"Wha…" Christina gawked, unable to believe what she was hearing and not quite sure how to respond. She could understand what Lucas was saying, but she still didn't feel that it was right.
As far as the princess was concerned, 'fight' and 'duel' meant the same thing. Whenever she fought with another noble son or daughter, whether it was for training or in some kind of competition, whether there was a wager at stake or not, both sides always followed the rules of a duel, even if they called it a fight.
Eventually, Christina found the words she was looking for and shouted indignantly, "That's… That's just sophistry!"
Clearly, the Rockwell Kingdom's youngest princess was unwilling to accept this explanation, especially since to her it seemed like nothing more than an excuse from Lucas.
Lucas knew that continuing to dwell on this point would only lead Christina further away from the truth she was seeking, but since she was so fixated on it already, he decided to humour her.
Shaking his head, Lucas stated clearly, "Master told us to fight, right then and there. She never said anything about a duel."
Before the princess could object again, Lucas cut her off by declaring, "I don't know much about how noble duels work, but I do know that in a fight, there are no rules, only winners and losers."
Intent on quashing any further accusations, Lucas wore a solemn expression and played his trump card, "I also wasn't certain at first if that was what Master was implying, but I checked with her before I attacked, and she gave her approval for my actions."
Hearing this, Christina's jaw dropped. She wanted to call Lucas a liar, or assert that what he was saying was impossible, but when she thought back to how Celestina had shown such indifference and then disappointment after the fact, the princess paled as she realized Lucas was probably telling her the truth.
"Then… what about honour?" Christina asked somewhat falteringly, somewhat accepting the idea that she had been beaten, but still unwilling to accept the way she had been defeated, "Even if what you said is true, and there are no rules to a fight, my father always told me that maintaining one's honour is more important than one's life."
Contrary to the young princess' expectations, Lucas actually nodded, "I agree."
"However," carefully choosing his words, Lucas spoke his thoughts on the matter, "Everyone has their own bottom line. People or principles they consider worth sacrificing themselves for, so what is honourable changes from person to person, from situation to situation."
Having unwittingly been drawn into a kind of philosophical debate with Lucas, Christina didn't even realize that much of her anger had dissipated already, replaced with many complicated thoughts, some of which contradicted her life experiences.
It was all a bit too much for Christina, making it impossible for her to come to any kind of clear conclusion, but not understanding made her mildly frustrated and soon caused her to become stubborn, "Are you trying to say that what you did was fair? That it was honourable?"
Seeing the princess resort to childish insistence when logic failed her, Lucas actually laughed lightly and asked, "Is using poison to assassinate your enemy honourable?"
Christina's brain froze when asked this question as it seemed to have come out of nowhere, but she soon frowned and shook her head, "Of course not! There's no honour in using underhanded means kill others! Only cowards would resort to such methods!"
"Oh? Then what if the one being assassinated is a powerful tyrant who constantly makes their people suffer? A tyrant with incredible strength and a vast army at their command? What if the one who carried out the assassination was a crippled woman whose child had been murdered by that tyrant and poisoning them was the only possibly way she could pull it off? From an objective perspective, wouldn't that helpless woman be a hero?" Lucas posed, a flat look on his face.
"Uh…" This time, Christina really was stuck. Like many others her age, she had always enjoyed listening to heroic tales as she grew up, where good triumphed over evil and heroes vanquished villains.
In those stories, it had always been clear who was right and who was wrong, who was the one who acted with honour and integrity and who was the wicked criminal.
Now, however, facing Lucas' hypothetical, Christina wasn't sure how to respond.
Given enough time, perhaps the smart princess could have worked something out in her head, but Lucas wasn't planning on giving her that time, "What about on the battlefield? If an army of 1,000 Mortal Realm Practitioners are trying to sack an enemy city, and 10 Spirit Initiates rise to stop them, which side is acting honourably? The attackers? The defenders? The strong? The weak? Both? Neither?"
By now, Christina's eyes were almost spinning from all the convoluted implications of Lucas' words.
As a princess, Christina had received the best education from the best tutors and instructors in the kingdom, but none of those teachers had ever challenged her like this. When dealing with theory, things were often cut-and-dry, with there always being a right and wrong answer, but what Lucas was trying to teach her now was that life was never that simple.
It was a paradigm shift for the sheltered princess, one she wasn't quite ready to face yet, but Lucas knew that if Christina truly wanted to become his Master's Disciple, this was one lesson she would have to take to heart.
Seeing Christina deflate before his eyes, Lucas sighed and decided to give her one last hint, "You say I acted dishonourably, that I cheated, and that the fight wasn't fair. I've already told you that the fight was irrelevant, but if you insist on arguing your point, then perhaps you should first consider whether the fight really was fair or not, and what honour truly means to you."
Turning around, Lucas walked away, leaving behind a very frustrated and confused young girl, Sorry, Princess, this is as much as I can help you. I hope you won't hold it against me one day when you become my Junior Sister.
Lucas knew that Christina would one day also become his Master's Disciple, partially because the girl was incredibly strong, talented, and intelligent, as well as fundamentally good hearted, despite being a bit naïve and arrogant.
Most of his certainty, however, came from the fact that Celestina had already told him she was planning on accepting Christina as her Disciple.
In a certain sense, Celestina was already teaching and training Christina, not in terms of cultivation, but in terms of character. Not formally accepting the princess as her Disciple was a kind of life-lesson in-and-of-itself.
Even proposing she fight with Lucas was like training for Christina.
As for whether the princess could decipher the meaning behind all this and learn from the experience, that was up to her and her alone.
Lucas really thought he was going to get away this time, but after taking about 10 steps, he felt a slight tug on his sleeve and couldn't help turning back again.
Looking over his shoulder, Lucas saw his Big Sister Eris looking at him with a troubled expression, like she wanted to say something, but didn't know how to express herself.
Eris had never been good with complicated, nuanced approaches to problems, preferring to tackle things head-on with bravery and brute force, so she was currently a bit uncomfortable with how this situation had played out.
Despite her mentality of 'attack first and ask question later', Eris wasn't a fool, and her instincts were also incredibly sharp, so she could tell there was more going on here than a mere fight over becoming Celestina's Disciple.
What she didn't understand was why things had turned out this way. As such, Eris was now silently asking her smart little brother to explain it to her.
At the same time, Eris kept glancing back at her new friend, worry apparent in her eyes. Although Eris was now clear that there was some kind of animosity between 'Tina' and Lucas, she still felt that the former was a good girl and someone she wanted to get closer to.
Eris was incredibly loyal to her family and friends, so she didn't like seeing Christina so sad and upset. What's more, while Lucas was bruised and battered, he didn't seem much worse now compared to after his intense training sessions with her or her aunties, so the young girl felt he would be just fine in a couple days.
Right now, it seemed to Eris that her new friend was the one in need of comfort, not her little brother.
If Lucas knew what Eris was thinking at that moment, he probably wouldn't know whether to laugh or cry. Nevertheless, he could at least tell she was concerned for Christina.
Thinking that perhaps what he couldn't get across to the princess with words and logic, his big sister might be able to with feelings and instinct, Lucas patted Eris' hand and quietly said, "I'm alright. You stay with her."
This was also a good chance for Eris to make a new friend and mature a bit as well, so Lucas wasn't going to deny her the opportunity.
After a brief pause, Eris nodded slightly before walking back towards the sulking princess, wracking her brain about what to say to comfort her new Sworn Sister.
As for Lucas, he cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders, trying to alleviate some of the soreness he felt before heading off towards the Manor.
Although helping his Master solve this little issue was part of his duties as her Disciple, Lucas hadn't forgotten that he and everyone else in Redwood Town were currently in the middle of a crisis and their collective priority was to evacuate.