"Huh?"
Abigail was confused and momentarily taken aback. 'What brought this on?'
She and Julia had never met before and right from the get-go, she felt that Julia was being cold towards her for no reason.
Sure, this was their first time meeting, and she did not expect to be liked by the person. In fact, she only came to meet Alex because they had somehow bonded during the battle royale. But what did that have to do with Alex's friend?
"Excuse me? Do you have a problem with me?" She was unwilling to back down. Just because she liked keeping to herself didn't mean she could not express herself when needed, and right now, Julia was acting in a way that made no sense.
"No, not exactly," Julia replied as she took a deep breath to gather her thoughts. She glanced at Alex who was staring at her with a small frown, his expression clearing showing his displeasure.
However, she wanted to make it clear to her or any other girl for that matter. She and Alex might not be in a relationship yet, but she knew there was an unspoken awareness about their status. Also, she didn't want to make Alex mad at her, so she put a pin in what she wanted to say initially.
"I don't like how you acted around Alex. You were acting too familiar with him, and I didn't like that. So back off." She stated with a serious face.
Abigail was once again taken aback by her words. Julia made no sense to her from the start and now she was talking as if she stole her belongings.
She looked at Alex and saw his wry smile that seemed like he was used to it. The other she came to know as Ross just sat there with his eyes closed as if what was going on was out of his hands.
Ethan on the other hand immediately understood her words and looked over to Alex with a subtle grin. Of course, Alex did not miss it and could only turn his head away.
Abigail then thought about her words carefully and seriously looked at Julia and Alex. Slowly realization began to dawn on her when she finally analyzed what her words meant.
"O-Oh… Okay…" She muttered with a small blush. Her gaze quickly moved to Alex and saw how he smiled wryly.
'I see… She felt threatened by me.' In the depths of her consciousness, she felt glad that someone felt threatened by her presence. Obviously, she did not see Alex in that way.
Even if he was the most exceptional first year around and good-looking to boot, it didn't mean she would be falling for him.
What she was not aware of was that Julia had been the one to drive most of those girls away, so she knew what she was saying when she declared her territory.
"Anyways, I wanted to meet you guys because you opened my eyes to some of my weaknesses." He said looking at Abigail and then turned to Ethan, "and because I wanted to have another sparring match once we were done. Only this time, with the same starting point."
Ethan of course, also felt the same. He had initially looked down on him before actually fighting him. And through that brief fight, he came to see the kind of person Alex was.
A fighting enthusiast.
"I agree. You can only know your areas of weakness when you fight someone on a similar level. But we will have to schedule a time for that as the main event will start soon." Ethan added his thoughts as well.
Ross opened his eyes at this point and looked at Alex, "Aren't you getting enough fighting from our sparring matches?"
Julia also nodded and looked at him with a questioning gaze.
"Yeah, but you guys are becoming very predictable. A little spice from other places won't hurt, right?"
"Hmm… I guess you're right. But why didn't you say anything before?" Julia felt a little bit hurt that Alex didn't mention this to her or even Ross.
"Well, regardless of that, I still enjoy sparring with you guys." Alex noticed her hurt feelings and consoled. Naturally, he was honest and didn't just say that to make her feel better.
"Yeah, Alex has become something of a battle junkie," Ross added to quell her misunderstanding. Alex's battle instincts have grown since he awakened and while his arrogance was slowly seeping in and making him look down on his opponents, it did not change that fact.
'He could wipe the floor with Ross and Alex any time of the day and Julia had the most experience among them! It was honestly frightening when Ross noticed this.
"Wait, if what you're really interested in is just sparring, why am I here?" Abagail interjected. Sure, she had nearly eliminated Alex in the battle royale, but she couldn't have made it that far without Alex's help and she knew it.
Her combat prowess was above average at best and that was why she preferred archery.
"Because I also wanted to talk to you about the main competition," Alex answered, turning his attention back to his guests.
"You should understand that the main competition would be completely different, and your archery skills aren't going to be enough." He stated bluntly making her understand her position.
Even he wasn't sure he would come out with a good ranking. The words of Hunter Zol were no joke. Although he had no idea what the main event would feature, he wanted to help Abigail as much as possible.
Abigail needed no one to spell that out for her as she understood perfectly.
"So what do you suggest?"
Alex glanced at Julia and noticed how she seemed disinterested in what he was saying. 'Maybe she has come down a bit? But will she accept what I'm about to say?' he wondered.
Julia had remained relatively calm compared to other situations, and this was mostly because Alex didn't mind. But this time was different. His expression when Julia wanted to berate Abigail stopped.
But with what he wanted to say now, he doubted if Julia would remain silent.