Chapter 54. Preparation

“Hey Lucia. You do have a second to spare? I need to talk to you in private.” Ken asked as he was finally able to catch Lucia three days before the end of year tournament as she walked down the academy garden.

“Oh. Hi Ken! What can I do for you?” Lucia answered happily as she turned around realizing it was Ken who was talking to her.

“Can we talk in private? Like at a cafe in town or something?” Ken asked, hoping Lucia would agree as the matter he wanted to discuss should be kept private.

“Activate your bracelet.” Lucia offered.

After doing as she asked, Lucia granted Ken access to her private room from 8pm to 10pm for that night.

“Wow. I didn’t know people could grant temporary access to the rooms. I thought we had to go through with the staff to add or take people off rooms.” Ken asked curiously, finding out something new once again.

“Normally, you do. But I have special permissions. Come by my room sometime between 8 to 10 tonight and I will hear what you have to say.” Lucia answered with a smile and walked away after Ken thanked her for agreeing to the private meeting.

“What are you trying to do with Lucia?” Clare asked suspiciously.

“I am going to her room and go have sex with her obviously. What else would I do with a girl.” Ken replied with a grin as Clare smacked him for making such a dumb joke.

“Ken. You do realize that in 10 days I will be forced to marry Xandrian right? Do you have any plans or are you just going to sleep around with your girls and forget about me?” Clare asked as her anxiety grew more with each passing day.

Ever since Ken broke Lovetta’s protection, things have gotten hectic. As much as he enjoyed sleeping with all the beautiful girls. To satisfy 6 different girls who are all craving his attention while also having to keep Clare from getting too agitated while also keeping up with his studying and training has not been easy for him.

“Clare. I know you are on edge. I know you are not happy I am sleeping with everyone else except you and I know the deadline is coming soon. You are stressed, I am under a lot of pressure but I promise things will work out. Alright? I have to talk to Lucia to make sure things go according to my plan so just trust me and relax.” Ken replied, trying to calm the nervous elf princess down with only ten days left until school was over.

“Careful around her, Ken. I heard she’s got a lot of connections and power.” Cecilla offered as the group reached the dining hall.

“Why do you think I needed to talk with her? I have a general idea of what I want to accomplish and I need to make sure things go smoothly.” Ken replied while trying to enjoy his food.

“Commoner. I heard you aren’t taking the finals. Are you that scared to give away your secrets that you won’t even take the finals so we can all see how much superior I am compared to you?” The annoying voice of Luke gloated.

“No Luke. I just don’t want to give you any excuses to hide. If you knew how strong I am now, you would probably make up some reason to not fight me.” Ken replied calmly, not bothering to even look at Luke and just kept eating his food.

With a hearty laugh, Luke made a few more nasty comments before he and his goons left the dining hall laughing and joking while having a good time, not at all bothered by Ken’s declaration.

“Don’t get overconfident, Ken.” Alice warned.

“I got this Alice. I am pretty confident I am stronger overall but even if we are close. I got a few tricks up my sleeve.” Ken replied.

After the group spent the rest of the day studying and training for those that wanted to take the final exam. Ken got ready and headed out of the common area heading for where Lucia’s private room was located.

After walking into the common room of a new wing Ken had never been in before, He surveyed around to see if the area is any different than the building that he had called home for almost 3 years.

“Vincent!” Ken called out as he noticed the Darrumburgh commoner studying with some friends.

After greeting Vincent and his friends, since it was still early, Ken decided to stay a bit and have a chat.

“Are you in the same year as Lucia? I thought she was slightly older?” Ken wondered.

“She is from one class higher. But since the number of students decreases dramatically after 5 years, pretty much everyone from year 6 onwards stays either in this wing or the one next over so the new class could have a wing and not have to move for 5 years.” Vincent answered.

“Makes sense! I know a bunch of those in my class aren’t going to make it after the finals. They just spent all their time socializing and did zero studying! Those that are almost at advanced level are definitely not making it past expert. How have you been doing lately? Are you at holy level yet?” Ken replied.

“I have finally been making some progress! Things finally started to click for me so I think I will be able to get there in another year or two.” Vincent replied happily as the pair chatted more about how to get stronger with Vincent’s friends.

“Crap! I would love to chat with you all longer but I got an appointment with Lucia so I got to go. Good luck in the open tournament! I will be cheering for you. Go chat with Ava if you run into her too!” Ken said happily as he ran off before he lost the chance to speak with Lucia.

At 9:30 with 30 minutes to spare, Ken arrived at Lucia’s room and knocked to be let in.

“Sorry. I saw someone I knew and lost time chatting.” Ken apologized as he went inside the room.

Compared to the massive suite that Cecilla is paying for and Ken has been living in. This room was much more modest but still much better than the free dorm room that Ken had lived in for the first two years.

Spacious with plenty of room, while it had only one bedroom, the living room area was nice and large where having a few guests over would not have been any issue.

“It's not good to make a girl wait, Ken. So what do you want to talk about?” Lucia asked.

With a closer look, Ken noticed for the first time that the announcer girl he has chatted with now and then with green hair and violet eyes is rather attractive as she sat on the sofa across from him waiting for his proposal.

“Please make the bracket so I would face off against Luke in the finale and if you could put both Lovetta and Clare on my side that would be ideal.” Ken asked, straight to the point.

“Not possible. With the current popularity distribution of your class, the four of you have to be set up to face off in the final four.” Lucia replied.

“Fine. Can you at least make sure me and Luke are on the opposite side and face off in the finale and I would prefer it if I get matched with Clare.” Ken countered.

“That’s the exact matchup last semester where you ‘accidentally’ lost, remember? I won’t beat around the bushes since you came to me asking me to set up the bracket. But I had you going to the finals and you cost some of my top clients quite a bit of money for losing that fight. What can you offer me to set up the bracket for the exact same fights two tournaments in a row?”

“I will win every single match so whoever your clients are, they can bet as much on me as they want.” Ken replied confidently.

“Not good enough. It doesn’t take a genius to know how much and how fast you are improving. I would have told most of my clients to bet on you winning anyways.” Lucia counter, not impressed by Ken’s offer.

“I have done a little studying. It seems like the more specific you get, the more return you can get. If you make sure the bracket is set up the way I wanted. I will not only win the tournament but win every single fight with a protection break and not let a single one last the full duration for a judge’s determination.” Ken offered, which seemed to have finally piqued Lucia’s interest.

“You think you are strong enough to beat Clare and Luke within 10 minutes?” Lucia asked, not fully buying what Ken is trying to sell.

“You know Clare is my girl right? I can have her forfeit if I think saving my energy in the finals would be useful. Lovetta as well, I can tell her to go full out at Luke if I think weakening him is beneficial but to answer your question. Whatever it takes, I will make sure to win every single fight without letting it go into the judge's determination. That should net your clients quite a bit of money wouldn’t it?” Ken suggested, noticing that he had finally got Lucia’s interest.

“Since I will be the one on the hot seat if you can’t live up to the promise and some of my clients are too powerful for me to piss off. I don’t think just having your girlfriends cheating for you is good enough to have them betting on you. It had already backfired on me once, as much as your offer intrigues me. I don’t think I want to risk it and the bracket will just be set how the gambling halls want it to be set up.” Lucia replied.

“150 gold coins. I will give you 150 gold coins to bet on myself. If I win, you can keep all the winnings and just return the 150. If you show your clients that you are willing to put such a large sum of gold into the pot, they should fully believe in your conviction right? Make it happen for me, Lucia. I know you have the connections and power to do so. I need that guaranteed match against Luke in the finals.” Ken pleaded.

“You really want to fight against Luke don’t you? I guess if you offer me this much money as a bonus, it’s hard for me to turn it down.” Lucia replied with a smile.

“Thanks Lucia! I knew I could count on you. I guess I will be counting on you on tournament day when the bracket gets posted!” Ken said happily as he got up to leave.

“Where do you think you are going? I am not doing all this for you without you at least staying the night.” Lucia said seductively.

“I didn’t know you were into me like that.” Ken replied, not sure what had turned their business talk sexual.

“I said the offer was hard for me to turn down, not that I wouldn't turn it down. But if you can satisfy me in bed tonight, I will take your offer.” Lucia replied as she started to get undressed and heading to her bedroom.

Not sure what had just happened but needing to guarantee the fight with Luke. Ken decided quickly that having a one night stand with an attractive woman is probably the last thing he should complain about to get what he needed accomplished.

Following the woman into her bedroom, Ken closed the door behind them and got down to business hoping he has what it takes to satisfy Lucia, so he could move on to the next stage with his plan.

“You aren’t lacking in sleeping partners are you? Your hands know exactly what they want to grab.” Lucia whispered as Ken began to wake up.

“Yea. Some days I actually wish I didn’t have so many options.” Ken replied as he got out of bed and got dressed.

“You want to just be with me then?” Lucia asked seductively.

Turning around to see the attractive lady in bed looking at him.

“No thanks. I have enough on my plate.” Ken replied without hesitation.

“No hesitation at all. I guess you really did just sleep with me to get what you wanted done?” Lucia wondered as she got out of bed and dressed as well.

“I mean, it would be a lie to say you aren’t attractive but I have enough girls to deal with that I don’t need anymore.” Ken replied as he got back to the living room hoping his girls wouldn't go crazy after they learn the news. .

“Weird. If you are attracted and we had sex. Why aren’t you even remotely following my orders?” Lucia wondered out loud to herself, showing signs of frustration but also curiosity.

“What do you mean? Were you trying to brainwash me or something?”

“You really need to take some precautions. Why else would I randomly sleep with you? You really think every girl just wants you or something?” Lucia asked in awe.

“I mean. From my point of view with how many girls that won’t leave me alone. I don’t think I am wrong to think that literally every girl wants me for whatever reason. How were you going to make me follow your orders?” Ken replied, trying to understand what Lucia tried to do.

“Might as well. I am not a normal human. I am a succubus. We blend in with the humans seamlessly, similar to a vampire. But we don’t have the extra physical strength or the diet restriction so other than my special ability we are just like normal humans. If you were every other guy I slept with. After having sex with me, you should be hypnotized by me to a varying degree and would at least follow my command for a little bit. ” Lucia explained while looking annoyed that Ken wasn’t affected at all.

“Glad whatever you tried didn’t work! So. When do you want me to bring you the gold for our deal?” Ken asked.

“Are you just going to assume I accepted your deal?”

“Come on. We both know you were satisfied so don’t try to back out on our deal now.” Ken said confidently.

“I guess confidence is the one thing you don’t lack. I will walk with you to your dorm and get the money now so I can make the necessary deals and get your bet placed. You better live up to your promise or I will take you down with me.” Lucia warned.

Brushing off her concerns with his confidence, the pair headed back to Ken’s dorm together as the young man continued asking Lucia about her race and trying to figure out how this mind control worked.

After reaching the suite and dodging the bombardment of questions. Ken handed his sack of gold coins to the succubus lady.

“Careful with that please. That’s my entire life savings you have in your hand.” Ken pleaded.

“You know. You are way too trusting and naive. What if I just take your money and do nothing? Advice from your seniors, you need to be careful and not just trust people so easily.” Lucia offered.

“Thanks for the tip Lucia! I knew you were a good trustworthy person, that's why I wasn’t worried. If you were Luke, I would have never trusted you.” Ken replied as he waved goodbye to the succubus.

With his preparation done, all that is left for Ken to do now, is to show the world what he had trained so hard to accomplish and win the tournament to establish his place amongst his peers.