Reborn as the Princess' Knight (GL)

Chapter 73: A spar with the Hero (III).

Kein's POV

We went through the estate halls and behind it was a sparring open area for training that father always had next to the horse and Pegasus stables. Including a weapon shed that has wooden training weapons and normal metal-based ones.

The area was also a track for the horses and Pegasus, and not too far away from here is a forest filled with normal animals to hunt, good for camping and getting herbs or berries.

"Wow! Your estate is so cool! You know after being a hero for a year I thought I'd get one of these as some payment but-" (Avery) turns to Rose slowly giving a sheepish grin to the princess.

Her eyes were telling her how much she wanted one of these if she ever did a good job in the current mission. "What if~ I get one from our princess over here?"

"Well- a land and mansion are an easy feat for the king to distribute to the hero." (Rose) answers and to Avery's rejoice, she raises up her arms a little and yells out loudly- "Yes!"

Smack!

Feeling that she's being a little too carefree about the whole thing, I walked forward to give her a good smack on the head.

"Already thinking of the reward when we haven't succeeded on the mission?" I place a hand on my waist seeing the hero's pouting figure.

Avery's hands rested on her head gently scratching to the spot where I smacked her. "Ow... of course, I have to think about the reward. You're obviously hiring me- what if I just dipped because I felt like the reward ain't worth the trouble?"

"..."

I realized I shouldn't probably treat her too strictly and poorly. There is a chance that she backs out on the mission, and I'll be left all alone to try killing the demon lord to which I haven't even faced. Besides I'm not used to the demon land climates, culture and area.

If I want an even chance of even getting that dragon heart, I'll be at her mercy for aid.

"You're right. I apologize for smacking you and I'll offer you the reward on things you might want." I told Avery and her eyes were definitely glittering but before she could say her first request of me- "And it must be something I'm able to give."

"Oh... hmm."

From the sad look on her face she was definitely thinking of something impossible to give. Avery thinks for a bit about what she wanted to add on the reward but nothing.

"I mean the mansion and estate sounds cool but then I remembered I might need to come home sooner or later." (Avery) mutters sadly, looking like an attached puppy in a park that doesn't want to go home.

As we walked, we took off our vest and clothes that would restrict our movements.

I slowly took off my vest, giving it to my lovely girlfriend who took it from me with a warm smile. "Be careful please, if you have any cuts or bruises be sure to tell me or ask the hero to stop if it gets too much." She pulled my sleeve, and my heart did those little flips again.

Her soft voice telling me to be careful has been embedded in my mind. This would always give me fond memories after training with my father. I wouldn't even bother going to our family doctor but instead go to the orphanage just to find Rose.

I would complain about how much it hurts, and she would patch me right back up to good health.

"Oh... I sort of love it when you worry, I missed it." I tell her looking so in love however I wouldn't want her to lose her faith in me.

"But trust me... I'll be alright. I'll be careful and if I ever get hurt, I know you'll patch me right back up." I took her hand and kissed it fondly on the front before going back to regroup with Avery who was already in her fighting adventurer clothes.

She eyes me and raises one of her eyebrows making a weird face with her biting her lip. "I didn't know you were such a romantic." (Avery) snickers and I roll my eyes ignoring it.

"So do you miss home?" I fixed the end of my sleeves before picking up two wooden swords that were displayed near. Someone seems to have used this, possibly guards that's doing their usual training inside the estate.

I threw Avery the wooden sword, catching it and she inspected it with [Scan].

Seeing that it was a normal sword made out of wood she laughs. "Do I miss home? Not one bit, no one could understand my passion, but I do miss the games and food... not to mention conventions." (Avery) mutters in a conflicted voice.

Clearly there were parts of home she misses and some parts that she doesn't.

"Why are we going to fight with wooden swords by the way? Wouldn't it be more exciting if we both brought out our cursed swords for fun?" she swings around the wooden sword in her hand looking so experienced on the blade and I couldn't help but admire her weird way of holding the sword.

"If I fight you with a wooden sword, it feels like I'll break it in a few seconds of using it."

Her hands were gripping tight on the hilt, and she had it near her body using one hand.

"As someone who has seen your strength, slashing a whole wyvern's stomach in one slice. This is a precaution just in case you accidentally cut my home in half." I tell her with a serious look on my face, remembering the dead wyvern's body being cut in half while we were still inside of it.

We were covered in its saliva and blood, Avery remained unscathed. She was like a whole monster, a beast you shouldn't even dare trying to tame.

If she even brings her cursed sword into battle and then does a huge damage to my home, many would be dead or injured. I wouldn't want to risk it.

"It wouldn't hurt to be careful." I tell her and she keeps a proper stance. I have the wooden sword using both of my hands and moved my head a little to the right, signaling her to move first.

"You wound me that you're beating around the bush, I like people who are straight-forward. You should tell straight to my face that you're afraid of me so now you're letting me strike first to test my strength?" (Avery) raises her sword in my direction and I laugh.

"Jokes on you I'm not straight!" I yell in her direction getting her caught off guard!

Avery huffs in anger looking offended. "Not that kind of straight! No offense- I'm just saying like- are you afraid of me?" she asked if I was afraid of her. I almost threw my wooden sword at her for even asking.

"Obviously you cut a wyvern clean in half!"

Who wouldn't be afraid of that? If my father suddenly sees his house being cut in half with so much damage, I will never hear the end of it. He'll double my work and I already have much to do with all the adventuring missions I've been doing.

And err... possibly the unfinished work I was supposed to do after the festival, but it was instead used up to have my time doing Rose instead.

"Fine! You're not going to strike first and I'm bored!" (Avery) completes her stance, her face serious, her smiling face gone. I could feel the air getting heavier and I went into a defensive position. "Don't get too roughed up now!"

"[Haste]!" Quickly she casts a spell that could make her move faster. Her movements were blurry, the silhouette of her clothes were the only movements I could see running towards me at fast speed, but I was fast to think of my counter spell to use on her. "[Cancel]!"

I chanted having a black magic circle appear on my hand and soon her speed was back to normal again. "See?! You're op! That spell was one of my favorite ones! You stopped it!" (Avery)

I stayed silent on the whole battle while she talked, keeping with her blows.

Smack! Smack! Swoosh!

Our swords parried, the sound of wood's thickness in the air could be heard. My eyes were wandering everywhere on her body trying to see if there was any weak point on her that I could target.

Smack!

What in the... I could find several waypoints I could hit but-

Smack!

I tried hitting her with my wooden sword, but I realized that deep inside her adventurer clothes, inside of it was armor. She's wearing armor inside?! Doesn't that hurt?!

"Hey! Look up."

"?!"

I was met with the wooden blade's front being hit right by my shoulder. I took too much time looking for an opening that I forgot to keep my guard up on defending my guard. I clenched my teeth in pain feeling the red mark I'm going to have later.

This is even worse than father's strikes.

The strength difference is really huge.

"Oh shit! Sorry, are you okay?! Did I hit too hard?!" (Avery) cusses after she sees me not moving, with genuine concern she immediately stops her fighting stance and walks up to me to check on my condition.

"Are you good or should I call in the princess to patch you up?"

I waved her off and pulled out one of her healing potion bottles from before showing it to her. "Yeah... I'm good besides this is the perfect excuse to try out that healing potion anyways. How can I test it if I don't get hurt?"

Avery blinks a few more times before realizing that the reason why we even had this whole sparring session was because she wanted to test if mana potions and health potions would work on me.

"Ah right the potions! I forgot about them! Aw man I thought we'll be having fun with a little spar for a bit longer." She scratches the back of her head and I sighed tiringly, feeling that she's a different person when I was fighting with her and when she's like this...

"I saw you looking at some parts of my body that I leave out easily in the open. Well, I was fighting this one demon that saw every open spot that I had and that was really not doing it for me, so I just wear armor on those points that I leave out in the open." (Avery) takes the end of her pants and folds it up to show the armor plates clinging onto her skin.

My eyes definitely couldn't believe the guts of this girl. Is she insane?!

"Ugh... I can't believe you wear those armor inside- doesn't they itch or hurt? Heck, I bet they leave a mark to the point your skin turns purple."

"Oh definitely!" She tells me happily even continuing to show me which part of her body began to make that deep red color and a few purple bruises. "But they keep my victory streak running and I won't have to worry about finding people like you ruining my wins. All that grinding obviously paid off!"

"Obviously these save me lots of monster bites, so I owe this armor my life."

How could she smile like that while she was showing me her wounds like it was nothing?!

She's... definitely another kind of monster I don't want to mess with.

Avery Williams… What in the world did you go through this past year?