4-19 Morning spar

Erin couldn’t remember what she was dreaming about but she knew had enjoyed it as she awoke with a smile on her face. She felt refreshed and her heart was beating like the calm waves of the morning sea. Adding to her already wonderful morning, her memories of the night prior made their return. The smile on her face widened at the recall. She looked to her right and left. There was a beauty on each of her sides, Lyra and Siv. They were all naked in bed, huddling close in Erin’s embrace. Scars and bruises of love riddled their bodies due to Erin paying the debt of using Lust Deviant, now a derivative skill of Lust.

Erin allowed herself to soak in the warmth and comfort of the bed for a while longer as she walked down the memory lane of yesterday. It had been an abrupt and surprising reunion with Amyra. She was an acquaintance of Aedan, no less. She was a Priestess of Aeryon but no matter how Erin looked at her, there was nothing godly about Amyra. She was a lily, unsurprisingly. What was surprising was that she had laid her hands on quite a few married women despite being a woman of the cloth. She also happened to be one of the caretakers of the manor Erin was now currently staying in with her companions.

At Cassius and Amyra’s insistence, a feast was thrown for Erin to celebrate her arrival as the supposed consort of their Lord, Aedan. At first, Erin tried to clear up the misunderstanding but ultimately, she gave up after realising the futility of it. They were all utterly convinced she was someone special to Aedan, someone akin to his consort even though she was not, so she just let the misunderstanding flow.

The misunderstanding did bring a lot of benefits to it. All the servants in the manor were looking at her with reverence and treating her like she was the second coming of their Lordship. The garments Erin had hastily discarded were all neatly folded and placed on a table. There were even new garments hanging on the folding screens. On the dressing table was a basin of warm water along with some towels. On the table in the corner of the room was a variety of buns and fruits. Everything had been prepared upon her wake.

Erin smiled warmly and melancholically. It reminded her of when she was still Argon Raze and being in the employment of nobles and rich merchants. Being the sword saint, the treatment she received was luxurious, to say the least. She remembered how many of the maids were fawning over her but being nothing but an adherent to the ways of the sword, she didn’t respond to any of those advances. She felt a tinge of regret but looking at her right and left, that regret quickly faded.

“I won’t trade this for anything else,” she muttered in her heart while caressing her bed companions’ faces.

The treatment she was getting now was largely the same except that this was severely more luxurious. Her only worry was that the servants might become overly zealous. She could see the fervour in their eyes, men and women alike. They were treating her as more than just the mistress and lady of the manor. She doubted they would refuse her if she ever asked them to bed.

“Damn it, Erin. Control yourself,” Erin reprimanded herself and got off the bed after some light and brief difficulty due to her trying not to wake Siv or Lyra up. She was merciless and relentless on them the night prior.

After cleaning herself up and having a light breakfast, Erin put on a simple all-rounded robe and headed for the courtyard that was at the back of the manor. She intended to do some exercise and self-training there. She passed by Nivia and Lilian on the way, who were both still asleep in the library. Nivia was studying late into the night and Lilian was tutoring her. The servants had taken the liberty to drape them in blankets so as to not let the cold afflict them, not that they would be affected by the cold since they have the protection of the Spirits.

As she neared the courtyard, she began hearing loud noises echoing from the courtyard. Rushing out of the manor and into the courtyard, she found Amyra raining down punches on Aera, who could do nothing but defend herself with her fists raised. The two were wearing thick cushioned sparring gloves, so Aera wasn't truly hurt but with the intensity of Amyra, she would get hurt sooner or later.

“What’s happening?” Erin asked, stopping Amyra’s onslaught of “harmless-looking” punches.

“Oh, this? Just trying to toughen this poor damsel, Lady Erin,” said Amyra in a very pompous manner. “She has potential but she’s not using them. A waste, won’t you say?”

Erin could see they had been doing this for more than an hour going by the sweat that had accumulated on their garments. More precisely, Aera’s garments. Amyra was barely wearing anything aside from the waist up aside from a black leather brassiere.

“And just so there’s no misunderstanding, I did not ask for this. She did.”

Erin raised an eyebrow and stared at Aera.

“S-she’s not doing anything bad, Erin…” Aera explained in a stutter. “I was the one who asked her to spar with me…”

“Why?”

Aera clenched her fists and cast her gaze down. “How else can I get my vengeance…? I can’t keep relying on that skill forever.”

Amyra blinked. “Vengeance? What’s this vengeance?”

Aera looked up in shock and covered her mouth. “I-I didn’t mean to say that. I—”

“Is this something I’m not supposed to hear?” Amyra asked.

“Only if you plan on being blabbermouth,” Erin said firmly with a glare just as firm.

Amyra chuckled and feigned a bow. “Of course, I won’t blabber, m’lady. No one in this Grove will. They would not betray the consort of his Lordship.”

“I’m not his consort.”

“Fine, lover it is then. Same difference anyway. What was I saying? Ah, that’s right. You won’t have to worry about any of your secrets being exposed. We are family here. We are kin to one another.”

“Interesting but let me be my own judge of your trustworthiness.”

Amyra tittered. “You have a very naive and gullible face. This is unexpected.”

“The contents of a book cannot be discerned only by its cover.”

“It certainly couldn’t. Say, I heard you won against that sham of a swordsman yesterday at the guild. It’s a shame I couldn’t be there to witness it. I was looking forward to seeing your… swordsmanship. And too bad, I didn’t bring my weapons with me or I would have loved to spar with you.”

Erin curled the corner of her lips. “It would seem you are not unfamiliar with unarmed combat. I’m not bad with my fists either, Amyra.”

“Oh? Am I hearing it right? You are accepting my challenge?”

“E-Erin?” Aera stammered. “Are you perhaps angry? We’re really just sparring.”

Erin chortled. “It’s alright, Aera. I’m not angry. I just need to loosen my body. Besides, the day is about to get hectic from now on. This will be a nice warm-up,” Erin said, cracking her knuckles and stretching her neck and shoulders.

Amyra grinned, hitting her fists together. “I don’t doubt your confidence, m’lady, but are you sure you can measure up to me in unarmed combat?”

Seeing the Augur’s widening grin, Aera quickly scuttled out of the ring that was defined by a circle of pebbles embedded into the ground. Perhaps feeling the chill, she covered herself up with a robe as she sat on the ground with her knees to her shoulders.

“Quite an adorable creature, isn’t she?” Amyra snickered as she glimpsed at Aera. “I think I might just devour her soon.”

Erin loosened her robe but not taking it off as she stepped over the pebbles. “I won’t underestimate her if I were you.”

“I’m not. I’m just interested. She’s no sheep, I can tell. She’s more than a wolf. She’s a tiger, a very ferocious tiger that is hiding her fangs and claws.”

Erin flourished her tails and went into her brawling stance. “Enough about her. You’re fighting me now.”

“You sure you want to do this?” Amyra asked as she too went into her brawling stance. “You are my lady. I don’t want to be accused of  some petty offence later if you lose.”

“You think I would lose?”

“Oh, no. I merely think I would win.”

“We shall see, Amyra.”

As soon as Erin finished forming her words, the Augur rushed at her like the lunge of a viper. But instead of fangs, she used fists. Erin spun to the side and hit Amyra lightly on the back of her head with her tails.

“I think that’s a score for me. Are we basing the victory on scores?” Erin asked with a smirk.

“Fuck the scores,” Amyra huffed, returning the smirk. “We fight until one of us admits defeat, what say you, m’lady?”

“I say why the hell not.”

Amyra laughed and lunged with a hook. Erin dodged low but Amyra anticipated her move with her knee. Erin blocked the blow with her arms crossed but she was sent staggering a few feet away. Before she could recover, Amyra was already upon her. She tried sidestepping but the Augur cut off her path with a large swing. She blocked the swing with both of her hands but another swing came. She slanted backwards to avoid the second hook and reined back in with a jab. Amyra easily swatted her fist away and countered with a wild hook. She tossed herself away from Amyra to avoid being knocked the daylights out of her.

“Careful now, m’lady. You shouldn’t underestimate your opponent,” Amyra taunted.

“Are you sure it’s not the other way around?”

Amyra cackled and licked her lips. “I love adorable girls but such spite on a beautiful face like yours is also very exhilarating.”

“Are we fighting or flirting?”

“Who says I can’t do both?” Amyra charged without a warning. She was faster than her physique might suggest.

Erin ducked under a hook, blocked an incoming uppercut, barely dodging a knee, and parried a straight that ended up grazing her cheek.

“Not taking the offence, little fox?”

Erin scoffed. “I’ll consider doing just that if you ask nicely, you great beast of a woman.”

Amyra chuckled and leapt with a haymaker.

Erin deflected the blow with both of her arms but it left her open for a kick. She clicked her tongue and spun, sending her tails to parry the kick. She then sent a quick jab to Amyra’s right upper arm. The Augur came swinging again but Erin trapped her arm in an arm-lock and flipped herself, tossing Amyra to the ground in the process. The ground beneath the Augur gave into her weight and a small crater was formed underneath.

Before Amyra could gather her bearings, Erin caught her outstretched arm and bent it behind her back as she pinned her to the ground with a knee on the back of her neck.

“Surrender yet?” Erin asked.

“You’ll have to try harder than that.” With a huff, Amyra pushed Erin off by just simply standing up. She grabbed Erin’s leg before she fell far and swung her around. “My turn.”

Erin tutted and clamped Amyra’s hand between her calves. She then stopped the spin forcefully by stabbing her tails into the ground. Using that as the fulcrum, she turned Amyra’s momentum against her and ended up being the one swinging Amyra and she tossed the Augur out of the ring. Amyra went tumbling before crashing into an old but sturdy tree.

“Whoa…” Aera gasped in awe while clapping her softly at Erin’s performance.

“I guess it’s my victory, isn’t it, Amyra?”

[Might: 22 increased to 23]

[Experience gained +5%]

Begrudgingly, Amyra pushed herself to her feet and met Erin’s smug gaze. “I supposed it is, m’lady,” she muttered. “But how about another round? No tails this time.”

Erin tittered. “No tails? Then how would I ever win against you? Besides, my tails are a part of me just as how your superior brawn is a part of you.”

Amyra snorted. “What a vixen.”

“Obviously.”

Before the confrontation between the two battle fanatics could spiral further into havoc, a maid came running into the courtyard all the while shouting, “His Lordship has returned! His Lordship has returned.”

“W-what? Aedan’s here? Didn’t he leave for— Oh, great… this can’t be good.”