not a single mage was present. Even though their primary weapon had never been a gauntlet, the relic appeared very tempting for them. The idea of selling it for a huge price clouded their thoughts.

"Seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, and twenty," Alleah counted the participants and looked straight into their eyes.

"Great! Now, these are the rules of our game. Each one of you will search for this relic, and the first one to have it will keep it," she added.

Her soft laughter reverberated in the open field, and after a few seconds, she spoke again.

"But it’s not as easy as you’ve all thought because you’re going to search for it on this," Alleah said.

Then she snapped her fingers, and a magic circle lit up in the free space a distance away from them. Its landscape changed as hundreds of haystacks appeared on it, and there was even a pack of wolves roaming around.

"So here’s the twist, if you get yourself bitten by those wolves, you’re out. You can attack them as well, but to make it more interesting, if you kill one wolf, then you’re out as well," Alleah explained the mechanics of the game.

"Is that clear?" she asked.

Then upon seeing all of the participants nod in affirmation, she gave her signal.

"You all have an hour. Go!" she yelled, smiling.

The nineteen participants lunged forward; they ignored the wolves and went straight to the piles of hay.

Meanwhile, Efraim, who managed to sneak in on the line earlier, watched the other equators ravage the dried grass. His eye was glowing a cyan hexagram color as he searched for the black bracelet.

He inspected the relic earlier, and the number twenty-seven floating above it with a shimmering golden radiance was imprinted deep on his mind.

"Where? Where is it?" Efraim asked as he just stood right there.

He already looked into every haystack, but he still couldn’t see the color he was looking for.

While searching, he saw the other participants being attacked by the wolves. However, to comply with the rules, they just pushed them away while dodging and were very careful not to give them a fatal wound.

There were even some who chose to form a temporary party to keep the wolves in check while the other one was searching for the bracelet.

"You need a lot of luck to find it within an hour in those massive haystacks," Efraim commented with a sigh.

Then, he resumed surveying the area and noticed something peculiar in one of the wolves. It had the same red fur like the others, but the numbers floating above it were different from the rest.

All had the same numbers written in blue, while the other one was black in color.

’Hmnn, if my memory serves me right, she never mentioned searching it on the hay,’ Efraim pondered, his brows squinting.

Afterward, he glanced at all of the haystacks one more time, making sure that the bracelet wasn’t underneath them. Upon confirming, he diverted his gaze back to the lone wolf standing several meters away from him.

"There’s no harm in checking," he uttered and sprinted towards it like a flash of lightning.

. . . . .

Alleah, who was watching the game, had her eyes only on the appraiser. The moment she noticed his participation earlier, she chose to observe his every movement.

However, several seconds had already passed, and yet, he remained motionless, just standing in his position.

’What is he waiting for?’ she thought.

Then, she noticed his left eye gleaming in a cyan blue color, and a white hexagram could be seen drawn on it.

"Is that his Flair?" Alleah asked, though no one was able to give her an answer. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

The next second, she saw the appraiser sprinting towards a wolf standing in the distance, and from this point on, the host furrowed her brows even more.

"There’s no way," she said in silence while gently shaking her head, rejecting the reality before her eyes.

Her curiosity regarding the appraiser’s existence continued to grow; after all, he kept on giving her surprises.

’Who really are you?’ she asked in her thoughts without averting her gaze from the young equator.

. . . . .

As soon as Efraim closed the distance between him and the wolf, he extended his hands forward and tried to catch it, but the beast wasn’t that easy to deal with.

It ran away from the appraiser and let out a howl, calling the attention of its pack.

The rest of the wolves ignored the other equators and moved towards Efraim. Upon seeing this, the participants laughed and even expressed their thanks for the man who chased the wolf.

"I’ll buy you a drink if I find that bracelet," someone yelled and resumed back in searching the hay.

Meanwhile, Efraim ignored their mockery and increased his speed even further to the point that he managed to outrun the wolf.

He grabbed its head and wrapped his arms around its neck before they tumbled, rolling on the solid ground.

Afterward, with his left eye still active, he saw the golden radiance coming from its jaw. Thus, without an ounce of hesitation, he inserted his hand into its mouth.

"C’mon, let me have it," Efraim uttered.

Then, as he pushed his arm deeper, he felt a solid object on the tip of his fingers.

"Got it!" he exclaimed, and his lips curled into an upward grin.

. . . . .