Forcing my anger to dissolve, I give the instructor one more glance as I push the door open and join the others.
Elias walks up to me and has another dumb grin on his face.
"What'd he want from you, Kelric? An autograph perhaps.. or maybe.. something more intimate."
I cannot possibly understand what his intentions are in asking me such an obviously untrue question.
Instead of feeding into his weirdness, I say the truth.
"He just warned me not to kill anyone accidentally."
Elias's face froze before turning into a smile.
It froze again as he looked at me, understanding that I'm not making a joke.
He scratches his head a little.
"I don't know why he'd bother doing that. It's not like your were going to kill Marinah earlier.. hahaha.. haha.. ha…"
His forced laughter is weak and sputters out like a candle at the end of its wic when he notices my blank face.
The instructor gathers our attention and explains the rules for this test.
The rules are the same as the as the hand to hand combat, except only three pairs could fight at one time.
He gave us a few minutes to find a weapon of our choice from racks on the walls.
The weapons are wooden, but good quality. They're heavy and hard and I'm sure I can make the sword I picked up pierce into a body easily.
Before the instructor can say so, I'm standing in a white circle, waiting for a challenger.
I groan inwardly as Marinah steps forward.
'Does she like being humiliated..'
There is no battle energy, no rage, no wrath as I look at her.
Her face starts getting red again from my stare. I can't help but wonder if her asking to be friends earlier was a ploy to get me to let down my guard.
'Such petty tricks do not work on me.'
My eyes look her body up and down multiple times, assessing every opening she presented.
Her grip is weak and not centered properly. Her feet are too close together and her waist should be bent lower.
I stand there as the instructor begins our match.
"Fight!"
She rushes at me and I almost facepalm. Her arms are over her head and behind her back.
I guess she's planning to chop me straight down the middle.
She reaches me and swings her sword down with all her might.
It stops above her head. My left hand has firmly grasp both of hers and my right lightly presses my sword on her stomach.
I turn to look at the instructor and he nods.
"Kelric wins."
I look back towards Marinah and I am confused. What could have been her plan there, if it was to look foolish, then she succeeded.
My face gets closer as I study her. It's easy to see what's in the heart when staring through the eyes. At least that's what my father always said.
Her voice is meek as she looks at me.
"I-it's too early to do that…"
What could she mean by this? Too early to give up?
"Too early for what?"
Her face is even redder now and I think she might die from her simmering anger.
"T-t-t-too k-k-kiss…"
She looks downs as I ponder.
"Who wants to kiss?"
She snaps her eyes back up to me.
"You. You're going too kiss me.. right?"
I'm even more confused by this sudden development as I try to think of a reason why she would believe I'm going to kiss her. I don't find one and my voice is loud when I respond.
"No, I don't think I want to kiss you, at all."
I commend myself a little at my wording, I don't want to kicked out of the academy for sexual harassment before even finishing the exam.
Marinah's face twists a little and I know I've said something wrong. I try to explain myself, but it only seems to make her angrier.
"I promise I don't want to kiss you. Please believe me, Marinah…"
I hear Elias laughing off in the distance and I see other examines holding their hands over mouths.
'What is going on right now?'
I let go of Marinah and she started stomping away in a huff.
When I get over to Elias, I ask him why she got so mad at me. His laugh and pointed finger are the only explanation I receive.
Since there are only three pairs at a time, this test is taking a lot longer. Also, everyone who fails to win a match gets one more chance before the judges make their evaluation this time.
Marinah won her second bout in a wild clash of flailing arms against her equally unskilled opponent.
Marinah is definitely a noble and I want to make peace with her, so that I can eventually win her over to my cause.
She's sitting in a corner, sulking, despite her victory. Her face darkens as she looks at me.
"What do you want... here to make fun of me again?"
I don't think I ever made fun of her so I ignore her remark and make one of my own.
"I noticed your form could use some work, would you like some pointers?"
I'm hoping I can earn some goodwill from teaching her. It should be an easy choice to accept my help, considering how much more experienced I obviously am.
"Yeah and your manners could use some pointers! Go, leave me alone."
'I thought that was for sure going to work..'
I moved back to my spot and see Elias waiting for me.
I open my mouth before he can distract me with nonsense.
"Do you think Marinah dislikes me? She just rejected my help to fix her form and I can't understand why."
His mouth opens at my question and he gives me a look that cleary says how little he thinks of my intellect.
"Kelric… are you serious? You just offended her infront of everyone, quite literally, thirty minutes ago."
"How'd I do that?"
His hand reaches up to his face and drags back down it.
"Are you telling me you didn't mean to make fun of her.."
"Why would I want to to do that?"
"…I-… you.. ahhgg. Then why did you say that to her, that you didn't want to kiss her? Loud enough for the whole room to overhear?"
"Because I thought she'd be mad if I said I did and I didn't want others to misunderstand my intentions."
Pinching the bridge of his nose, he asks me one last question.
"What do you think about Marinah?"
The question was a little unexpected and I have to think for a bit before answering.
"Well she seems alright I guess. Other than that… I think her hair is pretty.."
I feel a little color in my cheeks from my honesty.
Elias can't seem to find any words for once to my surprise. Finally he settles on something and starts walking towards Marinah.
"Wait here dimwit.. I'll go explain the misunderstanding to her."
It's strange. I've only known Elias for half a day and he's insulted me twice. I haven't even gotten mad at him for this, and it reminds me of how Harry would treat me.
'Interacting with normal people is a lot trickier than I remember..'