Chapter 23: Chapter 18: Neglect is a Sin

"Start in three..." My heart had started beating wildly inside my chest.

"Two..." This was a truly strong opponent...

"One..." This was someone I could go all out against. Someone much stronger than I was.

I was just about to activate my skills when...

"That won't be necessary."

Four simple words floated through the air. The words belonged to a certain someone who had just entered the arena, and with him were countless people.

"Is it true he's going to fight?"

"This is going to be epic!"

"Poor guy has to fight a 18th Star Level..."

A lot of conversations were ongoing with the newcomers.

'So he is A-Rank...'

"Y-Your Grace!" Levi immediately put a fist to his chest.

Yes the newcomer, who brought an entire audience with him, was none other than The Duke of Yale, Acstivon.

"At ease. I will be facing him. You are dismissed." Acstivon said, to which Levi bowed forward and excused himself.

My Absolute Perception located both Elise and Alex in the audience, so I looked straight at them and winked. They had incredibly anxious expressions, and who could blame them?

"So what? Miss me so much you just had to come and see me?" I asked Acstivon with a smug smile on my face.

"Something like that." He said as a small smile grew on his face as well.

"What? Do they know each other?"

"I still can't believe we are going to see His Grace in action!"

"Will the arena even withstand a single one of his attacks?"

The crowd was still as rowdy as the moment they walked in, which was like ten seconds ago... The guy must've been popular, and well it was quite obvious as to why. He almost looked as good as me, with long silver hair and ultramarine eyes, and he was a Duke. It was to be expected I guess.

All I knew was that I liked this guy, he would be plenty of fun in the future.

"Damian Solace, I have a proposal." 

"Go for it."

"We will fight. Whoever is hit first will lose. The winner makes a single demand of the loser. Fair?"

Obviously it wasn't fair, since I was sorely outmatched, but I accepted anyways.

"Yep, sure, question is what will I have you do?"

I could hear the crowd grow even louder, and I saw the looks on Alex's and Elise's face turn dark as they grimaced. If only they knew what I knew...

Acstivon laughed, albeit slightly, "We shall see."

(Damian don't lose yourself in the fight. This is the perfect chance to learn Calm Mind. Fighting against such a powerful foe with a clear mind, even if it isn't life or death, will surely unlock the skill.)

I smiled a bit. 'I know.'

During a brief moment of silence I formulated a plan of sorts.

Just as Laila was about to speak, we both disappeared from our spots. We didn't need anyone to count down for us. Or well, he disappeared I just ran forwards.

I didn't use Burst Step, nor any of my physical enhancement skills yet, since I knew he would drag the fight out.

He reached me very quickly, and he threw the first punch. I ducked under it, and sent a Fire Blast straight at his chest to which he turned away dodging it effortlessly.

He may have been on my right side now, which would have typically been my blindside, but thanks to Absolute Perception I knew he was throwing a punch at my ribs, which still weren't entirely healed.

I turned right a bit and grabbed his arm with my right hand, I then sent out a punch of my own.

Unfortunately he too grabbed my arm, and he threw me across the entire arena.

During my second pilot lesson I spiraled myself to face his direction and sent out two Fireballs to which he... swatted them away. They hit the ground and, with a thundering blast, blew the dirt to kingdom come.

Acstivon looked away from me, just as I was landing, and looked at the two craters that had formed in the dirt. He turned back in my direction, and there I was right in his face.

I used my enhancement skills and Burst Step right after landing and brought my hands up to his face before casting Fire Blast. His eyes went wide as the smile on his face grew larger.

We were having fun, yet I had to keep a clear head. Talk about a buzzkill...

He ducked, dodging my attack, and I flew over his head.

I knew I wouldn't be able to recover properly from Burst Step, but I also knew he wouldn't end the fight here.

I rolled on the ground for a bit, then stood to my feet using my momentum.

When I stood to my full height the first thing I saw was a fist. It was fast, but not fast enough.

I was of balance, so I moved my head a bit and the punch glided past me with a centimeters distance. I threw a punch of my own using the opening but he swatted it away.

We continued throwing, dodging, and swatting punches and kicks. He was holding back, but he was slowly becoming faster than I was. At some point I had been thrown against the wall of the arena, causing surprised yelps and cheers from the audience.

I took advantage of the newfound distance and used Burst Step again. This time would be different.

I sent another Fire Blast at him, which he avoided again, but this time I used my hands to vault into the air, instead of crashing into the dirt.

I knew he was coming in from behind so I did the only thing I could think of.

I cast an odd spell in my hand. It's purpose was to create as much pushing force as it could, similar to a jet engine, and I used this to spin around and meet Acstivon at an incredible speed.

This was it, the moment I had been waiting for! Even though he was faster than me, there was no way he could move out of the way while in the air!

"Gotcha." I said as flames erupted from my hands straight at Acstivon.

For a second I saw it. An odd smile had spread on his lips.

It wasn't a moment later I realized I had missed. Acstivon had spiraled his body, and my spell flew harmlessly above his chest. My Fire Blast didn't so much as touch his long silver hair...

It was then that he grabbed the hem of my tunic, and sent me straight into the dirt. I was out the moment I hit the ground.

I awoke only a few moments later, with a woman I had never seen before in my face.

"Is this heaven? You an angel or something?" I said to the girl, who was muttering something about light and gods or something.

"You are an odd one. To fight me while injured. Reckless." A soft voice spoke from above me, and there he was. Acstivon was looking down at me.

"Eh, my cleric needs some rest." I said as I chuckled slightly, before it devolved into a bloody coughing fit.

"Rest. The healing will be complete soon."

And with that Acstivon and I just awkwardly looked at each other until the pain wracking my body went completely away.

I sat up and thanked the girl who had healed me then took a look around. As expected there were cracks in the ground all around me for a good twenty feet, not to mention I was in the middle of some kind of small crater.

"I lost huh? Coulda swore I had you at the end there." I stood up and stretched a bit. It was nice being without any broken bones. I almost forgot what that felt like.

Acstivon nodded behind me. "Yes. You must meet one of my demands."

"Yeah, yeah, lemme get my license first."

"Yes. You will be at B-Rank. Is this satisfactory to you?"

I looked in the direction where Alex and Elise were and, once I found them, I waved at them. They looked a bit worried, but more so relieved I was okay.

"Is there room to negotiate for A-Rank?"

"No."

"Then sure."

Acstivon nodded again, "Let us speak somewhere private while your license prints."

"Eh sure, but the girls are coming with us."

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Acstivon nodded his head and, we walked out of mini crater. I took a quick look around the arena and... Yikes. It looked like an elephant had run rampant in the place. Cracks lined the walls and the dirt wasn't faring much better.

Acstivon and I met up with Elise and Alex, who bowed slightly towards Acstivon. Alex's face was entirely consumed by wrath, and even Elise looked a bit angry...

I decided to figure out the problem later, after my talk with Acstivon.

Soon after, we left the Guild and instead were headed towards The Militia Command Center, or Acstivon's castle. Once we reached it we went straight to a little side room that had two couches of sorts inside and a nice cozy fireplace.

"Sit." Acstivon said to us, which we did, Alex sat on my right and Elise on my left. Acstivon sat across from us.

"So what's this demand of yours? I'll tell you now that I don't swing that way." 

Acstivon, who had just taken a drink from wine or something he had just finished preparing, choked on it. He then coughed for a solid minute.

Alex and Elise both looked at me with expressions of mock horror.

After he was done choking Acstivon had broken out into actual real laughter.

"Hahaha, I like you. Just not like that." He said still laughing a bit in between his words.

"Y-your grace, he meant no-"

"Alexa, you know how I feel about formalities."

Yep I liked this guy even more now. Formalities were a pain in the ass.

"I don't much mind his words. They are quite refreshing. Breaks the monotony."

I knew it. Thanks to my training, my past, and maybe a bit of help from Intuition I was fairly certain this guy didn't like the responsibility behind being a Duke, or at the very least had grown bored of it. I knew that feeling all too well...

"Now, for my demand. Tell me how you have made both Alexa and Elise stronger. I am well aware of the limit our previous Commander had reached, yet she has gotten past it. Elise may be talented, but to grow so rapidly is absurd. Am I wrong to assume you are the one behind it? This information may be quite sensitive, so I have prepared a second demand you may choose to accept."

Well shit. As a self proclaimed man of my word I felt inclined to tell the truth, but...

I leaned forward in my seat, my eye taking on a sharper shape.

"That depends entirely on what you plan to do with this information."

"Call it curiosity. Any secrets divulged here shall stay here."

"Alright then, I will tell you as a testament to our budding friendship."

I then told him the basics of EXP, leveling up, stat points, and the Party function. Some might call me dumb, but Acstivon was a good guy so I didn't mind explaining one of my secrets to him, plus this would help me gain a bit of his trust.

"That is... Fascinating. It certainly explains your growth. It also explains why Alex has had such a drastic improvement. As she is now she could just barely make it to the ninth star level..."

"Well to be honest Acstivon I expected more of a reaction. Something like a 'yeah, right, now tell me the truth or off with your head', kinda thing."

Acstivon sighed, "Almost everyone is unique in some way. I've grown to expect that which should not be possible. You should still keep this a secret."

"I don't much care for the 'hiding my true power' trope.

He sighed again before continuing, "If what you have told me is the truth, then perhaps my second demand will be of some interest to you."

I tilted my head a bit, "Go on."

"With the recent surge of dungeons we have run out of people we can send to clear them. The Militia would rather not deal with multiple Dungeon Outbreaks so we have been sending our men to accompany the adventurers who have wished to face these Dungeons. I ask that you clear a Dungeon near here to help ease the load on our shoulders. You will be payed for your efforts."

I looked at both Elise and Alex, who had both been very quiet, and saw they both had serious looks on their face.

"We will think about it. I don't want to put my women in situations they are uncomfortable with after all."

Acstivon sighed before smiling a bit, "Very well. Have your answer within a week."

And with that we were off.

After making it out of the doors I spoke to the girls.

"Well girls I say today has been quite productive." 

"You really are an idiot."

"Y-you scared us..."

Yeah I probably deserved that. Well worse. This was what, the second, third time I had done something stupid. First I talked to the Duke like we were best pals the moment I met him, and typically that would have ended with my head rolling off of my shoulders, then I challenged him to a fight and lost, then I told him a very valuable secret... Yikes.

The girls definitely didn't know what I knew so it was probably a scary situation for them.

However I knew Acstivon wasn't a bad person at all, and I knew it was safe to say the things I had. Or well I felt it, probably from my Intuition skill. Hopefully.

"Alex you can get a general idea of how a person is just by looking at them yes?"

Alex seemed a bit surprised I knew about her little ability, since she had never mentioned it to me. However Alex was always rather smart and just answered with, "Yes." She knew I would tell her once the time was right.

"Then tell me is the Duke a bad person? Someone who will sell out my secret and go back on his words?"

"...idiot." 

After Alex's insult I was left speechless. Until Elise spoke out that is.

"Th-that is not what we are upset about..."

"..."

'Pyra, did I misread the situation?'

(And to think you boast about your intellect every chance you get...)

"We don't care about what you do with your secret. It's your recklessness that pisses me off." 

...huh. Well now I knew what was wrong. The girls probably didn't like my fight with the Duke.

Question was, how do I calm the girls down? The Duke probably could have killed me if he really wanted to, but I knew he wouldn't...

What a pain.

I walked over to Alex and grabbed her hand, then brought it to my jaw, and then my chest. "Alex I survived a full powered punch from Igor, and a tree slamming into my chest. A little thr-"

"You what!?" Elsie suddenly screamed out.

I backed away y from Alex a bit, and then scratched my face a bit.

"Er, well, it was a small tree, smaller than my torso by a-"

"And you didn't tell me!? Were you not hurt?" 

"Ah, well, you see after I had said what I said I didn't feel that you would have want-"

"Y-you idiot! You could have died and I wouldn't have even known why!"

Ah fuck. It was worse than I thought... Just how bad was it though?

"I-I... I don't know what I would have done if..." Elise had started trying to wipe the tears from her eyes as her breathing hitched.

I, very quickly, wrapped her in my embrace. "I'm sorry. I didn't think of it that way... But, still, you don't have to push yourself so hard to make up for my mistakes. I'd feel even worse if you got hurt trying to help me..." I said quietly into her ear.

I heard Alex sigh from behind me, as she put a palm to her face.

"I forget you are just a kid... Listen, if you wish for this 'harem' of yours to work, you need to consider feelings other than your own."

Alex's words hit me like a truck. That was the core of the problem, not just the fighting or the injuries, but I had been ignoring their feelings... Thier thoughts.

I never had to worry about my partners thoughts before, but this wasn't before this was now. I needed to get that through my thick skull.

To them I had been nothing more than a source of worry and heartache, and if I kept going thier feelings for me would dwindle and fade.

(Dumbass. The girls like you more than you know, and seeing you being so reckless has caused them no small amount of strife.)

My hug around Elise tightened a bit, as a pressure built behind my eyes.

In my past life I had only ever seduced women then broke the relationship off after a week or so. I had little to no true experience with relationships, and it was costing me.

"I... I'm sorry. I promise I'll do better... I promise."

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