Chapter twenty five

     Fael's father was a blacksmith.

     Normally this wouldn't mean much but the Ameera's culture is steeped in violence and blood. Their love for weapons borders on the fanatical and in such a culture a blacksmith is revered as a god.

     Fael's father was the greatest blacksmith of weapons and armor that the Ameera had ever seen. He was a living legend among the Ameera and his position was akin to that of a king.

     If Fael's father agreed to be reasonable about the whole thing then there wouldn't be a problem but Fael was his little princess, he loves her more than anything else in the universe. What were the chances that he would be reasonable about her suddenly having to submit to me, a complete stranger?

     To make things worse, he was one of the people that I would have to convince in order to stop them from hunting the giant squids. Without his help, my plan to stop the hunt would be dead in the water and if that happened, Morgana would probably wipe out every last Ameera.

     I was wondering how I was going to dig myself out of the whole that that I just fell into when Jules poked my back,

     "Hey John, what is happening? Why is that little girl kneeling in front of you?"

     Since my conversation with the Ameera had been happening in their language, neither Jules nor Morgana knew what was happening.

     "Err...about that, it seems that something unexpected happened. I had to fight one of them to prove my worth but I seemed to have accidentally stumbled into some sort of courtship ritual."

     "Courtship ritual?"

     "Yeah, I sort of have to take this girl as my mate."

     "WHAT?"

     "I have to take her as my bride or I'll become their enemy."

     "Why don't you tell them that it is all a mistake?"

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     "It doesn't work like that. Apparently the only way I can dissolve this without completely insulting her honor is by losing a challenge and that would mean my death."

     Jules sighed and looked at me critically, "You know, if I didn't know you and how this kinds of things happen to you all the time then I would think that you did this on purpose. Look John, I love you and I supported you when you went after all those other girls but that was because I knew that you had deep feelings for each and everyone of them. This doesn't mean that I want you to go around picking up random women everywhere you go. Do you truly care about this girl?"

     "No. I don't even know her."

     "Then I suggest that you find a way out of this."

     After that Jules calmed down substantially even though she still seemed a little sullen but surprisingly enough, Jules wasn't the only one upset about what happened. Morgana was pissed as well.

     "Why are you so angry Morgana?"

     She gave me what could only be described as a poisonous stink eye, "You stopped me from getting revenge for my son and that was before you had any incentives to do so. Now that you are getting this young girl as your consort, how can you stop yourself from being biased? How can you fairly decide proper judgment on her people?"

     I looked at the girl kneeling in front of me while glaring at me as if she wanted to cause my head to explode by her stare alone and I only had one thought.

     This girl was nothing but trouble.

A.n. a lot of people are complaining about how short and infrequent the chapters are but I would like to point out that I'm working on 9 different projects now. I have written 11 chapters in the last two days so please bear with me.