Chapter 37: Chapter 37 Second Battle

Marina never liked violence. It was necessary in their world, so she practiced it. She also firmly believed that pain provided important context, and was an effective motivator, and so used violence in teaching when she needed to. But she’d never enjoyed any of it, not once. However, that might change in the next hour.

“Cause I’m happy~ clap along if you feel, like happiness is for you~!” The loud, off tune, voice continued to sound from the bedroom, almost causing the poor girl to crush the onion in her hand.

For the last fourteen hours Raul rode the high of his first victory over a previously unassailable foe. He’d been switching between cheerfully terrible singing, bad poetry, and insufferably smug bragging the entire time, and that is not an exaggeration.

Never in her life did Marina think she’d curse that Refining Realm Cultivators only needed sleep once every three days. She would’ve put him to sleep with a pressure point, but unfortunately it didn’t work on cultivators.

“Hello beautiful.” Raul slid into the kitchen with a goofy smile on his face. He sniffed the air and asked, “What’s that? Are you making a champion’s breakfast for me?” He asked teasingly before laughing loudly. Her hand twitched as she resisted the urge to stuff the onion down his throat.

‘Two more hours… I only have to put up with this for two more hours.’ She tried to console herself while ignoring him, but remembering the time only brought on feelings of despair.

Usually he left her alone when she was working, but today he hovered around her like an annoying fly.

Worst of all, it was almost like he could sense her irritation level. Every time she was about to explode, he’d suddenly ask her a question related to cultivation or a mistake he made during the fight. He rarely took an active approach to learning, and she was reluctant to discourage it, no matter how irritating he may be.

Still, it irked her. She hated being seen through, and she hated feeling played even more. She put up with it, but she kept a mental checklist.

‘What the hell is wrong with me?’ Raul knew he was acting strange, but he couldn’t help it. He had this strange euphoric feeling in the pit of his stomach that he couldn’t get rid of.

He felt a strange desire to be around Marina and kept desperately bouncing around topics to justify him being there.

He’d been talking to her naturally before, but now he suddenly felt his tongue was too thick and his brain was unusually stupid to keep having these random outbursts.

He felt as if he was going insane.  

A knock came from the door a little after they finished eating and Raul had started a poem to compliment her cooking. Marina almost cheered outright.

“It’s time for training.” She informed him.

“Wait, wait, wait! I have training today?” Raul asked in disbelief.

“Of course you do.” She said as if it was obvious.

“I’m still injured!” Raul reminded. His cuts were mostly healed, but his internal injuries would still take a few more days, and his bones needed at least another week or two.

Marina narrowed her eyes at his trepidation. “Did you think I showed you those circulations to fight while injured for fun?”

“Well, no, but…” He’d assumed those were for when he got hurt in the middle of a fight, but he knew if he said that he’d look stupid.

“You’re a cultivator now, that means you won’t always have time to fully heal before needing to fight again, why do you think I had you fight at half qi yesterday?”

“Guh.”

“Do you have any more objections?” She asked democratically.

“Hmph, whatever, I’ll just win this one without getting any injuries.” He psyched himself up while standing to follow her.

“Remember your promise.” She warned upon seeing the glint of stubborn determination in his eyes.

“I won’t use attribute manipulation.” He gave his word again.

Ellen waited patiently at the door. She had a key, but barging in on a married couple was a bad idea.

She didn’t have to wait long anyway, as Marina opened the door after only a couple minutes, disappointing her a little. At this point nothing would make the Vault Family happier than the two having a productive married life.

“Hey guys, I brought the sparring partner for today.” She gestured behind her grandly.

Raul’s eyes set on the big man with mixed emotions. His sentiments towards Jason could be summed up with one finger, but Matthew was more complicated.  

“Greetings.” Matthew nodded towards Raul and Marina. He didn’t have any of the nervous energy or disdain Jason had.

“Hey.” Raul awkwardly greeted him back.

The four went around back, the girls making small talk while the boys walked silently. The two soon stood across from one another, Raul wielding his sword, and Matthew his long staff.

Weapons with long reach tended to be popular in the Vault Family. They mostly used them to stall until it came time to apply their seals. If shields weren’t useless when it came to applying seals, they would probably be the most popular weapon amongst the guards.

“Same bet as last time?” Marina questioned Ellen. Though her original plan to have Ellen over for dinner failed, the beauty of this method was its repeatability.

“Guh, I suppose…” Ellen was a lot less enthusiastic this time, but she still agreed. Betting against a friend’s victory wasn’t fun for her.

“You may start.” She gave the signal.

Raul’s battle intent blazed up. While he didn’t exactly have malice towards Matthew, he still wanted to beat him.

The words they’d exchanged in that alleyway rang through his head and strengthened his resolve. He would prove he was worthy of the crest he wore.

Yellow wind coiled around him, and he shot forward.

…

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‘Damn it.’ Raul cursed while pinned down by a staff in his chest with new bruises all over. He’d been thoroughly beaten for fifteen minutes; Matthew even had the leeway to ensure his wounds weren’t serious.

“The match is over!” Ellen called out with finality.

‘God damn it!’ Raul cursed again while gripping his sword so tight his knuckles where completely white.

If it wasn’t for his promise with Marina, if he wasn’t injured, if he’d gone all out… such thoughts filtered through his head before being ruthlessly squashed.

He knew they weren’t true, the difference in strength was simply too big, and his peak performance couldn’t do a damn thing about it. The only reason he’d lasted fifteen minutes was because he was much faster.

Even knowing the difference in strength, he was pissed off. He hated losing, he hated it.

‘Zero to one… I’ll collect all my debts in the future.’ His eyes blazed as the desire to grow received more tinder.

“That was a good fight.” Matthew’s word descended on Raul as he held out his hand towards him.

Normally Raul would assume his uninjured opponent was mocking him, but he could see the sincerity in Matthew’s eyes.

“Thanks.” Raul took his hand after fighting down the childish impulse to throw dirt in his face.

Matthew bowed his head after Raul was on his feet, surprising him. “I apologize for what happened that night, I was out of line.”

Turbid emotions rose within Raul when he heard those words. He thought something like this would’ve made him happy, but it didn’t.

He didn’t know if it was because he’d lost the fight, or if an apology was never what he wanted, but he didn’t feel satisfied in the least. It was a far cry from the euphoric joy of yesterday’s outcome.

“It’s all good, I’m sure we all said some things we didn’t mean to back there.” Raul replied half-heartedly.

Matthew shook his head. “You misunderstand me. I regret the way we treated you, but I don’t regret anything I said.” Seeing the stunned expression on Raul’s face he felt the need to elaborate further.

“You haven’t earned wearing that symbol on your chest yet, it was given to you without effort. But we still shouldn’t have assaulted you, it was shameful of us.” He bowed his head again.

Raul clenched his teeth, gripped his fist, and then… sighed. “You’re right, I didn’t earn it. I shouldn’t have worn it somewhere with other households, at the very least. Sorry for making you have to take the family’s image into your own hands.” He bowed apologetically to Matthew.

He hated admitting it, but Matthew was right. Their family symbol was worn by those who made the cut after years of hard work and results, and he didn’t have that. Maybe that’s why he couldn’t bring himself to hold a grudge against Matthew, he knew he was only thinking of the Household.

Though he hated admitting it, he felt like a weight fell off his chest, and those turbid emotions finally settled.

“You’re… very different from what I’ve heard.” The surprised guard finally said.

“Oh? And what have you heard? Please, don’t feel afraid to leave details, like names for instance.” Raul narrowed his eyes, leaving Matthew speechless.

Ellen couldn’t help bursting out laughing. “Don’t mind him. He’s a bit petty, but he’s a good guy.” Ellen consoled Matthew while patting him on the shoulder, greatly shocking him.

“I’m not petty, I was just curious.” Raul grumbled.

“Riiiiiiight.” Ellen rolled her eyes with a smirk.

“Glad to see you still have the energy to fool around after that embarrassing loss.” Marina cut in coldly.

“Guh.”

“I guess there won’t be any champion lunch today.”

“Gah!”

“Hey Ellen, did you know Raul has a secret talent for poetry? Let me recite one he told me last night for you.”

“I’m sorry! Please stop.” Raul begged. But of course she didn’t.

Five minutes later Raul was on the floor with his face buried between his knees and Ellen patting him while fighting her snickers.

“I keep telling you to control yourself when you get excited, but do you ever listen?” She couldn’t help throwing her hat into the ring while patting him.

Raul flinched before glaring at her. “I admit it was my fault, but did you have to laugh so hard?” Ellen took a sudden interest in a nearby tree and locked her gaze on it while whistling.

Marina felt completely refreshed after airing out a whole night’s worth of grievances and turned towards the stunned Matthew. “Thank you for your good work. I hope you won’t mind if we call on you again.”

“ye-yeah.” He nodded hesitantly. He felt like he saw many things he wasn’t supposed to today. His image of the upper crust of the family slowly crumbled as he looked at Raul with pity.

“Does that mean I should go now, um, Ma’am?” He didn’t quite know how to interact with Ellen after seeing this side of her.

“Ah, yeah, you can head out Matthew, you can collect your service points anytime you want.” Ellen waved him bye.

“Hold up!” Raul finally brought his face back into the public. “I admit that I haven’t earned this crest yet, but I will soon! And I’m also gonna beat the crap out of you.”

“I look forward to that day, but I don’t think you’ll beat me for a long time.” Matthew said with a competitive grin.

“We’ll see about that you smug bastard.” Raul muttered as he watched his leaving back.