Desolate Mage: A Legend Reborn! 47 Confused, Conflicted

"Ahem. Excuse me, gentlemen." Lars coughed and spoke with a voice that was neither loud nor soft.

Suddenly the entire room went quiet.

It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop, or even the sound of a paper fluttering through the air to fall to the ground.

It was so quiet that you would wonder if everyone had just stopped breathing out of shock and fear.

Not because of the power of the three bullies, no. They were only lackeys.

No, it was because of the clout and status of their backers.

And so the entire guild common hall went silent with a hushed, repressed atmosphere. The astonished crowds looked on and waited to see if there would be a good show to watch.

Even the newbie who was in the midst of being dragged away forgot to struggle, so shocked was he that someone had actually responded to his cries for help!

He looked up, desperately trying to peer over the shoulders of his captors to see which grand hero or n.o.ble young master it was who had stood up for him. His face shone with the radiance of a damsel in distress rescued by a knight in s.h.i.+ning armour, blus.h.i.+ng and shy, panting slightly in excitement.

Then his face fell, filled with disappointment even lower than his previous state of anguish.

It was an unranked, ungraded newbie, just like him.

His body visibly slumped into the arms of the two henchmen as the eye-patch wearing boss marched up to Lars to check out who had dared to challenge their reign of terror!

He stood before the boy who was about his height, examining his face and noticing that he had no badge of rank. But as he looked him over, despite the youth's look of maturity, the boy was probably only 15-16 years old - no different from their captive!

Then he began to grow nervous. What if this boy was also some high ranking scion from one of the four great families? Otherwise, how would this young pup dare to b.u.t.t in on the Trenel family's business?!

He grunted and asked gingerly, "You... Sir, you... I'm representing the great House of Trenel here. You're interrupting our official business as requested by Leocadius Trenel, 3rd son of the great Earl Trenel!"

But when he saw Lars just continue to look at him with a nonchalant smile, he began to lose confidence. Was he facing a high ranked descendant of those n.o.ble houses...?

'I-I'd better check just to be sure...'

He asked Lars, "...Sir, erm... Are you from the Estreya family...?"

Lars shook his head, "No, I am not from the Estreya family."

The ruffian frowned and raised his right eyebrow, racking his brain for just who this young man could be working for to be so brave to b.u.t.t his nose in to the Master's business. He leaned in to take a closer look, then spoke, "I don't suppose you're from the House of Sarouneh, are you...?"

Lars shook his head once more, "No, I'm not."

His curiosity piqued even more, he questioned, "Are you a lesser known scion of the Jamal family, then...?"

Lars shrugged, then said, "Haven't heard of them," which drew many shocked gasps from the onlookers; how was it possible for anyone not to know the Jamal family who were among the four great houses of Gorun!??

But his answer terrified the eye-patch wearing man. The buff but average-height man stumbled backwards and reeled in shock as if though someone had punched him in the stomach. His face turned pale and he grasped the edges of his tunic tightly in his fingers, trembling ever so slightly, crumpling the rough fabric in his hands. He could taste the salty cold sweat that dripped down his forehead in a deluge, and felt like the walls were shrinking and closing in on him.

He shakily fell to his knees and bowed his head to the ground, his forehead hitting the floor with a *thud* sound.

"S-sir... My lord-- No, your grace... I, we meant no disrespect." He quickly crawled nearer, face still to the ground as he spoke, then began to hold the young mage's boots as he begged for mercy.

"!?!????" Lars was shocked and stumped - what was going on? He was here to pick a fight but before he could do anything, the bad guys started begging for mercy? He hasn't even had the chance to make a threat!

"We didn't know the boy belongs to your grace's esteemed family of aristocrats; we dare not, dare not to incur your wrath..." Then his head tilted up to look at a bemused Lars who did not know what the h.e.l.l was happening.

"Lord, y-your grace, Sir de Caldis... Could you p-p-please forgive these ignorant ants of our rudeness...?" The eye-patch man was nearly crying as he pleaded at Lars feet, making him unsure where to laugh or to cry.

As he was completely focused on his begging for mercy, he didn't notice the crowds bemused murmurs:

"Doesn't the Duke only have one daughter?"

"Yeah, that's the whole reason for the tournament right...?"

And so the crowds could only unanimously conclude one thing: What an idiot the eyepatch man in front of them was...

'Ahhh! So that's it!' Lars clapped his hands together as he realised what misunderstanding and confusion had just occurred.

They must have thought he too is a young master! And since he wasn't from any of the four families, then the man had a.s.sumed he must be from the Duke's household!

And so he didn't bother to correct the s...o...b..ring buffoon, and merely kicked him in the mouth, sending his two front teeth flying perfectly at the two stunned henchmen, drawing a cry of pain from both as they finally came to their senses and hurriedly let go of the newbie.

"Get lost! Don't let me soon you ever again!" Lars sternly warned them with a voice as gruff and haughty as he could make; hopefully he sounded at least something like a rich young lord of the city!

The man whose two front teeth had just been knocked out clutched his bleeding mouth but did not show any resentment, instead he had a joyous look of relief and gratefulness, thanking Lars profusely, once more making him wonder whether to laugh or to cry.

"S-s-s-sir!! Your grace!! Thank you for your kindness, your mercy, your generosity! I, Masra the brave, will never forget your graciousness for the rest of my life!" In an instant, the man had once again crawled over on his hands and knees and clutched Lars' boots and legs tightly, weeping in grat.i.tude and staining his black leather pants with blood, snot and tears!

Grimacing in disgust, Lars pushed his head roughly and sent the man rolling away, then shouted, "Didn't I already say to get lost! Don't let me see you again or I'll ask my father the Duke to execute an entire 9 generations of your family!"

"W-w-we don't dare; don't dare! W-w-w-we're leaving now! Leaving!! Thank you, your grace!!!" Their voices trailed off as they literally vanished before his eyes, the man dragging away his two lackeys who were still half-confused and rubbing their faces in pain where the teeth had hit them. In an instant, they were gone, leaving a confused but thankful newbie and a silent crowd.

Then Lars ignored them and turned around to get his ability test done. He had wasted too much time already.

But before he could go, he heard the thump of quick footsteps rus.h.i.+ng up to him, and turned around, ready to draw his sword to strike down his ambusher. But to his surprise, it *was* an ambush, just not of the kind he had expected.

The moment he turned, he came face to face with the golden-haired, red-faced newbie with glittering, limpid eyes and a soft complexion, slim and delicate though tall.

The newbie lunged at him in an all-out hug, embracing him tightly in an extremely inappropriate way, causing Lars to freeze in shock greater than any he had ever experienced before.

As the newbie pressed against his chest in embrace, the tied up hair came undone, revealing long, flowing and luxurious golden tresses of hair.

Stunned, he could only watch in horror as the newbie blushed an even deeper red as his/ her chest was uncharacteristically pillowy despite looking flat like a boy's. Along with that, the youth's hair smelled fresh and sweet, like the scent of spring flowers blooming by the river-side, as his/ her arms were leaning against Lars' chest.

The tender young teenager looked up at him with half-closed eyes and shyly said, "Thank you... My hero... I'm yours now... I don't have any money but I'll -- I'll..."

Then the killer blow came, the blus.h.i.+ng youth looked away, turned completely red and blushed furiously, then with closed eyes shouted loudly enough for the entire neighbourhood to hear, "I'll repay you with my body!"

Stunned, Lars barely managed to stutter out a few words subconsciously, asking, "Y-you're... You're a girl dressed up as a boy, right...?"

Then the newbie looked up at him once more and said, "I can be whatever you want me to be..."

Lars felt explosions being set off in his mind and a great sense of crisis, his instincts for danger firing panic alarms - but it was too late.

The trap flung his/ her arms around Lars' neck and kissed him with soft, warm lips, sticking a small tongue into the mage's mouth, then pulled back and said gingerly...

"...No h.o.m.o..."

Lars felt like someone had shot him in the head or kicked him in the gut; he heard the sound of gla.s.s shattering in his ears, as well as the hysterical laughter of a certain demon penguin in his mind somewhere. Absurdly, even as his heart ruptured and exploded in horror, Lars tasted watermelon...

"AAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" Lars broke the trap's grip around his neck then flung him away as he erupted with aversion, nausea and was about to throw up from the soiling of his lips and the twisting of his s.e.xual orientation.

He roared in terror as he pushed the trap away in fury and ran, crying and yelling, "What the f***?!? Who taught you such revolting things to say?!? Boo hoo, my first kiss saved for Moira is gone...!!! Gone!!!"

He ran into the ability test room and slammed the door behind him, scarred forever, leaving a clueless teenage boy and a crowd of questers with mixed reactions; some looking like they would retch while others raised their eyebrows in approval.

And as a weeping Lars fell to his hands and knees in anguish at his desecrated mouth and purity, he hit his heart and head repeatedly, trying to drive away the conflicted feelings he was having towards the trap.

Then his eyes began to turn red with rage and fury.

There was definitely something wrong with this city.

And he promised, vowed and swore; he would burn this whole city down if it tried to corrupt him too!