Meeting Orino

"Hahaha, no need for introduction, especially after defeating us all so thoroughly. It was quite the humbling experience."

"I hope I haven't offended you."

"Of course not! You won fair and square; I have nothing to say. Quite the opposite actually, I appreciate you." Orino smiled, pausing for a moment before continuing.

"In fact, with your brilliance and my wealth, we could do great things together. Here, this is my card. Regardless of what happens at the end of all this, I hope we can work together, I see a grand future in us." Orino said, handing a sleek-looking card over to Minos.

"I'd be a blessing." Minos replied, returning the smile as he tucked the card into his pocket.

"Hahaha, that's the spirit! Alright, I won't bother you any longer, see you tomorrow, partner." Orino laughed, heading off.

With Orino gone, even more people showed up, Minos dealing with them all cordially, even creating a few new friendships.

Just as he thought it was over, however, even more people showed up, but fortunately this time it was Princess Asumi and the others, which was a nice change in pace.

"So Minos, what's your plan now?" The Ninth Prince asked curiously.

"What else? Head home and get some rest."

"Just that? Why not come join us, we're just about to go celebrate our placements."

"Yeah, come join us!" Taiki added from the side.

"I'm not too sure Princess Asumi would be comfortable with me there." Minos said, the princess in question having been giving him a death stare the entire time.

"Nonsense, she's already gotten over it." The Eighth Prince laughed, though it just caused Asumi's face to scrunch up even more.

"You guys go ahead without me, I've still got business to attend."

"That's a shame… Well, we won't bother you any longer, take care."

Waving them off, Minos finally let out a sigh of relief, exiting the Forbidden Palace to be immediately greeted by Tylia, who was waving from inside her carriage.

"Minos!" She shouted, pushing the carriage door open and jumping down to greet him.

"How was it? How'd you do?" She asked.

At this point, the overall ranking was still a mystery to outsiders, and it would only be revealed the next morning, hence she was anxious to know.

"Where's Suki?" Minos asked, rather than answering the questions.

"You know how his health is, he's waiting back at the mansion for you."

"Then let's get home first, I'll explain there."

"Common, tell me!"

"Later."

"I can't wait!"

Ignoring her, Minos took a seat in the carriage, but it was clear she wasn't going to give up easily, spending the entire journey begging him to tell.

…

"Will you tell me now?"

"Fine." Minos finally obliged, Tylia ecstatic.

While pretending to clear his throat, Minos got off the carriage and entered the mansion, Tylia following closely behind.

She seemed completely blind to her current location, just sticking behind Minos in anticipation.

"Back so soon? How did the game go?" Suki's familiar voice asked, waking Tylia from her reverie.

"Bastard, you tricked me!" She said, suddenly realizing what Minos had done.

Smiling, Minos ignored her words and just took a seat across from Suki, who was looking at the two with confusion.

"Ignore her, let's get down to business." Minos said, forcing the still somewhat angry Tylia to quickly calm down and sit still.

"Let's get the important part out of the way. I placed first." Minos said, though he got no response.

Instead the two looked at him with a blank stare, as if his words had just gone in through one ear and out the other.

"Anyone there?" Minos couldn't help but ask.

"Ahh, excuse me… Did you say first place?" Suki said after rubbing both his eyes and ears thoroughly.

"Nothing less."

"No way! Impossible!" Tylia shouted from the side.

"I thought you were my biggest supporter?"

"I am… But first place? This isn't a game of rock paper scissors! Victory isn't an easy thing to acquire."

"I have no reason to lie."

"... He's right… Still, first place, I can't even believe it… Though this is amazing news! While top-ten placement still isn't guaranteed, you've taken one massive step towards it!" Suki said excitedly, though he was mainly thinking of himself.

Getting up, Suki couldn't help but pace the room with his cane, of course with his health his pacing was more like inching.

"The only problem is the Battle of Heart tomorrow… Your placement could suffer quite horrendously there."

"How come? Minos has a good heart, how could he do poorly?" Tylia asked from the side, confused by the assessment.

"It isn't that simple… Despite being called the Battle of Heart, the truth is, it's more like a battle of popularity."

"What do you mean?" She kept asking.

"How does one rank a person's heart? Does a warlord have more merit than a doctor? A soldier more than a spy?"

"Everyone has their nature, and while the doctor may be a better person, the warlord is almost certainly a better leader."

"It's for this reason that the Battle of Heart is actually decided by the civilians, hence why it takes place at the heart of our kingdom."

"They cast their votes depending on whose nature they feel best represents them, though the truth is there is a massive bias towards the Royal Family, and beneath them, the Imperial Families."

"For this reason, civilian nine-tailed always suffer tremendously in this game, rarely placing beyond the thirtieth place…"

"That's unfair!" Tylia complained.

"Life is unfair, not to mention this is a way to give the civilians some say over their next king, which is good for national cohesion, at least I imagine that's the reason the Nine-Tailed Emperor implemented things this way."

"So what you're saying is Minos is going to be dealt a heavy blow tomorrow, and there's nothing he can do about it?"

"Essentially."

"Don't you have anything to say about this?" Tylia asked, surprised by Minos's lack of reaction.

"What is there to say? The game was made this way, so all I can do is keep playing. Though I do have one question, how exactly does one's 'nature' manifest itself? Minos asked.

"I can't answer firsthand since I've never actually seen it myself, but based on the records, it can manifest in any way imaginable."

"It could be a field of soldiers, a divine warrior, a blood-thirsty butcher, a star from the sky, or even a single mortal flower."

"Regardless of what it is, it points to the core of your nature, revealing the fundamentals of who you are."

"Interesting." Minos smiled, even more intrigued by this so-called Battle of Heart.

"What if it reveals nothing?" Tylia suddenly asked, remembering how she could never read Minos's 'value' with her Aptus.

"That's never happened before, so I wouldn't worry about it." Suki replied, waving her worries aside.

Though this just made her think more, her eyes slightly scrunched as she looked over to Minos, curious what would happen tomorrow.

Noticing her looking at him, Minos just turned towards her and smiled, understanding why she asked such a question.

Even he himself didn't know what to expect, after all he didn't yet quite understand the extent of his immunity, so maybe the Cat-Eyed Gem would work.

Of course that could only be known for certain tomorrow, until then further discussion on the topic was pointless.

Standing up, Minos was about to head upstairs to rest, but before he had a chance, Tylia shouted out at him.

"Hey, where are you going? We still haven't solved the problem at hand!"

"Sometimes there are no solutions, let's just play on." He smiled, vanishing up the stairs.