Chapter 45: The Main Line

The briefing ended shortly after Senior Instructor Dietrich Falk finished explaining the Crown, but Helheim had no intention of sending several thousand ten-year-olds straight into Westphalia without preparation.

Applicants were divided according to the numbers on their identification tokens and directed toward different sections of the clearing, where equipment inspections, emergency-signal distribution and final documentation would take place before departure.

With so many children to process, the instructors announced that deployment would not begin for several hours.

Families were allowed to remain behind the barriers until then, although applicants who had entered the preparation grounds could no longer leave.

Sigurd had barely moved away from his assigned station when he noticed Helena waving from beneath one of the temporary awnings.

Cassian, Konrad, Matthias and Isolde were already there, occupying a long wooden bench while hundreds of applicants passed around them.

Helena shifted aside to make room and called, "Sigurd, over here. Cassian has apparently decided we need a family meeting before somebody throws us into the mountains."

Cassian gave Helena a mildly offended look as Sigurd approached. "I said we should discuss the examination. Calling it a family meeting makes it sound considerably more dramatic."

Konrad leaned back against the support post and grinned. "It is dramatic. Six children of the Main Line gathering in secret before entering Grauwald. If we speak quietly enough, people might assume we’re plotting to seize Helheim."

Isolde folded her arms and told him, "Nobody needs to assume anything when you announce it loudly enough for three registration groups to hear."

Sigurd sat at the end of the bench while Matthias remained standing, one shoulder against the post and his sword resting at his hip.

The arrangement felt slightly less awkward than yesterday, although the same difference remained. The five cousins fell naturally into positions around one another without thinking about it.

Helena knew exactly when Konrad was about to say something irritating. Isolde seemed accustomed to correcting him before he finished.

Cassian ignored half of it with practiced patience, while Matthias appeared capable of participating in entire conversations through changes in expression alone.

Sigurd, by comparison, was still learning their rhythm.

Cassian waited until Konrad stopped smiling at Isolde before looking around the group. "We should decide whether we’re cooperating once the examination begins. There is no rule preventing it, and pretending the question doesn’t exist until we’re inside Grauwald would be foolish."

Isolde nodded immediately. "Cooperation is the safest option during the opening days. We don’t know where we’ll be deployed, how dense the beast population is or how quickly other applicants will begin targeting one another. Six Awakened working together could accumulate twenty points each with considerably less risk than six people acting independently."

Konrad tilted his head toward her. "And how exactly are we dividing those points? Equally? By contribution? Whoever lands the killing blow? Because I can already imagine how pleasant this family meeting becomes when one person kills a Common Rank Demonic Beast and five cousins suddenly develop opinions about ownership."

Helena frowned thoughtfully before admitting, "He’s being annoying about it, but that’s actually a fair question."

Konrad placed a hand over his heart. "Helena, I knew eventually you would recognize my wisdom."

Helena looked at him and corrected herself without hesitation. "I take it back."

A quiet laugh escaped Sigurd before he could stop it.

Konrad immediately pointed at him as though he had achieved something important, but Cassian continued before the conversation wandered further. "Points can be divided according to contribution. If several people participate equally, split the value as evenly as possible. Any remainder goes to whoever dealt the decisive blow."

Matthias finally moved from the post. "I’d rather hunt alone."

Cassian studied him. "Because of the points?"

Matthias shook his head. His fingers rested loosely against the pommel of his sword as he answered, "Because six people hunting together means most Ferocious Beasts die before everyone gets to fight. I didn’t come here to spend seven days watching other people swing weapons."

Konrad stared at him for a moment before turning toward Sigurd. "You see what we’ve endured all these years?"

Matthias ignored him completely.

Isolde exhaled through her nose but didn’t argue. "There is another problem anyway. We don’t know whether Helheim will deploy relatives together. They would be idiots to let established groups enter the same location if part of the examination is supposed to test adaptability."

Helena looked between them and shrugged lightly. "I don’t mind cooperating if we happen to start near one another. I also don’t mind going alone. We could simply help each other when it makes sense instead of deciding that the six of us must stay together for the entire week."

"That," Konrad said while pointing approvingly at Helena, "is the first sensible thing anyone has said since Cassian summoned this council."

Cassian’s eyes narrowed. "I didn’t summon a council."

Konrad nodded solemnly. "Exactly what the leader of a secret council would say."

Isolde looked ready to push him out from beneath the awning.

Cassian chose the safer option and turned toward Sigurd. The others followed his gaze almost simultaneously, even Matthias looking away from the crowds.

Sigurd understood why. He was the only one who hadn’t answered, and despite meeting them properly only yesterday, his position among them was impossible to ignore.

They were all Main Line, but he was also Malhazar’s youngest child, the boy whose Soul Revelation had become a story repeated throughout the Clan for five years.

Cassian asked him directly, "What about you, Sigurd? Do you want to cooperate?"

But that wasn’t what he wanted from Grauwald.

"For the beginning, I’d rather go alone," Sigurd answered, resting his forearms across his knees. "I’ve spent the last five years training mostly by myself under Instructor Osric. Hunts, combat exercises, survival training, most of it was built around forcing me to make my own decisions. This is the first time I’ll be able to test all of that without Osric standing somewhere nearby deciding when I’ve made enough mistakes. I want to see how I perform."

Cassian watched him for several seconds, then nodded.

There was no irritation in his face, only understanding. "Fair enough."

Isolde tapped one finger against her arm while reconsidering her earlier proposal. "Then Helena’s suggestion is probably better. We don’t form a permanent group. If circumstances make cooperation useful, we cooperate. Otherwise everyone pursues their own examination."

"That solves everything except what happens when two of us want the same target," Konrad said. "Imagine Cassian spends an hour tracking a Common Rank Demonic Beast, only for me to appear at the perfect moment and heroically save him by killing it first."

Cassian looked at him flatly. "You mean steal it."

Konrad smiled. "Such an ugly word between family."

Cassian shook his head before answering more seriously. "Then we establish one rule between us. None of us deliberately hunts another for points. No ambushing one another after a successful hunt, no stealing from someone’s pack, and no forcing another Main Line member to surrender what they’ve already earned."

Isolde nodded. "Agreed."

Helena answered with an immediate, "Agreed," while Matthias simply nodded once.

Konrad sighed theatrically. "There goes my entire examination strategy, but fine. I agree."

Their attention returned to Sigurd. He thought about it briefly before nodding. "Agreed. But if two of us independently find the same prey, whoever earns it keeps it."

Cassian extended the condition without hesitation. "Fair competition."

Matthias’s eyes sharpened with interest. "Including Demonic Beasts?"

Sigurd looked toward him. "Especially Demonic Beasts."

For the first time, Matthias smiled.

A bell rang across the registration grounds before their conversation could continue. Helheim instructors began calling identification ranges, directing applicants toward equipment stations and ordering families away from the preparation boundaries.

Around the clearing, thousands of children rose simultaneously. The relaxed atmosphere vanished almost at once.

Cassian stood and adjusted the sword at his waist before looking over the other five. "Then that’s settled. We enter as competitors, not enemies. If one of us needs help and another is there, we don’t pretend we aren’t family. Beyond that, earn your own points."

Konrad rose beside him and stretched lazily. "And when I take the Crown, I expect all five of you to visit my private lake and congratulate me."

Helena gave him a sweet smile. "I’ll visit just to throw you into it."

Isolde walked past Konrad and remarked, "Assuming you finish above twentieth."

Konrad stared after her in exaggerated disbelief. "You people have absolutely no faith in me."

Seven days in Grauwald might be a decent beginning.

An instructor called Sigurd’s identification range from across the clearing. He rose, checked the token in his pocket and started toward his assigned preparation station while his cousins separated in different directions around him.

Six children of the Main Line were entering the same examination.

They would protect their blood.

They would not prey upon one another.

But the Crown belonged to whoever earned it.