Damian picked up his staff from the ground and looked at the necklace still resting in Hundred's palm.
"I think I understand what the necklace is for now."
The two of them gathered their equipment slowly, turning the idea over in their minds as they walked. Damian's theory was simple. The necklace hadn't made Hundred stronger. Instead, it seemed to push his body to the limit of what it was already capable of, sharpening his reflexes, his instincts, and everything months of training had built. It was as though the necklace allowed him to tap into a strength that had always been there, lying dormant.
Hundred listened in silence, rolling the pendant between his fingers. He couldn't help thinking about the Charma Vanabelle had mentioned. During the fight, his movements hadn't felt strange. Quite the opposite. They had felt completely natural. It was still him, only more intense.
Damian held out his hand. "May I?"
Hundred nodded and handed him the necklace. Damian studied the pendant for a few moments before closing his eyes, letting his mana flow down his arm until it completely surrounded the necklace.
Nothing happened. No warmth. No glow.
He turned the pendant over in his hand, ran his thumb along the chain, then handed it back without a word. The two of them understood the same thing at the same time. Whatever secret the necklace held, it responded only to Hundred.
"I think the book might explain this," Hundred said, tucking the necklace back beneath his shirt.
Damian nodded. "Then let's find out."
They slung their equipment over their shoulders and left the training field behind.
The bright afternoon they had trained under was already beginning to fade. The sun hung low beyond the rooftops, painting the sky in deep shades of amber and orange, while the light spilling across the stones of District 14 grew warm and heavy, the kind that made everything seem a little older than it really was. Long shadows stretched across the cobblestones, and the air had cooled just enough for the change to be noticeable.
The district was slowly settling into its evening rhythm. Merchants pulled down their awnings and stacked crates outside their shops, calling to one another as they closed for the day. A baker swept the front of his bakery. Two women cheerfully argued over the price of something wrapped in cloth. A dog that seemed to belong to no one in particular wandered lazily between the two boys without the slightest concern.
At that hour, the main road through District 14 was busier with travellers than with locals returning home. Carriages from neighbouring districts rolled slowly between the market stalls, their wheels rattling over uneven stone while the horses exhaled small clouds of steam into the cooling air. Some passengers leaned out in search of an inn. Others remained silent, following the road that wound south toward the kingdom's border.
Hundred walked with distant eyes, his thoughts circling back to the same things over and over. The glow. That strange sensation of his body moving before his mind had fully decided what to do, every step, every block, every swing arriving without hesitation, as though his entire body had been operating in perfect harmony. He couldn't explain it. And beneath that feeling sat a question he couldn't shake loose: how could something so valuable, so powerful, have been given to him so freely?
He was so lost in thought that he almost failed to notice one of the passing carriages.
It was larger than the others, built for long journeys. Its wooden panels were worn by time and coated with the dust of countless roads. Through a narrow opening in the canvas at the back, Hundred caught sight of a woman sitting inside. The lower half of her face was wrapped in cloth, the way many travellers covered themselves against the dust. There was nothing particularly unusual about her. And yet the way she sat, the slight tilt of her head, the outline of her figure against the fading light, something about her stirred a memory he couldn't quite reach.
He slowed his pace, watching the carriage move through the crowd.
Have I seen her before?
The feeling vanished as quickly as it had come. The carriage turned the corner and disappeared between the buildings, swallowed by the noise and movement of the street.
"Find a coin on the ground?" Damian called, glancing back.
Hundred blinked a few times before returning to the present. "Hm? No... I was just looking at the street."
He quickened his pace until he caught up.
And convinced himself it was probably nothing.