Chapter 20: Annulment (1)

Chapter 20

But I'm in a good mood so I won't take advantage of her.

[Even if she tries to use you?]

'As long as it's not something particularly bad. I have a soft spot for beauties after all.' I replied to Allison's inquiry.

Of course not by my standards but this girl right here had beauty to match Rose's. Her striking red hair and black eyes, her rosy white skin, and those long legs are a killer combination. Not to mention that she is well endowed.

Still, like I said, I'm no simp. So yes, as long as she keeps herself limited, I won't do anything. But she wouldn't like what I would do if she tried to do something unpleasant.

"What is it that you want?" She asked after collecting herself from the earlier surprise.

Wrong question. Never ask an opponent what they want. Always offer a price yourself. Start from the lowest and try to make it as lucrative as you can.

If you outright ask what they want, well then, human imagination knows no bounds so good luck with what they want.

I, however, am still in a good mood so I will let it slide. "What can you offer?" I asked.

Since she came here without proper planning, I doubt she could have anything to offer. Still, after some consideration, she said, "An A rank artifact."

Putting her stupidity aside, that is a lucrative offer. Weapons, just like people, also have ranks starting from E to S.

There were only eleven known S rank artifacts all over the world and six of them were in the possession of the Cortum empire. Of course, there were also the apostle and saint weapons but they had a restriction. They were also higher in rank since they had the potential to become sentient weapons.

Anyway, A rank artifacts were also very rare. So her offering me an A rank weapon was a fairly good trade. Just two tiny problems though. One, she was making the offer to the wrong person. I am a crown candidate. Even though I am a joke in that regard, my status still cannot be taken lightly. I can request an A rank artifact from the emperor. Although there would be some difficulty, I wouldn't have much problem with obtaining it.

And the second thing was mana. I had no mana. Mana was needed to wield those weapons. Since I had no mana, those things were basically useless to me. The artifacts of this world were useless for me.

I could give it to one of my subordinates, but then there was the matter of compatibility so it's worth further lessened.

"No." I simply replied. Her face changed to a frown at my reply. It soon changed to an understanding one. I could tell what she was thinking but she was dead wrong. I sure as hell wasn't using this as an excuse to keep our relationship.

[She thinks so]

'Who gives a damn to what she thinks.'

She soon spoke, "Then I don't have anything of more worth to offer you." I see. The Hayez family would no doubt have many more to offer but it appears that this reddy was acting on her own.

This complicated things. If her family gets involved, then the Lux family will get involved. If that happens, then all those who are trying to gun for me would also get involved. And that would create a brand new headache.

"Then I'm afraid we can't make this deal." I stood up and pointed at the door. Even if I accepted her request, her family would still get involved since the Lux family would be taking losses in that case.

No matter what, this scenario was dangerous for me far more than it was for her.

She said no more, stood, and left. Yet her expression wasn't happy at all. She was somewhat angry. But there was also something else. Something up her sleeve.

But like I said, there is nothing she alone can do against me. She would need to involve her family and this matter wouldn't escalate at all.

======

[Never expected this, did you?]

Allison asked in a teasing tone while I stared around me with half-closed eyes. She was right. I never expected this. Should have but didn't because I never thought that the old men would be willing to get so involved.

[You tried to sully his granddaughter]

[What did you think was going to happen?]

Another fair point. Though it wasn't me who did that, it was Adrian and I am not Adrian.

Anyway, I was very annoyed as I looked at Asmara standing opposite me a few meters away and then looked around at the audience.

So what happened was that after she left my room, she requested an audience with the emperor himself and since she was my fiancée and technically family, she was granted permission.

There, she requested for our engagement to be called off. The emperor didn't agree but the first elder proposed an idea. An idea of a duel. If I win, this engagement stays, if I lose, I will have to initiate the divorce and in doing so, take all the responsibility. Of course, the Hayez family would also have to give us something but that something wouldn't come to me but to the old geezers sitting in that platform over there.

So here I am, in an arena, surrounded by around half of the empire's nobles, officials, and members. Then there are also the people from the surrounding kingdoms.

I have to admit. This backfired terribly than I had expected. And now I have to do this for the entertainment of some old men. I'm entertaining old men.

Knngghhh!!! Just the thought is sending shivers down my spine.

Anyway, this lady in front of me is similar to me in rank, which means that she is also D+ or at least she should be because when she appeared in the novel, she was ranked C+ so I can't make a good guess.

The other thing is her dress. She really shouldn't dress like that with that bust. What if it rips apart in front of everyone? And how is a man supposed to focus on a fight with those dangling in front of him like that?

[You're being a creep]

'No. I'm appreciating the beauty of creation.' It can't be my fault if I brush against her during battle once or twice right? Besides, it's not the front that I am really interested in.

[You have gained a title]

[Title: Peeky Pervert

Effect: Women will feel that you are staring at them and want to punch you]

'Oi!' I called as I clearly saw Asmara's expression change to disdain slightly.

[What?]

'Remove it.'

[I can't]

'Yes, you can.'

[I can't]

'Remove it or I'm going to do more than just feel her.'

[Do that and another title will be waiting for you]

Damn, she's good. Anyway, now that I have it, I can't help but act on it right. A title is one's nature after all. So I will stare and leer to my heart's content.

[You're shameless]

'Thank you.'

[That wasn't a compliment]

During my and Allison's exchange, Asmara asked, "Are you ready?" I chose not to answer her and conjured a magic bullet. Laughter rang throughout the audience.

Asmara also frowned and asked, "Are you making fun of me?" Her tone wasn't happy at all and no I wasn't. This was the only attack skill I knew. I mean there were other attack skills in the shop but their prices were sky-high and none of them had the same potential as Magic Bullet.

I again chose not to reply and just shot it at her. I didn't hit her though. I was just answering her question so I made sure it passed her closer to her ear.

She was stunned at the shot and so was everyone else. It wasn't impressive as it was just around C grade in attack power with my increased INT, but still, the Magic Bullet was supposed to be the easiest skill to learn. Its damage limit was at most E+ even for a divine grade awakened.

I conjured a hundred magic bullets again at the same time and hovered them in the air around me.

Instinctively, she raised her sword and stepped back. Just enough out of Magic Bullet's range but she was mistaken if she thought that this was a normal magic bullet. I only shot five at her and they easily entered her range. She was able to avoid them all but then again, I wasn't trying to hit her anyway.

I'll be honest. I was quite bored right now. At first, I was going to just treat it like a pain and surrender but because of my boredom, I am going to play with her a little. She owes me that much after pulling this sort of crap.

I shot five more at her and she danced around to avoid them and succeeded in doing so.

But before she could breathe properly, I shot another five of them. She dodged. I fired again and she dodged. This wasn't a duel at all. This was just a means to relieve my boredom.

Every time she would try to close the distance; I would shoot at her feet so she would have no choice but to jump. She tried many movements. Zig-zag. Feints. Distraction with those big knockers. Okay, that may have been from my side only.

But no matter what she did, she never came in more than two meters close to me in radius, and even that when I only allowed it.

Midway she did become brave to try and break through them by taking a few shots but after just one landed on her thick thigh, she avoided the rest wisely.

She was now huffing and panting. Still two meters away from me. I wasn't shooting at her anymore. The entire arena was silent. Everyone with a brain knew that I was just toying with her. If she had been a long-range fighter, then it would have been a different story but with her being a short-range fighter, it was difficult for her to win.

It's not that she can't win against me. I know a hundred ways to turn this situation around.

But even if she knew them, she wouldn't attempt them. One because of her lack of experience and the other because she would find them dirty and shameful. In other words, honor was the greatest problem of these youngsters.

I shot my last five shots at her and she avoided them as well with great difficulty but again, I wasn't even aiming at her.

Hope. It emerged in her eyes when she saw that I had run out of bullets. Oh how wrong she was.

[MP 924\930]

Even my MP had already recovered. I smiled in return. Her expression turned annoyed at the sight of my sweet smile and she jumped at me. Halfway through her jump, I shot a magic bullet in her stomach and she was blown away. Not much because it wasn't very strong, but she was still thrown back to her spot.

"Damn it!" She exclaimed angrily thinking that I was hiding one shot. And that was exactly what I wanted to crush. To see her face when she saw my next move was something I was very much looking forward to.

Again with a beautiful smile on my face. I conjured a magic bullet. Then another, then another.

When I reached the fifty mark, her expression had changed to disbelief and I couldn't help but laugh.

I kept increasing the numbers though and soon, my surrounding was filled with glowing beads.

Her expression was now priceless.

[Do you know that you have many similar tendencies to your father?]

HahaHAHA!!

I started laughing when I saw her expression. The look on her face was something I would laugh while remembering for a long time to come.

I raised my hand after a short laugh and declared, "I surrender." The entire arena was silent. The look on Asmara's face was now that of humiliation. Not that it mattered to me though. I turned and started walking away. This much was enough.

"Do you have honor or not?" An angry voice shouted from the audience. Great. Here we go.