“Okay, I’m ready,” I readied my Pledge and warmed my arms by swinging it around, in front of me stood Lucille, whom I asked Instructor Quoketh if she could be my sparring partner for our lesson today, and like the bleeding heart that she is- not, - Instructor Quoketh agreed to my request on one condition; And that’s me, Fafnir, and Laceresta don’t just do this for Lucille and her friends- and what she meant by this is us training them, - but the rest of our class as well.

 

I agreed easily enough, and my friends didn’t mind the condition in the slightest so all’s well that ends well.

 

An excited voice rang out and I focused on the spar at hand.

 

“I’m ready too!” Lucille looked pumped and I could only smile in response to her excited expression, I didn’t know why she was so eager to fight me given that I was the way above her weight class, but then again, she was most likely just excited to spar with me.

 

That or she’s followed my advice and figured out a way to beat me- no matter how unlikely that may be, - since that is, after all, the point of these spars; to find a way to beat the obstacle in the form of me or anyone from my team.

 

Instructor Quoketh looked between the two of us, her expression calm.

 

She raised her hand and we both crouched low, our stances were similar, with only a minor few differences such as the way I held my much longer rapier to my left, ready for an arching slice.

 

I looked over to Lucille, she wore a very focused and serious expression, which was good, I wanted her to take this fight seriously and not just give up before it even started. We locked gazes and I knew that she was doing the same.

 

My eyes wandered over to our teacher and that was when Instructor Quoketh’s hand went down, signaling our spar to start.

 

Lucille started the fight by glowing white and dashing forward, she stabbed me with her dagger, aiming for my sides which I easily dodged, “your Technique is lackluster,” I criticized before retaliating with a slice of my own, which she also dodged, “good footwork though, keep it up,”

 

I gave Lucille a second to stare at her own feet and allowed her to dash at me, I blocked, seeing no point to attack or dodge and Lucille stared at the cross-shaped guard of my weapon with widened eyes.

 

Then I moved my elbow violently to the right and pushed her arm and dagger away, her entire body shortly followed.

 

I swung at her as she fell, expecting her to continue falling and break into a roll- pride swelled in my chest when she met my expectations.

 

I continued the fight by pushing forward, my attacks becoming more and more relentless as time went on, all the while Lucille continued her roll.

 

I stabbed, giving her an opportunity that she didn’t think twice to take, and with my weapon still “stuck” in the earth, Lucille stopped rolling and was now on her back, that was when I stopped giving her breathing room and started slicing at her.

 

I slashed and stomped at places where Lucille was at, never bothering to predict where she would be, and when she eventually managed to push herself off the ground, I continued my assault, not giving her a second to breathe, but despite that, the heroine kept dodging or blocking my strikes.

 

She didn’t show any signs of slowing down, let alone stopping.

 

“You can either keep blocking or you can dodge,” I said as I arched my swing purposefully long, I wanted to give her time and keep up the fight but what she did next exceeded my expectations.

 

Lucille glowed white again and she suddenly picked up speed and before I knew it, a punch to my left side was felt, directly to my liver.

 

I huffed air out of my nose in shock before retaliating with more force than I intended-

 

Lucille dodged it to my surprise and I gave her a single nod in acknowledgment, “good job,” I said, stopping in place and doing nothing else but blocking her oncoming attacks, “well, since you’ve found your rhythm, let’s see how you well you’ll do in a proper fight.”

 

I raised my arm and blocked her dagger with my weapon’s guard for the second time, and like before, I pushed her hand away and afterwards was when I changed things up- I didn’t waste time and immediately attacked, aiming for her legs.

 

Lucille swiftly dodged, I chased after her.

 

I swung my Pledge for a slice with a decent amount of strength.

 

And Lucille clearly felt it, given how she cringed when her block met my swing. I swung again, not caring for the way her arm was shaking and she blocked for the second time, this one was weaker and her shaking arm even faltered.

 

Lucille ignored the strain and moved forward but I intercepted her with a swing- I hummed when she turned her charge into a feint, her dagger then moved, aiming for my sides again, I quickly snapped a hand out and grabbed her wrist, “good work,”

 

She tried to pull away but I didn’t let her.

 

“This is unfair!” She complained, frustration coloring her voice, “you’re too strong!”

 

I grinned pouting and tantrum, “I know, but that’s just how things are,”

 

Lucille's body lost its strength and she slacked in my grip, she muttered something that I couldn’t quite catch.

 

I clapped, glossing over her- what I assume are, - complaints, “alright, guess that’s that!” I smiled at my student? It feels wrong… maybe protege? Yeah, that- I smiled at my protege and held her hand in encouragement, “you did pretty good just now,”

 

She returned my smile, her earlier anger gone, “thank you but…” her lips pursed, “I know you weren't taking me seriously,”

 

“And I wasn't,” I admitted, unnecessarily I might add since it was pretty obvious from the beginning. But just because I'm playing around doesn't mean that Lucille’s effort was pointless, I went on and encouraged her.

 

I turned my eyes to the skies, humming, “maybe one day you’ll get strong enough to push me to the edge,”

 

Lucille's eyes brightened, “I will!” She announced, “and that's a promise!”

 

“Here's to hoping you give me a sweat,” I pulled her head close and ruffled her hair playfully, in a little sister kind of way.

 

Which everyone, for once, actually saw as the case! Because they weren't staring at me like how they usually would when I do “gay things” - no, they were smiling lightly at the two of us the same way they do when Charcoal and I teased each other between classes.

 

When I got to Korbinian and the rest, the summoner quirked an eyebrow, “you know your words can be misconstrued to mean a different thing right?”

 

I tilted my head, “what do you mean?”

 

It was Sleet who replied, her tone mocking yet playful, “oohhhhh~ Lucille! I hope you push me to the edge!” She grabbed her chest and curled into herself, legs bending towards each other in a display of… something erotic in her mind no doubt, it just looked weird to me though, which I conveyed by giving her a dry stare.

 

The shameless girl wasn't affected by it.

 

“Ohhh! I will!” I closed my eyes as Korbinian and the rest giggled, “that's a promise!”

 

When I opened them again, the first thing I did was glare at the girl, “you are very, very crude,”

 

Sleet chuckled but thankfully stopped messing around, “yeah, yeah, I already know that but-” she raised a finger, clearly wanting to make a point, “you don't think I haven't heard the rumors of how crass you are when talking to other nobles during balls?”

 

“Not just rumors,” Zathania helpfully added, “those are truths,”

 

“And I am not gonna apologize,” those nobles were very annoying.

 

“Well, I'd say that the pot was calling the kettle black just now but… I don't think gemstones can go black from being cooked… right?” Sleet, doing a very roundabout way of changing the current topic, asked in confusion.

 

I took her up on it and nodded, “yeah, at least not permanently, you can easily scrub off soot from gems,”

 

“Ah, there we go, so I was right!” Sleet grinned.

 

No follow-up came after our exchange and it ended in a dull silence.

 

Everyone's opinion on how I was treating her aside- it’s not like any of it matters anyway, - Lucille is starting to become stronger, slowly, yeah, but Fafnir told me that her reservoir had apparently grown an insane amount a few hours after she finished the Technique Exercise I got her to do yesterday.

 

It had grown faster than Zyra's and Yhaine's reservoirs combined and Fafnir was pleasantly surprised.

 

And so was I, but I was also curious why that happened and if it was because of her Sanguine Pledge or because she's a Hero.

 

Both were valid reasons but I was thinking it was the former.

 

And I do have solid proof; Laceresta was the Beast King but she didn't have the same kind of insane growth Lucille had after doing my exercise.

 

So it has to be the Sanguine Pledge right?..

 

Maybe, I'm not sure and there's really no point for me to start worrying about it.

 

Lucille is growing stronger, and that's all that matters.

 

I thought that Lucille might just catch up to me far faster than we were both expecting and I was in support of it, her having more power means she’s safer.

 

I idly thought back to our spar just now.

 

Skillwise… Lucille was doing well and I can tell that Laceresta's lessons were starting to have an effect on the way she fights.

 

And if before she was scared to stab someone with her dagger in a spar- she preferred to hit her opponents with the pommel of her weapon most of the time, - earlier she was willingly going out of her way to try and stab me on the side.

 

That was an improvement, and I'm hoping that it didn't just apply to me specifically because Lucille thinks I can handle it.

 

But if it is then I can see a use for that kind of mindset, specifically by getting Lucille how to recover from her attacks after they were blocked, something that only I can do since she’s willing to attack me without reservation.

 

And Lucille knew how to step back after attacking to give herself breathing room but it's still pretty far from the hit and run tactic I wanted to teach her.

 

Another thing that I wanted to focus on was Lucille's knowhow on killing, earlier she aimed for my sides- specifically my liver, which is still aching, - but I assume it was because she was too short and I was too tall.

 

That kind of thing simply wouldn't do and Lucille needs to know where to stab her enemies if she was using a dagger.

 

And in the future…

 

… her training will definitely change when her Sanguine Pledge grows but that's fine, what we are teaching her right now are barebone lessons anyway and the rest of us were doing it on purpose after Zath reminded everyone that Lucille's Pledge won't stay as a dagger forever.

 

We'll give her more intimate knowledge of specific weapons after her Pledge grows but for now, she's going to have to stick with the basics.

 

And there are a lot of those; from the different stances, recognizing when to feint, knowing when and where to strike, footwork, the right way to hold the hilt of a weapon, and so much more.

 

Most of those would be covered during our first two years in Pledge Academy but getting Lucille up to snuff wasn't a bad idea, especially since almost every noble kid in this school knew all of those already.

 

Thoughts like that occupied my mind as our Combat Class went on and they kept going even after we were done.

 

As everyone started moving towards the showers, Zyra gestured for me to come to her.

 

“Neophyte,” she started the conversation with her typical rebellious way of addressing me, which I have started to find endearing, “can I talk to you about something?”

 

“Is it about Lucille?” I cut to the point, I knew Zyra saw what I did with Lucille earlier, and I also knew that for some reason- that was most likely related to why her hair was blue, I'm not blind or stupid, - she didn't trust me going near Lucille and like a mother cat protecting her kittens, Zyra kept hissing at me to try and push me away.

 

“Not… really,” her eyes shifted toward the open fields around us, “but if you're worried about me thinking that you're trying to get Lucille to sleep with you, then no, I'm not.” She paused, expression shocked, presumably at her own words, she sighed and we locked gazes, “I know how important training a Prophecy is for you, I understand that,”

 

“I-” is that what everyone was thinking? Why they had disarming smiles instead of mischievous ones while eyeing my casual interaction with Lucille?

 

“- yeah, a uh, Prophecy…” I chuckled nervously as my hand went up to scratch the sides of my neck, the uncomfortable itch didn’t go away no matter how hard I scratched, “it was obvious huh?”

 

“You wouldn’t go out of your way to train her if that isn’t the case and Vicissi’s been spreading that kind of rumor around, that the fourth Prophecy, the Rogue, has been found,” Zyra shrugged, expression helpless and screaming out ‘what can you do about it?’.

 

“Uhuh…” I stared at the back of the guy in question, “good for him,” I shook my head, those kinds of rumors are harmless at best, “so what did you want to talk about?”

 

Zyra narrowed her eyes, “first, you should take rumors much more seriously,” I nodded to show that I understood even when I really didn’t, what was the point in wallowing in a pit of misery like that? To feel sad?

 

“And second- well, I want to know what you plan to do with us in the future… training wise,” Zyra rubbed her arms, a gesture that conveyed discomfort.

 

A discomfort that I decided to believe was genuine, given the personal theory I had about her past.

 

“Hm…” I looked up at the sky, thinking, I can say a lot of things here, tell her about all the training plans that I have but that wouldn’t be productive or helpful- towards Zyra’s discomfort, that is.

 

I knew that this girl’s happiness- not just Lucille’s, - was something that I should care about as well so I decided to give her an indirect, if not honest answer, “I’m going to take you guys shopping,”

 

Zyra blinked at me, “excuse me?”

 

“You heard me,” I giggled, “I’m not going to repeat myself,”

 

“Shopping.” Zyra stated dryly, I nodded anyways, “you’re kidding.”

 

“You need supplies,” was my answer, “and I’m going to help you guys buy them,”

 

“Camping supplies?” Zyra looked thoughtful.

 

“No- not just those at least, but also other things like clothes, armor, weapons, scrolls, everything that you and your team will need for your hunt this weekend,” I corrected.

 

“We won’t look like merchants carrying a massive bag by the end of it right?”

 

I laughed, “what? No- and are you talking about during your hunt?-” I imagined Lucille and the rest carrying a giant backpack on their shoulders while wearing adventurer’s clothing and grinned, “- or when we’re shopping?”

 

“Both.” Zyra replied.

 

“Then the answer to those is no,” I repeated, “and for the shopping, well, maybe we’ll look like that since it won’t just be us who’s going to the mall and my friends… shop eagerly.”

 

“Who else?”

 

I smiled, one that would have looked brittle if Zath or Fafnir saw it, “Castella and an acquaintance,”

 

I think it’s about time that I talk to Capscaria.