Creation: The Path of a God (Updated Edition)

Chapter 5 - Part 15 (Book 1 - Fantasy World)

"Sorry for my enthusiasm. I had not considered how much power I had used. I hope that you are well and my childish antics have not done harm," The young master offered out a hand.

Valessandria blinked at the hand before she looked down and realized she was now on her knees. Before, she had been kneeling, but somehow, during the time that the young master had ended his demonstration and when the servants had chastised her, she had dropped to her knees. Her head still felt slightly dizzy from earlier, and her body did not feel as though it was back to full strength.

Noticing the hand still reaching out to help her, Valessandria's face turned bright red.

"T-Thank you, My Lord!" Valessandria accepted the gesture.

Standing back up was difficult and her legs quivered as she placed a foot on the ground to help push herself up as she pulled on the hand of the young lord.

Slowly, she began to stand up. One thought she had was how sturdy the young master was, his hand not even budging despite her weight. Since she was still wearing her armor on top of her modest weight, even well-trained members of the Disciplinary Committee would struggle and need several of them to help someone back up. Even if she did receive assistance to get back up, the way she would proceed was significantly different than how the young master offered.

As her face became warmer, she actively avoided meeting the direct gaze of the young master; Valessandria was keenly aware of how much leverage she was applying while getting back up. She tried not to think how strong the young master's arms would be and how stable his footing was.

Finally, standing, Valessandria took a moment to make sure that her balance was good and that she wasn't going to topple over. Her breathing was slightly heavy, her chest rising and falling under the armor.

"Thank you, My Lord, for your help."

This time, Valessandria forced herself to meet the gaze of the young master. "Stop behaving like a schoolgirl, Valessandria. The young lord was just doing the noble thing by offering a hand, even if the way he helped was beyond anything most students at the Academy could do." She furiously yelled at her inner thoughts. The last thing she needed to do was embarrass herself even further by having such indecent thoughts with a student who was several years younger than her.

Valessandria raised a fist to her mouth, coughing into it. "My Lord," She discreetly glanced at the servants before returning her attention to the young master, "While I would be the first one to admit that my strength is not the strongest in either of the Kingdom or Empire, within the Academy, there are not many who could claim to be above me." She could feel her cheeks burn. Taking a deep breath, she continued, "With that said, I am curious how you were able to display such a degree of power."

The young master raised an eyebrow. "I would think such a question would be a little inappropriate."

Valessandria began to clench her teeth before stopping herself.

Tilting his head slightly, the young master's eyes drilled into her. "But, I assume it would be a little troubling to have an individual like me inside of this Academy without even having tried to ask something that should normally be private." He didn't immediately answer, his eyes searching, seemingly to search for something.

Having such a direct gaze caused Valessandria to be slightly uncomfortable, as she was not used to having such attention directed at her. If she were younger, she had no doubt that such an emotion was due to her becoming infatuated with the boy paying close attention to her, but deep down in the darkest recesses of her mind, something which couldn't be ignored was how a deep dread of the person in front of her existed inside. Not only because he knew how much power he could wield without appearing to be worn out by the effort but also because of the eldritch family behind him. Something about him screamed that being more involved than required would be an awful idea. Just the way his eyes held no empathy caused her to imagine eyes that belonged to the same monsters that devoured her neighbors and her mother. When she gazed into his eyes, her instincts could only call out for her to run.