These Side Characters Have More Important Things To Do

The night air outside was cool and refreshing. Prince Rian and Earl Rosewood walked in silence with Rian’s Royal Guards quietly following them.

They reached the front doors of the Palace. While they waited for the Rosewood coachman to retrieve the Rosewood carriage, Rian asked casually, “How did you find tonight?”

“The food was good.”

Rian glanced at Ayden, his lips quirking up. “And the company?”

“Could be worse.”

“I’ll tell Alexius to leave next time then.”

Ren Xiyang glanced at Rian. “I was talking about different company.”

The background Royal Guards: “!!” Earl Rosewood was so daring!

Rian smirked. “Ha-ha, who knew that Earl Rosewood was such a joker?”

“You must keep that a secret,” Ren Xiyang said very seriously.

Rian chuckled. “Hm, then I will.”

The Royal Guards with no sense of existence: “…”

Rian noticed the Rosewood carriage approaching, so he said, “Don’t forget to wear your new duelling clothes tomorrow morning. I’ll send an Imperial carriage to pick you up at 10 am.”

“I have my own carriage,” Ren Xiyang said.

“Don’t turn down a prince’s offer,” Rian said lightly.

“Then, thank you.” Ren Xiyang took a step away from Rian: his carriage was approaching. “Good night, Your Highness.”

“Good night, Earl Rosewood.”

After Ayden left, Rian returned to the ball and danced with various people as was expected of him. But it wasn’t interesting now that Ayden had left.

 

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The duel was scheduled for 11 am of the next day. At 10 am exactly, an Imperial carriage came to pick Ren Xiyang up.

Rian was sitting on the sofa in the front room of his quarters. He made an exaggerated gesture of relief when he saw Ayden. “Earl Rosewood, you wore the duelling clothes I gave you.”

Ren Xiyang didn’t answer as he took a seat opposite. “After this, I want to acquire some healing books.”

“You’re not going to talk with Florence Sage? If it’s healing, would you find Orion Schauss to teach you instead of me?”

Ren Xiyang raised an eyebrow. “Should I? Are you too busy?”

Rian smiled mysteriously. “I can always make you become more in debt to me.”

“Oh. In that case, I’ll ask Orion Schauss.”

Rian: “…”

“Just joking.”

Rian: “……”

“I’ll take you to the Imperial University Bookstore, they should have many books,” Rian said.

“Hm, I better go by myself—just joking.”

Rian threw a cushion at Ayden’s face.

Ren Xiyang smirked as he easily batted the cushion aside. “How old are you, twelve?”

Rian’s lips twitched. When he was truly twelve, he had been much more serious and studious and disliked other children because he felt they were too immature. “Earl Rosewood—”

Knock knock. “Your Highness, His Highness Alexius has arrived,” a servant announced beyond the door.

Rian: “…”

Rian reluctantly said, “Let him in.”

Alexius walked in with a bounce in his step. “Brother! Earl Rosewood!”

“…Hello, Alexius,” Rian said.

Ren Xiyang nodded silently.

Alexius sat down next to Earl Rosewood. “Are you going to win today?” he whispered loudly.

“Should I?” Ren Xiyang said lightly.

Alexius giggled. “I won’t answer. Can you teach me how to cast magic nonverbally?”

“I don’t know how to,” Ren Xiyang admitted.

Alexius’s eyes widened. “What?!” He glared at Rian. “You told me that I needed to learn nonverbal magic casting first!”

“Earl Rosewood is a rare genius who learnt direct magic manipulation first,” Rian said. “Are you?”

Alexius pouted. So annoyed!

As the brothers talked (argued) and the conversation veered everywhere, Ren Xiyang closed his eyes and decided to take a brief rest before the duel commenced.

 

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The duel itself was held at the stadium just outside the Imperial Palace.

There was an extra large duelling field with embedded protective shields around the perimeter that could be activated at will. Theatre-style seating surrounded the field, along with multiple special viewing boxes for high-ranking nobles.

As the time of the duel approached, the seating quickly filled up. Many nobles were already in the Capital for the social event yesterday, it would be a shame to miss this duel!

Queen Mira was overseeing the duel as the referee. She stood on the ground level near the edge of the duelling field.

“Make way for his Highness Prince Rian Azure! Make way for Earl Rosewood!”

Queen Mira turned towards the approaching entourage. Her gaze deepened.

Rian was walking alongside Earl Rosewood and both of them were wearing identical duelling attire in white and blue. The identical clothing highlighted how Earl Rosewood was shorter and slighter than Rian.

Did Rian want her to adopt Earl Rosewood as a third brother?

And she wasn’t the only person who could see this—the entire audience could see that the two boys’ clothing matched!

“Good morning, your Majesty,” Earl Rosewood said in his young voice, bowing deeply.

“Good morning, Earl Rosewood,” Queen Mira said.

“We’re ready, Imperial Mother. We’ve also signed some contracts.” Rian handed the contracts about avoiding liability upon injuring the other to his mother.

Queen Mira accepted the contracts, glancing at them. Injury? There should be no injuries. As a powerful mage, she personally cast the individual sparring shields around Rian and Earl Rosewood. Then, she cast a sound-amplification spell around the local area. Her words, along with the words of any near her, could now be heard by all spectators.

“We are gathered here to witness a duel,” she started.

The entire stadium quietened down.

“Prince Rian Azure, do you agree to magically duel against Earl Ayden Rosewood?”

Rian smiled. “I agree.”

“Earl Ayden Rosewood, do you agree to magically duel against His Highness Prince Rian Azure?”

Ren Xiyang nodded. “I agree.”

“Then, step into the arena and take your positions.”

The two young boys stepped onto the duelling field and took their positions at opposite ends.

Queen Mira activated the large field shield and then ascended some stairs to an overseeing platform. Her gaze swept across the spectators and back down to the two duellists.

“Let the duel begin.”

Unlike in their first duel, neither Ren Xiyang nor Rian hesitated.

Ren Xiyang immediately created a wall of fire that rose from the ground halfway between them. Tendrils of flames twisted into white-hot ropes and rushed towards Rian.

Rian quickly formed both thick and small pieces of ice around him. He manipulated the big pieces to fend off the flames and sent razor-sharp projectiles toward Ayden.

Ren Xiyang blasted the ice, turning it directly into water. He advanced, closing the distance between them. His hand stretched out. Fire rolled forth and clashed against a shield of ice. Water vapour billowed white in the air, twisting and turning sharply in the wind generated by fierce attacks.

In the Imperial box, King Edric leaned forward, eyes sharp and thoughts deep. Rian was exhibiting skills that were much more advanced than the last time King Edric had seen him duel. How had Rian advanced so quickly? Or had Rian been pretending previously?

Alexius, who was also sitting in the Imperial box, watched in excitement. Wow! Wow! Earl Rosewood was even better than last time! Admittedly, his brother was good too!

Count Aegean, who was in the audience, was tight with tension as some flames dodged the ice shields and started to form a loose cage around the prince. It reminded him of the horrible time he had to referee previously. And dammit, Prince Rian was smiling in the middle of battle again!

The thrill of the duel made Rian’s blood pump madly and his lips curl upwards. He reshaped the ice around him into closely fitting armour and dashed forward, nimbly jumping and dodging the flame ropes. He thanked Ayden earnestly for teaching him direct magic manipulation. It was so much more freeing to create exactly what he needed instead of thinking of a spell.

Rian held his hand out to his side. A moment later, ice grew into a sword many times longer and wider than could be realistically lifted, if it weren’t for the ice magic. The blade hissed through the air towards the approaching opponent.

Ren Xiyang’s eyes flashed. A moment later, he had his own flaming sword. The two oversized weapons met in the air with a sharp sizzle and a billow of steam.

The audience gasped.

Broken melting pieces of the sword fell heavily to the ground a moment later as the flame sword fizzled out of heat.

There was barely a moment of rest before the two boys produced yet more fire and ice weapons and attacked each other. Blades of fire and ice clashed as Earl Rosewood and Prince Rian lunged forward in attack, jumped and dodged.

The spectators watched with mixed reactions and thoughts.

“They’re both twelve, right?” someone whispered to their neighbour.

“I think so.”

“Are twelve-year-olds usually that powerful?”

“Maybe these elite nobles are just different.”

“That’s right, a prince isn’t like the rest of us!”

“And don’t forget how Earl Rosewood was raised in secret! Who knows what kind of training he went through before he could even walk or talk!”

“Those spells…I’m not sure they’re even nonverbal. I’ve never seen spells that do all those things!”

“Direct magic manipulation?”

“We need to be careful…”

Not everyone was in awe or wary. There were other child geniuses who had already mastered nonverbal casting and knew some basic direct-magic manipulation. Although Earl Rosewood and Prince Rian displayed skilful magic for their age, many adult mages had also mastered direct-magic manipulation.

“Why are they just using ice or fire? I would use poison.”

“Tch, just use an earth shield to block that fire.”

“They’re lucky they’re not facing a lightning mage…”

Count Aegean just wanted to close his eyes and repeat to himself that he wasn’t the referee and any injuries weren’t his problem. Except it was hard to look away from the dazzling display of fluid combat magic.

Cassiopeia Schauss and her family were in the viewing box reserved for the Schauss family.

Cassiopeia wasn’t as dazzled as some of the audience seemed to be. She’d seen epic fight scenes in various media. The two of them weren’t even splitting the earth apart and causing natural disasters.

But she could tell that Prince Rian and Ayden Rosewood were strong. And when a flame tornado crashed into the duelling field shields right in front of their viewing box, Cassiopeia felt that Ayden was scary. Prince Rian was a lot more approachable. He even danced with her briefly at the ball last night. He was such a gentleman, so mature and friendly!

Queen Mira watched with a critical eye. As the person who had known the most about Rian, through direct interactions and reports from the servants and people around Rian, she hadn’t realised the true extent of Rian’s magical ability and expertise.

It was less than three months ago that Rian had duelled Earl Rosewood and revealed that he could already cast nonverbally. And now, with Earl Rosewood’s help, Rian had achieved direct magic manipulation.

Rian had gone from spurring other children to wholeheartedly playing with the young Earl Rosewood.

Rian had gone from a polite and studious boy to a mischievous prince who was highly interested in the kingdom’s operations.

It felt like her son was growing up and away from her. Of course, she knew that he had planned to ignore her suggestion to cut his hair until he heard that Earl Rosewood had cut his hair too.

Perhaps she needed to assign Rian more responsibility.

In the Imperial box, King Edric’s eyes were slightly narrowed, pupils darting back and forth as he scrutinised the duel. It turned out that Rian had been a bit cocky about ‘King Rexius Red ascending the throne at age thirteen’ for a reason. Going to the Rosewood summer manor gave Rian a way to make connections with the Capital Investigators. The novel information about germs gave Rian  a way to make connections with the Capital Hospital. Delivering Earl Rosewood’s knowledge about agriculture gave Rian a way to make connections with Imperial Councillor Sage.

King Edric did not feel threatened, only amused. Did Rian think he’d make him crown Prince early? No, he’d make Rian do more work. If Rian wanted to make connections, then let him!

Back on the field, Ren Xiyang was wondering what he should do next. Neither of them were playing ruthlessly, despite the occasional gasps of shock or horror from the audience when life-killing fire or ice slammed against the shield.

Ideally, Ren Xiyang would try his utmost best. However, if he won, there would be consequences. If he lost, there would be consequences. If he forfeited, there would be consequences.

He suddenly wondered: how strong were the shields? How small were the gaps?

—Shhhhhing!

An ice sword barely missed Ren Xiyang.

“Distracted?” Rian grinned.

Ren Xiyang jumped back, his feet propelled by fire. “Thinking of how to win.”

Rian smirked. “Same.” His overall demeanour was as usual, but he knew that his magical reserves were getting low. He needed to finish this as soon as possible.

Rian summoned super sharp and slim ice blades, a nonverbal spell for a pure magic shield at the tip of his mind.

The air started to shimmer around Ren Xiyang as it heated up. The heat condensed into dozens of bullets of super condensed energy. The air became plasma as electrons separated from atoms.

Such tiny, small things—tiny ice blades, tiny bullets of heat—didn’t look particularly strong to the audience. For a second or so after, it wasn’t even clear what had happened.

Ice blades rained upon Ren Xiyang. Most were vapourised, some were dodged, and one managed to cut through the fluttering bottom edge of his tunic. The rest of the blades crashed into the side of the duelling field shield behind Ren Xiyang.

The plasma bullets shoot toward Rian. He called up a thick shield, but the bullets punched right through. He narrowly dodged them. But the bullets didn’t stop, slamming into the side of the field’s shield a fraction of a second later.

Rian dashed forwards, two swords of ice growing in his hands.

Ren Xiyang held his palm out as a long staff of fire appeared.

Then—

The mage monitoring the duelling field’s surrounding shield anxiously called out, “Your Majesty, the main shield has a fracture!”

 

 

 

 

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Is duelling each other one of the love languages? >w<

Count Aegean: This shaved years off my life!

 

 

 

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Can you believe that this story is now over 100k words??????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And if we’re lucky, we would be halfway. I don’t think we’re lucky.