by Pirateaba
Ceria coughed gently, as if I’m making a stupid mistake.
“Yvlon Byres is leader of the Silver Spears, but she’s also part of a noble family, Ryoka.”
I look blank. Ceria sighs.
“The Byres family? Aristocracy?”
“Minor aristocracy.”
Yvlon corrects Ceria with a smile.
“We trade in silver and have several large mines in the area. And we’re distantly related to the Reinharts.”
She says that as if it means something. The who…?
Oh. Ah shit. Magnolia’s last name is Reinhart, isn’t it? That means—
That fucking woman. Even when I think I’ve outrun her she manages to find someone to bother me.
For a moment my scowl flashes across my face and Gerial closes his mouth and sits back. Yvlon eyes me, the smile still fixed on her face.
“I’m sorry if my aunt has bothered you Ryoka, but she’s quite insistent. And she’s told all of my family—everyone, really, to keep an eye out for her.”
Gerial blinks at Yvlon. Not the quickest on the uptake, and nor are the other adventurers. But the archer-guy—Cervial I think his name was—and Ceria both stare intently at Yvlon. And so does Calruz. I guess he’s pretty quick too.
But if Ceria and Cervial say nothing, Calruz doesn’t have their subtlety. Or any, for that matter. He rests his arm on the table and leans forwards—which is only a little bit since he’s so massive already—to stare down at Yvlon.
“Her business is her own. If Magnolia Reinhart seeks Ryoka Griffin, she should either respect her privacy or seek her outright.”
Yvlon makes a pretty face and shrugs ruefully at Calruz.
“Sorry, Calruz, but no one in my family defies Lady Magnolia. And I wasn’t intending on doing anything to Ryoka. I just wanted to know if she really was good at fighting barehanded.”
“And I suppose you are?”
Again, maybe she’s well known, but everyone gives me a look like I’m a massive idiot. Yvlon smiles.
“I’ve got a bit of a reputation. The Silver Spears are known for fighting with any weapon that comes to hand, and barehanded if need be.”
Sostrom nudges me on my right side and mutters loud enough for me to hear.
“She once defeated five bandits with only her bare hands after losing her sword.”
Wow. Wooooow. And am I supposed to be impressed by that? Beating five guys down with your bare hands isn’t exactly amazing by my book. And it’s less amazing because Yvlon Byres is wearing full-plate armor made out of expensive metal. If she was fighting ‘barehanded’ with those metal gauntlets on against five guys with bad weapons, I’d put money on her too.
Perhaps my lack of any amazement showed*, because Yvlon raised one perfect eyebrow and the other adventurers looked—discontented. Why? Because I’m not impressed by a chump in armor smacking around a few idiots?
*It totally did. I was not impressed.
“I heard that you managed to defeat a low-level [Assassin] with your bare hands and fought a Carn Wolf without any weapons as well.”
This time everyone goes silent. Okay, that’s it. Magnolia has been upgraded from a person I really don’t want to talk to into someone I can’t ignore. The assassin is one thing since I bet she hired him but—how did she know about the wolf?
“I’d love to see your abilities myself. I know you’re tired, but if you have time for a quick match I could give you a handicap.”
There’s no malice in Yvlon’s tone. In fact, she’s been pretty above-board with me about telling me she knows Magnolia and all. And it’s probably a fair offer, considering adventurer levels and all that. Certainly none of the other adventurers – Gerial, Sostrom, etc. are frowning. Only Calruz looks displeased.
But—a handicap. A handicap for me from this woman who looks like a supermodel who got sent back in time? Or one of those Hollywood female knights?
Right, that’s it. I’m tired, cranky, and I’d just ran over sixty miles last night to get here after fighting a mysterious assassin, getting in a bar fight, and managing to cast magic for the first time in my life.
First things first. I’m going to kick Yvlon’s face in, challenge Calruz to a fight, and then go to sleep.
Exactly in that order.
The potion bottle in at my waist sloshes gently as I grin with all my teeth at Ms. Perfect Knight-Adventurer.
“Why, I’d love to have a sparring match. Tell me, have you ever heard the word MMA?”
She looks confused.
“MMA?”
1.12 R
When Garia arrived in Esthelm just before midday, she saw the commotion outside the Adventurer’s Guild before she’d even dropped off her delivery.
Sugar. Several bags of it – enough for a huge rush order in one of the bakeries in town. The heavy, sticky delivery had messed up the inside Garia’s pack. She’d have to spend quite some time cleaning it out with water and a ball of soap.
The thought was depressing to the girl, but she put that out of her mind the instant she saw Ryoka. As always, the other girl was at the center of some kind of attention. In this case, she was surrounded by a crowd of adventurers in the open courtyard used for training and sparring in the Adventurer’s Guild.
She wasn’t sparring or using a weapon. Yet. But Garia could see as plain as her own level that Ryoka was about to fight. The other girl had a—a certain expression that crossed her face in times like these.
Externally, she did seem like normal Ryoka. That was to say, her impassive face which gave nothing away and her distant, reserved eyes which had fascinated Garia the first day she’d met the other girl.
But in times like these, though the mask would not break, Garia could see another Ryoka peering out from behind. And her eyes – yes, you had to look there. Ryoka’s eyes held a faint, fierce light.
It made Garia hesitate, but she was even kinder than she was curious. That instinct prompted her to gently push her way through the crowd of adventurers to stop Ryoka from picking a fight with someone dangerous.
—-
Ryoka was stretching her legs out, touching her toes when she saw someone lift up a guy in leather armor and shift him out of the way. Garia, red-faced and blushing, apologized and edged into the open space and towards Ryoka.
Huh. But Ryoka had suggested Garia come to the city, hadn’t she? It was just…odd. Her conversation with Garia felt like it had happened a long time ago. But she’d been awake then and hadn’t slept since.
Tired. Which wasn’t good. Ryoka had to be at the top of her game for what was coming next.
Ryoka nodded as Garia cautiously walked closer. She would have smiled—or at least thought about smiling—but she didn’t feel like it. She needed to concentrate.
“Hey.”
“Um, hi Ryoka. What’s up?”
“Nothing much. See that person? The one in the silver armor? She challenged me to a fight.”
Ryoka nodded across the courtyard, to where Yvlon was talking to Ceria, Calruz, and several other members of the Horns of Hammerad. Garia eyed her once, gulped, and then bent down to whisper to Ryoka.
“Ryoka? Did you do something to make her—um, mad?”
Ryoka bared her teeth. It might have been a smile.
“I don’t think so. Not yet, anyways. She challenged me to a ‘friendly’ match. I accepted. Why?”
“Oh. Nothing. It’s just—that’s Yvlon Byres, Captain of the Silver Spears. She’s famous around here.”
“So I’m told.”
“And she challenged you. To a fight?”
“Well, a sparring match. I was the one who wanted to turn it into a fight.”
“Why?”
Ryoka hesitated. She eyed Yvlon across the open space between them. The other young woman—she was closer to Ryoka’s age, possibly a year or two older—was smiling and addressing a worried-looking Ceria. She turned, met Ryoka’s eyes, and nodded politely.
The barefoot girl looked away. She began stret
ching her other leg and muttered to Garia.
“I—just want to push her face in a bit, don’t you? She’s a bit too beautiful and perfect.”
Garia waited, but Ryoka just stood back up and began touching her toes, breathing slowly and steadily.
“That’s it?”
“Yup.”
“Ryoka, that’s—I know Yvlon. Her group, the Silver Spears helped chase off a group of bandits that was attacking me once. And I’ve heard of her. She’s a really good person! She’s nice, she gives to the poor, her team takes on requests to help people even if the reward isn’t high—”
“I get it. She’s a great person.A popular girl. A someone everyone likes.”
The expression on Ryoka’s face said that she didn’t share the same opinion. Her eyes were flinty as they flicked towards Yvlon.
“You don’t think she’s like that?”
“Maybe. Maybe not. She just—reminds me of people I don’t like. And she looks too nice for an adventurer. I don’t like nice people.”
“That doesn’t make any sense, Ryoka.”
“I guess. Shame.”
Ryoka finished stretching out her hamstrings and stood straight, sighing. Her conversation with Garia was—distracting. She didn’t really have a good explanation for Garia, not one she could articulate. It was just how she felt. More than anything, Ryoka had been happy to fight Yvlon.
The other adventurer noticed she was staring and smiled again. Ryoka scowled. That smile. That polite little smile. She wanted to wipe it off Yvlon’s face.
“She looks way too attractive, that’s all.”
Garia shook her head. She seemed to wrestle with herself and then burst out.
“You both look like—like princesses!”
Ryoka blinked at the other Runner. Garia stared back, embarrassed.
“You do. You both look—way better than I do. Or Persua. Or anyone, really. I don’t see why you want to fight her.”
“She wants to test me, too. She’s working for Magnolia.”
“She’s related to Lady Magnolia, Ryoka.”
“Hrm.”
“You know she once took on five men and won, right? She did it barehanded.”
“With armor, though, right? Not exactly barehanded.”
Garia was close to tearing out her hair. She clutched at her head and regretted it as her sugar-encrusted palms mixed with her sweat.
“It was still five people, Ryoka! Most adventurers couldn’t do that with a weapon!”
Ryoka knew that was true. She knew it was…probably…impressive, but even in her own head she didn’t want to give the thought too much credence. Garia was still talking. Ryoka debated tuning her out and reluctantly listened.
“I know she won’t hurt you—not if you don’t try to hurt her. But Silver-rank adventurers aren’t like that guy you fought in the tavern, Ryoka. If you make her get serious she’ll—what are you doing?”
“Warming up.”
The barefoot girl wasn’t done with her pre-fight stretching. From stretching her legs, she’d moved onto her arms. And while the adventurers had watched her touch her toes and stretch her legs with interest, the next phase of her warm up was…different.
Ryoka shook her arms out in a fanning motion. It looked ridiculous, she knew. Sort of like a kid pretending to be a chicken. But it was a necessary stretch if she wanted to throw hooks when she was fighting. She began to circle her arms around, first in one direction, and then the other.
Adventurers were laughing. Ryoka ignored them. She raised her arm and grabbed the elbow, gently pushing it down her back. Then she repeated it with her other arm.
All in all the stretches took five minutes. Ryoka did everything from touching her toes to stretching out her legs to rotating her hips as if she was using a hula-hoop in slow motion.
When it was done, Ryoka could feel every part of her body was ready to go. She also had an audience. Besides the adventurers already watching her and Yvlon, a group of enterprising street vendors had joined the crowd along with a sizable group of pedestrians. They were already betting as they stood in the circle, chatting, eating food, and laughing at Ryoka’s antics.
Yvlon smiled as Ryoka walked into the center of the ring. She nodded to Ceria and took a few steps towards Ryoka.
“Interesting. You’re quite limber. Was that supposed to help you fight?”
“You don’t stretch before a fight?”
The other adventurers laughed or chuckled. Yvlon shook her head and replied drily.
“Not like that. I don’t think any warriors I know would do that – especially not in front of an audience.”
“Shame. One more advantage for me, then.”
It was amazing, Garia reflected as she watched Ryoka, that the other girl was completely—and always, come to think of it—confident. Even when she was facing down an adventurer in armor.
“Pardon me. I was just reassuring your friends that this friendly exhibition would not be harmful to you. If you’ll allow me a minute, I’ll remove my armor.”
So saying Yvlon began removing her gauntlets, but Ryoka shook her head.
“You can leave your armor on. The gauntlets too.”
The crowd had been talking and joking as they waited for the sparring match to begin, but Ryoka’s words created a hush as if someone had cast a [Silence] spell. Yvlon raised her eyebrows and behind her, Ceria slapped her forehead.
“I wouldn’t want to hurt you.”
“It won’t be me that gets hurt.”
“Ryoka, don’t be an idiot!”
Ceria walked forwards and snapped at the barefoot runner. She lowered her voice so not everyone could hear her, but in the silence her words were perfectly audible to those around her.
“Are you insane? You can’t fight someone in armor! Yvlon is a Silver-rank captain. Even if she pulls her punches she’ll hurt you. This is just a sparring match—neither of you are supposed to get hurt.”
“Really? Then let’s make it a serious fight.”
Ceria groaned as Calruz grinned in approval. The Minotaur watched Ryoka approvingly, liking her bravado. Ceria did not. She hissed at Ryoka so only the Runner could hear.
“Yvlon is not someone to take lightly, Ryoka. She’s honorable, proud—even if she is being patient. Stop being so rude.”
“I’m taking her seriously, believe me. But I want to see what fighting someone in armor is like. And besides…you’ve never seen me fight, have you?”
Ceria blinked at Ryoka. She eyed her from top to toe.
“No—but—”
“Trust me.”
“If Miss Ryoka Griffin says she’s confident, I will trust her word, Ceria.”
Yvlon smiled at the Half-elf, meeting Ceria’s worried stare. An unspoken message passed between the two and Ceria’s pointed ears lowed slightly before she stepped back.
Now Ryoka and Yvlon were alone in the center of the ring. Ryoka bounced on the balls of her feet, eying Yvlon as the other woman divested herself of her belt pouches and sword.
“I am afraid Ceria is right though, Ryoka. I would hate for you to break your hands on my armor or for me to cut your face with my gauntlets. I am sure I would be able to give you a fair fight even without my armor.”
“It’s fine. You’re not wearing a helmet anyways.”
Again, Ryoka’s words caused a stir in the crowd, and not an entirely positive one. From her position, Garia could see some of the other adventurers – especially the armored women who were part of the Silver Spears – looking annoyed or outright angry at Ryoka’s words.
But Yvlon only smiled politely. It was a smile quite similar to Lady Magnolia’s, actually. A [Lady]’s smile that gave nothing away.
“Very well. I am told you practice some sort of unarmed fighting? You said it was…MMA? I confess that I have only a bit of formal training myself. Much of what I know is self-taught.”
“Yeah. I practice Mixed Martial Arts. Muay Thai.”
“And you are a skill
ed practitioner of this…Muay Thai?”
“Where I come from, yeah.”
“Interesting. Then shall we begin? I believe it would be only courteous to allow you the first strike.”
Yvlon walked forwards a few steps, and then raised her gauntleted arms in something close to a boxer’s guard. The murmuring of the crowd increased as Ryoka began circling the other woman, hands up.
Her posture was different than it would be in a Muay Thai sparring match. Ryoka was treating this like an MMA fight, although she’d never been in one herself. But she’d practiced one the off-chance her parents would allow her to fight in the ring.
Her posture and center of balance were lowered, her stance was wider and her hands were loosely clasped into fists. She rested more weight on her front leg as she eyed Yvlon.
Now that she was finally in front of the other woman Ryoka found time for a shred of regret that she was fighting the other woman in armor. It was complete idiocy to fight anyone in armor barehanded. She knew that.
But part of Ryoka wanted this. She wanted the challenge; she wanted to see how far she could push herself against unfair odds like this. And most of all, she wanted to win even with Yvlon in full plate armor. She wanted it quite badly, in fact.
The other woman slowly rotated to follow Ryoka as the barefoot girl circled her. She was waiting for Ryoka’s first move, as she’d said.
Well, that was fine with her. Ryoka feinted with her hands. Yvlon’s instinctively moved to block. Ryoka put all her weight onto her front leg and spun, throwing her back leg up and back towards the side of Yvlon’s head in what was known as a spinning wheel kick.
Ryoka’s leg flashed upwards and Yvlon barely raised her arms in time to protect her head. Despite the armor she wore, she still staggered back from the impact.
That was the moment Ryoka had really been waiting for. Even before she was fully back upright she moved sideways and threw a punch at Yvlon’s head.
Her hands were impossibly quick. Garia couldn’t even see Ryoka as the girl threw a lightning-fast jab at the adventurer’s face.
Ryoka’s right hand flew forwards in a strike that would have caught Yvlon straight on the tip of her chin. But before it landed one silver-plated hand came up and seized Ryoka’s hand.
