Book 1: Chapter 79: Lots of Bite and Not a Lot of Bark

Book 1: Chapter 79: Lots of Bite and Not a Lot of Bark

"So, uh, Duke Malik. What's he like?" Lone asked. "I've only read about him and know that he's incredibly nationalistic."

"He's a speciesist to the core, a bigot, an egotistical maniac, oh, and a bloodthirsty demon when it comes to mages not affiliated with Milindo's nobility or royalty," Gilbert answered with a frown before he turned and smiled. "So a pretty nice guy, in all honesty."

His sarcasm wasn't lost on Lone. "Surely that can't be allowed, right? Killing mages indiscriminately? Especially ones from The Adventurer's Guild."

Gilbert sighed. "Look, Son. Nothing's black and white. I can't protect every mage with a plate if they just disappear in the dead of night. I have power, but not enough to start breathing down the neck of one of the kingdom's four dukes. Need I remind you that all of the dukes are, like me, SS-rankers?"

That upset Lone surprisingly more than he thought it would have. "I see... If he tries anything with me or Sophie, I'm going to try my best to melt his brains out of his ears, eyes, nose and mouth."

Gilbert's feet stopped moving as he turned to stare at Lone. A massive sigh escaped his lips. "I swear on the Primals, this racial ability to detect all lies? Worthless piece of junk I wish I was never born with."

He put a hand on Lone's shoulder and said, "Son, if that grumpy old git tries to pressure either of you, I'll stake my job on stopping him. Gravity magic isn't as directly powerful as lightning magic - what he has mastery over - but I can just as easily use it from here to flatten his entire estate. He won't try anything, not with me around. He doesn't have a lie detector either, so feel free to talk circles around him if you can. I don't want to help him with his investigation into the magical disturbance you caused just as much as you."

Lone smiled softly. "Haha, thanks. It's, uh, it's good to know you have my back."

Gilbert chuckled. "That's what old people who have reached the apex of their potential are meant for, right? Guiding the young and helping them stumble onto their own paths?"

Lone squinted his eyes. 'But... you're a beastkin. Beastkin are immune to ageing, aren't they? In the face of an eternity, a few hundred years old is pretty young... I mean, look at Soph...'

The two quickly found the kitchen and Sophie who had just started making some soup for Lone. She wasn't best pleased about having to meet a powerful noble, but she agreed nonetheless.This chapter's initial release occurred on the n0vell--Bjjn site.

Not a few minutes later they were all sat behind a table in one of the guild's soundproof inspection rooms, simply waiting for Duke Malik to enter.

"Is there anything we should expect?" Lone asked Gilbert.

The White Dragonkin stroked his goatee in thought. "I've only met Duke Malik a handful of times. I suppose expect extreme prejudice, anger, demands, and maybe even death threats. Don't worry, I will protect you both. Don't give in to his pressure."

Sophie crossed her arms over her chest. "As if a petty man with little-to-no justification can frighten us."

Lone nodded. "I agree with you, but let's try to stay civil, yeah? This guy is specifically the reason we aren't skipping town right this second. I'd rather play the game by his rules and get him out of our hair for good."

Sophie shrugged. "You are the one with Persuasion, not us. However, if he presses us for anything, we will not lie down and accept it like a coward."

Gilbert smiled wryly. "Sophie, do you mind pretending to be blind again? It isn't public knowledge that you can see now, and honestly, I'd rather not leave any clues for Duke Malik to piece together Lone's excessive usage of MP from a few days ago."

"We do not mind, no. If it will help, fine. We shall keep our eyes closed," Sophie answered.

"Great. He's here, by the way. I can feel him walking over the wood of the guild's front lobby," Gilbert casually announced.

Not wasting any time since he abhorred being in the presence of a free demi who was also a free mage to boot, Duke Malik cast his gaze on Sophie.

"You have some gall to threaten my daughter's life. What country are you from? I've heard of your claim to nobility and let the Primals be damned if I won't get an official apology from your family," Duke Malik said in a very powerful and unamused tone.

Gilbert raised an eyebrow. 'Oho? Interesting. I thought he'd demand she mutilate herself or something similar since he's such a brute. This is unexpectedly tactful.'

Sophie, still with her eyes closed, moved her head to have it directly facing Duke Malik's. "Inform a lowly duke from a backwater kingdom of our origin while performing the traditional coming of age ceremony where relying on one's family bar our slave is forbidden? You think highly of yourself, Fool."

Rage was visibly surfacing on the duke and his attendants' faces, but Sophie didn't give him pause to speak. "No, we think we shall not tell you anything. Your daughter was associating with the dregs of your little noble society, an arrogant boy by the name of Bastion Griffset. He had so rudely participated in an illegal dealing involving our slave who had been kidnapped. Must you seek someone out for justice, seek out that ingrate or perhaps his failure of a parent, Margrave Griffset, not us."

Gilbert both wanted to laugh and cry. Laugh because she'd made a fool out of Henry Malik, cry because she'd, well, made a fool out of Henry Malik, the kingdom's most powerful duke and military general.

'What's Sophie playing at?' Lone wondered. 'Making this prick our enemy ruins the whole point of me not running away early, doesn't it? For all we know he could put us on some hitlist and kill us the second we leave the city when the tournament's over...'

Lone knew Sophie, and if she was one thing, it wasn't stupid. He figured that she must have some sort of reasoning behind antagonising the duke, so he didn't bother stepping in, letting her handle the mess she had so willingly created herself.

"How dare you speak to me like th-"

"No, how dare you speak to us like that!" Sophie stood up and scowled at the man while keeping her eyes closed. "A measly SS-ranker thinks he has the weight of a Primal, does he? Temper yourself before you get yourself killed. If you have nothing constructive to say, then leave us. I feel tainted just by being near your presence."

Duke Malik had never been so insulted in all of his life before. Him being belittled like this was equivalent to Sophie belittling the kingdom in his eyes.

He calmed his seething anger to see the bigger picture. Enraged he was, a fool he was not. 'She very well may have the backing to speak like that to me. Such confidence can't be born from thin air... With The Academy's new radical political movements we can't afford even more enemies breathing down our necks... Emma is alive and if anything, perhaps the threat to her life helped even out her willful personality.'

He took another deep breath then put a hand on his neck to hold himself back. "An apology will suffice given that you're but a child."

Sophie scoffed. "We apologise for not being a hypocrite like yourself."

"I beg your pardon?" The duke had just tried his best to smooth things over which was beyond rare for him only for the girl to proverbially spit in his face. Were it not for Gilbert's presence he might have just killed her on the spot, damned be the consequences.

"Begging? An apt action for one such as yourself." Sophie sat down again and folded her arms over her lacking chest very gracefully then said, "Swear an oath to the Primals right now that had your daughter been kidnapped and about to be purchased by a foolish nobody noble, that you would not kill him where he stood."

Swearing by the Primals wasn't something to be done lightly. Many people used the Primals lightly as an expression, of course, but an official declaration in their name would immediately be detected by the church and punishment would be meted out to those lying in the name of their gods.

Sophie saw Henry Malik's silence and laughed in his face. "Hypocrisy, as we said. Admonish us for our behaviour when, and only when, you truly stand on the high ground of justice."

Gilbert was struggling to not cackle up a storm in amusement. It was the best that he could do to secretly hold his stomach under the table to avoid his whole body trembling like a leaf from his deep desire to laugh like a madman.

Lone smiled internally. 'Ah, I get it now. Sophie, you're a lot more vicious than you look, which is fuckin' tougher than it sounds. At least we have important information now...'

Whatever that 'important information' may be, Lone would surely discuss it with Sophie after this interview was over. After all, it could be critical to ensuring their safe departure from Milindo after the tourney's end.