South Los, after the midnight bells had rung.
Malinda opened her eyes after a fifteen-minute nap-sleeping for five to fifteen minutes at noon and midnight was her habit, and also an ancient mystic art.
Rumor had it that it existed before the Imperial Age.
Combined with meditation and breathing, it could produce astonishing results.
The Meditation Technique and Breathing Technique had long since been lost, but even a short nap at those two times could greatly restore a person's energy.
Malinda knew that firsthand.
To give herself more energy, she had undergone such training since childhood.
It was precisely this sleeping habit that allowed her to handle all those complicated affairs with ease.
Lately, however, it had stopped being enough.
For the first time, she felt she could not keep up.
That bastard, Arthur!
Cursing silently, she picked up her pipe-this time, it contained herbs rather than ordinary tobacco.
The kind that sharpened the mind and restored alertness.
She needed to wake up quickly and focus.
The spread of news about "Step-Entry," the "Blood Scion," and a whole string of other matters had stirred undercurrents in South Los, which had only just begun to settle down. Although she had anticipated this situation, each new report told her that she had underestimated the impact of two people at Step-Entry coming together.
Especially when one of them might be the Blood Scion. Certain people and factions that had participated in the "Night of Extermination" back then naturally needed to investigate.
Over the past few days, she had confirmed some unusual activity among the agents of the Marquis of West Berlin and the Marquis of Einhaas in South Los.
That had never happened before!
So, while Arthur's proposal to raise the rewards for the Swordsmanship Tournament was a good one, the tournament was