NOVEL NEXT Chapter 316: A Future ‘King’
Ever since she was informed that she would be attending the wedding of some nobles that were allegedly important to some of the border regions. Since the wedding was being held within the capital, the royal family had been invited as a common courtesy. However, her father indicated to her that they would actually be attending.
It was uncommon for such a thing to occur. Usually they only bothered attending the weddings of nobles who were distant relatives to the royal family itself. The two individuals marrying were not related to the royal family at all. Even though they were both members of powerful noble families, it was still odd for them to attend.
Lefae wished she could avoid the responsibility of going. When she heard through the whispers of the maid staff that Rena Kane would be in attendance, Lefae stopped all attempts at trying to avoid the wedding.
She had long been interested in the woman who was married to the mysterious Lord Lucius Kane. When she saw him at the Exhibition Tournament, she had found him to be less than boring at first. After he shattered the King Rank barrier with a single attack, though, his interest skyrocketed in her mind.
He was allegedly only an Intermediate Ranker and yet had a spell that surpassed her own strength. He was a person with power well beyond his means, which was something that violated many of the lines of common thought in this world.
Though many people existed that were stronger than her, for someone like him to surpass her abilities, even for a moment, despite being so far below her rank was interesting.
For the first time in years, Lefae felt something stir in her heart. The personality she had constructed for herself had suffered a small crack. The shield she used to protect herself weakened and threatened to shatter. She had to track down the person who surpassed her expectations and get to know him better.
Before she could, he was sent away, leaving only his family behind. She had not had the opportunity to approach any of them since Lucius Kane's departure thanks to the stalwart defense of Lord Wally. Every time she approached the tower, he would chase her off.
He, of all people, should have known that she meant no ill will. She only wished to satisfy her curiosity about the strange existence that threatened to bring color to her bland world.
The wedding itself proved rather interesting as she was able to meet and sit with Rena. Before she could really dig into a full conversation with her about Lucius, she was rudely interrupted by the groom. He seemed agitated and easily provoked, so much so that he demanded a duel from her despite it being his own wedding.
Lefae now stood across from Thomas von Petra, who clearly knew he was going to lose so that she could satisfy his pride. Nobles from all over the kingdom had come to attend this wedding, and they now stood in the under-utilized stands of the arena in the Grand Cathedral. Many of them watched with amused expressions at the events as if they were happy to finally have additional entertainment.
Lefae, on the other hand, had no such interest. She would simply end the fight after he gave a decent show of whatever it was he wanted to show off with. She quietly withdrew a rapier out of her storage ring and equipped the belt and sheath over her dress. Thomas followed suit and equipped his own sword and shield before dropping into a ready stance.
Thomas's new father-in-law volunteered to referee the match. He reiterated the agreed upon conditions before dropping a red cloth onto the ground to signal the fight. Lefae stayed still and waited for Thomas to make his first move.
"[Sword Arts: Aura Blade], [Flamma: Fireball]!"
A golden arc of mana, followed by a large ball of fire, bore down on Lefae. She rolled her eyes lazily and parried the aura blade with a simple swipe of her rapier before side-stepping the fireball. Her hair fluttered wildly from the explosion detonating against the wall behind her.
Thomas had a wild look in his eyes as he rushed toward her with his sword held down slightly as if prepping for an upward swing. She knew that such a telegraphed move was a feint and that he likely had something else up his sleeve for the real attack.
His intentions were revealed as he began to make his swing. Lefae quickly parried the strike, allowing him to swing his shield near her face before activating another art. "[Shield Arts: Shatter]"
The move was quick, but not unexpected. Before the man could react, she stepped forward, ducked under his shield, and calmly punched his wrist upward. The blast of the shield exploding into shrapnel uselessly flew into the air with none of the shards of metal impacting his intended target.
Lefae dropped her rapier and struck Thomas in the sternum with the flat of her palm, sending him skidding a dozen feet. Thomas coughed from the sudden expulsion of the air in his lungs but remained on his feet. The princess found herself mildly impressed at the strength of his stubbornness, but intended to finish the fight quickly anyway.
"[Flamma: Fireball], [Flamma: Fire Lance]!"
Two spells shot toward the woman, though they were exceptionally slow in comparison to her own reaction times. Without bothering to pick up her weapon, she calmly walked forward, dodging both of the spells with little effort. Thomas attempted to use his spells as a cover for his lunge and appeared before her on the opposite side of the fireball.
She had been prepared for this and already gathered the mana for her one and only spell for the battle. "[Umbra: Dark Aria]"
Lefae felt mana concentrating in her throat as mana empowered her vocal cords. The last syllable of her spell became a prolonged, angelic vibrato. For as long as she held the note she sang, darkness would spread throughout the area around her. Thomas cradled his ears as blood began to pour from his orifices.
[Dark Aria] was a spell that used the caster's voice to inflict a non-stop barrage of status effects on those within the caster's line of sight who could also hear the note. Currently, Thomas was experiencing a combination of Silence, Deafness, Blindness, Weakness, and Poisoned conditions that could all be inflicted by other Dark Magic spells.
Slowly, his strength drained from his body and his face turned a pale white. Though the bystanders held their hands over their ears for fear of the spell impacting them, Lefae kept the area of the spell contained to only the battlefield. She had no interest in harming Rena and her family, especially since she wanted to remain closer.
Once Thomas finally collapsed into the dirt and Lefae ended her spell, Thomas's father-in-law, Lord Lindtforth, walked over and proclaimed her victory. A few clerics ran over and began casting a number of different healing and status removing spells. Due to her power-level, it would take them a while, but the wedding was a long affair, so he had time to recover before the festivities continued.
Lefae walked away from the arena and found Rena, Wally, and their group once more. Wally attempted, and failed, to hide a smirk on his face. Rena, on the other hand, looked at the princess even more cautiously.
"Why did you fight him? Could you not have simply ignored his request as the princess?" Rena asked.
"Sure," Lefae answered honestly after spending a moment pondering the question, "but if I did, then I could not have put him in his place. I did not like the way he or his wife looked at you. Something told me that I should try and stop it. Maybe with this they will focus their ire on me instead?"
Rena blinked at her for a few moments as if at a loss for words. Lefae had no idea why she would react that way. It seemed like the obvious thing to do. Rena was in a sensitive state at the moment, so it stood on others to take care of her. Granted, Lefae was never asked to do this, but something about doing it felt like the right thing to do. Discover exclusive content at empire
"When will Lucius return?" she asked.
"We don't really know… after he is finished with his job in Aedrider, I suppose," Rena answered with a sigh. For some reason she started massaging the side of her head.
"I would like to talk with him upon his return. He is interesting. I want to fight him."
"He would probably lose, you know. He has only fought one Master Ranker before, and though he won, it was because she was a leader and not a fighter." Rena advised.
"Sure. I don't mind. Even though I will win, I think it will be interesting." Lefae answered quickly. She wanted, rather needed, to know to what extent he could fight. Though she had no interest in putting him in a situation where he would not hold anything back at all, she wanted a taste of his potential.