Chapter 90: How Did Lee Come Here

We did our duty as we should.

The night passed without anything happening.

First, Theodore and Arthur slept for what I thought were almost five hours while Lee and I kept watch. After that, it was our turn. I did not know how long we slept, but it could not have been very long.

It was difficult to keep track of time in a place like this.

There was no sunrise, no birds, and no sound of people waking up in the distance.

Only the strange silence of the Realm.

It was the kind of silence that made it difficult to tell whether time was actually passing or not.

I was woken by Arthur shaking my shoulder.

"Edmund."

I opened my eyes. Arthur was already awake, and so were Mary and Sera.

I slowly sat up and rubbed my eyes.

For a moment, I simply stared at the dark surroundings, trying to remember where I was. My mind was still clouded by sleep, and everything around me seemed distant.

The ground beneath me felt hard, and my body was still stiff from sleeping on it.

Then reality came back. The Realm. Culex. The mountain. Ouroboros.

I sighed.

’Right. Still here.’

I reached for the water bottle hanging beside me. It looked like an ordinary bottle at first glance, but it was not.

I poured some of my spiritual power into it.

Almost immediately, water began appearing inside.

I tilted the bottle and washed my face with it, letting the cold water run over my skin before wiping it away with my sleeve.

The coldness helped clear the remaining sleep from my head.

At least enough for me to properly think again.

Lee did the same beside me. His bottle was slightly smaller than mine. I supposed that made sense.

He was a commoner, after all.

After washing my face, I looked toward him. There was something that had been bothering me since yesterday.

"Lee."

He turned toward me. "Yeah?"

"How did you even come to this Realm after becoming an Inferior Awakened?"

He looked at me for a moment before answering. "I was invited."

I raised an eyebrow. "Invited?"

"Well, not exactly invited. It was more like I earned the chance."

That only made me more curious.

I looked toward Sera.

"How does that work?"

Sera remained silent, so Lee continued.

"Every year, both the House of Commons and the House of Lords arrange a test for Inferior Awakened."

"A test?"

"A tournament, specifically."

Lee sat down properly. "The top ten Inferior Awakened are given a chance to become members of one of the two Orders."

"The Orders?" Arthur asked.

"The Twilight Order and the Glacier Order."

He pointed toward himself. "I ranked fifth."

I blinked. "Fifth?"

Lee nodded.

"The ones who rank first through fifth are given the chance to join the Twilight Order, which operates under the House of Lords. Those who rank sixth through tenth are given the chance to join the Glacier Order, which operates under the House of Commons."

"So you joined the Twilight Order," Mary said.

"Yeah."

Lee smiled faintly. "They were impressed with me."

I nodded. "And that was how you got here?"

"Not exactly."

He leaned back. "The Twilight Order gave the people who ranked first through fifth another opportunity. A chance to advance to the Silver Core."

My eyes widened slightly. "All five of you?"

"Yeah."

"So the reason you came here was because of the Twilight Order?"

"Pretty much."

I looked at Lee again. It was strange.

I had always thought that the people who came here were brought for some special reason. Tony had chosen us because he saw something in us. Sera, Arthur, Mary, Theodore and I were nobles, and Tony had personally decided that we were worth bringing into the Realm.

But Lee?

He had simply fought his way here. That was almost more impressive. He had not needed a noble family. He had not needed someone to personally select him. He had entered the tournament, defeated enough people to place fifth, and earned his way into the Twilight Order.

And now he was here for the same reason we were. The thought made me look at him a little differently.

There was something different about someone who had earned their position rather than simply being given an opportunity because of their birth.

"So that is it?" I asked.

Lee nodded. "That is pretty much it."

I looked away. The explanation made sense. At least, more sense than I had expected.

I stood up and stretched my arms. My body still felt slightly stiff from sleeping on the ground.

I moved my shoulders a little, trying to loosen them. The ground had hardly been comfortable to begin with, and sleeping on it after spending hours awake made the stiffness even more noticeable.

Thankfully, there was a rock we could sleep on. Otherwise, my clothes would have become unbearably dirty and smelly.

I glanced down at myself for a moment before looking around again. There was another reason we had chosen this area for the night.

Lee had told us that Unorthodox creatures barely came here. That alone made the place worth staying in.

It might not have been comfortable, but at least we could rest without constantly worrying about something approaching us.

I looked toward the Black Water. There was no reflection on its surface. Not even the crimson light of the moon appeared upon it. It simply sat there, black and motionless. The sight was strangely unsettling.

I continued staring at it for a few moments. The longer I looked, the stranger it seemed. I was not the only one looking at it.

Mary was standing close to the shore. She was staring directly into the Black Water. For a few seconds, she did not move.

None of us said anything.

I simply watched her. There was something about the way she stood there that made me wonder what she was thinking.

She remained like that for a little while longer before finally turning around.

"Lee."

Lee looked at her. "Yeah?"

"Do you have scissors?"

He blinked. "Scissors?"

Mary nodded. "Yes."

Lee seemed slightly confused by the question, but he nodded. "I do."

Mary looked at me. "Edmund, can you cut my hair?"