By the time Rue got his guardian, nothing was easy. Although it was customary for the guardian to protect his highest and carry out his orders, in the first years of coexistence it clearly didn't look like that. It was the highest Infey who taught his guardian everything.
Middle class Infey already knew some basics from training, but only his highest chose the direction in which he would raise his guard. And since Rue was a prince, his particular one had to be flawless and exceptional in everything. However, it wasn't easy and a lot of effort was required to meet all expectations.
"Qie, why did you hide?" Rue bowed to the straw behind which his red-haired guard was sitting.
The blue irises of the ten-year-old boy's appearance looked at him, allowing Rue to see remorse in them: "I-I'm sorry...I'll go back...I'm sorry," he mumbled and stood up shakily.
"Don't apologize, Qie, answer the question...sit down." Rue sat next to him and lightly stroked his hair.
His highest's touch calmed him as always, so Qie admitted, "I was scared."
"What are you scared of?" Rue added patiently, stroking him lightly.
"He was running after me...he's big and makes loud noises...and when he got on two...I ran away...I'm sorry," he muttered.
"It's okay, Qie," Rue wasn't angry, "everyone gets scared sometimes, the important thing is that you get over it."
"Everyone? But you don't, right?" Qie didn't believe that Rue would ever be scared of anything.
"I don't," Rue laughed, "that's why I'm with you. And I always will be so you don't have to be scared. How about you come with me and we try again together?" he asked.
Qie stared at his highest for a moment before lightly nodding and standing up with Rue.
"Sir?" he began.
"Yes?" Rue led him to the stables.
"Why are you so nice to me, even though I'm incapable? I saw the highest Crey whip his guard the other day when he couldn't run." he didn't know why Rue wouldn't punish him.
"You aren't incapable, none of you comes trained to the palace. Patience and love are needed to raise a good guardian of you, not yelling and whipping. Crey is from an older generation and we see things differently, it's common to see things differently, but I'm not going to punish you for anything. As I say, patience and love make a good guardian." he explained.
"Love?" Qie didn't understand.
"Bond, affection...something that has been building for a long time, and a true highest should be able to awaken them in his guardian. I believe we will get along too when you grow up a bit, Qie." he clarified.
Qie thought for a moment before adding, "I love you even now, sir, when you gave me your Luck, you became everything for me," he said, "Thank you for choosing me, I will try my best," he promised.
"Good attitude, exactly, try...especially with today's lessons, since I'm going to see people soon, you'll need to know how to ride," he led him to the horse he'd gotten away from before.
Qie nodded and really tried to get close to the horse. However, it wasn't long before the horse sensed fear and neighed loudly again, forcing Qie to fall to the ground and violently grab Rue's legs.
"It's nothing," Rue patted the horse and looked at Qie on the ground, "get up and try again, just stroke him lightly, the horse is a living being, every living being is connected with Luck, the basis is to understand and approach it with them." he clarified.
Qie stood up shakily. He closed his eyes and hesitated for a moment before touching the horse and waiting. However, nothing happened and the horse didn't react, giving Qie the courage to continue.
It took a while for Qie to be able to pet a horse without really panicking, and even longer for Rue to teach him how to mount a horse. For long months and long years, he taught him how to live with his fear and how to learn to ride.
Their first real ride was with Rue assisting. He sat behind Qie, holding the reins together with him and trotting lightly.
"Hold them tight, you control the horse, not the horse you, calm down and watch where you're going... the horse won't know what you want if you don't know it yourself... if you want him to stop, pull, if you want him to he sped up, bend down and push him into a gallop...don't be afraid, the horse won't trust you if you're afraid of him." he clarified.
Qie's palms trembled slightly as he realized that he was sitting on a large horse and was trying to fulfill his highest's orders. However, it took some time to really get the hang of it and the first ride ended in a crash. The rough fall, which wasn't too painful due to Rue catching him, was just one of many he went through.
And not everyone turned out well.
However, Qie was quite a talented guard outside of riding. In combat, he was one of the first-class, in getting things done and in dedication as well...only riding remained a problem skill for a long time.
When Qie turned fifteen and was finally able to go to the human world with Rue, he galloped for the first time on real land unknown to horses. Even though he had changed over the years, even though his relationship with Rue had greatly improved over that time, this situation was still a comical comparison to their beginnings. It didn't matter if he was fifteen, twenty or older.
While one of the horses trotted contentedly across the meadow towards the nearby village, the other trailed more slowly behind him.
"Qie! Speed up! Or do you want to walk instead?" Rue laughed lightly.
"If you allow me, sir, yes, I'd rather run after you." Qie summed up his impressions.
Knowing he was joking, Rue laughed softly and forced the horse to slow down. He got next to Qie and looked at him contentedly. The red-haired Infey mesmerized the horse in front of him with his blue eyes, though he knew he was supposed to be watching the landscape. He acted as if he had never ridden it, although he knew the horse well and they had galloped together for a long time. However, they always rode in a familiar terrain that they were both used to, and the unexpected change was a problem for Qie.
"The horse got used to the terrain as soon as we came out here, Qie. But if you worry unnecessarily, you won't let him gallop like always." Rue clarified.
"When I stop restraining him, he will gallop but you won't see me again. Do you want a new guard? I hope you don't want to raise another one," he laughed.
"Who knows," he joked, "if we're late today and the king finds out it's because of you, maybe I'll be strict and take away your supply of luck for a month."
"It's your Luck, I'm grateful that you at least share it with me. You can take it back any time, but sir," Qie began, "don't you think I'm lacking it today? Otherwise, the horse would have behaved normally." he stated.
"Ah," Rue sighed deeply and let go of the reins, slowing the horse down and simply standing on its back. Before Qie realised what was happening, he just jumped on the horse behind Qie and sat down abruptly, hugging his guardian from behind as if he was having a good time.
"W-what are you doing?" he didn't understand, "How did you do that... and what about your horse?"
"Shh...watch, sense, and get used to the ride so the others won't see you galloping with the escort," Rue stated, swinging the reins roughly in his hands, spurring the horse into a gallop.
Qie let out a loud shriek as the horse started running and violently grabbed his neck while Rue laughed loudly enjoying the ride as always. While Qie screamed and panicked, Rue excitedly galloped on.
"Qie...don't lie, watch, or I'll jump down and leave you with the horse." He laughed.
"D-don't joke!" Qie shouted, but not wanting to disappoint Rue, he let out a light sigh and stared ahead with pursed lips.
"Isn't it beautiful?" Rue asked, "Better than home, isn't it? Endless meadows, long roads, animals and flowers everywhere. It's like the taste of freedom, isn't it?" he was having fun, and when the horse jumped more violently, he grabbed Qie's waist to keep him from falling, as he knew he would.
One time he was holding the reins, the other his guard, who didn't look amused at all and was talking about how free galloping was. When they finally stopped, Qie just dismounted and collapsed into the nearby grass, exhausted.
"Fun, isn't it?" Rue leaned over him and touched him lightly.
Guardians of the highest Infey were one of the few people who could enjoy the touch of Infeys of Rue's rank. Because each guardian was for their highest exceptional...for some more, for some less, but still worthy of their touches. At least usually.
Qie watched him from the ground for a while, staring into his golden eyes, letting Rue stroke his hair, and after a while he nodded, "Everything is fun with you. But I'd prefer a carriage myself," he stated.
"If you ride to the village alone, I'll have the carriage ready on the way back," he promised and rolled down to him in the grass where he happily lay down.
"Aren't we in a hurry, sir?" Qie asked.
"There's nothing in the world that won't wait when you feel like stopping for a while,"Rue laid down in the grass and breathed out how happy he was, "and right now I want to stop here and be with you...however long you want."
Qie looked like he didn't understand, but he actually knew that Rue could clearly feel his nervousness from the former gallop. That's why he just smiled lightly and added:
"You know I'll follow you everywhere, right? You don't have to stop for me."
"Will you?" laughed Rue, "Even on a horse?" He asked.
"Even if I had to stay on it forever. If it was the only way, if you wished, I would follow you everywhere, even on the horse," he said.
Since Qie's words were truly significant, Rue smiled contentedly and lightly tugged on his red hair, "You're a hundred years away from being able to truly follow me somewhere if necessary, Qie," he stated.
"That's why you don't have to just yet. For now just keep up and I'll slow down. And in a hundred years, when you're experienced enough, let me keep up with you, okay?" he smiled lightly, "But Qie, you'll never have to worry about someone replacing you, cutting you off from luck and ruining your life. I'll never do that... so now just perfect the little things like driving on a horse to make me proud, okay?"
Qie watched him for a while before nodding, "I won't let you down, sir," he promised.
And Rue just smiled lightly and gently touched his red hair again, "I know you won't, that's why Luck gave you to me, Qie," he whispered softly, "my guardian you are the only one to I truly believe in, so remember those words and keep them. Because I will remember them and if you break the promise, I will be really angry, Qie. So don't forget, okay?" he laughed lightly.
And Qie automatically nodded.
It was just a shame that Rue wasn't the one who remembered their words after all. While the other would never forget them. Just as he promised.
***
All trips to Alycante from the capital were quite short. If a person didn't go on foot, he was able to reach his destination within a day or two. The stop that travelers usually chose to spend the night was only less than half the time from the capital via toll roads and represented a larger village that Nielle, by coincidence, had under control.
However, it only took about three hours to get there on paid carriage roads, instead of the six that Nielle used to gallop to avoid being registered as a passing nobleman by the local patrol. Only selected groups were able to use toll roads, and the royal family was one of them.
Anyway, they arrived at the village a little in the afternoon when the sun was high in the sky. Nielle knew there was no point in telling them to stop in it, so just before he knew he would be nearby, he approached Louis, who had been chatting with Brelle the whole way.
"I'm pretty exhausted," Nielle lied, "Do you think we'll be on the road much longer?"
"Don't worry, we'll arrive at a nearby village soon, I wanted to suggest to father that we take a break there. If you want, I'll try to convince him to stay longer."
"No need," Nielle didn't want anything long in the village and intended to arrive in Alycante as soon as possible, "a stop somewhere for tea will do." he clarified.
"You really love tea, don't you," laughed Brelle.
Nielle nodded, "Who wouldn't love it."
As soon as Louis signaled to the coachman to give the coach in front of them a message that he would like to have tea in a nearby village, the coaches soon stopped. Although Nielle's wish would have driven the king to travel all day rather, Louis's wish was always granted.
"We'll take a break, have fun in the village, I'm not going," the king clarified, remaining seated in the carriage while Louis nodded satisfied.
"Don't you have a military camp somewhere nearby?" Brelle asked looking at Nielle.
"I haven't been in it for a long time, but I have. Since it's one of those that have no real meaning and the king gave it to me so I wouldn't bother him, I don't use it for activities. There're no bandits or trouble in these parts. The only thing that annoys people are animals like wolves but they created a system for that as well. That's why the soldiers in the local camp didn't receive orders for a long time," he lied.
"At least you have some camps," Brelle laughed and added, "father didn't give me any." he didn't sound displeased.
"If you were interested in the running of the country, I would give you some camp, if you want, I'll try to convince father to get you some," Louis clarified.
"No, no need. I have no interest or time. I think the two of you are enough for leading military camps." Brelle didn't want to and kept up with his brothers.
Nielle listened to them in silence, disinterestedly, wondering what the king would do if Brelle began to show interest in the running of the country and perhaps the throne. He guessed that he would be in as much trouble as he was, if not more intense, since he didn't have the network of countermeasures to the king's bad moods and contrivances that Nielle had in place.
However, there was no danger, as Brelle had never really shown any interest in anything other than Elyan's employment. Nielle sometimes saw Brelle as a true lucky man.
They walked through quite a long part of the forest to the village. People immediately noticed their white hair, retreated to the back, and watched from afar what was going to happen, as if they had never seen the royal family. Nielle was satisfied. Brelle approached one of the groups and asked for directions to the tea house, although Nielle knew it well.
However, he walked through the village as if he had never been there, as his two brothers noted with satisfaction how unusually clean it was. A short distance behind them walked two Lacrisans, whom they had taken as an escort. Iuwine had no idea what this village was and couldn't care less while Shane had a good guess where they were going. He was quite surprised that Nielle had no doubt at all that he would keep quiet about their recent trip here.
But it was true that Shane didn't want to say anything. It would bring nothing and he knew that no one would believe him. If he started that he and Nielle were here and Nielle didn't agree, the whole village would stand by him and every soldier would as well, he'd be a fool. And if someone believed his words, it wouldn't contribute to his plans.
They walked for a while before they stopped at a tea house and went inside.
"Hello," Louis stopped at the counter while Brelle excitedly made his way to the shelves of healing teas, "We would just like to sit down for tea, is that possible at your place?"
"Your Highness," the guy blinked in surprise, "of course, without a doubt," he was confused, "what brings you here?" he immediately lowered his gaze as if he hadn't expected the presence of the princes.
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Nielle was again satisfied with his output. The guy led them to the side of the building, which led out to a terrace with tables and a few guests. The man made the princes feel as if he owned the tea shop and no one would have guessed that the real owner of the tea shop had ended up in Ylre's hands a few days ago.
Nielle, Brelle and Louis sat down at a more private table, ordered tea and started chatting. Iuwine and Shane sat down at the next table and remained silent.
"We weren't somewhere just like this together for a long time," Louis recalled.
"We used to go often," Brelle nodded, "every time the king wasn't looking, we ran out of the palace."
"Good times," Louis laughed, "we should do it again sometime."
"I agree, right Nielle?" Brelle asked.
"As if you had time for some walks," he took a cup of tea.
"I always find time for my brothers," Louis clarified.
"Louis, I'd appreciate it if you'd better take the throne soon, as soon as I'm not busy with my father's bullshit and trying to stay alive, I'll have time to hang out with you. What do you say? Do you approve of my assassination plan? If you even help with it, it would be even better." Nielle laughed, knowing that this would make Louis angry.
Louis actually fell silent, locking his lips in displeasure and apparently holding back the nasty words.
"Nielle, that was really inappropriate," Brelle scolded him, but Louis stopped him.
"Don't worry Brella, Nielle still resents our father for whipping him. Nielle, calm down and stop talking like that, won't you?" Louis gave Nielle a rather stern look, showing that he shouldn't mention things like assassination in front of him if he doesn't want to cause conflicts.
However, Nielle wanted exactly that and laughed lightly, "Of course," he stood up, "I have to go the bathroom." he declared and walked away.
To the rest of the princes it sounded like he was getting upset and wanted to calm down, while Nielle actually wanted to have a moment of privacy with the current owner of the teahouse.
Since the soldiers in Alycante had sent word of the Infey's arrival in the city directly to him, the rest of the information about their journey went here. Nielle didn't know when he would leave the capital and when he would arrive here, so it wasn't appropriate for the information to go somewhere where he wasn't. And so he wanted to stop in the village and find out what else had happened in his absence.
"The patrols saw them near one of the caves, they followed them but they didn't come out all day, they didn't come out until the next day at night. They reached Alycante during the day. The location they are staying at came today, they wear straw hats and it seems like they don't want to show off much, no further information yet. The patrol is currently at their inn waiting for you to arrive," explained the guy.
Nielle didn't know how long the Infeys would be at that inn and didn't want to risk that news of their move wouldn't reach him, so he planned to get to Alycante tonight, which wasn't unrealistic. The journey from the village to Alycante usually took about eight hours on toll roads.
Anyway, Nielle intended to be in Alycante tonight to watch the Infeys more closely.
Once Nielle reached his brothers, Louis started, "Have you calmed down, Nielle?"
"I'm always calm," he said, "but I let pack some tea for you to calm down and think logically." Nielle stated.
Louis sighed deeply and said, "Nielle, don't act like a child. Father is strict, but he doesn't want to harm you, if you behave more responsibly, he will definitely see your effort," he clarified.
Nielle would once try to make it clear to his brother that the king sees him as an obstacle, that the only one he sees as his son is him, but since it didn't matter, he didn't deal with it.
"Exactly, and I'll start by not sitting down for tea and continue on my way." he stood up and walked out of the teahouse.
"Nielle, that's not what I meant," Louis stood up.
"Leave him for a while, let's go to the carriage and when he's calmer, you can talk," Brelle intervened.
Louis sighed deeply and followed Nielle. They walked out of the tea house where a owner actually gave Louis some tea for logical thinking, causing him to be momentarily displeased and move the tea into Iuwine's hands, who willingly took it.
While Nielle dealt with his brothers and thought about the best way to contact the Infeys in Alycante, the remaining princes thought about how not to argue with Nielle. Iuwine could only see Louis and Shane was planning his own moves.
Nielle was incredibly cranky. Not that he was abusing him and treating him like an animal, but his whole demeanor sounded like it wasn't even weird. Shane didn't know how one person could ever make him so angry, but the fact that he kept subjecting him to disgusting treatment and then kicking him away without even appreciating that he was getting his precious Luck really pissed him off.
He wanted to kick Nielle to his knees and make him feel at least some of what he deserved. However, he didn't know how, and he didn't see the things Iuwine was saying as useful yet. The fact that Nielle was scared of dogs, Lacrisans, torture, being alone outside during the night and the other things wasn't really usefull.
Although there were dogs in the village, although there were countless wolves in the forest, he had no way of getting them to attack Nielle. As for nights out, Nielle wasn't dependent on him for a place to sleep, and the fear of the Lacrisans really wasn't credible.
Shane stared at Nielle in front of them, wondering how to somehow put him at a disadvantage. He wanted to find at least something to avoid the constant situations of humiliation and disgust, and the fact that he had nothing against Nielle was frustrating. However, no matter how hard he thought, he came up with nothing.
He wasn't a Lacrisan for nothing, though, and moments before they were about to walk out of the village into the forest, he smelled a foul smell. A little way ahead of them stood a butcher's shop, from which several guys were carrying out barrels full of leftovers and water.
The smell mingled with the fresh smell of the store and Shane laughed inwardly as Luck itself brought opportunity to his fingers. The mixture of water and scraps that was carried to the domestic animals in the living quarters and out into the forest to keep the dangerous animals fed wasn't light, and the guys with the barrels carried it unsteadily in their direction.
Shane, walking behind the princes together with Iuwin, moved lightly and the moment the guys walked next to them, he deliberately tripped and slammed into them.
"Aaaaaaaah!" screamed one of the guys who couldn't see where he was going, let alone had a chance to avoid Shane. A guy rammed into another, another into a third and they all poured barrels of rotting meat onto the princes.
Iuwin reacted in an instant, pulling Louis closer to him, shielding him from the most disgusting part of the putrid mixture. Louis ended up with a dirty bottom of his robe and although he smelled disgusting, at least he was clean on top. However, Nielle was at a loss for words.
All his clothes were permeated with a isgusting smell. Nielle stopped in shock, staring blankly at his wet body, unable to believe that he was truly unlucky today. He remained silent for a while before looking at the guys next to him.
A disbelieving laugh came out of Nielle as the guys dropped to their knees and started apologizing as if it was for their lives. And it was since Nielle wasn't a forgiving prince.
"Y-Your Highness..."
"We deeply apologize..."
"I don't know how it happened..."
"Nielle," Louis reached him, "it was an accident, leave them, there's a lot of clothes in the carriage." he tried.
"Louis, shut up," said Nielle and glared at the brothers, "how is it possible that I was the one who ended up like this again? What about you?"
"Thanks as always to Iuwin," Louis clarified, "If you were nicer to your Lacrisan, he would have helped you too."
Nielle laughed angrily, "I guess he caused it all." He glanced at Shane, who was acting like nothing happened.
"Nielle, don't blame everything on your Lacrisan, it was an accident." Brelle came out from behind Louis.
"Brelle, you don't even have a Lacrisan, how come you're almost clean?" Nielle didn't understand.
"I was the furthest, nothing more," admitted Brelle.
"Get up, nothing will happen to you," Louise said to the guys, "it was an accident."
The guys waited as if they didn't even hear Louis as they were used to taking orders from Nielle. And although he was quite irritated, he finally just snorted in displeasure and walked away.
"Unreal," Nielle grumbled.
"Shouldn't we go to one of the bathhouses?" Brelle asked, since even though he caught it the least, he still stunk.
"Brelle, I understand that you're not going anywhere, but the bathhouses don't work during the day and I don't want to wait until dinner," Nielle clarified and went on.
"There is a river nearby, it will be best to go to father to get some clothes and wash in it, we can't travel like this, we will attract animals to the carriages," said Louis.
Nielle didn't answer. He stared at Shane for a moment, who was quite amused by the results. However, he didn't stare at him for long and after a while he went out of the village. The carriage was still some way off, as the king didn't want the villagers to notice them. So they walked and Nielle got the chance to declare.
"I'll be really happy if we even make it to the carriage without a problem," Nielle said.
"Why?" Brelle didn't understand.
"There is a problem with wild animals in this part, the bandits have no way to ambush here, as the animals are dangerous. Military patrols also usually fight wolves. Each of the villagers contributes enough food scraps that they throw out so that the animals have no reason to come near them. So it's really great that we smell like walking presents," he explained.
"An illogical way, why not create better fences, patrols or something to protect themselves from animals? It's not appropriate to feed them." Brelle didn't understand.
"Not all parts of the country can survive on the funds they have, let alone build walls around their villages. It take long to wait until we approve the requests and make a contribution, so it's easier to keep the animals fed. Since the local meat industry is not poor, leftovers will do," added Louis.
Nielle ignored them and continued walking for a while before he stopped abruptly and backed away. He quietly moved behind the brothers and said.
"Since you have a lot of energy, you can play with them," he nodded in front of them.
The princes didn't understand for a while, but when several wolves started to come out of the forest, they drew their swords in a second. Nielle didn't take out his, he just put his hand to it and waited.
With Louis in clear danger, Iuwine stepped in front of him and motioned for him to back off. Louis knew that some wolves weren't a threat to Iuwin, so he actually did as he said. He pulled Brelle to him, who was the only one of the trio with low fighting skills.
"Nielle, wouldn't you like to join in?" Brelle asked nervously.
"No need, have fun," Nielle said.
Shane wasn't going to make any effort, so he quietly moved to the nearby trees and watched the situation. Nielle looked at him and laughed dangerously, as if he knew he'd caused it all on purpose, but he didn't speak.
Shane expected Nielle to be afraid since there was a pack of wolves in front of him, but he seemed quite unimpressed. He stood idly between Louis and Iuwin without fighting.
Shane watched as Iuwin scared off several wolves with a few secs and tried to get to the carriage with the princes, not too far away from them. Shane walked beside them, though not close, assessing the prince's behavior. However, as soon as one of the wolves jumped towards Brelle, Louis pulled him closer and simply slashed the wolf. The hit didn't kill it, but forced it to run away.
Although Brelle held his own sword, he didn't use it, which was also true for Nielle. Nielle had a pretty good strategic position where he wasn't in contact with the wolves and whenever one came close Louis or Iuwine would deal with it.
During the entire fight, Nielle had no reason to draw his sword, so they reached the carriage as a whole. Once they were close enough for the accompanying soldiers to see them, none of the princes had to fight anymore. Within moments, the wolves were driven into the forest.
"Louis!" came out the king who didn't understand what happened, "Oh, what's that smell?!"
Louis explained the situation and waited for the king to finish his stressing.
"I'm so glad you're not hurt. If something happened to you, I wouldn't have survived." He touched him lightly, although he was visibly disgusted by the smell.
Nielle and Brelle aside weren't bothered by how the king apparently doesn't realize that if something happened to Louis, he would still have two sons. They waited while the soldiers took their clothes out of the carriage and escorted them to a nearby water to wash off the smell. While all the princes walked away with the escort, Iuwin and Shane remained by the carriage to be scold.
"Iuwin! How could you let Louis be in danger!!" The king shouted.
"I'm deeply sorry, I didn't act in time," he didn't sound stressed.
"What if something happens to Louis?" The king slammed into the carriage.
"I'll be more careful in the future, sir," he promised.
Shane took a moment to absorb why the king was berating the innocent Iuwin for something before he left them. Iuwine and Shane entered their carriage.
"Why did you needlessly create problems?" Iuwine didn't understand as he had noticed Shane's earlier trick.
"You said that Nielle was afraid of dogs. Since he said there were loads of them, I wanted to know how he felt about wolves," he summed up.
"You fool. Prince Nielle isn't a child, he won't cry for a few wolves, you just caused trouble for Prince Louis and for me," Iuwine added.
"I saw. A person has no real reason to be afraid if he knows how to defend himself or is with people who know how to get him out of the situation," Shane summed up Nielle's performance today.
"Prince Nielle knows very well how to use both his sword and the people around him. You've made incredibly unnecessary trouble for everyone except him. If you're planning anything else, stop. I didn't say any of those things to make you try them on prince Nielle but to find out something human about him, to get closer like Prince Louis wants." he clarified.
"Of course, he seems to be able to understand if you talk to him." Shane didn't deal with getting along anymore. He tried several times, several times Nielle didn't listen to him and used him as a thing, so he didn't see the point in his persuasion and had other plans.
"If he isn't afraid of group of dogs, how would he react if he was alone?" an interesting question ran through his main thoughts, and instead of paying attention to Iuwin's words, he thought about how he could make Nielle's journey in Alycante uncomfortable.
And since watching Nielle at a disadvantage today was the first really fun time he'd had in this hideous land, he didn't plan to stop. As Nielle was pisssing him off, he intended to pissed him off even more all the way.
***
Since he didn't believe that Luck was completely mad at him, Rue assumed that he would at least get some sleep. He guessed that it would explain the situation to him or at least give him some indication of what to do. But it didn't happen, and Rue didn't understand why it wasn't addressing him at all.
The actual dream from tonight wasn't something he could do to solve the situation. Although it was a nice dream, although he was very fond of reminiscing about the good old days and it aroused in him pleasant emotions combined with nostalgic bitterness, as he knew they would never return, it was not usable.
Qie, whose appearance he couldn't even fully recall and all he knew and was left with was the favor he felt for him whenever he remembered their dim moments, was no longer within his reach.
And although he would normally sit in his cell all day trying to get back into that dream, today he couldn't. He had other things to think about.
He wanted some explanation, he wanted to know why now, after two hundred years of no signs of anger, Luck wanted to punish him and expel him. But he didn't get anything, so he just sat down on the bed and thought.
Ylre noticed his lack of interest in the day and therefore brought sweet pastries from the inn. He put it next to Rue and began.
"I was down and asked what all the festivities were about. It's nothing complicated, I'll get you all the prizes," he clarified.
Not wanting to sound ungrateful, Rue sat for a moment before taking the food and declaring, "You're really nice, you don't even know why I want them."
"It doesn't matter why, I saw how you were
yesterday. I want you to be happy, if it makes you smile, I'll get them all" he promised.
Since Ylre's words sounded sincere and nice, Rue smiled softly and nodded, "Thank you," he truly appreciated, "and how do the games work?" he wanted to know.
"You must register before participating. Every day you register for the next day, you can't play all of them at once, as these are dangerous games and not everyone can complete them all in a suitable condition. I heard that Luck would say whether a person could participate or not. That's it, if you don't have luck, you don't even register and sometimes you don't even have the opportunity to watch," he explained.
"Ugly system. I don't know why Luck wouldn't want someone to watch people play games. Nonsense, right?" he didn't understand.
"Yes," Ylre agreed, ,,anyway, the participation is anonymous, we get masks and numbers. Not names, which I guess is fine," he knew.
"I've got quite a few enemies in town," Rue nodded, adding, "and I don't know if Luck will even let me participate."
"You don't have to, I'll get them for you," he clarified.
"At least I'll try. I don't want everyone to make an effort to get something I want without making any effort myself," he added.
"I see," Ylre nodded, "we can try."
Since they couldn't stay in their room all day, Rue followed him down to the inn and out. The city was alive as always, a bunch of people were doing their normal activities and another bunch was enticing others to sign up for competitions. There was no way that someone wouldn't find the check-in stations as there was a really large group of people shouting in their direction. A few women pushed address papers into their hands along the way, a few vendors even gave them a nice selection of colorful competition masks to buy.
Ylre was convinced that he could participate on his own. He first planned to pay some of the right people to compete for him and then gave Rue the prizes, since not everyone in Alycante wanted Luck, but some wanted real profits. Especially in this part of the year, there seemed to be enough people who offered to win prizes for someone and came here purely for this purpose.
However, since the competitions were masked, he was able to win without admitting his identity to the Infeys who wanted to capture him. As he knew they wanted to at the moment.
It didn't take long at all to reach the center of Alycante, which was a large square filled with countless people. They waited and chatted in long lines without even thinking that the person next to them was their future opponent, with whom they would soon compete in some game.
Ylre watched them move for a moment before stopping behind them.
"We'll wait," he said.
Since everyone currently had one of the masks to make the registration truly anonymous, Ylre gave himself a red piece and Rue a gold piece.
Ylre didn't know why there really was a masked tournament, but he assumed it was specifically because of them. None of the Infey would have guessed that they would go to the competition in person if their identity was clear to everyone. However, from what he heard, that was always the case. Anyway, Ylre knew he was heading into a clear trap.
By the time they reached the counter, an hour had passed and it was really hot outside. As soon as they passed into the shadows, the young man at the check-in booth laid out dice and papers in front of them.
"Hello, if you want to be entered into the first game, roll the dice, the winner may enter the game," he summarized.
"Only one?" Ylre didn't understand.
"Yes, your Luck will determine who will join and who won't, registration is done in pairs. It is strictly forbidden to tell today's rules to people who have not yet registered after leaving. Thanks for your cooperation. Feel free to throw," he added.
"Bullshit." Ylre snapped.
"Every year the entry is made depending on Luck so roll the dice or try your luck in the second game," the guy stated.
"And if I don't want to be in the game against him, can I compete with someone else?" Rue wanted to know.
"No, you compete with whoever you reach the counter with, one throw," he added.
"Everyone came here with someone," Ylre was angry.
"Never mind," Rue laughed and took the cube, "at least I get to play with someone I want." he added.
Ylre watched him for a moment before taking the dice and stating, "You wanted to go to the first game too. I don't want you to be disappointed."
"I'm not. We have no influence on the laws of the game. Let's play, we'll come up with something in the second game," he added.
As soon as they were ready to throw, the guy started them off so they wouldn't go separately. The dice landed on the table, rolled several times. Ylre's six easily beat Rue's one. Ylre obtained a crystal that he activated with his own blood so that he could use it when entering the game only by himself and a number, for spectator bets.
"If you want to know what kind of games they might be, you can buy them in the stalls further on, good luck," said the guy.
Ylre didn't hesitate and walked towards the stalls with Rue.
"Aren't you sad?" Ylre tried.
"I'm not. I don't know why, but I have the impression that I can trust you," he didn't hesitate.
"You can, always," Ylre promised.
"But it won't hurt to find out what kind of game it should be," Rue clarified, stopping with Ylre at a booth.
"We heard you can let us know what games we can expect, how much you charge?" Ylre wanted to know.
"Diamond, boy or white Luck level." the guy didn't expect the young man to have anything to pay with.
He was quite surprised as soon as Ylre pulled out the diamond. He wasn't going to use his kind of luck in case the Infey patrols were able to recognize him. Which they clearly planned and Ylre knew.
"Say what the game will be," he ordered.
The guy took the diamond and laughed lightly. He beckoned Ylre to come closer and whispered a few words.
Ylre blinked in confusion, "What?" he didn't understand, "Isn't there usually a fighting or hunting type of game in these festivities?"
"It happens. But not exceptionally,especially don't shout," the guy silenced him.
Ylre fell silent, shook his head and walked away. He silently wondered if this was really his first bad luck in a long time.
"Ylre, what was he saying?" Rue didn't know, he just noticed that he was unusually uneas which he wasn't used to.
Ylre kept his voice indifferent, as if he had no hesitation that he would win and fulfill his words as promised, "Something with horses, but I don't know."
And even though nothing about the riding discipline should be scary, even though none of the normal races and riding games should be difficult, and Rue didn't want to hesitate to let Ylre get his valuables, he was suddenly filled with a strange feeling, familiar and uncomfortable.
The feeling of knowing that riding with Ylre wasn't a good combination flooded him with something he hadn't experienced in a long time. And although he couldn't explain his emotions in any way, Rue felt that his gut wasn't lying. He he didn't know why, but he was sure that a worse discipline couldn't have been chosen.
And he wasn't wrong about that.
And Ylre knew it.