"it's about damn time you came." A kid with a twisted smile on his face said as he stood under the shadow of a tree of unknown origin.
"Teke, you really don't have to do this." Charles said as he approached him slowly.
Teke was one of the kids that hated Charles passionately, his contempt for Charles was beyond anything that should be in the heart of a six year old child.
"Teke, I think he's scared haha." A lackey of Teke said, there were two lackeys that always followed Teke, they followed him because he was the youngest son of the house of Steinfeld, a fairly rich county that dealt with trades in the Empire.
"Yeah, you wanna piss your pants Charles?" The second lackey supported.
'God I hate dealing with children.' Charles sighed, his sigh was laced with Exasperation.
He stood few inches away from Teke, looking him directly in the eyes.
"I don't want to hurt you, that book is important to me. Give it." Charles was serious, you could feel it even if you're a fool, his whole demeanor had changed. But it seems Teke was a fool.
"You?" Teke leaned forward to Charles, poking Charles's chest with his index finger.
"Hurt me? The fool of the Flameworth's who can't even use mana? Don't make me laugh."
Charles's Expression remained unreadable.
"Let's teach him a lesson Teke!" The lackey supported, a mischievous grin on his face.
"I hate his guts, always thinking he's something just because he was born into the Flameworth's." The other lackey said as he spat on the ground, disgusted by Charles.
He had hit first class the previous night and was excited to learn new spells and tricks, he let his guard down. He left the spell book he borrowed from Jennette in the cafeteria for trainees where he always sat alone. He went for a quick urine only to find that it was missing from the table he kept it, and on there was a letter instead of it. He was pissed off, it was Jennette's stuff not his.
Teke and his lackeys were excited for a real chance to go physical and beat a Flameworth to pulp.
They had been mocking him and insulting him, at times pranking him but they were scared to cross the line because he was a Flameworth so this was a perfect opportunity for them.
"Let's jump him!" Judy, one of Teke's lackey said as he was ready to assault Charles.
"Yeah!" The other lackey supported, they had already started walking towards Charles, pounding their fists.
"Wait!" Teke yelled, stopping the boys at their tracks.
"I just got a brilliant idea." There was a smug grin on Teke's face, the kind of grin you'll see on a face that'll make you start fighting urges to punch that face.
"Why don't we make it more.. Grand? So everyone can watch me defeat a Flameworth!" Teke said in excitement as he outstretched his hands, swaying them around like a choir coordinator.
'i don't want to assault a child because Marcelle would hate that, she loves kids, and I love whatever she loves, but what he's saying makes sense, I can use it as a grand stage to solidify my position as a weak, useless Flameworth. I've heard tales of other Flameworths that got kicked out of the family, disowned for their weakness, it needs to happen so that I can begin my plan to travel to Ludia..' Charles thought to himself as he looked at Teke, to Charles,Teke was just a kid messing around.
'i know Marcelle loves kids, but it won't hurt to give him a liiiiiittle lesson before I allow myself to lose.' Charles said as he tried to force a smile on his face, looking at Teke being all smug and cocky.
"It won't be a bad deal for you. It'll be fair, one on one, me and you, you winz you get your book back and I'll stop bothering you. I win, well, I'd still give you your book back because the honour of defeating a Flameworth..." Teke held his mouth to stop his weird sounding laughter from erupting.
"Is plenty." He laughed. It was his perfect victory, checkmate, he had won.
"Sure. Let's make it official." Charles said coldly, his voice dripping with malice as he looked calmly but dangerously at Teke. His gaze never averting from Teke's.
In the shades of the tall tree they were under, Charles's eyes glowed dangerously red as a smile formed on his face going ear to ear.
"Don't regret it." He said as he released a pressure, only little enough to make Teke feel tensed. All the hairs on his body and that of his lackeys stood. They got goosebumps.
Charles walked away.
"I'll tell instructor McGregor." He said with his hands in his pockets as he made his at out. It was a chance to harm his reputation and he took it. He had to lay the ground works for his grand plan.
Teke was still standing, frozen in the spot with his eyes wide open, he watched as Charles slowly walked away from them like their threat didn't mean anything.
'what was that? Was that a fluke? Yes, I'm sure it was, there's no way that loser can exert that much pressure.' Teke smiled as he brushed over the thought and turned to look at his lackeys.
"Teke, do you-?"
"Shut up. Let's go, don't want to keep McGregor waiting." Teke said as he walked away too.
"W-wait up!" His lackeys followed behind him.
A shadowy and mysterious figure, watched the entire exchange between Teke and Charles from the shadows.
"Interesting. Charles Flameworth and Teke Steinfeld. Hahaha, interesting indeed!" The figure exclaimed with a hearty laugh.
"Gotta hide again. This kid really doesn't stop entertaining me." The shadowy figure slimed it's way back into the shadows.
Charles was at his room, a place where he had grown used to, it became like his own house. He had every major breakthrough and epiphany in there.
"The match between me and Teke next week has been confirmed by McGregor, he'd act like the referee." He cleaned the sweat on his with a towel.
"I have to control my strength properly to avoid killing the kid, which is hard." He plopped on his bed, sitting down and inhaling deeply.
He sighed, lying down on the bed, looking at the chandelier up in his room again.
"What excuse should I give to Jennette about her book? I'm dead." He thought about the scolding he was gonna recieve from Jennette.
'I need to lose this match to begin my first step to see Marcelle again. I have to steel myself for whatever I'm going to face after my loss, there are no therapists in this world, and this family is genuine trash, they might even sell me to slave traders for losing once.' Charles thought to himself as he sighed.
"Whatever... untill next week."
______________________
"So you're the swordsman that sneaked into Jalozi like a little rat. I had a hard time finding you." A man with a voice that was cold and dismissive said. His tone was indifferent, but his commanding presence couldn't be ignored.
"Ah! It's you." The swordsman furrowed his eyes, he didn't expect to ever see this figure in a bar that's barely struggling to remain open and in Ludia of all places.
The mysterious man's eyes shined with molten crimson as he walked up to the swordsman drinking like a fool.
"Lance." The mysterious man said as he raised his palm, flames danced around his palm, ready to burn everything around him.
"Alexander Flameworth." Lance dropped his drink on the table, reaching for the sword in his sword strap.
"What a pleasant surprise." Lance said with a smirk on his face. His heart was pumping, he was itching for action.
"I was just thinking about you." His smirk deepened.
END OF CHAPTER