Help! I'm asexual and trapped in a dating sim!

Chapter Thirteen

I was a weakling.
That was the sad fact of the matter. No matter how I looked at it, compared to these people I was weak.
"How are they so good at this?" I complained. "Like, I can shoot a bow, but this is just unfair."
"They're nobles," Garnet reminded me. "So they have trained their whole lives for this."
It didn't make me feel any better. "But they're so strong compared to me!"
"Well, they'll be several times your level," Caleb reminded me, leaning over Felix to pluck my I.D. from my breast pocket. "You're level five, correct? That's not bad for someone who's never left their village, but these people can all afford to train in the highest level areas, and will have enchanted weapons and amulets and some even armour to increase their attack power. Not one of them will be below level twenty."
"Level twenty?" I gaped. "But- but they're only eighteen, right? Same as you and me?"
"That's the power of money," Ryan said with a shrug. "We demis are only likely to reach level ten before we plateau, but they can afford to keep training in higher level areas."
Plateau? You know what, I've asked enough questions today already. If I ask any more then it's going to end up looking really suspicious.
"Fair enough," I said with a shrug.
"They've probably had much more experience in battle too," Garnet added. "How many fights have you been in?"
I mean, I got beaten up once. Does that count? I pretended it did. "One."
"Well, nobles spar with one another constantly." Her brow furrowed. "But even so, that is quite a low number."
"I'm an archer," I said, with a wave of the hand. "The single 'fight' I got in was... quite one-sided."
"Who was it?" Ryan growled, springing to his feet. "Who hurt you?"
I looked at him, eyes wide. "It's fine, Ry. They didn't hurt me that badly, and it was a long time ago."
"Oh." He sat back down, looking more than a little embarrassed. I reached over Meg at my other side and pushed on his shoulder, grinning at him.
"I didn't know you cared so much, Ry."
"What?" he blustered. "I don't care. I just... don't like bullies. Not that I care about the victims or anything. I just don't like bullies."
"I'm surprised you're friends with Caleb, then." I teased. "Considering the way he bullies poor Felix here."
I dropped an arm around Felix's shoulders, pulling the smaller boy-- though, in this new body, not much smaller-- into my side.
"I don't bully him," Caleb pouted, linking his fingers through mine. "I'm just playing. Aren't I, Felix?"
He glared at the only human in the group, who nodded with fake terror.
"Yup! All friendly!"
His voice was high with 'fear'. Really he should look into a career in acting-- with that kind of talent, he could go far. Or was acting actually a career in this kind of world? With no film it had to be difficult to make a living from that sort of thing.
Oh god, there were no films here, were there? How was I supposed to live without my animes? Or, even worse-- there was no music. Was I going to have to listen to opera or something?
At least it wouldn't get stuck in my head, I suppose.
I shook my head, dragging my attention back to the arena. I had to watch these fights, to figure out what kind of skills people had. Dark portal was the only magic skill I had so far, and considering that I had already forgotten about it, it was a safe bet that I wasn't going to be making the most use of it.
The man in the arena shouted something, and I felt my 'tongues' skill kick in.
"A big flame go boom! Go boom at bad guy! Go boom make him dead!"
A sword of fire-- awesome-- appeared in his hand, and he leapt towards the other noble in the arena.
I blinked. Was my skill defective?
"What did he just say?" I hissed to Meg on my right.
"That was a pretty complex flame incantation," Meg whispered back. "It translates to 'Oh, flame of the gods, come to my fist and take on mortal form. Strike! Strike at my most hated enemy! Strike him down with the force of the heavens and earth!"
As if on cue, the man slashed at his opponent with the flaming sword, and the man screamed as a deep gash was left behind it, striking through his abdomen. The veins visible in the wound were almost cauterised from the heat of the flames. Almost being the key word, as a copious amount of blood practically erupted from the cut, splattering across the face of the noble who stood, still crouched from the follow-through of the sword swing, blade still clenched in one fist.
I held back a gag. Violence in real life was very different to in video games, and I didn't particularly like it. I felt a hand on my back and looked gratefully to Felix. He smiled back at me, unfazed by the gory sight. Surprising, but maybe more typical in this world than my own?
What was I talking about? Of course it was more typical in this world. That was the point.
But, moving on to other matters, what on earth-- Eudaria, my bad-- was that incantation? It certainly wasn't that grandiose language that Meg thought it was.
"Excuse me?" I asked apologetically, nudging Meg. "But what language exactly was that he was speaking in?"
"The language of magic, of course," she replied, shooting me a bewildered look. I hurried to cover my suspicious ignorance.
"Right, right, of course. It's just that my 'tongues' skill is quite new, so I can't quite tell when it kicks in."
She seemed to accept that explanation and relaxed back in her seat, turning her attention back to the arena. I, too, sat back, though I was deep in thought. Despite its drawbacks-- mainly connected to a certain rabbit-- perhaps this 'tongues' skill would be even more useful than it had initially seemed.

A/N: Yeah, it's another short one, sorry! I'm still quite ill. At least Lee's cheat skill has been revealed!
Or has it...?
(Cackles evilly)