The boy named Kev took a second to regain his composure as he quickly adjusted his stance. He didn’t expect Elise to be talking to S-Class students of all people. Hell, he wasn’t even aware that she knew such people.
“My apologies for stopping your lunch.” He said politely as he gave each one of them a look. Then, his eyes eventually fell on Isla and he froze again. Seeing the godly beauty sitting there, unbothered by him, he felt his heart skip a beat.
He naturally knew who that person was but this was the first time he had seen her up close and he could only think of one single thing.
‘Beautiful…’ He thought to himself. He didn’t think seeing Isla in reality would make such a huge difference. She was already the most beautiful girl in the world and yet somehow, seeing her in real life made her appear even more stunning.
“Kev? Are you ok?” Elise snapped her finger in front of his face.
“Eh? Oh right, I was looking for you. Do you want to duel now?” He asked.
“I’m sorry, Kev. Honestly! I asked Arthur if he wanted to join me. Maybe later.” Elise replied with an apologetic look on her face.
“Arthur?” He raised an eyebrow as he eyed the group again, searching for the boy named Arthur.
“Right here.” Arthur lifted his hand a little.
Kev eyed him up and down with a silent look. The boy looked rather average looking or slightly above average, he was also of average height and his body was decent. Out of everyone present there, he looked the least impressive. Yet, somehow, he was also S-Class apparently.
Frowning slightly, he looked at Elise. “Is this the guy you knew from your childhood?”
“Mm, yes! You heard from the others?”
“… Yeah,” Kev replied as he secretly eyed Arthur, but this time, it was a little different.
Arthur noticed that subtle change and could only raise an eyebrow. He could sense a hint of coldness in the boy’s eyes that wasn’t there a second ago. ‘Hmm, is he…?’ He asked himself as he tried to hide a smile.
Arthur might not be an expert in these matters, but he certainly can detect when someone is feeling something or not. If he had to guess than Kev and Elise didn’t have a standard friendship and rather the boy had different feelings for her. Though, Arthur wasn’t certain if the girl reciprocated those feelings or not.
‘The same could be said about Danny and Isla.’ He shifted his gaze to Danny. ‘Poor guy, I wonder if it will ever work out for him.’
Arthur had been noticing that Danny’s feelings were quiet calm the past few days. Though, the boy didn’t change the way he looked at Isla. There was still extremely deep adoration and it was as clear as day for anyone with two eyes.
“So, are you coming or not?” Elise turned to Arthur with a smile.
“Hmm…” Arthur looked at his friends for a second. They didn’t seem to have any problem with the idea from what he could see so he set up his mind. “Well, I have nothing else to do now. I was intending to find some opponents so why not?”
“Great!” Elise smiled. “I’m sorry, I’m going to borrow Arthur for a while, guys.”
“Haha, go ahead!”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“Mm, then see you later!” She said as she walked away with Arthur. Kev looked at them and then clicked his tongue secretly before he turned around and left.
“That Arthur… He’s already doing great for himself.” Herculia grinned.
“Couldn’t agree more,” Emmy said.
Meanwhile, Danny and Isla remained silent. One was watching the scene happen with a a deep frown while the other was simply eating food, completely ignoring everything, as she always does. Nobody knew what was going through her head at that moment.
***
“So, did you decide on who you want to fight?” Elise asked.
“No, not yet.”
“I mean, are you only going to fight students from S-Classes like you?”
“Hmm, so classes do make a difference?” He asked.
“Yes, apparently, if you fight people of lower classes than you, you get considerably fewer points than if you fight people of your class or higher.”
‘That is very logical actually. It stops people from bullying weaker students into fighting them when they know the return is too small for the effort.’ He thought to himself. ‘It also makes the weaker students thrive to beat stronger opponents to gather way more points.’
The system had clearly accommodated all possible situations and loopholes that students might find soon.
“What about you, Elise?”
“Hmm, I’m actually thinking of finding someone from my class to fight as I said. Maybe someone from a lower class if I could possibly find one.” She said.
The two reached the Capsule areas of the class where they found something quite interesting. On the base level of the floor, there was a huge crowd of people walking around.
“Who wants to fight me?! I’m B-Class with 0 points!”
“I’m C-Class with 0 points too! I’m looking for a duel partner!”
There were many students advertising themselves near the door to a completely new area that Arthur had never seen before.
“Hmm, is that?”
“Yeah, they have built an entire arena where people can duel. You don’t have to go to your own class.” She said.
“Nice.”
“Let’s go! I think my friends are there!” Elise continued as she grabbed Arthur’s hand and dragged him to the room, passing through the large crowds of students.
Discover hidden stories at empire
“Elise!”
“There you are!”
“Where have you been?”
“Sorry guys! I brought Arthur with me!”
“Arthur?”
“Oh, it’s that guy from the other day!”
Seeing the girls there, Arthur stopped. They immediately eyed him curiously and remembered him. There were also new faces he had never seen before, presumably Elise’s other friends.
‘She really has a big circle. She had changed completely.’ He mused. After all these years, Elise had truly become someone he would never recognize. Time can truly change a lot of things.
“Oh my god! He was really S-Class!”
“We are honored to meet you!”
As he was like that, Arthur realized that he was completely surrounded by these girls as they tried to talk to him at the same time. He felt them pressing against him and he immediately frowned.
“Hey, calm down, guys.” He said as he tried to find a room out of this awkward position. ‘You lot are pressing against me! Stop!’
Although the feeling was not bad at all, Arthur knew that bad things could happen if he remained in that place. Looking at Elise, he begged her for help with his eyes.
“Stop it, guys!”
“Hm?”
“You’re making him comfortable.”
“Oh?”
“We are?”
“I’m sorry!”
After that, they quickly pulled away from Arthur with small giggles. The boy exhaled a small breath.
“Thank you, haha.” He said. “It is nice meeting all of you. Thank you for taking care of Elise.”
“Oh? Of course, Elise is our friend! We naturally must take care of her!”
“She’s an airhead at times but she’s a good girl. She will always be a part of this group.”
“You guys…” Elise muttered with mixed emotions in her eyes.
‘At least they’re truly good friends and not just there for benefits.’ Arthur smiled to himself. Knowing that Elise’s background wasn’t simple, he was a little worried that she might be taken advantage of by them.
“Anyway, did you guys fight yet or are you waiting for her?”
“We didn’t start yet. There are many people inside.”
Arthur peeked at the interior of the room and he was quite taken aback. It wasn’t just a room, it was a massive hall filled with capsules numbered in the hundreds or even thousands. On the four walls were large screens that seemed to air the fights going on inside the capsules while there were seats for people to sit down and watch.
‘It’s like they’re putting on a show for people.’ Arthur thought to himself. ‘Maybe it’s even a show after all. It’s also great to watch opponents fight beforehand and read their points of strength and their weaknesses. I can make use of this for the future.’
Arthur was aware that he was going to need to watch certain people fight in the future, especially the young man named Lamenter. He didn’t forget that he had arrived at the capital and he was their biggest threat so far. A fight between them wasn’t that far-fetched of an idea and while Arthur was the strongest, that doesn’t mean he’s invincible.
Divinity Online was a game of cunningness and not just raw strength. In many cases, the one who wins isn’t the one who’s stronger… It’s the one who’s smarter. In this case, Arthur was, after all, not invincible. If anything, he was open to defeat as much as anyone else if he relaxes.
A//N: Don’t forget to give the book some golden tickets for good luck! :3