Valentia could already feel the bad vibes coming over her as soon as she heard what Mishalka had just said, making them leave started to become a much harder task then she imagined, most importantly she couldn’t imagine why Mishalka was being so insistent today, Mishalka sure as hell hated everyone in their dorm especially Syndra, but she usually never directly interacted with them more than it was necessary other than trying to cause trouble for Syndra whenever she could.
Valentia tried to think of whether or not there had been an incident or a reason for Mishalka to act this way, but in the end nothing came to mind, until she glanced at David and saw how Mishalka had been glancing at him at times, she didn’t think much of it at first but now she started to get an idea.
-(Is she perhaps trying to get to David?)
This idea wasn’t far off the track either as the whole reason Mishalka approached Valentia was because of David, from the first day she saw him Mishalka was star struck by his looks, his demeanor and gentle smile had, to his general physique were all things that immediately struck her taste, it wasn’t love at first sight or anything but rather something comparable to finding a treasure someone would like to possess.
Mishalka always thought very highly of herself, after all she was one of the most popular students in the academy, always ranking high in both academics and physical activities, her looks were things woman envied in this world while also possessing a vast array of connections plus her family held the title of duke which while not as big as the title of Archduke that Syndra’s family possessed was still extremely high making her social status even higher.
All of these things combined had built her ego to such an extent that that Mishalka couldn’t imagine anyone but the royal family to be higher than her, which is exactly why Mishalka hated Syndra so much.
When it came to Archdukes the kingdom of Grann had only 3 of them at the moment, the title of Archduke wasn’t just given out willy-nilly after all, you needed more than just contribute to the kingdom to become a Archduke.
At the bare minimum you needed to be hailed a hero to have the right to be an Archduke which is one of the things Syndra’s ancestors capable of doing as they all for generations had deep connections with the military of this kingdom, it wouldn’t be even wrong to say that it was house Dragora that had raised the military to this day, and even now the general of the current army was none other than Syndra’s mother Vitra Dragora.
Syndra herself was no slouch or someone who rode on the coattails of her mother either, she was in fact the sole person who was able to constantly rank number 1 in academics and physical activities ever since she came to the academy, because of this Syndra’s first year record was virtually left unchallenged as no one could beat or hope to challenge her.
Which is the reason why Mishalka hated her so much, her ego didn’t allow anyone of the same age as her to be better than her, at first Mishalka didn’t feel threatened by Syndra at all, but as time passed and the more she realized that she couldn’t beat Syndra no matter how hard she worked, she started to resent Syndra from the bottom of her heart.
The only saving grace that kept Mishalka in check was the fact that Syndra was beyond hideous, even though she was the pinnacle of excellency ability wise with a great background that even rivaled the royalty, no one especially the boys wanted to approach her because of how she looked, you needed to be a special sort of person to even like someone who looked like Syndra.
A good comparison here would be whether or not you would befriend a human sized cockroach, being in the presence of such creature alone would disgust you to no end and Syndra together with everyone else who lived in that dorm were to no small degree those cockroaches.
Appearances meant a lot to people, you could still be a little bit ugly and make up for it with your abilities, but eventually there had to be a limit as to how ugly you were before It was enough.
This is why the desire to possess David was so strong to Mishalka, he was the most handsome boy she had ever seen, she couldn’t bear watching him stand next to those cockroaches getting all chummy, in Mishalka’s opinion their presence alone defiled David’s majestic appearance and she wanted to do everything to stop that and place him next to her who she thought was more worthy.
She even pulled a few strings behind the scene to make David live in the official male dorm instead of that dorm with the troublemakers, but not even connections could do anything as David was clearly someone who belonged to the Midgale faction, the only way that would allow him to live in the male dorm was for David want it himself which what Mishalka was aiming for.
She thought it would an easy matter but from looking at David she couldn’t even spot a single sign of dissatisfaction, in fact he looked to be having fun, it made her remember how he easily chose that sewer monster called Syndra instead of her, Mishalka couldn’t understand why someone as beautiful as him would someone as hideous as her.
It just didn’t make sense to her, and because of it her hatred spurned even more.
-I see that you are about to play a game, since it is a two player game how about we make it a bit more fun and we join?
Mishalka proposed, but Valentia already predicted this, shaking her head.
-No, as I said, we had been planning this and we would like to do it in private, now if you so excuse us we don’t have more time to talk with you, we are taking our leave.
Valentia declared, clearly sparking Mishalka’s ire as she started to show for the time that she was getting impatient.
-Aren’t you being a bit too disrespectful and cold towards your fellow classmate? Well a wouldn’t expect anything less from someone of Nohrn, the coldness there must have seemed into your veins.
-Grrr…
Again Valentia started to get angry, David didn’t know if he could really stop this, at some degree David already started to understand that this whole incident was caused by his presence, he didn’t want Valentia to get into trouble just because of him, he already felt like he was putting everyone into way too much trouble especially with the incident yesterday with the orb.
David tried to think about a way to make them leave he also thought about just taking Valentia and leaving instead, but after considering Valentia and how she thought about bringing him after all this time, he immediately scraped that thought.
David wasn’t good with these social interactions, he got a lot better recently so it took him a few minutes to figure something out as he glanced to the equipment Valentia was bringing out from a wooden box nearby.
The equipment just looked like sets of small tennis balls and portable walls to hide behind, David was momentarily curious as to what these things were intended for, while not even intending it he focused on the tennis ball momentarily able to slightly nudge them as one of the balls started to move, this surprised David as he hadn’t intended on moving the ball but just inspect it, he had underestimate how sensitive the balls were to his mana which immediately made him understand why Valentia brought this equipment out.
Getting an idea, he slowly approached Valentia who was just about to blow up before whispering into her ear.
-Senior Valentia
-Hyaaa!
His whisper was very sudden to Valentia as caught her off guard, his breath in her ear also tickled her which was the main reason why she shrieked surprising not only her but everyone else for that matter putting an abrupt stop to the intense atmosphere.
Furthermore, Valentia got immediately embarrassed as she didn’t expect to make such a undignified scream only little boys would make, her heart especially beat stronger as it was David who did it.
-What is it?
She whispered back slightly annoyed, but getting angry at David was difficult as she just used a more sulking tone instead of an angry one.
David felt a bit sorry as he smiled wryly before answering.
-I am sorry senior Valentia, but I may have a way for them to go away if you could listen to me.
Valentia raised her eyebrows at those words, but feeling that it was worth listening to, she gestured for David to continue, his close proximity and his gentle whispers didn’t at all sway her judgement as she calmly listened to David’s plan while feeling warm inside.
And after finishing, Valentia thought that it wasn’t a bad idea at all, it fact it was perfect!
The other 4 on the hand didn’t feel well at all, in reality they were merely going along with their senior Mishalka as all of them were from foreign countries with not much influence here, they had to rely on Mishalka as she was the only major connection they had, if it was them they would have left long ago, but alas they couldn’t do such thing.
Mishalka herself didn’t like how close David was to Valentia, the sight was vomit inducing to her, she wanted nothing more than to make them part, but it was not something she could do at the moment.
-Alright, I decided that you guys can join our game, but let’s make it like this, the losers will leave the training grounds while the winners get to stay, understand?
Mishalka sharply turned her eyes towards David the moment she these conditions, David flinched a bit the moment Mishalka turned her eyes towards him like that, Valentia in turn stepped before David shielding him while glaring back at Mishalka.
Mishalka stopped that after confronting Valentia before making a snort.
-Hmph, alright, but either way don’t you think that this condition is a bit too skewered towards your own side? Let’s change it to if you win we leave and if I win…we will exchange our juniors and show them around until evening how about it?
Everyone was immediately a bit stunned the moment they heard the change of conditions, David and other 3 were especially felt a bit uncomfortable.
Valentia’s temple too immediately throbbed the moment she heard such an outrageous condition in return, she was already up to here with Mishalka and wanted nothing more than to give her a taste of her famous knuckle sandwich, but suddenly again David stopped her pulling her towards him, this time a bit more intimately then before as he directly pulled her towards his body.
A lot of people gasped the moment they saw this as it started to look very indecent no matter how you looked at it, Valentia’s mind too drew a blank the moment David pulled her in like that, her entire body was leaning into David’s only lovers ever did that and she could feel David’s every curve together with his warmth, it messed with her head, but she quickly calmed after David started to speak to her.
-Senior Valentia I’m sorry for doing this, but I just wanted to make sure that you wouldn’t do something that you would regret.
-If you mean regretting the fact that I was going to punch her little face? I would never.
-I…can imagine that, but I think we should agree.
-What!? Don’t you think it’s unreasonable?! What if we lose and you have to spend an entire evening with her! I can’t accept that!
David’s eyes widened a moment after he heard that, he wasn’t surprised about what Valentia had just said, he was more surprised about how much emotion went through that sentence, but he momentarily ignored it before asking another question.
-This game, does it have anything to do with mana control perhaps?
-Yes obviously, if it didn’t I wouldn’t have brought…wait.
Quickly understanding what David was getting to, Valentia started to understand what David was getting towards, not saying another word she slowly considered before finally looking back at David and giving him a nod with a smile.
David too smiled in return and parted with Valentia, Valentia momentarily felt regretful that they parted so quickly but that was just her body before she immediately turned back to Mishalka.
All this time Mishalka and the other wondered what they were constantly whispering with each other about, they mostly figured that Valentia wouldn’t agree to something like this, Mishalka was merely betting on Valentia’s temper to get the better of her but unexpectedly something else happened.
-Alright, we agree to your conditions, but I would also like to change conditions again, in fact lets make this game even more spicy, the conditions are the same as stated before, but the winners will also get 8000 points and that is for each person, now do you agree or not?
David, Mishalka and the other 3 were again shocked the moment they heard what Valentia just said, the newly added condition had sprung out of nowhere and with it came the higher risks as this simple game started to slightly get out of control with real currency at stake.
And what was worse as if daring her to do it Valentia put her hand forward to Mishalka, using a spell her hand started to glow with iridescent arcane symbols, Mishalka recognized these symbols and the spell itself as it was a basic contract spell used to make a contract between two people, what the contract did was to make sure that the promise the two parties made would be upheld, if any foul play was committed it was the contract that made sure that whoever made the foul play would be punished.
The punishment depended on what power level the individual was, in the first place people who possessed no magical talent couldn’t make any contracts with anyone, only wizards or equally ranked individuals starting from rank 1 could make any contracts, since they were at rank 1 the punishment at worst would be an injury to their soul, which was very significant at their level as it meant they would need time and resources to heal their soul as it hindered with their spell casting ability plus their understanding of magic.
It’s because of these reasons that no one would ever easily agree to a contract as they still had a lot of learning ahead of them which an injury to the soul could hinder very much, and in regards to the punishment given above rank 1, let’s just say at rank 2 the consequence of death is very much possible and then there even worse things than death itself.
Mishalka instantly got wary the moment she saw the contract, Mishalka didn’t understand why Valentia would go for a contract at this moment, both Mishalka and Valentia were fairly even when it came to their skills, Valentia sure was better when it came to close combat, but the game they were about to play had nothing to do with close combat at all as it was all about mana control.
Furthermore, they agreed to play in teams, meaning this was a match of 2v4, her juniors were also not just any freshmen either all of them had some intensive magic training before coming here, while they couldn’t cast spells they at least knew basics of mana control allowing them to move simple objects like the tennis balls with ease.
One of them was even a Dragonkin! A person who had the blood of a dragon coursing through their vein, Dragonkin were also one of the only races who weren’t restricted by their soul upon birth to practice magic, Gehena here in fact was on the cusp of becoming a rank 1 wizard like herself making her mana control immense as she shouldn’t be any less skillful as Mishalka or Valentia.
No matter how you spun it Valentia had no chance of winning.
But then, why was Mishalka feeling a sense of danger?
She considered, hesitant about taking the contract as she knew all too well that 8000 points were no small amount and if she lost she would have to pay 16000 points from her own pocket since they agreed that they would pay for each person, which again put to question Valentia’s sanity as she’d have to pay 32000 points if she didn’t want to have her soul damaged.
16000 she could easily pay that amount which wasn’t the problem, but it would still take a hefty chunk of her savings and she needed those savings as she was considering to buy certain spells she needed for her studies and future advancement.
Mishalka tried to discern any kind of clues from Valentia’s expression but no matter how long she looked she couldn’t find anything.
Valentia noticed it as well and couldn’t help but smile mockingly as she spoke.
-Oh! Mishalka don’t tell me you’re scared? It seems like not even having a Dragonkin on your side makes you feel confident, and I thought your ego was as wide as the ocean, looks like I was wrong, now if you excuse me David and I are planning on having a small match.
Valentia was about to pull her hand back, but Mishalka instantly grabbed it instead, creating the same iridescent arcane symbols as Valentia on her and sealing the contract.
Valentia was a bit stunned and shocked that Mishalka would actually bite such obvious bait, in reality she wasn’t counting Mishalka actually agreeing to the bet as she wanted her intimidate her with the points, but it seemed as if it was Valentia who had shot herself in the foot for making such an incredulous bet, luckily Valentia didn’t show it on her face as she simply stepped back to David and smiled.
-Alright, lets prepare for the match!
Saying as much she quickly went for the equipment to set it all up as she pulled David to herself speaking to him in hushed tones.
All the while the 4 simply stood and observed, Mishalka feeling as if she had stepped into a trap cursing her impulsive actions and Gehena coming forward as she couldn’t help but speak.
-Are you sure senior Mishalka? This seemed like a foolish decision to me if you ask me.
Out of all people it was the Dragonkin who started to gently criticize Mishalka, getting a bit mad by her words Mishalka snapped back at her with cold eyes.
-A half like you has no place in reprimanding me, remember who it was that saved your mother and yourself, if it wasn’t for my family you wouldn’t even be alive, so get this into your thick skull and concentrate on the match because if you lose know that that nothing pleasant will occur, this goes to all of you, understand?
-Yesx3
All of them were dissatisfied as they agreed, but in the end they couldn’t do anything as they needed Mishalka’s help or more specifically the help of her house, Gehena especially had a debt she owed that she needed to pay back, currently her thoughts in this matter were irrelevant.
But still just because she agreed it didn’t change her real thoughts, the boy named David had already captured Gehena’s eyes, for some reason Gehena couldn’t help but feel mysteriously drawn to this boy she had just met.
A Place Of Legends 