TBATE| The Walking Catastrophe

Chapter 23 - Reputation

"I thought I wasn't supposed to be fighting against lances," I complained to Uto as the two of us walked through the campus of Central Academy.

"Apparently," he sneered, looking at me with the most devious expression he could manage, "According to our informant, not only will the fight be a 3 versus 2, the lances we'll be fighting are both only silver cores!"

Uto's predatory smile unnerved me, but I couldn't help but be surprised that they had silver cores as lances. I always knew that despite being more numerous than the retainers, they were generally weaker, but I didn't realize that they'd stoop that low.

"Do we know their names? Affinities? Anything else about them?"

"I recognize one of them, but you'll have to ask Cylrit about the other one."

"Who is it then?" I asked, recognizing that Uto was eager to tell me.

"The boy wonder himself, Arthur Leywin."

I continued walking alongside him, staying silent for a moment. I knew that Arthur Leywin was one of the few people that Agrona had absolutely zero information on regarding his skill set and whatnot going into the war...but if he truly was only a silver core, then things just got a whole lot easier.

"Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow in Dicathen, I'll opt to spend some time with my sister," I said, giving the retainer a polite wave.

I didn't particularly like Uto that much. I was forced to spend a lot of time with him, which made me realize just how...ruthless he was. But as much as I didn't particularly enjoy his presence, it was reassuring that he was fighting alongside me. While I had no qualms taking him down should he commit treason—however unlikely that may be—he and Cylrit were the only retainers that I actually wouldn't be too keen on fighting. Despite the fact that I was confident I could beat the both of them.

Knocking on the door to the classroom I had been told my sister was in, I heard a muffled grumble from the teacher inside. With an amused smirk, I watched as he opened the door and his expression morphed from annoyance to fear in an instant.

"Don't worry, I just want Miss Aurelius."

"Y-y-yes, sir!" He stammered before practically running away from me.

I leaned against the wall as my sister rounded the corner. The 14-year-old girl who was now likely done growing stood about 5 inches shorter than my 5'10 self.

I cursed my mother for the fact that I would never reach 6 feet, but I also had her to thank for my good looks, so I couldn't exactly complain. While my dad was certainly an attractive man in his youth, I looked nothing like him, a fact that I still struggled with to this day.

The only thing I really had to remember him by was his signature coat that I had realized at some point had no such spell of courage imbued to it like he had once said. Nowadays, I hardly ever took it off unless I was washing it or fighting.

When my sister noticed me, her face instantly brightened as I held my hand out for her to grab ahold of.

"I'm not 9 anymore Aqua, I don't need you to hold my hand," she said exasperatedly, but she had made the fatal mistake of misinterpreting my gesture. Instead of reaching out for her hand like I had led her to believe, it was merely a feint as I lashed my hand out, grasping her by the wrist and spinning her around. 

Catching her completely off guard, I put the poor girl into a headlock from which she had no hope of escaping.

Feeling 3 light taps on my arm, I let go of my sister and roughed up her hair—much to her chagrin—and then we took a stroll through the campus. As we walked, I noticed a particularly attractive woman, a teacher, send a wink my way, which was immediately followed up by an elbow to my ribs before I could even wave back.