The Grand Duelist

"Fuck..."

Joseph mumbled a curse as he stared at Alice's stark-naked body. Her blonde hair that reached up to her chest barely covered her supple chest. But even though her hair provided cover for her breasts. It was evidently lacking for Joseph could still see a glimpse of her pink summits.

"She's a white tiger...' Joseph whispered in shock. Women who had the blood of the white tiger within their veins do not have any hair underneath and were all bare. Needless to say, they were incredibly rare...

Out of a million women, only about ten thousand of them were white tigers. But right now, standing in front of Joseph was an exotic white tiger!

But...

"That is not the issue here!" 

... Joseph inwardly slapped himself so that he could recover from his trance.

Seeing that the young woman was still staring at him with a challenging look on her face. Joseph knew that the only way for this to stop was for him to concede.

"Okay, fine... I do not dare, okay? I do not dare so, please... Please just cover yourself up..." Joseph's expression looked like he was begging for Alice to cover herself up as the latter chuckled and said. 

"Oh? You want me to cover myself? Seeing that you didn't react to me stripping, I guess that it's safe to say that you really swing that way." 

"You..."

Joseph fiercely glared at her and Alice's challenging expression remained the same as she stared at Joseph. Seeing that Alice didn't have the intention of backing down. Joseph couldn't do anything other than sigh as he stared at Alice who was now trying her best on picking up what remained of her tunic that she tore herself.

"What are you looking at? I thought that you do not dare?" Alice noticed that he was staring right at her so, she asked with a frown. 

Joseph shook his head and replied: "You're misunderstanding. It's true that I do not dare, but it's not because I am afraid of senior Krid retaliating against me or something. It was easy for me not to dare since you're not really attractive to me in the first place."

Alice was taken aback by what she heard, and only after a few moments did she reveal an expression of indignance as she fiercely stared away from him before saying: "Is that so? Then, it's fine. You can keep staring. Don't mind me doing my best on salvaging the remains of my dignity."

Joseph didn't reply. When he saw the Alice wasn't staring at him anymore. His facade made from the art of acting tough crumbled as a crimson hue spread on his cheeks.

'To... To think that she could easily reveal herself in front of a stranger right me... What a fearsome woman!' Joseph didn't dare to take Alice lightly anymore. In fact, he was now addressing her subconsciously as a "woman" instead of a "young maiden" or, "young woman".

For him, Alice that could easily do something as embarrassing as revealing one's birthday suit towards a stranger was something that only a strong bonafide woman could do.

Joseph gnashed his teeth as he stared at Alice's milky-white, and rosy skin that was completely bare right in front of him. What was more shocking was that right now. Alice was bending over as she picked up scraps of clothing from her torn tunic on the ground.

Joseph estimated that Alice's age was at least similar, or even younger than him. Seeing such temptation right in front of him, it would be a big fat lie to say that Joseph wasn't attracted to Alice. In fact, he was currently so goddamned hard under his pants right now that it would not be an exaggeration to say that he was about to burst. 

For a virgin to stay so long in front of such temptation like this.

Joseph was currently performing a miracle. A miracle that he would never forget in his entire life.

After burning the scenes unfolding in front of him into his mind. Joseph slowly took off his upper clothes and handed it over to Alice.

"Take this..." 

"Hmmm?" Alice mumbled in astonishment. She looked like she was doubtful that what she was seeing right now was real or a dream. 'This shameless bastard who coerced me into signing that Promissory Note is acting so kind to me? Just what is going on? What is he planning?'

Joseph noticed that Alice was now cautious against him and a bitter smile emerged on his lips as he said: "Miss, you should've been cautious of me from the start! You're too late on that already, so don't even bother! Just take this and wear it for now so that you'll have something to cover yourself."

But Alice looked unconvinced: "Are you serious?"

"Yes! I am serious! Just take it already! Goddamned it, are you really an inexperienced woman? If not for the fact that you made clear to me that you were a virgin then I would believe you if you told me that you had experience working in a brothel!"

"I did work in a brothel before," Alice mumbled.

"You did?!" Joseph exclaimed.

"Hehehe... I'm just joking..." Alice lightly chuckled. 

She stretched her hand towards the clothing that Joseph dangled in front of her. Noticing that Joseph's eyes subconsciously wandered over towards her chest...

She quickly snatched the clothing from Joseph's hand and swiftly wore it so, that it could cover her upper body. Although she could still feel a breeze underneath her, it was much better than nothing.

"Finally... She's wearing something... " Joseph heaved a sigh of relief. Even though he was still shaken by the fact that Alice managed on easily revealing herself in front of a stranger like him. It wasn't to the point that he couldn't move nor speak like earlier. At least right now, his mind could finally process what was going on.

Just as he was about to approach Alice so that he could consult her about what they should do after they exited the Arena of the Gods, Colosseum. Alice felt her approach and she coldly exclaimed.

"Don't come over here!" 

"What... now? What's going on? You better not rip that clothing to shred! I don't have any spare clothing to give you if you tear that up!" Joseph swiftly warned and Alice promptly replied.

"What are you saying? I just don't want you to approach lest you ruin my meditation!" Alice explained and Joseph chuckled.

"Meditation? Come on, does that really work? But oh well, we have our own hobbies and I do not have the right to stop you from doing whatever you want. But can you just do it in a hurry? We need to talk as soon as possible."

Alice whose back was turned towards him nodded her head, and she didn't say anything anymore. Joseph also kept her silence in an effort to let her meditate in peace and left with nothing to do. Joseph laid on the ground and could do nothing other than stare at the heavens and silently count sheep inside his mind.

Joseph could remain as calm as he was right now due to the effects of his acting tough facade. But little did he knew that Alice also capitalized on a similar facade on doing what she just did earlier. Now that Joseph wasn't facing her, and now that there was no one looking at her.

A furious blush appeared on her face as she repeatedly scolded herself inside.

"Ahhh!!! What did I do? Just what did I do?! Did I just do that? Did I just strip in front of a strange and challenged him to touch me? Oh no... Please... I think this is just a dream... Yep, this is just a dream. If I closed my eyes long enough then I will eventually awaken! Okay, okay, okay... Let's just close my eyes... Close... my... eyes..." 

Alice fiercely snapped her eyes shut as she calmed herself down through the use of deep breaths. However, even after half an hour. She still hasn't awakened from her "dreams".

"No, no, no, no, no, no!!! I wasn't dreaming! This isn't a dream! The stripping that I did really was real! I really did strip myself naked in front of a stranger! Now, what should I do...? What should I do?!"

"Can I still get married? Grandpa said that a young woman shouldn't casually reveal her skin in front of strangers...  He said that a woman should only reveal her skin in front of her husband, or a health practitioner! But... I did reveal my skin in front of the crowd earlier so, I already violated what Grandpa said to me... Ahhh... What should I do!!!" 

Alice fiercely shook her head, and Joseph who noticed her movements turned to look at her with a frown.

"Are you doing good there? Or have you finally lost your mind? Why are you shaking your head so furiously like that?"

Alice almost snapped at Joseph, but she managed to calm herself down. After a few deep breaths, her embarrassment finally disappeared. The crimson hue on her cheeks also vanished, replaced with a cold and distant look as she turned her head and made a sidelong glance at Joseph.

"Didn't you say that we have a lot to talk about? Come here, let's talk." She said and Joseph stood up and approached her before he casually sat in front of her with a somewhat embarrassed look on his face.

Even though almost an hour had already past since that incredible scene appeared right in front of him. Joseph still couldn't forget about that scene that he already burned into the deepest recesses of his mind. Right now, he couldn't stare directly at Alice for his mind would overlap Alice's current image from the image of the stark-naked Alice earlier. 

"I thought that we need to talk about something? Why are you turning your gaze away?" Alice added salt on Joseph's wounds as a bitter expression emerged on Joseph's face. 'This girl really is too vicious and shameless! Not only does she not feel anything about what she did, but she's also purposely poking fun at me!' 

Joseph glanced at Alice's cold and expression as he inwardly cursed: 'Is this really fun for you? Are you having fun right now, you shameless woman!' 

After taking several deep breaths that lasted at least a minute...

Joseph finally managed on calming himself down as he said.

"I want to talk to you about how we could work together so that we could escape the Kingdom of Nether. First, I'm going to ask... Do you know about the location of the so-called safe house of senior Krid within the Forbidden Region? Once we escape from this place, we'll go there directly."