Chapter 13: Challenge
"This time, can you put me down normally?" Iris snidely commented as Arthur's mouth gave an involuntary twitch. 'Of course, I'll put you down normally. I only dropped you last time to make a point,' Arthur inwardly commented, his mind reflecting back to the scene of Iris with Ronos blade pressed against her soft skin.
'He didn't hurt her like he did me, which is obvious, but at the same time… This is good,' Arthur inwardly planned, his thoughts unknown to everyone but himself though Iris could have sworn she saw a maliciousness glint in the eyes of her holder which made her unconsciously brace for impact.
But that impact never came as just as the pair reached the arena's edge, Arthur gently rolled off the young Iris, whose body fell softly against the compressed dirt flooring.
{+5 Affection (Iris Zepar)}
{+ 500 Affection points}
'I suppose playing hot and cold is the way to go with her,' Arthur affirmed his determination to follow through with the plan he had hastily made just moments earlier becoming resolute.
"T-thank you," Iris muttered, dumbstruck by the fact that Arthur had actually followed her orders to a tee before returning to her usual haughty attitude and turning away from the boy that had just seated himself beside her.
"This fights going to be quick," Arthur mumbled in an attempt at conversation, his gaze fixed upon the two figures that stared each other down in the centre of the roughly outlined arena.
"What do you mean? Charlotte will do better than you ever could!" Iris retorted, enraged by Arthur's seemingly low appraisal of her sister's skills.
Though upon returning her gaze to the field Iris was shocked to see the shivering form of her sister, her head was fleeting from left to right in search of some unknown thing or…person.
"What's she doing? Why isn't she attacking Rono? The match has started, right?" Iris stammered, confused by the sudden shift in her sister's personality and barraging Arthur with a series of questions as if he knew any better. "Is she scared?" Iris concluded.
"Of course, she's scared. Are you forgetting that she was kidnapped just two days ago!" Arthur yelled, momentarily dropping his act to berate the clueless older sister.
"Yeah, but you saved her, right?" Iris, matter of factly, responded.
'This clueless bitch', Arthur seethed. 'How can someone think like that? I get that you're only ten and all, but I know for a fact that both you and Charlotte are a lot more mature than you let on, so how? How can you think that all that anguish and pain Charlotte was subjected to would just disappear like the wind the moment she was saved?' Arthur inwardly argued though he would not voice such thoughts out loud, instead opting for a tamer approach.
"As if that resolves the fear and trauma she was subjected to, you know what those men would do to her if I hadn't saved her, right? Because Charlotte sure did. She was terrified and in denial the moment I met her, with eyes that had given up on life, yet here you are wondering why she's scared to face a man she's had little interaction with all her life? It would be a miracle if she'd ever be comfortable around men again. Hell, even I'm surprised that she was so accepting of me despite my gender," Arthur yelled loud enough to alert the "Sparring" party to his location.
"Arthur," Charlotte tearfully whispered. She had been listening to Arthur rant about her ever since the start of the battle, and to see him defending her so wholeheartedly…well, it made her heart skip a beat, to say the least.
{+10 Love (Charlotte Zepar)}
{+10,000 Affection points}
{The comment under Charlotte Zepar's love meter has changed}
{+10 Love (Iris Zepar)}
{+1000 Affection points}
{The comment under Iris Zepar's love meter has changed}
{+5 Trust (Rono Ardor)}
A torrent of system messages flooded Arthur's view, yet he made no comment on them. He was too focused. "So what?" Iris hastily replied she couldn't let the peasant boy before her win this argument no matter what…her pride as a Zepar wouldn't allow it. Yet no matter how much her mind convinced herself of this fact, her heart would tell another story.
"So what…so what, what do you mean so what? Charlotte is clearly traumatised from the whole ordeal, and all you can say is, so what! Some big sister you are! Not even bothering to think of the possible implications the whole event could have on her!" Arthur continued his eyes, bloodshot with "Rage" as he chewed through his opposition.
'How dare he talk to the young miss like that!' Rono inwardly scowled. If the conversation were to get any more heated, he would surely have to step in.
{+5 Love (Charlotte Zepar)}
{+5000 Affection points}
{+10 love (Iris Zepar)}
{+1000 Affection points}
"Huh, How dare you say that to me! Of course, I thought about how Charlotte might have felt. It's just…I didn't think it would be that bad!" Iris yelled though her voice soon died down into a slight whisper audible to Arthur and Arthur alone.
"Of course, it would be this bad…She was almost…Never mind, this is going nowhere. You're clearly too dumb to understand what was going through Charlotte's mind in those moments of desperation," Arthur sighed in "Exasperation." making sure to taunt the now raging Iris, whose face was as crimson as the blood plastered to Arthur's face.
And how would the prideful Iris deal with this verbal defeat? Of course, it was with power as with the rage flowing through her exhaust ridden body she pushed herself up to her feet and grabbed hold of the "retreating" Arthur's shoulders, which buckled under the pressure of the young heiresses grip.
"Fight me!" Iris yelled, "If you win, I'll admit that you're right, but if I win, you'll have to apologise to me and leave this family!" Iris challenged "Stunning" all those gathered.
And without a second of hesitation, Arthur immediately returned an answer. "Sure, but I have one condition," Arthur hurriedly replied, outwardly nervous while inwardly he was grinning.
"Who says that I have to listen to what you have to say? You just agreed to fight me, right?" Iris quickly retorted though she already knew this was a losing argument, and before long, she relented under the stares of Rono and Arthur. After all, it was common courtesy to accept the condition of the challenged when proposing a fight, especially for critical matters such as this.
"Fine, what is it," Iris sighed.
"One month," Raising his middle finger, Arthur demanded. "We'll have our fight in one month, giving both of us plenty of time to recover and train under master Rono," Arthur continued.
"I accept your condition," Iris decreed, fancying herself a pseudo ruler in front of the peasant boy. "We'll have our fight in exactly one month…you better prepare yourself," And with those words, her grip on Arthur's shoulders loosened as she fell back on the compressed dirt floor, the rage that had been previously supporting her now long gone.
{+10 Love (Iris Zepar)}
{+1000 Affection points}
"I'll be going now!" Arthur waved, walking towards the doorway through which he had entered not even half an hour earlier with his love metre considerably higher and his grin markedly broader.
'She fell for it. I've just secured myself the entry for the Iris route,' Arthur inwardly smirked, a trail of sweat slowly drooping down his forehead as he made his way through the twisting corridors of the Zepar estate, the thoughts of his job having long since vanished from his mind, hell he was so entranced with his thoughts that Arthur had failed to even notice that Charlotte had taken it upon herself to follow the truant boy, healing potion in hand until he finally stopped at the large wooden door that marked his room.
'I have a skill to learn,' Arthur gleefully thought, pushing open the door and taking a seat on his unoccupied bed, where he could soon be seen sitting cross-legged, two invisible pulses of energy discharging from his opened palms.