A Difficult Situation

A/N: Quick note to avoid any confusion. If you see 'text' with ' around it then it's a thought. Otherwise "text" it's speech. Also please read the A/N at the end as I have an important question/possible announcement depending on the reaction.

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Visibly shocked Maya stood there motionless for a moment. Then without turning she started speaking to Kaylus. "I'm not sure what you mean… I haven't been hiding anything."

"..."

"Do you take me as an idiot?"

"No! Not at all…" Maya raised her voice when responding.

"Mhm… Then why are you avoiding looking at me?" Kaylus scoffed, his tone of voice increasingly becoming sterner.

"T-that…" Maya managed to squeeze out a word but the rest of what she said became unintelligible.

Kaylus walked towards Maya who tensed up as she heard his steps approach closer. Kaylus tower over the back of Maya.

'Is she afraid? Then again she was in such a dangerous place before, and it looked as if she wasn't threatened by those two clowns from earlier. She shouldn't be scared of something this simple.' Kaylus believed himself to be great at reading people. His intuition right now was telling him that this little fox was being shrewd.

'Heh, unfortunately, you're one lifetime too young to play games like this with me little fox.'

He reached out towards Maya gently grabbing her shoulders and leaning towards her ear. He then spoke in a lower tone. "Maya, please tell me what you have been hiding. At the very least look at me and tell me you're not hiding anything. Then I will believe you…"

Kaylus's voice was deep and soothing, his breath gently caressing Maya's ear like a warm summer breeze. 'Now it's time for the final nail'

With an even gentler and kind tone, that held a hint of sadness, Kaylus said "Please Maya, I think you owe me that much after helping you. Wouldn't you say? Or is it that you don't trust me?"

Kaylus waited a few seconds for Maya to respond. When no reply came Kaylus sighed, letting go of Maya's shoulders and turning around.

"I see, please leave, I'd like to rest. I'm feeling a bit tired"

"No!" As soon as those words came out of Kaylus's mouth, Maya yelped and grabbed Kaylus's wrist firmly.

Unbeknown to Maya, Kaylus had a large smirk on his face. 'That's a good little fox'

"Kaylus wait! I will tell you. Just don't be upset with me." Maya teared up as she was clutching onto Kaylus.

Kaylus turned around, seeing Maya's teared-up eyes, Kaylus put on a gentle smile and wiped her tears.

"Don't cry, otherwise someone might think I bullied you"

Maya sniffled and nodded her head. "Sorry for suddenly crying. I just didn't want you to be angry with me"

"Aww, there is no way I'd be angry with you over that little fox. This is a small matter, plus how could I have the right to be angry with you?"

Puzzled Maya looked directly at Kaylus "What do you mean?"

Seeing Maya's calmer appearance Kaylus's smile became more radiant and welcoming. "Are you pretending right now or do you truly not know?"

Maya shook her head. "No, I honestly don't know what you mean. We only met recently and you're the one who saved me, so I don't understand why you would say that."

"HAHAHA" Kaylus burst into laughter taking Maya aback.

Kaylus wiped a tear of joy from his eye. While trying to hold back any remaining laughter Kaylus answered. "It's true that I did save you. But if not for you I'd still be in that forest. Maybe something would have killed me while I was passed out. Even if that didn't happen, I was in the middle of an unfamiliar place. Who knows what would happen from then on."

Kaylus took a brief pause, "So don't think like that, and just explain everything that is going on. Just as I saved you, you saved me, so you have nothing to worry about. I am on your side. If you wholeheartedly don't want to tell me then you don't have to. I won't force you to do anything you don't want to do, in the end, it's your life."

Hearing those remarks Maya's heart skipped a beat. 'Huh? What was that just now...' she thought to herself.

Kaylus didn't fail to notice the momentary change in Maya's composure. 'Oh? Appears like the little fox was a little moved by my words.'

"Seeing how you look significantly calmer now, how about we sit down and chat?"

Maya nodded, avoiding looking at Kaylus, and the two sat down.

Maya mulled over her choice of words for a moment but feeling Kaylus's piercing gaze she finally said what was on her mind.

"The truth is…There is another part to the grand prize."

"And it's related to you, I'm guessing?" Kaylus interrupted

Shaking her head, Maya continued, "Yes. The truth is it's a marriage with me."

This sent Kaylus deep into thought, his long fingers gently rubbing his chin as he compiled all the current information.

'Hmm, that explains why her mother would be worried about the clan being devoured, from the inside. With her being the only princess of the clan, her husband would have to marry into her family, presenting an opportunity for a takeover if done diligently.

It would also explain why they aren't afraid of giving a strength-boosting priceless elixir, in the end, it would stay in the family.'

Maya waited for Kaylus to finish speaking, taking peeks at his handsome face while he was deep in thought. 'He looks kind of handsome when thinking like that.'

Kaylus finally voiced his mind, bringing her out of her daze.

"There is just one thing I don't understand."

"Yes?! What is it?"

Seeing Maya's jumpy kitten-like attitude, Kaylus couldn't help but smile.

"It's nothing really, I just don't understand why you would try hiding it from me. It's not like I would be upset hearing that you will be getting married. It's not like something is going on between us."

Hearing those words was like a punch to the gut for Maya, she didn't understand why she felt like that, or maybe she was in denial. Her face became visibly shaken but, in the next moment, it was back to normal.

Kaylus saw the confusion and the sudden downcast expression. 'Looks like the little fox already likes me more than she knows.'

"Ehm, I… I don't know how to put this. To be honest, I wasn't trying to hide it."

"Then what were you trying to do?"

Maya took a deep breath, "I wanted to find a way to ask you for your help."

This time it was Kaylus's turn to be shocked, his eyes bulged while his mouth slightly opened agape.

"My help?"

Maya nodded her head. "I wanted to see if you'd possibly join the tournament. You defeated that owlbear extremely quickly, so I thought it might be possible."

However, this didn't ease Kaylus's confusion. "I understand that, yet can you honestly say that you'd be willing to marry someone who is practically a stranger?"

Maya bitterly smiled as if she was thinking of something painful. "Anyone would be better than that bastard…"

"I understand that, yet as far as you know I am much, much worse."

"No one can be worse than him!" Maya cried with a fierce flame burning in her eyes.

Kaylus had to cover his mouth to stop himself from chuckling. 'Both her cute and fierce appearance fit her very well. I wonder which is her real personality.'

"I see, but this doesn't explain why it had to be me."

"I wasn't planning on it. I was travelling through that forest to meet a friend of mine. I had hoped to ask him to help me as he was the only one I could think of."

Kaylus raised his eyebrow, "Then why don't you ask him now?"

Maya sighed deeply, "It's too late now. Even if I left now, I'm not sure I'd return in time. In addition, I doubt I'd be able to sneak out again. At this point, you're the only one I can think of that could help me."

"Hmm, I see. It's indeed a difficult situation that you're in, but what makes you think I can help you?"

"What I saw the night we met made me believe it's possible."

This piqued Kaylus's interest, he couldn't remember much from that night so this could provide valuable insight.

"And what did you see that night?"

Maya gazed out the window, "I had lost my footing due to my carelessness. When I thought it might be all over I saw you flying out of the sky."

She turned to face Kaylus as she continued, "With the hole in the back of your clothes and your blonde hair and red eyes that glimmered in the moonlight, you looked like an angel of war that had been banished from heaven."

"Oh? I knew I was handsome but didn't know I was angelic." Kaylus smiled teasingly.

Maya's face flushed red as she quickly turned back around and tried to move on. "When I saw you fighting, I thought you might die, but then I felt your aura."

"My aura?" Kaylus asked. 'Is she into all that pseudo-science crap?'

"Mhm, the quantity of mana you possess is unlike anything I have seen among my peers. Not only that, you appear so young yet have such smooth and precise control over it. You were able to fashion hundreds of makeshift spears in an instant and control them all."

"I see…"

"When do you need my answer?"

Maya looked back at Kaylus with hope in her eyes, "The tournament will most likely be over in the next week or so, the sooner you can give me an answer the better as there is no set end date."

"I see, let me sleep on it and I will give you my answer tomorrow" Kaylus beamed, increasing the hopeful feeling deep in Maya's heart.

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A/N: Hey, thanks for reading this chapter. Some more excitement will be coming soon so if you'd like to see what happens next make sure to add this novel to your collection.

On another note, we have unlocked power stone voting, while I'd like to do bonus chapters for reaching power stone goals my health won't really let me do it at the moment. So I had another incentive in mind and wanted your opinion on it.

I was thinking of uploading character art for you guys for reaching goals.

100 power stones: Unedited cover being uploaded.

250 power stones: Character art of Kaylus, Maya or Nixie (I'd probably leave that up to you guys)

500 power stones: Character art of one of the remaining two

750 power stones: last remaining character

1000 power stones: Lewd character art (Once again you guys can choose what character and maybe even the clothing, when I say lewd I mean it won't be nude or at least the important parts won't be visible.

I doubt we'd reach 1000 power stones anytime soon so for now I wouldn't add more targets.

Please let me know what you think of this idea in the comments.

-DontLookPls ^^