A Blunder In Words

"Who?" Vistaken asked. "Him?" he pointed at Kies. "He fought against Miss elf here?" he asked, trying to confirm what her daughter just said. "Is that true?" he turned to Kies, checking to see if what she said was right.

"..." Kies didn't answer him, but the silence served as an answer.

"Wait... That means that you're the person that caused the uproar!" Bachi exclaimed. "But is this true?" he asked. Since Kies didn't say anything, he wasn't sure if it was true or not.

"I think you got the wrong person," Kies finally said after a long pause.

"Did I?" Lelly tilted her head, confused.

"In the first place, how do you even know that?" Bachi asked.

"That's because I went to the tournament yesterday?"

"You did!?" her father's eyes shot open.

"Yes. I wanted to see the fighters this year since I heard there were a few interesting ones, like him," she looked at Kies. She didn't understand why Kies was trying to keep it a secret, but she wasn't going to play along. She was sure that it was him that she saw in the arena yesterday and there was no doubt about that.

"Like I said, that person wasn't me."

Lelly stared at Kies. "Are you sure?" she asked, trying to get him to tell the truth, but he continued to feign innocence.

"Yes. While I did join the tournament, I was eliminated in the first round," he lied.

"Oh really?"

"Yes. I ended up getting targeted by all of the fighters."

Lelly made a weird face when she heard Kies say that. He didn't know why but didn't pay much attention to it, but he should have. Why should he? Was there something strange in what he said? But even though he told himself that, he couldn't help but get a bad feeling in his gut like he said something wrong.

"Stop bothering him, Lelly. He said he's not the person, so believe him." Her father tried to reason with her and explain that Kies wasn't the one she saw in the fight yesterday but she didn't listen to him.

"No, he is. I can prove it!"

"Um... How so?" Bachi asked, not seeing where she got that from. Everyone looked at her, waiting for the explanation or reasoning behind her stubbornness. Why was she so keen on trying to prove what she said?

"That's simple," she said with a smile, her eyes sparkling. This caused Kies to feel uneasy. Even though they've only just met, he saw that she was similar to Iris in the way that she had the same look in her eyes when she figured out something.

"Can you tell us then?" It was Nyana who asked this. She also wanted to know why she thought that and was so persistent in trying to prove it when Kies himself said no.

"Can't you guys really not figure it out?" she asked everyone, a disappointed look spreading across her face.

Kies thought back to what he said. There shouldn't be anything wrong. So if it wasn't something that he said, was it something that he had on him? No, other than his cloak, there wasn't anything that particularly stood out, and it wasn't like he was the only person who wore a cloak to the fight. Though few, a number of the contestants also wore cloaks to hide their identities.

The other three were deep in thought and still didn't figure out what Lelly meant. Seeing this, she frowned and said to Bachi and her father, "I guess you two didn't see the fight, but you should've at least heard about it." She then turned to Nyana and said, "And you, Ms. Elf, I really thought you would know."

"Sorry, but I'm not the best when it comes to detective work," she apologized. "Though, I would be grateful if you stopped beating around the bush and told us."

"Okay, fine," she sighed. Kelley took a deep breath and said, "Before I tell you, you all know that in the first round of the tournament, it's all chaos and that no one really picks a puck with a specific person, right?"

"Yes," her father skeptically said, not sure what she was hinting at.

"Okay, with that out of the way, I was also there to watch the first round of the tournament," she said. "The entire thing," she added too.

"So that was why you were out all day..." her father mumbled, finally knowing why she was missing two days ago.

Kelley cleared her throat and continued with her explanation. "From what I saw, there was a team that got targeted by the other contestants... They were the only people who got targeted by," she took a deep breath, quoting what Kies said earlier, "All of the fighters." She didn't need to say anything else. She turned to Kies, clasping her hands. "So, do I need to finish the rest?" she asked him in an innocent voice.

"..."

Kies didn't say a thing or move. It was his mistake. He accidentally told her that he got targeted by everyone and didn't know that he was the only one in the entire tournament to have that happen to him. He shouldn't have fallen asleep to pass time... Because of that, he didn't know and made a blunder in his words...

Nyana also smiled alongside Lelly. "Seems like she got you." He couldn't hide it anymore.

Vistaken and Bachi both looked at Kies with shocked faces, their jaws wide open from what they just heard.

"You got me..." Kies had to give Lelly it. "But, even if I am one of these final contestants you speak of, what is the point in knowing this?" he asked her. Was it really that important? Even though his lie is now exposed, was the truth going to change anything? He was still going to say no to the job offer and he was still not going to bet on anyone.

"Wait... Is this true!? You're that-" Bachi pointed at Kies, covering his mouth. He was beyond shocked to hear that Kies was the one that caused all the fuss in the tournament. "So you're the one that I wanted to meet!? Just what are the chances..." For Kies to also be the dark horse of the tournament and the person that he wanted to recruit... This was very hard for him to believe.

Lelly's father, Vistaken, on the other hand, was not as surprised but surprised nevertheless. "Are you really one of the final three contestants?" he asked, still skeptical to believe it. Instead of asking Kies that question, he turned to Nyana.

Since it was clear that Kies wasn't trying to hide the fact anymore, Nyana answered the man honestly. "Yes, he is the person that I fought against."

"That means..."

"He is also the person behind all the mayhem you heard about," the elf said, validating what his daughter said.

"See, I knew it!" Lelly exclaimed, proudly puffing out her chest, very similar to a certain someone else that Kies knew.

"Okay, now what? What will you do with that information?" Kies asked.

"That? Um..." Lelly purses her lips. She didn't know what to do with that information. What was she supposed to do with that information? "Yeah, I don't know..."

However, her father had an idea. "What do you think of your two opponents?" he suddenly asked. Everyone turned their attention to Vistaken. The question was directed at Kies and he was waiting for an answer.

How did Kies feel his odds were in winning against the two? Taking only a short moment to think of the answer, he responded, "Almost a hundred percent against the soldier, but I'm uncertain about the Iceblade."

The soldier's only threat was his anti-magic scarf. Other than that, Kies had nothing to fear. As long as his magic supply in his moonstone didn't run out, which it shouldn't since he filled it to max capacity with magic, he will be able to use magic.

It was a flaw that the item couldn't deal with and he could use this to his advantage. No matter how good the soldier's swordplay was, he couldn't match with Kies', because his utilized magic. Furthermore, the soldier wasn't expecting him to use magic as he could cancel it out, making it that much easier to catch him off guard.

But Rui, on the other hand... Kies wasn't sure about her. She was just as powerful as the mysterious man he fought, if not more. Also, another thing that Kies was worried about was that she didn't reveal her full power in any of her fights. In other words, he was going into the fight blind while his opponent had some clues and insights about how he fought...

After hearing what Kies said, Vistaken took into consideration his words carefully. Folding his hands together and placing his head on them, the man was deep in thought. "Hmm..." He got up from his seat and looked out the window and then sat back down again, going back to the same thinking pose.

Out of the blue, his eyes lit up and he jumped up from his seat, startling everyone. "I got it!"

"You got what?" Bachi asked his friend, clueless about what was going on in his mind.

"I got it. This will solve my problem and your problem!" Vistaken said, looking at Kies.

"I don't know what problem you're speaking about, but let's hear it," Kies said. He was interested in what the man had thought up in this little amount of time.

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