¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤
We finally came to a stopping point where we both ended up out of breath. This asshole has me so riled up when I'm supposed to be on a medical pass right now and it's ridiculous. I only said what was on my mind when asked and you get iffy with me. Would it kill anyone to accept a little blunt honesty?!
"Looks like you running out of stamina." This ass. "How about you quit now to prove who is greater?"
"Why don't you shut up and come at me already?" Fuck his smartassness is rubbing off on me.
He takes the bait and attacks me and I continue to parry each one. Doesn't he get tired of this? He knows I can read his moves already. I had noticed a while ago that his sword had a hing in it. A small scratch that could easily take the length of his sword down by more than half. I didn't want to touch it anymore because it kept leaving scars on my hands and I don't want that since my blessings are essentially weaker than his. I don't think I'll have a lot of options left if this keeps up.
¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤
Antonio fills his sword with a new spell and it soon starts to pulse with light. He charges Tessa thrusts his blade at her with full force as he makes a final war call, giving this attack all he could. Tessa soon gets overwhelmed by the pressure of the attack, but not enough to throw her off from its course. She takes the blade of the sword with a hand and allows it to cut her deep. It was just enough to snag the blade and redirect it to the ground. The force makes it break at the hinge she found in it.
Antonio stumbles to the ground and falls out of balance from the shock. He quickly recovers confused at what happened when he sees half of his sword in her grip and the other in his. This makes twice that she broke his sword. This time it was on purpose.
¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤
There. Now we can stop. I drop the blade and look to my hand as the blood stops running and my wound heals. This time it was like it wasn't there at all.
Warning: fatigue level increased by 3. Reverting to second nature.
Okay. Goodbye motor control. I collapse to the ground on all fours and sit cross legged bobbing dizzily as I start to feel my ears pulsing.
"What… what just happened?" I hear someone stupid say.
"She won." … who? I look up to see Xyle walking toward me. No~. Go away. "You alright there, Antonio?" He asks.
"... I. I'm not sure honestly. What…?"
"Your sword broke, dude."
"It… I… why!?"
"It had a chip in it." I tell him. My fatigue finally subsided a bit. "I took advantage of it and broke it."
"What!? A chip!?"
I try to stand but the fatigue hasn't completely gone yet so I stagger and sit back down. I suddenly feel myself get lifted by my waist from behind like a cat and I panicked a bit. I look behind me and see Brights holding me and lifting me to his shoulder.
"You really need to go home, kid." He tells me. "I'll take them back to the Halliway estate, Maul."
"... That's fine, I suppose." Maul replies. "Halliway."
"Yes?"
"... Return tomorrow if you can for your temporary license. I feel we may need you for something."
"Uh… alright." I'm still unsettled at the moment, but that means I was acknowledged. "I will do my best, sir."
"Good to know. Mr Vaticus. You should take your swordsman back as well. We will continue once his sword is fixed."
"..." Xyle stares at me for a bit before answering. "Sure thing."
"Go on then."
Brights walks on with me still on his shoulder with Big brother scurrying behind and Mr. Maul heads back inside the guild. Grinning Grimm.
"Hey, big brother?" I call to him.
"Aye?"
"Did you just name yourself on the spot?"
"Aye. That I did, sis. I felt it best suited for myself with all you be telling me at home. I always be looking like I smile, but I like the darker tales you be telling me and the strange songs you be singing. It be fitting me nicely don't it?"
"... Hee. It does, actually. I like that for you." I couldn't help but smile at him but I ended up light headed and tried to relax for a while.
"You ain't looking to well there, lass. You shouldn't a' done all that to yourself."
"I know, big brother. I'm sorry. I guess I'm pretty unsettled still and I've been acting on instinct more often than I should."
"That be cuz you had that dominance bought with the stall Alfa just recently. Your instinct still be in an active state. You got a true fight response to threats. You best be careful of that."
"Yeah. I agree with him." Brights suddenly says. "You really feisty and you know how to hold your ground and I respect that about you. So does Maul. He may not show it, though, but wants you to really succeed in this guild. But it's best for you to calm your fire before you come back, you know. We don't want you hurting yourself and getting into trouble cuz of some racist nobles."
"Pfft!"
"Don't laugh! I'm being dead serious here!"
"I'm sorry. That was just unexpected."
"The only unexpected thing here is you, missy."
"Hey!"
"Now hear me out! That's not a bad thing. On the contrary, I think you've been a really good influence on the lower sector as a whole just by yourself. You probably haven't noticed this since you've been dealing with other things, but you've actually become the most popular little goblin in the lower sector. You saved the ruling noble. That spread like wildfire. You wowed them with some kind of charm somehow. No one knows how. Then you just became the ruling Alfa of the goblin alley. Not to mention your the first goblin to not only come to the guild as well known as ours, but you even showed your prowess from saving S-class adventurers from a spoiled brat, held your own with Maul. Even if he didn't use a tenth of his power on you. Now you show back up after a short absence and show you can stand toe to toe with a high noble knight. That automatically classes you as a B-rank in the guild on their own!"
… So what you're saying is I stand out more than the hero and his friends… fuck. I did the opposite of what I wanted to do~!! That means I can't use the assassination class that I qualify for!!! I double facepalm and groan into my hands. I can feel my face flush from the embarrassment. I stay like this all the way home while Brights tries to talk to me.
¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤
Meanwhile, Xyle and and his company head on their way to a carriage transport to the high kingdom. The shield hero helps Antonio into the carriage and gets in with him. Dressrosa follows behind and they sit and wait for Xyle to enter. Dressrosa noticed him staring at Brights carry the little goblin back home.
"Master Xyle?" She calls to him.
"Hm?" He replies distantly.
"Are you coming?"
"Oi. Don't tell us you let that fight get to yah, son." The shield hero says. "He ain't nothing to worry about."
"'She.'" Xyle corrects. The shield hero buckles back and sits back in his seat nervously. That was the first time he defended someone outside of his party.
"... Master Xyle?" Dressrosa calls again. "Are you alright? You don't seem like yourself."
"... Yeah… you guys go on ahead. I'll meet up with you later." Before they could reply, he shuts the door and walks off.
Xyle begins to follow Brights as he spoke to Tessa on their way to the Halliway estate. They were enjoying a basic conversation until he sees her turn bright pink from her nose to her ears and cover her face. That fact that he saw her blush made him flustered. He grew a bit jealous with Brights. Not only was he holding her, he was having fun talking with the one person he's been asking for since he arrived in Manchester. He finally found her and he wants to find out if she recognized him. He wanted to know if it was really her.
¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤
We finally make it to the manor and get greeted by the family. Father noticed me in mr. Brights arms and nearly flipped on his head. Brights did his best to explain what happened to him but it only made his panic worse. I eventually lost patience and hopped off of Brights shoulder and tried to walk off.
Warning: balance unstable. Reverting to second nature.
Oh for fucks sake. I drop to all fours and trot off like a cat and stopped caring altogether. I know they're all looking at me stupid. I go to my room and sit on the bed cross legged and relax for a while.
I really need to chill and avoid people for like… an hour. Tops… Oh yeah. I wanted to know how to use my new abilities Malcum gave me. What is black magic? Other than a taboo of gathering bad omens…
I take a deep breath and close my eyes to focus for a while. I focus for what felt like hours when my hands start to feel cold like I got my hands dunked in ice water. I open my eyes and lose focus for a second when I see my hands glowing multiple colors. Cool!
I watch as the power settles and vanishes like smoke. I want to see it!! I focus again but nothing happens. I try to remember what I was actually focusing on when I suddenly get a knock on my door.
Cautious of my current condition, I try to stand on two again. … Good. I can walk again. I tread carefully until I reach the door and answer it. I didn't like what I saw on the other side.
"T-tessa~..." Christa stood by the door shaking in her boots because Xyle stood behind her with his hands in his pockets looking around the halls until he took note of me answering. What the hell do I say in this predicament??
"..."
"..." Xyle only looks at me for a while completely focused on me. "Well?" He suddenly says.
"... W-well what?"
"... Can you leave us alone for a while?"
"No, thank you!" I panic.
"Why!?"
"No offence but I don't want to be left alone with you!"
"I take every offence to that! I need to talk to you and you know exactly why, don't you?"
"Like I'm some kind of mind reader! Go away! I need to be away from people for a while!"
"I need to talk to you! And I'm pretty damn sure my reason is more important than yours, Tess!"
"... Tess??"
"... Do you really not know me?"
… why is he giving me the puppy eyes?? I am so confused right now but I really cannot be around others right now.
"... Look. I need you to let me calm my second nature right now. I can't think straight enough to have a normal conversation with anyone and I would appreciate it if you let me do so. Otherwise I won't be able to respond to you properly. Keep in mind that I'm still considered faral."
"... Answer my question at least, please?"
What the fuck??? "... You're Xyle Pathorn Vaticus. A golem summoned 'hero' from another world."
"... You're… not her are you?"
"Hm??"
"Tessa Greenwool. You're really not her? You really don't remember who I am?"
"..." Oh. I forgot I was trying to avoid him altogether because I was worried about the bullying from our previous life it's been about half a year since then. "... You were the popular guy in school that everyone looked up to and enjoy the company of. You like to clown around, have fun with others, never failed to meet expectations for the teacher. Though you had an odd habit of calling me little goblin growing up."
He face started to brighten up the more I spoke highly of him. I feel my mind becoming more and more clear as I do so. But my mouth felt like vomiting. "... Christa, you can go now. I'm okay enough to stay passive."
"Huh? A-are you sure?"
"Yes. Don't worry. We won't be long anyway."
"Hey, wait a minute." Xyle says nervously.
"I don't think you colleagues will appreciate you being here just to see a goblin that happens to have the same name of someone from your old world. I have enough things to deal with here just being what I am now."
"But I have so much to talk about!!"
"You have time to talk next time we meet, don't you?"
"Uh… well, yeah but…"
"Then don't worry about it. You can do what you want, being as you are already. You got the class, the support and the time when you need to."
"... Yeah… yeah okay." Now he sounds disheartened. I really don't want to talk with this guy right now. Don't ask me why, I just don't. Even if he does miss me. "Um… Urgh I can't believe you actually became a real goblin though. I mean yeah I'd make jokes about it but it's not like I thought you were… haah… a-anyway… I… I hope we can catch up later."
"Again, that's up to you. As it stands you have more power to demand than I do. If you want to talk fine. I'm only going to ask you to be mindful of my time as well. Is that fine?"
"... I guess." Don't be a brat. Your making Christa feel bad for you. "Tess. I have one more question…"
"I didn't confront you the first time we met because I didn't want to. Your presence on its own is a hindrance to me because of the power gap and racial gap I have to deal with and I had no intention of having your racist party criticizing me for being what I am. So I would appreciate it more if you didn't tell them about this meeting either." Now he looks confused and frustrated. "I have my reasons for not wanting that much attention."
"... Yeah. I guess that's fair. Urgh! Alright fine. I understand. Just…"
"I'm not coming to you for anything nor do I want to chat with you as if it were for old times sake. We hardly even talked back then to have one of those. Most of our conversations would only be about school work and they would always be with your friends hanging around my desk."
"What!? H-hold on a minute! What are you even saying right now!?"
"That your a nuisance. I'm sorry for saying it that way, but I really don't want to be around you. You're too glamorous, too socially known, and have way too many expectations placed on you that even your surroundings are expected to be of a high caliber. I refuse to meet those expectations just to be around you. I never liked that sort of attention because of it. And just to be clear, this has absolutely nothing to do with you being who you are, but everything to do with your social standings as a whole."
"...??? … Aahhhh~ fine! I'll leave you alone if that's what you want. Just… at least say hi normally like we used to."
"..." We actually never said hi like normal. He would say hey and I would give him a simple bow to greet cuz lord knows if the most popular guy says hi to you, you better stay suttle about your interactions. I got into trouble a lot because of him doing that to me so often. "No."
"Why not!!?"
"Go home already!"
"Urgh!! There's no way it's not You! You haven't changed a bit!" He says storming away… The fuck does that even mean??
I slumped against the wall and sighed in relief. So he was actually concerned about me this whole time. He didn't laugh like I thought he would. He listened to me unlike before. He even tried to ask me to have a nostalgia trip. Well first off, ew to that last part. And he needs to think of how others around him would react to me if they knew who I was to him. My family here has enough to think about after I told them of my old world the first time I got here.
I look to Christa and she had such a dumbstruck look on her face that made me feel bad.
"I'm going to ask you to not tell anyone else about this conversation, okay. I really don't want anyone else to know that he and I were that close in our old life."
She pauses for a while before nodding sternly in agreement. "Then what shall you do now that he knows it's you?"
"Keep this relationship on the low for as long as possible if he can help himself. I pray he does. I don't want to go through that situation again after finally leaving it."
"... What was that situation?"
"... Come inside and I'll tell you."
We walk into my room and shut the door and I tell her my story of my life on earth.