Altair opened the door to her room, looked at Dave and stated, "Take me to the sparring room." Altair tried to sound confident in her words but she honestly didn't know if such a room actually existed. She still didn't know her way around the mansion so how was she supposed to know if such a place was a thing?
Dave bowed his head and said, "Very well, Young Miss. Right this way." He turned and started walking down the hall only to be stopped by Hadrian calling out to her.
"We don't need a servant to lead us. Aria can handle it just fine on her own." It wasn't that Hadrian didn't want a servant to be present for the fight but more that he didn't want to be seen being led by a servant. To nobles, being led by a servant to a location meant that you still needed a guardian to watch your every move. The fact that Altair told a servant to lead them insulted Hadrian. He didn't consider that Altair might not know the way to the sparring room.
Altair took a deep breath to try and calm a spike in her anger as she glanced over her shoulder and said, "Do you have a problem with Dave?" She wouldn't admit to not knowing the way to the sparring room to these arrogant children. She was sure they wouldn't let her live it down for as long as they knew her. That's the kind of people nobles were to her.
Plus, Altair liked Dave. She found him to be nice, for a Human.
Hadrian frowned at Altair, "I have a problem with your servant leading us anywhere." He motioned with his hand for Altair to go forward while saying, "So just lead on yourself."
Altair's anger boiled over. For the first time since she came to this world she wanted to kill someone. Her killing intent leaked as a cold expression came to her face and her eyes screamed death at Hadrian and Celestine. It lasted for but an instant before Altair realized what she was doing and quickly quelled her frustration. She decided at this point that it would be better to just admit it and move on so she turned her head away from them and stated, "I don't know where it is. So lead us to the sparring room and ignore that buffoons words."
Hadrian and Celestine were covered in a cold sweat under the sudden onslaught of pressure that Altair threw at them. It was a refined killing intent honed through thousands of battles with tens of thousands of kills under her belt. For the moment that it was active it felt like they were trying to lift a moon by themselves. They didn't even know what it was that they felt in that moment only that Altair became unbelievably scary to them for a second.
Altair paid no attention to what she just did as if she could claim she never did it. She already felt ashamed of herself for slipping like that. She wasn't a child anymore and what she just did was inexcusable.
As Dave continued to walk towards the sparring grounds, Altair followed with her face slightly flushed. Lagging behind them were the two Ladrian siblings who deliberately followed several paces behind, and behind them was Noel. The siblings were still afraid of Altair at that moment.
As Hadrian and Celestine slipped away from Altair enough to whisper to each other, Celestine asked Hadrian with a tinge of urgency in her voice, "Y-You felt that right?"
Hadrian gulped loudly as he nervously replied, "I-I don't know what that was. You think that's her Inborn Ability?"
Celestine wiped her brow as she said, "H-How am I supposed to deal with that? I stopped breathing under that weight I don't think I could even move if she used it in our fight."
Hadrian narrowed his eyes at Altair's back, "I-I think there's more to Aria than we know. I don't even think that Joshua knows about this." He glanced at Celestine and gave her a reassuring pat on the back, "Do your best, sis. Remember your goal and use it as fuel for your courage."
Celestine bit her lip lightly as she thought of her plans. It was too late to back out now as she had already secured a second invitation to give to Altair once their match was over. She had already gone out of her way to get Altair's invitation before it was sent to her saying that she would personally deliver it. She really wanted to have Altair at that party for nothing more than her amusement but in the face of what she just felt she wondered if she was really playing her hand right. She couldn't help but suddenly feel that she was being very stupid with the 'friendship' she was fighting for.
She decided that she would find out Altair's exact worth in the upcoming bout and choose what to do then. If Altair's Inborn Ability was only able to instill a deep fear in people that she chose than it wouldn't amount to much in the grand scheme of things but if Altair had the ability to back up such a power than that would change things. Celestine felt that an ability that scared people likely wouldn't go far against battle hardened veterans. Without any power to match it then it meant nothing.
Altair and the Ladrian siblings were taken to a room on the far corner of the mansion on the first floor. Altair had never been to this side of the building before and the strange carvings on the wooden door stood out to her. They looked like strange animal creatures fighting each other but Altair had never seen their kind before. Dave opened the door for Altair and the others and they entered the room.
Inside the room had an assortment of practice weapons along the wall with several large arenas scattered through the room. The arenas were raised off the floor by a meter each. On the far side of the room was a group of kids that Altair was familiar with because she had beaten them into the ground before. They were Joshua and his gang of misfits.
Altair's expression darkened when she saw them in the room and couldn't help but give Hadrian a skeptical look.
Hadrian just shrugged at her and said, "I don't know why they're here." It was a lie of course. They had already discussed things the day before and it wasn't hard for Rictor to figure out the timetable that Hadrian was using.
Altair frowned and said, "Fine. How do these sparring matches work then?" She didn't care if those people saw her fight. She didn't actually care about them at all. She just wanted to get this over with so she could get back to studying in peace. Once she was done with this match the Ladrian siblings wouldn't be able to bother again and that suited her just fine.
Hadrian walked over to the center arena while saying, "It's simple. You and Celestine will get on this arena and fight each other. The first person who falls over or is knocked out of the arena loses. Everything else is allowed but since you two are young you can't use any of the practice weapons so it's just bare hand combat only."
Altair frowned at the simplicity of it. Couldn't they just have fought in her room and used the first down rule? The arena wasn't even really needed. She started to think that Hadrian had set this up so that Joshua could see how she fought and would challenge her again later with that knowledge. Not that she cared because she doubted he would be able to match her regardless of that knowledge.
Celestine drew a deep breath to calm her nerves before she walked to the arena and lifted herself onto it. Celestine was a bit taller for her age so getting onto the arena wasn't hard for her at all. She quickly took her own position at one side of the arena and waited for Altair to get to hers.
Altair couldn't help but feel jealous of Celestine when she saw her climb onto the arena. Normally Altair would use magic to help get onto a platform like this but she wasn't allowed to do that in front of others freely so she needed to climb up on her own. But she was a lot shorter than Celestine, so climbing onto the platform was more difficult for her. Even though she had grown a little since she came here it was still a lot slower than everyone else in the room.
Altair clambered onto the arena and walked to her own spot to face Celestine. She then started stretching openly to show that she wasn't ready to start yet. This drew an odd look from Hadrian but he didn't say anything.
Celestine shrugged and started stretching as well. It wasn't normal to stretch before sparring matches. Normally you would stretch before getting onto the arena not once you were on the arena. But Celestine had forgotten about that in the face of what happened earlier and she climbed up without doing so. Since Altair was openly stretching there she didn't have any complaints because it gave her the opportunity to stretch as well.
Joshua and his group of kids ended up approaching the arena at this point. The whole reason they were here was mixed across the group. Each person had their own reason for agreeing to be here when Rictor suggested it after they split off from the Ladrian siblings.
Joshua had two reasons for being here. The first reason was to see how Altair fought from a distance. He couldn't get a grasp against her fighting style when they fought in person and it irked him. If he could see how she fought from this angle then he could finally judge if Rictor's assumption was correct. He didn't believe Rictor and others accounts of what they saw her do even though he experienced it firsthand.
The second reason he was here was to see if Altair won or not. If she didn't that meant it was very likely that she would be going to the Lothan's party this weekend. He wanted to be there so he could see her make a complete fool of herself. He wouldn't miss that chance for the world so he had to know the results of this bout.
Rictor wanted Joshua to see exactly what Altair was capable of from a different perspective. He believed that if Joshua saw how Altair really fought instead of the just seeing what he could see up close then he would believe what he deduced before. At least that's what Rictor hoped would happen. He didn't want to believe that Joshua was stupider than he thought.
Dornom only came to watch a good fight. He didn't know how strong Celestine was but Hadrian's confidence in her told them that it would be a good spectacle to see. Celestine was their senior by a year so that meant that she had started learning the official military defense style, which was better than what they were using at this point. Since she was using an advanced style as well as having a lot of confidence from her brother, who was their senior by four years, meant that Celestine was probably not comparable to them in combat. He knew that Altair was strong but how would she fair against the official military defense style?
Alice and Vargol were here because of a grudge. They wanted to see Altair get completely trounced by Celestine. They could still hear a small voice in the back of their heads telling them that Rictor was right about how dangerous she was. But logic frequently lost to emotion and they both had a grudge after Altair had, in their minds, brutally attacked Alice.
Altair opened the door to her room, looked at Dave and stated, "Take me to the sparring room." Altair tried to sound confident in her words but she honestly didn't know if such a room actually existed. She still didn't know her way around the mansion so how was she supposed to know if such a place was a thing?
Dave bowed his head and said, "Very well, Young Miss. Right this way." He turned and started walking down the hall only to be stopped by Hadrian calling out to her.
"We don't need a servant to lead us. Aria can handle it just fine on her own." It wasn't that Hadrian didn't want a servant to be present for the fight but more that he didn't want to be seen being led by a servant. To nobles, being led by a servant to a location meant that you still needed a guardian to watch your every move. The fact that Altair told a servant to lead them insulted Hadrian. He didn't consider that Altair might not know the way to the sparring room.
Altair took a deep breath to try and calm a spike in her anger as she glanced over her shoulder and said, "Do you have a problem with Dave?" She wouldn't admit to not knowing the way to the sparring room to these arrogant children. She was sure they wouldn't let her live it down for as long as they knew her. That's the kind of people nobles were to her.
Plus, Altair liked Dave. She found him to be nice, for a Human.
Hadrian frowned at Altair, "I have a problem with your servant leading us anywhere." He motioned with his hand for Altair to go forward while saying, "So just lead on yourself."
Altair's anger boiled over. For the first time since she came to this world she wanted to kill someone. Her killing intent leaked as a cold expression came to her face and her eyes screamed death at Hadrian and Celestine. It lasted for but an instant before Altair realized what she was doing and quickly quelled her frustration. She decided at this point that it would be better to just admit it and move on so she turned her head away from them and stated, "I don't know where it is. So lead us to the sparring room and ignore that buffoons words."
Hadrian and Celestine were covered in a cold sweat under the sudden onslaught of pressure that Altair threw at them. It was a refined killing intent honed through thousands of battles with tens of thousands of kills under her belt. For the moment that it was active it felt like they were trying to lift a moon by themselves. They didn't even know what it was that they felt in that moment only that Altair became unbelievably scary to them for a second.
Altair paid no attention to what she just did as if she could claim she never did it. She already felt ashamed of herself for slipping like that. She wasn't a child anymore and what she just did was inexcusable.
As Dave continued to walk towards the sparring grounds, Altair followed with her face slightly flushed. Lagging behind them were the two Ladrian siblings who deliberately followed several paces behind, and behind them was Noel. The siblings were still afraid of Altair at that moment.
As Hadrian and Celestine slipped away from Altair enough to whisper to each other, Celestine asked Hadrian with a tinge of urgency in her voice, "Y-You felt that right?"
Hadrian gulped loudly as he nervously replied, "I-I don't know what that was. You think that's her Inborn Ability?"
Celestine wiped her brow as she said, "H-How am I supposed to deal with that? I stopped breathing under that weight I don't think I could even move if she used it in our fight."
Hadrian narrowed his eyes at Altair's back, "I-I think there's more to Aria than we know. I don't even think that Joshua knows about this." He glanced at Celestine and gave her a reassuring pat on the back, "Do your best, sis. Remember your goal and use it as fuel for your courage."
Celestine bit her lip lightly as she thought of her plans. It was too late to back out now as she had already secured a second invitation to give to Altair once their match was over. She had already gone out of her way to get Altair's invitation before it was sent to her saying that she would personally deliver it. She really wanted to have Altair at that party for nothing more than her amusement but in the face of what she just felt she wondered if she was really playing her hand right. She couldn't help but suddenly feel that she was being very stupid with the 'friendship' she was fighting for.
She decided that she would find out Altair's exact worth in the upcoming bout and choose what to do then. If Altair's Inborn Ability was only able to instill a deep fear in people that she chose than it wouldn't amount to much in the grand scheme of things but if Altair had the ability to back up such a power than that would change things. Celestine felt that an ability that scared people likely wouldn't go far against battle hardened veterans. Without any power to match it then it meant nothing.
Altair and the Ladrian siblings were taken to a room on the far corner of the mansion on the first floor. Altair had never been to this side of the building before and the strange carvings on the wooden door stood out to her. They looked like strange animal creatures fighting each other but Altair had never seen their kind before. Dave opened the door for Altair and the others and they entered the room.
Inside the room had an assortment of practice weapons along the wall with several large arenas scattered through the room. The arenas were raised off the floor by a meter each. On the far side of the room was a group of kids that Altair was familiar with because she had beaten them into the ground before. They were Joshua and his gang of misfits.
Altair's expression darkened when she saw them in the room and couldn't help but give Hadrian a skeptical look.
Hadrian just shrugged at her and said, "I don't know why they're here." It was a lie of course. They had already discussed things the day before and it wasn't hard for Rictor to figure out the timetable that Hadrian was using.
Altair frowned and said, "Fine. How do these sparring matches work then?" She didn't care if those people saw her fight. She didn't actually care about them at all. She just wanted to get this over with so she could get back to studying in peace. Once she was done with this match the Ladrian siblings wouldn't be able to bother again and that suited her just fine.
Hadrian walked over to the center arena while saying, "It's simple. You and Celestine will get on this arena and fight each other. The first person who falls over or is knocked out of the arena loses. Everything else is allowed but since you two are young you can't use any of the practice weapons so it's just bare hand combat only."
Altair frowned at the simplicity of it. Couldn't they just have fought in her room and used the first down rule? The arena wasn't even really needed. She started to think that Hadrian had set this up so that Joshua could see how she fought and would challenge her again later with that knowledge. Not that she cared because she doubted he would be able to match her regardless of that knowledge.
Celestine drew a deep breath to calm her nerves before she walked to the arena and lifted herself onto it. Celestine was a bit taller for her age so getting onto the arena wasn't hard for her at all. She quickly took her own position at one side of the arena and waited for Altair to get to hers.
Altair couldn't help but feel jealous of Celestine when she saw her climb onto the arena. Normally Altair would use magic to help get onto a platform like this but she wasn't allowed to do that in front of others freely so she needed to climb up on her own. But she was a lot shorter than Celestine, so climbing onto the platform was more difficult for her. Even though she had grown a little since she came here it was still a lot slower than everyone else in the room.
Altair clambered onto the arena and walked to her own spot to face Celestine. She then started stretching openly to show that she wasn't ready to start yet. This drew an odd look from Hadrian but he didn't say anything.
Celestine shrugged and started stretching as well. It wasn't normal to stretch before sparring matches. Normally you would stretch before getting onto the arena not once you were on the arena. But Celestine had forgotten about that in the face of what happened earlier and she climbed up without doing so. Since Altair was openly stretching there she didn't have any complaints because it gave her the opportunity to stretch as well.
Joshua and his group of kids ended up approaching the arena at this point. The whole reason they were here was mixed across the group. Each person had their own reason for agreeing to be here when Rictor suggested it after they split off from the Ladrian siblings.
Joshua had two reasons for being here. The first reason was to see how Altair fought from a distance. He couldn't get a grasp against her fighting style when they fought in person and it irked him. If he could see how she fought from this angle then he could finally judge if Rictor's assumption was correct. He didn't believe Rictor and others accounts of what they saw her do even though he experienced it firsthand.
The second reason he was here was to see if Altair won or not. If she didn't that meant it was very likely that she would be going to the Lothan's party this weekend. He wanted to be there so he could see her make a complete fool of herself. He wouldn't miss that chance for the world so he had to know the results of this bout.
Rictor wanted Joshua to see exactly what Altair was capable of from a different perspective. He believed that if Joshua saw how Altair really fought instead of the just seeing what he could see up close then he would believe what he deduced before. At least that's what Rictor hoped would happen. He didn't want to believe that Joshua was stupider than he thought.
Dornom only came to watch a good fight. He didn't know how strong Celestine was but Hadrian's confidence in her told them that it would be a good spectacle to see. Celestine was their senior by a year so that meant that she had started learning the official military defense style, which was better than what they were using at this point. Since she was using an advanced style as well as having a lot of confidence from her brother, who was their senior by four years, meant that Celestine was probably not comparable to them in combat. He knew that Altair was strong but how would she fair against the official military defense style?
Alice and Vargol were here because of a grudge. They wanted to see Altair get completely trounced by Celestine. They could still hear a small voice in the back of their heads telling them that Rictor was right about how dangerous she was. But logic frequently lost to emotion and they both had a grudge after Altair had, in their minds, brutally attacked Alice.
