Her suggestion couldn't be anything but a joke in my opinion, not to mention that I was certain of my win, even though I know that the guy in front of me was quite capable, but I still unable to think of a way that could allow him to compete with me on equal terms .
Not when I'm holding and of course not when I wasn't, whatever hidden card he have in his sleeves, Black Hole would render it completely useless, but it would be a good way to get more experience with magic and who knows maybe acquire a few more sequences that I might be able to fuse with Black Hole .
This idea appeared in my mind for a second and was directly thrown away in the next, a full skirmish between two normal magicians required a wide field or an open area, but between the two of us, just the Psions of ours clashing would be enough to shatter doors and make a considerable amount of damages to the whole area around us .
No matter how protective shields were employed, the results would still be the same nonetheless, so I won't recommend that happening in the slightest, not to mention how destructive such a battle could be, but I really don't want to have such a meaningless skirmishes, I don't think that Tatsuya would think that much different to me .
As her suggestion fell, the already tensed atmosphere become even more tense, the only person who was currently smiling was her, the other 3 people in the room wore a deadpan expression on their faces, each had their own reasons for this, one thing was certain all three of us were agreeing on not liking this suggestion one bit, as for stating our discomfort with it openly .
Well, let's just say that waiting for the two of them to say anything in retort was out of question, so I decided to be the one stating what I believe that all of us here were thinking, I said :
" I would prefer that we don't do such a thing, no matter how hard the protection measurements were, if we too were really to fight, this place might really break apart, so I'm against the idea, but if you were just wanting an answer,then I could say that I would be the one to come out victorious, 99,9% of times .
" This wasn't me being arrogant, but my Magic allowed me to be clear about this, my superpowers could allow me to finish this this sparring in less than a second, so I really don't have that much of an interest in indulging in such meaningless acts .
" No disrespect Tatsuya-san, but in terms of magic, I could be able to beat anyone blindfolded, but on the other hand, I would still need to hand you the win, if what we were to compare is close fighting experience, I might be able to still win, but the advantages would still be with you .
As I said this, I came back to my senses and found that I had said too much, saying ' not interested ', should have been more than enough, but sense everything was already said anyway, there was no need to dwell much about this anymore .
Looking at the long faces of my mother and Miyuki wasn't much of an issue, the first seemed to be displeased at me talking back to her, the other seemed to be completely dumbstruck by what I just said, too much to the point that she turned to look at her older brother for help clearing her current confusion .
Tatsuya was looking at me intently for a while and sensing that he seemed to agree but there was some reluctance in his eyes, seeing this I know that an exchange of blows was bound to happen, but what kind of exchange would he chose that what actually mattered to me .
I sensed that the Psions were chaotically moving around him and already understood that he was planning to have a Mental Interference Zone competition with me, but instead of indulging in such a meaningless comparison, I decided to let him see the difference between our strength more clearly .
I in response to him invoking his mental interference zone trying to stop me from being able to interact with Psions, blocking me from being able to invoke Magic, I decided that what I would be using would be none other than the jamming sequence of the Antinte that I had acquired before .
But with a slight change, I was using a huge amount of Psions to invoke Magic through this sequence, I raised a finger and made a shooting gesture and then the the Mental Interference Zone of his was obliterated instantly and this quick exchange ended up in my favor .
He didn't try to do anything again, my mother looked quite good after witnessing this quick exchange and seeing her expression, I couldn't help but look at the guy that was being consoled by his little sister for losing, I had a crazy idea after seeing him nodding at me, this was all planned by him .
The whole situation of exchanging blows was set by him, so the matter with my mother could be solved, whether was he truly believe that he can beat me or not had nothing to do with the matter, it seemed that even though I won, I was still get bested by him .
Now with this out of the way, you Ryuu would be getting ready and turn into a more mannered and imposed Young Man before the School term start, so I picked a few people from the family that should be able to give you advices that should help you reach this target faster .
I hope you don't mind dedicating all your efforts from here and until the first school day in trying to achieve this goal, as a Yotsuba Family representative and one of declared heir's, being dazzling was also one of your many responsibilitie as Yotsuba's Charming Prince .
She said this with a taunting tone, I didn't have much thought on these arrangements, I believed that learning something new was something good, but for some reason she used that title that was written on yesterday's news and in some of today's articles in the newspaper .
It seemed that she really wanted to gain a point on me no matter what, she smiled playfully at that, I thought this would be all, I wanted to go strolling in the Mansion, but just as I thought of excusing myself, I heard her saying :
What do you think of the marriage proposal sent by the Emperor ? .
Huh ? .
" Huh, what marriage proposal ? .
Discarding the shock of Miyuki, I couldn't help but ask bewildered, not following what exactly was she talking about, but as if a flash of inspiration suddenly hit me, I recalled reading about something like that in today's newspaper, but I had completely discarded it from my mind, don't tell me .
Oh, it seemed you have finally grasped what was I talking about,so what do you day, the Emperor want you to be his son-in-law and the princess is quite welcoming the idea, so what do you say, should I respond positively and tell them that we might be interested in discussing matters more thoroughly ? .
Looking at her expressionless demeanor, I couldn't help but wonder about what was going inside that mind of hers, wanting to find out, I said :
" So do you think that I should accept ? .
Previously, I would have already accepted the proposal on your behalf without giving what you thought about this much mind, but since we are changing the policy of many things in here, I would like to give you the freedom to do what you want, so again what are your thoughts about this .
Her answer was more or less neutral, but this made making the decision even more difficult, I also couldn't help but wonder if that was the big thing that she had planned for me to do, I began to contemplate on the offer seriously, after she asked me for a second time about my thoughts, I said :
" I will pass, but try to give them my sincere apologies for not accepting the kindness they have shown by suggesting this kind of arrangement .
Oh, so the offer wasn't even a little bit tempting, doesn't your heart ache when you blatantly refuse such an opportunity ? .
I shook my head indicating that there was no heart aches at all, then said resolutely :
" I don't know about heart aches, but what I do believe was that accepting might lead to more problems than it actually solve, I'm not clear about how will the Emperor feel after marrying his daughter to a lap product like myself, but even if he were to accept it, I would still say no to such an arrangement .
Any other particular reason, like not wanting to make a living by selling your face or something like that ? .
" Surely you are jesting, if they were only sending me a marriage proposal based on my looks, then they could have found the most handsome man out there, if the proposal was based on the face value .
As I said this, I felt a slight change of expression on the faces of the people surrounding me, two particularly stood out from the others, my mother's and Miyuki's .
Tatsuya simply sat there arching one of his eyebrows at me, seeing them like this, I couldn't help but ask, saying :
" What is going on with all of these weird expressions on your faces ? .
Ryuu-san doesn't know ? .
" Doesn't know what exactly ? .
Oh, so you really didn't know about and here I thought that you would have been already aware of your own face value now, you should have already read today's newspaper didn't you ? .
I was really beginning to become a bit annoyed at having no clue about what exactly were they talking about and this was driving me crazy, but then I caught a clue from her words, whatever they were talking about must had something to do with today's newspaper .
I used the magic sequence I got before and searched about the handsome man in the world and what I actually saw unable to comprehend what exactly was going on here, I saw my face attached to someone else's body .
Seeing this I didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but then I saw that the title of the article was the handsome man alive, the blog where the article was published as well had over 70 millions likes and the comments almost made me want to dig a hole for myself to hide in it .
Some were fawning over me and other were expressing their approval of the claim and also warning those who were fawning about my actual age and others were just beefing with each other on whether was this really my natural face or I had done something to enhance my looks .
I was surprised to find out that I seemed to have gained some sort of a fanclub, it seem to consist of mostly girls, they seemed to have take the responsibility of defending me upon themselves, I was able to see some heated arguments and insults going back and forth between all parties concerned .
I stopped using Magic and saw that they were still looking at me strangely, this time the three of them were staring at me with wide eyes, all the people present were able to tell that I used Magic just now but only one of them know what magic did I actually used and that's why they were reacting like this, but before any of them say anything, I directly fled the place .
After escaping that awkward situation, I was about to release a sigh, but then my phone vibrated and another message arrived, I still sighed and began thinking what now, I got the phone out of my pocket and saw that as I expected, another message was sent to me from that female officer .
At first she was congratulating me on how popular have I become, ridiculing me for my newest title, then she finally mentioned a coded message that only she could be able to solve the encrypted message it contains before, now only the two of us in the world can be able to do so .
Her encrypted message was giving me a message from the Major General Saeki, she didn't want me to accept the marriage proposal, no details, no explanation, just her telling me not to accept .
If not for the fact that I too didn't like that idea very much, I would have been actually tempted to try and see what might the reaction of the Military be, if I were to have already accepted the said proposal, but I guess there was no need to pull such a prank on her anymore, I gave her my answer and shut down the phone again .
( Fast-forward a whole week ) .
The few days that had passed were quite something, I had dedicated myself to learn about all sorts of etiquette and ways to enhance my eloquence, then the day when the Tsukuba family head would cast Pledge on me came .
The family heads were gathered in the room and one person in particular stood out from the crowd for me at least, Mitsugu Kuroba, the Kuroba family head, the middle aged woman who was responsible for invoking Pledge, a spell that I get to know about it being a Forbidden Magic, that affected the spirit, the root of human existence .
I was listening to the terms that were being added to the Pledge after she invoked the magic and the time to accept the terms came, some of those terms made sure that I'm loyal to the Yotsuba Family, other terms were inclined to do everything the family head tell me, 30%, this was all that I can use of my magical energy, strength and the effect stretched to even my superpower .
During the whole operation, the Tsukuba family head had an impassive face, but I was able to tell that she was a bit angry at what was going on, but she didn't dare to say anything about, else she ended up offending someone like the family head for an example .
When the time to accept the pledge willingly came, I did accept it, then the Psions began to inscribe somethings into my Eidos, but a second later, a Black Hole appeared in my body and swallowed the spell with the Psions that were trying to corrode my soul and directly removed the sting of pain that I was feeling .
A second later, the body of the woman in front of me was the one who was about to be corroded, but I was able to stop that using Black Hole .
As the scene passed by the eyes of everyone present, I saw that they were staring in disbelief, all wondering what happened, the Tsukuba family head said :
Thank you Ryuu-sama for your help, the backlash might have claimed my life, thank you, I'm also sorry family head, but the results of the ritual ended up in failure .
Letting this incident pass, I was getting ready to join First High .