BXBX NOVEL Chapter 69: What Are You?
Frida Renan shrugged,
"You exude an otherworldly feel," she said.
Evian adjusted his pose in the chair just so he could lean forward. He had brought his twitching lips under control and now attempted to adopt a confident smile to hide how amazed he was by the Lordess's perception.
"What makes you say that?" he asked.
Frida paused, and then her blue eyes raked over his body, her attention seeming to go right past Evian's clothes to the well-formed body underneath while her expression remained neutrally detached,
"You appear to possess the physical strength of a Third Order Knight but you lack even a smidge of Spiritual energy. You give off an air of spirituality and again, there is no sign of Spiritual Pressure coming off your body.
The only real way any of that is possible is if you are in fact, not human."
"What if he suppressed his Pressure to hide his Order?" Daria chimed in before Evian could say another word.
Evian glanced at her by his side with a small smile. Clearly, he was not the only one put off by how quickly Frida Renan had so easily broken apart his existence in a single meeting.
Frida eyed them,
"Hmm, what is this? An urge to defend? Is he perhaps a concoction of your strange Arcane ways?" she asked with a smile playing at the edge of her lips.
"Strange Arcane ways?" Daria repeated with furrowed brows.
"You ARE an Arcanist, are you not?" Frida asked, surprised she was getting any sort of pushback.
"I am." Daria answered simply.
Frida Renan nodded,
"Of course you are. Your increased Spiritual energy reserves and perceptive Spiritual Pressure gave you away.
Also, am I wrong? Are your Arcane ways not indeed strange?
Dedicating years to studying scriptures, mastering words without ever laying a hand on a weapon or throwing out a fist... To me, that is strange."
Daria paused and then her lips formed into a gentle smile,
"This coming from someone who sought out a Spiritfolk, an innately Arcane race, to procreate with."
Frida smiled an enchanting smile as her blue eyes glinted with an even more evident violet glow,
"My choice of a partner hinged on boosting my offspring's innate potential. Besides, you can't seriously compare Mystic Purity to the rigid studies Arcanists go through for just a smidge of what Spiritfolks naturally understand and possess."
Daria shook her head,
"That may be true, but it doesn't make the Arcane Path weak," she said.
Frida's eyes widened just a bit,
"Weak? Who said anything about 'Weak?'. That you lot are behind in innate understanding of the energy you wield doesn't dispute your raw ability to use it in combat.
That's my issue with the Spiritfolk actually. They're too peaceful a race. They prefer to mellow in their understanding of Nature rather than taking an imposing stance.
*Sigh* When all is said and done, the Martial Path at the hands of humans remains the most logical choice of all."
"What?" Daria let out a mocking smile, "You can't seriously believe that."
Frida nodded, her enchanting smile unshaken,
"Oh, but I do."
Daria let out a chuckle.
"The Martial Path is the rowdiest, uncoordinated Path of all. Call yourselves 'Knights' but your natural inclination is honorless violence."
"Do you mean all, or are you referring to a specific section of black sheep?" Frida asked.
"All!" Daria said, "The Martial Path promotes violence. No one who practices it is free."
"That's not true." Frida retorted simply.
"It's not?"
"It's not."
"Then enlighten me," Daria said with a casual shrug.
Evian watched the exchange, his eyes moving from one face to the other, unable/unwilling to see an opening to break into the conversation.
Lordess Renan let out a sigh,
"I repeat, in the hands of humans, sensible humans who know when to act and when not to act, when to observe and when to speak, the Martial Path is superior. You are free to think otherwise Miss..."
"Daria. My name is Daria."
Frida gave a small acknowledging nod,
"Miss Daria, you are free to think otherwise but what I speak is truth. At the very core of Cultivation for humans such as me and you, the Martial Path is/was First."
"What makes you say that?" Daria asked.
Frida Renan shrugged,
"It's common sense. Before we mingled with other races, our ancient forefathers must have settled their disputes somehow.
Before they had weapons, they used their fists.
Before they discovered Spiritual Energy, they mastered Spears carved from stones and sticks.
The first human use of Spiritual energy was to temper the body but then, a group of dissidents -Who went on to name themselves Arcanists- decided to break away from the whole and learn techniques they were destined to never fully understand."
"That-" Daria started to say only to stop unsure of what exactly to say. That was a history of the Arcane Path she had never learned in the Arcane Church.
Frida smiled with satisfaction,
"Good, I appear to have convinced you. Even if just a bit," she said before her eyes left Daria's annoyed and confused face to lay on Evian's,
"I got sidetracked but it doesn't matter. The question remains, What are you, Evian Stygian? What otherworldly energy powers your strength and aura?"
As she asked, the intensity of Frida's gaze hiked up on incremental notches, and had she not sounded genuinely curious without an ounce of animosity, Evian would have been as worried as he had been during his Exorcism with Daria.
"This is not why we are here today, Lordess," Erik said gently. Reminding others in the room of his presence and pushing aside his spiked suspicion of Evian's existence.
"Indeed it is not," Evian agreed.
"Doesn't matter," Frida said with a light smile, "This is what I want to know."
"There is nothing to tell," Evian told her with a shrug, "I'm human."
Frida chuckled. Hard enough to cause her breasts to tremble enchantingly,
"That's a lie," she said.
*Hem* *Hem*
Clearing his throat loudly, Erik brought attention back to himself,
"I think we are quickly getting off-topic."
"Actually, we were never ON topic," Evian muttered.
"Alright," Lordess Renan said with her eyes still on Evian, "Matters of your humanity can wait. What brings you here today?"
Evian let out a breath,
"I've come to seek your assistance. If you lend a hand, Herbert Larnak's reign of Tyranny could be over by the end of the coming week."
Frida Renan leaned back in her chair, her hands gripping her armrests tight as her eyes moved from Evian to Erik,
"How much longer will you bring this topic before me? I believe I have made it clear that I do not wish to be involved," she said.
Erik cast a look at Evian that so clearly read; 'See that, you lustful bastard? This is what I've been telling you.'
Evian didn't notice the look. He kept his eyes on Lordess Renan,
"Erik has nothing to do with the topic at the moment. This is all me."
"Doesn't matter," Frida said, "My answer remains the same. Klyn?"
"What?" Evian asked confused,
"I asked if you were a Klyn." Frida clarified.
Evian shook his head,
"I am not."
'I don't even know what that is,' he added in his mind, confused.
"Hmm, I guess not. A Klyn will not have the inclination I detect from you.
Come forward." Frida ordered suddenly.
Evian blinked,
"What?"
Frida raised a finger, and made a 'come closer' motion before she repeated her order,
"Come forward. I want to touch you."
Evian eyed her finger and then her face and then her finger again,
"How about just my hand?" he asked with a smile before leaning forward and stretching out his right hand.
Frida stared at his outstretched hand for a few seconds before she nodded, and touched it with her finger.
They remained like that for half a minute to the complete silence of everyone in the hall.
Daria glared with an untrusting gaze in her eyes.
Erik watched with the usual awe for Frida Renan evident in his eyes. In fact, he looked almost like he was hoping Frida broke Evian's outstretched hand. The very one he dared lay on his daughter the night before.
'She definitely has the strength to do so.'
The Estate Workers that stood Guard within the hall, had looks of stoic detachment but it was still quite evident the ongoing sequence had their attention. As mildly eccentric as they knew their Lordess to be, it was the first she would accuse someone of not being human and be so adamant about it enough to initiate touch.
"Are you done?" Evian eventually asked.
He hadn't felt anything from the touch. Maybe a tingling but that had more to do with Frida Renan's looks than it had to do with her investigative aura.
The Lordess remained silent as her hand glowed with a light gold hue. The glow felt powered by Spiritual energy but tinged with something else- Something more.
"That aura," Daria mumbled, and then brows furrowed as had face contorted into a frown as her tone became accusatory,
"You Hypocrite!"
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