【January 14, 3031 8:22 AM】

Earth. South Panacea.

“Hm, I wonder if Miss Stubborn is still alive.”

The wavy-haired person finally found her own hair tie. It had been missing for four days because of sudden emergencies. Walking to some ally, the woman started humming a song while tears streaming from her eyes. Being alone somewhere, sadness finally wiped off the smile on her face. The woman's hops were happy yet she's crying. It looked stupid over time.

The alleyway was not that long, in a few short skips, the person who used the path was able to exit the corner. Slowly tying her hair up, a familiar looking house appeared in front of her. The place was abandoned, no people greeted her like usual. Many of them either died or started their journey somewhere. The woman also can't go back to her own house anymore, it was really such a shame.

Opening the gate she mumbled, “Excuse me.”

The gate was rusted, making it strange. It's only been two days since the world gave up on them... why is it already ruined?

The woman's senses immediately heightened as she felt a presence behind her, acting like wiping her tears that already stopped long ago—her upper body ducked as her hips twisted. A high kick was about to land on the other person's face when the latter was able to block it with her crossed arms.

The wavy-haired person used the fence to go up and spun onto the other side. Surprisingly, the other person seemed to be skilled enough and jumped up to her side, another swift motion of someone’s fist tried to land at the wavy-haired only to null their attacks by each other's strong force.

“You're quite fast.” The wavy-haired person complimented.

The other person's face who's covered with a cap stopped for a moment only to say in surprise, tongues speaking Valoran. “What the...”

The wavy-haired person also observed her movements. This house belonged to her friend yet another person who has a completely different voice and appearance, showed up. 

Soon there was a reaction from the latter. She gasped, “Ari... Aris Armani?!”

The woman who's called by the name “Aris” turned alert. Encountering someone who knows her name would be unavoidable, she's not supposed to be surprised. However, because of the former person she was with, she somehow forgot her own identity. Living with a well known family was tiring, acting stiffly and smiley in front of everyone. Aris didn't have the energy to deal with any person since the fall of her family's political party.

In fact, she didn't want to deal with anyone who knew her. Miss Stubborn gave her a free space for a while, she was able to act naturally without worrying about other people's judgement.

But now, she was instantly pulled back to the present.

「Miss Stubborn didn't recognize me, maybe this one's more active in politics or the military?」

“You've got the wrong person,” Aris lied.

“That can't be, I'm always updated on evening teas.” The other person revealed her face, a sly smile appearing on her lips. Although her eyes were light colored, it was not soft but full of sharpness. “Who would have thought that I'll meet the mystery daughter of Armanis. Nice to meet you, the name's Elara, Elara Selene.”

Aris looked at the hand reaching out to her.

Elara, “Just yesterday, my friends and I were discussing your whereabouts.”

Aris found the other person peculiar and tried to land another hit on her shoulder. Elara blocked it with her palm and kept her expression, “Aris, we're about the same age, why so hostile?”

“Oh,” Aris laughed, realizing something, “Wanna fight?”

Elara dodged to the right side and hopped backwards, “Instead of handshakes, our greetings are now violence? Typical military greeting, ah?”

* * *

Minor Screening, Day One.

Hesychia encountered the very first question after walking for a while. A door sealed with some sort of magical talisman spun slowly, at the side was a small wooden table with books. One of the books slowly opened its cover, as pages flew in a fast manner, one page tore on its own floating with a question:

“Why did the two women come to Solomon's Court? Please answer it correctly by shouting out loud.”

Hesychia dumbly stared at the question, not because she didn't know the answer but rather it was in fact too easy. This specific event in Solomon's Court was quite famous, words fly faster than the speed of light. Even if Hesychia wasn't interested in religion, she knew a thing or two. In the sacred book, the two women came in with one baby claiming that it was both theirs. Originally, that's the correct answer.

Hesychia wanted to try some stunts and probably die inside, Voice low, she answered wrongly,  “I don't know.”

Creak!

Erza, who was threading his own labyrinth, felt a weird feeling on his stomach, almost like anxiety brimming inside his intestines. Looks like someone in his team wasn’t listening to his reminders.

Meanwhile, an alarm massacred Hesychia’s ears as the golden walls let gigantic forks and spoons surge to her. The Forks and Spoons looked like soldiers, standing straight as their bottom half created loud sounds of clanking. The utensils observed her for a while before an announcement was made, “A bad student shouldn't be happily grinning after answering wrong, a good daughter should eat the served food in front of her without wasting it. To discipline the dishonest child, she should be punished!”

The loud ring of the system went off as the forks ran forward first. Hesychia grabbed its neck and spun it using her left hand, although it was heavy, it was bearable. One spoon tried to hit her using its head. Her instinct kicking in, Hesychia used the fork as a shield. The fork without proper balance became her own weapon, the utensil tried to get away from her hand however it seems like the fork's weakness is its full body. Once lifted, they would be under the player's mercy.

Hesychia was able to confirm this when the spoon's force made the metal head go through the fork's spikes. If she didn't have anything to defend herself, she would've been a flat human pancake. After the clash, the fork sank on the white floor, the tiles cracking unevenly.

Ah, this is too tiring. She thought, deciding whether to perish on the spot. Though a flicker of Erza and Icx’s face flashed inside her mind, stopping on her tracks. Hesychia paused, whispering to herself. “If I die, would the other two not complete their minor screening?” 

Dying alone would be fine, but she didn't want to disturb anyone. If she kills herself here, she would pull her teammates down to the depths of hell and call her an asshole.

Hesychia was a type of person who would rather survive than hear insults. She has two metals at her hands now, however it was way too heavy to lift. She needs her other arm. Unfortunately, what she had was her left hand when she's right handed.

Soldiers after soldiers of silverware approached her personal space, wanting to scold the “bad child” for not answering the questions correctly. The woman decided to shake the sticks off of her arms, pulling the fabric and forcing her hand to grip the gigantic fork with a spoon on its head. Hesychia started spinning the fork and spoon like a polearm. This made the soldier utensils afraid to move forward.

The forks and spoon gave her a frown.

She slowly backed away and ran towards the starting point to catch her breath. The metal on her hand fell down at the tiles, her own back slumping to the golden wall.

“Wow, fun.” Hesychia took a deep sigh, “I shouldn't underestimate it anymore.”

The short-haired person looked at her right arm that can barely move, now it hangs limply once again because of her forceful twist. It probably got strained.

Hesychia soon stood up and went inside her own assigned labyrinth again, this time, continuing properly. After thirty minutes of walking, the same question popped up into Hesychia's first question. She looked around first, and those silver spoons and forks disappeared completely.

“Why did the two women come to Solomon's Court? Please answer it correctly by shouting out loud.”

“To seek justice, and to find the real mother! Of the newborn baby because two women claimed one child!” After answering she coughed, feeling her throat starting to get itchy.

“Ding, correct!” The seal on the door slowly dimmed out as it slowly opened with a creepy creak. Hesychia walked forward without much expression, enduring the pain on her arm. She took a look at her device, counting how many minutes she would walk. Using her normal phase, she was able to conserve her energy. Unlike the first question, the second room of question was quite far. It took her one hour to encounter it.

At the second question, the walls were still gold however the white tiles were now covered with a fluffy carpet. The table consists of a dim lampshade and a white quail. Loads of styrofoam resembling snow appeared on the ground.

Hesychia can't help but think that this is not eco-friendly.

Amidst the “snow” a small replica of a huge ship in the middle of the sea appeared. A mini anchor slowly lowered as a bottle with paper inside rolled out.

Hesychia watched the bottle go at the very edge of the table, falling down. The bottle shattered as the paper inside floated slowly towards her face, “An explorer and his crew were stranded in the Arctic Ocean, for several months, where they had to fend for themselves. When the crew was finally rescued, the Explorer was reunited with his wife at long last. He told her all of the stories about how the ship had crashed, and the captain needed to feed their crew members penguins so they wouldn't starve to death. And, to prevent from freezing, they needed to huddle together closely on the ice.”

“A few days later, the wife got curious and wanted to try the penguin herself. Despite the traumatic experience, the explorer agreed to eat the penguin too. However, upon eating the penguin, the explorer immediately burst into tears and ran out of the room. A day later he killed himself. Why? Please answer with closed eyes!”

“There’s no penguins in the Arctic,” Hesychia answered without a pause after closing her eyes. “the captain made them eat his crew members.”

“Ding, correct!” The voice faded.

Penguins spend 80% of their time in water and only go on land to mate. Penguins survive on fish that they catch in the ocean. The problem with the North pole or Arctic is that it smack dab in the middle of a giant iceberg. There is no water in the north pole for them to hunt because the ice is so thick.

Reasonably speaking, what exists on this ice field were nothing but predators such as the polar bears. Humans can't kill polar bears legally and no one would want to risk their life to hunt it when they are already at a disadvantage. 

This was a simple information Hesychia learnt in grade school, fortunately she listened and her memory served her right.

The door once again opened for her, letting the young woman progress. Hesychia frowned, two questions and there's no clue if this labyrinth is for her or not. Those questions had nothing to do with her, would it be really necessary to reach the center before she could back out?

For the third question, she needed an hour again to reach the room. Hesychia thought that it was ridiculous, this labyrinth would take hours and hours to complete. The number of questions she will encounter are still unknown.

Third question came in, the room looked like a simple study. A red wooden table stood at the side, a few electronic colored notes were pasted at the wall. One electronic note went to greet Hesychia, a question boldly written in caps:

“WILL YOU FORGIVE YOURSELF IF YOUR FATHER DIED WITHOUT UTTERING YOUR APOLOGY THAT YOU HAVE BEEN WANTING TO SAY?”