Inquiry

A new day had come. Perses sat alone restlessly in his room, watching the sun slowly reach its peak. After a long, dragging conversation, Perses had convinced the devil girl to meet with him during the evenings, but that was all. Learning about their connection would take time, and her habit of wondering about the capital invisible seemed unbreakable.

'Maybe in her own way, she's curious too. Anyway what am I supposed to do now? Its not like the door will just open for me again.'

Despite his despondent tone, Perses eyed the door curiously, intrigued as to whether it might open by some strange coincidence.

'...I guess not.'

Reliving the days, Perses pondered about what he should do, about what his desires even were. Finding out where Machia went was a no-brainer, but he didn't know where to even start with something like that.

'Wait, I almost forgot. How about that guard, he said he was running, from something? What did he say again?, it was surely something interesting. Something about the other guard being missing?'

Perses cursed at himself for not listening closer at the time. He had been too tired and upset to really get a grasp of the arbitrary situation.

'Curious isn't really the word, but they were the first people I met. Why did I only remember him just now?'

Despite the internal strife, Perses had clearly already decided to investigate. After realizing this himself, he left his room through the door. Cautious of the Reverent, he left the cathedral behind. Walking out of the cathedral's front gates, he had not seen in a while. He followed a familiar path. It was a very populated area of the inner gates, yet no one paid him any mind, all too busy with their own desires and goals.

Perses couldn't help but feel a level of jealousy of the ordinary inhabitants who dashed about with such a foreign level of certainty. Before he recognised it himself, he ended up following the exact path Machia had once shown him. Away from the cathedral and the wealthier residential plaza, he approached the rougher city centre.

'Maybe I'll be like these people too, one day. No, probably not. I'm not like them. Now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever had someone treat me normally. For better or for worst.'

Overthinking as usual allowed Perses to distract himself from the jarring urgency of his surroundings, and as if no time had passed at all, he soon arrived.

The training grounds were more relaxed than he had expected. Possibly due to the sun's height reaching its peak, the usual inhabitants had been scared away by the heat or sat around comfortably in the sun's gentle beams.

The exception was a rough, battle-hardened man who clashed against a tall kid, making great use of the ample space. Using authentic metal swords that gleamed off each other, they clashed much to the entertainment of the other inhabitants. Their movements were swift but most noticeably violent. To an amateur, it may have seemed as if they were really trying to kill each other as they dashed around despite the day's immense heat.

Perses' presence remained unknown for quite some time until he was noticed by the kid he recognised as Mars. His eyes drifted towards Perses for only a moment, but a heavy metal sword fell dramatically straight onto his head in that short instance.

The flat side of the sword fell on his head as a thick, heavy clang rang out. Mars dropped his sword, crouching down and hugging his head in agony as the man laughed gruffly.

"Hahaha, naive"

In a good mood, he turned to see what had stolen Mars's attention. Noticing Perse's presence, his smile grew a little wider.

"So they let you wander around on your own now, do they?. Well if it's you I suppose I don't mind showing you just a little kindness, would you care to join, Blessed?."

Unstartled by the man's cruel grin, Perses replied with indifference, deceiving the feelings that swelled up within him.

"I came to ask about someone. How well do you know the guards around here."

"Huh, pretty well, I guess; I don't mind helping you out. That is, of course, if you'll do a little something for me."

Gesturing towards himself with an arrogant expression, he declared, "If you go a couple rounds with me like last time I suppose I can help you out".

The audience surrounding the courtyard had steadily increased as more and more gathered around to the man's enthusiastic shouting. Rather than feel intimidated by the growing audience, Perses began to smile.

'I can't believe it.'

"You mean, you want to spar?, I'd be happy too."

The swordmaster's expression turned a little grim at the boy's confidence. A flicker of understanding crossed his eyes.

"So its like that is it... that's too bad, tchh. I changed my mind. I want you to do a little spar with Mars instead."

Mars had hardly recovered and looked to be in severe pain. However, after hearing the man's voice, he dismissed his arms and stood up reluctantly.

"Of course, I won't. You used to be so calm, but when it comes to him, an amateur at that-"

"Hey, shut up. It's none of your business, alright? I have my reasons. You'll do what I tell you. It's about time you learn who your friend really is. Oh, and blessed, I expect you to go easy, okay? Or it'll become a real fight with me, got it."

"Blessed, what's that?" Completely taken aback, Mars tilted his head in confusion.

Lugh hesitated, unsure of how exactly to respond. Perses noticed his face physically contort whilst he paused. Freeing himself of the responsibility, he answered idly.

"Go find out yourself."

With that ominous ovation, he casually wandered over to a nearby corner of the area and reached for a metal flask inside his jacket.

Making eye contact with Perses, Mars blinked sceptically. Noticing Perses harboured no feelings of anxiety or weakness, he quickly scouted a pair of wooden swords. With an oblivious reluctance, he reached past a couple of intrigued guards who lay beside a weapons rack for practice equipment.

Lugh's voice rang out before Mars could decide on a suitable pair.

"That won't be enough."

"Huh"

Mars let out a surprised muffle upon hearing his instructor's voice.

"Use real ones."

"Father, he's an amateur. I'm not gonna put up with this!"

The swords master was taken aback by Mars's rash response, "Hey, that should be Master Lugh to you. You know how I feel about special treatment.

"But"

"No buts, its for your own good, I don't say meaningless things."

"And I'm not one of your mindless soldiers, so don't bother."

This statement gained a few hearty laughs from the crowd of guards. Lugh, however, stared down at his flask despondently before taking another drink, ignoring the boy's words.

After selecting a sturdy yet thin wooden sword and a larger wooden one for himself, he gave Perses the smaller one. The blade Mars had chosen was far thicker and heavier than what he had chosen when they 'fought' for the first time.

Aware of this, Mars looked at Perses quizzically, hoping for his approval. Perses nodded with his typical nonchalant confidence. For the first time, Perses witnessed Mars smiling eagerly. Despite his kind nature, it seemed he also had a battle-mongering side to him.

Before they started, Perses realised something much to his own relief. He could feel his strength somewhat surging, but he had yet to question why. Feeling rather silly, he looked towards what appeared to be a small weapon shed behind him. On top of it, the devil girl sat smiling and intrigued as her legs dangled off the building.

His strength had never disappeared because she'd been following him all this way. He would have noticed immediately if he had been even remotely used to their new connection.

Sighing, he redirected his attention back to Mars, thankful for the devil's presence for once.

'I'll show Lugh and get that information from him even if I have to beat it out of him.'

Perses let out an immature smile. Mars seemed surprised to see Perses' usual nonchalance change to something more sinister. Energised by this, Mars pulled himself into a starting posture, which Perses promptly copied.

Leaping off his front foot, wasting no time, Mars lunged with an oblivious overhead swing at Perses, giving even the amateur ample opportunity to block. Taking one last step, he jumped, using his weight to swing down on Perses. Rather than fall to the blow of the larger kid, Perses stood his ground comfortably.

Mars had time to show only a look of extreme puzzlement before he was tossed into the air. Perses had thrown off his entire weight and fended off the two-handed swing with just one arm. Falling back down, Mars landed, staring at his feet with a disoriented expression.

Eventually, he shrugged it off and spoke. "You were, were you always this strong? No way, I would never have guessed. Is this why you chose not to fight back then?"

Perses knew what he was talking about but decided to nod in affirmation anyway.

"Is that so... Well, let's just stop with all this then. I'm not as weak as I look, either. Do you want to go all out?"

Perses didn't have much reason to humour him other than to test his own abilities. It was only then that he realised something.

'With my ability to learn. I could probably become a sword expert in no time. Hmm, I should have done this way sooner.'

With a new goal painting his mind with possibilities, Perses couldn't help but feel gradually more excited. Mars and his keen ability to read others noticed immediately and returned a similar look. Staring each other down, the clash was now inevitable.