Jax spoke without looking at her. "I was an absolute fool to think you deserved those numbers. Completely fooled into believing that the Delphine I witnessed in that past world possessed a brilliant mind far beyond the fragile child standing here and complaining to me right now."

Then he turned to her with eyes that made every muscle in her body go stiff.

"Yes, I haven’t forgotten your behaviour toward me. I hated your insufferable attitude and the endless rudeness you threw in my face. Those arrows of yours that conveniently missed their target and found me instead directly or indirectly. I haven’t forgotten the way you always butt in my plans followed by those harsh words. I was standing right there when you were about to commit the murder of a child who hadn’t even learned to tie her own shoes yet. And I was there when you committed the ultimate act of stupidity by fighting alongside me in a battle where victory wasn’t even on the table."

He closed the gap between them and said. "But you know what, Delphine? I never viewed any of that as an insult. Instead what I saw was the mentality of a natural born victor who possesses the terrifying arrogance to stare absolute defeat right in the face and completely reject its authority until the very last breath leaves her body."

His voice didn’t soften but it carried something heavier than criticism now. "I was right there watching you fight that mage when your so-called powerful Evangeline was lying flat on the floor. I saw you doing everything in your power to protect her while deliberately drawing the mage’s attention onto yourself instead of fleeing when you had every chance to. And I saw that even when the defeat was completely inevitable, you chose not to bow down to it. You chose to answer it with your bow."

"I was watching you push yourself past your limits while fighting beside me just to satisfy that stubborn ego of yours that you wouldn’t be the first one to fall between us. And I honestly don’t think your so-called champions had the guts for any of that. Because raw physical combat is just a cheap trick played by people who will never understand the poetry of a real victory."

"And you didn’t just win in that regard. You showed me adaptation and development in the span of two days that most students don’t achieve in two years. I watched you change right in front of my eyes. So remember my words carefully, Delphine. A rigid sword will always shatter the moment it strikes an unbreakable wall. But water simply changes its shape and flows around it and eventually drowns the entire mountain. That is exactly what you showed me."

"I didn’t hand you those marks out of mockery or some hidden agenda. I gave them to you because you were the first student I have ever looked at and genuinely thought of as ideal. As for the rest of them, they weren’t serious about any of it. Some followed orders without ever questioning them and some couldn’t be bothered to care even when it was life or death. Meanwhile your survival instincts questioned everything I did. You refused to obey blindly. You refused to trust without proof."

A quiet laugh escaped from inside his helmet as he let out a sigh. "But it genuinely disgusts me that you are choosing to cry over their meaningless combat superiority while sitting on top of a victory that none of them could ever achieve."

Silence followed.

Delphine had absolutely no words because she had never once considered this version of events. Everything she had prepared to argue with crumbled the moment he started speaking and now she was just standing there processing a perspective she didn’t know existed.

In that awkward silence the shopkeeper finally returned to the counter wearing a smile that immediately felt fake to Jax.

He could practically see the gears turning behind those eyes trying to cook up something profitable. The girl beside him was sweating slightly and holding a smile that was trying very hard to look genuine but failing at every level.

The keeper placed the boots back on the counter and said. "Sir, we have fully appraised the item and it appears that our humble store has been graced with a second piece of this caliber this very month. Our analysis confirms that these shoes are exceptionally unique and rare. They possess the remarkable ability to let the wearer float effortlessly through the air or any other medium of their choosing."

His smile tightened into something sympathetic. "But unfortunately, as with all magic items, there are hidden limitations. We identified a few weaknesses right away and could probably discover more with additional time. However the main flaw that is drastically dragging down its market value is the soul-binding attribute."

He clasped his hands together with rehearsed regret. "This relic permanently binds itself to a single master which makes it completely useless for anyone else. It can never be passed down, never inherited, never traded again once bound. Essentially a one-owner dead end. But despite that massive flaw we are still more than willing to pay an absolute fortune for this S-grade relic. We can easily find some eccentric noble who entertains childish fantasies about flying and would pay handsomely for the novelty."

Jax felt an overwhelming urge to punch this scammer right across his smiling face for having the sheer audacity to downgrade a priceless SSS-tier artifact into a basic S-grade trinket with a straight face.

The only reason Jax hadn’t worn the boots himself was the soul-binding enchantment, but he knew damn well this relic was worth the entire treasury of a small kingdom.

The keeper beamed and delivered his final pitch. "We can authorize an immediate payment of one million astryx credits for these boots. So, do we have a deal?"

-x-X-x-

[A/N: Golden tickets from Outsxder, Ordici_T, Cartergame, weixiong_kang, Eboni_Philip, Joseph_Howell_9642 and B_Marsh, thank you all for keeping it going 🙏🔥

(👍🏻ᴗ _ᴗ)👍🏻]