The Conquerors Path

"So you knew....."

"Yeah, it's one of the things master wished she could change"

When I said master Carmel's or more appropriate to say Carmelia's eyes softened a bit, the one I am speaking to right now isn't Carmel it's her other personality, Carmelia, one born from a trauma of the past and her bloodline, her beauty during the night doubles due to the light of the night, kind of reminds me of a guy that had different personalities and fought in the night with two moon disks.

Anyhow this personality is completely different from Carmel's, this one is ruthless, cold, and unforgiving, most of the time she deals with issues that Carmel deams too bloody for her, you can't rule over as an Empress with a bubbly personality, that only leads to a weakened Empire.

Carmelia in front of me is my biggest challenge to win over Carmel and this is the main reason that all the other fellows are still in the friend zone, to truly get Carmel you must also conquer Carmelia and it is the hardest part to do so.

In the game that innocent village boy had somehow ended up here at night making great advances with Carmelia, thankfully he's still in the same village he should be, where he will forever be, 

"How did you reach here? not even master knows this place"

"Oh! well I was just walking around and reached here somehow, since I heard the sound of shots I thought that I would take a look, though it's surprising to see you here"

My words didn't completely earn her trust, her eyes narrowed as she tried to find anything to prove that I was lying but she found nothing, well even gods couldn't much less her, looking at me with her cold eyes she spoke,

"Have you seen enough? then go"

"Nope, I want to see your practice"

I responded instantly, causing Carmelia to frown her eyes became even colder as they looked at me, I smirked fully knowing that this one doesn't like anyone going against her orders,

"You won't leave?"

"No, can't a junior watch his senior practice? I could learn from you"

"Humph, don't kid your skills are on par with mine or even maybe higher"

Carmelia replied back in a cold tone, I didn't reject the statement, so I gave another offer,

"Then why don't we train together?"

"You already do it with Carmel"

"But I also want to train with you, both of you have your own engraved style, each one I could learn from"

"But I don't want to"

"I will cook"

"Deal!"

A quick response, hearing it I smiled meaningfully at Carmelia, who suddenly realized what she had done but she seemed to have no intention of going back as she turned around and started to shoot arrows, her own style being focused on lethality,

"Aren't you joining?"

Carmelia asked, no turning back, I smiled as I shook my head at her cute action, be it both Carmel or Carmelia they both have the same distinct desire for good food, some time ago I had brought over the food I made to Carmel, playing it off as a gift from her junior and I floored her with my cooking.

At first, she was a complete denial that I could cook but when I made the same thing in front of her she finally accepted it, back then only Carmel could taste it and now I will be using that leverage to get close to Carmelia.

Walking up to her I stood behind her with my back facing her, a standard bow in my hand and my arrows at the back, Carmelia tapped the floor with her foot and the situation changed, several powerful dolls rose from the ground, each with different weapons, 

"Which difficulty?"

Carmel asked,

"The highest"

"Good"

My answer pleased Carmelia as her voice became much softer, she was after all a bit of a battle maniac, a beep was heard and the next thing I knew all the dolls were moving to attack us, none of them had any mana and nor were we using any, this was training to get purely improve archery.

I shoot three arrows at once, taking down two while my third one moved at support weakening one of Carmelia's targets and making the kill easier, one of the dolls with a sword had reached close swinging it at my face, I remained calm as I side stepped causing the sword to miss and just as I had moved an arrow arrived hitting the dolls head finishing it off.

I looked at Carmelia and she at me, our gazes were more than enough to covey our words, moving forward I bent down a little as Carmelia ran up to me as she used my shoulder to leap to the sky, she was only at the sky for about 3 seconds and during that time she rapid fired, taking down at least six, each one either in the head, heart or groin...ouch.

Of course, I wasn't simply watching during this time, while she took care of the front I concentrated my muscles to the max, targeting the ones at the back, the archers that were aiming for Olivia, it was a long-distance shot but I made it, taking down two, while I had to move to take down the arrows that had already on the air, finishing them off later.

Soon Carmelia was back on the ground, our back facing each other, arrows after arrows left our bow, and a minute later only silence remained, several dolls were littered on the ground, each with arrows at different places, it was a massacre, 

"Uff...that was a fun exercise, wasn't it?"

I asked totally relaxed, meanwhile, Carmelia who was beside me was sweating buckets, her ample chest raining up and down, while her gaze was incredulous as she looked at me like I am some sort of monster, after all after everything I am still not tired, sadly she doesn't know I have infinite stamina,

"You..."

"Hahahaa.....Carmelia, you should see your face....puff.....so funny"

My words hit a nerve as her eyes went back to being cold, looking at it I spoke,

"How about I make you something now?"

This brought her back as she nodded her head, smiling I walked to a more open area as I started to take out my utensils, Carmelia who by now had recovered stood close as she saw me take out loads of cooking utensils, 

"Do you just carry all of them with you?"

"Yes, a good cook should always be ready for anything"

And with that I started cooking mesmerizing Carmelia with my movements, each one practiced and beautiful enough to keep drawing one's attention, within minutes the smell of oil and meat filled the training room, and 45 minutes later everything was ready, this time I had gone the extra mile, turning around I could see a huge table set up with all the necessary stuff, creating a classy feel, looking at Carmelia who was already seated I could not help but ask,

"You carry around a table with you?"

"A good foodie must always be ready for anything"

"Touche"

Chuckling I started to arrange the food for our dinner, one of many to come