Chapter 51

Eva Lemuria

I woke up relatively early since I didn’t stay up all night drinking. I got dressed but decided to let Saras help me put my armor on my right arm. Her smile while she is helping me is very annoying for some reason. I thought of visiting Shadow but he is probably busy with questioning to figure out anything else he has done recently that is suspicious so I decided not to bother him. I begin walking out of the castle while trying my best to avoid anyone. I don’t want to be bothered by my family before I leave so I avoid them and the maids that would report my location to them.

I succeed in leaving quietly with only Saras behind me. I had made her change from the maid uniform to simple clothes an adventurer would wear. She already stands out because of her beauty and the unique weapon on her hip so I don’t want a maid uniform added to that mix. She has been very happy ever since I agreed to let her follow me without trying to ditch her anymore. I don’t actually plan to teach her anything because I simply can't bring myself to care enough. I have been feeling that my hate for her has lessened lately, but I still don’t want her around. We arrive at the adventures guild quickly but before we enter I turn around to Saras to explain a few things.

“I will say this now, don’t speak often to me or anyone. Only answer question when asked. We will register you as an adventurer because it will be easier to explain why you are following me around. The seniority will be me, then Munin, and then you. I trust Munin to watch my back more than you right now. I will take my rank up test where you will watch and not interfere at all. Then you will follow me as I go take on a request that will hopefully be 2nd tier. If I need help anytime ever I will tell you, so do not ever interfere.”

“Squawk!” Munin

Munin agrees with me before I walk straight into the adventurers guild without giving Saras anytime to respond. I look around as usual and everything looks the same as usual. I walk straight up to Susan who luckily is completely free right now. She sees me and instantly puts a smile on her face.

“Hello, Miss Eva I am glad you came early since we are ready for your rank up test. This test will be held outside of the city because of potential collateral damage and it won't be for a specific rank. As long as you fight with everything you have you will be ranked accordingly. We actually found the perfect person for your rank up test. By the way who is that with you Miss Eva? I don’t think I have seen her before and you are kind of known to fight alone. A lot of adventurers will be very jealous of her if she is following you around.” Susan

I look around and see several female adventurers are glaring at Saras while looking at me with the same admiration. Some female adventurers actually got in line behind us so they can glare directly at Saras. I look at Saras and she looks like she is about to cry. I think I am smiling under my mask as I look into Saras’ eyes that are begging me to help her. I completely ignore her as I turn back to Susan.

“She is someone that will be following me around in the future. She is here to sign up as an adventurer so please do that quickly. Her tier does not matter for now so no test is necessary. Also, I don’t care if you bully her so do what you want.”

“Eva! Why?!” Saras

Saras cries in protest as I stand to the side and wait for her to finish signing up. Susan has a weary grin as she helps Saras sign up. The adventurers behind her heard what I said and have scary grins on their faces as they watch Saras’ every move. I really think they want to drag Saras behind the adventures guild and start beating her up which I would probably watch for a while, but after she signs up I want to go straight to my rank up test and I have to take her with me. Saras finishes her sign up and Susan goes to finish the paperwork. When it is done she tells Saras about being a 7th tier adventurer before she gives me details on where to go for my rank up test.

We leave the city while taking our time walking. Susan told me the test will be on the left of the road shortly after we enter the forest. Apparently, there will be markings that will lead me towards a clearing and my tester will be waiting there. Saras has been quietly sulking while following behind me. Apparently, she doesn’t like being bullied by others. Munin is facing Saras and I cant tell what she is doing but if I have to guess I would say she’s mocking Saras. Munin always seems to hate when others try to get close to me. I may have spoiled her a little, but that is fine.

Eventually, we reach a clearing in a perfect circle. Trees make a natural barrier around the edge and everywhere I look I can see signs of past fights. Trees are slashed and the ground has been turned over. I look around and see several adventures are hanging around the trees watching us enter. They are sitting in the trees or hiding behind them. I spot a familiar group of female adventurers and realize they must know a shortcut to this clearing. I then look at the only figure in the center of the clearing. It's the same guy who I fought with for my first test Jones. Before he was just supposed to be a 3rd tier adventurer, but I guess he has ranked up over the years. He has a very lazy look on his face and the same single edged greatsword next to him. When he sees me he gets up while grabbing his sword.

“Ah hello, again Miss Eva or should I call you princess? Well, I guess you probably don’t care much about that with your personality. Hah, Miss Eva, I am supposed to give you your test but I am sleepy let's do it another time.” Jones

I don't respond to Jones as I ready my halberd and lower my stance. I know he loves to talk while fighting and I shouldn’t take him seriously. Jones looks confused at me as he scratches the back of his head. Munin flies off my shoulder and sits on top of Saras’ head and I point towards the female adventurers. Saras seems to understand that I want her to get out of the way, but she starts walking towards the opposite side from the female adventurers that are glaring at her. Munin begins to peck Saras and Saras dejectedly turns around and walks towards the female adventurers. I smirk as Saras stands in the middle of several women glaring at her as she’s surrounded. I turn my focus back to Jones as he looks at Saras with a weird face.

I take advantage of Jones being distracted to launch myself forward with a flame step. I shoot straight at jones and form a lighting spear aimed right at Jones. Jones quickly reacts and looks at me shocked before he brings his sword up to block me. My halberds spear tip collides with Jones’ sword. Sparks are flying off my halberd and Jones has one hand on his handle and the other on the flat of his blade to hold back my attack.

“Hahaha, a sneak attack doesn’t seem like something a princess should be doing. Princess your maid seems to be being bullied by the Black Thorns group. She also seems to be being bullied by that bird. What a pitiful maid.” Jones

I knew this would happen as soon as I saw Jones standing in the middle of this clearing. He started talking as soon as our fight started. He really is annoying, but I need to keep calm and collected while fighting him. He is either a 1st or 2nd tier adventurer and even though he talks a lot he must have strength to spare. He even realized Saras is a maid even though she isn't dressed as one right now. 

I shift behind Jones and attack with a destruction edge. I am sure his eyes are probably wide with shock since I disappeared right in front of him. When my attack is about to reach his back its again blocked by Jones sword. This time its wrapped in wind. I look at his sword and watch as it disperses my explosion. Jones jump forward and turns around to face me. His sword is covered in a large wind edge that actually seems to make his large sword even bigger.

“Miss Eva I sensed a little bloodlust in that attack. I feel like you want to kill me. Hahaha, surely that cant be. You are a very nice princess. Right?” Jones

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My response to this question is to gather lighting all around my halberd and swing out. This time I didn’t attack with a lighting edge but instead, multiple bolts of lighting shoot forward in random paths towards Jones. Jones' face turns serious as he goes on guard and a cyclone starts forming around him. Most of the bolts of lighting flow around him, but some crash into his cyclone. A few almost break through but he just slashes them. During the barrage of lightning bolts, I quickly shifted with them and moved into his cyclone and followed it around as I appeared on his side and slashed down with a destruction edge at him. He steps back and wraps his leg in wind before kicking at my halberd pole. My arms shoot up with my halberd and Jones doesn’t waste this chance as he slashes with a large violent wind edge. My flame armor instantly forms around me as his blade connects with my stomach and I am thrown away. It feels like a hurricane is constantly pushing me back so I stab my halberd blunt end into the ground and stop myself from moving back more. The wind disperses just in time for several cyclones of wind to shoot at me very similar to my barrage of lighting earlier. I decide to form a dome of flames around me. I feel the wind smashing my shield and quickly wearing it out, but I reinforce it. I feel my mana pouring out of my dragon heart at a rate I haven’t ever felt before and I feel excited. All of a sudden the ground beneath me explodes and a spike of wind shoots up as I step back and bring my halberd up to guard as I block the sword aiming for my head. Jones actually tunneled under me. Why do I always get attacked from below like this?

“Just so you know I don’t have an earth affinity. Hahaha, I am pretty clever huh? I came up with this when…” Jones

I admit he might have finally started to get under my skin as I expanded my armor with a second layer and then I let it explode outwards. Jones quickly shuts his mouth and guards against the explosion that send him through my flame shield. I shift straight up into the air and then let my flame armor blaze out as two large wings of black flames form behind me. I feel my self slowly falling so I form a second pair of wings and I truly feel I can now stay put here without constantly shifting or using flame steps. Jones looks up and scratches the back of head before he puts on a serious face and wind starts spinning around him and quickly he launches up at me. There's a small tornado around his lower body that is propelling him forward. I thought he would make a joke again, but he finally has a completely serious face as his eyes are locked right on to me. I bring my halberd up and slash down with a destruction edge. Jones intercepts my attack with one of his violent wind edges. Again he disperses most of my attack but I just keep attack with destruction edges and he attacks with more wind edges. Almost all of our attacks are blocked, but we both do get some attacks in.

I switch to attacking with one arm and draw my dagger out as I instantly stab at an opening. I am shocked though when my dagger pierces into Jones’ hand as he caught my danger and hand that I was attacking with. He get a firm hold on my hand and pulls me in close before slamming the handle down on my shoulder. The wind violently explodes on my shoulder and I shoot down at the ground. If I didn’t have my flame armor I would have definitely broken my shoulder. Luckily he attacked my right shoulder that is far stronger. I look up as a tornado quickly shoots down on me. I shift out of the way and watch as the tornado completely destroys the spot I was standing. I look up as several tornadoes start touching down all around us. The sky darkens as clouds form around us. I quickly look at Saras and she seems to understand what I am asking as she quickly shakes her head in denial.

I look back up as Jones floats in the air and I feel my blood boil. My armor seems to burn with more intensity with my excitement. The wings reform on my back and launch me straight up at Jones. Behind me several pillars of black flames shoot off the ground and collide with the tornados creating giant cyclones of rampaging fire and wind. I reach Jones again and we continue our collisions of attacks. I suddenly hear an excited laugh and realize that it is mine.

“If I knew the princess was such a battle freak I don’t think I would have agreed to this. The guild is going to have to find a new testing ground after this.” Jones

Jones finally starts to talk again, but this time he sounds somewhat dispirited. It sounds like he is very annoyed with having to fight me. My response to his comment is to shift back, but this time I leave my flame armor where is as it keeps moving on its own. As long as Jones doesn’t notice that my eyes are no longer seen in my armor he probably won't notice. I appear behind Jones and form a concentrated destruction fist that I launch at Jones’ back. He doesn’t expect it as I land the attack his body launches and crashes right into my flame armor that explodes. I spot Jones flying away from the explosion, but I ignore him as I shift to my weapons that also flew away.

I grabbed my weapons and fly right back to where I saw jones land. He is at the very edge of the clearing and is using his sword to stand up. He looks up at me as if I am the greatest annoyance of his life. I smile under my mask as I land in front of him. My flame armor reforms around me and then two more sets of armor form at my sides. I can probably only use these two and they probably would move with the strength and speed of a 3rd tier adventurer at most. I can also only control them well if they are in my sight. They both launch forward and two cyclones shoot out of the ground to intercept them and Jones launches underground very quickly. I walk over to the hole in the ground before I open my free hand over the hole. I then begin to pore flames constantly into the hole. I watch as parts of the clearing begin to randomly explode. Finally, Jones pops up at the other end of the field and jumps to the side as the spot he was standing at earlier explodes.

“Princess! Are you crazy? I feel like you are trying to kill me! I thought we were friends. Are you really trying to kill me?” Jones

“Yes.”

Jones seems shocked that I actually responded to him and I quickly launch forward as I form a concentrated destruction edge on my halberd. Jones quickly comes out of his shock and raises his hand up before bringing it down towards me. I look up and see the entire sky around us is a raging storm. I see he has been stalling for time. I stop and let my attack grow larger until it is a giant ball of flames and lighting. I point it up and shoot it forward before I bring up my halberd to defend against an attack from Jones. He is back to his serious face. He keeps his sword locked with mine as we fight for dominance. Then we are both blown to the side as we are hit with a shockwave. I look up as my ball of destruction explodes in the eyes of Jones storm. Clouds are pushed away and we can see a part of the sky again.

I stand up and see Jones with his sword raised and wind gathers around him. The wind is so loud I can’t hear anything. Jones must be planning on trying to end this soon. I am feeling a little tired my self so I form a concentrated destruction spear. I also take my dagger out and then throw it forwards while it's charged with lighting. It explodes forward fast enough that I can barely follow it with my eyes. Jones barely steps to the side in time as his raised sword is lowered to dodge. I take this chance to shoot forward. Jones never took his eyes off me as he strikes horizontally instead of overhead. I take my dagger and use it to intercept his attack as I throw mine forward. My left arm feels like it's being torn apart from Jones’ attack and Jones crosses his free arm to block my attack aimed at his chest. Jones entire figure exposes in front of me as I am thrown to the side. I stand up with my arm completely torn up and covered in blood. The entire left side of my body actually feels like it has been torn up. I look and see Jones isn’t standing up. I slowly walk towards him and then see that the left side of his body is burned and his armor is completely destroyed. I also notice that he seems to be awake but is pretending to be asleep. I take my halberds blunt end and start poking him in the gut.

“Stop. Stop already. I don’t want fight anymore. No more I am tired and hurt. I already know we can both probably keep fighting but I already have your rank. Stop poking me you battle freak. Jeez, we have already caused enough destruction.” Jones

I stop poking Jones in his gut and look around. The entire clearing is completely destroyed. If the ground hasn’t been caught up in an explosion then its been scorched black. I look at the tree line and see several walls of earth and some water shields are formed as adventures with pale faces watch us. I don’t know why they didn’t run away when the realized they were to close. I look over as one of the water shields disperse and I see Susan walk towards us cautiously while Saras with Munin on her head run to catch up to her. She reaches us and bends down to start poking Jones in the face.

“So what rank would you say Eva is? It seems like she was kind of kicking your ass there. If you aren’t sure you can keep fighting. Hm, so what is it?” Susan

“Stop! Why are you all poking me so much? Cant, you see I am clearly injured here. We have a very vicious princess in the royal family. I am a 1st tier adventurer and she can fight equal to me so obviously she is also a 1st tier adventurer. Happy? Now have someone come to carry me away. It hurts and I am tired. Wait! Listen to…” Jones

Susan and I both stop listening to Jones after he gave his evaluation. We walk a little away and I notice Saras pull medicine and bandages from inside her maid uniform and she wordlessly begins work on my injuries. I thought of shooing her away, but decide to just ignore her as I focus on Susan.

“Well, congratulations Miss Eva you qualify as a 1st tier adventurer. You aren’t technically a 1st tier yet because besides the physical test you also need to go to the adventurers guild headquarters to get approval. It requires an interview with the leaders of the adventurers guild to get to 1st tier. They just want to know of an adventures character and background. Sorry, but there are no exceptions to this rule.” Susan

“I understand. I will pay the headquarters a visit when I go to the academy with my sister when she returns. I will go home now since I am tired and injured. I will see you later Susan. I guess its probably your job to take care of him now.”

I nod my head at Jones who is still on the ground pretending to be asleep. Susan makes a difficult face as she looks down before she just walks away. I smile a little before I also walk away while Saras is still wrapping my arm in bandages. She is about to trip while trying to wrap my arm and walk so I stop. She finishes and then smiles at me. I reach my hand towards her head and she looks incredibly happy for some reason. Munin hops from Saras’ head to my hand and I place her on my shoulder. Saras’ face falls and her shoulder slump as she lifelessly follows behind me. I am glad she can't see the small smile under my mask.