251 The biggest threat of all (1/2)
He was a young man who seemed to be in his early twenties, very similar to Evlin herself. He was wearing a long grey robe and had a crown in his head that looked so big that it could fall off at any moment. A long red cape covered his back and in his right hand there was a magician's staff the same one he used in his fight with Evlin many years ago, the first fight she ever had and the first fight she ever won.
”Oh... Please tell me this isn't happening...” Evlin muttered.
”Evlin? What's wrong??” Marcus asked as he saw the concern in her face.
”This guy was the pervert that brought me to this world to force me to marry him!!” she whispered.
”What!!??” Marcus yelled, which caught the attention of all of those present.
The Greyart king just raised an eyebrow while looking like he was waiting to see if Marcus had anything to say.
”Is there a problem...?”
”You were the one that summoned Evlin??” Marcus yelled.
”Ah! I wish! No, no... I merely requested that she was summoned... While I am a rather skilled and talented magician if I do say so myself...”
”Isn't skilled and talented the same thing...?” Ria whispered to Auren.
The king continued, ”...the one that actually performed the act of summoning the now incredibly famous crossbow mage was none other than my current right-hand man...”
”I think you can be talented without being skilled... As in... You can be born being good at something but you can also improve how good you are by practicing it...” Auren commented in an attempt to reply to Ria's question.
”If only I knew that the little girl that I was planning to take as my woman would turn out to be such an amazing person...” the king added.
”Wait, do you guys really believe in things like talent? Nobody is born good at something, everything comes from practice and hard work!” Evlin whispered while joining the conversation.
”Are you seriously saying that when you get a power boost in your magic just because you are from another world?” Ashley debated.
”That doesn't mean I'm talented, I worked hard to master my magic! Just because I can reach higher levels of its power doesn't mean I was just born good at it!!”
”...” The king started to notice that nobody was paying attention to him, ”... It truly must have been fate that brought us toge-”
”Wait, so you don't believe in talent, Evlin?” Ria asked.
”Of course not! Who the heck is just born better at things than others?? Anytime someone tells me I'm talented at something it always feels so insulting as if I didn't put effort into my skills...”
”I guess I can see that... But don't you think there are people in this world that are just naturally better at some things than others?” Gustav commented.
”Ah! Thanks, Daren...” Lilith whispered.
”I don't believe that...” Leona interrupted, ”I think as long as you focus on it you can accomplish anything you want!”
”Agreed! I believe in effort and hard-work way more than natural gifts or talent...” Evlin muttered.
”Uuhh...” Marcus just gazed around as his whole group began to debate over a meaningless topic which was making the king pop a couple of veins on his forehead.
”AM I BORING YOU???” he finally screamed.
”Ah! No, your highness!” the group said at the same time.
”A little bit, to be honest...” Ria added at the end with a low voice.
”...” The king just continued to try and take a deep breath in an attempt to recover his composure, ”As I was saying...”
”Wait, what WAS he saying...? I completely zoned out...” Ria whispered again.
”Evlin! The crossbow queen and most powerful master of re-creation and earth magic!” the king shouted.
Evlin began to gain sparkles in her eyes, ”Oh!! I like this combination of words!!”
”I call upon you now to resume what we started years ago and make you my wife!!”
Evlin began to lose the sparkles in her eyes, ”Oh... I don't like this combination of words...”
”We shall start preparations for the ceremony immediately!!”