The sun dipped lower over Margitine, casting long shadows across the tower plaza. By now, the chaos had mellowed into tense clusters. Recruits huddled in corners, forming alliances, trading pleasantries that barely masked the fear in their voices. Some laughed too loudly. Others drank. Pretending this was just another adventure. Lloyd found the city even more unbearable at sunset. The orange glow made the marble streets feel fake, like painted glass. Even the smell of baked bread turned sour in his nose. They sat in a quieter alley just off the plaza, away from the crowds. Celeste picked the spot—she said it had the least foot traffic and the most escape routes, in case things got ugly. Yuto leaned against the alley wall, arms crossed, a silent shadow. Noella sat gracefully on a worn crate, her staff resting across her lap. Lloyd slouched against a barrel, fiddling with a cracked stone he’d found in the dirt.

  “So,” Celeste said, chewing on a piece of jerky, “we may as well get the awkward part out of the way.”

  Lloyd raised a brow. “There’s more awkwardness than this?”

  “Stats,” she said. “Class, level, rank. Let’s be honest before we get stuck in the Tower and find out someone lied about being a big shot.”

  Noella smiled gently, though there was steel under it. “It’s better to know each other’s strengths before we need to depend on them.”

  Yuto said nothing. He just waited.

  Celeste rolled her shoulder. “Fine, I’ll go first. Archer class. B-rank. Level twenty. Nothing fancy, but I’m fast, and I hit hard enough to ruin someone’s day.”

  She glanced at Noella.

  “Healer,” Noella said simply. “B-rank. Also twenty. Mostly restoration magic, some support spells, a few defensive wards. I don’t do front lines.”

  “Assassin.” That one word came from Yuto, his voice like gravel. The first time Lloyd had heard him speak. He didn’t elaborate.

  “Yuto’s also B-rank,” Celeste filled in. “Same level. He was our guild’s best finisher.”

  Lloyd scratched his head. “Guild?”

  “We were with the Silver Hounds,” Celeste said. “Took jobs. Cleared dungeons. Usual stuff. Figured the Trials couldn’t be worse than the hellholes we’ve seen.”

  Lloyd stayed quiet.

  Celeste cocked an eyebrow at him. “Alright, your turn, meadow boy. Don’t say you don’t have a class.”

  “I… do.”

  “Uh-huh. What?”

  “…Warrior.”

  She smirked. “Okay, classic. Level?”

  “…One.”

  There was a pause. Even Noella’s kind expression flickered into surprise. Yuto tilted his head slightly, though it was hard to read anything under that hood.

  Celeste blinked. “You serious?”

  “Never saw the point.” Lloyd shrugged.

  “The point is you don’t get your head ripped off in the first fight,” Celeste said, staring at him like he’d just told her he didn’t know how to breathe.

  “I’m not dead yet.”

  “That’s because you’ve been hiding in Tirnog.” She shook her head, letting out a low whistle. “No offense, but you’re gonna be dead weight, Lloyd.”

  “Doesn’t matter,” Lloyd said, tossing the cracked stone into the alley dirt. “All of you—your levels, your stats—they’ll be wiped the second we step into the Tower. Everyone starts the same in there. You’re just like me.”

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  Celeste opened her mouth, then closed it. She couldn’t argue. The glowing figure had made that part clear.

  Noella leaned forward slightly, voice soft. “Even so, habits, instincts… they don’t get wiped. You’re starting at a disadvantage.”

  Lloyd let out a breath. “Yeah. I know.”

  Noella smiled, though this time it held something closer to sympathy. “Then stick close to us. Let us carry you until you find your footing.”

  Lloyd felt something tighten in his chest at that. Pity? He wasn’t sure. He didn’t like it either way.

  “I’m not useless,” he said, sharper than he meant to.

  “Didn’t say you were,” Noella replied calmly.

  Yuto gave a rare grunt, maybe agreement, maybe amusement. It was hard to tell.

  Celeste leaned back, folding her arms behind her head. “Well, we’re stuck together now. Might as well see if you’re as bad as your stats make you sound.”

  Lloyd scowled, but there was no venom in it.

  They sat there a while longer, the noise of the plaza buzzing just outside the alley’s shadow. The city kept breathing, loud and alive, but in this pocket of stillness, it felt like the calm before a storm.

  Sundown was coming.

  ####

  They sat there until the bells in the plaza chimed once, deep and heavy. The official countdown to sundown had started. Celeste flicked a pebble toward Lloyd’s boot. “Get used to this, Lloyd. Tower life’s gonna be a lot of sitting around and trying not to kill each other between fights.”

  “I’ll take your word for it.”

  He realized then… he hadn’t thought about what came after the Trials. After all, he never planned to be here in the first place.

  Noella must’ve seen the look on his face. She tilted her head, her curls catching the last sliver of light. “You scared?”

  Lloyd considered lying. But it felt like a waste with these people.

  “…Yeah.”

  “Good. It means you’ll keep your head down when it counts.” Noella smiled gently

  Celeste tossed him the canteen again. “To being scared.”

  Lloyd caught it this time without fumbling.

  “To being scared,” he echoed.

  And for a moment, the Tower felt far away.

  The moment stretched longer than it needed to. The sounds of the plaza drifted in—clinking armor, boots on stone, voices crackling with nervous energy. But in their little corner, it felt like the world outside couldn’t quite reach them. Celeste broke the quiet first, leaning her bow across her knees, fiddling with the string. “You know, Noella once healed a wyvern's bite mid-fight. Saved this dumbass,” she nodded toward Yuto, “from losing his arm.”

  “It wasn’t as dramatic as she makes it sound.” Noella chuckled.

  “It was that dramatic,” Celeste insisted. “We were clearing the Fellpine Caverns. Wyvern comes crashing through the ceiling, tail swiping like a drunk tavern brawler. Yuto gets cocky, goes for its eye—gets clipped instead. Took half his sleeve with it.”

  Yuto stayed silent, but there was a tilt to his head that might’ve been amusement. Lloyd listened, quietly. They talked like they’d been through hell together. Maybe they had.

  “What about you?” he asked Celeste. “What’s your big story?”

  She grinned, leaning back against the wall. “Took down a C-rank basilisk with a single arrow once.”

  Noella snorted. “With the entire guild backing you.”

  “Details, details.”

  Yuto made a rare sound—something close to a grunt. Lloyd figured it might’ve been his way of saying bullshit.

  Celeste tossed a pebble at him. “Hey, don’t make me look bad in front of the newbie.” Lloyd huffed a quiet laugh despite himself.

  Noella tilted her staff lazily. “Celeste talks the most, but she’s usually the first to dive in headfirst. She hates sitting still.”

  “I get bored easy.”

  “It’s gotten her stabbed more times than I can count,” Noella added.

  Celeste pointed at her. “That’s what we’ve got you for.”

  The easy way they talked, the teasing, the rhythm—it all made Lloyd feel like a tourist in his own life. He watched them, listened. They moved like people used to fighting beside each other, trusting each other to cover the gaps. It was… foreign. He didn’t have people like that. Or maybe he never let himself.

  “You guys always this annoying?” Lloyd asked finally.

  Celeste grinned. “Wait until we’re in a dungeon for days. You’ll miss this.”

  “Yeah. Sure.”

  But the truth was, listening to them made the pit in his stomach feel a little less sharp. Maybe he didn’t have to carry everything alone. Maybe. Yuto stood suddenly, adjusting the strap of his katana. He didn’t speak, but his body language said enough. Night was coming. And their time was running out. The others followed without a word. Lloyd picked himself up last, dusting off his shorts. They didn’t say it aloud, but from this point on… they were a team.

  Whether they liked it or not.