Shadow Monarch: Heroines Could Hear My Thoughts?!

Chapter 146- The Meeting (Part 1)

Elise reached the stage and readied herself for the fight. She was going with another girl. Since magic-wise, there isn't much difference between how a female's body functions or a male's body functions, Mixing both of them in fights won't create any kind of disadvantage for either of them.

In fact, some of the fights that occurred between a male and a female student were equal or even ended in the girls' favor. That's because Mana can enhance the strength of the body so if a woman has enough mana and mastery over it, that difference in physical prowess between them.

The girl didn't appear as cocky as the student that faced Rin as she already knew all about Elise. She also heard rumors about Elise's crushing strength. Apparently, when she goes to the forest to train and hunt monsters, some students see her and follow her secretly. They had seen how stupidly strong she was as she slaughtered monsters one after the other as kept going deeper and deeper into the forest.

However, they couldn't see her full strength as most of them can't venture that deep into the forest so they end up leaving her alone eventually. So, how capable Elise was is still a mystery to them.

The girl gulped down a mouthful of saliva as she stared at Elise's cold, emotionless eyes. Her mere presence was so strong that the girl immediately averted her eyes and tried to look elsewhere, at Donnie for example. 𝑓𝒓𝚎e𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯𝘰𝐯𝒆𝑙.c𝚘m

The latter nodded his head and gave the sign. Instantly, Elise vanished from where she was standing and appeared behind the girl.

Before the latter could even react to the sudden move, she was already pinned to the ground skillfully. The girl's eyes widened in shock as she stared at Elise on top of her, staring at her with the same cold face as usual.

"Elise Aviresion is the winner!" Donnie announced as he blinked a few times too.

'Another monster too?!' He thought as he almost dropped down on his knees from shock. He had already been shocked beyond words yet somehow things weren't over yet. How could he forget about the other person besides Rin?

Elise was also a very mysterious individual, no less than Rin. In fact, now that he looked at it closely, Elise was even more mysterious than Rin himself. He basically knew nothing about her except that she was also extremely talented.

Elise wasn't someone who stood in the limelight. In a sense, she was always in Rin's shadow out of her own will. She only steps out when Rin needs her. One seemed like the rarest genius that stepped on Divine Sapphire while the other, who is equally as talented, kept it low-key for the longest time.

'A perfect combo.' Donnie thought.

Each one of them completed the other and each one needed the other to hide their weaknesses.

'Maybe we are focusing on half the talent, Miss. Emilia.'

At this point, ignoring Elise would be a grave mistake in and out of itself. One freak of nature was cool, on the other hand, two freaks of nature are a different matter altogether. If one can become a god amongst men, the other can be an immortal goddess.

As Donnie was going through his own thoughts, Elise merely walked back to her spot. Cheers took a long time to start as everyone was quite taken aback. They were all ready to see her crushing power but it still exceeded their wildest expectations.

In a sense, she wasn't any more absurd than Rin did but since they all expected to see her do something amazing, the reaction wasn't as intense as Rin's.

"You are…" When Elise reached Rin, he tried to say something but ended up being silent.

"I told you. You won't be the only one that will be in trouble." She said casually.

"..."

Hearing that, Rin finally understood what she meant. She was intending to also show dominant power in front of everyone and rise suspicions about how strong she was. Elise wasn't intending to let Rin get dragged into a problem alone while she stays in safety.

They were both stuck in this mess together so they either leave it together or be imprisoned in it together. She wasn't going to just guarantee her own safety when her friend was going to be in trouble.

'What… an odd person?' Rin thought as a small smile appeared on his face and a flash of weird emotions passed through his eyes. He felt a weird feeling welling in his heart that he couldn't describe in words.

This was something he had never felt before. It wasn't intense enough to make him fall into panic or question it deeply. But, it still made him feel confused.

'Am I falling in love with Elise?' He asked himself as he rubbed his chin.

Rin never fell in love before but he heard that when someone falls in love, their heart starts beating loudly, and his face blushes. Even though he wasn't blushing or feeling embarrassed, his heart was beating faster than usual.

As much as he wanted to say that he had some understanding of the way of the heart, he could only dejectedly realize that he still had a long way to go before he became an expert in this field. He was sure that if he was able to learn more about this, he might be able to discern what kind of feelings he was having at the moment.

'Am I really falling in love, System?' He suddenly asked.

[I don't comprehend human emotions, host.]

'You don't?'

[Yes.]

'Then how are you this annoying?' He asked as he squinted his eyes.

[The system is a manifestation of some parts of your personality, host. I take from your soul and integrate it.]

'...'

Rin was turned speechless. He had unknowingly shot himself in the foot and ended up regretting it greatly.

"Oi, Rin…" Suddenly, Elise spoke to him, waking him up from his daze.

"What?"

"Look.." She said as she pointed at the entrance to the magic training area. There, a handsome young man was standing with a small smile on his face. When he noticed that Rin was looking at him, he waved his hand amicably. 𝐟𝗿𝚎𝐞𝓌e𝒃𝑛𝒐ѵ𝒆𝑙.c𝚘𝓶

"Malza?" Rin was confused when he saw the student council president in such a place.

He didn't seem to have come here by coincidence or other business. He was here to meet Rin. But, the latter didn't know why.

"Wait…." Suddenly realizing it, Rin facepalmed with a sigh.

"I forgot."

"You forgot about the meeting?" Elise asked.

"Yes…" He replied with an exasperated look on his face.

"I forgot that today was our meeting. It's still not time for it tho. He said that I should visit the student council in the evening."

"Maybe he has something important to say?" Elise suggested.

"From the cheeky smile he has on his face right now, I doubt he has anything ground-breaking to reveal. He knew that Malza wasn't someone to reveal things to others especially when his best interest is involved.

Rin was sure this meeting was going to be tricky. He will have to navigate the dangerous waters that were Malza's mysterious thoughts and goals.

He was the worst possible enemy Rin could ever face if he became one. The manipulative, smart enemy is far more dangerous than someone who only got muscles and no brains.

However, luckily, Malza isn't an enemy yet. As long as he didn't try to do anything suspicious, he was considered a neutral party.

As he was like that, Malza somehow had already moved closer to Donnie and said something that no one heard.

After a few seconds, Donnie seemed to nod as his eyes looked at Rin. After that, he signaled for Rin to leave with Malza.

The latter blinked a few times.

"What about the class?"

"He doesn't care. Just go. I will take care of Sorophi." Elise sighed.

"... Ok, I rely on you, Elise."

After giving her a trustful smile, he walked away, following Malza who already was close to the gate again. Even though Rin had watched him closely when he was walking, the latter somehow was able to move so quickly without Rin noticing.

"What kind of magic is that?" Rin murmured to himself.

It was quite eerie how this seemingly nonchalant thing tricked Rin's mind.

'I swear, I saw him walking normally. How is he that far?'

"It's one of my tricks." Malza suddenly turned around and said with his usual mysterious smile.

"Those are some handy tricks you have there."

"Fufufufu! I appreciate the compliment, Rin." He said elegantly.

Looking at him with a blank face, Rin didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

'Why do I see roses behind him?' He asked himself the 1-million gold coins question.

(A//N: Roses everywhere :) )

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks for reading. Any support you give me is always appreciated no matter how small it was. Let's all keep it up :)