43 A Royal Encounter

" Your imaging things." I said curtly, and picked up the pace all the way back to the guild.

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"So, how was your date with Lyric?" Caroline asked in a teasing tone, as I walked in the door.

" Shut up, it wasn't a date. I just couldn't trust going shopping with you all. That trip never would have ended." I snipped back

" But, the six hours you spent with lyric weren't forever long?" Emmy asked

" No, they were fun." A said with a huff.

" So you had a fun date. What 'fun' did you do together? A lot could happen when a boy and a girl are left alone for that long unsupervised." Caroline, grinned widely.

" N-No! We didn't do anything like that!" I yelled shaking my head fervently, with the damned hallucination resurfacing in my brain.

" Anything like what?" Tanya asked with a smile, knowing exactly what I was referring to.

" N-Nothing." I stammered

" Naughty Alice." Chloe voiced from behind a book in the corner followed by a giggle.

" Don't worry, we'll help take care of the babies." Tanya said with excitement

" Ooooh, a bunch of tiny Alice's and Lyrics would be so cute." Emmy said with stars in her eyes imagining a group of tiny children with black and white fur, with an assortment wolf and cat parts.

" You'll have to wait a little longer Emmy. Remember, Alice hasn't hit her periods yet." Caroline said solemnly, clearly holding the same train of thought as Emmy.

" Bummer." Emmy said dejectedly

" At least you both have time to practice." Chole said, and the room went silent, everyone staring at Chloe.

I had short circuited mid way though but once the back log was processed I immediately lit up like a red Christmas light.

" F-Fuck you!" I cry out breaking the brief silence and running out the door.

" Not us, your supposed to be fucking Lyric!" I heard one of the yell. In response I made a knife with Void and threw it as hard as I could. I swung it though the door with telekinesis, and by the panicked scream that followed I nearly hit the person who yelled that.

'Executive decision made, I'm ignoring them for the reminder of this trip.' I thought as I made it to the training grounds.

I sat and watched the few people training, have occasional spars. Taking Oreo out of his pocket on my little satchel bag I hold him to my chest. and start stroking his head.

" Hey Oreo, where do you think those three learned that kind of stuff anyways?"

'I don't quite understand what your talking about.'

" What don't you get?"

' Why are you freaking out so much, it's just reproduction?'

" That's exactly the problem."

' I don't understand you, but maybe it has to do with clothes?'

" What about clothes?"

' I've never worn clothes in my life, no cat does. We see what we see and it's normal. You all on the other hand seem rather sensitive to it.'

" I never thought about it like that, But still I was once a guy, that's the biggest issue."

' And a virgin in you last life too.'

" I will tear your stitching, if you don't watch it." I hiss

' Now, now, why all the hostility? Though I do suppose I see your issue. That wouldn't feel right to me either and I'm neither gender now.'

" I could make you a girl." I said pulling out a knife from my inventory.

' Please don't.'

" Whatever you say."

Our attention was caught by a spar session that was about to begin.

A boy and a girl were standing in the ring right in front of where I was sitting. The boy had a bo staff and the girl had two metal gauntlets that looked a little like boxing gloves just, the reached her elbow and we're a little less fluffy in the front.

A third person stood between them, he seemed to be reffing the fight.

" The battle will start when the rock hits the ground." The ref then threw a rock high into the air.

" Good luck." The boy said to his opponent

" You'll need it not me" She grinned, the boy smiled at the response too.

The rock landed and she ran at her opponent. The boy responded calmly. 'Come forth shadows, emerge and show your hypnotic beauty. Turn the area before me into your hallowed grounds.' before tapping the floor with his staff. A light shot out from the bottom making the ground white. The white floor looked like marble, and was very familiar.

The girl who by now almost struck the boy slipped on the ground, allowing for the boy to dodge a punch from the girl. The boy then turned his staff into a sythe with a blade alone the inner curve and a potion of the pole aiming for her head. The girl roared causing her to glow orange, her hands and feet seemed to catch fire. She slammed her foot down causing the white floor to crack, then quickly pivoted her foot and threw a punch at blade of the boys sythe and shattered it.

The boy jumped back and slid getting more distance as he said his next chant, the girl in hot pursuit.

" Mist of the night time frost, come forth and lull my target I to a chilled slumber." A fog then shot out from his hand and the girl ran face first into it. The boy disappeared into the fog.

The girl's fire seemed to dampen a bit but the mist seemed to have cleared partially as well. she jumped back and a stream of fire left her mouth destroying the rest of the white fog.

A white spearhead then appeared as the girl quickly dodged to her right only to be met with a kick aimed at her head. She ducked and was tripped by the boys other foot and smacked in the side with his staff he had spun around.

The boy followed up with a thrust, when the girl regained Ballance and dashed right under the spear and punched him in the gut. He flew a lot further than she did and he sat clutching his stomach from pain. The girl then dashed over to the boy and pinned him to the ground, and punching the floor near his head. The ground made way for her fist and indented as the match was called.

The girl was fast but not too terribly fast, talented none the less. I have a feeling they might end up being my opponents. I watched a few of there bouts. Most of the time the girl would win. Of the seven rounds I saw, the boy won twice from a trap and a mistake the girl made.

Once the matches were finished the girl had some visitors. I recognized one of them as the girl that had instigated my wrath before. I accidentally let out some killing intent as I stared intently at her thinking about how much she irritated me. No too much just enough to cause a slight shiver and attract attention to myself.

Our gazes met and the girl flinched and she hid behind the girl I just saw fighting. The girl thought her friend was acting weird and they spoke a few words before coming over to me.

" You there, girl sitting in the stands." The girl shouted to me.

I looked at her and simply nodded.

" It is rude to not respond to another if they are speaking to you. Much less nobility." She called as she started walking up the stairs towards me.

" I'm sorry, your majesty." I say sarcastically.

" His majesty is my father, not me, but If you knew who you were talking to the. why would blatantly ignore me." She asked Folding her arms looking down at me.

" Oh, well that's an unfortunate coincidence. Forgive my rudeness, I apologise." I say in an unconvincing tone. The bitterness from the thoughts of my murdered perfect first bite from breakfast still weighing heavy on my heart.

" From wince do you hale?" She asked

" Pardon?"

" From wince do you hale?" She said again

" Uh, Elysium?" I asked not quite sure she meant what I though she meant.

" What is your name?" She asked

" Alice."

" Alice what?" She asked

" Alice, I don't believe it's hard to understand." This girl was starting to confuse me.

" What is your last name?" She asked

" Don't have one."

" What do you mean you don't have one, everyone does, the system makes it so that even orphans know them."

" I don't. Don't know my parents, and look." I took My ID token out of my inventory, through the bag of course.

" Name." I said, and the Name 'Alice' Showed

" Fascinating." The girl said as if this was something unheard of.

Shaking of her curiosity she regained herself. "I see. I will pardon your disrespect towards the crown, but not the violence you have unrightfully brought upon my friend. I Anabelle von Haven challenge you to a duel."

" Oh, and what are the rules?"

" We will have a single match the first to get their opponent to land a fatal blow, knock their opponent unconscious, or get their opponent to forfeit will win."

" If you lose you will be required to become my friends personal slave until the end of your stay in Haven. You don't get to refuse this challenge."

" And if I win?" I ask acting completely uninterested, but I was panicking a bit on the inside.

" You are hardly in the position to demand anything as you were in the wrong earlier today." She said her friend affirming her

" Oh what do you think happened this morning?" I asked with a smirk, as I saw her friend panic.

" Simple, she walked into the establishment, bumped into you on accident then you attacked them with the intent to kill as they ran for their lives."

"Interesting because that's not what I, or anyone in the restaurant at that time remembers. How I recall it went was she kicked my chair over, started calling me all sorts of names insulted my dead mother and ruined my food, before I finally lashed out at her, and her friends who attempted to attack me first. Then again there is no real outside proof in this situation, however I do remember about eight or nine testimonies we may be able to get if we look around for a bit, and find the onlookers who witnessed."

" For a mindless beast you are quite civil. I suppose your idea would work wonderfully we can start our search now if you'd like."

" No, we really shouldn't." The girl who was the cause of all this voiced.

" Oh why not, your starting to sound guilty of something. What aren't you saying."

" N-Nothing, I just am not mad anymore we can just go and forget this whole thing." She pleaded

" But your retribution, if this situation ends here you won't get the justice you deserve." Anabelle's wording seemed to make the girl flinch.

" Come on, tell her the truth, it'll be a lot less painful if you just come clean." I say to the girl.

Anabelle looks at me weird " Fara, what is she talking about?"

" I- I ... I ... Fine. I did it alright. I put that filthy mongrol in the dirt where it belonged but what so wrong with that, they were only made to be the slaves of man anyways. Why should I get punished for something like that." Fara seemed to have lost a screw or two in the moment, but as soon as her outburst ended she turned as white as a sheet.

" I'm disappointed in you Fara. I know you don't have the best opinion of demi humans, but they are called demi humans because they are still human. I'm most upset you lied to me, You will be punished don't forget that, but we can deal with that later." Anabelle seemed rather down about the fact she had to scold her friend.

" Glad we could clear that up, I'll be going now." I said happy that all ended as it should have.

" Hold it!" Anabelle yelled in a renewed vigor.

" What now?" I yawned, this was getting to be overly cumbersome.

"My challenge had not been recalled, you still caused harm to my friend and whether it was for reason or not you still harmed her so I demand compensation. However, as the truth had been made clear to me I will allow you one favor of me, in the event that you win. You still must accept."

" Ugh." I cried as she practically drug me to the ring. She then ran off and quickly returned before I could flee completely. She held a paper in her hand and a magic circle appeared. She proceeded to state the conditions to the fight and once complete it unraveled itself revealing two small stones.

" What's that do?" I asked.

" This is a Contract, with it two people can make a deal that forces both parties to abide by its rules. In the event you lose this will act as a temporary slave crest, if you win I will be in your debt for one favor."

" Fine let's just get this over with."

She handed me a stone and moved to her spot on the ring.

" I vow to uphold the conditions sanctioned by the contract" Anabelle said and gestured for me to do the same

I replied in kind " I vow to uphold the conditions sanctioned by the contract"

Once we completed our vows, the crystals in our hands started to emanate a black light and a black symbol appeared on the back of the hands we were holding the stones with.

" Begin" the boy who had been reffing Anabelle's other matches called and immediately I found Anabelle barreling towards me.

I tapped my foot on the ground causing the area around me to turn into a slick white area, where I had total control. Anabelle seemed startled when she noticed the ground underneath her turn white but smiled because she seemed to recognize the magic and she fooled herself into thinking she knew what she had coming. Her steps came down harder keeping her from sliding as much, as she accelerated and threw a punch towards me. I flicked my wrist up not having moved since the start of the fight and a white shield appeared in front of me, blocking her strike.

The shield collapsed into a puff of smoke after her hit connected and the fog billowed outwards until it covered almost the entire arena. The shield had stopped her assault and in the time when she was distracted by the fog I turned myself white to blend into the fog and I disappeared from her view. Anabelle seemed to be nervous about my sudden disappearance but she had more pressing matters to deal with. She let out a roar and the fog around her was pushed outwards as her hands and feet ignited. Anabelle then proceeded to attempt to clear the fog the same way that she did with the other boys, but there was too much for her to deal with effectively. while she was distracted I moved the fog to focus on her front as I creeped up behind her.

Throwing four knives into the fog I use telekinesis to attack her from the front and in the time where she was distracted I kicked her knee into the ground and punched her in the solar plexus, knocking the wind out of her I then took a large concentration of the fog and shoved it into her face. Her attempts to get air just filled her lungs with the fog and she fell unconscious not long after. I dispelled the fog and picked the now unconscious Anabelle, taking her to her friends, and depositing her body before I just left.

I knew with absolute certainty I would win, the boy she was sparing against honestly sucked at using Moonlight magic and I had way more mana than he did. I only actually listened to her challenge because she offered me a favor and I figured there was no point in refusing such a generous offer, despite the fact I wasn't in the mood to fight anyone right then and there.

I returned to my room and just decided to take a nap, the others tried to talk to me but I just ignored them and fell asleep.

Days passed in total boredom, Sparing was fun but it got old after a while because no one in the group really took it seriously, It only took around two days to have visited almost every worthwhile place in the city. The odd part was I saw the supervising teachers and the guildmaster a total of five times in passing, and the other students seemed to largely keep to themselves. Finally, it took forever, but the day for the competition finally came.

All the students that were participating, were separated into eight groups as there was eight different adventuring schools throughout the kingdom. One from each of the seven most prominent cities and the other was from a budding city further off to the west of the country.

Our matches would be in a coliseum like building with multiple levels of seating that could easily hold hundreds of thousands of spectators, among the stands there was a box shaped area that held seven chairs. There were five levels of seating that people could sit, the top floor was sanctioned for nobility so not everyone could sit there and the bottom level was for the people participating. Regardless, there was more than enough seating for everyone that wanted to attend the fights.

The bottom level where I was sitting had a crowd of other people there as well, most of them were there for the competition that would come after the schools competition. This was to build excitement for the future battles and the competition of the strongest person in the kingdom. The people attending that competition ranged from battle hardened adventurers, to up and coming prodigies, the countries high ranking knights, and the squires that are looking for distinction. anyone looking for fame or fortune and hold some semblance of power participated, which led to a rather large participants list, our little group of students seemed largely out of place.

People started flocking into the venue and soon I heard the sound of trumpets blaring signaling the arrival of a very important group of people.