Arcadia's Ignoble Knight: Dark Elf Arc

Chapter 31

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Elincia asked as her ears wiggled nervously. "I don't mean to degrade myself, but, well, if people see me, it is likely to cause a panic."

"Don't worry about that." Clarissa waved her words off. "Just make sure you and your knight wake up bright and early tomorrow morning."

"Okay."

There was still a bit of work to do, but Elincia's job was more or less finished, so she headed down to the training hall.

The marquis had spared no expense when it came to his safety. It showed in his training hall, which he had built for the mercenaries under his employ. Large and filled to the brim with racks of weapons, the training hall consisted of several different sections. There was the sparring mat where people could practice melee fighting, the archery/shooting range for archers/musketeers, and then there was the magical shooting range.

Caspian was practicing his forms when Elincia arrived, causing her to stop and admire him for a moment. He was wearing the new clothing they had bought back in Axium. She couldn't help but think he looked dashing as he worked up a sweat. If she wasn't there for her own reasons, Elincia would have gladly watched him for hours.

After admiring Caspian for a moment, Elincia wandered over to the shooting range, grabbed the bow that was hers along with a quiver of arrows, and marched to the firing line. After securing the quiver onto her back, she pulled one of the arrows out. She nocked it back, took aim at one of the stationary targets that stood about 100 meters out, breathed in deeply, and released the arrow.

Her arrow struck target in the bull's eye.

"I did it," Elincia whispered. "Yes."

Nocking back another arrow, Elincia continued to practice. She lost herself to the flow of time.

Her aim had been constantly improving. After the incident with the marquis had been resolved, she had come to this training hall and practiced every single day. She didn't couldn't hit the bull's eye every time with 100% accuracy, but she had become good enough that she could hit it eight out of ten times. Once she could hit it ten out of ten times, she would extend her firing range another 100 meters.

As Elincia reached back, a frown crossed her face when she couldn't find any arrows. She turned her head to look into her quiver, but she couldn't see anything. Frowning, she was just about to remove the quiver when Caspian appeared before her with a new quiver of arrows.

"Are you gonna keep practicing?" he asked, holding out the quiver.

Elincia considered the quiver in Caspian's hand, and then looked over at the target, which had become perforated with numerous arrows. She must have been practicing for several hours by now. Her hand was actually starting to cramp, which she only now realized.

I must have been zoning out.

"You were completely focused on firing arrows."

Caspian smiled as he retracted the quiver and instead held out his hand. Speaking out loud, he said, "Since it looks like you're done practicing, why don't we take a bath?"

"A-a bath?" Elincia's cheeks flushed bright red as an image of her and Caspian taking a bath together entered her mind. She pictured herself leaning against him inside of the tub. She imagined Caspian's hands as they slowly caressed her breasts and stomach, as he kissed her neck before his fingers slowly made their way down to caress her genitals...

"I-I wasn't thinking of anything like that!" Caspian shouted. He was blushing too. "I just meant we should get clean!"

"O-oh." Elincia didn't know whether she should have felt embarrassed or disappointed that Caspian had seen her erotic fantasy but didn't want to partake. "R-right. Getting clean. Yes."