"That's correct." I bowed politely as Shawn Franklin stared at me haughtily, scorn dripping off his eyes. I cocked my head as I studied him back, and tried not to smirk. "…so, you are Shawn Franklin, huh?"
Franklin's expression darkened when he realized I was making fun of him by mimicking him. However, he couldn't just blow up in front of Stuart, so he held his rage in. Instead, he decided to look for another way to undermine me.
"You don't look like much," he commented. "I was expecting someone…more impressive."
I shrugged. "Sorry to disappoint you. But you are correct. I'm not anyone impressive. I'm just a regular guy you can find anywhere."
"…huh?" Franklin stared at me, caught off guard by my humility. If he was trying to provoke a furious response out of me, he had certainly failed.
"Richard is a very modest person," Stuart explained to him, thoroughly amused.
"As he should be," Franklin replied, trying to recover from his shock. He stared at me, his eyes full of disdain. "You're not from any clan, are you?"
"No."
"There you go." Franklin shrugged flippantly. "Without a proper bloodline, or powerful family to back you up, there are limits to how high you can go. The blood of elite mages must be kept pure. Only a noble mage can marry another noble mage. It's admirable that you know your place."
"…noble?" I repeated incredulously. What was he, someone from the medieval period? I was pretty sure the whole noble thing died out long ago.
"Shawn is referring to the great families," Stuart explained helpfully. "The rich and the powerful. The upper class." he shook his head. "Many among the great families think that the purity of a mage's bloodline is of utmost importance, but unfortunately, I don't subscribe to that school of thought."
Franklin looked a little chastened. "I didn't mean anything by it, Lord Stuart."
"No, I'm sure you didn't." Stuart didn't sound offended at all. In fact, he was amused by the whole conversation. "You don't have to worry. Richard is not your rival. He is already engaged to Miss Alicia here."
Franklin tilted his head in puzzlement as he turned toward Alicia, evidently not recognizing her. She bowed her head politely, nonetheless.
"I am Alicia Violet."
"Ah…the young lady of the Violet family." Franklin's lip curled into a sneer. "One of the smaller clans." He then smirked at me. "You do indeed know your place. Marrying into a smaller clan suits you far more than trying to break into the top nobility."
"Uh huh." I wasn't even going to try and argue with him. In fact, I was relieved he wasn't scolding me for not kneeling before his superior status. Not that he could, right in front of Stuart and all that.
"My family doesn't factor into this," Alicia said gently, the dangerous sweet smile still on her face. However, it was lost on Franklin, who paid her no heed. "I like Richard, and regardless of his background, I will still choose to be with him."
"How admirable. However, you'll regret marrying someone from the lower class one day."
"Who cares about class?" I grumbled. "What does class have to do with anything?"
"Purity of bloodline," Franklin replied arrogantly. "Only the best mages will produce the most talented children. By diluting the mage bloodline, we'll only breed inferior magicians incapable of surpassing their predecessors…"
"Richard has already proven himself to be a superior mage to me in a number of occasions. Not only has he bested me in combat, he has saved me from several high-ranking monsters." Alicia's smile was growing more dangerous.
"Exactly," Stuart agreed. "I do not believe that the quality of a mage has anything to do with one's bloodline. In fact, prior to you, Richard was the first young man of your generation to defeat Cecilia."
"…right. I've heard about that." Franklin was muttering under his breath. He couldn't openly contradict Stuart, not when he was banking of having the latter be his future father-in-law. He might be arrogant, but he certainly wasn't a fool. Instead, he shifted the goalposts. "A fluke, no doubt."
"That's what I've been telling them," I agreed, to his surprise. "I just got lucky that one time. I have no confidence in repeating that again."
"Yet you've consistently saved me from powerful monsters again and again."
Alicia was looking at me, a little annoyed. I shook my head, wishing she would back me up instead of putting me on a pedestal.
"That's right! Brother Richard saved me too!" Adrian piped up. I had almost forgotten that he was still here. He had been so quiet the entire time I thought he had disappeared off to somewhere because he was disinterested in the conversation. He bristled visibly. "I bet he's stronger than you!"
"Oh, really?" Franklin's tone grew ominous.
"No, not really. I guarantee that you're definitely stronger than me." I hastily tried to defuse the situation before it blew up in my face, while glaring at Adrian for pouring fuel on the fire. I wished he had stayed silent.
Now Franklin was pissed off at me instead of Adrian, and I was going to have to suffer the consequences. I honestly couldn't care less if he trash-talked me, and would be fine after receiving some insults because I knew he would just leave later once Stuart stopped paying attention to me, and we would never have to cross paths again.
But the moment I earned his ire, I was willing to bet that, following the cliché template of arrogant young masters, he would either hire killers to assassinate me for no reason other than I "offended" him or send his entire clan after me to teach me a lesson through violence. And since I wasn't a wuxia protagonist, there was no well in hell I would be able to exterminate his entire clan – especially when it was one of the ten great families of the Global Federation. I didn't have plot armor or some supreme master's spirit secretly teaching me overpowered skills.
By the way, can anyone tell me why people bothered sending assassins after Wang Zhong in Battle Frenzy? That never made any sense to me.
Fortunately, reality wasn't that stupid, and as petty as Franklin was, even an arrogant young master such as him wasn't so free as to bother going to extreme lengths to assassinate somebody he had written off as a nobody. Instead, he was more interested in disproving Adrian's claim.
"Ho…regardless of whatever the person in question says, it seems that the people around him have quite a lot of faith in his abilities." Franklin regarded me, his eyes full of scorn. But this time, I could read some measure of wariness in his sky-blue pupils. "I really am interested to see which of us is stronger."
"Then why not do so?"
"…huh?"
Everyone turned to stare at Adrian. He had raised his hand and was smiling brightly at his own suggestion.
"The two of you should have a duel. The winner will obviously be the one who's stronger. Instead of arguing in words, isn't it more concrete to decide the answer through an actual fight?"
"Ha ha ha ha!" Stuart burst out laughing as he ruffled the hair of his nephew. "Adrian's proposal indeed has merit. As everyone knows, I enjoy watching mage battles the most." He swiveled to me. "I have always been interested in your abilities, Richard. I hope you don't mind indulging this old man and showing some of your skills?"
"Um…I'm afraid you'll be disappointed, sir." I lowered my head uncertainly. "I lack the skills and ability to put on any sort of entertaining display. It'll most likely be a one-sided fight in Mr. Franklin's favor and end under a minute."
"Stop degrading yourself like that. It's getting annoying." Stuart scowled. He wasn't the only one who was irritated. Even the readers were getting riled up, judging from the irate comments at the side. "I get that you're trying to be modest and avoid conflict, but you're going way too far. Just fight."
I glanced at Alicia, and she nodded encouragingly. Adrian was cheering excitedly, confident that I would be able to stomp Franklin to the curb. He was going to be very bitterly disappointed. As was I if I thought either of them was going to help me stop this nonsense.
Sighing heavily, I nodded.
"Very well. I will do my best in this fight and give my all."
"Splendid!" Stuart clapped his hands in undisguised joy. He turned to Franklin, the handsome young man waiting expectantly. "I suppose you are more than eager to participate, Shawn? I hope you will also indulge this greedy old man with another fine display of your skills."
Franklin flicked his neatly combed golden hair back and smiled cockily.
"I would be happy to oblige as well," he declared. "But Mr. Richard has a point. It will be boring if the match ends under a minute. Perhaps I should give him a handicap or two? To level the playing field."
Stuart sighed as he covered his face with his palm.
"One is too modest to the point of self-depreciation, and the other is too arrogant and looks down on other people. Why can't the two of you be more balanced?!"
"Uh, well…because pride comes before a fall?" I suggested. Stuart gave me a look.
"But if you don't even believe in yourself, how can you succeed?"
Perhaps what I said wasn't necessarily what I thought. Even so, I knew how important it was to avoid complacency, but Stuart had a point. I was taking the whole modest act too far. So I decided to put on an admonished expression.
"Yes, sir."
On the other hand, Franklin showed no sign of taking Stuart's advice. He was sneering derisively at me. Stuart paid him no attention.
"I am really looking forward to this match," he gushed enthusiastically. "I hope you two can begin as soon as possible because I'm itching to see what the both of you are capable of. Even you, Shawn." He nodded at the proud youngster. "I know that despite defeating ten mages in a row, including my daughter, you still haven't shown the true extent of your power."
"I definitely won't disappoint you, Lord Stuart," Franklin promised. Turning to me, he grinned cockily. "Are you sure you don't want a handicap? I certainly don't want the match to end in a minute. Perhaps you can get the Miss from the Violet Clan to help you. Two against one doesn't sound like bad odds. I want to put on an entertaining show for Lord Stuart."
I felt a twinge of annoyance. Did this punk really think he could beat me if I got serious?
"Richard doesn't need my help," Alicia said sweetly, stepping in before I could say anything. "He can defeat someone of your level by himself."
"That's right! Brother Richard will definitely kick your ass!" Adrian shouted. Damn it, kid, just shut up already. In some ways, he reminded me of Harvey Deng.
"Ho…then I'll have to see for myself what he really is capable of." Even though he said that, it was clear that Franklin was scoffing at their words. For the first time, I felt rage. Making fun of me was one thing, but making fun of Alicia and Adrian was another matter altogether. Nobody insulted the people important to me.
"One question before we begin," I asked, dropping all pretense of modesty. "Are you able to withstand an attack with the power equivalent to two atomic bombs?"
Franklin made a face. "What kind of stupid question is that?" he spat.
I grinned evilly. "I'm deciding whether to go easy on you or not."
His response nearly took me by surprise. An enormous amount of killing intent radiated from his body, causing me to break out in cold sweat.
This guy is as strong as Yuan Dao said, I thought, impressed. No wonder he was able to defeat ten mages in a row, and even Cecilia.
Still, after the debacle with Yuan Dao Yue Guang earlier, I wasn't going to collapse to a killing intent that was over a hundred times smaller than the security chief's. I merely smiled and pulled my finger across my throat in reply. Franklin looked as if he was going to explode for a moment, but he remembered where he was and reined his temper in.
I snickered. This guy was really easy to provoke.
"Shall we decide a date and venue for the duel?" Franklin grated out, trying to remain civil. If you could call his sneering, haughty tone civil. "Make sure you don't run away."
"There is no need for that," Stuart cut in as he looked up from his smartphone. He smiled ominously. "The two of you will be having the duel right here, right now."