"Because you're family"
I said, my voice filled with conviction and a hint of familial feeling, normally saying this to someone that you just met would end with the relationship itself breaking or the other person looking at you with weird eyes but that was only in normal situations. For Carmel, these words would only bring something else outside,
Carmel spoke back with a startled gaze, instead of being weirded out a certain twinkle bloomed in her eyes, looking at it I knew that the first part was done, nodding my head I spoke with a calm and clear voice,
"Yes, to tell the truth, all I knew about you is from the master but she thinks of you like family and I think of her as one, in such a regard you are family to me too, we might not have much now but I'm sure that we could grow to be true senior and junior"
Finished speaking I looked at Carmel who was looking at me intently trying to gaze into my intention but all she could tell was that I was truthful in my desire to get close to her, a minute of silence reigned in between us before which Carmel broke out into a smile,
Seeing that part one of my plans was successful I sighed, dealing with Carmel is quite a bit hard, she takes the people she cares about in high regard, making it so that they are all close to her but this also makes it harder for others to break through her heart, making her fall in love with me will be a time-consuming task.
I have to be careful to not step on any land mines that would put me in her friendzone and the first thing for me is to be a 'family' with her, I will use her innate desire for freedom and fun to control and manipulate her feelings for me, at the same time I would try to seriously fall in love with her, I haven't changed my objective of having feelings too.
That's the main reason that I'm taking it slow, up and till now I could tell that I have feelings for Grace, Eleanor, Elda, Nora, and Vina, I'm sure that I will have no problem send spending my time with them, even if years pass the situation between us won't break and that is something that I strive to achieve, otherwise later down the line the feelings between us will only become toxic,
"So senior tell me something about yourself"
"Oh~what do you want to know?"
"Just some things that I can know about my senior"
With that we began a casual talk with each other, sometimes laughing at the antics of Eleanor or at other times talking about our view into Archery, an hour passed, it was even fun for me too, after having Archery drilled into me I naturally formed a love for it, discussing it with her was quite the novel experience, moreover, I was even able to know more about her too,
"This was fun, it's sad that you have to go, I wanted to chat a bit more with you, maybe we could even have a duel"
Carmel spoke to me as she led me to the exit of the club, after having a chat we became much closer, when I spoke with her I made sure to lead the conversation on a path that would make us talk about our true desires, though small I did make some progress, shaking my head I responded,
"I too wanna stay but I have things to do, plus I will be visiting the club every day, we have all the time to have a spar"
"Sure but you will have to take out that bow of yours"
Saying so stars lit up in Carmel's eyes, her eyes seemed to spark with expectations, to which I gave her a wry smile,
"Senior you really are one bow fanatic"
"Hey! that's no way to talk to your senior!"
Carmel responded with a pout as she lightly hit me on the shoulder, just looking at our interaction no one would be able to tell that we had just been friends for some hours, this is the good thing about Carmel, as long as she recognizes you, it will be easy to have a deeper connection with her,
"Sorry...Sorry...I won't make fun of it again but in truth, you must one day show me your bow collections"
I said with an anticipating smile that led to Carmel responding with an equal amount of enthusiasm,
"Sure, it's a promise"
"Then see you tomorrow"
Saying so I left the club as I started to walk through the crowded streets again, walking a bit I reached an area which was a lot less crowded, stopping myself, I spoke out,
"Come out both of you, I can feel your ill intent from miles away"
There was silence for a moment before which the sound of someone walking behind me was heard, turning around I was met with two handsome and elegant men that sweep grace and power, one had blackish blonde hair while the other had deep grey hair, looking at both of them for a moment I spoke again,
"What do I owe the pleasure of meeting the two future dukes of Twilight?"
"Nothing I would just like for you to give up something"
Both of them spoke at the same time, making them flinch and turn to each other,
"Nix, stay out of this, I will be taking this treasure and Carmel's heart!"
The one with the blackish blonde hair spoke to the one at his side. Nix whose name was called upon sneered as he responded back,
"Shut up Melvin, the one who gets Carmel's heart is a free game! the best of us will win her heart!"
Upon saying so Nix turned his head towards me as he commanded,
"Austin what I want is that bow of yours, the ones that Carmel loves"
"Stop! don't give it to him, tell me the price I shall give double of what you ask"
Melvin interjected as he gave Nix a death stare, meanwhile, I just gazed at all this with neutral eyes, I wasn't surprised by their attitude, in context their status was higher than mine, the both of them in front of me would be the future great Dukes, they will rule over a huge part of the twilight Empire, while I'm part of the Lionheart Dukedom I'm not the successor, making my future position less than theirs,
'Sigh...such a smart people becoming idiots for love'
I shook my head at their current behavior, in normal situations, they are smart and calculative but when it comes to Carmel they lose a bit of their cool, being future Dukes they should know that befriending me is better than making me their enemy but here they are asking me to give up a weapon that is wanted by the whole world.
My eyes quickly moves to a certain side of the street where a certain black haired girl was watching,
'Guess I better give her a show'