“Surprisingly though, it was not planned that I have another announcement,” Emelia continued, pausing slightly for everyone’s attention to gather. “This evening while we prepared for this gathering, my personal hero, Ash, proposed to me and I have graciously accepted.”
There were two reactions to this announcement. The common people erupted in a thunderous roar of cheers while the nobles looked up at Ash with sheer jealously and open disdain. As if to accentuate her point, Emelia took Ash in her arms and gave him a deep kiss in front of everyone, though due to the distance, only the nobles could truly see what was happening upon the balcony.
With Ash thoroughly surprised by her unexpected movement, not to mention the crowd below, Emelia wore a winning smile and pulled Ash back inside the manor. “That went well,” She said, with a face of commander who had just won a battle.
“What now?” Ash asked, his mind still filled with a white fog.
“Now we wait,” Emelia said, grabbing his arm again. “Once they have had ample time to soak in the information and gossip a bit, we will join them in the garden so that they can try to find any openings between us. Just stick close to me and try to talk as little as possible.”
“Don’t trust me?” Ash asked jokingly.
“I trust you, but the less they can learn, the more it will drive them crazy. Don’t underestimate nobles, they can turn the slightest bit of information into a weapon given the chance.”
Once a half hour had passed, Emelia led Ash into the garden where they were quickly surrounded by nobles who wished to greet the couple and offer their congratulations.
The nobles tried to pull him away from Emelia side, but thanks to her iron grip and quick wit, each time they were sent away with frowns. When they learned the two would not be easily separated, they moved on to their next tactic, gossip. They asked a number of questions but they were all deftly answered by Emelia. The few expertly directed at him were given a short answer.
“Is it true you saved the duchess?”
“Yes.”
“What drew you to the duchess?”
“She is kind.”
“When do you plan to be married?”
“Soon.”
The questions slowly drifted off and the night seemed to be winding down when suddenly a red faced youth broke through the group positing himself in front of Ash. “You are a charlatan who has tricked the duchess,” Julien declared loudly, drawing everyone’s attention.
“Julien, what is the meaning of this?” Emelia asked, her voice low and menacing.
“I apologize for my rudeness duchess, but I cannot stand by while you are being tricked by this shameless man. I demand a duel of honor so that I may show all that this man is nothing but a cad.”
“I cannot deny the right of challenge of another noble, but I ask that you reconsider,” Emelia said her eyes widening slightly.
“I will not,” Julien declared. “Tomorrow at midday, I will be waiting for his answer. If he has any honor, he will meet me with his sword ready and his neck clean, though I expect all I will find is a coward hiding behind your title at that time.” With his words said, Julien left the garden and the manor followed closely behind by his father who looked no more pleased than Emelia.
Shortly after Julien left, Ash was pulled into the manor as the rest of the nobles started to wander off. “This isn’t good,” Emelia said as soon as they were back in her chambers.
“What I can easily beat him,” Ash said with full confidence.
“That I do not doubt, but a noble does not have to meet the challenge himself. He can appoint a second to fight for him. If you beat the second then the noble is forced to fight. Most the time when two nobles quarrel, it is only the seconds that fight. If you happen to win, then Julien will most likely back down, but it will hurt his honor and he will stop at nothing to stop you. If you lose, you die. No matter what, this will not end well.” Emelia walked in a tight circle as she spoke her face troubled.
“Then what should I do?” Ash asked seriously.
“I think declining the challenge will be the best choice,” Emelia said wincing slightly.
“Why don’t you look pleased at that suggestion?” Ash asked not completely understanding the situation.
“If you decline then it will look badly upon you, but since you are not a noble it won’t mean much outside the city. I on the other hand will look like a fool and many of the nobles will use it as an opportunity to intervene and our engagement will be nullified,” Emelia said, slumping in a cushioned chair. “But you will be alive.”
Ash took a seat opposite Emelia and looked at her face closely. Her response was completely different than he expected. The other day she had no problem putting him in danger, but now she was acting completely different. “Why don’t I accept the challenge? If I win, it will be no different than it was a few days before when the earl and his son wanted me gone.”
Emelia’s eyes widened. “There is a large difference. Before neither would do anything that would indicate themselves, but if it becomes a matter of honor or revenge then it is different. They may look bad in front of the other nobles, but each and every one of them will understand their actions and a few would even applauded them. Depending on how it’s handled, even the king come become involved. Please just refuse the challenge.”
“Wouldn’t it be best for you if I accepted it?” Ash asked, wanting to understand why she was so adamant on his refusal. “If I lose and die you can refuse advancements due to bereavement. If I win then the nobles will still leave you alone.”
“Idiot, do you think I really care about that,” Emelia said, her eyes watering. “What is the point of everything if you die?”
Seeing Emelia cry, Ash was touched. Never in his life had another person truly cared about him. He had always viewed humans as selfish and untrustworthy. When someone did something for you, it was best to return the favor, otherwise you would be left in their debt and that was dangerous. That was the reason he had accepted her request. So that the debt he owed would be repaid, but now he didn’t know what to think. The longer he thought, the less things made sense. “I don’t understand,” Ash finally admitted, rubbing his temple with his forefinger and thumb.
“What don’t you understand?” Emelia asked, her face tilting slightly to the side and her eyebrows furrowing.
“I don’t understand. Obviously the best choice for you would be for me to accept. The best choice for me would be to deny and leave the city. Humans always choose what is best for themselves, yet you want me to pick the option that would leave you in a hard spot. I just don’t understand,” Ash said, his mind still trying to figure out what advantage she would get by him leaving the city.
Emelia didn’t say anything, she simply watched Ash, her lips pursed so tight that they started to turn white. After studying him for a long time, a weak smile spread across her face. “I see. Humans always do what is best for them…Is that so? Then, can I ask why you really agreed to going along with my farce thus far?”
“One should never leave themselves in debt to another. From the moment I met you, you have placed me within your debt, but have asked little in return. I have had trouble figuring you out and then you asked me for a favor that would allow me to repay that debt, so I felt at ease, then you change your position again.”
Emelia’s face took on a shocked look as her mouth slightly opened. “Then do you think of nothing when you look at me?”
“I think…I think you are beautiful and I have enjoyed spending time with you, but still I don’t understand.”
Seeming to understand something, Emelia frowned. “You haven’t spent much time with others have you?”
“No,” Ash admitted, not understanding the point of her question.
“How about your family or a friends? Surely there has to be someone in your life?” Emelia asked, her voice quivering slightly.
“I never knew my parents, and I have never had a friend. None that I can remember any
way,” Ash added the last part, remembering his original excuse.
Suddenly, Ash found himself being embraced by Emelia while wet tears dripped from her eyes onto his neck. Ash was dumbfounded and had no clue what he was supposed to do. He reached his arms around Emelia and awkwardly patted her back.
Pushing herself away, Emelia wiped her red eyes and smiled. “Is everything ok?” Ash asked with a confused look on his face.
“Sorry,” Emelia said with a timid look. “I should be the one consoling you, yet I…Ash look at me,” Emelia said, grabbing his hand rightly. “You said you don’t have a friend, but am I not one? I know that I was using you, but I…I didn’t want you to get hurt, and about the…Marriage…Honestly…I”
Ash was so shocked that he didn’t hear Emelia’s mumbled words. “Friend,” was a concept he had heard about. He had even seen it when he was in school, but no one wanted to be the friend of someone like him. Even in this world he was an outcast, yet Emelia wanted to be his friend, why? In those few moments hundreds of things went through Ash’s mind. “I will fight,” ash said after more than ten minutes of silence, though his words came as a surprise even to himself.
“What…Why?” Emelia asked, her eyes going wide. “I just told you that I don’t want you to fight. I even embarrassed myself to explain why and yet you…”
“I just feel that I have to,” Ash said with a determined look on his face. He didn’t know if she was truly his friend, but he wanted to find out and the only way to do that was to stay near her. If he ran now, he would never learn the truth and he knew that it would continue to bother him.
“Tomorrow I will fight,” Ash said again, his voice a little stronger.
Emelia spent the next hour trying to talk Ash out of his decision, but he ignored her up to the moment they readied for bed. He had expected that she would continue her nagging, even after the lamps were snubbed, but instead she simply hugged him tightly from behind, placing her forehead on his neck. Ash tried to sleep, but something soft pressing into his back made the heat in his body rise making it hard to sleep.
2-3
When Ash woke the next morning, he found himself alone in the room. After looking around a few more times and confirming that Emelia was gone, he quickly dressed and left in search of Emelia. After checking the dining room, and garden he found her in the study as she looked through a thick book while a number of others were piled up on a small desk beside her. From the red look of her eyes Ash was sure that she must had left the room shortly after he had fallen asleep and spent the remainder of the night in the study.
“Read anything good?” Ash asked, drawing Emelia attention away from the book in her hands.
“A little, but not what I was looking for,” Emelia said with a deep sigh.
“What were you looking for?” Ash asked politely.
“A way out of this mess,” Emelia said giving him a harsh look. “I have found stories where sub-humans were allowed to be consorts of the nobles due to unique skills though it has been years since the last case of that happening. I have found numerous tales of duels as well, but none that could be of use to us in this situation.”
“While you continue to search through your books, I am going to train in the labyrinth. I have until noon and I don’t want to waste any time that might give me a better chance,” Ash said as he turned toward the door. Looking back, he noticed that Emelia was already absorbed back into her reading.
Ash ran toward the labyrinth. The sun still wasn’t up and he guessed that it would still be hours before it started to peek above the horizon from the position of the moon. “Guess I didn’t sleep that long,” He said to himself as he raced through the empty streets. As soon as he reached his destination, he noticed a small plaque next to the entrance of the labyrinth. He was shocked that he hadn’t seen it before. Placing his hand on the plaque he quickly warped to the fourth floor boss’ room.
Unlike the past fight with the boss, this time it went much quicker, allowing him to move into the fifth floor graveyard. The stench of death assaulted him, but he held back his disgust and checked his pack. He still had the small cakes that the duchess had made him the day before. He also had plenty of items that would increase his stamina as well as a new item, ten small white vials that one of the maids had given him as he left.
[Healing potion: Heals 50HP. Made by priests by infusing their power into a special magic liquid.]
“With this I can fight with a little less worry,” Ash said as he looked back toward the graveyard. The labyrinth here was considered one of the best for beginners who have yet to reach level 10. The reason for this was because the level of the monsters rose slowly for the first ten floors but on floor eleven the levels quickly jumped up then stabilized again. This happened every ten floors making it hard for those who have made it to the tenth floor boss to continue. For example, the monsters on the fifth floor were level 6 zombies which were weaker than the level 7 plants on floor 4 but there was many more of them giving adventures a chance to learn how to fight a large group. It was great for training, but what Ash needed now was skills and levels. He was only one place away from reaching level 10 so that he could pick his job which would grant him a much better chance to live through the day. For his goal the zombies didn’t offer much experience so he planned to reach the next floor as soon as he could.
Just as before he stepped into the graveyard, dozens of zombies assaulted him. Pulling out his sword, he quickly cut down the monsters and pushed forward only stopping to pick up the items and absorbing the monsters he could as he looked for the boss’s room. Even though he wasn’t focused on fighting, it still took him a little over an hour to reach his destination and he was panting hard as his MP, HP and stamina were greatly reduced. At the same time, checking his progression rate of absorption, he noticed that he had already absorbed 47 of the 50 zombies he needed. It seemed like a waste to leave with only three remaining so Ash pulled out a loaf of bread, a small bottle of juice, and quickly ate it along with a honey cake.
The bread slowly helped him recover both HP and MP while the juice helped him recover stamina. What was surprising is as soon as he ate the honey cake, his MP quickly started to refill and was soon at 50%. Thanks to the foods help, Ash only needed a little under half an hour to be back up and ready to fight. With the large number of zombies, it only took a moment to kill and absorb the three remaining zombies to hear the refreshing “Tring,” sound.
[You have absorbed enough shambling zombies. Abilities available; grave domain (Passive), meat feast (Active.)]
“Tring”
[You have been awarded grave domain from the random selection.]
Moving back toward the boss room, Ash slumped against the cold wall and checked his new ability.
[Grave domain: Damage resistance to whole body with the exception of the head increased by 10%]
“I was hoping that it would be better,” Ash said grumbling.
“Noob,” Jun said, appearing on his left shoulder.
“Why are you complaining? That ability is almost on par with a knights shield force which gives you a 15% to defense? You have no clue how lucky you really are…Definitely OP…Cheat,” Rachel said complaining. “And you don’t even know how lucky you are.”
“Sorry,” Ash said, bowing his head slightly in regret.
“Well, you are close to reaching level 10 so our time together is coming to an end, so I won’t pick on you,” Rachel said frowning.
“What, you are leaving?” Ash almost shouted in surprise.
“Of course,” Jun said though his face held a slight frown.
“We can’t stay with you forever. Other reincarnated people will appear and we will have to train them, though it might be a year from now or another one hundred before the next appears. I can’t really say since you are the first in this world. The rules are simple though, once you reach level 10 we have to leave,” While talking, Rachel also looked slightly displeased.
“I will miss you,�
� Ash said honestly. It was his true feelings, as they had been with him since he had appeared in this world. It was not a stretch to say that without them he would most likely had died his first week.
“Good kid,” Jun said with a nod of his head.
“Agreed, you might be a pain, but it was enjoyable. As out first trainee, I hope you don’t get yourself killed too easily, otherwise Aunt Rachel will be sad.”
“Aunt,” Ash said laughing as he looked at the small flying fairy.
“Humph…Even if we look like this, even before coming to this world we already were much older than you… or would you prefer sister.”
As his banter with the fairies bounced back and forth, his HP and MP had fully recovered. Checking his status, he still needed 1247 more experience to reach the next level. If he reached his goal then his guides would be gone before noon, but if he didn’t, most likely he wouldn’t live past the day. He didn’t want to lose his guides, but he knew that putting it off would only bring his death so taking a deep breath, he stood and walked through the door. He didn’t even take the time to read the plaque as he walked past, only placing his hand on briefly it so that it could be used later.
He knew that knowing the monster he was about to face would let him know if he should proceed or not. That was the reason he had carefully read each plaque before but this time it didn’t matter. Either he fought and won now or died later.
He was not very knowledgeable about this world. Even with his guides, most he had to learn on his own but Emelia knew a lot and often told him things that he would have never thought to question. The most important is that the Earl had only brought the healer and fighter with him when he entered the city and unless he hired adventures in town, there was not enough time for him to gather a stronger force. That in itself didn’t mean much to Ash, as he didn’t know the level of the two even after spending the day before with them. That was when she told him that for Julien to receive any experience, the members in his party could be no more than five levels higher than his own. That meant that the fighter could be no higher than level thirteen. It was still four levels higher than him along with a job which gave various enhancements. If he could get to level ten then he would have a chance even if it was still a small one.
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