“Step away from the young master, Hubert.”

The man with golden eyes regarded the assassin with a stern expression. His hair was a black that reminded Ash of ebony, and his skin was a medium tan that was different from the typical pale complexions of the Windcirrians. Across the right side of his face was a large scar that ran from his forehead to the bottom half of his face. It was from a sharp cut that reminded Ash of an injury from a sword.

“Nico. The young master is currently learning how to reign in that anger of his. If acting disrespectful is efficient and no direct harm comes to him, then as a knight you should respect my methods.”

“Ice ice baby~”

Hubert was still poker faced in front of the opposition but Nico was not swayed by his negotiation.

The knight narrowed his eyes and scowled.

“Grabbing his face is not training. Step away.”

A succinct, flat tone matched with his grim face.

“...it seems like you won’t be listening.”

Nico angled his sword and charged towards the awaiting assassin without warning.

Without missing a beat, the assassin pulled out his knives and shot them towards the swordsman. Nico dodged the small blades and closed in on Hubert. With a knife in hand, the assassin blocked off the next attack. The two blades struggled against each other in a brief moment as golden eyes met with blue. Neither of them gave in to their opponent.

“You are not my master.”

With an impatient tone Nico bit his lip and tsked before sliding the knife off of his blade. Hubert ducked to the ground at the swordsman's next attack before backing away from the knight. However, Nico soon followed in quick pursuit of the assassin and they continued to battle.

“Young master are you ok?” The knight with chestnut hair ran over and began fussing over Ash, who was still ascertaining whether his neck was fine in a dumbfounded state.

“Who said I wasn’t fine?!”

It took a moment for the boy to figure out how to react but he recovered in time to quickfire a yell.

“E-eek!”

Gilleon quickly backed off and made himself sparse.

Ash picked himself off the ground and glared at the two bastards who were still fighting.

“Oi, yellow eyed bastard stop!”

As loud as he could yell, Ash marched closer to the knight who interfered with the geezer’s training.

Despite hearing him, the fucker slashed away at the old geezer without batting an eye.

“Young master. There’s no reason to stop.”

His response came after a long pause as though the knight was unwilling to acknowledge his words.

An instant shot of rage flashed burned through the teen’s head.

“If you plan on continuing, don’t use me as your reason you fucker! Stop right now you stubborn son of a bitch! You fucking dog of a human with no manners– shitting all over the place and acting like some goddamn goody two shoes– just admit you’re fucking sick of lounging around!”

Both the noisy duck and the stubborn fucker were trying to stress the shit out of him. Cursing a multitude of colorful combinations with “fuck” and “bitches” inside his mind, Ash charged straight between the old geezer and the yellow eyed knight.

The two of them stopped mid motion before shifting into a defensive position as Gilleon looked at them with an agitated expression.

“Sir Hubert…we already had a conversation about this before. The young master is still young! E-even if you’re a skilled knight, to treat the young master like this…”

“Hubert. There’s no need for the young master to learn those dirty methods of your trade.”

Joining Gilleon, Nico backed his fellow knight as he continued to fix his eyes on the assassin.

Hubert faintly furrowed his brows. It was so light, that Ash was only able to detect the change due to the time he spent training with him.

“As the illegitimate son of the Kurtons, Ash is not privy to the teachings of the nobles. Ash will live a harsher life than Curtis. I am teaching him to survive.”

Ash smiled grimly. He didn’t disagree with Hubert, although he knew it wasn’t out of the kindness of the old assassin’s heart.

“Does the lord know about this?”

“Yes. I was given full permission.”

Ash’s faint respect dissipated at once.

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“That old man had to fucking let you!?”

The hell did he mean by that? Ash gritted his teeth angrily as he glared at the old geezer.

“My liege allows you…”

Nico’s golden eyes wavered and he began licking his lips. After a moment where the man staunchly regarded Hubert, he lowered his sword.

“Fine. I will back off in respect of the master.”

“tch.”

Although Ash’s gaze darkened in anger, he simply turned his eyes away from their interaction.

“But.”

Nico wasn’t done with speaking. Turning in Ash’s direction, the knight widened his mouth into a taut, flat line before speaking.

“Young master. Please grant me permission to oversee your training.”

“...I refuse. There’s already an old coot thats skulking around the corner of my vision, and now you want to join in like some kind of fucking party.”

The knight had an intense look on his face in which Ash was taken aback to see. Yet thinking back to the willful deafness of his order, the young teen wasn’t necessarily going to play along happily.

Ash folded his arms together and gazed at the knight, daring him to challenge his words.

Yet despite his provocation, the yellow eyed bastard was unfettered.

“Young master, I can teach you better than this retired mercenary. There are many skills that you will neglect under Hubert.”

“Is that a challenge against the old geezer?”

Ash smirked widely from ear to ear. Despite the happy expression, it was anything but pure but more of a look of daring.

“If you have the audacity, then fucking prove me wrong.”

Grovel. Beg, if he’s that desperate to do whatever the hell he wants.

“Oi Ash! Hubert is the creme de la creme! Don’t be an idiot!”

The yellow eyed bastard turned his gaze to the nonchalant assassin and glared at him once more. The old geezer eyebrows twitched in exasperation much to his glee, but he turned toward Ash and began speaking.

“Young master. Feel free to learn from him. Regardless, as part of my contract I will successfully teach you what I know."

The old geezer narrowed his eyes.

"So honor your end.”

“Hubert! Ah, the old gee–assassin really is earnest and straight forward…as expected as the Silent Iris! My naming sense is spot on heheh.”

How absurd.

Ash tched in annoyance and turned away from him. It wasn’t anything he planned on interfering with, but the quacking bastard was too involved for his liking.

“C-contract?”

Gilleon seemed alarmed, and on the other hand Nico’s face went rigid in absurd petrification.

“What kind of agreement did you make with the young master!?”

Nico’s voice came urgent and loud, as if he were about to start throwing hands once more. Ash had welcomed and expected it, so he simply watched as Nico began charging at Hubert once more.

“Yappy chihuahua, take a backseat.”

A sudden shot of pain caused him to yelp. A headache began to form and spread throughout his face. Taken aback from the throbbing, Ash gripped his face as he hopelessly tried to alleviate the sensation. His eyes drooped as he began to lose his consciousness, with his vision blurring the training field into a faint sand.

“QUa-cking son of a…”

His vision turned dark as Ash was knocked out once again.

Ash’s body thudded onto the floor much to the panic of Gilleon. With an alarmed expression Nico began to run to the fallen figure of the boy.

“Y-young master!”

Hubert raised his eyebrows, still as a statue as he watched the knights tend to Ash.

Nico picked up the unconscious boy and began to check for breathing. After careful scrutiny, the knight sighed in relief.

“He seems to have simply fainted.”

“Phew…”

Gilleon put a hand over his chest to calm his nerves.

Gilleon was overcome with a sudden bout of awkwardness that Nico and Hubert were unaffected by. Hubert had a listless expression as he stood like a mannequin, and Nico seemed slightly alarmed as he continued to fuss over the young master.

There was a brewing thought in his mind. Despite his hesitation to break the silence, Gilleon carefully looked at Nico’s expression before swallowing nervously. There was no other moment than now.

“If I can be presumptuous, then I- I would like to join you!”

Gilleon turned to the poker faced assassin with a determined yet concerned look on his face.

“As a knight I believe that I should do everything I can in order to improve my abilities…and I think there’s a lot I can learn from you, Hubert. Please, teach me with the young master!”

The knight trainee quickly bowed to the retired mercenary.

He had watched Ash train together with Hubert, and saw Ash’s strength improve by leaps and bounds. To be able to stay by the side of his young master that had plenty of room to grow, and to improve his strength…for the young knight there was no greater wish.

Nico, it should be fine if i’m there right? You don’t have to worry anymore… I-I’ll do my best!”

Looking at the tight expression of his friend, Gilleon tried his best to persuade the stern knight who bit his lips.

Later, he should remind him again that his lip movements were a dead giveaway of his anxieties…not that the rest of his expressions weren’t as his close friend.

Regardless, Gilleon noticed a familiar glint in Nico’s eyes as they spun around in rebuttal, negotiation, and steadily arriving at compromise. Gileon’s heart quickened as the faint hope he had ignited a little brighter.

“...I’ll stop by often and check your progress. Hubert.” Turning to the assassin in a demanding manner, Nico effectively vouched for Gilleon.

“...Gilleon. I don’t mind.” The assassin gave a quick quip of a response as if he was already bored.

It worked. With a vibrant happiness coming to life within the inexperienced knight, Gilleon smiled joyfully as he promised himself to learn everything Hubert would teach.

------

“...euk…”

The young master began waking up. After he picked himself up by the arms, he rubbed his eyes and noticed the three of them around him.

“Don’t be silly, stop fighting over me~!”

The young master put a hand over his head in a dramatic fainting pose.

“Y-young master?”

Gilleon was overly confused and out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Nico’s mouth widened in displeasure.

“I always wanted to say something like that once in my life…”

The young master clenched his fist and pumped it in the air.

“...Did the young master hit his head?”

Nico drew his mouth into a taut line as the man seemed overcome with stress.

“He acts like that occasionally. It’s nothing serious.”

Standing with his arms crossed, the assassin narrowed his eyes as he regarded Ash.

The assassin began speaking with the young boy.

“Ash. Gilleon will be joining us from now on.”

“Oh my~"

With a small smile, the young master accepted the assassin's command more amicably than Gilleon expected. It was ridiculously easy to communicate with him, so much so that Gilleon became frightened. But, if Hubert said it was fine...then he would leave it at that.

Soon after, the assassin neared the boy as Ash scooched away a little in trepidation.

“Huh?”

The assassin lifted him up onto his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and incited a flabbergasted expression on the young master's face, before switching to a princess carry after Nico glared at Hubert in earnest disapproval.

The young master seemed taken aback.

“A knight in shining armor…Hubert. I don’t approve of this concept change for you.”

With a look of disgust Ash squeezed the assassin’s cheeks. Despite that, the assassin's wooden expression stayed the same before looking down at the teen.

“Since you’re finally here it's time for more mental training.” With a brusque walk, Hubert carried Ash away who froze in his arms.

“A-acK! Nonono, e-even if you weren't this dedicated…it’d be fine! Right, Hubert!?”

With a cold gaze, the assassin continued to walk off the field as Nico began following him. After a moment of hesitation, Gilleon went along with them too.

In the distance Gilleon heard the assassin talking to the young master in a flat tone.

“It is a part of my contract to “teach you everything I know.”

“N-nooO! I take that back!”

The young master’s shriek rang throughout the training field. With an empty laugh full of worry, Gilleon silently prayed to Mother Wryd for her mercy on them all.