Charisma 100: My Academy Life As A Heartbreaking Commoner-Chapter 223: To Be Expected
Aegis had herself a good rest upon coming back from that tiny village.
As she woke up late, she smelled Evelyn before she heard her.
Well, not Evelyn herself, but the tea she was carrying. Something minty and sharp that cut through the haze of sleep and made Aegis’s nose twitch.
"My lady."
"Mmrgh."
"I have news."
"Mmrgh?"
Evelyn set the tea down on the nightstand and waited. Aegis, after a few more seconds of pretending she could go back to sleep, finally sat up and rubbed her eyes.
"Okay. Hit me."
"House Goldspire has issued a formal challenge."
That woke her up.
"A challenge?"
"A duel, specifically. For Princess Talia’s hand in marriage." Evelyn’s expression was carefully neutral, which meant she was worried. "Darius Goldspire wishes to settle the matter of the betrothal through single combat."
Aegis blinked a few times, processing that.
"Huh."
"You don’t seem surprised."
"I mean, I’m a little surprised. But also not really?" Aegis reached for the tea and took a sip. Still too hot, but she didn’t care. "Darius is a fighter. It makes sense he’d want to solve this with his fists instead of, I don’t know, more audits and assessments and whatever."
"... You’re considering accepting."
"I’m definitely accepting."
Evelyn’s neutral expression cracked just a little.
"My lady, with all due respect, this is almost certainly a trap."
"Oh, absolutely." Aegis nodded, taking another sip. "He’s got something planned. No way he’s challenging me to a straight fight after I beat him at the Winter Trials. He’s not stupid."
"Then why accept?"
"Because if I don’t, I look like a coward. And because..." Aegis set the tea down and swung her legs over the side of the bed. "Whatever he’s planning, I’ll figure it out. I always do."
Evelyn did not look reassured by this.
"Do we have any idea what he might be scheming?"
"Not yet. But I know someone who might." Aegis stood up and stretched, her back popping in a few places. She walked over to her wardrobe and started pulling out clothes. "The duel won’t be held at the academy, right? So no faculty oversight. No official referees. That means he’s got room to cheat."
"You think he’ll cheat?"
"I think he’d be an idiot not to." Aegis pulled a shirt over her head. "If I were him, and I’d already lost to me once, and my entire political future was riding on this one fight? Yeah. I’d cheat. I’d cheat so hard."
She grabbed a pair of pants and started tugging them on.
"Where are you going?" Evelyn asked.
"To see Serilla."
"Lady Frost?"
"She’s got connections. Ears in places I don’t have ears yet." Aegis fastened her belt and checked herself in the mirror. Good enough. "If Darius is planning something dirty, Serilla might be able to find out what."
Evelyn nodded slowly.
"And if she can’t?"
Aegis grinned.
"Then I’ll just have to cheat harder than he does."
---
Aegis set the quill down and read over the letter one more time.
"...and therefore, I formally request that the terms, conditions, and rules of the proposed duel be provided in writing prior to my acceptance. I trust House Goldspire will understand the necessity of such clarity in matters of this importance. Sincerely, Lady Aegis Starcaller."
She looked up at Serilla, who was lounging on a couch nearby, one leg draped over the armrest.
"Good?"
"Good enough." Serilla examined her nails. "It won’t stop them from cheating, obviously. But it forces them to commit to a framework. Whatever tricks they’ve got planned, they’ll have to work around the rules they send you."
"So I’ll at least know what rules they’re pretending to follow."
"Exactly." Serilla swung her legs off the couch and stood up. "And if they break their own stated rules during the duel, that’s ammunition. Political ammunition, anyway. Won’t help you if you’re already dead."
"Thanks for the encouragement."
"I’m a giver."
Aegis folded the letter, sealed it with a bit of wax, and handed it off to one of Serilla’s servants. The man took it and disappeared without a word.
"Now then," Serilla said, already walking toward the door, "let’s go see what the rats have been whispering about."
They left Serilla’s estate and made their way through the Noble Quarter. Serilla led them down a series of side streets that Aegis hadn’t really explored before, past a few taverns that looked way too fancy to be called taverns, until they arrived at a small tea house tucked between two larger buildings.
"This is where your contacts hang out?"
"One of them." Serilla pushed the door open. "Try not to look too impressed."
The inside was... fine, actually. Nice, even. Small tables, soft lighting, the smell of expensive tea leaves. A few patrons glanced up when they entered, then quickly looked away.
Serilla made her way to a table in the back corner where a woman with short grey hair sat nursing a cup of something that definitely wasn’t tea. They exchanged a few words that Aegis couldn’t quite hear, and then Serilla waved her over.
The next hour or so was a lot of listening.
Serilla’s contact, who never actually gave her name, talked about what she’d heard from various sources. Goldspire had been hiring trainers. Expensive ones. They’d also been making inquiries about certain alchemical suppliers, though the specifics were unclear.
"Could be performance enhancers," the woman said with a shrug. "Could be poison. Could be both. Anything to counter your star alchemist."
"Lovely," Aegis muttered.
By the time they left the tea house, the sun was starting to set. Aegis walked beside Serilla in silence for a while, turning everything over in her head.
This wasn’t like the game.
In the game, Darius was a rival, sure, but he was a predictable one. He showed up at certain story beats, said certain lines, lost certain fights. There was a pattern. A script.
But this Darius? This Darius was adapting. Scheming. Hiring trainers and buying potions and challenging her to duels outside of academy oversight.
[I’m in uncharted territory now.]
Aegis shoved her hands in her pockets and kept walking.
[Guess I’ll just have to wing it.]
