29 Fighting Seems To Be Life These Days (1/2)

It took a while but everyone eventually took their seats and began eating. Max decided to share his own meal with Tilith who, against the objections of everyone else, moved to sit on his lap. He wasn't particularly bothered by this as it had no effect on him, he just let her sit, wrapping a free arm around her to keep her from falling off. Once Tilith sat on his lap however, the room became extremely quiet, the only sound being that of metal forks hitting the plates. It got so awkward that Max ended up excusing himself immediately after the plate was empty even though he had really wanted another plate. He just wasn't good at handling women just yet, unsure of how to act when they were either jealous or mad.

He made his way to his room, Tilith following close behind him. ”You have a strange way of making their numbers go up.” Tilith exclaimed as they reached the door. ”In terms of affection levels, Noelle is at 82, Mimosa is at 93, and Mereleona's has been maxed out at a hundred since last night. You have an intriguing effect on women here even though you hardly do much.” Tilith stepped in front of Max and opened the door for him.

”Why is Noelle's number so high? I literally just met her a day ago.” Max responded in frustration.

”Well, maybe you just left a rather big impression on her with those words you left on her wand.” Tilith replied as she leaped onto his bed, clearly feeling no stress and no worries. ”How did you do that anyways? And what did you write?”

”Well, I noticed when we passed by the shop the first time that Noelle had her eyes glued on a new wand in the front of the store and that there was also a nice looking golden pocket watch next to it.” Max smiled as he tapped his chin, recalling the events. ”Using the excuse that I had to go to the bathroom, I explained to the store woman that a royal with silver hair would come through and ask for both the pocket watch and the wand. I then told them what needed to be written in it before handing it to them. It took some convincing to agree to my propostion though.”

”Okay, and what did the note say exactly?” Tilith asked curiously, obviously not yet satisfied with his answer.

”Do a good job and you'll get a reward!” Max responded with a small smile. ”I wanted them to do their best during training.”

Tilith was speechless at first but eventually broke out into a laugh, one that was marginally louder then a slight giggle. It was clear that she found something funny but before Max could ask her what was so hilarious, there was a knock on the bedroom door. Tilith, still laughing, leaped off the bed and ran over, clutching her side as she opened the door and ran out, leaving behind a confused Max and a surprised Mereleona.

”What was wrong with her?” Asked Mereleona as she stepped inside the room and closed the door behind her. ”She looked on the verge of tears from laughing so hard. Did you tell her a good joke?”

”No, she's just being a little kid.” Max explained as he approached her, a smile replacing his previous expression. ”Are you here to remind me of our date? If so, don't worry, I already remember. Its not something that I wouldn't forget.”

”Thats sweet and all Max, but actually we'll have to reschedule that date for tomorrow as something came up.” Mereleona stepped forward and wrapped her arms around his neck. ”Someone heard about how you mistreated six nobles at the shopping district today and issued a challenge against you. The challenge is to take place tonight in the trianing area.”

Max was stunned at first but quickly recovered. ”You must be mistaken! I knocked out those sorry excuse for mages mere hours ago. How could word have gotten to you so fast? It just doesnt make any sense.” He was once again feeling confused. Though this was a world full of magic, it was still rather hard to believe that the news of what he did in the shopping district could have spread like wildfire.

”You do know that there's this thing called magic, right Maxy?” Mereleona asked teasingly, holding back a laugh. ”And to be honest, the figure that attacked them moved so fast that it was difficult to actually tell who it was, but one of the nobles gave a rather accurate description that pointed all fingers directly at you.”

”Okay, how many people are showing up to fight me? If its just regular nobles then they better send someone whose really strong or send a bunch of slightly above average mages.” Max was feeling a bit frustrated from the situation he had created. Mereleona must have picked up on it because she pulled him into a hug.

”Well, as far as I can tell,” Mereleona began as she clung to him rather tightly. ”There will be a total of ten so called 'elites' who want to have a go at you. However, you should be able to handle them easily if its a simple one on one battle.”