A Dragon’s Curiosity

 

 

Nisha clearly underestimated the prowess of the beauty called Alice Rotland under her intense burst of anger. Her speed exceeded all estimations and before the dragon was able to slip out and use the surroundings to make her escape, the infuriated lady had already dragged her back inside, going so far as locking the door.

Eyle could only sigh and refrain from intervening, an action Nisha understood clearly. While he might favor her slightly in this matter, his own daughter was already set on handling the situation herself. Unless her actions went above the basic line he established earlier, he probably would not intervene.

“You don’t understand your situation! Unless I agree, you won’t be able to enroll at all! Face me in a game of chess so I can clear this stain on my honor. Otherwise, just disappear from this place and forget about attending lessons here!”

Even without any breeze present, her brown hair surged around her frame, swaying slightly to express the intense anger reflected on Alice face.

With this kind of high intensity attention directed at herself, Nisha gave up on escaping. Even if she somehow managed to slip away right now, this type of hunter was not one to give up. Rather than running away every time Alice spotted her, settling it right now was much better.

Of course, the dragon would not give away any advantage for free.

 

Appearing reluctant, Nisha glanced around the room, seemingly fidgeting around while avoiding to look her opponent straight into the eyes.

“I still don’t understand. Why is my admission linked to your approval? I just want to attend the academy, if I lose to you won’t I lose my chance to do that? There’s far too much at stake for me to agree to that. Please reconsider, Lady Alice.”

Bowing again, the elf pretended to be sincere.

In a certain manner, it worked. Before the brown haired woman could reply, her father, Elye, spoke up, taking some wind out of her sails.

“Since you are the one that brought the challenge up, you naturally cannot expect others to agree to it for free, Alice. I won’t interfere in any case, no matter the outcome, if you can think of proper terms. While abusing your authority to interfere is not an act I can condone, a competition or bet between just the two of you is another case.”

Having said his piece, the wizened old man reclined on his chair, looking upon their dispute as an elder. Nisha was relieved internally, if both of them were against her, she was clear about the outcome. While Elye Rotland did not radiate might like a sun, the confined energies shrouding his body felt much more dangerous in comparison.

 

“This … I understand your meaning, father. Of course, I acted too fiercely after finding out that this girl is the one I’ve been looking for. Now that I have calmed down, I won’t make things too difficult.

Child, your name is Nisha, right?

This lady really wants to compete in chess with you, so how about we have a bet. Since I already conceded on the matter of admission, you will have no disadvantage, are you interested?”

How sincere would such a promise be after Alice already threatened to block the proceedings and catch her while she was leaving? Nisha naturally couldn’t peek inside her opponent's head, and to make an accurate guess whether or not she meant it, they didn’t know each other long enough for that.

As a hunter, the dragon wasn’t one to shy away from a challenge and she knew there would be a match occurring on this day, in one manner or the other. If Alice wanted to take her on, then she would gladly oblige.

 

Her contrahent, the young miss of the Rotland family, had internally almost reached the critical point of being unable to suppress her rage anymore. She always had had an explosive temper while growing up, and while she didn’t go out to bully others, when she had taken action she had done so in a thorough manner. Originally, she also had only accompanied her father to the [Eel’s Park], where he observed matches, and he had to urge her on more than once to play there herself.

Winning time after time due to her tutelage under a grand master at the sport - which she took granted as her own talent compared to everyone else - the feeling of superiority while beating someone under the gazes of countless others had made her somewhat addicted.

As such, once one of her opponents she usually crushed without breaking a sweat had complained how it was such a pity Nisha was not here, she was pricked especially hard. She could certainly beat her, were his words.

While being internally unsettled somewhat, the lady however didn’t take it to heart and brushed it aside as the unwillingness of a sore loser … but this was no isolated incident! Time after time again, the current champion of the week, who came up to challenge her during her visit at the end of the week, would always complain why this mysterious Nisha was not present.

After making some careful and silent inquiries, she had almost exploded in rage when this shrouded expert turned out to be a little kid. Too insulting! What did these muddleheaded chess lovers take her for? To be easily beaten by a little child? What kind of fantasy was that?

Therefore, while her current speech sounded pleasant, she had her own designs. Beating the elf first and then setting her up for a rematch in the park, she’d certainly make a big spectacle out of it, humiliate her in front of the crowd to get revenge and establish her superiority once again. As long as her father didn’t come out to interfere, she was certain to succeed.

 

“To soothe your concerns first, as long as you play a game with me, even in case you lose, your admission to the academy will still be accepted. Even if you have to miss the deadline to prepare new documents, it isn’t a problem, I guarantee it.”

Inwardly Alice sneered, whether or not the little girl could have skin thick enough after she was properly humiliated was another matter altogether.

“Neither party will be allowed to seek retaliation against the other once the game is over, I think my father, Lord Elye Rotland, representing the Adventurer’s Guild will be willing to be witness to this condition and enforce it. Ah, you can’t lose on purpose though, if both my father and me judge this has happened, we will play another round.”

Another favourably formulated condition appeared from her mouth, which she planned for her scheme. While the loser wasn’t allowed to strike back, certainly the elf would grasp the chance for a rematch if she offered one in the park, maybe Nisha would think she could do it if she tried once more.

“I don’t really have any treasures on me right now to place as the ante … therefore I can only put forward my amber pipe. I’ll have you know, this is a high ranked treasure carved from the heart of an [Amber Lion], a ferocious beast living inside the Dungeon. Not even the royal family has one and they offered to buy it before. The winner gets the item, the loser can’t complain, how does that sound?”

 

Covering her face with her hair to make it seem like she was carefully considering this bet, Lady Alice had to fight the urge to laugh. Even the figure of her father jerked once she put forward her favourite treasure, well aware how much it was worth. Sadly, he already agreed to stay out of it in case the bet was agreed on by both sides.

Nisha carefully studied the golden item placed on the table, turning her gaze towards the white haired man, who could only forcibly nod in agreement, giving his agreement to act as a judge and uphold the rules of the competition. Dragging out the silence and letting her face show uncertainty and desire, the dragon’s act was by no way inferior to the play acted out by the lady.

In the end, she slightly nodded her head and voiced out her approval.

“If Lady Alice is prepared to take out such a valuable item and give me so much consideration, I really have no choice.

However, there is no chess board in the room, what do we do about that?”

Acting coy and insecure, there were no flows in Nisha’s words, despite looking forward to the game now. She had heard about the other genius at chess from the friendly uncles in the park before, and besting her at the game was not completely out of the question from her inquiries. And the treasure must certainly be something good when even the old gentleman’s heart pounded harder when his daughter took it out as the subject of their game.

 

“You are right, fortunately we have my father with us. Would you please?”

Turning around to face him, Alice held her open palm towards him which the old man considered for a second before sighing and giving in. He really wanted to put a stop to this, not because he was afraid either side would lose, but rather that it was unheard of to place a sixth ranked item obtained through blood and effort of a high ranked adventurer team as the ante of a game of chess.

Swiping over the table, a chess board appeared together with a box containing the figures needed to play. Additionally, a bunch of paper emerged in his hands as well, which he sorted through while paying the two girls no more attention. From his point of view, this whole charade was foolish and pointless, but maybe both of them would learn something from going through it and benefit in the future due to the experience.

Nisha was quite shocked to see the board pop out of thin air, which didn’t escape the brown haired woman.

“Amazing, isn’t it? As the head of the guild, it isn’t so surprising to have unlocked the [Inner Space]. As a magician, there are only a few in this city who exceed my esteemed father.”

Boasting as if it was her own accomplishment, Alice confidence grew even more.

 

Of course, the [Inner Space] wasn’t the reason the dragon was astonished, rather she rejoiced to meet someone else who could access this thing. Ever since she unlocked it, she had only heard about it in stories and could not inquire about its workings with another possessor of the ability.

Alice took her silence as agreement and begun setting up the stones, eager to start the match. Having completed the lines of black and white, she rotated the board once, it was an amazing piece of craftsmanship. With the right method, the stone platform easily turned in a circle as if weightless. Her father taught her how to play with this set, naturally she knew one or two tricks about it.

“Make your pick, do you prefer the white or black side?”

As the challenger, it was only appropriate to have the younger girl make the decision.

Not being reserved about the selection, Nisha silently took the black stones, touching the right tower carefully and admiring the smooth stone and strong aura contained within it. Maybe the true treasure on the table was this board and not the pipe, however she didn’t voice this opinion out loud.

 

Lifting her pale white hand and moving one of the white pawns forward two paces, Alice couldn’t hide her enjoyment and a wide smile was plastered on her face. Closely observing the move Nisha was about to make, she was taken slightly aback when something different from her expectations happened. Picking one of the black pawns situated to the outer border, the elf touched it for a second before pulling her hand back, letting the figure go without moving it.

Afraid her chance to beat the illusory genius child at chess which left a deep mark on her reputation would slip away, Alice restrained herself and forced out a smile, asking what exactly was wrong with her eyes.

“Before we start, please indulge one more question from me.

Why are you so eager to win a game against me? We never met before this day, there are no grudges between us and you will win nothing but the game. On the other hand, you put forward favourable conditions in the form of an expensive and rare treasure as well as preferential conditions regarding my admission. Why go so far? I can’t understand that.”

Perhaps, this was the most sincere act Nisha had shown to the brunette lady so far. She actually wanted to understand what moved her opponent, what reasons drove her so far.

 

Taken by surprise in the face of such a profound question, Alice had to rearrange her thoughts before giving her answer. Logically speaking, even a grudge wouldn’t move her to extremes like the current situation.

Finally, she had her answer.

“I guess you could say this involves my personal honour. So far, no one ever managed to outshine me in any manner. School, cultivation, chess … I was always at the top. Now a young girl appeared, more than twice as young as me and every player at the park regards her superior than me.

This is probably the first time someone challenged my personal honor and not that of my family. In a sense, I cannot concede here. I will reclaim what belongs to me. This are my reasons.”

By now, her act broke apart as well. Leaking a hint of her true desire to dominate Nisha as an opponent, neither party hid beneath a mask nor did they bother to exchange more words.

Very well. If it was a political confrontation between families, I would have given you some face to keep the peace. Unfortunately - for you - Henry encouraged me to act as wild as I want if it involves my personal honor. With the encouragement from my big brother, how could I afford to lose? Here I go!