"A challenge?" I repeated to myself while looking at the man who had just come up to me with his friends while I was talking to Rose on our way to something. I dunno what, she had just said she wanted to take me to something.
"Yes, you and me, in there. Magic duel, you in?" he said with a smile as he gestured his hand towards a large building to my right. Was I to guess this was some form of arena? Like, a more permanent version of what Rose had set up back at her flower when I was still somewhat human.
I looked at Rose, "Do you object?" I asked her as I thought this might be helpful in some way. These people had been nothing but respectful since we had met and had even chased off those that would cause issues. Who knows, maybe, just maybe, if I can show myself as being more than just a bug, I can negate the insults to some extent...?
I hope so, I very much hoped so.
She shook her head and smiled, "I have no issue with this at all, Nin." she said to me which left me tilting my head a little. She hadn't called me by my name in a while. Maybe she was seeing how annoyed I was getting as of late and was willing to say my name? At least for a short period.
"Alright!" I said with a small smile, "When does it start?"
"Now, if you're up for it?" he said with a confident smirk which left me nodding, "Excellent! Let's go." he then said before patting my back and guiding me towards the building.
"So what will we be doing in this duel exactly?" I asked him with some uncertainty as 'duel' to me usually meant using a weapon. But, I did not know how to use a weapon, but, he did say it was a magic duel. So maybe he and I were the weapons to be used in the duel?
"Just letting off a few spells and so on, nothing fancy, just to see what you got." he said as he nudged my side a little before he looked at his friends and laughed. Not at me, but what was around me, the magic I had not learned to control yet. Were they impressed by it? It seemed to be the case that they were going by how enthusiastic their reactions are.
"Well, alright, I'll see what I can do." I tried to say back to them with equal enthusiasm before I began to get bogged down in my thoughts. What could I even do? I did not know any spells of note nor had I really expanded upon what I had learned previously. Perhaps I could learn on the fly or just adapt what I knew?
I had no means to tell if he was more experienced than me so hopefully, it would just be a small and short thing. Something where two inexperienced starter-uppers had a go with each other to see how good they actually were. A means to learn where they could improve. A means to establish what they can do better next time.
"That's the spirit! C'mon, if you haven't been in here before, you are going to love it!" he exclaimed before his friends all ran ahead while he stayed with me and Rose.
"Hurry up, Rose!" I then said to the aelenvari who had been moving rather slowly down the path to this place we were now getting to the entrance of.