The grimoire was a success, obviously, given I had already made it. Also, as I had an eidetic memory for any grimoire that was occupying one of my slots there was no risk of me forgetting what to write either.

  “...that was fast,” my opponent said. She wasn’t sweating, but did look quite anxious. It was good to know that I wasn’t the only one who was nervous as I wiped away the sweat off my brow. She looked like she was about a fourth of the way done with what she was working on. “Very well then, I concede.”

  The next round began, the word being, “Lake.”

  A memory came to me of a large lake near our house where we used to go - the park that was near it had had to close for some reason I couldn’t recall right now. However, I still had fond memories of the place.

  And based on that, my pen began to move.

  Things were going swimmingly well, until I ended up doing a mistake.

  Sometimes, while writing, instead of focusing on what you were writing in the moment, your thoughts would wander to what the next paragraph should be.

  I had ended up doing something like that, and then messed up two sentences so that they didn’t mesh together well. I had ruined the flow of ideas in my head.

  Looking back, I should’ve just discarded that piece of paper and started over again - there was still a chance based on my speed that I could’ve won in that circumstance, but in the heat of the moment I chose to go forward, trying to alter what I was writing to fit the mistake I had made.

  I was rewarded with an angry red aura and my paper turning to ash as a result. My first failure since the tournament had begun!

  My opponent was about halfway done with what she was writing.

  I did the math in my head - I didn’t think I could make something else that would work, and if I couldn’t win I wanted to make sure that I had enough mana for the third round.

  I waited to see if she was going to succeed - if she failed to make a grimoire, I would start rewriting what I had been writing before, but if she succeeded, I would just concede.

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  I could barely hear some whispers from the crowd, probably wondering why I had stopped writing.

  I noted that whatever script she used, it was also written vertically like with the lizardmen script. I had seen all sorts of script style and directions of reading during the Book Fair - one of the ones that nearly broke my mind was someone who was writing in spirals. Just the thought of having to read something like that nearly gave me a migraine.

  As she finished the last letter, the aura around the text turned a grassy green. I conceded at once.

  Each of us had a single victory now. It was down to this last round to see who won the duel.

  “The word for this round is: Time.”

  My thoughts immediately went to time-keeping devices- from the sundial, to simple candles, to modern watches, and to the atomic clock. Granted I didn’t know exactly how each of them worked, but it was enough for a Rank One grimoire.

  I finished - feeling the sweat building on my forehead all the while. I just adjusted my head to let the drops fall anywhere other than the paper and kept on writing - I felt wiping my brow was an unnecessary waste of time right now.

  I finished without any mistakes and the grimoire turned a nice shade of green at the end.

  “You’re really fast,” she said, sighing as she conceded. “Congratulations on winning.”

  “Thank you for the duel,” I said.

  “So, you’ve asked me but you never told me where you’re from?”

  “Oh, I… uh, basically live here in Arconia,” I told her. “I didn’t come here with with the Book Fair.”

  “Oh… you don’t uh-”

  “Yeah, I don’t look like the people here,” I told her.

  “Is this your first time in a tournament like this?”

  “Yes.”

  “This is the fifth one I’ve been in so far - I’ve never gotten this far ahead, but seeing how you and that old man make grimoires is something else,” she said, probably referring to Master Jiah Pei. “Oh well, at least I’ll get something out of this. Good luck with the finals!”

  “And good luck to you,” I told her. She was still going to be competing in one more duel - with the loser of the other fight this round to see who got third and fourth place respectively.

  “If you want, you can drop by my stall after this,” she said, giving me some directions on where to find it. She was a scribe, like I was, though she worked for a store that traveled along with the merchant caravan. “My name’s Stella by the way.”

  “Stefan, and yes, I’ll definitely remember to drop by,” I told her.

  To no one’s surprise, the winner of the other round was Master Jiah Pei.

  I immediately went outside to get a breath of fresh air and restrained a desire to scream at the top of my lungs.

  Why did the finals have to be the same day as the semi-finals!?

  Then again, it was probably for the best. If I had to wait another day while knowing I was going to be up against him, I probably wouldn’t have been able to sleep very well at night.

  I wandered around the stalls, trying to distract myself as much as possible from what was going to come. I considered visiting Stella’s stall until I realized that she was likely going to still be at the tournament, not at the stall.

  And so, after a while, I went back to the same building the tournament was being held.

  “Mister Dawson?”

  Someone called out my name, so I turned my head reflexively. “Yes?”