Lord of Charm

"Tell me everything that happened, Vale. I promise I will make Ronda pay for this."

Gale was sitting next to Valentina's bed and talked to her while they held hands.

"As you already know, after you left, I went to the forest to hunt some beasts. I was tracking a fourth-rank magical beast for a few hours until I found a perfect moment to strike. At that moment, I jumped above it and used two offensive spells to hit it. However, everything got messed up when another powerful spell came from my right."

Gale listened to her story quietly and let her finish.

"Because I already cast my spells against the beast, I couldn't defend myself, so the spell hit me and opened a hole in my stomach. I fell on the floor next to the beast, but luckily the wounded beast chose to run away rather than attack me, probably because it could sense that there was another human nearby after that spell."

"And how were you saved?"

"My attacker came out of the woods. It was Lidia Muller; she is ranked 33 on the top 500 list of the 36-45 age group. She laughed at me and said it was my fault for opening my legs for Ronda's enemy. But when she shot another spell at me, a water sphere emerged around me and defended me."

"And that was the academy's guard?"

"Yes. He came and told Lidia that she couldn't kill me. She couldn't do much because he was an expert mage and killing other students on purpose is illegal, so she retreated. The guard fed me with a potion that helped sustain my injuries and took me to the infirmary, where I was unconscious for a week."

"What was the guard doing there?"

Gale wondered out loud.

"I don't know. Do you wish he wasn't there?"

She raised an eyebrow and Gale laughed awkwardly.

"That's not what I meant, sweetie. I was just curious whether the guards patrol the forest often."

"Not at all, that's why it's considered a great place if you want to kill someone. The academy keeps it this way on purpose, so I was just lucky."

Gale nodded but couldn't get rid of the thought that Alice might have had something to do with it. But if it was the case, why did the guard wait for Valentina to be mortally wounded? Was he just unfocused and reacted too late?

"The most important thing is that you're safe. How is your injury now?"

Valentina removed the blanket and pulled up her shirt, revealing a large scar on her tanned skin.

"It's mostly closed, but there are some internal injuries and this scar. Is it ugly?"

Gale traced the scar with his fingers gently and smiled at her.

"Of course not, you got this scar for me."

He bent down and kissed her on her lips, making Valentina smile happily.

"Then I will not use any lotion to heal it."

"I didn't mean it that way."

Valentina laughed and then groaned with pain when her wound sent a pulse of pain.

"Be careful!"

He held her like she was a glass about to break.

"Relax, I'm not that fragile. But do you know what it means?"

"What does it mean?"

"That you need to be gentle with me tonight."

"Are you sure? We can wait until you're healed."

"What? You don't want to do it with me anymore?"

"That's not what I meant…"

Seeing Valentina's teasing smile he tweaked her nose and accepted the challenge.

"Don't come crying later that you need a break because you're still injured. I won't show any mercy."

He kissed her again and started removing his clothes. Soon, a steamy night ensued.

-----

The next morning, Gale left the apartment to attend human combat class. He also checked for information on his watch about the top list of the older age group and found the image of Lidia Muller.

She was ranked 33 just like Valentina told him. Her skin was dark, and her curly hair was cut short, only a few centimeters long. Her facial features included full lips, dark brown eyes, and a few scars formed from cut wounds.

He went to human combat class and soon Mercury arrived and started the class.

"Everyone, You are going to train again by fighting barehanded. However, today we will do it differently than normally because today we will include some buffing spells. Fire and air mages can team up with each other, and earth and water mages can team up with each other."

Air and fire mages had their speed strengthened, so Mercury preferred not to mix them with water and earth mages yet. Then he saw Gale and Ronda and remembered they were a team last time, but some drama happened since then.

"Ah, Ronda you can pair up with John for this exercise."

He pointed at John who walked toward Ronda. John was ranked sixth, and he was supposed to team up with Gale last time before Ronda took his spot.

"No need, Professor. Ronda and I have been partners last time; it's better if we partnered again rather than change partners every class. You wouldn't mind, right, John?"

John's lips twitched in annoyance. He was almost in the top 5, and it was the second time someone sent him off with a hinted threat in a week.

"I don't mind, please go ahead."

He saw Gale's power before and he didn't think he could survive his spells if one of them connects, so he preferred not fighting him over partnering with Ronda. It'd probably be a bad experience for him to partner with her when she was still grieving.

Ronda raised an eyebrow when she saw Gale taking his spot in front of her, but she didn't back away from his challenge. If anything, she could vent a little by beating him up. Who knows, if she's lucky enough, she might be able to land a killing blow before Mercury can stop her.