When Zain was inches away from punching Rhaelis, he teleported to the crater he made and sat crossed legs.
Rhaelis fell down when Zain teleport away.
Zain's hair colour returned to black and same with his eye colour. He looked at Rhaelis and said, "Sorry. I lost control there."
He sensed that Maribel was nearby, stood up and looked at her direction.
"I know you're there Maribel." He said.
Maribel came towards Zain, saw his covered with blood and was ruined with sword cuts but there was no wounds.
"What are you doing here?"
"I didn't know what to do in the kingdom, so I looked for you." Maribel said as she didn't look Zain in the eye and bowed her head.
"Okay."
Zain said as he walked towards the fallen Rhaelis, he saw her mouth bloody and it looks like her ribs were ruptured but she was alive and breathing.
Zain thought to himself, 'I almost feel bad for her. ALMOST.'
Rhaelis tried to stand up, she stumbled but managed to stand up. She saw that Zain was back to normal and somehow didn't fear
Zain just saw her as she stood up and went back.
Rhaelis was shocked by Zain's behaviour, she expected him to at least heal but act distant.
"Maribel, can you help Ray walk?" Zain said as he looked at Maribel.
"What?" Maribel was surprised at first and looked at the state of Rhaelis. "Aren't you going to heal her?" she said.
"Why should I?" Zain said as he walked away not expecting an answer.
Maribel wanted to say something but saw that Zain was not going to listen. Maribel went to Rhaelis and offered a shoulder for Rhaelis to lean on.
Rhaelis accepted the gesture.
Rhaelis was not walking straight, she saw that Maribel wanted to ask some questions and said, "You can ask questions?"
Maribel was surprised to hear that but composed herself.
"What happened to you two?"
"I attacked Lucas."
Maribel was surprised to hear that and wanted to know more.
"Why would you attack Master Lucas?"
"Because I..." Rhaelis was about to respond when she heard something she didn't expect, "Wait... Master Lucas? Why do you call him that?"
Maribel said that without thinking because she didn't know how to address Zain and how to define her relation with Zain.
Zain gave her seven days to decide if she would serve him or leave him and the seven days are not up yet.
She's not a slave to Zain.
Zain just saved her probably because he felt pity or to be his plaything.
Zain doesn't have any expectations of her.
Zain had no past relation with her for him to feel compassion.
Maribel thought to her, 'It can't be that he felt compassion, right? It can't be.' Maribel denies the possibility.
"Because I'm his Maid." Maribel said to Rhaelis.
"Maid?" Rhaelis was surprised by the information.
"Well, technically I'm not but yeah his maid."
"Why would an S-rank adventurer who lives in the inn have a maid?" Rhaelis said surprised.
'S-Rank huh' Maribel thought to herself and said, "Because he's a noble."
"A noble?"
"Yes. He's a patriarch of a Dawnbreaker Family."
"A patriarch?"
"It seems we're getting off track. Why would you attack Master Lucas?" Maribel said as they stopped walking.
"Oh the question, right. I came here to kill him." Rhaelis said as she looked at Maribel.
Maribel became quiet after hearing that, she wanted to hear more but felt like it's a top secret and started to walk forward.
They walked in silence.
While they were walking, Rhaelis thought to herself, 'Why am I healing slow?'
It looks like Rhaelis is healing slow than usual.
They arrived at the gate and saw Zain leaning against the wall besides the guards looking clean but her outfit is still a mess.
"Took your time. See ya guys." Zain said after Maribel and Rhaelis got close.
They entered the kingdom.
Zain was walking infront, Rhaelis looked at his back and said, "Lucas, why am I healing slow?"
_______
"Why should I?"
Zain walked away when he said that. He didn't even looked back when he said and just walked while looking straight.
He understood why Rhaelis probably had attacked her but it's still upseted him.
Zain didn't realise that he was being led away until the first attack and that made him feel like a fool.
Even though Zain was stronger than her, he lost that war but won the battle. Rhaelis controlled the entire battle of how he attack and when to attack.
Zain thought about the battle.
The battle proved that he needs experience, he might have the power but he's lacking experience.
Zain thought, 'I would lose if I thought someone who acquired power through experience or someone who has power and experience.'
He was not feeling okay. He counted this battle as his first loss even though he didn't lose.
He saw the guards guarding the gates.
"Hey guys." He said as he greeted them.
They looked at him and remembered him.
"Ohh it's you. The A-Rank adventurer." One guards said as he remembered that time Zain showed his card.
It was the time when Zain visited that village and teleported near the gates.
"You remember me." Zain said in suprise.
"How could we forget who was evaluated A-Rank the second they registered as an adventure. You were the talk of the town do you know that?"
"Really, I wasn't paying attention."
"Let me tell you something, there was someone who got promoted to an S-Rank by Drake Maul and the guildmaster."
"Who? Drake Maul? Are you talking about Rhaelis?"
"Yes, Miss Rhaelis is called Drake Maul because she slayed dragons."
"Doesn't the Guildmaster has a title or nickname too?"
"Guildmaster Zack? Did he have a title?"
"I don't remember." The guards said as they looked at one another.
"Isn't he an S-Rank adventurer?" Zain said to them as he felt confused.
"He is but..."
"The king is the one who promoted him."
"What!" Zain said in shock.
He kept quiet and decided to lean at the wall. 'Aleric looks like not the type to promote someone on a whim... But he did promote me for buying a house. Wait, was he really promoting me?'
Zain saw them arriving and said "Took your time. See ya guys."
He walked infront of them as he headed towards the inn to leave Rhaelis.
"Lucas, why am I healing slow?" Zain heard Rhaelis asked a question.
Zain turned around to look at Rhaelis and said, "Because I attacked your spinal cord and your aura core that was there on your spinal cord."
"What are you talking about?" Rhaelis was confused about what he said.
Zain saw that he was confused and began to explain.
"When did my attack first connected?"
"I kept countering you but it first connected on my back which thrown me away."
"You didn't notice that your reflexes and movement were not following you straight by my second attack right?"
Rhaelis thought about it and said "Yes, I didn't notice till now since you mentioned it."
"Okay. let me ask you this, are you walking straight now?"
"No, Maribel is helping me."
"I punched your spinal cord to confuse your body, that's why you're healing slow because your body is still confused and your aura core is slightly not aligned with your body.
That's why you're healing slow." Zain said as he began to move forward.
Rhaelis was more confused and thought, 'Spinal cord? What's that? I'm healing slow because he damaged my core.'
They eventually arrived at the inn.