Inside the Leoch Palace garden, Selim took off his 'nature' robe and sat on the bench present. Both of them stayed in awkward silence, each waiting for the other to speak first. Sylvia sighed as she walked over to the pond then asked, "Why the feathered robe? Was it because of me, to scare me away?"
"Honestly, yes," Selim answered.
Sylvia chuckled, "Well that was stupid.
Didn't you try to find out any information about me?"
"No," Selim answered.
"Why not?
"Because I was told about this engagement two days ago."
"Just your luck right? Well I had alot of information about you, including sightings of you chasing birds for their feathers. It was quite the spectacle I heard," Sylvia said sniggering.
Selim sat up straight and pointed a finger at her," Aha! I knew there was no way my monstrosity wouldn't scare you. You were calm because you had information," he said, his smirk rearing its head.
"Yes, I had information of your trick before hand but I was still prepared since I already know of your...uniqueness," Sylvia said with an evil smirk, locking eyes with Selim. "Your feather plan would have still failed."
Selim's smirk drained from his face, replaced with a cold horror. "I have been had," he thought. "Even if I had gone with a more extreme plan, the witch would have still stayed. How do I get rid of such a being?"
"If you are thinking of a way to get rid of me, I'll advice not. There's nothing you'd want to pull off that i won't see through," Sylvia said, turning her back to him and her attention back to the pond.
Meanwhile in the forest bordering the Baron's palace, a teleportation circle appeared and from it came an archer. He was covered in midnight black gear that concealed his aura from the perception of the knights. Maxim, who was in his study, noticed a different aura in his barony and immediately called his personal guard, Frigs. In moments, Frigs was before him, bowing with a knee.
"Check whose aura is causing the disturbance and be discreet."
"Yes my Lord," Frigs replied before disappearing.
The archer laid a rune marked egg behind a tree and drew a magic circle on it before hopping onto the branch of the tree. He pulled out his bow and strung it. He drew a tipless arrow, placed it in the bow and aimed at the garden. Back in the garden, Selim was staring at the back of Sylvia's head.
"If you keep staring like that, you'd burn a hole in my head with those eyes of yours," Sylvia said.
Selim looked in the direction of the forest, then back to Sylvia, "If you actually don't want a hole in your head, I suggest you move a step to the right."
"And why would I do that?" Sylvia asked.
"Because.... Never mind, you won't believe me anyways," Selim said, taking a sleeping position on the bench.
"Tell me why and I'll move," Sylvia said, turning her head to face him.
"Nope. It's a bother," he replied, turning away from her, a wicked grin blossomed on his face.
Sylvia caught sight of the grin and moved to leave the pond. She shifted her weight to stand and WHOOSH, an arrow whizzed past her, just enough to tug her hair. For a moment her calm demeanor was replaced with fear and panic. The arrow hit something unseen in the bushes with a sickening thud which was followed by a guttal groan. " Where.... Where exactly did this come from?" A voice said with pain.
Gareth stumbled out from the bushes he had hidden in. He had the arrow in one hand and clutched the right side of his stomach. He locked eyes with Sylvia and she spoke, "Hiding in the bushes now, are we? Is anyone in this household normal?"
"Probably not," Selim responded.
"I can see you both are... getting along, I'll take my leave and get this checked out. Oh and if anyone asks, I helped you both bond better," Gareth said, giving a short bow.
He left, still clutching his stomach. As she watched him go, Selim asked, "Did you know he was there?"
"Since the moment he entered those bushes," she replied.
"Hmm, her perception is quite high," Selim thought. "But it's Gareth, that one makes a lot of noise even when he's being silent."
"That arrow was inbound for one of us, aren't you curious about the intruder?" Sylvia asked.
"Not really," Selim replied. "Plus he is already being taken care of."
In the forest, the archer had already readied another arrow, aiming at the garden again when Frigs appeared in front of him. Frigs knocked the bow, sending the arrow flying in another direction and they clashed. Their exchanges were very fast as both fighters focused on speed. An arrow came from the archer but it met one of Frigs' throwing knives. Frigs followed up with a slash, slicing the archer's bow in two. The archer distanced himself from Frigs and pulled a different bow from a sub-space pouch around his waist. He did rapid fire of arrows coated with aura and Frigs answered in kind, throwing knives covered in aura. The archer took a knife to the gut and ran, casting {Teleport} with a rune stone. Frigs let out a weak sigh and disappeared, seemingly to report to Maxim.
Back in the garden, Sylvia was pulling Selim by his ankles while Selim held on to the stone bench with a death grip.
"It won't take long, we are just going to spy on the intruder. We'll be back soonest."
"Walking into danger is too much work. 'Back soonest?' When has anyone readily walked in danger and came back soonest?" Selim responded, tightening his grip on the bench.
"You are supposed to show me around the barony, the forest is part of the barony and I want to see it," Sylvia retorted.
"No, my mother said to show you around the palace, that's it," Selim replied.
"Oh please, we both know what she meant."
"Yes, stay within the palace confines."
Sylvia sighed and let go of his legs. Selim slammed the bench with a groan.
"Fine. If you won't take me there, I'll go see by myself," Sylvia said.
"Good. Then when you die, I would be free," Selim responded.
"So you wish me death?"
"I meant IF you die."
Sylvia shook her head and left. Selim laid on the bench, his thoughts," Finally, some peace and quiet." It wasn't up to a second, he felt a familiar killing intent, one he knows all too well. He got up and looked towards the palace. Up on a balcony, he saw his mother, Elaine, staring at him intensely. He already knew what she meant and so he bowed, turned around and went after Sylvia.
As Sylvia walked, she muttered, "There's more to Selim than meets the eye and the only way to test that is in that forest where his insane family won't spy on us. But he is..... Impossible. Is this really the husband I want for myself? Yes this is a good way to annex Leoch into Energ, becomig one family but this is becoming impossible task all because of Selim."
"Yeah?" Selim answered, short of breath.
Startled, Sylvia turned around and punched him right in the nose. Selim doubled over, covering his bleeding nose with one hand.
"Ugh, why did you do that?" Selim asked.
"It's your fault for appearing behind people without warning," she retorted.
"How did he get so close to me without me sensing his presence?" Sylvia thought, staring blankly at Selim who was whining about having a nose bleed. She shrugged, shaking off the thought with the belief that she was just too deep in thought to realise. Selim's voice was getting louder and more frustrating to her.
"Shut the hell up so I can heal you," Sylvia said, pulling him close.
She cast {Heal} and Selim's nose was good as new. "Hmm, so her magic is at this level, a fourth circle mage at this age, not bad." Selim thought.
"So, what made you change your mind?"
"Someone I know is very persuasive," Selim answered.
They stared at each other for a while then Sylvia turned and continued down the path, with Selim following behind. After walking for a while, they came upon the battle scene. Sylvia picked up a throwing knife just in front of her for examination. Selim saw the knife and smiled, "So Father had already taken care of the issue," he thought.
"We've seen the scene, there is no archer here, let go back," Selim said.
"Not yet. Just a moment,"Sylvia said as she walked away.
She went behind a tree, a few paces from the battle scene and drew a large magic circle on the floor. She began to chant, "Kalimojid, familiar of Ifrit, eeht nommus I. Emoc htrof!"
The magic circle glowed with flames and a 7ft long crimson skinned Komodo dragon appeared. Unbeknownst to Sylvia, the tree where she stood laid the rune marked egg planted by the archer. The rune absorbed some of her mana during the summoning and amplified it, causing the egg to grow acceleratedly with the aid of the pre-drawn magic circle done by the archer. Selim came looking for her and found her in front of the Komodo. When she noticed, "Good. Time to show me your real abilities Selim," she thought.
"Sylvia, don't move. I'll go get help from the....."
"I'll be long dead before you'd be back with help. Do something," she urged him.
"What can I do? Don't you see the size of that thing?" Selim retorted.
As they were arguing, the egg flew up and cracked open, releasing its content— a dragon.
ROAR!
It announced itself, exuding mana as it looked for what to saite its hunger. The Komodo attacked, shooting fire balls at it. They bounced off its scales, not leaving a scratch.The dragon destroyed the Komodo with one claw strike and swung its tail to attack Sylvia.The tail moved through the air like a cannon destroying everthimg. Sylvia raised a barrier but it didn't hold. She was caught in the sweep and knocked into a tree, rendering her unconscious. It puffed up to finish her with its molten dragon breath but she was saved by Selim just before the breath hit. Everything in its path was reduced to molt. It then turned its attention to Selim.
"Well just my luck" Selim blurted, staring at the dragon.