Just like that, we ran like a herd of wild animals on a field. Ed and I planned to stay together and help each other, but we quickly got separated by the crowd. We had more or less expected this to happen at some point, but having it happen at the start was definitely unlucky.

First off was a straight path forward that everyone sprinted across. They treat this as a race, but nowhere was it stated that they had to make it past the finish line by a certain time restriction. I instead chose to jog at a leisurely pace until I made it to the next area, hoping the crowd will have dissipated a bit by then, but alas.

The next obstacle was a giant wall with mud underneath just in case someone fell and needed to break their fall. People got stuck on this bit, with some even offering to help others up as long as they get helped back. This was a sight reminiscent of a war.

I slowly made my way up by myself, but just then I felt someone grab onto my leg from down below.

“Stop! Please help me get over! I need to pass this exam and visit my cousin in Vatar! I’ll do anything, just help me get across!” a young lad begged.

I didn’t really care for his offer, but seeing as I had nothing to lose I chose to help him up. As he climbed up, I suddenly slipped.

“Hey! I’m falling here! Mind giving me a hand?”

My pleas were met with indifference by the young lad, he simply turned away and jumped over to the other side. Betrayal wasn’t quite the feeling I felt back then, but I sure did feel like I wasted my energy for naught.

After being the last one to make it past the wall, the next area was a pool of mud with barbed wire over it. The point of the obstacle was to make it under the barbed wire and hopefully not get caught on it. Seeing as I was quite limber from my training, I used this obstacle to get ahead of the competition.

I didn’t realize this at the time, but I was getting more and more fired up. There were two more obstacles left, namely swimming across a large body of water, then climbing up a rope to get to the finish line.

Swimming was going smoothly, I was never really that good of a swimmer, but I knew how to stay afloat. The cool water managed to free me of my competitive spirit, so I started dog-paddling my way across, not worrying about speed.

I was wasting more and more energy, but I didn’t feel as if I was moving anywhere. In fact, the other side of the water was getting farther and farther away. Struggling to stay afloat from fatigue, I had finally realized it.

My arms aren’t moving.

This scary revelation led to me slowly going under the water, barely grasping for air using my legs. My arms had sustained injuries, yes, but for them to not move at all was something new. I tried yelling out for help, but to no avail, the water had all but gulped me down.

Just as I was reaching my limit, someone had reached out and grabbed my numb arm. It was Ed, he noticed I wasn’t near the ropes and went back to check on me, and thank goodness he did, since I would have died if he was even a second late.

He swam me across the water and had me cough out the excess water. My throat was very sore, and I couldn’t really talk much, but he figured out my hands couldn’t move from me somehow pointing to them with my chin. Shocked, he knew I couldn’t make it up the ropes anymore.

But I didn’t wanna give up. We made it this far, fought against the odds and made it all the way here in such a short time, only to give up now? Fuck that! I’m climbing that damned rope no matter what! Checking my hands again, I noticed I could barely move my fingers. This meant the reason for my numbness was a mix of fatigue and overexertion and not because of any injury.

This means I could possibly jump start my arms for a short while if I was to purposefully injure them. The adrenaline would give me the strength I needed to climb. Knowing this, I barely managed to mutter my plan to Ed with my sore throat.

“(dislocate… arm… please.)”

“W-what? Grim, you can’t be serious! Your arms will take ages to heal up if I do that! You just got better!”

“(do… it.)”

He looked at my eyes with a worried expression and stood up next to me. We both knew this was gonna hurt me, but it’ll give me back my ability to move for just enough time to get my adrenaline pumping. This way I could at least make it to the finish line and get our passports. After that I’d probably have to wait ages before I make any form of recovery, but I didn’t mind.

“Here goes, clench your teeth…”

*crackle*

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUCKKKKKKK!!!!!!! THIS PAIN IS KILLING ME, SHIT!

“AGH, THE OTHER ONE! QUICK!”

 I tried my best to keep my composure while he did the same to the other one. At this point my arms looked badly bent and bruised, but I could move them. We made the most of this moment as we ran to the ropes, I screamed the whole way through.

 “ED! HELP ME UP, NOW!”

“Got it!”

I used his cupped arms as a stepping stool to jump about half way to the top, but had to rely on my own strength to get over the rest.

………..

With barely any strength left, I had passed the finish line, with Ed following shortly after. The instructor looked at my sorry state and came to apply first aid. He looked at my eyes and simply shook his head.

“So my hunch was right. You don’t seek adventure, boy, it is freedom you seek. Congratulations, you made it.”

As he said those words, I fell to the floor unconscious. Our passports were to be mailed to us in the coming days, and we had officially become ITA agents.

***

I had woken up in a transport wagon with Ed a couple days later with passport in hand. Where are we? I asked Ed. He wore a vacant expression as he explained to me plainly.

“We just entered Primis, Grim. We’ll be arriving in the Kingdom of Carmen in a couple of days.”

This was certainly good news, but there was still something missing.

“And Anna?”

“…She went back to Arthur, they’ll be travelling a lot in the coming years, making branches of the restaurant all over TN, remember?”

Oh, I see… Something about that statement made me inexplicably sad. I remembered what happened at the exam, and looked down at my arms. Again, bandages.

“Your wounds heal fast, Grim.” Said Ed with a smirk, “We Green Iros really are lucky in that regard.”

I suddenly remembered an old superstition that Green Iros heal faster than the others, but that wasn’t as important now.

“Let’s hope Anna and Arthur make their dream come true. If only they could hear about what we’ve been up to…” he sulked.

I didn’t even get to say goodbye to Anna, Ed refused to tell me what happened in between me passing out at the end of the exam and waking up in the wagon. I imagine she was mortified after seeing my sorry state, so I guess waiting for me to wake up would be awkward. If we ever get to see her again I’d like to apologize.

Ed’s right though, they have no way of knowing what we’re up to, and sending thousands of letters would be very difficult to pull off regularly. If only there was a way to compile our travel stories all at once and send it that way. As I thought that, I was suddenly reminded of Schnell.

“That’s it! Just like Schnell, we should write a book about our travels! That way they can read about it and know exactly what we’ve been up to!”

Ed had a surprised face upon hearing another one of my crazy ideas, but still agreed to it.

“Great idea, we can go to an inn and take it easy while you catch up to the current events.”

Edward Saint, the one and only person who would go along with my crazy plans no matter what. He is indispensable, someone I’d like to see prosper and be happy. Looking at it now, I’ve never doubted Ed in terms of his ability to make our dream of travelling the world come true, not once. With our next plan of action settled, we headed out to the capital of Primis, Ren.