Igarem began spinning his spear in one hand while the other two stepped back.

"Are you ready?" he asked as he moved the spear around his body, spinning it the entire time.

Zane smiled and pointed his katana at the saberian, who smiled back, showing Zane all of his teeth that seemed so small between the sabre-like, curved fangs. His tail whirled up a bit of dust as it swung around.

Without warning, Igarem thrust his spear forwards, right at Zane chest, which was at the height of Igarem's head.

Is he trying to kill me?

Zane jumped backwards, dodging the spear attack. But Igarem quickly followed it up with a spin which he used to swing the spear at Zane's feet. Having no other option he jumped up, and Igarem smiled at him as if he was trying to say: 'got you'. He used the momentum from the spin attack to swing the spear upwards and bringing it down on Zane's side.

Zane who was still mid-air swung his katana against the spear tip that was about to make a deep cut right through the middle of his face. The spear flew back upwards, making Igarem stumble backwards as the spear flew behind him, his hand still holding onto it. His body bent as he tried to force the spear back down, but Zane had enough time to kick Igarem in the chest, making him fall to the ground.

Igarem was looking up at him, breathing heavily, his two yellow-green eyes fixated on him. Veral and Lovana were clapping in the background.

"Great, that means it's my turn," Lovana said happily.

Why am I even doing this? Should I just leave? But well . . . at least this way I can test the new katana.

Igarem got up from the ground and wiped the dust off of his clothes and walked over to one of the benches and sat down, inspecting his spear and avoiding Veral's eyes that were fixated on him.

"Don't take too long," Veral said to Lovana with a mocking tone.

"Oh shut it Veral," she said as she approached Zane. "I've heard that you use ranged weapons as well, why don't we make this a ranged battle?"

She pointed to the two guns that rested in their holsters on his hips. Zane chuckled a bit and shook his head.

"Are you scared I will beat you in ranged combat?" Lovana asked mockingly.

Zane sighed and shook his head again.

Does this girl have a fucking death wish?

"Come on, it would be great. We'll make rules. Look, I have this armoured part here on my chest, if you hit that you win. And if I manage to hit . . . let's see . . . one of your weapons then I win. How about it?" Lovana said, again sounding way more excited than Zane thought she should be.

Zane shook his head again.

"Oh, please, come on," she said.

Zane drew one of his guns, pointed it at one of the archery targets that was right over Lovana's shoulder and pulled the trigger. The bullet left the barrel and flew past Lovana at high speeds, hitting the archery target and going through all the way to the other side of the wooden wall the archery targets had been placed on, hitting into the mountain.

Lovana looked back at him, her brown eyes filled with shock and a hint of fear. Her mouth was slightly opened and her hands were shaking. Veral whistled in the background.

"I-I g-guess I see your point," Lovana said, trying to sound confident.

She took a deep breath and the shock and into of fear disappeared from her eyes.

"Well then, let's begin," she said, now filled with confidence again.

Stupidity can be an amazing thing.

Zane pointed his katana at her while she was drawing back one of her arrows. She pulled back her bow's black string as far as she could, bending the ends of the upper and lower limbs that were made of nearly black wood. Zane just waited for her to shoot, with a slight grin on his face and a dead stare, a stare of pure concentration. He concentrated on the spot where the arrow would come flying from. It was decorated with a light grey crystal, that stood out on the dark wood bow.

Wait don't tell me . . .

The crystal began glowing as a grin appeared on Lovana's face.

Sorcery!

The arrow flew towards him at high speeds once she let go, propelled by air that had come from the light grey crystal. It was aimed directly at his head. Zane managed to move out of the way just in time, letting the arrow fly past him, hitting the wooden roof above the walkway.

First, she has a death wish and now she wants to kill me . . . great, just great.

By the time he had dodged the first arrow, a second had already been fired by her. Zane swung his katana, redirecting the arrow slightly, it hit right into one of the wooden beams holding up the wooden roof of the walkway. He began charging at her, his katana extended to the side as she shot another arrow. But this time he was prepared. He deflected it with a quick swing of his sword.

Seeing that the distance between was steadily decreasing Lovana, jumped up, increasing her jump height with a gust of wind from the crystal in her bow. She was now holding her bow horizontally, and fired another arrow at Zane, this time from above.

The arrow flew straight at Zane, who stepped to the site only seconds before the arrow pierced the floor at the exact spot he had been. He glanced up at her, she had a smile on her face as she nocked the next arrow. She landed on top of the wooden wall the archery targets were on and let go of the arrow, letting it fly towards Zane.

He jumped to the side and began running towards the wooden wall in a zig-zag pattern, avoiding every arrow that came flying his way. When he looked up he could see a look of desperation on Lovana's face as she tried to grab another arrow from her quiver only to discover that she had none left. Zane jumped up and landed on the wooden wall next to her, looking down at her. She swung her bow at his feet like Igarem had swung his spear at his feet before but Zane simply jumped up and kicked her off of the wooden wall, landing back on it afterwards.

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She hit the ground with a heavy thump sound, her bow landing on top of her. Both Igarem and Veral began clapping as Zane jumped down from the wall.

I should have taken my gauntlet with me.

Lovana got up slowly, with a saddened look on her face.

"G-Guess . . . guess you're b-better than I t-though," she said, trying to hold back tears.

She slowly walked towards one of the benches, avoiding Zane with her eyes the entire time, even continuing once she had sat down.

"Well then, Zane. Let us dance," Veral said as he swung around his greatsword.

Zane closed his eyes and concentrated on sensing the Aura around him. And there it was. In the middle of the greatsword's guard. A sorcery crystal with a good amount of Aura in it from the beginning. But what impressed Zane, even more, was the amount of Aura Veral had. It was enough to even rival some of the most powerful goblin lords Zane had seen.

"You ready?" he asked.

Zane nodded and pointed his katana at Veral. He immediately charged at Zane, preparing to swing his greatsword once he got close enough. Zane smiled as he blocked the greatsword, let it slide off his blade and slashed at Veral, grazing his chest and cutting open Veral's white shirt. Veral smiled back at him as he jumped back.

"Guess I really underestimated you before this whole thing. There's a reason people call you the strongest mercenary . . . but how will you deal with this!?" he yelled as the blade of his sword began to move slightly, as if it was vibrating at high speeds. A quiet hum could be heard from it.

Guess he wants to kill me as well.

Veral charged at Zane again, letting his greatsword drag over the ground behind him, leaving behind a fine line in the ground that was fairly deep.

Well shit.

He spun, swinging the sword with the momentum he got from the spin. Zane could barely dodge.

"Hey, Veral, do you want to kill him!?" Igarem yelled from the bench.

"If he can't take this then he ain't good enough as a bodyguard for a member of the Vermillion family!" Veral yelled back.

If that thing hits me it would cut through my body in seconds, same for my katana. I really need that damn gauntlet right about now. Getting that thing stuck is basically impossible as well . . . but it may be worth a try.

Zane began walking backwards, towards the mountainside behind him. As he got closer and closer to it he could see the smile on Veral's face become wider and wider. As soon as Zane hit the mountainside Veral began laughing and swung his greatsword right at Zane's head. But Zane used the dull side of his katana to redirect the blow by hitting Veral's arm, making him sink his sword into the mountain. For a few seconds, Veral couldn't move the blade away from its position and Zane used those few seconds to kick Veral in the chest, making him fly away a few meters.

Veral landed on his back, his sword fell out of his hand and stopped vibrating. He began coughing and Zane began approaching him with a smile on his face.

"You got me good there," Veral said as he slowly moved his hand towards the hilt of his sword.

But before he could reach it and channel Aura into the crystal again Zane kicked it away, towards the edge of the walkway where it hit against the railing.

"Yup got me real good," Veral said. "I give up."

Zane nodded and sheathed his katana.

Although this really wasn't that good of a test.

Zane walked over to one of the training dummies, put his hand on the hilt of his katana and slashed at the dummy, cutting deep into the straw and leaving a mark on the wooden beam in the middle.

Seems to work fine though.

"But man, you really are as amazing as they all say," Lovana said. "I've only ever heard stories about you from others . . . mostly that drunk down at the inn . . . what was his name again? Ah yeah, Hugo. Used to be a legendary mercenary once . . . now he's only obsessed with hunting down his old partner Gilma, where ever he may be."

Zane chuckled a bit.

A shame that such a capable man has fallen so low.

He turned away from the dummy and walked towards the walkway where Veral stood, picking up his greatsword

"Already leaving?" he asked.

Zane nodded as he walked past him.

"As should we," Igarem said. "It is getting dark and dinner will be ready soon."

"Yeah, we already missed lunch. The family will kill us if we aren't there at dinner," Lovana said.

"Guess you guys are right," Veral said. "Wait for us Zane, let's walk together."

What have I done wrong in life?

"By the way, who are you guarding?" Lovana asked.

I mean I don't want to talk to people, that's not going to end well . . . or is it? Maybe Vin was right all along and I'm worrying about nothing. I mean what are the chances of me getting into a situation like that ever again? I mean why am I like this? Only talk when I really need to my ass! I hate being like this so much. So why am I still like this? I mean I started talking to Mira pretty quickly, was that because I had to? No. I could have just ignored her. Am I subconsciously just not doing what I swore I would do all those years ago because deep within I know that it's useless? I mean there's multiple people I can have proper conversations with . . . Vin, Ishtar, Indura, Mira . . . and well Gilma and Hugo as well . . . so why only those people? Because I had to? Or was it because I wanted to? Maybe accepting this job could be my first step to better myself.

"Hello? Are you alright Zane? Are you not feeling well? Should we maybe bring you to the witch so she can take a look at you?" Lovana asked as she poked him in the side.

"Oh . . . no, I was just . . . in thought," Zane said.

"So, who are you the bodyguard for?" she asked again.

"Xavier and Mira," Zane said.

"Uhh, guarding some big shots," Lovana said.

"Weren't you the one who found Mira as well? I mean she just up and disappeared a few months ago and now she just comes back with you," Veral said.

Zane nodded.

"Found her down in Hirmal," he said.

"All the way in Hirmal? No wonder no one found her, we all thought she might still be in Velva . . . but for her to get all the way down to Hirmal," Veral said.

"She went by the name Lovia back then . . ." Zane said, staring off into the distance.

"Lovia? Kinda sounds like my name doesn't it?" Lovana asked, walking with her hands behind her back.

"Guess so," Veral said.

The four quickly arrived at the entrance to the mansion and entered.

"Ah Zane there you are," someone said.

Zane looked to the stairs where the voice came from, it was Mira, still wearing the red and black dress she had worn at lunch. But now her missing hand had been replaced by a silver hand with a beautiful rose pattern etched into it. And there was a ruby embedded into the middle of the back of the hand.

"Mira," he said.

Walking down the stairs behind her was Xavier, who was looking down at Zane with a look of suspicion. Mira and Xavier walked down the stairs and stepped before the four.

"I see you've found some of the other bodyguards," Mira said.

"The worst of them as well," Xavier whispered.

Mira slapped his arm immediately after.

"Well then, let's go down to the dining hall, we shouldn't make the others wait," Mira said.

The four bodyguards followed after them.

"You need to stop talking like that Mira, my dear," Xavier said, trying to be quiet enough so only Mira could hear him.

"Why?" she asked.

"It is not proper for a member of one of the five great families to talk in . . . in such a manner," Xavier said.

"Is he always like that?" Zane asked the three with him.

All of them nodded.

"He really doesn't like people who aren't nobility," Lovana said.

"That so;" Zane said.

They entered the dining hall and all sat down next to the ones they were supposed to guard. Zane sat down next to Mira and began stretching.

"So, where did you meet them?" Mira asked.

"Training grounds," Zane answered.

At that moment the servants came in with the food and cutlery. Once everything was set up everyone began shovelling food on their plates and quickly began eating. Just like at lunch Zane was a bit overwhelmed by how much food there was as he ate.

After about an hour people began leaving, among them the bodyguards Zane had met at the training grounds. The three waved to him before they left. He had also finished eating and was now waiting for Mira and Xavier to finish.

"You don't have to wait," Mira said.

"Oh no It's alright," Zane said.

Xavier glanced over at him.

"No, no it is certainly alright if you leave," he said.

"If you say so then I'll take my leave," Zane said as he got up from his chair.

As he was about to leave the room he heard the two arguing.

"Why are you always like that?" Mira asked.

"Like what? I do not see what the problem is," Xavier said.

Zane walked through the door and began climbing the stairs.

Some marriage that is going to be.

Once he reached his room he threw his clothes to the couch and threw himself on his bed and quickly fell asleep.