"The Winner of this mini-game is Ean Lianert! He has climbed the top first, and so he has won the Mini-Game!"
The man on the screen yelled, as his face was soon switched by an image of Ean
"Now moving on to the next Mini-Game!"
The man screamed, with excitement in his tone as the field was once again swapped, but unlike before it was no longer a field, instead, a dark cave-like place, it had a fragile light imitating from its walls, bright enough to only lighten up one's view.
"Huh?"
Shu exclaimed as he looked around, scratching his head in confusion, he found himself alone, Alice was no longer by his side and neither was the boy that he was fighting with
"Seems like a transportation ability of sorts—Well. It doesn't matter, I'll just break myself-"
Just when Shu was about to punch one of the walls, the man's voice from before was once again heard
"This is the fourth Mini-Game! Dubbed after our ruler Romulus himself, 'The Founder's Maze' Just as the name implies, this is a maze; and along the way, you'll encounter challenges which you'll have to solve with intelligence and wit, oh and, don't try to cheat you're way out of this maze by breaking through the walls, because you won't be able to, these walls were made by King Romulus himself, meaning no amount of force can break them"
The voice said with confidence, leaving Shu somewhat spectacle as well as leading him to do exactly what the man requested him not to.
With arrogance on his face, Shu would take a few steps away from one of the walls, separating his leg to later charge his right fist with his Sanctuary Energy, proceeding to swing shoot his fist forward, striking the wall with all his might, but
"Damm...I guess it is sturdy"
Shu whispered with a nervous smile, as his fist, which had already clashed with the wall slowly backed away, and just as it did, he found himself even more perplexed. The wall had sustained no damage what so ever, it looked exactly as it did before he punched it, no dint, no crack, not even his knuckles' print was there
"Damm, I guess that's that.."
Shu said to himself as he stared at his own fist for a few seconds, proceeding to sigh right after
"I guess the king is some sort of badass himself. I guess I should have known these walls were this sturdy, considering that I sense sanctuary energy from them"
Shu thought to himself, and just when he was about to continue with his self-dialogue, the voice interrupted
"Let the fourth Mini Game, commence!"
The voice yelled, loud enough for Shu to cover his ears in annoyance
"Well anyway—let's look for Alice"
Shu whispered, yawning as he began to walk, shoving his hands inside of his pockets.
After just two minutes of walking, Shu had encountered a trap, which he activated on accident by stepping on a weird-looking block the size of a pebble.
Right after stepping on the block, the ground beneath him would split, causing him to fall a few hundred feet underground, but just as quick as he was caught by the trap, he went back up, squatting down to later jump with full force back up, leaving nothing but a burst of wind behind.
It took him a few seconds to reach the top, and as soon as he did, he grabbed himself by the splitting ground's right side, pulling his body up, proceeding to clean off the dirt from his clothes, beginning to explore the amaze yet again.
"Give me your food you bastard, do you know who I am? Do you know what family I belong to? If you don't give me your food right this instant, I'll have one of my assassins brutally torture you"
Was what Shu heard as he walked through the passages that he so nonchalantly chose, as soon as he heard the voice, he walked toward the place that it originated from, intrigued by what was happening, as well as content to know that he had found someone else in this cave-like maze apart from himself.
As soon as he got to the scene though, he saw a blonde boy with a fancy red suit attack another boy, whose clothes, unlike the already mentioned boy was dirty and ripped
"Hey man, why are you hitting him so violently? Last time I checked, you don't need to abuse someone to win this Mini-Game"
Shu said, interrupting the two boys, relieving the one with dirty clothes and angering the one with the fancy suit
"Hey you, you look like you're in good condition, give me your clothes and food"
The boy demanded, confusing the poor Shu, who was unsure of what was happening
"What are you waiting for? Strip"
The boy repeated himself, now a bit irritated, proceeding to unsheathe a well made one-handed sword from his right hip, pointing the tip at Shu's face
"Why should I? What would I get in return?"
Shu questioned, somewhat confused as to whether this guy wanted to negotiate or just steal from him
"Why? Do you need a reason to serve a noble family such as mine?"
The boy said, with a small chuckle as Shu simply stared at the sword, tilting his head, even more, confused now that the boy was using words he didn't recognize
"Noble? What is that? Some sort of martial arts technique? That's a pretty awful name for a Martial Arts technique though, I mean, I guess it does grand but still man, try something with more-"
Just as Shu was about to continue his blabbering, he was interrupted by a forward thrust, coming from the boy's sword, of course, he had dodged but, he was now somewhat agitated
"You dare mock me? Alvin Derick? A mere peasant?"
The boy now known as Alvin questioned as Shu simply stared at him with a calm expression, tilting his head to the side as he looked straight at Alvin's eyes
"Wait, are we sharing names now? Oh cool, well, nice to meet you, Alvin, I'm Shu Hellgard"
Shu replied, stretching his hand forward, trying to greet the noble boy, but Alvin would simply slap his hand away. This gesture wouldn't annoy Shu as he didn't find it worthy enough to get mad about
"Oh, I remember now. I know why you're acting so tough, you defeated Arthur Bermudez and now you think you own everything? How dare a peasant strike a royal! I shall make you pay on Arthur's behalf!"
Alvin yelled, preparing himself to attack Shu, who simply smiled at him, he knew when a fight was coming, so he prepared but unnecessarily so, as a simple strike to the so-called noble's nape was enough to knock him unconscious
"Aww, I was expecting a grand battle, I thought he'd be like the other one, with low Sanctuary Energy but strong physical strength. Anyway, I guess my job is done here"
Shu said to himself, preparing to leave but as soon as he turned around, the boy who was being insulted by Alvin walked over to Shu, bowing his head down in front of him
"T-thank you for saving me, Sir!"
The boy yelled, stuttering between his lines as he was somewhat scared of Shu's presence but, he was saved by him so he had no other choice but to thank him
"Uh, yeah sure no problem"
Shu replied, waving his hand at him, before walking away, but as he started walking the boy who he had unknowingly saved began to follow him. Which, somewhat irritated him
"Hey"
"Yes?"
"Can you stop following me?"
"No"
"Why not?"
"Cause, you saved me, and I need to thank you for it"
The boy explained, causing Shu to sigh, getting even more irritated as he did not know what he had saved the boy from
"Fine do whatever you want"