Arthur kept hunting the groups of those small armies for hours. He waited, patiently for any news coming from any of his scouts; yet he got nothing.
"Strange, was the other one far away from here?" he felt quite perplexed about this outcome, and he didn't accept this.
"Time to go and interrogate this sweet princess," he laughed before heading to a nearby bunch of trees and hid himself there.
During those hours he took all the population he could, devastating many armies in the process. No army stood a chance against this swift and brutal assault.
Yet he had no more targets so far! So, he either would go back to the stronghold and aid in the siege there, or keep looking for that other contestants coming from the dark Oblack academy.
He went inside his garden and observed Anna for a while; she seemed quite anxious already. Moving right and left, not standing in one place for more than a few minutes before moving to another.
Now and then she would hit a small rock away out of frustration.
"Chill out, I don't mean harm to you," his sudden appearance jolted her awake from the depth of her thoughts.
"You decided to show up," she tried to act arrogant and collected like before; yet miserably failed. "Have you decided to let me go?"
"Well… about that…" he feigned difficulty before adding, "I wanted to, but see I have to obtain some benefits in return."
She stepped a couple steps back while asking in a shaky tone: "What do you mean?"
He laughed, and let her imagination go wild for a few moments here. "I just want to hunt down more contestants," he said, before seriously making his offer, "after all I learnt about your trial here. You aren't the only one, and you have no friends here," he paused before adding, "except for me."
"You…" she pointed out to him while heaving a long sigh of relief. "You aren't my friend, and won't be!"
"C'mon, I'm trying to help you out," he wasn't offended by her rejection as he said with a calm smile.
"What do you mean by that? You are holding me here; already making me fail the test."
"See? That's where you are wrong," he said, before adding, "I'm not here to make you fail the test, I'm here to make sure everyone else but you will fail it."
Her eyes went wide open while her mind picked up his hidden meaning. "You mean… you will hunt them down and only release me?"
"Of course," he lied, "what else would I want from you?"
"For what?" after a brief moment of hesitation and silence she asked. "We aren't friends and your clan is the enemy of mine!"
"Consider it as a new start between us," he said before adding, "a start of a relationship that will last long."
"What relation?" she again went panic and stepped a couple of steps to the back.
"Friendship of course, what else did you think of?" he feigned ignorance while inwardly laughing at her.
Such a naive girl coming from a prestigious clan and academy. 'That's a regret for them, and a lucky encounter for me,' he inwardly sneered while watching this golden fish taking his bait and falling inside his net.
"But…" she was about to say something, yet stopped while glancing at him.
"I'm weak you mean?" he said before laughing, "c'mon, all your powers were sealed before coming here to fit this lowly world of mine. It's not an exaggeration to say that the only obstacle for me to gain you isn't your strength, or the power of your guards; but the large distance separating me from the others."
He laughed, a very confident laugh, while she remained silent gazing upon him.
Her mind kept warning her not to accept, warning her from the aftermath of such a rash decision. Yet her heart kept telling her to accept; after all she risked everything to be here on this trial.
She couldn't accept failure! 'How can I refuse such an offer while victory loomed in the distance?' she said to herself, finally making up her troubled mind.
"Alright, I will agree to help," she said, before adding, "tell me what do you know about the trial?"
"Well… pretty much nothing in fact," he embarrassedly laughed before adding when he noticed her strange look, "all I heard was that you came here with sealed powers, two in each great clan, trying to do something."
"That's… lame of you to trick me here!" she groaned off his little trick before adding with a sweet laugh, "but if you didn't act dirty, how can I trust you then to be my ally? Hahaha!"
He glanced at her wild laughs and was speechless. 'This girl… has a twisted mind indeed!' he remarked to himself before saying: "Alright, tell me what you know."
"I know a lot," she returned to speak seriously, yet her smile didn't leave her face, "I know where other dear friends of mine are, how can you find them, their strengths and weaknesses… I know pretty much everything."
He noticed her tone seemed quite vengeful. "You hold… a lot of grievances inside you, ain't you?"
"What can you tell!" she shouted at him while the smile she had was wiped away. "Let's talk about business and not personal matters."
'Yeah, you have such a grudge against everyone here,' he said to himself. "Alright, tell me everything you know, and I promise your revenge will be met in a very nice way you will like."
Her face brightened up despite shouting at him: "Told you I have nothing against them! They are my dear friends!"
He laughed. "Alright, let's call them this way from now on. So, how can I find your dear friends? What are their main traits? Tell me everything regarding this trial."
She evilly smirked before starting to tell him everything.
This took a full hour, yet he learnt everything he needed from her.
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