The first day of training, though short, had left me exhausted and sore. I could feel my muscles throbbing from every hit Teacher had landed on my body. It was infuriating that I hadn’t been able to land even a single blow in return. Back on earth, I had never gotten into fights, so perhaps this was normal against a more skilled opponent. But while we sparred, I understood something. The gap between him and I was not like the gap between Ophelia and myself. That was a river or a lake. Something wide and deep, but not impossible to cross. That man was orders of magnitude better than me. It wasn’t a gap that could be measured. Fighting him had been like fighting a mountain itself. I could have worn myself out all day and night, but the mountain wouldn’t have cared.
Part of that feeling was the sense of danger I got from him. It was a new sense developed after receiving the focus core and its abilities. A sixth sense that gave a vague idea of how powerful someone was compared to myself. The citizens I walked by barely registered. Ophelia felt like a sheathed knife, dangerous but not to me. Clarise had been an unsheathed knife with a serrated edge. Dangerous and willing to hurt me. Roquain and Eliza had been like staring at swords poised to strike me down. The danger from them was more pronounced, sharper. Which led me to believe that danger sense was there to give me an idea as to a person’s level. Assuming that everyone had such a thing made sense in a way. I couldn’t imagine it was something the PSD gave me, as that had never affected my perceptions directly, and I hadn’t gained an ability or skill to let me sense danger.
The old man had given off the feeling of a sleeping tiger. An alpha predator that could kill me as easily as I could a spider on the wall, and there would be nothing I could do to stop it. At the time, I hadn’t analyzed him with the PSD. I still wasn’t doing that on sight, which I really should. Why not get every bit of information I could? But if I had to guess? He was almost certainly level 3.
But what exactly did that mean? It obviously wasn’t MMO levels or anything close to that. I wasn’t gaining experience. So level had to have more significance than just a gentle increase in strength. It felt more like orders of magnitude almost. I was starting to think that if Roquain had been more than just a bandit, none of us would have made it out alive.
As I was putting my thoughts together, I heard the sound of footsteps. Two sets, one normal, the other heavy, almost angry. I swallowed, feeling a tinge of guilt come over me, and quickly finished the meal I had been mostly ignoring since David had given it to me.
“Niles?!” I heard the worried shout before I saw the person it belonged to.
“In here.” I called out, swallowing down my last bite and pushing the plate away.
Ophelia came practically running around the corner into the dining room. Her eyebrows were knitted together, and her eyes seemed just a bit shinier than normal. Her footsteps hit the ground heavily, nearly stomping as she charged at me.
“You damn idiot!” She yelled, and slapped me hard across the face. It was impressively fast, and caused a sharp sound of flesh on flesh to echo through the room. My head rocked to the side, and pain radiates down my face, into my head and neck.
“Ow, what the fuck?” I asked, rubbing my face. Not that I didn’t know, but…
“You went into the city, alone? Without telling anyone where you were going? Did you WANT them to grab you?” Her hand came up again, hovering in the air. I eyed it warily, but it didn’t come back down. Ophelia was… upset, to put it mildly.
“Of course not. I didn’t realize that Elise would be so… eager.” I let out a sigh and stood up, taking her wrist and bringing it back down to her side. Once again, I reminded myself that Ophelia, while not all that younger than me, was barely an adult by her own species consideration. It just didn’t help that I was an idiot as well. She was almost like a little sister, worried and unsure how to show it in my own opinion.
I gave her a gentle hug, and pulled away. “Why don’t you give me an idea as to what is really going on? I just don’t understand. I don’t get why she would have any interest at all towards me. I can’t be that special.”
“You aren’t, no…” She said, quickly regaining composure. That was one thing I really liked about Ophelia. She could change gears as quickly as I could. It probably wasn’t healthy to compartmentalize in that way, but it was damn useful.
She let out a bit of a sniff, then continued. “But also, you are quite important to our game now.”
It took me a long moment to get it. “Oh.” I sighed, and rubbed at my forehead with my left hand. “I’m a piece for her to capture. If she takes me away, she adds to hers and takes away from yours.”
Ophelia nodded. “It's not my family specifically. I don’t know what Elise’s goals are for the long term, but she wants more supporters among the seven main branches. My family is just currently the weakest, politically.”
“So, you lose this competition, your family is gone, and Elise can replace you with her own supporters. But since you don’t have to win, just not come in last, Elise wants to make your position as weak as possible.” That made a bit more sense. I hadn’t quite understood my own position before this. Now getting accosted in the street yesterday made more sense in the grand scheme of things.
Another question came to mind. “Why didn’t she just kill me?” Thinking long term, that made far more sense than some half-baked ploy to get me to change sides willingly.
At this point, Titus walked in, two plates of food in his hands. He set them down before himself and Ophelia, and the two sat down. I joined them, but just sipped the water I had.
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“It's not allowed.” Titus answered this time. I figure he had been waiting around the corner to give Ophelia a moment alone with me, but had been listening. Sneaky old man.
“Care to expand on that?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at him. I was… getting worse at this whole ‘butler’ thing, not better. That much was clear. Even if I hadn’t been inducted, I should probably be conducting myself with more decorum, but god damn it, I just didn’t have the patience for that anymore.
“Our house has a few old covenants that are obeyed by all. We may not kill any other member of the house, or those they have claimed, outside of the confines of the competition. We may not actively plot for the downfall of the house itself. And the head of the house makes all major decisions for the house itself, no exceptions.” Titus seemed quite grave, and his stare made me think that these would end up applying to me as well.
“Since Ophelia claimed you as her personal servant, Elise cannot kill you, or she will no longer be ‘of the house’. So, her options are to either convince you to leave of your own accord, or recruit you to her side.” He finished, and took a few bites of his food.
“Couldn’t she just have me assassinated, or poison my food and nobody would know?”
Ophelia answered this one. “All the covenants are enforced on the main house by magic. Even if nobody but her knew of the plot, the magic would still activate and strip her of her status as a member. We would all know.”
This…. Was starting to sound like some bullshit. Convenient. If that magic was just a story told to keep members of the house in line, it would be excellent cover. ‘Of course I didn’t kill your servant, if I had I would have been removed from the house’ or something to that effect. If someone could find a way around the magic, it would be like having a get out of jail free card.
“Assuming that's true, it does explain her invitation.”
“Invitation?” Ophelia and Titus asked in unison, both looking a bit pale at the word.
“Yes… Elise found me right at the gate, as I was about to come back in. She said…” Well, actually she hadn’t threatened me, had she? The threat had really just been implied, or perhaps I had imagined it because of the sense of danger from her? “She asked me to join her, told me she would give me anything I wanted. I refused, and she said that I needed to go out with her before I made my final decision. She wants me to join her for a day, the day after tomorrow.”
“And… you said yes?” Titus asked, staring at me like I was an idiot. “Why would you say yes? Are you stupid?”
I gave him a hard stare. “Ignorance and stupidity are not the same. I didn’t know your family's rules. She gave me the impression that if I said no, she would just kill me instead. So I said yes.”
Titus just rolled his eyes at me, then looked over at Ophelia. “He has to go.” He said.
She nodded, sighing. “I know. He isn’t mine yet, officially. Just a claim.”
“If he didn’t go, she would claim we’ve taken away the choices of someone outside the house.”
“I know dad. But…” She looked at me, lips pursed.
“Niles, You have to be careful when you go. Ophelia can’t kill you, but she will do just about anything to get you. And once you are hers, she can do whatever she wants. Her family has a far more totalitarian view on their servants than we do. She has already killed two of them.”
“How exactly is this woman the head of your family?” I asked, seriously curious at this point. I was starting to get a very conflicted view of Elise. Ophelia seemed to consider her a flat out monster. Titus hadn’t said much, but I got the feeling he considered her to be a capable politician. Those two things aligned fairly well, sure. But the impression I had gotten wasn’t monstrous. More just driven.
“She is quite capable as a fighter, for one. She is also politically minded, and made alliances each time before the competition, which isn’t unusual. Normally the top families will make deals with each other before the fighting starts.” Titus picked at his food as he spoke, and I nodded along.
“What about her servants, where does she get them, if she keeps killing them?” I asked, now just plain old curious.
“The city is large. Travelers tend to come through during the summer. Those of us in need of a new one will find an attendant among the travelers, and if the fit is right, bring them into the fold.” Titus was just a wellspring of information this afternoon. Wonderful.
“Then… let me ask you guys a few more questions. If I know a bit more, perhaps I won’t get caught so unawares next time.”
They both nodded, and we spent the rest of the evening in the dining room, discussing the politics and the rules of the house. It was a dizzying list, a lot of names, and plenty of history. I was sure to forget at least half of it, but I felt confident I wouldn’t make another mistake like…. Going out alone.
Fuck me, but I needed to get to a point where life wasn’t this stifling. I needed to get stronger, and fast, or this would just keep happening.
----------------------------------------
That night, after dinner, Ophelia and I headed to our rooms. She stopped me outside, and wrapped her arms around me, squeezing me tight. I couldn’t keep the smallest of smiles from my lips as the elven red-head let out a small sob. It felt nice to have this kind of relationship. A connection to someone, however it had come about.
“Ophelia, it's going to be okay, I promise.” I said, pulling away and settling my hands on her shoulders. “That old man is going to train me up, we are going to survive the competition, and then your family won’t be in danger anymore, okay?”
Ophelia nodded, looking up at me. “We were at the council building when the news of someone trying to kidnap a man in robes came in. But we couldn’t leave, and we didn’t have anyone to call on to help you. It was… frustrating, being so impotent.”
Now that I could understand. “I won’t be caught like that again. I’ve got my fill of excitement, so if I want to go out again, I’ll wait for you to be able to go with me, yeah?”
She nodded, and stepped back, pulling her mask back over her sad features until it was just normal, confident Ophelia. “Get stronger Niles. I won’t be able to take on Elise in that competition alone, and I don’t know if I’ll find someone I can trust again in such a short time…”
I nodded, and we both went to bed. That was… a lot of weight on me. I needed to push forward, grow. I found that I wanted to live up to her expectations, to help ease that burden on her shoulders just a little. I couldn’t even imagine how rough it must be, having your families entire fate on you in such a visceral manner. I hoped that old teacher was as good as he said he was, because I was going to need it.