CLEAVER OF SIN Chapter 1128: Shy

"I will agree if you pay me for it," he stated as he looked ahead while he walked.

Arianna’s head immediately whipped towards Asher as she asked, "How much?"

Asher turned to look at her, their purple and amber-gold eyes meeting. He couldn’t help but give a smile as he replied.

"Did you forget that I’m a Noble? The son of a Duke at that. I’m probably richer than you and your Father combined, you know," he stated, as he wasn’t going to take payment in platinum coins.

Although Asher had talked about being richer than her and her Father combined, she didn’t take offence. She was someone who could take a joke and not get serious about everything.

"Then what do you want?" she asked as she tilted her head to the side, as she didn’t know what else to give.

It wasn’t like she walked around carrying numerous treasures and artefacts in her space ring or anything of the sort, so she couldn’t exactly give anything like that.

At her question, Asher didn’t know what to say. He had expected Arianna to come up with an answer, not for her to ask him what he wanted. A smirk appeared on his lips the next moment. Arianna was simply too innocent. If this were Earth, any girl’s mind would instantly jump to sex or anything sexually related, yet look at Arianna, asking what he wanted so innocently.

"I will settle for a kiss," he spoke as he shrugged, as though he was speaking about something basic.

The moment those words left Asher’s lips, Arianna’s fist shot outwards as red lightning crackled around her fist as she punched directly towards Asher’s head. Seeing the incoming attack, Asher didn’t move; he simply allowed the attack to land.

With a thunderous boom, Arianna’s fist met his chest as red lightning thundered and screamed outwards, erasing everything within a five-kilometre radius, sand dunes tearing backwards, the land charring as sand waves roared and dust rose.

Through the dust, Asher could be seen standing with his hand in his pocket and a smile on his face. He had blocked the attack by simply copying the Infinity from the tree in the Space Training Room, and Arianna’s attack wasn’t able to tear through it since she hadn’t exactly gone all out.

"It seems you can take all kinds of jokes but not a sexual one," he spoke as he remained standing in his position.

"Hmph!" Arianna snorted as she replied, "Here I was thinking you were a gentleman after our first meeting and outing together. It seems I was wrong. You are no different from other men out there," she stated flatly.

Asher smiled as he replied, "And you aren’t as mature as I thought you were. Look at you trying to blow my face off just for a joke," he stated as he turned to look at the destruction Arianna had caused with a casual punch.

Clearly, she had gotten stronger and more dangerous.

Arianna rolled her eyes as she replied, "You can just tell yourself that, but I know it’s your safety net. If I actually agreed, you would have kissed me," she clicked her tongue.

But unlike the emotion she put up, Asher’s Emotion Perception showed Asher that Arianna was neither angry nor irritated nor anything of the sort; she was simply kidding around. She wasn’t some huge feminist who thought all men were scum and should die.

Instead, she seemed... shy.

Asher couldn’t help but doubt his Emotion Perception ability for the first time. Nothing about the behaviour Arianna displayed told him that she was shy, but oh well, people were always so good at hiding their true thoughts and emotions.

So, he decided to push his luck even more. It was all jokes and banter after all.

"And would it be a crime to kiss you?" he asked as his eyes stayed on her with a smile on his lips, although he was holding back huge laughter.

Arianna snorted, "You are a thousand years too early for that. Hmph!"

Asher’s smile remained as he continued, "Whatever, there are billions of women who would happily kiss me if I give the word. I’m famous now." He shrugged.

A vein seemed to pop on Arianna’s forehead.

Asher didn’t push his luck anymore. If this were when they had met for the first time or when they were still at the Thalvorn Empire, he would never dare display such an attitude. In fact, at the time, he and Arianna had carried themselves with gentleness and calmness.

But now, it was all gone, starting from Arianna’s texting style, as she seemed more open and forthcoming. Even her behaviour right now kind of contradicted the behaviour she had displayed months ago.

"I will spar with you before I leave," he finally gave her a definite answer.

The vein on her forehead vanished as a satisfied smile appeared on her face. She had been stuck in various training for the past few months; she needed some action. It was as though she was about to go mad without it. But she was in luck at the moment, as she wasn’t the only one. Asher, too, needed some action.

His opponents, whom he had planned to entertain himself with, had all fled in fright. In a way, they could only call upon each other to have a good spar that would satisfy them both, without calling upon a senior who would bully them instead.

As they walked, silence passed between the both of them, both seemingly finding peace in each other’s presence, as they didn’t really need to talk to keep the moment alive. As they walked and as the sun shone on them, Asher couldn’t help but speak on a certain matter.

"I understand you want to have a spar," he began to speak, his tone calm, "but couldn’t you have at least called upon me when you were in town or something?" He asked calmly. "This is my first time at the Velkarin Empire, and you just want me to look at a bunch of pillars and sand, then spar with you and leave," he stated. After all, it would have been nice to look around and see the culture.

In his past life as Ethan, he had never been to Africa. To him, being in the Velkarin Empire was probably the closest thing to that.

Of course, he wasn’t as naive as some Americans who thought and believed that Africa was one giant landmass without separation into countries, or thought that everyone in Africa was starving and thirsty, or had no technology in their homes and had lions as pets.

A simple, quick Google search was all these type of people needed, but oh well.

So, although he had always planned to visit at least one African country, he had always been lazy when the time came. So now he was within Velkarin, all he had to do was leave this desert place and explore for a couple of hours.

Imagine going to a new Empire or country and being told you couldn’t explore. That was no different than being arrested at the borders for false papers.

Arianna sighed at Asher’s words as she understood where he was coming from, but it was beyond her means at the moment.

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