Leon and Riya: How to Raise a Gnoll

Chapter 39

It was early morning and Leon and Riya had just woken up.

Riya: Can I ask you something, Leon?

Leon: Hmm?

Riya: I noticed that when you are training with Rose you seem to treat it differently than when with me, why is that?

Leon: With Rose, I guess I see it as more of a duty than anything else. I need to teach her how to fight well. With you, it is more of a dance, a way to spend time with you.

Riya: I see. While I enjoy being able to get time with you, I ask that when we are sparring you give it your all. With what is currently going on, we can't afford to not give everything our all.

Leon was quiet for a moment.

Leon: I understand.

Riya: In fact, I believe I am free this morning, so why don't we get some sparring in?

Leon gave a nod and they made their way out to the training field. As they were setting up to spar, Azur, Rose, and Irya had made their way out to the training field as well.

Irya: Oh? Are they going to spar?

Rose: I think so.

Azur: Maybe he will actually try this time.

Leon and Riya were in position, Leon with his training spear and Riya with her training halberd. They started circling each other, waiting for the other to make the first move. Riya lurched forward with an overhead swing, Leon jumped to the left to avoid the attack and retaliated with a swing of his own. His swing struck her right wrist before backing off. While he was trying to back off Riya lunged forward, shoulder-tackling him and knocking him backwards onto his back. Before she could get another overhead swing in he had rolled backwards and gotten back to his feet.

Leon lunged forward with a thrust of his spear. Riya parried the attack with the shaft of her halberd, forcing his thrust downward toward the ground. She proceeded to make a horizontal strike. Leon managed to duck under it at the last second before performing a quick strike, hitting Riya's left ankle and causing her to become off balance. Before she could recover he ran forward and kicked her right knee, causing Riya to lose her balance and fall to the ground. Before Leon can do anything else she has already gotten back to her feet.

Irya: I mean, it's kind of an uphill battle for Leon, isn't it?

Azur: That's being nice about it, the only reason she hasn't already ended this most likely has to do with not wanting to humiliate him.

Rose remained silent, staring intently at her parents.

Just then Riya made a vertical leaping strike at Leon. Just after she started this attack, Leon moved slightly inward and to the right from where he was, placing him in a spot that she couldn't adjust to fast enough to hit him. He then swiftly swapped to the opposite end of his spear and positioned it directly where her head was going to end up when she landed. As Riya landed with her leaping strike she missed Leon while the opposite end of his spear was forced into her bottom jaw, causing her to let out a pained yip as she fell backward while holding her jaw.

Irya: Did...did that just happen?

Azur: Not surprising, she overextended way too much with that jump.

After a minute without her getting up Leon slowly made his way over to her.

Leon: Are you okay, Riya?

With no response he continued to get closer, when he was close enough to touch her she suddenly sprang to life and grabbed him.

Riya: Got you! See, now that is more like what I expect during training.

Leon's brow furrowed.

Leon: You...You're not mad at me?

Riya: Why would I be mad at you? You beat me!

Azur: And just like Mu had said, him being able to beat her was going to be the opposite of what he was afraid of.

Irya: I guess so.

After a few moments, Riya let go of Leon.

Riya: It is about time I made my way to the kitchen, Rose you're coming too.

Rose flinched at that.

Rose: What, why?

Riya crossed her arms.

Riya: Because I said so. Now let's go.

After she said this Riya began making her way to the kitchen, Rose reluctantly following behind her.

Leon: Irya, Sessa should be here shortly.

Irya: Right, I had best get everything set up.

Azur: So, you decided to actually spar this time did you?

Leon: She had told me about how she noticed the difference when she was training with me versus when I was training with Rose.

Azur: Yeah, anyone with eyes would have been able to see the difference, you were acting like you were walking on eggshells with Riya.

Leon: I was just afraid of upsetting her.

Azur: I think what happened is you somehow forgot she was a Gnoll, as she doesn't act like one most of the time.

A few minutes later Vuth and Sessa arrived for their morning training.

Leon: Okay, let's get started.

Leon had been worried that Riya would have been mad with him if he actually tried to beat her, but he was shown that he was misguided in that regard. In reality, it was the opposite. She was almost ecstatic with him beating her in that sparring session. He felt foolish for letting that nightmare get to him, but now he knew better. He wouldn't worry about it anymore.

With that his training session with Vuth went how it did most days, starting with a training dummy for around an hour before switching to a sparring session with him for a few hours.

Both Vuth and Sessa were continuing to improve, and they were going to need it if the fort got attacked again.