Ash spent the next ten minutes explaining everything that had transpired in Artaris during Estelle’s absence.
The more he spoke, the more shocked she got by what he was saying.
"So I missed the confluence?" she asked, her voice shaking slightly.
"Mom is going to kill ." She sighed as she stood up straight. "Forgive my earlier words, Eliron. I didn’t know you were... well... Eliron..."
’She knows I am the elven lord and yet she refers to by my na. She is just like her mother.’
It was not like Eliron cared about the formalities anyway...
He smiled. "Oh? No problem at all!"
Estelle nodded.
"Well then, I’ll leave you guys to continue your training." She was about to walk away when Eliron held her shoulder.
"And where do you think you’re going?" he said with a devious smirk on his face.
Estelle paused, a small frown on her face as she watched him through narrow eyes.
"What do you an by that?"
Eliron shrugged. "As you can see, we are in the process of creating fifty new knights and mages..."
He smiled politely. "Of course, you will be one of them."
"Huh?"
Cold sweat began to form on Estelle’s face.
Sohow, even though she had gone out of her way to train in isolation, showcasing her hardworking nature...
Eliron was sure Estelle, just like her mother, also hated elven interaction.
But her mistake was showing him just how powerful she was. After seeing her use darkness magic firsthand, did she expect him to just let her go?
’Never!’
Her, in addition to Terra, Agnes, and Ash, would make four golden geese!
There was no way he was going to let the opportunity slip past his fingers.
Estelle took one glance at the beaten-up elves and cleared her throat.
With a composed expression, she then said, "I’m afraid that would not be possible, my lord."
Eliron frowned. "It wasn’t a request..."
"Oh... uhum..."
"..."
Everyone stared at Estelle as she raised her gaze to the sky, her eyes narrowed slightly as she contemplated.
Then she pointed her finger at the air.
"Is that a dragon?"
"A dragon?! Where?!" Ash imdiately looked up into the sky, trying to locate it.
Yen also stared up, her eyes locked on the vast blue sky.
But Eliron kept his eyes wide open and fixed on the aloof lady in front of him, his hand gripping her shoulder firmly.
"Nice try..."
"Tch." She clicked her tongue in response.
"Huh, you liar! There is no dragon there!" Yen huffed as she glared at Estelle.
Estelle sighed as she watched Eliron. "You’re a persistent one... but you made one mistake."
"And what mistake is—"
Vwooosh!
Suddenly, a large billowing cloud of darkness shot out of Estelle’s body like smoke, blanketing them in darkness.
The darkness played with their senses in strange ways. It was almost as though they were underwater.
It was so dark that Eliron could not even see his hands in front of him. He could not hear a thing either, and his heart felt heavy.
Occasionally, mirages would move through the haze, painting horrid images of twisted life forms he could hardly describe.
’Illusion magic?’ Eliron mused, maintaining his composure.
’No... this is different...’
Unlike illusion magic, this space had physical form, aning it was a higher form of illusionary magic, or sothing different entirely.
Estelle had cast the spell without as much as uttering a single word, aning it had long been converted into a skill.
Eliron smiled within the dark cloud.
’She is even more skilled than I thought.’
He raised his hands in the space in front of him, summoning a skill.
He had to have her at all costs. If she was anything like Zenith, if he missed her now, it could very well take months before he would manage to find her!
•••
"Like hell I would train with so many people..."
Estelle loved her magic to the point that she was addicted to seeing it grow.
That was why she was able to spend months working on improving. But if there was one thing Estelle hated, it was other people.
Large crowds repulsed her, so she preferred the calm solitude of the forests to civilization.
’His offer is tempting...’
From what she had heard, if he was even half as good as the stories Ash told her, then having him even just as a sparring partner would have been a blessing.
But how could she be sure it was true?
Much of what Ash said were more like fables instead of truth...
She even rembered one of the things Ash had said being, "He summoned lightning from the sky."
"Yeah right. It looks like it’s back to the forest for ... this ti maybe I’ll spend six months? No..."
She rembered how persistent Eliron had been and frowned. "I’ll probably need a year..."
Estelle pushed herself from her resting position and dusted her clothing.
She turned around, about to move, when she was suddenly face to face with an elf, malicious blue eyes staring right into her magenta irises.
"Eeek!"
She yelled as she stumbled back, tripping on a thick root. Her eyes widened as she fell backward, her arms flailing in the air.
In an instant, the figure grabbed her hand, then wrapped his second arm around her back, stopping her fall.
Estelle let out shaky breaths. "Thank you—Ehhh?!"
"E-Eliron??"
The young lord had a slightly annoyed smile on his face as he watched her.
’How did he break out of it?’ she thought as she watched him.
That spell was one of the more potent skills she had in her arsenal. It should have taken him at least ten minutes to get out of it, yet he was out in barely three...
"There you are..." he said with a smirk.
Estelle sighed. "Alright, alright, you’ve caught . You can let go of now..."
Eliron raised a brow. "Let go?"
His hands tightened around her waist. "You’ll just run away again if I do..."
Estelle’s eyebrow twitched as she remained suspended in the air.
"I give you my word, I won’t run...."
"..."
"At least let stand upright..."
"Alright then."
Eliron pulled her to her feet but kept her close to him, holding her like he was a child holding his doll after a nightmare.
"I preferred when you were cute and fluffy. But alas, even the baby lion will one day learn to roar..." Estelle muttered tiredly under her breath.
Then she raised her head to et his gaze since he was slightly taller, then let out a breath.
"Honestly..." she said in her most convincing voice. "I do not think you can teach anything worth my ti..."
"I have heard of your exploits, but I am yet to see it with my own eyes. How can I trust that you are indeed capable?"
"Hmm. I guess you have a point. There is no reason for you to believe that I am a capable teacher."
"Exactly! Now that you understand, I’ll be on my—"
"How about a duel?"
Estelle blinked. "Huh?"
"We’ll have a duel. If I win, then I’ll retract my command. I’ll even make sure Zenith doesn’t go overboard with your punishnt..."
Then he smiled.
"But if I win... then you will be my student. So? What do you say?"
For the first ti since they had t, Estelle had a wide grin on her face.
"A duel with ? You sure are confident..."
"Alright. If I lose, I’ll not just be your student, I’ll call you master. But if I win, you have to be my lackey for the rest of the year."
"Deal?"
Eliron released her from his hold.
"Deal."
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