Dance With the Nightingale - Chapter 46

[Kapheira’s POV]

‘Isn’t this too much?’

She thought as she looked at the ongoing match.

No, it couldn’t even be called a match.

It was a one-sided beating.

‘And he hasn’t even conjured a proper spell.’

Yes, it was his 3rd match already, but he hadn’t used a proper spell, only his fists.

And yet, he was crushing his opponents easily, as if swatting flies.

Seeing him like that, I couldn’t help but feel absurd.

Rayne Von Ellsworth.

He was strong, she acknowledged that.

From the time they first met, to the time before he went into coma.

He was strong, stronger than her, stronger than anyone.

‘I thought I had caught up with him in a year, but…’

-The distance between us, just got wider.

At least, she didn’t feel that bad about it now, at least she wasn’t jealous.

She couldn’t feel jealous of him when she knew just how much effort he had put forth to achieve that kind of strength.

She couldn’t be jealous of someone who overworked themselves to the point of going into coma.

Instead, right now, ‘I just feel glad’.

Glad that her friend was back, glad that he was stronger than ever before, and glad of one other thing…

Honestly, she wasn’t all that excited about being called the strongest of the generation.

While she would jump at its every mention before, now, she just found it meaningless…

Really meaningless…

All because of a certain encounter.

An encounter that broke her confidence, along with her spirit.

A not-so-distant memory.

An encounter with a silver-haired, golden-eyed girl, and a scholarly looking grey-haired man.

She was on her routine snuck outs, aimlessly roaming through the streets, and that was when she saw them.

Was it their atmosphere, was it their mood, or simply their appearance?

They stood out in the crowd so much, that she couldn’t help but notice them, it was seriously hard to not do so.

So, on a whim, she decided to follow them.

And the more she followed, the more she got interested.

Unlike normal people who would seek for an inn to stay, or a restaurant to fill their belly with warm food, this peculiar duo was heading towards the eastern gate.

Meaning they were going out of the city in night, in the cold northern night.

As idiotic as she found that, she followed nonetheless, getting more interested with each passing second.

After all, what could two magic users would be doing out of the city in the dead of the night?

And soon, she found the answer.

Training.

Training, in the dead of the night.

But that wasn’t what shook her, what truly shocked her was that girl.

The girl who looked like an innocent flower, changed.

As soon as the girl saw the monsters, her gaze, her aura, her atmosphere, everything just changed.

As if a switch had been flipped.

The girl rushed forward, and soon the white snow turned red.

And she, who was called as the genius of the Empire, watched as she did this.

Disbelieving everything she saw.

She couldn’t see through that girl at all!

What she did, how she did, all of it was a mystery to her.

The spells that she considered impossible to cast…

The things she thought only as a fairytale…

The strength that the current her thought as impossible to achieve…

All of them, were used right in front of her, as if proving, that her common sense was wrong.

That night, as she watched that girl, she understood something…

Compared to that girl, ‘I am nothing.’

She was nothing

So, she just stopped comparing.

‘Strongest in the Younger Generation? Is there any use having such a thing? Can someone with that title defeat that girl?’

‘No’

She firmly thought.

Till now, that is.

‘Maybe, maybe, you can match her, Rayne.’

She sincerely hoped, for her friend and her shattered spirit.

(A/N: A precursor to the upcoming side chapter.)

***

[Rayne’s POV]

-Hup

Disappearing from where I was standing, to dodge a swarm of green wind blades, I appeared on the side of a fully alert kid.

He reacted quickly, and released some already prepared wind blades at me, while sword covered in a green energy followed the suit.

‘Maybe he setup some kind wind field around him to detect me?’

‘At least, he isn’t dumb.’

I thought, as I dismantled the wind blades, and promptly tilted myself, kicking him with my knee and dodging his sword in the same motion.

My kick was obviously strong, strong enough to send him flying, which I did, and followed him. Appearing in his path, and knocking him out cold, with a well-placed kick on his nape.

Giving him the same treatment as my previous opponents, I pushed him out, off the stage with Psychokinesis.

While doing this, I kept observing three youths, two boys and one girl to be exact.

Godric Grey Ingvar Arsenio, son of Ingvar Grey Arsenio.

Eden Nas Cybil Anais, son of Cybil Anais.

And finally, Aileth Jurgen Ekath Etherfleihm, the daughter of Ekath Etherfleihm.

The children of Dukes.

These three were the only ones who could put up a fight against me, and the ones who were actually after my title.

Godric and Aileth were in an Alliance, while Eden was in a faction of his own, and the last Duke-child, took after his father.

Meaning, he was too into his own world, to care about these things.

‘It was about time they started moving.’

After these three warm-up fights, they should have tested me enough to move themselves.

“Anyone else?”

I asked while looking straight at the duo.

And looks like I was correct.

Exchanging a glance with each other, the duo stood up.

‘Finally!!’

I began to grin with expectation, as they did.

While most of my frustrations were settled after the first two fights, I still wanted to beat someone stronger.

Especially when these someones were people who schemed against me when I was down.

‘Finally, I get to beat these fox-like bitches.’

The first to take a step forward was Godric.

‘So, Godric first, eh?’

I thought, cracking my knuckles.

But contradicting my expectations, Godric stopped right in front of my barrier, and turned around.

“Honored guests, and my friends of Younger Generation, I, Godric Arsenio, think that this display should be more than enough to show that young master Rayne, is indeed the strongest within our generation.”

“So, how about we stop here? Anymore challenges would just incur more injuries, and most probably waste our time.”

My eyes widened, while my grin disappeared.

“Of course, these are just my own views, so I ask various seniors for their advice.”

What!!

He is telling everyone to stop!

He is…surrendering?

But, how is that possible?

How can he just give up?

How can that Godric just give up?

“Yes, Young Master Godric is correct. With how strong Young Master Rayne is, it is very unlikely for anyone from younger generation to best him.”

“Yes, he is correct…”

“Yes…”

“Yes…”

“Yes…”

A voice said, and many other followed.

And while, they were basically praising me, I couldn’t actually feel happy.

Rather, it felt like I lost.

But I didn’t interject, I didn’t argue. The situation didn’t allow me to.

I would look like a real child if I did.

So, I didn’t, instead I just kept quiet.

And just like that, my anticipated fight slipped out of my hands, while I couldn’t do anything.

Godric Arsenio, you really showed me a different type of power, a power that I always thought as useless, but apparently it isn’t.

Political Power, eh?

Maybe I will try my hand at it later, but for now, I just have to keep getting stronger.

But still, I can do something right?

-Clap.

-Clap.

-Clap.

I clapped, as I stepped out of the barrier.

“Thank you, Godric. You really saved me a lot of trouble. And though I was very excited at the prospect of fighting you, this much is enough, I guess?”

“Anyways, thanks for your suggestion.”

I said, before I reached out my hand in an obvious handshaking gesture.

Godric was cautious though, and didn’t directly took my handshake, but being in front of the public, he succumbed to the pressure.

So, we shook hands, both our palms exerting power, as things got more and more intense with our power, in the end-

-Crack

A low cracking voice was heard from our handshake.

But admirably Godric’s expression remained the same.

‘I’ll let you of with that, for now, next time it won’t be this easy, remember that.’

For a split second, I opened a mind link between us and said that, before cutting the connection, and leaving his fractured hand.

He nodded with the same expression, before he left, probably back to his faction.

‘Not even a groan of pain, huh? That certainly matches his personality, but…’

Honestly, I couldn’t understand this guy anymore.

The original Godric would have erupted many times by now, but this Godric just nodded and left?

Was this the so-called correction of personality that the Goddess did, maybe his personality was judged as harmful or something like that?

‘Ah! Whatever!’

I pushed those issues at the back of my mind, as the host of the event the Earl who was quietly sipping wine stood up.

“Honored Guests, with this I declare the end of the last event of today’s banquet.”

“So now, feel free to enjoy yourself before leaving!”

The Earl said, before returning to chatting with the Duchess and other faction members.

As for me, I was finally free. So, the first thing I did was stuffing myself.

I ate almost all kinds of food, and was about to go for seconds, but was interrupted, by none other than Kapheira.

According to that girl, I had to sit with the bunch of kids belonging to the faction, where I made small talk with them.

As much as pain in the ass that sounded, I complied.

Thankfully, the outspoken girl prevented the atmosphere from turning awkward, as she acted more and more like a bridge between the faction members than actually enjoying herself.

And thanks to her efforts, we actually had a great conversation, and got to know each other much better.

Soon, the guests having enjoyed themselves started leaving one by one, and just like that the curtains of the eventful banquet closed.