-Renz pov-
"Are they seriously going to fight?"
"Is Jarde really going to fight a level 65?"
"That girl is an officer though."
"But she looks like a total newbie. Her set is from the earlier levels of the game too."
"Oh sheyyt, Jarde's gon' butcher that poor lassie..."
"I heard that whoever loses the battle will quit the guild!"
"Wow, that's some high stakes there right off the bat. The girl just joined and now she's gonna be forced to quit?"
"Yeah, too bad, I really wanted to play with her."
Murmurs of guild members filled the large hall while I kicked myself mentally for my inability to stop this from happening.
I'm on top of an elevated balcony overlooking the whole square guild training hall downstairs where Novo and Jarde are. Surrounding the square hall are guild members also on the same balcony surrounding the entire room who are all eager to watch a battle between guild members. Downstairs are Novo and Jarde preparing for the match.
Shit, Liz is going to kill me. She's going to literally PK me if she finds out about this. The worst part is, Jarde publicized their fight in the guild chat with the intent to humiliate her so there are more than 20 members here watching the fight who have nothing better to do. This makes it even harder to sweep under the rug.
However not all hope is lost. As a last resort, I message someone who can de-escalate the situation. Good thing she arrived here as soon as she heard about the situation.
"You're here, finally!" I cried in relief.
"Heya Renz," FairyDust greeted.
"Can you stop the match?" I asked FairyDust who just emerged from the stairs.
She assessed the situation for a while before speaking her mind.
"Hmm... nope, not a chance," she said nonchalantly. "With this much crowd gathered, it's nigh impossible to just cancel it unless I want the guild members to think that I play favorites."
"Can you at least do something? They had a bet. If she loses she will step down from being an officer. She might even quit our guild outright if that happens! We will lose a skilled member," I pleaded.
"No worries, I have some semblance of a plan. She's one of your teammates for the tournament right?" She guessed correctly.
"How did you know?"
"It's pretty obvious isn't it, if Liz made a level 65 an officer, it is a testament to how skilled that girl is. She also keeps bragging nonstop that she found a talented support for the tournament. It is easy to connect the dots," she said smugly.
"And what do you suggest we do to stop this fiasco?"
"Nothing." she smiled playfully.
I looked at her with a mix of irritation and annoyance.
"Wait, hear me out before you complain. Nobody in here expects a spellcaster to actually win in a 1v1 right? All she needs to do is show her full capabilities and I'll handle the rest. This will also silence all the members questioning why Liz made a level 65 an officer of our guild. Judging from what I heard about her, I have full confidence I could spin a narrative that will favor her greatly," she said confidently.
My eyes widened. As expected from a former leader of a top guild. Phew, I'm kind of relieved now.
"Though, I can't stop her if she herself wants to honor the bet they made," she added.
"Yeah, leave that part to me, I'll try to convince her to not throw away the officer title."
"Renz what's going on here!?" A loud voice interrupted our conversation. It was Liz, along with Raynolds behind her. They probably just finished crafting Novo's set and came to find us just in time to arrive at the commotion.
"W-wait Liz, I can explain!" I said nervously.
She looked at the guild hall arena and saw Novo and Jarde preparing for a duel. She more than likely has an idea of the whole picture now. I'm definitely screwed.
"Tsk! I'm going there to stop this whole farce right now," she exclaimed.
"Wait a sec Eli, this is the perfect opportunity to nip the rumors in the bud if she could just show the other members here her potential," FairyDust stopped her.
"I don't care about the rumors," Liz countered.
"But I'm sure your friend does. And I'm willing to bet that it is the main reason why she's down there in the first place."
"But-"
"No buts, don't you trust your own teammate to pull through?" FairyDust appealed to her conscience.
What a manipulative question, if she goes down to stop the match now, she would be implying that she doesn't have faith in Novo in the slightest. What a sly fox, though I keep it to myself or she would skin me alive if she ever heard me say it.
Liz forcefully closed her eyes to think hard for a bit before she conceded.
"Fine, but if this scheme of yours backfires, I won't forgive you,"
"Of course, I wouldn't want my favorite cousin to get mad at me," FairyDust smiled disarmingly.
"I'm disappointed in you, Clarence. I entrusted you to protect Miss Katherine while I was away and you failed to do so in my stead," Raynolds walked beside me while simultaneously guilt-tripping me.
"Shut it, you simp," I said curtly.
"How rude!" he exaggeratedly said while feigning a hurt look.
"Quiet you two, the show is about to start," FairyDust interrupted our bickering.
It brought my attention back to the training hall and I saw that they were already both in position for a duel.
"Are you ready girlie?" Jarde mocked.
"....." She remained silent as she stashed her healing staff for the final preparations.
She must have put it back into her inventory. It was a good idea too since it is useless and I think she has a higher chance if she fought using only her daggers since she would not be able to channel uninterrupted in this duel. As I was thinking that she would fight without a staff, she materialized a different one from her inventory. It was a different type of staff, apparent from the orb attached to it. Judging from the white color of the orb, it was a time orb for chronomancy spells. So she put some spell mastery points in chronomancy too huh? That was unusual since I had only ever seen her use staves with holy orbs for healing-based spells but what really caught my attention was the staff that the white orb was attached to. It emitted a dreadful dark red aura. Crafted in a pure black wood with designs of dreadful small souls as if they are screeching in agony plastered throughout the entirety of the staff. I noticed that the time orb is attached to the mouth of a red skull the size of a human's head found on the tip of the staff. I shivered at the sight while the murmurs of the crowd grew louder.