Chapter 34: Victory
Ren walked leisurely back into the camp, a slight smile was on his face as he felt the weight of his bag. As he strolls towards the group, Jun and Nina spotted him first. Both of them stopped whatever they were doing, and ran towards Ren in excitement.
"You're back! So how was it?"
Ren stopped moving as Jun and Nina swarmed him, looking up at him with stars in their eyes. Faced with the expectant gazes of Jun and Nina, Ren smiled brightly, then opened his bag. *Ziiiiiiiiiiiiiip* When Ren finally showed the kids, Jun and Nina stared at the contents of his bag in shock.
"1, 2, 3, 4... Oh my god Ren!"
Jun and Nina both couldn't contain their excitement when they saw the stones, it was a ridiculous amount of an otherwise rare item. As they counted the contents over and over again in disbelieve, Ren watched them with a big smile.
"Alright, I wouldn't have gotten this many without your guys's idea. So I'll split them with you after I win the competition."
Hearing these words, Jun and Nina both perked up in excitement. But when the reality of the situation set in, the two kids had different ideas of how to use the stones. On one hand, Jun was excited to own these magical stones. He heard about their effects from Ren, so he decided to save these for emergencies. On the other hand, Nina felt that she didn't deserve one third of these stones. So as a compromise, she decided to share half with Olivia.
"Alright, lets head back to the camp. I'm tired."
Ren closed his bag, then lead the two kids back towards the camp. But before he could relax, Ren pulled out the repair stone.
"Hey Jun, could you return this for me?"
Hearing these words, Jun's face contorted into a knowing smile, it only lasted for a split second. When Jun recovered his neutral expression, he declined Ren in a monotone voice. He then turned back around, pretending to be busy. Ren looked at Jun's behaviour in confusion, but he quickly got over it, turning to Nina instead.
"Hey Nina, could you do me a favour?"
Just before Nina replied to Ren, she saw Jun wildly gesturing behind Ren. Nina looked at the hearts and x's that Jun was making with his arms, immediately understanding what Jun was trying to convey.
"O-Oh I'm sorry big brother, I'm busy right now..."
Ren turned back around to see Jun, only to find him in the same spot, fiddling with something in his hands. Ren sighed in defeat, before making his way towards Olivia. *Step, Step, Step* As Ren got closer and closer to Olivia, he felt nervous for some reason. Was it because he didn't borrow the repair stone, yet he was the one returning it? Or was it because of something else...?
"What's up Ren?"
When Ren heard Olivia's voice, he snapped out of his trance, surprised at the fact that he was already here. Ren took a deep breath secretly, trying to calm his nerves. As he faces Olivia, Ren slowly took out the repair stone.
"I-uh, I'm here to return this to you."
Olivia looked at Ren's nervous appearance with a smile, before taking the repair stone out of his hand. Ren felt confused when Olivia took it without a word, already storing it inside her bag.
"Are you not going to ask why I have that?"
When Olivia heard Ren's question, she shook her head immediately.
"I knew Nina gave the stone to you, she told me earlier."
Ren breathed a sigh of relieve when he heard that, his biggest worry was solved by Nina once again, he really should give her all of his candy or something later. With the biggest obstacle out of the way, Ren and Olivia's conversation flowed smoothly. The two were exchanging jokes as Ren helped Olivia with the campfire.
"Ren..."
A low voice growled out Ren's name, causing him to turn around in alarm. *Fwip* As Ren looked at Elios, the originally happy mood turned tense.
'His hair...'
King and Ren looked at Elios in shock, his blond hair was now almost all silver. The length of it grew as well, long enough to cover one of his eyes. Olivia and Ren could barely recognize the originally neat and tidy Elios anymore, he felt like a different person.
"Elios... ready to lose?"