"Who is it?" Acht muttered to himself. He didn't order anything from the reception so he was quite wary of this knocking. It could've been one of the candidates that wanted to harm him or…
'I have someone in mind and I hope that I'm wrong.' He thought with an exasperated look. He predicted who would knock on him at such a time but he'd rather not open the door.
He walked quietly to the entrance without making a noise and looked through the hole in the door. Much to his surprise, it was Scarlett who was standing in front of his room.
'What am I gonna do with this person, sigh. I should pretend I'm not here and hope she walks away.' A small frown appeared on his face and he held his breath.
"I know that you're standing behind the door." She suddenly spoke with her flat, emotionless tone.
"Oh, great." He muttered. It could've been a trick from her side to make him open the door but he had a rough idea of how her mind works and he was sure that she wasn't the type to lie her way through things.
"What do you want, miss?" He answered without opening the door.
"Can I have a small talk with you? I won't take much of your time." She said calmly.
'I have no reason to accept. But…why do I have this feeling that if I don't accept that I will regret it in the future.' He held his head with his arm and pondered quietly.
A few moments later, he answered, "Fine, wait a second."
The door then opened and Scarlett was finally able to look at Acht properly. Her cold eyes stared deep into his black irises trying to gauge his thoughts.
Acht then sidestepped and said in a slightly respectful tone, "Please, feel free to enter."
"Thank you." She didn't refuse his invitation and went inside. He then took a look at the corridor one last time and closed the door.
"Would you like a drink? I don't have alcohol though." He asked as he went to the kitchen.
"A cup of water is fine."
"Suit yourself." He took the cup of cold water to the living room and put it in front of her before sitting down.
"So, how could I help you?" He took a small breath and asked calmly.
She looked at him with a serious look before speaking, "I don't like beating around the bush, so I will cut to the chase. Would you like to join my family?"
"Join your family?"
"Yes. To be honest with you, I lied this morning. Your affinity is not simply 'rare'. You actually have an affinity with one of the lost elements." She said after taking a sip of her cup.
"Could you perhaps explain what is a 'lost element'? I've never heard of such a term."
In the main book, such a name was never mentioned so Acht was genuinely intrigued to know more about it.
"When we first discovered that humans are capable of manipulating the elements around them, there were 4 of them that stood out as the strongest. Everyone awakened with an affinity for such elements was destined to become a king, a supreme being that could not be opposed. These elements are: Space, Light, Darkness, and Gravity." freewebno vel.com
She then paused to collect her thoughts before continuing.
"A few thousand years ago, a particular event happened that changed this world forever. This event was called 'The descension War'. Many races from Ecrasia invaded the three worlds and started a war that lasted over 100 years. It had many devastating effects on the three worlds and one of those effects was the disappearance of these four elements. No one had seen them ever again until this day. You are the only person in records to have one of these elements since that time."
She then gazed at Acht with a complicated look waiting for his reaction. He, on the other side, kept silent as he digested her words.
'It seems like I may have underestimated this power. Luckily I didn't catch the attention of a freak.'
"So, this power of mine is a big deal, huh. I get it. But, did you really want me to join your family just because of my talent? I feel like you have another purpose." He responded after a while with a cold gaze.
'This kid…he's an anomaly.' Scarlett thought as she squinted her eyes lightly. She felt like she was talking to a cunning fox that could trick her easily rather than a young boy.
"You are right indeed. Unfortunately, I can't tell you my goal now since it will do you more harm than good but I can guarantee you a lot of advantages if you join my family."
"Like what?"
She made a small gesture with her hand pointing at his body and said " I can see that you were training before I came. You seem like you lack guidance in training your gift. If you join my family, you could be guided properly and even have a training program that could suit your body. You also will have the privilege of entering any monster dungeon under our control. There are many other things but I can see you got what I'm saying."
Acht didn't show any reaction to her words but deep inside, he was thinking Hardly about her words.
"I could give you some time to thi-"
"I thank you for the proposal but I have to, unfortunately, refuse it." He cut her words.
"Could I know why?" She said without losing her composure. She had this possibility in mind when she came to talk with him so she wasn't surprised by this outcome.
"While your offer does sound attractive, I prefer to not be shackled by anything. I like to have my own free will and I can see that your family doesn't approve of such ideas."
He saw right through her and gave a précise prediction of how her family worked. They may give these privileges unconditionally, but that makes them the ones in control of their members' actions. It was a 'give and take' deal from the start.
"..."
He saw how troubled Scarlett was and he was relieved that he was able to get rid of her this quickly. He changed the future too much with this encounter and he didn't want it to make it worse.
"If you have nothing else to say the-"
"How about this: you're about to pass through the hunter examination, right? I could train you for the next few weeks before the test. If you don't change your mind until that time then I will give up. What do you think?"
"Did anyone ever tell you that you're a very tenacious person?"
"A lot of times." She said with an 'almost smiling' face. It was an attempt from her to show a smug grin.
"Sigh, Fine. I will accept your offer. I hope you can change my mind in this short time."
"You don't have to worry about that. Uh, I forgot to introduce myself properly. I'm Scarlett Goldknight. Nice to meet you…" she said as she extended her arm for a handshake.
"Acht. You can call me Acht." He accepted her hand and shook it slightly.
'It may change the future a lot but I can't ignore this free help. She could boost my progress by a huge margin' he thought inwardly. It was indeed a risky move yet Acht saw no point in accepting since he could see that Scarlett was very strong.
The beautiful red-haired woman then excused herself after telling him to meet her tomorrow morning for the start of the training.
When she left, Acht sat down on the couch again with a wistful look in his eyes. He had made many reckless choices today and he didn't know why. He was never someone to take risks no matter how small they were because he firmly believed that stupid choices no matter how small they are could be the demise of one person.
"No comeback on it now. I had already taken the risk, it either works or not. Show me what you could do, miss the heroine." He muttered before going to take a shower to wash away his sweat and also his worries.
*************************
The next morning, Acht got out of the room and went down to the reception lounge. There, he found Scarlett sitting alone at a table while sipping a cup of hot coffee.
"Good morning."
"Good morning. Are you ready? Even though I want to gain your interest in my offer, I will not go easy on you."
"That's what I'm looking for." He said with a small, cold smile on his face.
"Good. Then, let's get this out of the way while we are here…You will have to fight me first."
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