The conversations in the restaurant went silent. So people began to gather their things imdiately.
Reynard turned to Marien. She looked back with pure childlike excitent and without even a hint of remorse.
He looked back at the jealous magus. The man had a half-eaten plate of food in front of him, so he had to have been watching for a while...
’This guy is a bit too old to stare at girls of Marien’s age like that! She’s sixteen—and unlike my current body, HE isn’t!’ Reynard thought in annoyance. ’I think I rember his face, too... Yes, he’s one of the talentless students who decided to abandon studying and just do simple labor for the school. I bet he either sohow didn’t hear of my last duel win, or thinks it was a fluke and I can’t repeat it.’
"Oh, my songbird... Just for you, I will do this just for you!" Reynard promised. "But as a Fire Magus, shouldn’t YOU be the one fighting?"
Marien huffed.
"This man wouldn’t be enough of a challenge! But he has been staring at like the worst sort of sli. And now he interferes in what he doesn’t understand—soone has to punish him. And I liked your... style of fighting." She blushed again.
"Hey, don’t ignore !" the jealous magus stood up and walked to Reynard’s table.
Reynard stood up and huffed.
"Very well, I will fight you! I don’t even care about a proper duel—let’s just go outside. You have interrupted our al, but have the decency to not interrupt the als of everybody else!"
***
Of course, there wasn’t enough space for a magic fight on the town’s narrow streets. But it wasn’t far to a town’s park—not an actual maintained park, but just a grass-covered clearing that nobody covered with buildings yet.
The two magi stood opposite each other, while Marien stood to the side, watching.
"Any last words, swine?" the older magus asked, raising his hands into a battle stance.
Reynard shrugged, doing the sa.
’I have my gun on , but I will save it for now... I spent so many years training and studying—I gotta show Marien sothing cool that she hasn’t seen from yet!’ he thought.
Reynard wasn’t afraid to kill the other guy. The self-defense laws in this world were very, very lax—at worst, soone has to be afraid of the victim’s angry friends and relatives.
"I wanted to ask your na, but then realized that you are just a side-character in my life. If I didn’t find your na after so many years of living in the sa school, then it was really not important!"
The naless magus went red-faced.
"What?! I will cut my na into your face, then! My na is—"
"Duel... Start!" Marien announced cheerfully.
Reynard whispered magic words, and the naless magus, scowling, began doing the sa.
"My na—!"
Boom!
The magi’s identical Firebolts hit each other and exploded.
Reynard went through his ntal library of spells. It was fairly small, and all of them were of the worst black quality.
Blue Bismuth School was poor and couldn’t afford a lot of manuals for more high-quality spells. Those few there were, didn’t go to First Cycle Nigredo students.
With a lack of choice, Reynard tried a similar Ice Arrow spell, which hit a simple Wind Shield barrier, which dissipated only a second after being cast.
"Na—!" the naless magus shouted.
Whoosh!
Reynard’s Wind Blast forced him to stop talking and focus on casting again.
Two magi pelted each other with an array of trash spells, all of them eting barriers or each other.
"My na—!"
Boom!
"It’s—!"
Crack!
"Fre—!"
Blast!
At this point, the naless magus finally made a misstep that Reynard was waiting for.
The man’s hands made a wrong gesture, and a half-finished spell turned into a cloud of smoke in his hands.
The next mont, a Firebolt hit the magus’s chest. He scread in pain, falling to the ground, and his clothing caught on fire.
Marien clapped her hands.
"You won, Reynard! I knew that you weren’t like other Earth Magi, only taking opponents with the help of artifacts. Now do sothing with this guy, his burning hair stinks!"
With a huff, Reynard made a short spell that poured a bucketful of water over the burning man. The magical water disappeared a second later. The man, still smoking, let out a groan.
"My na... is..."
The rest of his words were swallowed by a second bucketful of water. The man, not smoking anymore but now ultimately naless, groaned again and went quiet.
Reynard already turned away.
"I hope you liked the show, princess! Seriously, for all the trouble you are getting into, a single kiss on the cheek isn’t enough of a reward!" Reynard grumbled, walking up to Marien.
She raised her pretty nose to the sky, blushing.
"It should be! But... Fine, I can... Give you another, I guess. But only if you promise that we will go out again like that sotis!"
Reynard paused, then grinned.
"Oh, so now I’m not ’outrageous’ anymore? What if I refuse, though? Would you threaten with the pain of death?"
Marien’s face reddened more.
"What? How dare you! Refusing ? You said that I’m beautiful, and a songbird! Are you really going to do that?" She puffed her cheeks. "Then I won’t protect you from my grandfather anymore. I will tell him that you insulted , too!"
"Hey, hey, hey!" Reynard waved his hands. "That was a joke, just a joke! Please, the Magister has to hate already... Don’t make things even worse for ."
"A joke?.. Ha! Well, then the other kiss was also a joke!" Marien scoffed and began walking away from the clearing.
"No, wait! I definitely deserve it, my beautiful songbird—wait for !"
To Reynard’s relief, she stopped and waited.
"Fine... A single kiss!" Marien said, puffing out her cheeks and tapping on one.
Reynard nodded eagerly and slowly leaned in.
Marien’s eyelashes fluttered, then her eyes began to close...
’This is my chance!’
Reynard went for the lips.
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