Chapter 17: Duel
We had walked the length of the porch several times, the march of our footsteps on the gravel the only sound besides our voices. I had carefully crafted my responses, blending Olberic’s known personality with my own observations, trying to appear as a son who craved his father’s attention, rather than a terrified imposter. He had listened, his head tilted, bearing a strange and calculating interest about me in his eyes.
Then, he stopped. We were standing near the edge of the porch, the part of the garden that gave way to a darker, less cultivated area of the manor grounds. The shadows here were deeper, the moonlight struggling to penetrate the thick foliage.
"You possess a certain... resilience, Kai Lorne," Lord Sapphire said, his voice a low. He turned to face me fully, his eyes, usually so distant, now sharp and focused. "And a surprising composure, given the events of the evening. Perhaps there is more to you than meets the eye. More than I, your father, have ever bothered to discover."
What he said felt like a prelude to something big, and it truly was.
He took a step back, a faint smile on his lips. "They say a man’s true nature is revealed in crisis. And tonight, you have shown... a certain hidden depth. A certain strength." He paused, his gaze ever piercing. "Perhaps my son is a swordmaster, who knows. There is so much I don’t know about you."
My eyes widened slightly in surprise, my mind raced. A sparring match? Here? Now? My mind immediately flashed to his persona as a scholar, the piles of books, the quiet demeanor. But then, I remembered the armory. The vast, hidden collection of military-grade weapons. A scholar with an overwhelming amount of armory.
A surge of confidence from the recent upgrades to my stats, waved through me. Agility 37. Strength 32. I was no longer the weakling who had faced Theodric. I had power now. I had a chance. This wasn’t just a challenge; it was an opportunity. An opportunity to gauge his true strength, to understand the man behind that scholar’s facade.
My answer to his question, hadn’t been enough to truly dispel his suspicions. He hadn’t just brought me out here for a stroll. He had decided to put an end to me himself. It wasn’t a sparring match; it was an execution. He knew it was me who killed the assassin. He was testing me, but also cornering me.
Lord Sapphire turned, his gaze at the dense bushes at the edge of the porch. He walked over, his movements surprisingly agile for a man of his stature, and reached into the thick foliage. With a soft rustle, he pulled out two long objects. They were Military-grade longswords. It wasn’t just practice blades. These were designed for killing.
He tossed one towards me. It spun end over end, catching the moonlight, its weight surprisingly heavy in my hand as I caught it, it made me question whether the strength boost was sufficient. The cold steel felt solid, it felt real.