The morning started early for the king and the knight captain. They are talking at one of the highest balconies on the top story of the royal wing so no one would bother them.
The king’s mind was still curious towards the boy and he decided to check the Knight Captain’s impression of him.
"Say Bhalrom, you also traveled with that boy. What’s your opinion on him"
Bhalrom was quick to answer "Well my lord... I did spent some time with the boy and I must admit, he grew on me. I dare say he showed courage, honor and discipline on his training" The knight seemed proud and quickly continued to speak.
"He trained with the veterans of the First Army, every single day without a single complaint. He struggled a lot at first, as expected. But the boy quickly rose to the challenge, he is a natural warrior my lord, in a very short period of time he learned so much that even the veterans were having trouble sparring with him. Sometimes he was even winning sparring sessions against them! Of course the men were going easy on him, but still, that’s not an easy feat to achieve."
The king was surprised, hardly believing what he just heard "Wait, are you saying the boy trained with the First army for a month and was able to win duels against the veterans? In just one month?”
Bhalrom nodded "Yes, quite an unbelievable story, but he is a prodigy with the sword, he has a natural talent, he sees something once and he learns it. He became a very good swordsman sir. A couple of years more for him to finish growing up, make a few more muscles and I dare say he would be a great addition to the First army."
The king was lost for words.
----------------- couple hours later
Riou was finally waking up after a long night's sleep, feeling well rested.
He looked to the side of the bed, on top of a small table to locate the new set of clothes that were brought by a servant last night.
Since he was supposed to wear them that night, he decided to continue with his old attire for the day. It was summer after all and he didn't want to get them all sweaty and dirty right away.
And thinking about dirt, he himself was past due a proper bath for a while now, it was starting to bother him.
"Ahh... I really could use a warm shower" he said out loud remembering the simple pleasures of a modern life.
Washing his face and a few other areas that were smelling too strong using just a bowl of water at the top of a small table near the wall and door. He didn’t quite know what its purpose was, so he adaptes and prepared to leave the room.
He was out to explore the guest areas of the castle. The royal wing was off limits without a summon from the king. Since he had the time, he decided to take a better look at the place.
The guests were allowed on the majority of the lower floor and gardens.
Deciding to start with the outside, he went out by the first door he could find in the ground floor.
The gardens went all around the castle and all the way to the walls, it was impressively large and well tended. Flowers, bushes and trees, perfectly placed and treated. Riou could easily tell that everything in the garden was planned.
On the front of the castle, due the steep inclination of the plateau, they even up the terrain by creating massive steps of giant staircases all the way to the bottom gate. In the middle of the steps the wide road separated both.
The plateau was very irregular, but they did a great job with the terrain. It looked great from the top of the castle.
On his way to explore the backyard, he noticed some commotion on the way to the backyard.
There was a large area with an arena of the sorts. Around it there were wooden bleachers accommodating a few spectators. On the balconies of the castle as well, there were people watching on all of them.
But the majority of the folks were down and around the arena. Everyone there was dressed in fancy clothes. They were quite lively around the arena, chatting and talking loudly, there was some kind of event going on.
Looking more carefully, Riou noticed some soldiers amongst the people. A couple of them were his friends from the First Army, curious, he approached them to ask what was going on.
The crowd was composed mostly of young men, not all of them seemed to be from the region as their clothes changed drastically from one another, especially the blond ones. Riou thought that maybe it was their noble fashion sense, the last trend between the nobles of different regions or cities, or something of the sort.
Suddenly the crow began to cheer and shout very loudly.
The arena was a few steps higher than the ground with no holds or cords around it, so everyone could see it even standing up.
A man with a pompous, golden plate armor, holding a two edged straight sword stepped inside the arena.
He seemed to be breathing deeply and heavily through his mouth, his helmet visor was open and he seemed tired already from wearing the heavy armor..
On the opposite side of him, a young woman stepped inside the arena.
A shiny pale blonde hair that depending how she moved turned almost completely white, it was well tied up in a ponytail and she was wearing some light clothing, little padded for protection. Very different from the man in front of her.
Her eyes caught Riou’s attention immediately, even from afar he could tell they had an unusual crystal blue color to which he had never seen. Her face was beautiful despite the dead serious expression she had towards her opponent. She could easily be the most pretty woman he had ever seen in person.
She was preparing herself, putting on a leather armor that protected her arms and chest, attaching it above her other gear. Her body seemed very nimble and fit, she was definitely a trained fighter.
The young woman possessed a beauty that he had hardly seen before, it had such an effect on him, that he was having difficulty averting his eyes from her, almost as if he was bewitched by her eyes.
She was holding a sword much thinner than her opponent and with a sharper point, resembling some rapiers from his world.
The moment the woman was ready, the man rushed and attacked without notice. But she was skillful enough to dodge and deflect his surprise attacks with ease.
‘I see, she opted for movement and agility while the man went for defense. I don’t know if it is because he was already tired even before the fight started but she is clearly the more refined fighter of the two. His movements are too slow and that thick rapier looks nasty. One good thrust and the rapier will pierce the muscles, one well placed thrust and he is a goner. Those platings are bad positioned for a duel like this’
"I didn't even know there was a duel... what’s this about?" he asked curiously to the first army soldiers he knew.
"Hey! It’s a Norse tradition, the maiden’s path I believe they call it. Consists on every now and then a crazy noble challenges her for a fight. And we never miss a chance to see her wiping the floor with them!" Said the soldier quite liking the show.
"Ho, so this is a normal thing?" Asked Riou watching the duel as well.
"It’s getting more frequent now that she got older, but say Riou, what do you think of her fighting style? Very different, don’t you think?"
Riou didn’t quite understand that statement, but answered the question.
"She fights with smarts rather than strength. She relies on agility to get the edge over the armored man. He looks exhausted and she didn't even break a sweat. She’s probably taking her time to finish the fight in one precise attack" Analyzed Riou, the soldier was impressed by the spot on description.
"Very good, prodigy. Now tell me, do you think you could win against her?" Asked the soldier.
"I don’t know. Maybe?" Answered Riou without thinking much of it.
“Pfff, I doubt that. She isn’t even putting in the effort right now. That girl has trained since a young age and had lots of great teachers. And don’t forget that the veterans went easy on you during your training. She on the other hand doesn't mess around against her opponents” advised the other soldier.
The other soldier next to them laughed “Ha! That’s something I’d like to see, the knight’s captain favorite against Allard’s Maiden of the North. She would teach a good lesson to our wonder boy here. Maybe after a good beating he’d be more humble on his assumptions.” The other soldiers agreed with him. “A pity only nobles can challenge her”
The fight was quickly over after that comment, with the man in armor kneeling on the arena floor and with her sword very close to his face.
With pinpoint accuracy she had stabbed him through one of the shoulder gaps in the armor puncturing it deeply..
The pain forced him to release the sword and drop to his knees, exhausted and bleeding through the gap in the armor he had no other option than to admit defeat.
As the fight was over, a few young men came to the armored lord rescue. They helped him out of the arena and quickly took him inside the castle for medical treatment.
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The young woman remained silent and was about to leave when a known face jumped inside the arena. Riou recognized the blond man immediately, the prince was taking over the show.
“What is he up to now?” said one of the soldiers.
“I know him… Katius, Calius....” Riou tried to remember the night before when the king shouted his name.
“Prince Kasius, son of the king and leader of the Second army” quickly added the soldier.
Riou was surprised to hear that.
The prince quickly got everyone’s attention.
"And another contender has fallen. Will someone ever be able to win against this ferocious beast?"
Laughter came out from the nobles there. Seemed all were expecting such a result.
The prince continued "A shame that the duel was so quick… we were expecting more entertainment from it” he looked around the people there “Perhaps we should have another go? Just for the fun of it of course" said the smiling and humorous prince. “I’m sure the maiden can continue, after all, this was just her usual warm up. Is she ready for another fight?”
He turned towards her with a wicked smile "What do you say, Eileen?"
Her eyes were cold as ice and her face didn't even flinch with the remark, she stood there elegantly and silently.
Riou could feel the animosity between the two, they clearly didn’t like each other very much.
The blond woman calmly and very gracefully raised her sword up. But Riou could tell she was not happy about that in the slightest.
"So, is there any new contender? Who dares to fight against this maiden of the norse?" Said the prince looking around the crowd once again.
No one said a word, so he insisted “Anyone?”
"My Prince, anyone will do?" Shouted a voice near Riou.
Kassius searched for the voice and noticed the soldier and the boy near him. “But of course, anyone here would do”
"So If you allow, this boy here could use a lesson!" shouted the soldier of the First.
Realizing his intentions, Riou shook his head to him and even tried to sneak away, but the soldiers made sure to block his attempt.
The prince smiled brightly, "The commoner?" he said in a low tone and continued with his enthusiastic voice "Since he is a guest..." He looked at the spectators waiting for him to continue, they were ecstatic, waiting for his next words. They clearly wanted more, despite who was up against her.
The prince knew for certain that a commoner would never win against her. And the chance that he’d be gravely wounded in the process delighted him.
"But it is not me who must decide, My dear Eileen, do you accept this boy’s challenge? An untrained commoner shouldn’t be any problem for you, or could it be?"
Again, with a cold, yet elegant gesture, she closed her eyes and nodded. By her posture and response, Riou felt as if she was unable to deny it even if she wanted to.
Forcing the young woman into a fight she didn’t want, lowered his impression of the prince even more. Riou could not understand why he was pushing the situation like this.
"It is settled then... come up commoner and ready yourself for the beating of your life." Said the Prince getting out of the arena.
The soldiers forcefully brought Riou who was clearly not comfortable with that situation and was ready to bail off if given the chance.
"Guys, I don't think this is wise... she might kill me" Complained Riou trying to get out of it.
“Don’t worry about it, think like this is just another training session.” said an overjoyed soldier. The other soldier patted him in the back pushing him up the arena “Yeah, just like training, just do what you can and try not to bleed too much”
From the balcony above the arena, away from the commotion and noise, the King’s attention was away from it and he didn’t notice the entrance of a new figure in the arena. Beside him, was his wife, ready to leave as the fight was over, when the queen spoke.
“It seems they are preparing for another fight, do you know anything about this Elrik?”
“What?” The king widened his eyes in surprise and turned his gaze down to see what was going on.
When he saw who was in the arena he stood up immediately “What is that boy doing?”
Noticing her husband's overreaction, she looked at the boy inside the arena, intrigued. “Do you know him?”
“Yes, he is under Maximilian protection, the old man took quite a liking to him”
The queen found that very interesting to hear.
The sound of chants in the ground picked their attention once again.
The other soldiers from the First army seeing Riou inside the arena went crazy chanting his name.
"RIOU! RIOU! RIOU!"
The queen turned to her husband once more “So, what else do you know of this boy? He seems to have gained the favor not only of the great Magus, but also the soldiers of the First. But I can't recall him, from which family is he?”
The king glanced at her “None that we are aware of”. His eyes turned and fixed once again on the arena, he seemed quite concerned about it, for more reasons than he let out.
The queen smiled noticing it, she was quite surprised that the king knew about the boy.
“I will put a stop to this before the girl puts a hole in him” He said, but as he was about to move away from the chair. The queen stopped him.
She shook her head “The boy is already in the arena, the challenge has been accepted, by tradition we can’t stop it now. So let’s see how he fares”
The king sighed and sat down once again “Tradition… tradition… what if she loses to the worst type of person possible? I wouldn’t be able to help her then”
“There is a reason for this tradition and she has been training a lot so that doesn’t happen. Put more faith in your daughter, she knows what she is doing”
“I really hope so”
One of the soldiers gave Riou a sword and quickly left the arena.
The nobles looked at each other, unsure of who that boy was but he was clearly very known by the soldiers that were shouting and cheering for him. Yet little it mattered to them, at that point all that they wanted to see was him bleeding on the ground.
The blond woman took poise while Riou was still smiling awkwardly and waving around to the guys in the crowd, completely unprepared, holding his sword down to his side.
“Try not to lose too fast!” Shouted one of the soldiers to him.
He was not sure how he should act in that situation, but he knew that he didn’t need the attention of winning against such a beloved champion, but he couldn’t just give up now, could he?
“On my mark!” Said the prince leaving the arena as well. He pulled a coin and showed it to everyone. He then tossed it inside the arena.
It fell down in the middle of it. But nothing happened. Riou and the blond woman remained still as if nothing had happened.
He looked to the soldiers nearby and shrugged. The moment he was distracted, in the blink of an eye she pushed forward, closing the distance between them quickly while thrusting the sword to attack him. She aimed for his right shoulder, the same tactic used in the previous fight.
Riou dodged it by reflex and took some steps away to the side, looking at her in surprise. She really intended to finish him from the get go. He looked directly into her eyes quite shocked by her aggressive attack.
‘Goddam woman, are you trying to kill me?’
She on the other hand seemed confused, he was not expecting the attack, yet he was able to dodge it.
Nonetheless she kept the strong gaze at him until she finally decided to attack again with consecutive movements.
Left and right he was dodging her swings and trusts, using his sword only eventually to deflect a more difficult attack.
As the fight progressed Riou could tell she was still holding herself back, she was only aiming for non vital points and restraining her strength and speed to avoid killing him with a good attack.
The crowd seemed unaware of the real conditions of the fight, they just shouted overjoyed by the spectacle. As expected by them, the challenger was being pushed and couldn’t even fight back.
But the soldiers knew better, they all knew that neither Riou nor Eileen were fighting for real, so to encourage him to step up his game, they began shouting advice as the knight captain would.
"Put your hip on it Riou! You can do it!" Shouted the first soldier, that line made most of the other soldiers of the First that knew Riou to almost laugh their hearts out.
“No way, he’s holding back, does he think he can win?” said one of the soldiers to the others ecstatic.
"Don't overextend! Don't overextend!" Shouted the other two from the other side.
Riou was close enough to listen to them... ‘Those rascals, they want a show’ he thought smiling to himself.
She heard the shouts as well, but kept her cold and intense eyes on her enemy, following his moves closely, trying to reach him with her attacks.
Riou on the other hand, began the theatrics that the soldiers were so familiar with.
At the eyes of the public the boy began to struggle even more, every swing now seemed to miss him in the last possible moment, every attack could be the last one. And yet, he clumsily managed to deflect and escape them miraculously.
His theatricality was deemed real to all but those with a rained eye.
But differently than what happened to soldiers that found it funny, his attitude brought an unexpected reaction on the current opponent. The cold crystal eyes in front of him heated up... Riou could tell she was getting angrier by the second now.
Her strikes began to have more power and speed behind them, pushing him more and more.
Nonetheless he continued for a bit more, barely dodging her attempts in the last second with clumsy moves and sheer luck.
The crowd followed her sword every move, exhilarated expecting each swing to hit him.
It didn't take long for things to escalate further. But it was too late when he realized he had pushed it too far.
His opponent was completely taken and no longer was concerned for his regard.
Her crystal eyes flared with some kind of desperate anger. It was as she could not take that anymore. She just wanted to strike him down no matter the cost at that point
To lose was not an option for her. And if he was good enough to play around like that, more of a reason for her to finish it quickly and not let her guard down.
Her attacks were now crazy fast and with deadly aim.
‘Crap… this went too far already, but I can’t just give up, can I?’’ he thought to himself as she tried to kill him with all her might.
Engaged in the fight, he didn't notice two pairs of eyes watching him from above, one pair filled with concern while the other watched with great interest. With a privileged view, they were well aware of what was happening inside the arena.
Riou defended and dodged towards the center of the arena, he then deliberately started to show signs of fatigue by dropping his sword a bit more.
He wanted to bait her into an overextend with a bigger forward attack, but she was too good to fall for that.
Despite being mad, she was still fighting smart and did not expose herself to counters. ‘She is good!’ he complimented her mentally ‘But I doubt she saw through my bluff completely or she would have given up by now... let’s try to force her into action then so we can end this in a good way’
And so, for the first time in the fight, he went into the offensive.
His swings were big and clumsy with just enough power to push her back, but just a bit. ’She will make a move soon… she will try to counter me eventually’ he expected her to act and waited on it.
She finally decided on it, took position by shifting her weight to the back leg expecting his strike and to counter it.
With a big swing to her right side, he forced her to dodge to the left. He then followed the motion with a sudden change of the blade’s direction towards the upper body. It was a weak swing and she expected it.
Since it was a weak swing, she was confident enough to parry it and redirected his sword to her left side, exposing him completely to a direct and fatal attack that would put an end to the fight.
So she countered it, certain to end the fight at that moment, but strangely to her, it did not go as expected.
Her swords somehow entangled and twisted with his, in a manner she was not expecting.
It tried to twist on her hand, ready to slip away. She knew whoever lost the weapon would lose so she desperately focused all her attention and power to hold on to it, but suddenly, the resistance unexpectedly ceased and her sword remained safely in her hand.
She gripped it and jumped back, getting ready to continue the fight.
"I give up" said the boy
She was completely surprised. The maiden was so taken by the fight and focused on her own sword that she didn’t realize what happened.
In front of her was a smiling boy with messy brown hair and joyous dark blue eyes, raising his empty hands slowly for her to see.
It was only then that she realized he was not holding a sword anymore.
*Bang* she heard the metallic sound hitting the arena’s floor nearby.
The crowd shouted and cheered her for the exhilarating fight.
Hearing them shouting, she once again calmed down and regained her senses.
His sword went flying from that last interaction, and now unarmed, he conceded the duel.
At least that's what it seemed to the spectators. Riou had used the opportunity to make it look like she was the one that skillfully removed his sword and threw it away with her own sword..
But she knew it was not her doing, much less did she know how his sword went flying. She could not shake off a feeling that something was amiss, she was the one losing at that moment, how could she win?
Riou smiled at her and saluted the winner very briefly before quickly leaving the arena and joining the Soldiers.
As the crowd shouted she stood there watching Riou leave.
The boy was smiling, laughing with the soldiers who were extremely happy tapping him on the back. A bit too happy, and there was that strange feeling in the end that didn’t want to leave her even now with the fight’s over. Something was definitely off.
Kasius quickly got on the Arena once again "What a marvelous demonstration, it was another crushing defeat for the contender... a pity he was such a bad swordsman that he’d lose without blood being spilled. Truly outstanding demonstration of superiority my dear Eileen".
His words brought her back to the present and without uttering a word she quickly left the arena and went inside the castle.
At the balcony. The queen observed her daughter moving away quite irritated and opened a big, excited smile in her face. She grabbed the king’s arm tightly.
"Who is that boy Elrik?!" she asked inquisitively.
The king sighed relieved it all ended well “We don’t know who he is or where he came from... But now I understand why Max has him in such a high regard. By choosing to lose this fight he has proven to be a very smart boy”
The queen nodded smiling to herself.
“Why are you so happy? She could have lost this fight if he was serious, you know what that would mean right? He might be a commoner Hanna!”
“That doesn’t matter for our tradition… what really matters now is how Eileen will deal with it”
“What do you mean? The boy lost, that’s all that matters.”
The queen was already lost in her own thoughts “Yes… that’s all that matters” she replies vaguely while smiling with anticipation.