NOVEL SIMPLE Chapter 21.4 Debates
“Aaron?”
The young man walking beside Sade looked over at her. “Yes?”
“I apologize for ending the match so soon and not giving you a chance to show off what you can do.”
Aaron sighed and scratched his head in frustration. “Yeah… I get it. The whole point is to win. But man, is it fucking annoying to get taken out so easily! Did you really have to go that hard on me?” His tone implied he wasn’t really mad at Sade and more disappointed with himself in not being able to stop her.
“Unfortunately I did.” Sade sighed. At Aaron’s incredulous look, she did her best to elaborate further. “I take it you heard about what happened between me and that one attendant?”
The young man nodded, although he was one of the many people who had arrived after the event, those who witnessed it made sure to fill him in on all the details. A few heartbeats later, his face lit up in realization.
Sade gave a shy smile. “Yes, it would not have been wise for me to move about too vigorously. Still, I must apologize for the opportunity I have robbed from you.”
Aaron let out another great sigh and awkwardly patted Sade on the shoulder. “I get it. It’s incredibly frustrating to be so unlucky, but truly, I get it. I knew I had no hope in winning anyways.”
Sade quickly jumped in front of her fellow student in order to force him to stop and look her in the eye. “I will hear none of that! Never forget that you are here, in this arena, because you are one of the best students in our year at Mya University. An institution where only the best of the best gather to learn and study. You have earned your place here at this tournament. Do not let these unfortunate events make you think otherwise.”
Aaron was stunned at her display of concern for a person she barely knew, and someone she was competing against no less. With eyes slightly misted over with emotion, he gave a quick nod. “Thanks… I hope to face you again one day and show everyone just how strong I really am.”
Sade smiled and started walking once more. “I look forward to it. Just know that I will not be holding back when that day comes.”
A brief flash of horror shot across Aaron’s face, no doubt remembering just how terrifyingly skilled of an opponent she could be.
“C-... Could you at least hold back a little bit?”
They were forced to wait in the staging room until everyone had their turn to fight out in the arena. Thankfully, the female attendant ran over to return Sade’s enchanted undergarment the moment she stepped into the room with Aaron. Sade thanked the woman and quickly had her chest properly bound in the privacy of an adjacent restroom before returning to watch the rest of the fights with her friends and classmates.
The upperclassmen were interesting to say the least. Having spent more time honing their magical knowledge and personal casting techniques than the first years, the second and third year fights were considerably more brutal and varied than what the underclassmen could hope to achieve at their level of training. Even when including monsters like Sade and Ariwyn, the difference between the years was like night and day. The chance to observe a series of such high level mage duels was well worth the price of admission in Sade’s humble opinion. She eagerly looked forward to what her seniors could show her next. Perhaps she would even try to sit down with a few and compare notes.
While Sade was lost inside her own thoughts she suddenly heard the sound of someone clicking their tongue in annoyance behind her. Sade turned to see Ariwyn storm out of the room in a huff.
“Anyone know what set her off this time?” Someone asked from the far back.
“I dunno. But she got really agitated after Sade’s match.” Came a reply from elsewhere.
“Why would she be mad about that? You think she’s afraid of Sade beating her like she did with Aaron?”
“Oh come on! Sade only cast a basic spell. She just got lucky, could have happened to any one of us.”
“Yeah right! You couldn’t hit the side of a city wall if your nose was pressed up against the stone.”
“Bold words for someone already knocked out of the tournament!”
With the conversations in the room slowly becoming more heated, Sade decided it was her time to leave.
…
Rick was thrilled after watching Sade’s fight.
There were several murmurs in the crowd around them complaining that the fight was lackluster. More than one voice rose to confidently say that even they could have easily performed the same trick. Those with even a drop of magical education, were having altogether different sorts of conversations about the match.
Rick and his friends had actually been trained by Sade, each of them having spent countless hours going over every minute detail of how magic was understood by those who wielded it. While Sade had indeed cast a basic spell, that was not all she had done. To most, every known spell had a singular effect. ‘Ice spike’ would always shoot out a lance of ice at roughly the same size and at the same speed no matter who cast it.
That wasn’t quite true however. On that fateful day on the old road, Sade had already shown to Rick that spells were somewhat mutable. A slight tweak to the pattern inside their body, an adjustment to where the spell egress was, a shift in the mental picture, there were all sorts of factors that could be used to modify a spell's effect. True, there were limits. A mage couldn’t just change an ice spell to suddenly shoot out fire, but there was a staggering amount of customization available to those who knew how to do it.
For her match, Sade limited how much ice she created and instead used the extra mana she saved to increase the speed the small shard of ice flew. Combined with having it come out of a finger she stealthily aimed at her opponent before the match even started, and it was little wonder she was able to swiftly defeat the young man before he could even blink. It was the exact technique she first discovered when she was able to change the shape of her spike into a ball while fighting that crazy bug monster in the forest.
Rick also knew that not just anyone could change how a spell functioned. To alter a spell, you need to intimately know how it worked. You needed not just knowledge, but mastery. To those who knew what to look for, like a knowledgeable professor or a dean of a magical university, Sade had without a shadow of a doubt demonstrated her complete and utter mastery of low level spellcraft.
Rick couldn’t have been more proud.
He and the others enjoyed watching the remaining matches between the various upperclassmen. Lilie, being a third year herself, had passing familiarity with more than a few of the competitors. Her animated, and sometimes lewd, commentary added quite a bit of extra enjoyment to the spectacle.
When the last fight had finally wrapped up, the group eagerly packed up their things and headed back to the lobby to meet back up with their incredibly talented lover.
“She is strong, of that no one was ever in doubt, but why are you two acting like she is better than me?” A high, feminine voice rang out from the other side of the lobby door. “I would not be so easy to beat with such tricks.”
“If you do not realize the issue, then it seems both the school and your tutors have failed in their duties to educate you properly.” An older masculine voice replied.
The first voice barely let out a noise of retort before a third person spoke. This one was a more refined, matronly voice. “Be silent. We will speak more of this later.”
Rick and the others stepped into the lobby and three people turned towards them. Ariwyn was immediately recognizable, while the other two were unknown. The two newcomers were high elves, easily deduced by their pointed ears, gleaming golden hair, pale skin, and the seemingly ethereal grace in which their tall and slender bodies seemed to move with even the simplest of gestures. Based on their voices Rick had assumed the man and woman were Ariwyn’s parents, but neither of them looked to be older than their mid twenties. Rick knew however that appearances were deceptive. Especially with the longer lived races.
“And who may you be?” The elven man asked with just a hint of a sneer. His eyes fell upon the large woman in the group and narrowed even further in disgust. “Especially when you bring a wild animal into our pristine halls.”
Tyr’s lips parted to show her fangs and a menacing growl slowly rumbled its way out of her throat. Rick’s arm shot out to hold his pregnant lover back before things escalated into a bloodbath.
“I’ve seen other people say similar things or worse and you didn’t even bat an eye. But a high elf trading barbs is suddenly not okay?” Rick asked pointedly. “And let’s not forget the hairbrained way your first meeting with Ariwyn went, shall we?” At his harsh rebuke, Tyr’s anger quickly evaporated and she hung her head in defeat for being so thoroughly called out.
The elven man looked triumphant at the display. “Well now, it seems that someone has-”
“That being said. You sir, were quite rude yourself. I don’t take kindly to those who go out of their way to insult the women I love.” Rick said, cutting the man off before he could dig his own grave any further. Rick may have gone too far in shutting Tyr down, but it wasn’t because she wasn’t in the right to be pissed off at what the pompous ass had called her.
The said pompous ass’s pale face grew scarlet with fury. “How dare you! Do you know who I am?”
“No. Because someone felt it was better to start throwing insults before introducing themselves.” Rick replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world. There were a couple snickers from behind him and the elven man’s face flushed an even angrier shade than what was accomplished previously.
“Husband.”
The older woman’s voice was calm, barely speaking the lone word above a whisper, yet her voice cut through the air like a knife. The man immediately swallowed whatever words he was no doubt going to hurl their way and took a step back under his wife’s withering glare. The elven woman then turned her silvery eyes to Rick.
“Let us cease hostilities and place this unfortunate incident behind us. I would prefer not to waste time when we have other, more pressing matters to attend to.”
She gracefully waved her hand for the other two to follow and stepped forward. As Rick and the others stepped aside to let them pass, the elven woman momentarily halted. Her eyes scanned over the motley group, taking in every minute detail. Rick saw her nostrils flair ever so slightly as she examined them with a critical eye.
“Come to think of it. I believe we never got your name either.” She said in a tone that Rick couldn’t quite identify.
“Oh, uh… I’m-”
“Rick!”
As one, the room turned to see Sade stepping out from the doorway that led towards the staging room. The dark skinned mage quickly trotted over to where Rick stood and gave him a light peck on the cheek.
“Hey Sade. Great job out there!” Rick replied, giving her his own quick peck with his lips.
“So it begins…”
Rick looked up to see the blonde matriarch mumbling under her breath. She had a troubled, calculating expression marring her otherwise flawless features. As if sensing his attention, her face returned to its former placid state and she waved her two companions onward a second time.
“Yes mother.” Ariwyn said softly, her head bowed in deference.
Before the three high elves reached the exit, Ariwyn’s mother turned to look at Rick once more. “Before we leave, a word of advice. Even when warranted, try to refrain from insulting an unknown party. It is wise not to make enemies of House Rivenmoor.” She nodded her head once in farewell. “Until we meet again.”
The hall echoed with the sound of the door closing behind the three nobles.
“Balls…” Rick cursed.
