They're rich, of course they have a dueling area

All parties involved seemed shocked at my response. Oliver was staring at me in shock when Lana spoke up, "Just so you know, you will be the one dueling, not your little bodyguard here." She rolled her eyes to accentuate her statement, a clear attempt to regain the upper hand in appearance.

I waved away the idea, "Of course, I do thank you for the opportunity. I have been needing a good chance to test my might, and those bandits attacking Millana were rather poor. I didn't even get to cast a spell against them." I chuckled while Lana gave a discrete glance to Millana, who nodded in return. "So, where shall this duel be held?"

It was Norman who answered, Lana being somewhat too shocked to speak. "We have a training yard, it will serve the purpose well."

I nodded in response, "Perfect, though I must ask, what form of protections are in place? I wish to know how much I should hold back to not destroy anything."

I could see the blood slightly drain from Lana's face before Norman responded. "It should be fine. As long as an attack would not kill Lana, the room should suffer it well enough. And I most certainly hope you would not be foolish enough to truly threaten my daughter."

I gave a bow, "Of course not, I apologize for even hinting the possibility of such." I considered for a moment before answering, "I was just confident your daughter would be able to handle the strength of those she challenged."

Norman gave a slight sideways glare to Lana, but before he could say anything someone else spoke up, "Noone should need to hold back." Everyone turned to a woman in highly decorated priestly robes. "If the worst should happen, I should be able to use a shield or heal anyone in critical condition." She had an arrogant look about her, and her tone was so self congratulating it made me internally gag. However, the power I could simply sense from her most certainly backed up her claim.

Norman seemed to share at least some of my emotion, as he had a somewhat irritated expression. "Ah, thank you, High Priestess Karen." His line was delivered dryly, and I could not help but agree with the lack of authenticity in the statement. 'She most certainly looks like a Karen.'

The whole gathering began following Norman to the training yard. Karen joined up with Lana and began speaking with her, while Oliver walked up to me. "Are you certain this is a good idea? It seems like a no win situation to me."

I tilted my head, "How so? In my eyes, this will be a key moment in my future. I most certainly can win this duel, regardless of their cockiness. And the consequences of winning are nothing compared to the rewards." Before Oliver could ask for clarification, I continued. "The light can't make any form of move against me, seeing as it was their priestess who challenged me. If they attempt anything underhanded, I can use it against them. Trust me, I am most certainly capable of handling myself."

Oliver gave a thoughtful nod before resuming his escorting walk beside me. It seems this gave Millana a signal of sorts that I was open to conversation, so she approached me, "Are you sure of this? I know you handled those bandits fine, but my sister is a gifted priestess."

I chuckled, "Your sister was doomed the moment my provocations worked." Millana stared at me in shock. "This duel shall humiliate her in the eyes of the family and the church. It will show her powerless, show me strong, and nock one of your siblings out of the inheritance war." 'I thew in that last line to tempt her, make her think I am on her side. Seems it worked, how disappointing. I was really hoping she would prove a challenge to hone my social skills against.' I gave her a glance, "I will expect a reward for that piece of the benefits."

She blushed and flinched in surprise, "And here I was thinking you were righteous."

I clicked my tongue and shook my head. "You have interpreted me wrong on two fronts. You seem to be thinking of a different reward than I intend, by your blushing." My mention of it only drove her into a deeper shade of red. "And I don't recall claiming to be righteous. After all, only those who don't deserve their station preach of their own righteousness." With that, I steeled my expression and looked towards the pair of priestesses.

By the look of their body language, Karen was lecturing Lana on something or other. Lana seemed to be taking it poorly. 'This is the problem with gifted individuals, myself partially included. Arrogance comes too easily.'

It didn't take long to reach the yard in the end. It was a large exterior room within a walled area. The walls went up a decent height, a stairway leading up them. Various forms of training dummies and targets all around. To top it off, there was a quite large platform demarked for training, such as duels.

We moved to the platform, Norman silently pointing me to go to one side while Lana went to the other with Karen. After speaking one last bit, Karen went to the edge of the platform, just barely to Lana's side of the arena. Oliver took his position mirroring her on my side. I took in a deep breath as I brought the Spirit's mask up onto my own face.