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Rean was currently more nervous than he had ever been in his life. More than when a huge knight looking thing was about to attack Elise, or when he was about to be arrested in Celdic.
He was going to meet his girlfriends father, the greatest swordsman of the era. Before recently, he would have wanted nothing more than to meet the Radiant Blademaster himself. He still holds the most respect a person could have for another towards him, but it’s a little different now that Laura and he are an item. Make one mistake, and he could have possibly the strongest man on the continent after him. On another hand, with this new connection between them, he could potentially spar with the Viscount, an honor to any swordsman. As Rean was thinking about all this, a voice snapped him back to his senses.
“Rean!” Said voice belonged to none other than his girlfriend, Laura. “I’ve called your name a few times now. Are you alright?” Some amusement and concern was apparent on her face.
“Oh sorry, I kind of spaced out there. I’m just thinking about if we’ll see your dad or not. Before I would have wanted nothing more than to meet him, but now that we’re together to say it’s intimidating is an understatement.” Once Rean had said this, Laura started to laugh a little.
“Is that what this is about? I assure you, my father is nothing to worry about when it comes to this matter. If I hadn’t already told him about us, he’d probably tease me about you anyway.”
“Maybe, but he IS the greatest swordsman alive. Making one wrong move would cost my life.” Rean said this with the intention of it being a joke, but at this point he believed it. He hadn’t heard too much about what the Viscount is like aside from swordsmanship. All he knows is that he’s honorable and has a strong will. For all he knew, he could be an overprotective father. Though he apparently didn’t have much room to talk, as people tell him he’s extremely overprotective of his sister Elise. That’s different though, his sister is essentially a national treasure and is perfect in every way, his protection of her is 100% normal.
“Regardless Rean, there’s a decent chance we won’t even see father. He’s probably out on business, and we’ll be doing our tasks for the field study anyways. Even if he’s around, he would likely leave soon.” She had a point, they were there on a field study, not on a trip so he could meet her father. There was a good chance the Viscount wouldn’t even be there. But aside from his nervousness, he also really wanted to meet him. Not as his daughters boyfriend, but as a swordsman. He’s the best of the era, who wouldn’t want to meet him? On the other hand, he would need to somehow talk to the Viscount about Laura at some point without his other friends knowing. If Jusis found out he’d be fine, but if Millium found out all of Thors would know. For an intelligence division agent, she was extremely awful at keeping secrets. He didn’t really care if Gaius or Emma found out either, but Laura wants to keep things under wraps for now. That was enough speculation for now the boy thought, since the train would be arriving at Legram soon. They were greeted by the Arseid’s butler Klaus, he seemed old but there was a certain way he carried himself. After some talking, he gave them their requests for their first day and they went off to handle them. The group replaced some lights along the highway, and ran into the monster listed in the second request. Rean and Laura were the attacking upfront, connected with their ARCUS and Emma provided support along with Millium. Gaius and Jusis were backup for Laura and Rean, attacking if the others had to step out of the way. With the power of combat links, the monster went down easily. Taking an easy stroll back, Millium teased the two.
“With the way you two always talk I’m sure you don’t even need combat links to battle that well! They’re practically lovebirds, isn’t that right Jusis?”
“Why are you asking me? I’m not your caretaker! Though I loathe to admit, I share the same opinion as Millium. You two are essentially perfect together.” Jusis looked visibly annoyed by the short girls banter, but a part of him seemed to be enjoying it.
“Come on guys, we don’t talk THAT much. We’re just good friends.” Rean tried to deny the accusations, but the whole of Class VII already joked about them being an item. Part of the reason they haven’t told the rest of the class about their relationship is because they’d be teased far more if they did.
“How late would a ‘good friend’ stay in someone’s room then?” Gaius interjected.
“T-that was simply a night where we lost track of time talking about swordsmanship and some other things! We didn’t do anything like what you’re thinking about!” Laura tried to deny what Gaius was saying, but she did stay in his room quite often and very late. The part where they didn’t do anything was true though, they weren’t shameless.
“Not you too Gaius! You’re normally the calm one.” Rean looked defeated, and was glad they’d be returning to Legram for the rest of the night. They had one more request to deal with, which was to spar with the students of the Arseid school. The team of Rean, Laura, Jusis, and Millium handled the students with a little bit of challenge, but prevailed regardless. Right after, the group sparred with Klaus. Jusis and Millium swapped out for Gaius and Emma, since they were exhausted. Neither Laura nor Rean would miss a chance to spar Klaus though. This proved to be much more of a challenge, but once again the group prevailed. Having completed the final request, they went back to the guild branch to report back. To say they were surprised on who they found awaiting them was an understatement.
“Hello there my daughter. You all must be some of Class VII. I am Viscount Victor S. Arseid, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” Unbeknownst to even Laura, her father was there to greet them.
“Father? I didn’t know you’d be here. How long will you be staying?”
“I’ll be here until tomorrow, until then we can all have dinner. I’m sure you’re all hungry.” Seeings the Viscount in person was intimidating to say the least. Similar to Klaus, there was something about the way he carried himself that showed dignity and honor, though he was a on a much higher level. This is what the peak of swordsmanship looked like.
Some time later, the group was eating dinner in their mansion. It was fairly big, though not as big as some like like Jusis’. After talking with him some, Rean thought that maybe he didn’t have to be nervous about talking to Laura’s father.
“Rean. Tell me something.” The Viscount suddenly shifted his attention towards Rean.
Damnit. I thought too soon.
“Yes Viscount?”
“It may just be me, but there’s a certain way you carry yourself. Almost as if you’re afraid of something, subconsciously holding back.” To no surprise, Victor could see right through Rean. Laura had done the exact same in Celdic, intuition must run in the family.
“It isn’t just you sir, Laura pointed it out some time ago as well. It’s something I need to overcome. Which is why I would like to request a duel.” With this, the room went silent for a moment. The rest of Class VII looked surprised, while Victor seemed to smile.
“Very well then. We shall duel at the school.”
On the way to the school, Laura pulled Rean aside.
“Rean, what are you doing? I don’t mean to offend, but you stand no chance against father, he’s on a completely different level than either of us.” Worry in her voice, Laura clearly didn’t want Rean to go through with it and get hurt.
“I know. I don’t expect to win. But this is something I need to do. I have to conquer this other part of me.” Laura looked him in the eyes, and she could see his resolve.
“Very well then. I can see how much this means to you. But if you hurt yourself then father will be the least of your worries.”
After catching back up with the group, Victor and Rean stood on the battle ground.
“I, Rean Schwarzer of the Eight Leaves One Blade school shall be your opponent.” With determination in his voice, everyone watching could tell he was serious about this.
“Rean seems completely different now. He really will stop holding back for this won’t he?” Gaius commentated. The rest of them nodded in agreement.
“I don’t know anything about swords, but that guy looks super strong! Me and Lammy wouldn’t stand a chance!” Millium was excited to see this go down, and was acting her age. It’s hard to remember she’s just a 13 year old girl sometimes.
“Indeed. I may not be as into swordsmanship as Laura or Rean, but anyone who wields one knows of the Radiant Blademaster.” Jusis was curious about Rean’s goal, wanting to know what he was trying to accomplish by going into a fight he can’t win.
Soon, the battle began. Rean attacked first, trying to gain an advantage. Victor blocked or dodged every attack, seemingly without effort.
“Come on boy! Now is not the time to hold back!” Rean, despite his resolve seemed to still hold something within him. This something prevented him from fighting at full force. The battle continued for a little longer, before the two clashing blades. The Viscount took this chance to whisper something in Rean’s ear.
“If you cannot accomplish this, then you are not worthy of my daughter.” Jumping back, Victor prepared an attack. Rean seemed to be shocked, unmoving as it was unleashed.
“Rean!” Laura screamed.
“Wait, he’s gone!” Jusis pointed out.
Suddenly, Rean appeared beside the Viscount, with a strange aura around him. His hair was white, and eyes red.
“Woah, what’s that!” Millium was the first to say her reaction out loud, but everyone else was in awe.
“So this is what he’s afraid of..” Emma had a similar reaction to the others, but the way she said it seemed different. Almost as if she had an idea on this before, but wanted to see for herself.
“Splendid! Now let the true battle begin.” Victor was glad his taunt worked, wanting to see what Rean was truly capable of. Mentioning his daughter seemed to do the trick.
“HRAAAAGH!” Rean screamed almost as if he was struggling to control himself, worrying those watching. Victor knew he couldn’t let Rean carry on any longer like this, so he decided to end the battle. With one planned strike, he had defeated Rean, and he returned to normal. Everyone watching rushed to his side, Laura being first.
“Rean! Are you ok? What was that?”
“Calm down Laura. He seems exhausted. We can have him explain himself tomorrow, he needs to recover.” Jusis knew how worried Laura is, he wasn’t any different himself, but he knew Rean needed rest.
“I’m fine guys, he went easy on me so I wouldn’t get hurt. Jusis is right though, I need to rest before I can explain.” The group was understanding, and Victor helped Rean on the way back.
“I want you to know I didn’t mean what I said in our clash. I support you being with my daughter fully, I simply needed to motivate you to bring out your true potential.” Relieved, Rean thought that the day was worth it. He’d have to come clean tomorrow, but for now he needed rest.
Once everyone arrived at the house, they were shown to their rooms. After about an hour had passed, Rean felt normal again. He decided that before explaining to everyone else, he had to go see Laura. He didn’t want her to stay up late worrying about him. After leaving the room, Gaius and Jusis both got up to see Rean’s bed empty.
“Should we be worried about him?”
Briefly thinking, Jusis looked to Gaius. “I’m sure he’ll be fine. Though this just makes me think they’re a thing even more, there’s no way he isn’t going to see Laura right now. Seeing her is probably what he needs right now, so let’s just leave him be.”
“You’re right.”
Arriving at Laura’s door, Rean checked to see if she was awake. “Laura?”
“Is that you Rean? Are you feeling better?” Rean could still hear the worry in Laura’s voice, regretting that he didn’t tell her about this earlier.
“I’m feeling fine now, don’t worry. Could I come inside? I need to talk to you.”
“Of course you can. I’ll be here to listen.”
“I’m sure you have a lot of questions about what happened when I fought your dad, but honestly i’m not sure why I can do that. It’s something that’s been a part of me for as long as I can remember. All my life, it’s something that I’ve ran from. The first time it happened was when I was just a kid. A bear was attacking Elise and I, and one of us got hurt. I blacked out, and when I came to the bear was dead and I had its blood on my hands. It likely has to do with the scar I have, sometimes it’ll throb in pain. So there you have it. The reason I hold back is because I don’t want to hurt anyone with this ogre inside me.” Finally telling someone this story, Rean was beginning to cry. He had bottled it up for so long, not wanting to acknowledge this part of him. Laura simply hugged him and let him cry.
“It’s ok Rean. Whatever it is doesn’t define you, and you can conquer it. We can, together. No matter what this power is, I still love you, and always will.” Seemingly, Rean’s skill at giving speeches had rubbed off on Laura, as Rean was beginning to calm down.
“Thank you, Laura. I love you too. I don’t know what I’d do without you. With you by my side, we’ll figure out whatever it is inside of me. I have one thing to ask though.”
“What is it?”
“Could we stay like this a little longer?” Rean was still wrapped in Laura’s embrace, much to her embarrassment.
“I moved without thinking I’ll be honest, this is a little embarrassing for me. If you like it though I see no reason to stop now. As long as you promise to do the same.”
“Deal.”
The two stayed in eachothers arms for quite a while, forgetting about everything. Not thinking about Rean’s strange power, or anything else that wasn’t this moment. Eventually, Rean did have to leave. He couldn’t be found waking up in the same bed as Laura with both the Viscount and Class VII to see. Once he made his way back to his room, Rean instantly fell to the bed.
“So what’d you guys do in there?”
“Not now Jusis.”