"This is not a matter of fun! We're sucking up to her, remember?"
"Opps! My bad."
"Opps my pale a*s!"
Solus started to slow things down, but after just a few moves the Marchioness showed a displeasured face before toppling her queen.
"I clearly underestimated you and your game. I need more time to get acquainted with all the possibilities." She extended her hand, and Lith shook it.
She had a gentle but firm grip, Lith could feel no hostility from her.
"Mind if I show it around? I need opponents to get some practice."
"It's all yours. You can do anything you want with it."
After that, Lith left the two nobles discussing between them, all too happy to get away from that torture chamber.
After asking Jadon if he was finally allowed to leave (in a polite manner, off course) and getting a no as an answer, Lith was left pondering on what had just transpired.
"Hmm, maybe there is a silver lining in you crushingly defeating that woman."
"Really?"
"Yes. If we want to avoid being forced to enrol in a Magic Academy, we could just as well sabotage ourselves a little.
We already know that the Count has not the means to ensure our admittance. If we piss off the nobles a little, just enough for them to not back his recommendation, we'll avoid the whole thing without offending the Count."
"Good idea! Even if indirectly, you have already caused both the Ghishal and Trahan households to fall. Probably in the nobles' eyes you already have quite some demerits. You are already halfway there, you're quite good at being disliked."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Lith turned sour.
Solus inwardly cursed herself for the slip of the mind, and avoided apologizing. In that moment would only add fuel to the fire.
For the first time in years, Lith was actually hurt by those words, his anger silently rose.
When he heard someone belittling his endeavour of killing Gerda, he sized the opportunity to set his plan in motion.
It was a couple, likely father and son, commenting on the stuffed Byk exposed in a corner of the room.
"It's not that big." Said a chubby middle-aged man that barely managed to reach Gerda's navel with his head. "I'm sure you could have killed it too, Frenon."
"I don't know dad." Replied the ten years old kid that shared a striking resemblance with the man, only younger and thinner. "It seems big to me. And look at those fangs and claws. This Lith must be crazy to get near something like this."
"Bah!" Scoffed the man, making his double chin and his waxed brown curls tremble. "If you kill it with magic, there is no need to get close. It's just that simple. How can you be less bold than a commoner? I pampered you too much."
"I beg your pardon?" A stone-cold voice reached them from behind.
The two turned around, trembling visibly. They had recognized Jadon's voice, the future Count Lark and lord of their lands.
Even in his anger, Lith wasn't so reckless, he just ratted them out to his noble friends, leaving the dirty job to them.
"That was quite a rude remark, Baronet Hogum." Keyla's voice was fierce and loud, resounding through the whole room.
Lith was many times her benefactor, and hearing such a blatant lack of respect in her own house was simply too much to bear. Jadon thought the same, but his sister had butted in at the right moment, forcing him to step back momentarily.
"Ah! Ah! Ah! There's a misunderstanding." The Baronet title was the lowest, getting on the Lark's family black book was beyond bad.
"Are you implying we are both deaf or just stupid? Did you hear what I did too, dear brother?"
"I heard a nasty remark about one of our honoured guests, dear sister."
Before things could escalate further, the Marchioness chimed in.
"There, there. It's a party, let's try to be friends and not spoiling the mood."
Her appearance made all heads turn, the chatter instantly stopped.
"Besides, it's so simple to separate the wheat from the chaff. What about a little magic challenge?" The room roared in an applause.
Under the Marchioness lead, the crowd moved outside. The park was already perfectly lit up, since after dinner the party was supposed to move outside, to enjoy the fresh night breeze while drinking properly aged liquors.
She made the two boys stand twenty meters (22 yards) from each other, before explaining the rules.
"This will be a friendly match, so it ends on first blood. Only magic is allowed. I want no underhanded tricks, also seriously harming the opponents is prohibited. A mage without control is no different from a violent drunkard."
Strangely, the Marchioness said that while looking only at Lith, and that pissed him off even further.
"So, just because I'm a commoner, she treats me like a barbarian? So much for losing with grace! Such a hypocrite."
"I'll be the judge. If I say stop, you better stop." Fuel was added to the fire.
Both the youths nodded. Lith put his arms behind his back.
"You know, I really wouldn't be in your shoes. If you win, you prove nothing. You would have just beaten a lowly commoner, like everyone expects you to. But if you lose…" Lith paused dramatically, still waiting for the start signal.
"Wouldn't be terrible, losing in front of all these people, proving to be less talented and bold than a commoner?"
The young Baronet started gulping loudly, turning constantly toward the crowd, suddenly realizing the pressure of the challenge.
"Begin!"
When the Marchioness voice rang out, he was so stiff that he had yet to move, when Lith opened his palm while yelling.
"Scram!"
A powerful gust of wind made Baronet Hogum fall on the ground.
"Lith of Lutia wins!"