"So, is that a yes or a no?" Aerial said confusedly
"Rio, what do you mean, not really?" She said annoyingly
"Am I wrong, I don't know you, I have no relation to you" he said with a confused expression
"I told you who I was yesterday night, why are you acting like you don't know me," she said
'Yesterday night?' Aerial thought
Matilda realized that the princess probably needed something from Rio for her to approach him, so using him as a connection to try to build a good impression on the princess would probably help get the rapier and probably even befriend her
Rio simply rolled his eyes, why would he expend energy to argue, naturally he knew what she was doing
The princess pondered for a second and said
"I can give you the rapier, however, I need something back I return," the princess said with a smile
"Spirit stones?" Matilda replied
"No I don't need spirit stones, however, what I need is a favor from Rio," she said slyly
Matilda looked at the princess in a confused manner then looked at Rio, which the princess followed suit
"Rio, if you could do this for me I would be eternally grateful," she said with a slight pout
The princess looked at Rio to gauge his reaction and see if she caught a whale with a fish
'She's trying to use Matilda, for me to do something for her? Do I look so heroic? I mean it would probably work for any other person, let's play along for now'
He looked at Matilda hesitantly and this didn't go unnoticed by either of them, so Matilda tried to rile him up
"If you could do me this one favor, I will truly repay you, however I can," she said while passing the princess and approaching Rio
Rio internally sneered, 'It's a shame that people actually fall for this, just because they can't control themselves
"Ermm, I'll have to know what the favor is before I agree," he said hesitantly, making sure to show a slight blush on his face
"It's nothing really, I just want to know more about the potions you work on, I hear you the Zathis academy's young alchemist prodigy," Aerial said sincerely
"Is that it? What do you want to know" Rio said probing the response he would get
"That's what I wanted to talk to you in private about, but I can give her the rapier right now if you sign a simple contract," Aerial said
"Contract? For what?" Rio said cautiously
"Don't worry, it just states you owe me one favor, nothing too extreme, you can even look over it" Aerial reassured
'I wonder if I look like an idiot, I should check myself in the mirror when I have the time' Rio chuckled internally
Rio seemed to discern that it had something to do with the potion she makes, maybe they want to make him make potions for the royals or something
Rio didn't care much for this anyway so he straight up denied
"No thanks"
This seemed to take the two girls back, Aerial thought she hooked him, why was it like this, and Matilda thought she managed to entice him enough
"If it's the contract, we don't need to do it, we can just head to the palace and talk about the favor there," she said whilst glancing at Matilda to say something
Which she naturally tried to do, it was the rapier at risk
"Rio, just a small favor wouldn't hurt, can you do it for me," she said whilst hugging his arm
Matilda had a certain temperament, if it was anyone else she would hesitate to do this, however, since it was Rio, the person she was supposed to try to woo in the first place, she had no qualms
Rio took his arm out of the hold Matilda had on it, and looked at her
"Who are you? Why would I do a favor on your behalf? Don't bother me".
Those words were painful to both Matilda and Aerial, for Matilda, it was painful emotionally, and for Aerial it was painful mentally
"Is that all you want to talk about princess?" Rio said
"Uh, no, I still need to talk to you about something else" Aerial stammered
"Well, let's do it another time then, I'm busy," Rio said, making a small bow and heading to the door
But before he could take a couple of steps, a 6,0 man stood in Rio's way, although he didn't look muscular, underneath the white cloak would tell someone a whole other story
'This is annoying' Rio sighed
Rio turned back to look at the princess, showing an expression of annoyance, raising his right lip
This took the princess aback, however, this didn't go unnoticed by the mage standing behind her
Eli stepped in front of the princess, making him stand in the middle of both Harris and El
"Don't kill him or critically injure him, just suppress him" the princess said in a cold tone
Her act was dropped in an instant when she realized Rio didn't want to listen
The mage instantly isolates the three of them in order not to cause a wreck to the auction
'Let's make this quick' Eli transmitted to Harris who nodded and instantly dashed toward Rio
'A knight with better physical stats and a mage with more mana than me, one long range and one close range, how can I get out of this?'
As Harris rushed towards Rio he threw a simple straight punch, however, Rio knew not to take this lightly
He managed to dodge the punch, which slightly shocked Harris
Harris's stats were higher than his, both strength, agility, and endurance, the only way Rio managed to dodge the punch was due to an enchantment spell
due to mages having weak bodies, This spell was basic when a mage reached the 1st rank mage master
Eli didn't give Rio a chance to retaliate as she made Rio's leg stuck to the floor beneath using an earth spell
Harris managed to compose himself and instantly focused back on Rio throwing an uppercut to his stomach
However, Rio naturally can't just stand there and take the punch
Rio's feet started to burn along with the earth wrapped around his feet, the uppercut that was aiming for his stomach was blocked with Rio's palms and used as momentum to elevate Rio
'I have to take care of the Mage first, they're always the difficult ones in battle, but it won't be easy' Rio thought
Rio cast a fireball downwards aiming for Harris, however, it was naturally blocked by Eli's earth barrier
This made everything very dusty and was hard to pinpoint Harris and Eli, the same way for Harris and Eli had to pinpoint Rio
Once Rio landed on the ground although not hard, the sound was enough for Harris to run in that direction, and after seeing me, he attempted a leg kick which Rio simply jumped over
Once, Rio jumped, he realized he made a mistake, but it was too late for him to do anything now as a full-powered kick from the readied Knight showed its strength and it connected to Rio's body
Although Rio had 432 Endurance with an enchantment spell and night cloak, a darkness defensive spell, the impact from the kick blasted Rio about 100meters before colliding against the barrier Eli put up
Rio bounced against the barrier and dropped to the floor writhing with pain, but before Rio could even settle the pain in his body, he saw white shoes with some dirt on the sold nearing him from above
Rio couldn't dodge this attack and could only project as many defensive spells as possible
'BOOOOM'
As if a meteor collided with the earth, a huge dust storm appeared, when the dust eventually dispersed a scene of a white-robed man with two feet together and a straight posture standing on a black-robed man's body could be seen
When Eli saw this seen she had nodded and erased the mini domain she set
Matilda was already gone from the surroundings, once she realized that they were attempting to capture Rio, she fled, luckily she was stronger than the princess, so the princess couldn't do anything even if she wanted to And of course, the rapier was still with the princess
This didn't bother the princess, after the domain was released and she could see the scene a look of affirmation was placed on Aerial's face and she nodded in satisfaction
"Huh?" Harris's voice sounded out