After announcing myself to the whole mass of students I started to cringe a bit at how I sounded. I didn’t have a problem with any of the words or anything, yet they all still felt foreign in my mouth. Especially shouting my full name out loud, it made me almost want to die… And then all the other stuff… In a strange way, it really did feel like middle school again, talking about fantasy games and coming up with stories… I guess the reason it made me cringe was because in some capacity it all still felt fake… Who was this girl that I was claiming to be… Where was she? The daughter of a great warrior, and granddaughter of an even greater fighter. The girl that merged souls with a dragon and cut off a demon's head, ripping out its heart… Surely that girl wasn’t me…
Tia walked over to Lu, cracking her knuckles and standing by her side, giving me even more confidence that she would be ok, at least for a while. I turned back to try and find Isy, expecting a cheery congratulations… But instead, when my eyes finally caught her she appeared to be shaking, getting lost in the sweeping crowd of people as duels began to start and lines began to form.
No one dared get within 8 feet of me though, or in other words, striking distance, had I still been holding a greatsword. It was almost amazing how everyone around somehow nearly perfectly calculated how far back to stand. 1.5 times my height. Well… before adding a few inches to make it the standard minimum size for a sword…
The crowd of people vanished around her as I approached and suddenly she wasn’t surrounded anymore, but that seemed to only make her more nervous as she became further confused. “Isy,” I said softly.
She looked over to me, letting out a soft whine before bouncing her eyes like a scared puppy.
“Come on, follow me.” I grabbed her hand and led her to the side of the room, giving us both a breather as we escaped the chaos and allowing us to rest our backs up against something as we sat down… Or at least, I rested my back. She sat elegantly like a lady. To be honest I wasn’t sure which one of us felt more out of place.
‘Is she that scared of crowds? I guess when I was a little girl I’d freeze up too if I ever got left alone in a crowd. I’d always feel better when I got out of it though, she still seems anxious.’
In a strange way, I was reminded of back when I got mauled by the undead. It certainly wasn’t a pleasant thing to remember, and still not a very distant memory either. It wasn’t a hard one to think about though. When I thought about how I socked my brother in the nose, whipping his head back, and he just made a joke before sitting down next to me, it still made me smile. ‘He didn’t even have to say anything. Not at first… Sometimes just being there is enough.’
“S-sorry…” She muttered.
“No, I don’t think I ever apologized to him,” I mumbled back, staring off into space.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“What?”
I suddenly jerked my head back toward her. “What?” We stared at each other in silence. ‘I can’t really say I thought she was another voice inside my head can I? Maybe she’ll just drop it…’
“I assumed you were weak, like me, but you are super strong… So, I thought I should apologize for thinking poorly of you… I’m really sorry…”
‘Is that why she’s still so anxious?’ “Well, it’s not like I blame you… I am a shrimp.”
“A what?”
‘Wait, do they not have shrimp in this world? Maybe just not the expression.’ “Like a small fish… Wait no, they aren’t fish… Are they? You know like a small fry.”
“Small, fry?”
“Yeah like…” ‘actually… I don’t know what that one means either… Like something small enough to fit in a frying pan?’ “I’m… Shorter… Than average.” I said slowly, using literal terms to avoid further confusion.
Her eyebrows were slightly pushed together as she tried her best to smile. “That’s putting it delicately…”
‘Well, you didn’t get any of my metaphors…’ I just rolled my eyes. “The point is don’t worry about it. This was the first time you've seen me fight, so of course you sound’t know how strong I am.”
“Uhm… Right…”
I slid closer and wrapped an arm over her shoulder, pulling her in. “Now check this out, it looks like Lu’s starting her first duel… With… Three guys… All at once…” ‘That’s a bit reckless isn’t it?’
The excitement was short-lived as she mopped the floor with all three of them, bare-handed. ‘Oh, yeah ok girl power I guess… Or… Inexplicable reason for why she was born perfect in every way.’
“Say it again!” She yelled, kicking a downed man in the gut hard enough for him to slide across the floor. “Oh, that’s right, the words were so twisted you must have choked on them, guess you won’t be able to talk for a while!”
‘Ok… So she still has anger issues… But otherwise perfect. She’s getting better at wordplay too. I’m so proud.’
“I should rip out your tongue and feed it to my horse!”
‘That’s a bit much… Now I kinda want to know what the guy said?’
Her friend hesitantly walked up and gently placed a hand on her shoulder. “Lu… Uhm… When a guy says that you’re cute… It’s usually meant as a compliment…”
‘Cute… Usually, I’d agree with the poor guy… But not when she’s talking about feeding a person's tongue to her horse…’
Lu finally relaxed, calming her breath, but her heart rate seemed to only speed up even more, and focusing my eyes I could see her cheeks flushed red. “What the… Then why would he say it before asking to fight me? Wasn’t he trying to say I looked weak?”
Tia sighed. “Those things are usually unrelated… Just… Try not to take it so far next time… Or at least don’t go overboard and waste energy… You have plenty of fights left you know…”
She let out an uncomfortable groan. “Why would he say something like that and then challenge me to a fight? Uh… It made my chest feel all funny… He deserved to get smacked around for that!”
Tia gave an awkward smile, patting her on the shoulder. “Yeah, ok… Just make sure you don’t kill anyone, the fights are over when they hit the floor ok?”
She groaned back, adjusting her dress as she awkwardly rubbed her chest as if she was recovering from heartburn, finally starting to normalize her heart rate again. ‘Ah… NOW she’s discovered boys… Although… I don’t think that’s something I’m going to have to worry about… It might not be for the same reasons, but she probably has less of a chance of going on a date than I do…’