Letting me in through the gate, Fez and her butler led me to a spacious room that was meant to serve guest. The windows had purple silk curtains, the floor was fitted with sparkly marble tiles while covered with high quality fur carpet. Even the table was wood that had a certain shine to it that showcased it's expensiveness. Jeez, a mere guest room had this much luxury, I wonder how the normal rooms are. Serving tea to me and Fez, the butler briskly walks behind the couch and continues to watch us.
"So what business do you have with me? I would appreciate if you don't use underhanded techniques before the tournament. It's quite late so if there is nothing, please leave." (Fez)
Parting my lips with the tea cup, I stated the purpose of my visit." I was thinking of having a break and thought of inviting you to the beach. Who cares about the tournament, I'll just beat you with sheer strength. Let's go to the beach tomorrow!"
"I felt like you just dismissed something important there. Sheer strength? It will take more than that to defeat me. Anyway, why would you expect me to accept the invitation? What if I had something to do tomorrow?" (Fez)
"If? That means you are free right? Come on, I won't be training tomorrow either so you don't have to worry, are you saying you're scared of losing so you need as much training as you can? Anyway we'll be at the beach together!"
***
And that was how I goad Fez into going to the beach with me. The sunday afternoon sun shone brightly as the sea tide goes up and down. Donning my purple swimwear, I pulled Fez off her beach chair and dragged her out of the beach umbrella's shade. "Come on, let's play in the water! You're still 9 right? Then we should be as playful as we want before you grow old!"
"Old?!" (Fez). Ignoring the cracking of someone's heart in the background, I drag Fez into the shallow waters. For some reason Fez liked to behave like an old person~ So I needed to provoke her into having fun with me. Splashing water at face while she stared at the sunset got her going. "Hey!" (Fez) *splash*, 2 girls running around in the water was probably a sight to behold. Occasionally there would be other kids that came by and played with us, though I would provoke Fez into only focusing on splashing water at me.
It was certainly refreshing to relax and stop worrying about grinding levels. Through my train of thought, I got lazy from the playing and asked myself 'why was I grinding levels in the first place? Couldn't I live like normal kids?' And the answer was no. I wonder if my dad was still alive. Right now I'm still incredibly weak, so I can't exactly rescue him. Main character? Don't bullshit, I can't even kidnap Fez if I wanted to since her bodyguards were at least level 700. If I get vaporised by a mere bodyguard, how can I rescue my dad from the vadim family? Either way uncle will die, because once I'm strong enough, I'll fight him.
Did those thoughts cause stress and made my "break" counter productive? Maybe. Seeing as I had a gloomy expression, Fez just stood and hugged my back as we both stare at the sun going down. I wonder if I could destroy the sun~? "Are you tired? You don't seem normal. " (Fez)
"I've never seemed normal. Who runs into a dungeon at the age of 7 and fights 2 bosses in a row? My levels may grow, but my brain is still slow in reacting and my skills stagnate at tier-3. And now, I'm out here playing at a beach when I could be grinding at a dungeon~"
*Slap*. She didn't put any strength into it and clinging on my back didn't help either. So why did she do it? Guess I'll have her explain it.
" You invited me to the beach and now you are being gloomy and complaining? Don't make me laugh. I had no plans for today and just wanted to relax at home. I only came here to accompany you out of pity, so what gives you the right to be gloomy when you have the great me! around you. "(Fez)
" Haha~ That's so like you. Thank you then~ For following me on my whim. "
" You are definitely not normal today. You know what? I have the solution. Oh ho? What's this *grope*"(Fez)
" Ah..nhnn..Fez..that's... "
" Maybe when I win the tournament, these'll become mine as well~"(Fez)
"Counter attack, shoulder reverse!"
"Ahhhn~ I didn't know your hands can bend that far! " (Fez)
"That's enough fooling around ojou-sama! Time to head home!" (Butler A)
Dispersing the strange situation, we changed back to our normal outfits and made our way out of the beach. Ahh~, playing at the beach sure was refreshing huh~ heading to our seperate paths, I took dinner at an inn-like restaurant before going back to the dorm. Resting in my room, it was the next morning before I knew it. It was the universally dreaded day, monday.
Dragging myself off the sheets, I went through my morning routine as usual before heading to class. Hu~ teleportation sure would be convenient. Nothing in particular had happened in school, except for Fez occasionally stealing a glance in my direction. When I look back at her, she would quickly turn away and sometimes blush. At this point of time, all sense of rivalry has been completely destroyed, I've successfully broke Fez or changed her impression of me in a strange way. Whatever, I didn't need to resort to psychological warfare and could win with just my strength anyway, I shouln't have to worry much about some 9 year olds in a tournament. Going through my day as usual, nothing eventful really happened. I was quite bored so I invited Fez to the cave to accompany me while I grinded experience.
"You sure you don't want any?"
"I'm not revealing my tournament strategies so easily! You can do it all you want, and don't even think of forcing me to reveal my powers. My butler is here as well, of course." (Fez)
"Meh, more for me."
What Fez said made some sense as well, as such I didn't reveal my tricks as well. All I did was use my starter dagger and destroyed the monsters with my strength. She could probably just check my stats for agility, but I was too lazy to go full power. After an hour of leveling, I went up to level 93.
Speaking of strategies and tricks, we both technically use the same element, though her skill set should be more diverse due to being more of a magic oriented fighter instead of physical. Maybe I should sneak dark oriented armour into my clothes before the tournament. Maybe I was overreacting for being 90 levels higher, then where was she getting her confidence from?
The rest of the weekdays went by as usual, school hours go by and I constantly fight the boss monsters again and again to raise my level. When it was monday, my level had gone up to level 99 and I had finished my preparations.