393 Chapter 393: Friends and Fans

After the meeting, I returned to my hotel room, only to find myself mobbed by Harvey Deng, Adrian Stuart and Melina Franklin right when I was turning around a corridor when on my way to the elevator.

\"Oh, hey! Senior Richard!\"

\"Brother Richard!\"

I turned and waved at them as they approached. They glanced at each other, puzzled, probably because this was the first time they had met each other. I quickly stepped in and diffused the awkward atmosphere with a few introductions.

\"Oh, Harvey, this is Adrian Stuart and his classmate. They are friends of mine. I kind of know Adrian's family. Adrian, this is Harvey Deng. He's a junior of mine from Jing Tian Academy, and in the same society as me.\"

\"Nice to meet you,\" Adrian said brightly.

\"Same.\" Harvey nodded.

\"What's up?\" I asked the both of them. \"Were you guys looking for me?\"

\"As a matter of fact, yeah.\" Harvey nodded brightly. \"I'm here to represent the rest of the school in encouraging you and wishing you good luck!\"

\"Huh? Shouldn't you be going to Harrison then?\"

\"Oh, I'm not the only one. There are about ten or so of us, and we all dispersed to visit each representative individually.\" Harvey's explanation was sound, so I nodded without harboring any skepticism. \"I'm sure they've already met up with the respective seniors and are also wishing them good luck.\" He then punched a fist into the air. \"Good luck, Senior Richard! You can do it! I know you'll be able to defeat Anuaiz Academy and make it to the quarterfinals!\"

\"I will do my best,\" I replied somewhat stiffly, feeling uncomfortable at the amount of faith the innocent Harvey was displaying in me. \"But no guarantees.\"

\"You should have more confidence, senior!\" Harvey chuckled, his laughter bouncing off the highly decorated walls of the well illuminated corridor. \"Everyone believes in you!\"

Yeah. Thanks for mounting the pressure on me. I could literally feel the tremendous weight of unrealistic expectations crushing my shoulders.

Trying to shrug the burden away, I turned to Adrian and his classmate.

\"What about you guys? Do you need me for anything?\"

\"No, we just came to congratulate you for making it to the last sixteen!\" Adrian replied brightly. \"We meant to do it yesterday, but you disappeared with your teammates so quickly that we didn't have the chance to.\"

Oh, yeah. After the match yesterday, the team decided to head out and celebrate, so it might appear to the spectators that we simply vanished after the match. We didn't stick around to hang out with the traveling contingent, preferring our own private party at the restaurant.

\"Sorry about that. We had…our own plans.\"

\"Nothing to apologize for,\" Adrian assured me. \"We knew where you guys usually hold your strategy meetings anyway, and how long they last, so we waited around here.\"

\"Um…\" Melina began, looking at me nervously. I turned to her.

\"Hello, Melida Angel.\"

\"Eh? Uh, my name is Melina Franklin.\"

I knew that, but I was just teasing her. I had half a mind to call her the incompetent talented girl, but clearly no one but me would catch the reference so I would be wasting my time. Man, I missed Wang Fei. I wished he didn't die.

\"Thanks for your support. I've to admit, both you and Adrian surprise me. I thought you would be supporting your cousins.\" I glanced at Adrian. \"Shouldn't you be supporting Crowley's Grand Arcane Academy and Cecilia? And Miss Melina, what happened to cheering for your cousin, Kureha? She's from Saint Teresa Academy, isn't she?\"

\"Ah, yes.\"

Saint Teresa Academy, like Pendragon Academy, had a huge focus on swordsmanship, but unlike Pendragon Academy they weren't that gung-ho over knights and the chivalric code. Also, their uniforms were a lot less flamboyant in that they didn't wear all those flashy knight armor in the style of past legends of Camelot.

\"But I hope Cousin Kureha loses,\" Melina continued quietly. I raised an eyebrow and stared at her in surprise.

\"Say what?\"

\"I said I hope Cousin Kureha loses…\"

\"No, I heard you. I just have trouble believing what I heard. Why do you want Kureha to lose?\" Despite myself, I was baffled. Melina looked at me sheepishly, seemingly at a loss on how to answer my question.

\"It's complicated,\" Adrian jumped in. Probably to help his classmate, because she clearly didn't seem to have any intention of answering. That was fine. I had no desire to pry into her own private affairs so I shrugged.

\"I see. Okay then. Thanks anyway.\"

\"Actually…it's because Cousin Kureha doesn't recognize or acknowledge me.\" Melina raised her head and said in a stubborn voice. \"She thinks I have no talent in swordsmanship and refuses to teach me anything. None of my family members do. They tell me to focus on magic alone, even though I want to specialize in sword magic! I know I'm being petty, but…I just can't bring myself to cheer for Cousin Kureha.\"

\"That's okay. I understand.\" I placed a hand on her head and stroked her blond hair. \"It's only human nature to hold resentment against those who wronged you. For what it's worth, I don't think you should listen to people who tell you not to do something just because you supposedly lack the talent for it. As if talent is the only justification you need to do something. If you want to learn something, you should just learn it. To hell with all that talent bullshit. So what if they think you're wasting your time? It's not their time. They have no right to dictate what you should learn.\"

\"T…thank you.\" Melina looked at me in wonder, impressed as hell. As if this was anything to be impressed about.

\"That's right!\" Harvey was nodding fervently, as if he was hanging on to my every word. I stifled a groan when I saw that he had his smartphone out and was recording the conversation. Damn it, was he going to treat my dialogue as gospel or something?! I wouldn't be surprised if he published some Book of Richard in future or something. And no, I was not flattered. I would be embarrassed by the mere existence of such an abomination. \"Senior Richard is correct! Talent is not the end all and be all! Do what you want because you want to do it! Not because of talent or any such nonsense!\"

\"The same applies to you,\" I reminded him. He grinned.

\"Yeah! I've taken your advice to heart and continued to train in the Black Roses facilities! I hope I'll be able to represent Jing Tian Academy next year!\"

\"Good luck.\" I wasn't sure if I could, but I would like to see that happen. As much as Harvey embarrassed me sometimes, I still liked him. He was a good friend and a great junior. Just a bit blinkered. One day he would figure out that I was not without flaws. \"I know you can do it. Continue working hard.\"

For some reason, Melina was watching me with a similar expression, and I wasn't sure whether I should feel disturbed or flattered.

\"I knew it…you'll be perfect for the role!\"

\"Huh? What role?\" I felt as if I was missing some context. I had no idea what she was talking about. Did I not hear her say something?

\"I would like to hire you as my private tutor! To teach me swordsmanship and sword techniques! I know you've learned the Miyamoto School of swordsmanship, and I'm happy to learn that instead of the Franklin sword style!\"

In other words, if her family refused to teach her swordsmanship because they perceived her as lacking talent, then she had no qualms disowning their personal sword techniques and learning from another school. I could somewhat understand that.

\"Uh, I think you'll be able to find a much better teacher than me…\"

\"Come on, Brother Richard!\" Adrian was pleading along with Melina. I was beginning to wonder if he had a crush on her, and thus was motivated to help her out. \"I'm making this request as well! Please help Melina!\"

\"I don't think I'm qualified for that…\"

Harvey snorted. \"If you aren't qualified, then who is?\"

I glared at him. Wasn't he supposed to be on my side? Then again, of course he would think I was qualified. The guy literally worshipped. Fortunately, he understood my current circumstances and lend me some aid in his own strange way.

\"But now isn't a good time. Senior Richard has to participate in the tournament, so I don't think he has the time to teach anyone right now.\"

\"That's a good point. I'm very sorry for causing you trouble.\" Melina looked suitably chastened. However, she refused to give up, and brightened after an idea lit up in her mind. \"Then after the tournament, I'll formally approach you and ask you again.\"

\"I seriously don't…\"

\"Come on, Brother Richard. Don't just reject Melina outright. At least take the time until the end of the tournament to think about it.\" Adrian was pleading with me too. Damn him. However, he had a point. It was only polite to ask for some time to consider instead of rejecting poor Melina outright. Furthermore, I was sure Fate would contrive some sort of reason for me to somehow become her private tutor and lead to some sort of rip off of Assassin's Pride. No, it definitely had nothing to do with the fact that I had just watched the anime adaptation just recently (plus had some weird dream about it).

\"Fine. I'll think about it. However, I think there are much more skilled swordsmen out there who will be able to teach you better. I get that Kureha refuses to teach you, but what about Charles Lacroix? He's definitely much better than me in terms of sword techniques.\"

Melina fidgeted a little, and shook her head. \"He won't accept me. I've talked to him before, and even though he was polite and very nice, it was clear that he also does not think I have the ability to learn the sword.\"

\"What about Cecilia? I hate to admit it, but in terms of swordsmanship, she has me completely outclassed.\"

\"Sister Cecilia shares the same opinion as Cousin Kureha.\" Melina looked downcast when she said that. \"They are both very close friends, after all.\"

Oh, right. I was indeed aware of that fact. I had seen Cecilia and Kureha hang out with each other a lot. Weren't they the ones who approached me for some mission right before the start of the tournament or something? Meeting me in a hotel lobby to make a deal with me…yeah, I could see that they were very close friends.

\"Honestly, Brother Richard, you're the only one who encourages Melina to learn the sword just because she wants to.\" Adrian put forth another reason that increased my responsibility toward her. I was beginning to wonder if I was the only sane one (other than Adrian, Melina and Harvey) in this world. What was this unhealthy obsession with talent, and what stupid metric did they use to judge if someone had the talent for something? Some stupid wuxia device that measured people's potential by glowing?

\"And your skills are the real deal. I've been following you throughout the tournament, watching all of your matches. I want to learn those sword techniques!\" Melina was gushing right now, clasping her hands as her eyes shone in wonder. I raised an eyebrow at that, but decided not to destroy her favorable impression of me.

\"I just got lucky. You think too highly of me.\"

\"Luck would have worked for one match, maybe two. But all of them? Throughout the qualifiers? And you even went through the missions too, in between. The Silver Wolves woudn't simply approach anyone for help.\"

She even knew my connections with the Silver Wolves. Damn it, just how much research did this girl do on me?

\"Face it, Senior Richard.\" Harvey was laughing at my predicament. \"You're the one who think too lowly of yourself.\"

No, I was just being realistic and practical, and knew my limits. I didn't know why these kids made me out to be some genius mage when I was perfectly normal and barely above average. All this while I had been relying completely on sheer luck and plot armor to see me through various battles and missions. Only the most deluded fans would think of me as some sort of skilled prodigy capable of nuking entire cities…

…oh, wait. I was indeed able of nuking entire cities. Never mind. But it was one thing to ask me to level a town with a single spell, and quite another thing to ask me to teach swordsmanship. My speciality was in spells of mass destruction, not the finesse and grace of sword techniques. That was more Cecilia, Kureha and Charles's department.

Nonetheless, I was too tired to argue, so I just raised my hand for now.

\"Okay. I'll think about it. Ask me again after the tournament. Right now, I need to focus on the next match. Sorry.\"

\"No, that's more than enough.\" Melina beamed in delight. \"I'm happy that you're considering it.\"

If only she knew that I had resolved to reject her even after the tournament (at least I intended to do so at that moment), she probably wouldn't be as happy.

Unfortunately, as I said, Fate had a funny way of contriving all sort of ways to force me into a situation right out of a light novel. Perhaps I should start wearing some cool black jacket and turning myself into a budget, bespectacled Kirito/Kufa. Since I was learning the Miyamoto School of swordsmanship, I was bound to be a samurai like Kufa.

Perhaps, instead of a paladin like her revered cousin Kureha Franklin, Melina would become a samurai too…