Adara raised an eyebrow when she and Cale looked into their carriage. The two kittens were sitting on a soft, expensive, silk cushion. "Why is it that their seat is better than ours?" Cale asked, frowning as he looked at Hans who was putting the special treats he prepared for the kittens in the carriage.
"Young Master and Mistress, shouldn't our precious kitten-nims travel comfortably on this trip? They are so small and precious!" Hans smiled. Cale, Adara and Ron all looked at him with blank expressions.
I pity the moment he finds out they can create fog and fill it with poison, Adara thought. A few days ago, the four of them, the two nobles and the two kittens spent a few minutes in an empty corner of the garden. Adara had already explained that On could control fog and that Hong could control poison, but they wanted to know the extent.
"What can you do?"
The kittens didn't respond, instead decided to show them. On created fog, controlling it so that Cale and Adara wouldn't end up being paralysed, while Hong used a bit of his blood to spread some paralysing poison in the air. The poison was at the level of paralysing, but it could be increased if he consumed poison.
Adara had smiled. Cale was also smiling. "You two are quite useful."
On and Hong puffed up their chests. "We were able to run away because of our poisonous fog!" On exclaimed.
"We are quite useful!" Hong agreed with his older sister.
Adara smiled at that. They would be very useful.
Ron broke her out of her thoughts, and suddenly her mind wasn't in the garden, but outside, about to get on the carriage. "Young Master and Mistress, I will be sitting with the driver up top."
Cale waved his hand impatiently. "You go do that."
Ron disappeared from their sight, and Adara and Cale were about to board as well when Choi Han approached them. "Cale-nim, Adara-nim." Choi Han refused to call them 'Young Master and Mistress', instead choosing to call them 'Cale-nim and Adara-nim'.
"What?" Adara asked.
"Is it okay for me to not be in the same carriage while protecting you?"
Cale's expression turned as if he had drunk bitter lemon tea, while Adara's only changed in an expression that seemed to say she did not get why would be needed. Choi Han understood what they meant, and walked away without another word.
Adara watched him for a bit. "He does not seem to be in complete despair like you described he was in the novel," Adara whispered, making sure Choi Han couldn't hear. Cale barely heard her.
"He is not," Cale responded. "It's weird."
Cale described his eyes as not very clear, full of anger and thoughts of revenge, but as she said, he wasn't full of any of those things. He recovered quicker, she thought, bitterly. Why was he able to recover quicker? It only happened a few days ago. He still had a strong desire for revenge, but he had a calm demeanour on the outside. Yet, as they continued to watch him, they saw the Vice Captain of the territory's Knight Brigade, Hilsman, approach Choi Han. "I don't think this is your spot." He was looking down at Choi Han, a smug expression on his face.
When Choi Han defeated the Brigade, he had hidden his abilities to that of an average level. But, the knights didn't like him. The reason was that he was the first person two Trash had brought in as a guest, and Count Deruth treated him like he was important. He was also a part of their guards, which made a lot of the knights start to dislike and oppose him. Also, the fact that he had defeated them all was rubbing salt in the wound. Though they couldn't visibly irritate him because he was still their guest, there were many things they were doing to secretly annoy him.
Even Hans had reported to them about it, saying the Vice Captain was responsible for it. Adara wanted to see the expression on Hilsman's face when he found out just how ignorant and stupid he was being. Except, she didn't want to think about how the Vice Captain might take it the wrong way and end up getting beat up. That would be too annoying to deal with.
She climbed into the carriage with Cale behind her. After antagonising Choi Han, the Vice Captain appeared in front of the carriage door. He was smiling. "Young Master and Mistress, shall we leave now?"
Cale gave him a short answer, "Yes, let's go." Before slamming the carriage door in his face.
Inside the carriage were only Adara, Cale, the two kittens who, once again, were climbing all over Adara, and a weird, small black box. "15 soldiers, 5 knights, and one special guard," Adara started. "Think it will be enough that we don't die?"
Cale gave her a viciously sly smile. "I think Choi Han would've been enough, but the more, the merrier."
All of a sudden, as soon as they left the Henituse Territory and entered the mountain area, the carriage came to a stop. Tens of bandits showed up in the valley, screaming all sorts of ridiculous things. One of the only intelligible things Adara heard was so absurd, she couldn't help but laugh.
"Pay the toll if you want to cross this mountain!"
"Take out everything you have! If we found anything after you claim to have taken everything out, it will be 1 slap for every 1 bronze we find!"
Cale looked out the window, slightly peeking, but then turned back to them. On was stretched on Adara's lap, while Hong had decided he liked her hair a lot and currently was sitting on her head, somehow managing to stay on when she moved her head without digging his claws into her scalp with the power of cats.
"You think they can't see the symbol on our carriage?" Cale asked.
"I guess so," On replied, yawning.
"I do not know what to expect from bandits who are such cowards," Adara responded. "Hiding behind numbers."
"Idiots!" Hong exclaimed upon his throne of hair. "Beginners!"
Adara laughed, but her laughter was cut short when knocking came from the small window by the driver's seat. The window opened and Ron looked inside. "Young Master and Mistress, it looks like we will need to take a break. There seem to be quite a lot of rabbits here." He saw Cale flinch, and he smiled before adding on. "Ah, this rabbit is different from the rabbit I was going to catch for you, Young Master and Mistress. Of course, these rabbits will not be caught by me but by other people."
He closed the window, and Adara turned to look out her window to see the bandits. "Should I join?" she asked, rhetorically.
Cale looked at her with a measuring look. "Do you have a weapon?"
She brought out the small black box. The kittens looked at her, in anticipation. They didn't know what to expect. They had seen the black box earlier, and they asked multiple questions about it, but she wouldn't answer any of them. Adara put her fingerprint on the lock, and after it opened with a small noise, stuck her arm in it, seemingly searching for something. The rest of the people in the carriage stared in shock as her arm went in until her elbow. She caught onto something and pulled it out. The thing she pulled out, turned out to be a sword.
An obsidian, gleaming sword came out. It was beautiful, albeit super sharp and dangerous-looking. Cale and the kittens had seen a couple swords in their lifetime, except this sword was different. Something was wrong with it. But their thoughts were interrupted as she sighed. "Nah, too much work. I'll just leave it to Choi Han." And she left the sword back in the small box, before putting it back where it originally was and acting as if she had never done anything in the first place.
Cale recognised the box. It looks like the box we got from Billos. Why didn't she say anything about this? It looks higher-grade magic than mine too. It's as if it has a spatial dimension. Cale started to wonder where she got it from, there was no logo on the seal. "How strong are you in terms of sword-fighting?" he asked, trying to figure out more about her.
"Above average," came her response.
"Above Choi—."
"No. Not above Choi Han."
He nodded. Trying to ignore the screams of the bandits outside. "Okay, that's fun."
She nodded. Silence followed. However Adara was deep in thought. "A day and a half," she muttered.
"What?"
"A day and a half until we arrive in the village," she clarified, her gaze hard. She will free that dragon. If it is the last thing she'll do.
At that moment, the screams ceased, and a knock came upon their door. "Uh, Young Master and Mistress, the battle is over."
Choi Han appeared, a smile on his face, blood splattered him. "It was a light battle, not even enough for a warm-up."
Hilsman's jaw dropped, his eyes widening and his complexion turning pale. Adara smiled at the Vice Captain's reaction. I don't think they will fight, she thought. He is far too scared.
Adara almost spat out her lemon tea, and not because it was bitter. Dinner for tonight was rabbit soup. She could tell immediately that it was not Ron's catch, Choi Han had actually caught it, but she wondered briefly if Ron had anything to do with it. She didn't particularly want it, so she helped Hong and On up to eat it while she took minuscule bites.
Hans was walking towards them with a wide smile on his face. "Would our precious kitten-nims like to eat the jerky that I prepared for you? It is very healthy, without any salt or preservatives," he added. The kittens ignored him, only continuing to eat the rabbit soup. Hong let out a loud meow, she understood that he liked the rabbit soup, while Hans took it as a yes to his question. He smiled, setting the jerky on the table.
"I will leave the jerky here for when you are done with the soup." He smiled one last time before leaving.
Adara looked around. Cale wasn't eating his rabbit soup next to her, Choi Han was eating the rabbit soup, Hans and Ron were fine, the knights were weird. Everything was normal. Even though, the knights kept peeking over to look at Choi Han. Specifically the Vice Captain, Hilsman.
"Do you have no appetite?" Ron asked, approaching them.
They looked up, before replying in unison. "Yes. None at all."
Choi Han turned to look at them. "Are you feeling unwell?" He could protect them from bandits, but not from diseases and viruses.
Cale shook his head. "No, nothing like that."
Choi Han's gaze suddenly turned serious. "Was that your first time experiencing a battle?"
Cale raised an eyebrow, indifferent as usual. "What battle? You mean the bandits?"
"Yes."
Adara shrugged. "I've never seen so many bandits before, but it did not matter, they were weak."
Choi Han nodded. "I see. Must have been both of your first time facing potential death."
She heard one of the soldiers let out a loud gasp. She snorted. First time facing death, my ass. It's like every other day for me. But, only thinking about all the past times facing death, she suddenly lost any small amount of appetite she previously had, dropping the spoon in the soup bowl. After staring at the soup for a few moments, she turned to look up and frowned, she saw the soldiers looking at them with an understanding gaze, and Choi Han was nostalgically thinking about the past.
"Cale-nim, Adara-nim," he started. "The first time is always difficult to handle." He saw how Adara's eyes narrowed and grew cold at that. And he wondered if this was truly her first time.
"What are you talking about?" Cale asked, stoic and casual.
"Cale-nim, Adara-nim, do you two not study any martial arts?"
"Of course," came Adara's response. "I can fight with a sword and with a bow and arrow. Though I'm not very strong, even if I look like I have muscles." Compared to you, I'm not. The muscles came from the amount of training she did, though she was about average in strength.
"No need," Cale responded.
Choi Han's eyebrows raised. "Shouldn't you at least have the strength to protect yourselves? Even if you are weak?"
She couldn't understand him. He's concerned, she realised. Genuinely concerned in that serious tone of his, why? What did we do to deserve his concern? I don't understand, we've done nothing to deserve his concern. Is he taking pity on the ones weaker than him? "We have plenty of ways," she responded. "Even if we are not strong."
Cale and Adara started looking around. The 15 soldiers were stronger than Cale, so were the 5 knights. Ron and Beacrox were probably stronger than Adara in physical strength, maybe she was slightly stronger than Hans, yet considering he did martial arts, dagger arts, and spear arts, maybe not. She looked at every one of these people along with Cale, observing them and wondering if she was stronger or not. She wasn't.
Cale turned back to Choi Han. "You can see them too, right?" They both were smiling at this point.
"We trust our hearts. We will live," they said in harmony. On and Hong hopped off the table and were stating to rub their cheeks on their legs.
Choi Han put down his empty bowl of soup and stood up from his seat. "I'll be practising with my sword now."
Cale made a face. "Right after eating?"
"I feel like I need to get stronger," he responded.
Adara looked at him with a curious gaze. I wonder. "Are you in need of a sparring partner?"
"What?" Choi Han didn't get where she was heading with this.
"Do you want to spar with me?"
"Shouldn't I be protecting you?"
Adara shrugged. "As long as you don't kill me I think we'll be fine, or leave any visible marks, I have enough scars as it is."
Choi Han flinched. "Do you have a sword?"
She nodded. "Yeah, it's a pretty good one. Give me a second to change into sparring clothes. You can go find flat terrain, and I'll meet you there."
Choi Han was planning to go soft on her, she herself had said she wasn't strong, so he only nodded. I will not let her win, he thought. But I will not harm her.
Choi Han could not take his eyes off her sword. Adara was in a simple shirt and pants, her sun pendant tucked underneath her shirt, with her obsidian black sword in her hands. It was catching the light of the sun, almost like it was sucking it in, he thought of the black holes he heard of back when he was on Earth. The sword had no decoration, only the handle had the design of the moon, and yet it looked very expensive and regal. And powerful.
Beacrox had given Cale a better dish and promised one for Adara too when she was done sparring, they both, along with Ron, were watching. Hans and the kittens were there as well. Unintentionally, the whole Knight Brigade had also come to watch.
"It's pretty, isn't it?" she joked, making Choi Han finally look at her face. He barely managed to nod.
That's when the spar started, Choi Han advanced, trying to hit her shoulder, but her parry came quicker than he expected. He continued doing some slow attacks, but she deflected every one of them. She's fast, maybe I'm going too soft, he thought, picking up the speed and complexity of his attacks. She still parried every single one of them at the same speed. He was getting tired, constantly advancing and trying to hit her, while she only deflecting with ease.
But he saw an opening, now a frown on his face as he tried to land a blow on her, and aimed for it. But, Adara saw it coming, and her eyes widened as she realised she would not be able to deflect it. One second she was fighting with Choi Han, and the next she was a bit of a distance away, her feet digging into the dirt. Just how fast is she? he wondered, he hadn't seen her retract. She stood up quickly too, standing in position.
He noticed her face was indifferent, almost apathetic. He barely saw her as she came flying at him from above, her sword high. He barely blocked her sword from coming down onto his skull. "You said you weren't that strong," he said under his breath, not intending for her to hear.
"I'm not," she answered. And he realised that she was telling the truth. Behind her sword, wasn't very much strength from her, it was mainly from the momentum she got flying at him from above. He got what she was trying to do. She defends, tiring out the enemy, then uses speed to avoid getting hit while also gaining momentum to make up for her lack of strength.
He turned his sword to the side, using his strength and pushed her away, he watched with calculating eyes as she started to fall backwards, but froze as he realised she had fallen on purpose and was currently backhand-springing away, with her sword in hand. She frowned, looking at her hand now she was a safe distance away from Choi Han. The moon design on the hilt of her sword was now embedded in her hand. She sighed, getting in a fighting position, pushing off the ground to fly at Choi Han again. Except he was prepared for it, and as she flew at his neck, he flew at hers.
The area that was previously full of cheers from the soldiers and knights, was now silent as the two stood there with their swords at each other's necks. They all noticed, that Adara was grinning, and Choi Han was panting. "Tie?" she asked.
"Tie," he agreed. I guess strength isn't all there is, he thought. I also have to get stealthier and faster, so I can kill those bastards more quickly.
They removed their swords from their necks and shook hands, clearly in good moods.
"Well," Adara smiled, "I hope we will spar in the near future again, it was fun."
Fun? Choi Han thought with amazement, watching as she walked to the table Cale and the kittens were sitting at.
The kittens were meowing loudly as she approached the table, and she smiled at them. "Give me a second to put my sword away," she said.
A few moments later, she was sitting at the table, eating the food Becrox had given her with a smile. Of course, she occasionally gave On and Hong some pieces that weren't too big.
It seems there is not much to teach her, Ron thought, inspecting the noble he's been tasked with caring for. He smiled. "Bitter food and drinks like lemonade are best to restore your appetite. Though Young Master and Mistress, you are both too skinny for 18 year olds, you need to eat more." Ron smiled again. "We will make sure you will have plenty of delicious food."
Adara blinked at the sudden mention of her age. Sometimes she forgot she was 18. "Thank you very much, Ron," she said distantly, suddenly dissociating. Hong, realising something was wrong, put his paw on her thigh, repeatedly tapping her. She blinked again, before giving him a piece of her steak, she thought he was asking for more food. He pushed it away, trying to ask her if she was okay. He meowed, concerned, and she frowned. He's concerned. On also let a concerned meow. Her too. Why? What did I do? She could not figure it out. She sighed, caressing their heads. "Yeah, I'm fine," she muttered. "I'm always fine."
Cale, who heard her, frowned but continued eating his steak. The kittens weren't convinced and insisted on giving her the jerky they got from Hans. She laughed, feeling better, but refused the jerky. "There is no seasoning on it," she explained. "It wouldn't taste good to me." Hong huffed, and On rolled her eyes, dejectedly eating the jerky themselves.
~~~
[Fun Facts]: She constantly calculates the chances of her dying. The chances of assassins banding together to kill her, how long she'd survive if she got kidnapped, calculating what drives assassins so she might have means of manipulating them should something go wrong, or how long could she fight if she got stabbed in a critical point. Whenever someone brings something up, and it has to do with hurting another person, she finds herself automatically calculating if she'd survive it enough to kill the bastards who hurt her. She also is in constant awareness of an unknown room she's in, where the exits are, how high up they are and if she can survive the jump are also things she calculates. She doesn't want to die, even though she's also not exactly happy with how her life is at the moment.