Terms of the Duel

Soltair entered the room, a solemn expression on his face. Father Ithris followed behind him, his presence making the small room feel cramped.

"Xiviyah, did they tell you about the duel?" Soltair asked urgently.

I shook my head. "I only heard it last night from a few rather unsavory visitors."

His face fell, and he sat down on the bed heavily. "Oh. I've been trying to talk to you for the entire week, but something always came up." He gave a venomous stare at Father Ithris, who pretended not to notice.

"I've heard the basics of the duel, but why are you taking this so seriously? Don't you spar every day?"

"That's different. Trishe and I are simply training, whereas this is a more significant matter. Ronin, the War Hero, challenged me in front of the entire upper echelon of the Divine Throne a few days ago, barely minutes after they arrived. The common belief is that I'm the strongest hero, as I was chosen by the Sun God, and he wants to upset that."

I could tell Soltair was holding something back, and he cast a meaningful glance at Father Ithris. The church must have something to do with it as well.

Father Ithris cleared his throat, looking between us. "I've come to announce the conditions of the duel. As the hero mentioned, he should be the strongest of the bunch. Thus, it is unacceptable that he disgrace himself with a loss. Impossible, in fact. If that were to be the case, there is obviously something holding him back. "

I took a nervous breath. It wasn't hard to see where this was going. Soltair placed his hand on mine, but that did little to reassure me.

"Thus," the Father continued. "should Soltair lose, we will be forced to end your contract."

"You mean you'll free me?" That definitely didn't add up.

"I'm afraid we don't have the authority to do that. Your slavery is decreed by the divine, thus your circumstances upon entering the world. It would take a direct revelation to change that."

"What are you saying?" Soltair asked, irritable glaring at him.

"Calm yourself. She would simply be transferred elsewhere, where her influence will finally stop tainting you."

"You mean you'll kill her?" I shivered at the threat in Soltair's voice. The Father seemed somewhat taken aback as well, and waved his hand in front of him.

"Of course not! Of that you have my word. Now then, I've said my part, and I have duties elsewhere. On behalf of the Pope, I grant you permission to escort the slave around until the end of the duel."

I felt the command settle over me, equally matched with a sense of relief as the Father departed. The room immediately felt lighter and more spacious, allowing me to breathe easier.

"Xiviyah," Soltair said, looking me in the eye. "Things aren't looking good."

Occasionally, Soltair would let his hero demeanor slip around me, showing his true self. This was one of those times, and he almost seemed ready to fail. The weight of the expectations of the entire world rested on his shoulders, a burden he normally bore with a smile. His shoulders slumped, and he let out a sigh that rent my heart.

"I don't know what to do. I can beat the War Hero if it were only the two of us, but his slaves are something else. We're not allowed to assemble parties yet, but he already chose his companions. To gain an advantage, they even went so far as to place slave crests on them, although I bet they are just temporary."

So that was why they were so arrogant. If they'd been through what I had, there was no way those elves could walk around with their head raised. Even now, I shuffle through the halls, not daring to meet anyone's eyes.

"Despicable," I whispered. They had never even considered themselves slaves. Of course they'd look down on me, a hero, yet with lower status than them.

"Yeah. From what I've heard, the weakest of the three has second level mana, but doesn't even specialize in spells."

"Third." I said. The brunette elf, Niece, made a striking impression on me, mostly because she said nothing the entire encounter. She simply observed, not missing a single thing in the exchange. Combined with her weapon of choice, the bow, I was sure she'd be a terrifying threat.

"What do you mean?" Soltair asked, sounding confused. "Did you meet her somehow?"

"They gave me a visit last night, to brag about the duel. That's how I heard about it."

"And they told you their mana levels?"

I shook my head. "Not quite. I've made some progress with the Eyes of Fate since we last talked. It's been… lonely."

He wrapped an arm around my shoulder, hugging me tight. "I'm sorry. If only I'd been with you that day, then-"

"No. It's alright. We can't change what happened. Only the future." I blinked as the familiar words came out, a paraphrase of what Fate told me in a dream.

We talked a bit more, catching each other up on our growth and abilities. Soltair had reached sixth circle in the past few weeks, something not even Father Ithris knew.

"The thing I'm most worried about is that the War Hero targets you. I doubt any of their attacks can breach my defense, but not if I have to protect you." He said.

"Will I just be a hindrance?" I asked, hoping he wouldn't tell me the truth. The thought that he might lose because of me was horrifying, something I could barely bring myself to consider.

He hesitated for a long while before shaking his head slowly. "I don't know. But if things go bad, you can rely on that reflection spell you used-"

"No! I won't hurt anyone else!" I said. Just thinking of that spell brought the scorched faces of those I'd killed to my mind.

"Alright," he said, raising his hands defensively. I felt a little bad for my outburst, but there was no way I could do that.

"What about your other ability, the Adaptive Resistance?" He asked after a while.

"Hmm?" To be honest, I'd actually forgotten all about it. I spent a few hours researching it in the library, but even the expansive depth of knowledge available there had no record of its uses. "If I remember right, the Shard said I had some weak level one resistances to curses. Was that it?"

"There might have been one more, but it does have the word Adaptive. Do you think it changed?"

I pondered it for a second and shook my head. "I have no idea. Would they let us go to the Shard again?"

He stroked his chin, which was just starting to grow some stubble. "Why don't we give it a shot? There might be something else we overlooked that might help us."