Asta

Chapter 4: A Budding Alliance

"That didn't take long," Karl complained, rolling his eyes. "Sinestral, do you really think I won't recognize you? Half of Tellenius knows your face by now, the highborne saw to that."

After Karl's words and the shock wearing off, Asta had immediately started throwing out obscenities that would've made an old man chuckle at her choice of words. Her left arm went round his neck to hold him in place while a blade went poised before his heart, effectively stopping his laughter. "Damn it all! I didn't anticipate this; I thought they reported me dead on the battlefield!"

"From their accounts," He warily started, then stopped. He shook his head. "Release me first. I'd rather not have my heart stabbed over and over again by an irate sand-dweller, a princess of their kind no less."

"Shut up!" She roared, kicking him in the gut and landing an elbow down on his back. He rolled on the ground, groaning in pain, but Asta didn't care. "Don't speak of my title here, lest any ears catch wind of it!"

He made to speak, but Asta wasn't done; oh, no, she had a lot more to say on the matter. "And my reaction was damn justified! A mere boy like you to spring that on me? Why, a stone would break at that revelation!"

"Are you done?" He wheezed out, coughing a few times. "Moreover, are you done beating me to a pulp?"

"Never surprise me like that again, or I'll flay you alive," She retorted.

"Oh, does it mean we're going to be together forever?" He replied, trying to stand up. Asta promptly slammed her foot on his back, halting him. Heat flared up in her fingertips, and she reached down and yanked on his hair. "Okay, I'm sorry! In hindsight, I admit that that wasn't the wisest thing to do, especially to a warrior-princess such as yourself. Light, that's hot! Stop doing your magic-y things on me!"

Her foot buried further into his back, and he winced. She ignored his comment about her magic, trying to dispel the amused laughter bubbling in her throat. "Yes, that was a very stupid thing to do." She said, and could not help but continue," And it's Asta, Nycar-Grelto only! Sinestral is never specified in our family names, nor is Denistrol."

"Forgive me, then," Karl croaked out. "But before you choke me with your foot digging into my lungs, will you please back off?"

Asta scoffed, but otherwise removed her foot. This man must be deranged, to act so... bored in front of me. She sheathed her weapons but kept glaring at him. Karl rubbed his rear, stretching, sighing in relief when the bones popped into place. "Ah, that's better!"

Asta sat down on a chair, shifting uncomfortable at the crude wood design. "Explain, now; both your supposed words of our sympathizers and the fact that they knew I had lived."

It didn't take long for him to recount his experiences and personal run-ins with the Nycxia. Asta had to admit that the boy held no obvious contempt for her kind; in fact, if she was being completely honest, she could hear the awe in his voice as he talked of the tales he heard and witnessed first-hand of the Nycxia's apparent blood-lust. He diverted off the main topic more than once to talk of her kin's culture and language, of which he showed not a small amount of interest on.

Her interest, however, piqued at his mention of the highborne's report on her disappearance. According to Karl, their military and the king himself had led an apparently valiant crusade against the demons of the sand, and when faced with nothing but innumerable steel and the cold marble walls, the royal family turned into blood-sucking demons themselves and dug into the sands; but not before tearing apart half of their platoon. Lies, all of it. It'd make for good propaganda against them, Asta thought grimly.

"And those meetings with my kind? What say you about them?"

His countenance dropped, and Asta was forced to look away. "My only experiences with the Nycxia---"