"I'm not exactly sure what to say after what seemed to have happened, but this gentleman here is my associate Partner"
Standing in another room that had a lot more monitors and seats around, Sekan held a wry smile on his face as he stood opposite a cartoonish silhouette of a person. Next to that cartoonish figure was a bruised younger gentleman steering his eyesight away from Sekan, holding his shoulder in the meantime. The young gentleman said under his breath
"Humble servant"
"No, one of my associate Partners. Alike an assistant"
"Please, Kah kah Kah! Don't undersell me in front of a stranger like this peasant here...!"
The young man was looking at Kah with an earnest expression, grabbing onto him as he spoke. Sekan couldn't believe that this man was the same vicious and elegant creature from before that'd almost killed him. It felt annoying when he thought of it that way.
"Kah kah Kah...?"
Managing to get out of the young man's strong grip, Kah proceeded to explain
"Apparently the word "kah" happens to mean something like "ruler" or "emperor" in this gentleman's native language. So the title "Kah kah Kah" translates to something like "The Ruler of Rulers Kah"...
This also means since the first time we met, he's seen me as his Divine God or something. He's not necessarily wrong, I am a divine Member of the Cosmos, but STRE is the World Creator of his world, not me..."
Sekan had no clue what Kah was starting to go on about, which made him confused for a moment. There seemed to really be a lot he didn't know, but his mind was stuck on a particular thing since Kah started talking.
"If I'm being honest, to me, the term "Kah kah Kah" sounds like the sounds crows make when they fly around."
The young man's attention was immediately grabbed as he interjected
"How dare human vermin like you compare Kah's divine title to mere crows?"
Sekan was quiet for a moment as he looked over to the young man, still averting his eyes away. He wiggled around a little, trying to match his eyeline, but the young man averted it each time.
"Uhh, why are you not looking at me?"
Sekan thought that the initial reason why he wouldn't look at him could still hold after the battle was over already.
"And now you insult me as well. Curse you...!"
Kah sighed as he started explaining
"My associate here probably feels deeply hurt over losing a duel to someone, let alone a human being. And if I remember correctly, it is a tradition in his world that the losing party of a duel isn't allowed to even look at the winner for 3 moons' time. I can't really remember all the details.
But while we are at it, it might be reasonable for me to introduce my assistant---"
"Humble servant"
"Assistant to you properly.
This is a young noble son of 72 years from the Flammerouge house on planet Verts, by the name---"
The young man threw his hands into the air and cast his head up toward the ceiling, as to avoid eye contact with Sekan, as he shouted loudly
"My divine name is that of Erin Vermillionaire Blasting Stormaktstid Orloj Piscinelaplage Acqua VI Flammerouge of 2x68!!!"
"Stop interrupting me...!!!"
After a slap to the head, the young man with a long name held over it as he said
"Your humble servant sends his dearest apologies, Kah kah Kah. But announcing my name is divinely important to me"
Sekan held a brazen look as he stared forward.
- That's way too long. Even further, it just sounds like a bunch of sounds put together....
But also -
"72 years old? How is that considered young?!"
"Well, his kind lives a lot longer on average, so relatively speaking he's pretty young. In fact, you were around 17 years old, right? That means proportionally speaking you are roughly same years."
"Bleh, don't even put it in those terms"
The young man with a long name rolled out his tongue as a reaction to the information. Sekan also didn't feel comfortable calling someone 72 years old equally old to himself.
Kah coughed shortly before they continued
"Either way, his name is way too long, so for short I just call him...
E-ver"
"Why!? That's not even one of his names!!"
"It's just a combination of the names "Erin" and "Vermillionaire", which becomes "E Ver", then "E-ver"."
Sekan, exhausted from the ridiculousness of the situation, sighed as he commented
"But why is it that needlessly complicated...? Couldn't you just call him "Erin" in that case?"
As soon as Sekan finished speaking, he looked over to the side of Kah and noticed a very flustered "E-ver". His cheeks blood-red from flushing, and his eyes shot wide open. Kah had a reluctant tone as he explained quickly
"Only his parents and potential lovers can call him by his first name..."
"Ah..."
Sekan had never expected to run into a cultural misunderstanding with another creature from another planet before, but it had seemingly just happened to him. Not really sure whether he should apologize or change topic, Sekan awkwardly kept quiet for a moment.
E-ver collected himself quickly and responded
"Y-You peasant however may call me by my full glorious name...!"
"No, that's definitely not happening"
It felt a bit bad for Sekan to immediately reject what E-ver said after what just happened, but there was no way Sekan would ever use that whole name to talk with him. Just on the principle that it would lengthen any sentence he'd try and say with a whole minute of trying to remember each name in sequence.
"Fine...! As a concession for managing to beat me in a Duel, I'll allow you the divine right to call me by "E-ver" as Kah kah Kah does.
But I'll remind you that you never managed to truly best me, I was blinding myself and also I haven't drunk any human blood for a while and then I also noticed you hold a piece of silver in your hand, which is cheating. Don't forget your position!
Nevertheless, I shall go now and attend to my duties. I pray we don't see each other again"
Like that, E-ver, still partly red, ran away swiftly and elegantly as before. Disappearing within mere moments, Sekan and Kah were left in the room slightly confused. Although for slightly different reasons. Kah stood still thinking about why E-ver was in such a rush to go clean the dormitory and toilets, and Sekan stood still thinking about what he meant by "a piece of silver".
Lifting his hands into the light, he saw the gleaming beam of the ring on his hand. Remembering where the ring came from, Sekan smiled to himself briefly.
"It seems embarrassing myself for you was worth it beyond the money, Arisa..."
Kah chimed in to explain
"His kind seems to be weak to silver for whatever reason.
As to why he seems to hate you and humans so much is that back on his planet of Verts, his kind have bested over humankind in some great war and as a result have enslaved all of the humans there. By drinking the blood of humans, they can greatly enhance their abilities. He says his kind is "The Chosen Ones" by their divine god, which is why he's so obsessed with gods and such. He really won't stop talking about those things."
"A Vampire...?"
Sekan didn't consider it up until now, but all of the details kind of stereotypically fit with what vampires were in mythology.
But the key detail missing that hid E-ver's true identity from him bothered him for a moment as he thought
- But where were his fangs...? -
"Well, we should move on from that onto more important matters. I'm aware some things happened since then, but you remember what you came up here for, right?"
Like a tonne of gold bars just fell onto him, reality harshly shocked Sekan as he remembered why he'd even come. Although, he suddenly couldn't remember exactly what he was supposed to do. All that came up in his mind was the end goal
- To become the number 1 Earthling in the Universe...? -
Caught up with his ambitions alone, he'd forgotten what his duties were.
"I...
don't remember"
The room's atmosphere turned grim for a moment. In a flash, Kah appeared closer to Sekan than before as he stared forth intensely. Letting himself catch a breath, Kah proceeded to speak
"Are you serious?
I'll just let you know, but I don't need Employees or Partners who don't treat their jobs with sincerity. There are countless of humans on Earth who have dreams they want to achieve. Many of them who think their ambitions are more important than other peoples', and many of them who think nothing of those in their way.
Humans have a tendency to carelessly think of what they want to do, not how they'll do it. And that process of how to do it always involved doing something for others.
Do you think your ambition of being the number 1 Earthling in the Universe is more important than your job here?
Don't think you're special"
The tense atmosphere continued as Sekan stared down toward the floor in silence as Kah, equally silent, stared at his face.
He was supposed to feel terrified, but Sekan couldn't feel anything but a rising anger within him. The words he just heard at the end flipped a switch in him. Gritting his teeth, gripping his hand into a fist, Sekan closed his eyes as he let out his voice
"I already know that I'm not special.
I've been reminded of that fact again and again and again and again and again. Everyday I would remember that I'm nothing but an average person without any special talent or success. While most people who end up with average results quietly quit their dreams, I managed to always second place when I did something which made me desperately hold onto that hope. "I'll do it next time" is what I always thought to myself.
People around me used to always tell me that I had a lot of potential for success. Now they hold a meek smile and tell me "Nice try" or scold me behind my back. Do you know how burning that feeling of disappointment is...!?
The real loser at any competition was always me, not the person in last place because they never lost anything. They might've been sad for a moment, but soon they'd move on to something they were better at. I would lose a piece of my heart every time I saw the number 2 on my results...!
So---
So even if you're a World Creature or a God or a Demon or whatever--
Don't act like you understand everything...!!
I understand better than anyone else that I'm not special. That's why I'm standing here to begin with, that's why I decided to come here.
I don't care if it's the human ego, or if it's my own stubborn blindsight, but I won't let my dreams out of my sight. I won't forget it while trying to navigate my way toward it. Despite what you said, I can't allow myself that.
That's why--
I'll perform my duties to my best abilities without any shortcomings, and by doing so I expect...
to become Number One!
How is that...?! Kah!!?"
Like letting the dust settle after a duel in the Wild West, Sekan stood still, his eyes still closed in the same pose he started with. The intimidating and foreign aura that Kah carried around him didn't bother him while he spoke. Feeling a little regret after, Sekan gulped to himself which felt as loud as a bell clock in a town centre. Not bearing the darkness and old memories of his mind anymore, Sekan opened one of his eyes slightly again.
*CLAP*
Sekan immediately jumped back, opening his eyes fully, seeing Kah stand in the same spot as before. Kah clapped their hands as they nodded slightly
"Perfect! Amazing! Touching!"
Sekan tilted his head slightly. For some reason, his heart was racing really fast all of a sudden. It was only as Kah had responded in any way that it started beating faster. Closing his eyes had made it feel like he was alone in his room again, reciting a speech or something of the like to himself as he'd done before. It was only now he realized another living creature had heard his raw feelings.
"You know, as a tip for next time..."
Sekan felt himself tense up, staring forward like there was something he really had to observe. A drop of sweat fell down his arm
"You should really say it with your eyes open.
You didn't want to lose sight of your dreams...
Right?"
Caught up in the feelings of the moment, Sekan felt overwhelmed.
He looked around in an effort to understand his environment again. He wasn't exactly sure how he ended up here, how he'd come into space, how he was able to breathe, how he'd met a vampire who tried to kill him, how he'd violated cultural boundaries unintentionally, how he'd started talking about his past. But if anything, he was sure of why he'd ended up there.
In his look around, he saw a black-colored stubby limb reaching out toward him. Seeing the gentle smile on Kah's face, Sekan reciprocated it and eagerly reached out his hand and grabbed the limb, shaking it.
"Now that we understand each other a little better, let me explain what your job will entail."
...