Chapter 24: Before the storm

IMPORTANT!!! This was NOT written by Einlion. Enjoy.

MC POV:

After leaving the throne room, the maid led me through a few hallways, and soon after, we arrived in front of what I correctly assumed to be my room. She opened the door and gestured for me to enter.

"Wow," I muttered due to the sheer size of the room.

"Master Arthur's living quarters include a spacious living room, a dining table for six people, an open terrace, a master bedroom, and a servant's quarters where I will be staying in case master needs something," she explained.

"I see," I replied, giving the maid a closer look.

'Hm? She looks familiar, but I can't remember where I saw her...'

She had long oranger hair that turned light green at the ends, a pair of big magenta-colored eyes, a friendly smile, and a shapely yet athletic figure. She seemed to be around twenty years old and 165 cm tall since she was a head taller than me. Her maid uniform consisted of a black dress with white frills and bows and a white apron held by a big white bow on her back. In addition, the dress had a big opening on the chest, showing off her breasts, and only reached the middle of her thigh, showing off her slender legs and the pair of white stockings.

'Maid outfits are the best!' I thought to myself.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"My name is Kiara Takanashi," she replied with a slight bow.

(A/N: So yeah. Please, don't kill me for this.)

"Eh? Isn't that a Japanese surname?" I asked, slightly confused, finally recognizing who the person in front of me was.

"That is indeed the case. One of my ancestors came from Japan, and the surname survived until today," she replied.

"Are you, by any chance, a phoenix?" I inquired.

This time it was her turn to be surprised.

"Eh?" she exclaimed in surprise. "I am not, but one of my ancestors was. How did young master know I was related to them?" she asked.

'I see, so it's just her name and appearance that are the same,' I concluded.

"Just a feeling," I replied. "Also, please call me Arthur. I am not used to being called young master, and it honestly makes me uncomfortable," I added.

"I am sorry, young master, but I can't do that," she replied apologetically. "Can I call you Arthur-sama instead?" she asked.

"*Sigh* Fine..." I said in resignation. "Kiara, can you show me to the knights' training grounds? I am honestly not that tired, and there is probably still a lot of time until the banquet," I asked.

"As you wish," she replied, and we left the room.

***

The training grounds consisted of two parts. One was for close combat training, which included swords, spears, and other weapons, while the second was a shooting range for magical muskets. Both were filled with knights hard at work, with a certain girl being particularly eye-catching due to her young age.

"What brings you here, Arthur?" resounded the familiar voice of captain Lawrance, causing me to look in his direction.

Like every other knight here, he wore a scarlet uniform with black and golden accents, resembling the British Army's Infantry, gold aigrettes on the right shoulder, and a pair of white trousers. What made his uniform different was the emblem on the right side of his chest denoting his rank.

"I wanted to see how the knights train," I replied.

"Why? Do you want to become one?" he inquired.

"Not really," I answered. "I have some experience with swords, so I was hoping I could find someone to spare with," I added, and a playful smile appeared on Lawrence's face.

"Why don't you spare with me then?" he proposed.

"Sure!" I replied with an innocent smile, fully aware of his underestimating my abilities.

"Follow me," he said and went towards the space reserved for duels.

Once there, he grabbed two training swords, threw one toward me, and entered the stage. It was a thirty-centimeter thick platform with a white ten-meter wide circle drawn on top.

"Aren't you going to take a stance?" I asked.

"Nah, I will be fine," he replied with a relaxed smile.

"Don't say I didn't warn you!" I shouted and made my move.

In less than a second, I was already in front of him, holding my sword close to his neck. Everyone paying attention at that moment was stunned, not even noticing that Lawrence's sword was no longer in his hand.

"I told you to take me seriously," I said with a cheeky smile bringing him out of his stupor.

"Even if I did, I don't think I would be able to react to that speed," he replied with an awkward smile. "You are something else, kid," he added.

"Care for another round?" I inquired, not satisfied with how fast it ended. "Sure. I wouldn't be the captain if I gave up easily," he replied with a grin.

"Good. I will slow down a bit then. If I keep winning like this, it won't be fun," I said cheekily and waited for Lawrence to grab another sword.

Once he got back in the ring, he took a proper stance this time, and his face turned serious. He was visibly determined to win this time.

I lunged at him again, albeit slower, not wanting to keep him waiting. In contrast to the first time, he replied by slashing at me.

Since I didn't want to end it too fast, I stepped to the side and slashed back at him, to which he countered with a slash of his own. With each exchange, our swords generated a loud sound, and despite being made out of wood, they didn't break under the torrents of attacks they received.

'Are these enhanced with magic by any chance?' I thought to myself and performed a quick scan confirming my suspicions.

We continued in such a manner until something I didn't anticipate happened.

*Bang bang*

The first bullet hit Lawrence in the head, after which he fell to the ground in pain but uninjured. The other one, on the other hand, passed right in front of my eyes, as my instinct warned me in time to step back.

"Captain Lawrence, with all due respect, you were supposed to watch over our training, not distract us," said a girl around my age, with golden brown hair tied in a ponytail by a black and white ribbon and golden eyes, holding a musket.

"Ugh," groaned Lawrence while standing up. "Do you have to be so strict when I haven't had this much fun in a long time?" he asked with a tired expression. "But I get what you mean," he added after glancing at the crowd around us consisting of the previously training knights.

"I guess this is the end of our spar?" I inquired.

"Yeah. If you have nothing against it, I would like to repeat it on another occasion. I feel like just this short sparring helped me improve," Lawrence said.

"Sure, I had fun as well. Just keep in mind that I will have to leave in a few weeks," I said, an apologetic smile plastered on my face.

Sparring against people was far more interesting than the golems inside The Orb. It just felt more 'real.'

"I will keep that in mind," he replied.

After that, we left the stage, but as I was about to leave the training grounds, someone called out to me from behind.

"How did you dodge my bullet without even looking?" said the girl from before in a flat tone.

'Ok, if this doesn't scream cliche and fate, then I don't know what does,' I thought to myself after considering how many times I already saw her and how many times our gazes met.

"My instincts told me to dodge, so I did," I replied while shrugging my shoulders casually. "Also, it's rude to call out like that to someone. At least tell me your name first," I added.

"My apologies," she said while performing a bow. At the same time, her ears gained a pinkish coloration due to embarrassment. "My name is Isuzuruha Centollusia," she added.

"My name is Arthur Yuuki," I replied. "Now, unless there is something more you would like to ask me, I will excuse myself since I need to prepare for the upcoming banquet," I continued, and after confirming there was nothing more, I left.

***

"Ugh..." I muttered while falling face-first on top of my bed.

"Was all of that necessary?" I asked while glancing back at Kiara, preparing my clothes for the banquet.

"Of course. It's a maid's duty to help her master bath," she replied.

"But I could have cleaned the front myself..." I commented.

"Arthur-sama has nothing to be embarrassed about," she said. "You are very well endowed for your age," she added with a teasing smile.

"You seem to find it funny, but it took my all not to pounce on you," I said in annoyance.

"Even if the master did, as a maid, I could only accept," she replied with a helpless smile at which I deadpanned.

"..." I decided not to continue any further and quietly waited for my clothes to get ready.