Chapter 328: Quarter-Finals [1] |
Chapter 328: Quarter-Finals [1]
Left stranded by Leon, I could only wait for half an hour before picking myself back up and navigating through the streets before finding the Inn where I was staying.
While Grimspire was a lot smaller than Bremmer, it was still a very large city.
I had to ask for directions several times in order to find the Inn.
Creak!
I plopped onto the bed the moment that I entered the room.
“Hoo.”
Sinking into the bed, I started to relax. My legs still felt wobbly, and I could tell that my calves were not in a good state. Taking note of the fact that there were matches tomorrow, I could only silently curse at myself before applying some ointment and hoping that everything would heal by the time the next round started.
‘…The progress is steady, but at this rate, I’ll break my body. I need to find a way to reduce how much I use the power.’
Trr—!
I was just about to rest when I felt my pocket vibrate. Taking out the communication device, I stared at the message that appeared.
My expression turned grim as I read the message.
It was the announcement for tomorrow’s opponent. In bold letters, it said; [Julien Evenus of the Nurs Ancifa Empire versus Kaelion Mandrale of the Aurora Empire]
“This might be a little annoying…”
No, this was far from being a little annoying.
This was extremely annoying. Especially since Kaelion was now somewhat familiar with my Emotive Magic. I was sure he’d have some sort of way to counter it.
The thought gave me a headache.
‘….Since relics are allowed, he’ll have some sort of relic to protect his mind.’
The Relic would render my Emotive Magic less effective. The degree of suppression I wasn’t sure about, but it was certainly not going to be little.
“Hoo.”
I pursed my lips and looked up at the ceiling.
Actually, I wasn’t too worried about him countering my Emotive Magic. He could try for all I cared. In the end, while he could try and suppress my Emotive Abilities just like Angela did, I was confident in bypassing whatever protective measure he had in place.
In Angela’s case, though not easy, I could’ve bypassed her air-sealing technique that prevented me from speaking.
The extent of my Emotive Magic was far superior to that little trick of hers.
Simply cutting off the air around me wasn’t enough to prevent me from using my abilities.
….I just didn’t think I needed to go to that extent to beat her.
And I was right.
In Kaelion’s case…
“We’ll see.”
I brushed my hair back. There were still a couple of things that I needed to settle with Kaelion. He was a snake, but at the same time, I had his weakness in the palm of my hand.
I had set up an appointment to address this situation, but I found myself unable to find the time to meet up with him.
‘I’ll address him soon enough.’
I lowered my head to stare at my hand. Clenching it in silence, I let out a small breath.
Emotive Magic aside….
There was something else that I wanted to test.
Six orbs once again appeared in my mind. Unlike last time, I was more inclined to reach for the red orb. I wanted to test for how long I could use the ability and the effects it’d have on my body.
Of course, the thought only crossed my mind for a brief moment before I shook the thought away.
In my current state doing so would be extremely stupid.
“How is your progress?”
“….It’s not bad.”
Lifting my head, I wasn’t even surprised by Delilah’s appearance. She tended to do this so often that I just accepted her presence as though it was natural. She seemed to be of the same thought. Making herself at home, she sat on the chair opposite me.
She then eyed me with her glossy obsidian black eyes.
“You have a tough opponent. Do you think you can beat him?”
“I’m not sure.”
I had already fought Kaelion before, but back then he was unaware of my Emotive Magic. Now that he knew the situation was a little different.
I was still confident in beating him, but I wasn’t sure I’d be able to do it as fast as I did in the past.
But that was beside the point.
Lifting my head, I made eye-contact with Delilah.
“What?”
She tilted her head, her eyes blinking as she noticed the seriousness of my expression.
I thought long and hard about what to say. In the end, I held myself back.
‘This might backfire against me.’
What I wanted to talk to her about was the situation with the Angel and how the students were most likely possessed by them. If I had her help, I’d be able to solve the situation faster.
But there were a few problems.
One, Delilah’s reputation with the Royal Family was terrible. If I asked her to destroy the statue, she’d be turning the entire family against her.
Perhaps Aoife might be able to explain the situation later, but there was no guarantee things would resolve after destroying the statue.
At the same time, her actions might also trigger a chain of reactions that would prompt people to start checking everyone to see if they were possessed. If that were to happen…
‘No, I can’t let that happen.’
The thought made me shudder.
In the end, I was stuck in between deciding whether to let her in on the situation or not.
“…..”
Delilah sat in silence, fiddling with her pocket taking out a chocolate bar and taking a small bit.
Clank!
The sound of the bar breaking echoed silently as she chewed on it.
I stared at her from my position while trying my best to calm the tremors on my legs.
“You’re injured.”
Delilah finally seemed to notice the state of my body as her brows knit into a frown. Her heel clicked against the wooden floor as she sat on the bed next to me.
The entire time her attention was fixed on my leg.
She eyed it for a good moment before shifting her attention back to me.
“You’ve torn your quads.”
“Oh.”
No wonder it hurt so much to walk…
Delilah frowned.
I looked at her expectantly, hoping she’d give me something to help with the situation, but she didn’t and just handed me the chocolate.
“Do you want it?”
“….”
I struggled to find the right words as I looked at the chocolate bar.
In all honesty, I didn’t like chocolate. It was too sweet for me. Way too sweet for me. Since that was the case, I prepared to reject her.
I was in the process of doing so when…
“This, well—ukh!”
Something sweet entered my mouth as I felt a finger touch my lips. Stupefied, my eyes widened as I looked at Delilah who was looking at me with her usual calm.
Uwawawawa.
My thoughts stopped as my mind blanked.
The situation was so abrupt that I had no time to react.
Before I had time to figure out what had happened, Delilah’s voice reached my ears once more.
“Your injuries can be healed by tomorrow. You might feel a little sore. Rest until tomorrow.”
Her voice grew distant, and in the blink of an eye, her figure disappeared from my view.
“Ah.”
By the time I recovered, I sat with my mouth open, the sweet taste of the chocolate spreading all over my tongue.
“This…”
It really was too sweet.
***
“Hmm.”
Delilah appeared inside of her room. It was a large suite that contained a large bed, draped with curtains and an enormous wooden frame. A deep red carpet covered the floor, while various paintings adorned the walls, adding an air of elegance to the room.
The floor was relatively clean, with the occasional wrapper scattered across it.
She had gotten better at cleaning up after herself recently.
“….”
Delilah’s heels clicked as she walked toward her desk and took out a small diary.
The diary was titled;
[Julien Observation Diary]
Around the title were several stars and scribbles. There was a small dog and a cat. Delilah liked to scribble when she was bored.
Since the last discussion she had with Julien, Delilah had been bothered by his question. ‘You, you can’t possibly like me?’
The question took her aback and she found herself unable to understand what brought him to ask such a question.
For that reason, she had been binging several books in order to better understand the situation.
Delilah was quite unfamiliar with how emotions worked. She had gotten better over the years, but ‘like’…? How did that emotion even feel?
The Diary was necessary for her to understand.
This was so that she could see the situation in an objective manner. And… it was also fun.
Looking at the diary, there were already several bullet points that she had written before.
The first and foremost was;
[● Talented]
Julien’s growth over the past year has been very impressive. Especially recently with the development of his domain.
Delilah believed that his true strength was amongst the top.
The next point;
[● He likes chocolate]
He always goes on to say that he doesn’t, but every time she gives him chocolate, he eats it.
How could he not like chocolate?
He likes chocolate.
[●Girls don’t like him]
Delilah’s gaze hovered at this point for quite some time.
This Delilah didn’t understand. In her eyes, he didn’t seem to be ugly.
But girls did tend to look at him before running away from him.
It was a weird phenomenon.
[●Funny?]
Delilah circled the question mark in red.
She wasn’t too sure herself. However, Professor Hollowe repeatedly mentioned to her that Julien was extremely funny.
It made her curious.
How funny was he?
She thought about asking Leon later. He seemed close to Julien.
[●He likes girls with long black hair, and black eyes, and is older.]
No comment.
And that was it.
These were all the bullet points that she had managed to gather recently. Delilah was quite satisfied with what she had.
However, it was now time to add another one.
Taking out a fountain pen, Delilah pressed it against the paper, the ink slowly spreading into the page.
Delilah was suddenly reminded of what had happened moments prior when she fed him the chocolate.
It was the first time that she had ever seen him so flustered. His hazel eyes swam all around, lost by the situation while his lips and body unconsciously trembled.
Recalling the scene, Delilah felt the corner of her lips pull up slightly.
For some reason, she wanted to see the flustered look again. She couldn’t describe it, but she just wanted to see it again especially since he was always so serious. It was such a large contrast.
As her thoughts paused there, she began to write.
[●He’s cut—]
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