Chương 99: 47 - Attention

Selena stood in shock, along with the rest of the crowd. She'd only spared a glance at Emilia and Anne, who hurried away in shame as several people stared after them in disdain. It wasn't the end for the pair, especially not for Emilia. There were certain rules to a friendly duel, and Emilia had broken one of the most important ones by trying to attack Arielle, not just once, but twice, both times while she was distracted.

That kind of act had far-reaching consequences, bringing shame both on the Earthbinder name as a whole and on Emilia herself. Apart from whatever consequences she would face from the Dean, Emilia would have to answer to the Patriarch for the disgrace that had been bestowed on the Earthbinders. It was not going to be a pretty conversation. But she deserved it.

She should have just let her daughter lose with whatever grace she could muster, rather than letting her emotions get the best of her and ruining things for Anne. Moreover, with the conclusion of that fight, Selena felt something uncomfortable boiling inside her. It wasn't anger per se, although she felt some of that too. She hated being proven wrong. She'd thought Anne was stronger than that, thought she was strong enough to wipe the floor with her opponent, but that seemed not to be the case.

Anne had fallen to Arielle almost immediately and had made a fool of herself instead, so much so that Selena was beginning to question whether or not she should keep their friendship or downgrade Anne to simply another acquaintance. But what really annoyed her was the way everyone was treating Arielle's victory like it was something so extraordinary. Sure, she had fought well.

She'd executed a clever escape from Anne's trap and had managed to catch both Anne and Emilia in her spell, forcing them to kneel before her father. That was a poetically fitting punishment for the crime, something Selena herself would do, although she might have taken it a step further and made both of them kiss the man's feet. However, it had simply been a duel. It was not a real battle. Arielle hadn't used any truly powerful skills, nor had she done anything extraordinary in Selena's view.

Yet everyone was staring at her as though she had. Selena was in the room, and for the first time, people barely acknowledged her. They were too busy gazing at the one in the circle, the new prodigy.

"That girl," Monk Ernesto said, stroking his long, grey beard and reminding Selena of his existence.

"Who is she?" Her annoyance ticked up.

"She's no one. Simply an apprentice."

"She does not fight like an apprentice. She has a very refined style and shows great balance in her core." He gave her a sidelong look.

"She might soon become the youngest Master we've ever had." We'll see about that. Selena refused to accept that the girl could one day be better than her. No one would be better than her. Besides, she'd checked Arielle's stats during the more impressive moments of the battle. She was still a Level 51, nowhere near catching up unless she decided to go on a battle spree, which was what Selena herself had done.

Arielle did not have the enemies Selena had, so she would likely not fight the battles she'd fought and wouldn't advance nearly as fast as she did. As for her performance today, perhaps there was still some charm left in her system. Or perhaps Elric had found a way to sneak some more towards her. Or maybe she did have some talent. Either way, Arielle Blacksoil would not become competition for her She would make sure of it. Selena decided that she needed to know about Arielle, and she found the perfect way to do it.

By becoming her mentor. All the juniors desperately wanted a mentor like Selena, and Arielle would be thrilled to be her understudy. After all, following the next severance, the first years would be put through their worst trials yet.

Ari had a serious problem. There were too many eyes on her. It felt like everywhere she looked, someone was staring at her, quite obviously at that. Usually, they smiled or waved, but that simply worsened things. She would look away and try to focus her gaze on something else, only to catch more eyes. Why were they looking at her? She looked behind her, wondering if maybe something interesting was there, but no. Merely the staircase. Yet, they were still staring. Why? Was there something on her face?

She glanced at her father.

"Is there something on my face?"

"No," he responded.

"Your face looks fine. Why?"

"I feel that people are staring at me."

"Of course they're staring at you," Brom pointed out.

"You just demolished that poor noble girl in front of everyone."

"Poor noble might be an oxymoron," she said, "Although not necessarily, but in this case, I think Anne Earthbinder and her family are quite wealthy."

"I didn't mean the 'poor' literally. I meant that with the way she and her mother ran off, you humiliated them beyond belief.

"Oh." She only nodded vaguely at her brother's words, her skin feeling itchy under the combined regard of the entire room. Her discomfort intensified. She didn't want to hide, per se, but she did want them to stop.

"Ari, are you still listening, or have you tuned me out?"

"I don't like it," she murmured and rubbed her elbow. She kept her gaze on the floor so she didn't have to meet anyone'seyes.

"I don't like the staring."

"You might have to get used to it," said a new voice, albeit a familiar one.

"Since you have such a talent at duels, I expect you will receive more offers from those who want to test their strength. Not to mention, the coin and attention you'll earn if you ever decide to do this professionally."

"And you are?" Arielle's father asked.

"Graham Monroe," he said.

"You must be Arielle's father."

"Yes."

"I see the resemblance." Arielle wondered if he was joking, as she knew that she didn't share much resemblance with her father except for her eyes, which were a brighter version of his.

"I had to come over and introduce myself, especially after that fantastic display on Arielle's end," Professor Graham said.

"And I also have to tell you that Arielle is one of my favorite students. Not just for her skill, and not just because her performance pushes others to do better, thereby driving up our class average. She's also taken it upon herself to personally teach at least two of our students, and they've been doing much better since."

"Ah, really?" Her father gave his proud laugh.

"Well, you know my Ari. She's always been so kind and helpful. So clever too and strong in her own way."

"Arielle, pick your eyes off the floor, and say hello to your professor," Brom said.

"Hello," Arielle said without picking her eyes off the floor.

"Arielle…."

"There's too much staring," she said.

"Yes, I know it can be annoying," Professor Graham said.

"But if it makes it any better, they're staring because they're in awe of you."

"That doesn't make it any better."

"Yes, yes, of course. Well, Arielle, congratulations on another successful duel. You remain undefeated, and you're coming for Selena's record soon, I'm sure." This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

"Who's Selena?" Brom asked.

"Selena Gregor, a fourth year."

"The Calor Princess?"

"You've heard of her."

"Of course. We may live pretty remotely, but I don't think there's a single mercenary who hasn't heard of her, and they talk about her all the time."

"You're saying my Ari might reach those heights?" her father said.

"Your Ari might surpass them," Graham responded.

"Well, I'll leave you to it. I must go clean up the mess left by the duel. Literally and metaphorically. And I see Lord Wesley approaching with Elric, so you might want to prepare yourself for that, Arielle."

"Of course. It's nice meeting you, Mr. Graham."

"Likewise," Professor Graham said, and he left right as Arielle heard Elric say from a short distance:"Ari, are you alright?" She nodded, though she kept staring at her shoes.

"Sorry, she's a little sensitive to staring," her father said.

"She didn't seem sensitive when she was beating the crap out of her cousin," one of the boys commented, as their larger group joined her.

"Fighting is different," Arielle responded. In her mind, when she was duelling, they had something to stare at. They weren't staring at her necessarily, but at her performance. But right now, there was no reason for them to be gazing at her so openly when she was just standing there. It made her distinctly uncomfortable, like they were picking her apart bit by bit, weighing her, trying to figure out how her mind worked, how she measured up.

She was almost certain they wouldn't like what they found or that she wouldn't measure up in some way. She'd known for most of her life that she wasn't normal, and her abnormality made others dislike her. While she had made peace with it mostly, and she often didn't care what strangers thought about her, just the mere act of being perceived by a crowd when she wasn't doing anything worthy of it made her feel unbearably awkward, like she didn't know what to do with her body.

"I don't like them staring when I'm not fighting."

"I can take care of that," an older man said, and he clapped his hand once. Just like magic, all the sound in the room ceased.

"Everyone except immediate company, clear the halls. That includes you, barons. Now." You don't have the power to do that, Arielle thought. She didn't know who the man was, but he was almost certainly a guest, and guests didn't have the power to clear the halls of other guests. Only Dean Octavius and possibly the staff could do such a thing. Yet, she heard feet shuffling towards the entrance anyway. Heard the quiet calls of her name as they left, though she ignored them.

She didn't look up until the room was quiet again, and she was only surrounded by the people she was talking to.

"Thank you," she told the man who had cleared the room for her, meeting his eyes only briefly. All that remained of his entourage were two boys and two women, whom Ari also didn't recognize.

"You're very welcome, my dear," he said in a gentle tone.

"Arielle, this is Lord Wesley," Elric said.

"Lord..." The name immediately rang a bell. She executed a deep bow for him, right as he waved a hand and said, "Oh, none of that. I came here to talk, not to be fawned over." When she straightened, she turned and wondered which woman was the wife and which one was the concubine.

"Who is–""This is Lady Wesley," Elric jumped in instantly, pointing to the lady on the man's right.

"And this is Lady Borja." Lady Wesley must be the wife. Arielle bowed to her first, then curtsied to Lady Borja.

"My," Lady Borja said.

"What great manners you have."

"Yes, they really are splendid considering where you grew up," Lord Wesley said.

"You must have raised her well, sir." Her father's expression rippled, but he accepted it with a nod and a bow of his own, acknowledging Lord Wesley's status as a Master. Brom bowed too before the Lord waved again.

"Alright, enough of that," he said.

"More importantly, I'm quite pleased to finally meet with you, Arielle Blacksoil."

"Me?" Arielle fixed her eye to his collar, so perfectly pressed and folded over the embroidery of his robe.

"Why are you excited to meet me?"

"Because hardly do I meet a young mage that impresses me as much as you did in the fight," he said.

"Tell me, because I seem to have seen things wrong. You cast the [Space Null] spell while Anne was trapping you?"

"Yes, before the paralysis had taken hold."

"Was it a silent cast?"

"No. I was simply turned away at the time, with my head down, and I said it quietly." She only glanced at the ceiling a little bit.

"Why not just cast it instantly instead of delaying the effect? Were you toying with her?

"No. I wanted to destroy her entire spell at once rather than only a part of it. Luckily, the delayed reaction came in when I needed it."

"That was very precise planning. Did you know Anne would do what she did? Even I had to admit that it seemed a bit much for what was supposed to be a friendly duel."

"No, I did not know she would do it, but it's good to be prepared for anything." None of those statements was technically a lie, so she didn't have to look at the ceiling. Instead, she kept her eyes on his collar.

"Is something about my face offensive?" he asked her.

"No. I don't like looking at faces in general."

"What's wrong with faces?"

"They have eyes on them." He laughed as though she'd said a joke, and she snuck a peek to see if it was a happy laugh or a mean laugh. From this angle, it looked like a happy laugh, so she let her eyes fall again.

"Well, if you don't like looking at faces, I don't know how this is going to work."

"How what's going to work?"

"The choice."

"What choice?"

"Between my sons," he said.

"I suppose I could always simply mention their best qualities, and you can decide based on that. This is Thomas the Third, named after his Uncle Thomas the Second. He is good at chess and all matters that have to do with strategy. He is also somewhat handsome if you take a second look, and he has his mother's gentle heart." Lady Borja snorted at that, and Lady Wesley said, "Must you attempt to sell our own son out like a bargain item at the market?"

"Well, what choice do I have considering she refuses to look at him and fall head over heels the old-fashioned way? Anyway, Thomas will likely serve well as an adviser on the council and will manage my lands once he's mature. He is not reckless or particularly brave; therefore, you can be certain he will not die prematurely. He will make a lovely spouse." Elric coughed to hide a laugh, and when Arielle looked up at the boy who had his mother's heart, his face was flaming.

"Hello," she said.

"I'm Arielle Blacksoil."

"Yes." The boy cleared his throat.

"I am…erm. I am…" He seemed to forget his name for a second before his mother nudged him.

"I am Thomas."

"Father mentioned that already," the other boy said, making Thomas blush more.

"He did everything but ask you to strip naked and present yourself."

"Wulfric." Lady Borja smacked the boy in the shoulder.

"Ouch, mother. I didn't say anything wrong."

"Yes, you did. I apologize, Arielle." Arielle didn't know what she was apologizing for, so she simply said, "Okay."

"And this younger one is Wulfric," Lord Wesley said.

"He is quite the rascal and has a quick wit and sense of humor that could be either a benefit or a drawback for you. He is also very handsome, as you can see, and has many ladies' hearts in the ton. Some, he draws without effort, and some he steals. But no matter. I am sure he will settle down once the time comes and he meets someone special." Lord Wesley fixed Wulfric with a long look that the boy didn't wither before, instead throwing Arielle a wink.

"Hey. I see you around all the time. It's good to finally get acquainted."

"Yes, nice to meet you. I am Arielle Blacksoil."

"You have pretty eyes, Arielle."

"Thank you," she said at the same time as her father let out a rough sound in his throat. Torv didn't look pleased at all at the statement, and looked even angrier when Wulfric added, "Your eyes are pretty, too, sir. Almost as pretty as your daughter's."

"Careful," her father growled as Lady Borja leaned in and said, "Take it down a notch."

"Of course, mother. Those sorts of things are reserved for more private conversation. I'm sure we'll talk another time, Arielle."

"Why would we?" Arielle asked.

"We have nothing to talk about." That made his confident smile waver.

"What?" Elric snorted again.

"Arielle," Brom said.

"What? I'm simply pointing out that we have nothing to do with each other, so we likely wouldn't talk. We do not share the same classes, the same lean, the same friends."

"I mean, we can talk about other things apart from class and friends," Wulfric said.

"What else is there?" Arielle was genuinely curious.

"Matters of the heart," he said. Hmm. That sounded valid, but she didn't know much about human anatomy, and she wasn't sure she had any interest in learning.

"Are you thinking of attaining a healing specialty?" Her answer stunned the group for a second before Lord Wesley started laughing. He laughed so hard his belly vibrated, and it eventually led to a cough.

"Well," he said, wiping his eyes.

"It seems we have finally met someone immune to your charms, Wulfric. If she's the practical type, then Thomas is the clear choice."

"We don't want any choice," her father said, but Lord Wesley pretended like he hadn't heard him.

"You must come spend time with our family during your school break, Arielle. We shall spend it at our Iverson estate, which will be beautiful that time of year."

"No, thank you," Arielle said.

"For the break, I am going back to Fenway Basin to be with my family." She had already planned it, and she didn't like to change plans.

"You'd rather spend an entire month in Fenway?" Lord Wesley asked, looking confused. She nodded.

"Are you sure, dear?" Lady Borja said.

"Iverson is really quite beautiful. We have our own mountain, with a private waterfall into a lake. Plus, it's where we have our annual Iverson ball, where you'll meet many important families." Arielle didn't see how any of that was relevant to what she said.

"No, thank you. I would rather be home with my family. They are important to me."

"Of course," Lord Wesley's expression softened.

"You impress me even more, Arielle. Your loyalty and devotion are admirable. Well, we'll have to invite your entire family then."

"To the Iverson Ball?" Brom said, sputtering.

"You can't be serious."

"Of course I'm serious. The girl will not go without her family, so we must bring the family along with her."

"I'm not sure..." her father said.

"Your offer is very generous, sir, but I don't think that is a place for us to go."

"Why ever not?"

"Because…"

"Because you're Mossbornes?"

"That and because we've never been anywhere like that before. I'm not sure our manners are up to par with such an exclusive and monumental event, and we would not want to unintentionally offend one of you."

"Hmm," he said.

"I'm sure it will be fine. Everyone there would simply have to understand because your daughter's natural talent more than makes up for anyone's lack of manners. She will be an asset to this empire." There was that word again. Asset.

"Only if she wants to be," Elric said with a cautioning look at the Lord.

"Of course, of course." He waved his hand.

"Arielle, you probably require a mentor. I have a few people in mind, but I'll have to go through the list thoroughly and decide who is most appropriate. Perhaps I can line up the finalists for you when you come and have you choose who you prefer." She thought about it and shook her head.

"I don't think I'll have time for a mentor." She already had so much on her plate, and a mentor might not benefit her in any significant way to make up for the time she would spend answering to them. Valeria already had all the information she needed.

"You will need a mentor; if not, you will never reach your full potential."

"No. I already have Professor Valeria."

"Valeria... who is that?"

"I believe she's referring to Valeria Stephanus," Thomas said.

"Of the Stephanus clan? They are not important. I'll get you someone from a far more prestigious family."'"No," Arielle said.

"I appreciate your kindness, but I like Valeria. She is a very adequate teacher, and she is superior in many ways." She was patient, fair, and always answered Arielle's questions thoroughly. Also, her office was always organized.

"Well, maybe I should give that family more consideration then," Lord Wesley said.

"I will invite them to the ball so I can meet this Valeria."

"Lord Wesley." A new voice interrupted as the Dean descended the staircase and regarded them.

"Please may I borrow Ms. Blacksoil and her family for a fairly urgent matter?"

"Yes, of course. I should probably get back to the barons, or they start chewing their limbs off. Well, Arielle Blacksoil, once again, it was lovely meeting you, and we look forward to meeting again soon."

"Okay." Though Arielle hadn't taken any of his invitations, it seemed like a foregone conclusion that she would be attending his estate. He was a very pushy individual, probably because most people never told him no. Perhaps Arielle would be the first. But for now, she went with her family and followed them to Dean Octavius' office, where a guilty-looking Anne and Emilia were standing.

"Well," he said, "We're here to discuss the appropriate recompense for Emilia Earthbinder's offense."