No, trusting her is a mistake

Chapter 3 - Irreversible Decisions

Erin had to think long and hard about what he wanted to do. Trusting her could be dangerous. But he didn't have a lot of choices before him. Ultimately, his wariness got the better of him.

"Sorry, but I think I'll pass."

"What?" The girl said.

"I don't know you. It doesn't matter what we can do for each other. I can't risk it."

"Wow." The girl said stunned. "You're either way too cautious or a complete moron, either way, your loss."

"Sorry." Erin said, turning around to walk away.

"Hold on, where are you going?" She asked.

Erin questioned whether he should tell her. He didn't want her following him again. However, he still had no idea how to get to the hostel.

"If you must know, I was trying to get to the hostel before I bumped into you."

"The hostel? But you have no rune."

"I was told I didn't need one."

"They switched things up a little while back. They check all the runes in the hostel now as well. Something about the queen wanting to know exactly how many people refuse to join the Royale."

The only word that came to Erin's mind was fuck. What was he supposed to do? He couldn't go back to the tavern. He couldn't go to the hostel. It was far too creepy to spend the night on the street. Erin was having a battle with himself in his head. It seemed the only thing he could do, was to get himself a rune. But doing so would hinder his efforts in getting the ingredients to go home. There was no other option. He couldn't see another way forward. He had to get a rune. He had to fight in Royale to at least earn some money. If he could at least get a solid footing here, it would help him in his efforts. Understanding what he had to do, he left the strange girl in the alley and began heading back towards the tavern.

On his way back, Erin almost got lost multiple times. The city seemed much scarier at night. But finally, he found his way to the front door of the tavern. He saw lights were on inside and heard voices. A lot more voices than earlier. He pushed the doors open and five girls total were staring at him.

"Who the hell are you?" Another short, fiery girl asked.

"You're back?" Hella spoke as she stood up. "What happened?"

"Turns out, I can't stay in the hostel without a rune. It's like you said, you can't do anything here without one."

All five of the girls began whispering to one another before Hella walked forward a little.

"So why are you back here?" She asked.

"Well, if I can't do anything without a rune, then I need a rune."

"But...you haven't been to the forest yet."

"I will have to figure that out later. Right now, I don't even have a place to stay."

Hella almost looked sad at Erin's statement.

"I just came back to ask if you could do it." Erin said, avoiding the eyes staring at him.

Hella fidgeted slightly before going to a bag and pulling out the stamp. She walked over to Erin and looked into his eyes.

"Are you sure about this? Once it's done, there is no going back."

Erin nodded. Not really sure what to expect, he simply held out his arm. Hella rolled up his sleeve. She held the stamp in one hand as her other hand began to glow blue. She placed her palm on the bottom of the stamp then removed it. The stamp was now glowing too. Erin could see the shape of the rune, clearing glowing with magic. Hella lowered the stamp to Erin's arm. A searing hot pain was burning into his wrist. Hella held him still as he began to struggle against the stamp. After a moment, she lifted it up and a rune, exactly like the others remained. Erin rubbed it, still feeling the burn.

"It's done." Hella said before walking away and sitting down, a sad look on her face.

"I'm sorry. I know you were hoping I could help you, but this is for the best." Erin said in response.

"Best for you maybe!" Ginny spoke up before storming off.

"One last thing before I go. How does this work exactly?"

"It's pretty much used for everything. Your gold is transferred through the rune and stored. To pay for something you make a verbal agreement with someone and tap your rune. To battle someone you press your runes together. To enter somewhere restricted by rank you show a guard the rune. Oh and battles are tracked there too. Once you register for the Royale, your rank should appear and if you win a battle, a symbol will appear in the middle signifying how many wins you are on with that person. Oh and one more thing about the battles. If you plan to fight that is. If you lose, you must complete the forfeit by midnight. If you don't, your rune will turn red and that means the guards will be on to you."

Erin nodded. This was a lot to understand but he was pretty sure he understood. It helped that it was similar to a game he had played once.

"I appreciate you helping me with this, even though I know you don't want to. Maybe one day, I will be able to pay it back." Erin said before turning and leaving.

He couldn't bare another argument with Ginny popping up so he high tailed it out of there and once again, in the dead of night, began the walk back to the hostel. It still wouldn't be the best place to stay, but at least he wouldn't be on the street. It would also give him time to think about what to do tomorrow. He needed to join the Royale, which meant he needed to know how to fight.

A short while later and only one wrong turn this time, Erin had finally made it to the front door of the hostel. He only knew this because a large signpost above it gave it away, not to mention the two guards standing out front. Erin approached and one of them told him to stop.

"Halt. Rune inspection."

Knowing what to expect now, Erin held out his arm. The guard held out what seemed to be a small wooden paddle with a strange metal component attached to it. The component began to spin and a blue light shone from it. A second later the guard stepped back.

"Alright, go in. Keep the noise down."

Not knowing what to expect inside, Erin entered. It was worse than he had imagined. There were people crammed together on almost every inch of floor. What beds there were, were shared by at least three people, some hanging off the edges. There was almost no room to even lay down except for one section of the room. In the far corner, there seemed to be enough room for five or six people, but only one person was sat there. Erin inspected them, wondering whether to approach. She seemed normal enough. Almost average in every regard. Average size, normal weight, basic brown hair. There didn't seem to be anything extraordinary about her. But it seemed people were avoiding being near her and it seemed she knew it. Her eyes almost popped out of her head as she saw Erin approaching. A confused but excited look on her face. She then spoke in a whisper.

"Are...are you coming here?"

Erin nodded.

"Why?"

"There isn't anywhere else and this is a fairly open part."

"That's because nobody wants to go near me." She said, though not sounding sad about it.

"Why not?" Erin said, dreading the answer.

"Do you not know who I am?"

"Not a clue."

"Mell? Mad Mell?"

"Sorry, never heard of you." He said, wondering where the mad came from.

Erin didn't have to wait long. Mad Mell had already scooted closer to where Erin had sat down.

"You really don't know me?"

Erin shook his head. "Should I?"

"Well, everyone else does."

"Why?"

Mad Mell seemed a little apprehensive to say at first, but clearly having the first conversation in a while, she jumped back into the conversation.

"Well...I hold the record for the most losses in the Royale." She said as she held out her arm to show the rune saying rank Z.

"Why does that make you mad?" Erin asked.

"Depends on who you ask. Some people think I'm mad that I keep trying even though I have never won. Some people think that I have lost so many times that it's sent me loopy. Some people think I'm just deranged."

"I take it none of those are true then?"

Mad Mell lunged forward at Erin to where their noses were touching.

"You tell me. Do I seem mad to you?"

"A little odd but I wouldn't call you mad."

Mad Mell's Eyes lit up like fireworks at Erin's words.

"You really don't think I'm mad? Everyone thinks I'm mad. Even I think I'm mad...sometimes at least."

"Unique is more a word I would use." Erin said, trying to stay on her good side.

"Wow, that's a good word, I like that. Unique."

"Forgive me if it's rude to ask but...how many times exactly have you lost at the Royale?"

"Again, depends who you ask. Some say thousands. Some say hundreds. Some say I lost five times and got fucked so hard that my brain got scrambled." She finished with a little giggle.

"And which of those would be true?"

"I like to keep people guessing. Keep the mystery alive." She said as she lifted he arm up to cover her face, peering over her arm.

"I see." Erin said, not sure how to continue.

Mad Mell somehow managed to scoot even closer to Erin. They were now shoulder to shoulder and she leaned her head over and rested it on him. Erin felt a little uncomfortable but still didn't know what to make of this person yet. Out of nowhere, she grabbed Erin's arm and looked at his rune.

"You don't have a rank?" She asked.

"Not yet. I was going to try and sign up tomorrow."

"Really!" she said a little too loudly.

A few people in the room with them stirred. One person let out an annoyed grunt.

"Can I come with you?" Mad Mell asked.

"Come with me? To sign up?"

"Yeh. As you can tell, Miss Mad lady over here doesn't exactly have a lot of friends. Would be nice to have someone the same rank as me to talk to."

"Really?" Erin asked, unsure of what to say next.

"Yeh! I can teach you all there is to know about the Royale."

"I thought you had never won before?"

"Doesn't mean I don't know about the Royale. I just suck at fighting. Or maybe...I lose on purpose." She suggestively.

Erin gave her a surprised look but she quickly laughed quietly, telling him she was joking. Erin wasn't sure if that was true or not.

"Come oooon. It will be fun." She said, shaking Erin slightly. "We could be a really cool duo. Climbing the ranks together to defeat the tyrant queen. Wouldn't that be a cool ass story?"

"I suppose it would." Erin said awkwardly.

"Whaddya say then new pal? Want to be friends with Mad Mell?"