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My feet were starting to ache. Every bend left, every slant right, like a pound of a hammer dispersing through my calves. After a certain point, I just wanted things to move along. My desire to dance has sunk to a rock bottom below rock bottom. 

I\'ve exchanged hands with so many people, I\'m pretty sure the palms of my hands were now a metropolitan living space for so many various germs. Demon germs, Beastmen germs, Fey germs…

Speaking of which - 

"Do you even know how to dance?"

I\'m the last person I know I want as an arbiter for dancing, I don\'t belong on a panel, much less on the dancefloor itself… but when you get partnered with a literal bundle of violet who you knew for sure definitely was no dancing queen, you tend to ask these kinds of questions.

Sera gave her standard universal response to pretty much everything I say - a groan conveying annoyance - and just impatiently seized my hand into hers. 

I didn\'t even care anymore, I just went along with, whatever, we\'re dancing now… and not even that well either. From the clumsy paces of her feet, to the unsteady sway of her body, I could see that she was a fellow learner too in the sacred dance art of \'monkey see monkey do\'.

Of course, I doubt she was just here for the sole purpose of having a quick fling and swing with me. Sera always had another motive. I wouldn\'t exactly call them hidden motives, just unspoken ones. 

Nevertheless, I heard them loud and clear.

"You\'re thinking of competing?" 

The first nod.

"You wanna make your precious Eshwlyn doesn\'t get taken by anybody else here?"

The second nod.

"You won\'t be holding back whatsoever too?"

And finally the third nod affirming every one of her intentions. Well then, that just simply won\'t do. Sighing, I went ahead and gave my standard universal response to everything she had to say. 

"Don\'t."

As expected Sera didn\'t like that. Which honestly, I\'m surprised she even thought otherwise. Like what the hell, you seriously think I\'m just gonna let you rampage free on these people and just nod and smile while you do so? 

Nick, maybe. Leon, definitely. But at the expense of everybody else? No. I ain\'t that desperate. 

Not yet, at least.

"Let me handle it," I said, bracing already for the tidal wave of dissenting growls to flood my ears to the brim. 

And yet… the only shrill thing that pierced my ears then was the sound of a bard blowing on his flute rather too harsh. Sera just stared in silence… she didn\'t even scowl.

"You don\'t mind that?" I asked, only for more of that silence to follow. "If I win, I get her. That doesn\'t bother you?"

If she did or not, I guess I\'d never know. All of a sudden, despite a melody still ongoing, she pried her hands loose from my own and stalked off elsewhere without a word… leaving me hanging there, standing there, partner-less and answer-less.

Hmm. You know, I have this strange feeling that she wasn\'t actually going to enlist in the first place. Perhaps I didn\'t hear all of her motives as well as I thought I did… maybe she was hiding that one all along.

Whatever case, her departure had just released me free from these eternal shackles of dance. I\'ve danced my due, and so now it was time to offer myself as tribute. 

Slowly, I navigated my way around the ballroom, circumventing the crowd easy. It wasn\'t long before the judges\' panel came sliding back into view.

The music stopped, and the scramble for newfound partners began anew. 

Thankfully, I was no longer caught up in that never ending loop. Trust me, I\'ve pranced about enough for more than one lifetime, and I\'m more than happy to voluntarily shatter my own kneecaps so long as I never have to dance again.

"Oh!"

I heard a gasp, then I saw a smile, and then from the bottom of my heart, I thanked God that I was only speaking in hyperbole just now.

\'Master!"

Or else it was bye-bye kneecaps right then and there.

If I thought her already utterly breathtaking at a distance, then up close and personal Ash was practically a life-threatening hazard.

Mesmerizing to the point of suffocating, that\'s what she was.

I only noticed my lack of breath once I heard the flute player take a sharp wheeze of his own.

Someone needs to switch him quick, poor bastard\'s gonna keel over anytime now.

"I… I have hoped our paths would have crossed soon," Ash said, her ears squirming ecstatic. "I had nearly begun to lose hope of that as time went on."

Seems like I wasn\'t the only one hoping all this time.

Faintly at first, the music filled the quiet… a slow gentle harmony of strings and percussions. I suppose just one more dance wouldn\'t hurt much.

"Sorry to have kept you waiting," I said, taking a bow with my hand out towards her. "Shall we, then?"

Ash curtsied back, and slowly placed her hand into my own. "I would like nothing more."

It was as if all my pain, all my struggles had been whisked away by her mere presence alone. 

Dancing with her was as effortless, as seamless as breathing. Our paces in sync, our movements fluid… and for once, I was taking charge.

Everything else, anything else apart from us just melted away. Nothing else seemed to matter. We just spun and twirled in our own little private bubble.

"So," I said, glancing at her sideways. "Elf-princess, huh? It\'s a good look. I like it. Really like it."

Ash\'s gaze sank to her feet, her face faintly flushed, and when she next spoke, it was with a slight stammer, "Um, Lady Amanda… She insisted I participate alongside her in this event. I expressed my concerns, but she insisted that you\'d ultimately come to find it - "

"Fun?" I suggested, her little nodded afterward affirming my answer.

"Was she right, after all?" Ash asked rather apprehensively. "Are you… having fun, Master?"

I spun her, caught her, then told her, "Surprisingly… I am now."

Her smile of relief that followed could have easily lit a gloomy night sky, I swear.

"Are you comfortable with this though, Ash?" I asked. "You\'re pretty much the center of a lot of attention."

"I do not mind it much so, in some way… I even find it somewhat flattering to be admired for once. In any case, it is a nice change of pace from how things usually are."

"Yeah, I suppose having a ton of people fighting for your hand is one way to get an ego boost."

Her ears gave a little wriggle. "Yes, speaking of which, um, Master… could I ask if you have already… well, have you enlisted yet?"

I frowned. "Not yet. I will though."

They wriggled again, harder this time. "Oh, I see. Then, it\'s safe to assume that you\'ve already made your choice?"

"Pretty safe."

"May… may I ask, simply out of curiosity, who it is that you\'ll be contending for?"

"Out of curiosity, you say?"

"C-curiosity yes, Master," She stammered, nodding vigorously. 

If the word \'brazen\' had a face, Ash\'s would be the perfect fit . Unlike Sera, she doesn\'t exactly have an easy way to hide her intentions… not when those ears were a flicker away from creating their own breeze anyway.

"Why?" I asked, feigning ignorance some more. "Do you have a certain someone in mind I should go for?"

She nearly tripped, recovering quick. "No, no, of course not. Perish the thought, Master! I-I\'ve been strictly informed already that I am not allowed to influence other people\'s decisions in any way whatsoever."

Don\'t know about that. I\'m pretty sure that you being you is enough to stir up some influence.

"You might not be allowed to influence, but you\'re still allowed to guess, right?" I nudged my head. "Go on, take a guess."

"I…" She pursed her lips, the distinct tint of embarrassment swelling in her cheeks. "I cannot speak for myself… however, I suppose I can say what Lady Amanda predicted you\'d choose."

"Don\'t tell me," I snorted. "Did she point at herself and proclaimed \'me\'?"

"On the contrary…" Ash muttered meekly. "Lady Amanda pointed at me and proclaimed \'you\'."

Huh… that\'s not what I exactly had in mind. My brief interaction with her gave off a completely different impression.

"She said that?"

"Lady Amanda insisted that it would be me that you\'d choose," Ash further elaborated. "She believed that given a choice between us two… that there were no other prospects for anything else." 

No other prospects for anything else. If Amanda thought that anyway, why\'d she still put herself up?

And the fact that she even thinks that to begin with… and yet said what she said… I…

What was her motivation here?

"S-still curiously speaking, Master, I have to ask," Ash said, staring up at me with a downward gaze. "Is she right, after all?"