The room was in one word, disgusting.
There were clothes, papers, and numerous mundane objects, some magical, strewn all across the otherwise beautiful form of the gigantic room. If not for the ridiculous amount of garbage having been scattered like this place had been hit like a hurricane, then the room would have been quite impressive.
There was a gigantic bed king-sized bed at the left side of the room, a window facing the gigantic red gates, and a whole lot of garbage everywhere, as though the room was drowning in it.
He thought back to the stern woman, remembering her reluctance to come to this room.
'No wonder she didn't want to go here. This place is disgusting!'
Could that really all it have been, though?
Tiptoeing around a particularly flashy piece of undergarment, Lieren approached the bed where even, rhythmic breathing could be heard.
…For some reason, it didn't feel like it.
Then, he ignited Manavision, making the world come into focus.
What he saw almost made him trip. It was a good thing that he expected it, though the sight still surprised him.
Elemental mana of all four main attributes: fire, earth, wind, and water swirled within the gigantic room in a furious vortex of multi-colored lights, blending together into a gorgeous menagerie of mixed lights the naïve boy had ever seen in his entire life.
It was mesmerizing, stunning, and awe-inspiring.
But not as much as its source.
Approaching the bed with reluctance, he crouched and prepared to fortify his body should the worst situation come to worse. Not that he even had a chance to fight should that come, anyways.
His hands shaking, he reached for the person underneath the lump of fine, pure-white silk…
And tore the blanket open.
Lieren tilted his head.
"…Huh?"
There was nobody there.
In fact, not only was nobody there; nothing was there. There were no pillows underneath the bed, no cloth to hold up the blanket. Nothing.
Instead, however, it was much more than he could have ever thought.
With his Manavision active and alive, he saw it.
It was well-hidden, and utterly undetectable unless you were right in front of it.
Should the spell have been malicious, he would have already died.
Wind—no, not just wind. There was an enormous amount of wind-attribute mana, crafted and contained on the space just in front of him. It seemed to be… breathing?... at least, it felt like it.
The contained gust of wind fluctuated and calmed down at even intervals, creating the illusion that there was somebody there; alive and well, sleeping peacefully amidst these shaken times.
A teasing chuckle came from above.
'Did she…'
Looking up, slowly, he saw a petite young lady, with vibrant blue eyes and white hair. She was hanging to the ceiling… well, not really.
Her entire body was suspended in midair, supported by nothing but the vicious storm of elemental mana keeping her floating. Her white hair was draped on the ceiling, fully spread out.
There was a wide, jovial smile on her face.
"What are you doing?" Lieren asked in a questioning tone.
She flashed him a grin and waved the storm to shift, coming down with her grin plastered on her face like a jester.
It looked genuine, true, and unmistaken.
What a pleasure that must have been.
Just before she could properly land, the storm shifted suddenly, and her control over it flew away, gone like the wind. With a terrified scream, she was sent plummeting down, helpless.
Lieren was quick on his heels.
"No!"
Pushing mana out of his feet in a quick burst of power, he exploded forward, catching her mere seconds before she fell on the hard ground. Even worse, on one of the magic tools or hard objects, potentially killing her.
With a soft thud, she fell onto Lieren's arms, her eyes wide with surprise.
Seconds passed by after that, silent and lonesome. As if the world had grown still and quiet in respect for the two's surprise.
Her eyes lit up, full of joy as she charmingly said, her voice high and suddenly exhausted:
"Wow! That was some quick thinking there. As I expected, you're quick on your feet. I didn't expect that, at all."
Lieren let go of her almost immediately.
Catching herself just ad quick with a gust of supporting wind, the young lady pouted and looked back to the naïve boy.
"Why did you do that? I was praising you! Meanie!"
Lieren looked at her dead in the eye, his gaze focused and serious.
His voice was tinged with the vile poison of disbelief as he said, squinting:
"Because I knew you would catch yourself."
The young lady eyes grew wide, and she bit her lip, looking away but still glancing back every now and then, expecting some kind of response.
Lieren just stood there, suddenly stoic. For some reason, he found this so fitting. It surprised him most of all, more than anyone, that he can be like this.
Another length of silence, much longer than the first, permeated the room, taking it over.
Eventually, the young scion collected herself, and smiled back. This time, there was the visible mark of unreality in it, as if it had been tainted by the untrue.
She cleared her throat and spoke, her voice a little shaky:
"A—anyways… your test! Congratulations! You have been chosen as one of the twelve rightful and final contestant in the competition for my hand in marriage. From now on, you must compete with the other eleven contestants, shedding sweat, tears, and blood to make me yours!"
Then, she began clapping, as if some kind of celebration was in order.
There was not any.
However, rather than questioning his participation, Lieren asked a more practical question.
"So, I have to kill people? Eleven of them, to be exact."
With his words came a deep silence, drowning the entire room in it. It was different from the earlier silences in that, there was no awkward or tense atmosphere. Rather, it was dour, solemn… and terrifying.
It almost made Lieren fall to his knees.
The smile was gone from the young scion's face. She floated down to him, and Lieren had to tilt his head upward to keep straight eye contact.
"Yes, that's right."
Then she stepped down, her bare feet touching the cold floor. There were various runic symbols and arcane etching on it, most of it covered by the enormous pile of nothing strewn about by the young scion. Whether this was intentional or not, he could not tell.
At least not right now.
Even though she was older, Lieren was still taller, to the point where she had to look up just to see his face at close-distance.
She crafted her smile again, this time much more easily.
"Ah, don't worry. I won't just throw you into the fray unguarded. I have a couple of people, people I trust with my heart, to train you."
Then she turned on her heel, taking the perfect path to the door, her gait small and light, as if the weight of the whole wide world was invisible to her.
She glanced back with a grin.
"They will make into the strongest warrior, the most powerful mage, and the most insidious soldier there is in the next week to come before the fighting starts."
The red gates flung wide-open.
Lieren's eyes opened wide.
"Wait, a week? I thought it would be longer!"