Law of Space and Time

Chapter 18-1: Acquaintance (1)

The next day, Erwin got up very early yet again. Of course, that was because he virtually hadn't slept at all the night before. Larwood and the others didn't return at all in the night, so they had clearly enjoyed a night of festivities elsewhere.

Erwin went to a random food stall for some breakfast, then went to the contestants' area to look at the matchup board for the day. At this point, there were only 16 contestants left, so there were only eight matches for the day. In order to stretch out the day of competition, the tournament committee was implementing long intervals between the matches.

Erwin looked at the matchup board to find that his match was the second-to-last match of the day, which was scheduled for 2 PM, and he heaved a sigh of relief upon seeing this as this would allow him time to go back and take a short nap. Furthermore, Erwin noticed some interesting scheduling choices made by the tournament committee. Lana's match was the first one of the day, while Onean's was the last one. As a result, the spectators would have to stay for the entire day. After all, they had to watch both matches, didn't they?

Erwin decided to go back for a nap after watching Lana's match, but for some reason, after the previous night, that parting smile from Lana would frequently creep into his mind, and whenever he thought of it, he would feel as if something heavy were weighing down on his chest, making it difficult for him to breathe.

"I shouldn't think too much about it," Erwin sighed as he shook his head.

Right at this moment, an elegant voice rang out from behind him. "Erwin?"

"Your Highness!" Erwin exclaimed with a surprised expression. "Thank you for your magic potion a few days ago. If you hadn't been so generous, I would already be dead by now, and I still haven't had a chance to thank you."

"It's alright, that magic potion was brewed for the purpose of saving someone's life anyway. Having said that, you have to be careful. Your time and space magic could pose just as much of a threat to yourself as it does to your enemies if you don't exercise caution," Onean said in a concerned voice.

"I was too reckless that time and bit off more than I could chew, but I won't let it happen again," Erwin explained with a smile.

Onean nodded in response upon hearing this, then smiled as she asked, "Miss Lana's match is about to begin soon. Are you not going to watch it."

"Er... I will," Erwin replied in a hesitant voice. "I was just about to go in."

Erwin looked at the faint smile on her face and her breathtaking golden eyes, and for an instant, he was completely entranced.

An amused smile appeared on Onean's face at the sight of his dazed expression, and she said, "Let's go in together then. I also want to watch her match."

No wonder Lana calls Her Highness a silver-haired vixen. With her looks, she is absolutely lethal to all men! Erwin thought to himself as he heaved an internal sigh.

Erwin had actually been meaning to ask Princess Onean why she had swooped in to save him in front of so many people on that day. After all, up to that point, he had only met her once, and they couldn't even be counted as acquaintances. However, he didn't dare to raise the question in the end.

Erwin entering the venue together with the princess naturally attracted a lot of attention, and many of the gossipy spectators were beginning to chat among themselves again.

Erwin took a glance at Onean to find that she wasn't displaying much of a reaction. It seemed that she couldn't care less about what rumors were circulating about her. Even the princess didn't care what was being said, so someone as shameless as Erwin naturally also didn't care.

He raised his head to look up at the sky, and at this point, the sun was already a little blinding. 

Come to think of it, the weather has been quite good throughout the tournament thus far, which is rather strange considering the season, he thought to himself.

Not long after Princess Onean and Erwin entered the venue, Lana and her opponent also appeared on the competition platform.

As she stepped onto the competition platform, Lana took a glance at the contestant's spectating platform to find that Erwin and Onean were standing next to one another, but she displayed no reaction to this and quickly looked away.

Erwin was overcome by a sense of disappointment as he looked at Lana from afar, and he was struck by that same sense of asphyxiation again.

Onean could tell from his expression that he wasn't in very high spirits, and she asked, "What's going on with you? Why do you look so down in the dumps?"

"I'm fine, thank you for asking, Your Highness," Erwin replied with a wry smile. "I didn't sleep very well last night, so I'm a little tired."

"Did you have a fight with her?" Onean asked as she glanced at Erwin.

"A fight? With who?" Erwin turned to Onean with a puzzled expression.

"Who else could I be referring to?" Onean chuckled. "Miss Lana was very worried about you when you sustained those injuries a few days ago. Why are you playing dumb now?"

Erwin was rather embarrassed to hear this, and he replied, "I wouldn't dare to play dumb in your presence, Your Highness."

"Then hurry up and tell me! Did you have a fight with her?" Onean asked with a smile, and her golden eyes were filled with curiosity. It was clear that she had no intention of letting Erwin off the hook.

"No. We had dinner yesterday, and everything was fine," Erwin replied in a resigned manner. As soon as he made this admission, he was immediately struck by a sense of regret, feeling as if he had fallen into the princess's trap.

"Oh, so you two were together yesterday as well." Onean was very intrigued by Erwin's honest response.

Erwin didn't offer a reply, and he didn't dare to answer any more of her questions.

At this point, the match on the competition platform had already begun. However, there really wasn't much to see. Even though there were only 16 contestants left, there were still far too few contestants who could pose an actual threat to Lana. The martial artist that Lana was up against was clearly completely out of his depth against an opponent as powerful as Lana, who was able to unleash advanced spells as quickly as instant-release spells, and not long after the match began, her opponent had already been afflicted by a series of negative status conditions.

The martial artist was unable to get close to Lana, and the martial techniques he tried to use to enhance his own body were constantly being interrupted by Lana's advanced spells, so he was already in severe trouble. Right at this moment, Lana raised her staff, and around a dozen pillars of fire descended from the heavens, instantly forming a cage around her opponent. A look of despair appeared on the martial artist's face. He was preparing himself to retaliate one last time with an all-out attack, but his plans had been thwarted by Lana's Heavenly Inferno Cage.

Theoretically speaking, Lana could stop here and simply wait for the administrators to announce the outcome of the match, but the pillars of fire were rapidly converging toward the center, and it seemed that her intention was to completely incinerate her opponent!

The administrators were given a massive fright by this, and they hurriedly jumped onto the competition platform to protect the martial artist. The converging pillars of fire surged toward the administrators, and only after sweeping over the magic shields that they had conjured up for a long while did the flames finally dissipate.

Only then did an administrator remember to adjudicate Lana as the victor, and thus, the first match drew to a fast conclusion. If anyone else had done what Lana had just done in her match, the tournament committee would've most likely conducted an investigation on the suspicion that she was intentionally trying to cause unnecessary harm to her opponent, but no one dared to launch an investigation into the daughter of Prince Lazaar.

After the match, Lana departed from the venue with an aloof expression and didn't look up at Erwin again.

Erwin was quite despondent to see this. After the previous night, it seemed that she had become a completely different person!

He looked on with a troubled expression as Lana disappeared into the darkness within the contestants' passageway.

"Hey, tell me exactly what happened between the two of you," Princess Onean said with an intrigued expression. "Why does it seem like she's really mad at you?"

Erwin turned toward the princess, feeling as if she were very interested in his relationship with Lana for some reason.

Even though he was blatantly staring at her, Onean didn't denounce Erwin for his rudeness. Instead, she continued to look at him with an intrigued expression, waiting for his answer.

Erwin didn't say anything as he pulled an item out from his chest pocket, then dangled it in front of the princess.

"Why are you carrying that with you?" Onean's eyes widened as she stared at Erwin, and a faint blush appeared on her face. The item that Erwin had just pulled out of his pocket was the pendant that had contained the princess's Springlay Fox bone marrow potion.

"Why wouldn't I carry this with me?" Erwin asked without even thinking about what he was saying, but his words had far deeper implications in the ears of Onean.

"Then what about Miss Lana's magic potion vial? Do you carry that with you as well?" Onean asked as she gave him a meaningful look.

"I do," Erwin immediately blurted out in response.

"Well, at least you're not picky. Not only that, but you seem to think your actions are quite justified," Onean said as she glared at him.

Only after seeing the change in Onean's expression did Erwin realize that his brain wasn't functioning to its normal capacity, and he could only blame that on the previous night of terrible sleep. Of course, it could've also been due to the fact that he was constantly distracted by the thought of Lana's strange words and actions from the day before.

Erwin hurriedly scrambled to explain, "Your Highness, you and Miss Lana did so much to save my life at the risk of tarnishing your own public reputations. How could I..."

Onean was rather amused by his panicked expression, and she chuckled, "I was just teasing you. Look at how nervous you became!"

Erwin raised his head to look at the Onean with a surprised expression, bewildered by how quickly her mood changed.

"I heard that Miss Lana is extremely proud, so she's certainly not going to settle for the average person. That makes sense, considering she's the daughter of Prince Lazaar. Tell me, how did you manage to get her to fall for you?" Onean asked with an intrigued smile.

Erwin was so stunned by this question that he was unable to speak. Never did he think that the princess would ask him about something like this in such a straightforward fashion! He looked closely at Onean, and he couldn't help but wonder what kind of personality was concealed beneath her captivating, goddess-like appearance.

Erwin's silence made Onean even more intrigued, and her eyes lit up as she asked, "Could it be that she was the one who went after you?"

Erwin was once again momentarily entranced by Onean's beauty, and he couldn't help but be amazed at her intuition. It was no wonder that Lana always referred to her as a silver-haired vixen.

Erwin wanted to explain that there was nothing going on between him and Lana, but after holding Lana like that the night before in front of Byron and Jeff, that was no longer an option. He couldn't just tell Onean that he and Lana were just normal friends as his conscience simply wouldn't allow it.

Thus, Erwin was at a complete loss as to how he should reply to Onean's question, and the more flustered he became, the more amused Onean was.

Erwin felt like a snake that had been grabbed by the tail, leaving him completely at the princess's mercy. He had thought that he was a veteran when it came to dealing with the opposite sex, but it seemed that he had severely overestimated himself. He was worried that the princess would continue in her line of questioning, so he hurriedly bade her farewell and departed from the venue.

Onean clasped a hand over her mouth as she chuckled in amusement while Erwin fled the scene.

Erwin's plan was to exit the venue and search for Lana, but he was unable to find her, so he could only assume that she was intentionally avoiding him. Thus, he could return to his tent for a nap.

...

Shortly into his nap, Chase and Kaiba arrived in the tent at noon, immediately rousing Erwin from his nap. He had no plans of eating any lunch, but he was forced to get up by the two of them to have lunch with them.

"Can't you just let me sleep for a while longer?" Erwin's eyelids were feeling impossibly heavy.

"Hurry up and get out of bed! Larwood is going to have lunch with Gwen soon, and we're going to follow him," Chase said with an excited expression.

"That's right! We'll sit at the table next to theirs and eavesdrop on their conversation," Kaiba chimed in with a devious smile.

"You used to be such a prim and proper gentleman, Kaiba. How have you also become so depraved?" Erwin asked with a disdainful expression.

"When has Kaiba ever been a gentleman? He's always been the one among us with the most dirty tricks and shady ideas!" Chase was staring at Erwin as if he were looking at a naïve little kid.

"Cut the chit-chat and get out of bed!" Kaiba urged as he tugged on Erwin's arm.