Rider
patreon
Confrontation
🕑 Added 2022-09-15 10:46:46 +0000 UTCOn the morning of the next day, when he was heading for his class, he found someone he didn’t expect waiting right in front of his building.
Seth stopped for a moment, before approaching the newcomer. Putting on a smile, he said: “Headmistress, how can I help you today?”
Iris looked into his eyes and remained silent for a moment before saying in a serious tone: “We need to talk.”
Seth saw she was only putting on a strong front and was in fact terrified, but he couldn’t blame her.
Sighing, Seth nodded and said: “Let’s go to your office. My students should come to class soon and I bet Henrietta is already in there.”
Iris nodded and followed Seth as he led the way. Seth could see how she kept a minimum amount of distance from him, but there was nothing he could do about it. She was already taking him as her enemy, which was not completely wrong either.
When they reached Iris’s building, Seth moved to the side and motioned for her to open the door after seeing she was a little out of it. Iris jumped back to her senses and opened the door before they both walked inside.
Once Iris was sitting down behind her desk, Seth also took a seat on a chair and asked: “So, what did the headmistress want to speak about?”
Iris remained silent for a long moment before asking: “Can you tell me what that was? I’ve seen nothing like it before.” There was a trace of fear and curiosity in her eyes, like a kid that stumbled upon pandora’s box. She knew the answers inside would probably scare her even more, but she still wanted to know.
Seth sighed and shook his head before saying: “That never needed to happen, Iris. I even tried to warn you. You also know some questions are better left unanswered. With how things are between us, what purpose would it serve if I told you more about it?”
Iris seemed quite disappointed by his answer as she said: “I know you can’t use that power too much, or even again. There were reports of you staying locked inside your class for days, with even Maya missing her classes to stay with you…”
Raising an eyebrow, Seth asked in a dark tone: “Did you call me here so you can test me? Are you sure you want that?”
Iris got goosebumps from his tone and even her eyes trembled slightly in their sockets, memories of the things she felt the last time quickly coming back to her.
Seeing her freeze, Seth sighed and continued: “Let’s just forget that ever happened and not mention it again. To answer yours or that king’s question, yes, that power does indeed hurt me, but I can still wipe this entire kingdom with but a thought. You don’t want to back me into a corner.”
He was injured and summoning his divinity now would have a devastating effect, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t do it. The devastating consequences were something that made him hesitant to use it and he hoped to at least come to a truce with Iris and the royals.
Betting on her wish to avoid mutual destruction was the best move he could do at the moment.
Just as he was about to stand up and leave, Iris asked: “Does Maya know?”
“About?” asked Seth with a raised eyebrow.
“That power of yours, our fight.”
Seth nodded and bent over her desk to look clearly into her eyes. Iris recoiled back and started channeling the energy in her sources in panic, but Seth just ignored her as he said: “If you think of finding answers from her or I don’t know what other stupid idea that might pop in that head of yours, you need to reconsider. Also, remember that Maya is the main reason I’m still taking this approach.”
“Approach to what? What do you want? If you didn’t kill a member of the royal family, none of this would have happened.” Lashed Iris at him, clutching onto the handle of her chair.
Seth stood back straight and shook his head with a sigh. “That was the king making the first move, not me.”
”Over 200 years old and you’re still a little girl clinging to a dead man’s words… Haven’t you learned anything in all these years? Look at you, keeping an oath you made as a child that knew nothing of the world. You protected a family of inapt people to rule this kingdom to its grave…”
“So many more people, apt to rule, tried to raise and take the throne for themselves, but they were all either silenced by the king or beaten into the grave by you.”
“Hell, even Necros would have been a better choice as a king. His plan of offering the first shell knowledge for a treaty of peace of 200 years was not a bad one. That would have stopped the war loss of ascended Oath had to suffer and allowed all those ascended to keep progressing in their cultivation.”
“With him, you, and Maya, you could have promoted all those ascended to at least the fifth shell. In two hundred years, the kingdom would have had an army of fifth shell ascended while the surrounding kingdoms were busy blindly walking forward and get past the first shell.”
“But what did you do when he told you about his plan? You reported it to the king, and he was forced to hide like a rat under the city.”
“So many other people with great ideas to get this kingdom out of the fate of total destruction, all buried by the royal family to keep their hold on the throne and fuel their empty egos.”
Iris’s breathing quickened as she stood up as well and said: “Necros is a criminal. Would you have a criminal rule over this kingdom? He didn’t care about anything else other than himself.”
“He was not always a criminal. He only became a criminal since you turned him into one. The underground was the only place where he could still live.” Replied Seth calmly before adding: “And do the royals care about anything else? They do not. If they did, they would have long chosen a better path, but each king basks in the glory of his empty title as he sinks the kingdom deeper in trouble, leaving it for the next generation to solve their mess. Nothing ever changed. Necros had the lifespan to solve all the problems the kingdom would have encountered.”
“You know this all too well, Iris.”
Iris lowered her head and said nothing else. She knew everything was the truth and she could not cover for the royals in front of Seth. Looking back up again, she asked: “Do you want to take the throne as well?”
There was a trace of fear and determination in her eyes, like a soldier walking into his final battle.
Seth shook his head and turned to walk towards the door. He could see the turmoil boiling inside her aura, and knew she might try to attack him if he said yes. He was still not in a position to fight her so he just wanted to walk away.
“Stop. Answer my question or I will fight you to the death right here.” Said Iris, her sources flooding the room with energy.
Seth turned to look at her with pity in his eyes as he said: “I always had a trace of respect for you, but I never expected you to be nothing more than a dog of the royals. Attack if you will, it will serve no purpose other than to wipe everything out of existence. Me, you, Maya, the royals, the capital, and even your precious academy. All will just disappear.”
Having said his part, Seth turned back towards the door and continued walking out. Iris watched him walk away with hesitation clear in her eyes, but in the end, she canceled her energy and didn’t attack.
Once Seth was out of the room, strength left Iris’s legs and she fell to her knees, silently sobbing in the lonely office.
Seth walked outside and heaved a sigh of relief before heading to his building.
‘Things are so troublesome now… how am I even supposed to convince her to join me? Playing on her feelings doesn’t work, logic doesn’t work, nothing works. It’s like hitting my head against a fucking wall.’
<Her oath has been made to the royals. Maybe if the royal family was to release her from that oath.>
‘She will know if I threaten that fucking king and will not be convinced by such a stupid play. I need some way to make him give her up willingly. Run simulations for different situations that might lead to that outcome.’
<Understood. I’ll start adding those scenarios into the kingdom takeover plan simulation. >
‘Sigh… Iris and Henrietta made this simple task so troublesome…’
Having reached his classroom, he sat down behind his desk with a frown and ignored Henrietta’s curious look. Henrietta was also hesitant to ask anything, so they remained in silence as she started reading through a book.
At noon, Maya walked into the classroom with a smile on her face, a smile that disappeared when she noticed Seth’s frown.
“What happened?” she asked as she approached his desk.
“I had a small talk with Iris. It’s quite frustrating how stubborn that woman can be.”, replied Seth with a sigh.
“Well, that she is.” Said Maya as she came and sat down on Seth’s lap, ignoring Henrietta’s presence. “That’s why I told you she will never stand against the royal family.”
Seth took a quick look at Henrietta before saying: “I can see. I must admit, I severely underestimated her stubbornness. At least things should calm down for a while after everything that happened.”
Maya nodded and rested her head on his shoulder. Seth’s mood also got better with Maya’s presence there and answered some of Henrietta’s questions before heading back to the dormitory with Maya.
//I wanted to add another side-story, but Patreon seems to have some problem with the servers so I'll just leave it for tomorrow since I barely managed to post this one and I have to leave for work.//
