Arcadia's Ignoble Knight: The Sorceress of Ashtown

A Not So Triumphant Return

The train station was as busy as ever. Walkways were jam packed with people coming and going. The scent of hundreds if not thousands of bodies combined to create a pungent odor that was impossible to ignore.

Caspian stood within this throng of pedestrian traffic. With him was Erica and Cassidy. They stood on either side of him, one completely at ease with all the stares she was receiving, while the other tried not to get knocked to the ground by the people pushing past them.

Derek would have also been there, but even though he'd finally recovered, Erica was making him stay in bed. When Caspian had asked her about it, she just laughed and said something about tiring him out because it was their first time training together again.

"Fu fu fu, don't worry about him, he's just a little tuckered out because we've recently picked up training together again."

Those had been her words, verbatim, after he'd asked her. When Caspian had asked for an elaboration―he'd been curious to know what kind of training they did-she'd gone into a very thorough and detailed explanation about foreplay, which had caused his face to explode with color. She had laughed at him afterward, amused by how embarrassed he'd gotten.

Caspian was sure he would never live down the shame. Erica would undoubtedly make certain he remembered.

"It looks like this is it," Erica said, the same seductive smile she normally wore curling her lips. She cocked her hips at an angle and placed her right hand on the curvature of her hip. The slit of her red dress slid apart, revealing a single stunning leg. "Having you around has been a most amusing experience. I do hope you'll come to my aid again, the next time I request it."

Caspian blinked in response.

"Next time?"

"But of course." Erica's eyes glinted in the light. Caspian didn't shudder like he used to when they first met. He'd grown used to her personality. "I'm sure there will come a time when Derek has fallen ill again, and I'll need some gallant young man to come to my aid. For all his usefulness, Derek has a notoriously low amount of stamina."

"I wonder whose fault that is?" Cassidy muttered lowly.

"Did you say something, maid?"

"N-n―of course not, Mistress!"

"Good. Now where was I? Oh, yes! Derek doesn't have much stamina―"

"You mean he doesn't have much stamina anymore."

"―So it's only a matter of time before he collapses again," she continued as if Cassidy had not interrupted her, though she did toss the maid a glare, causing the young woman to look away and whistle innocently. "I'll need someone to replace him... temporarily, of course."

Erica sauntered up to him, moving so close that her intoxicating scent threatened to overwhelm him. She drew up a hand and placed it on his chest, using her index fingers to draw circles and causing Caspian no small amount of discomfort. He would have moved away, but his body felt oddly petrified. Was this a spell, or just plain fear?

"I do hope you'll say yes when the time comes. Who knows. Perhaps by that point in time, I'll be in need of a new Knight." She leaned her face in so close that Caspian was forced to lean back. "How about it, cutie? Think you'd like the job?"

"Uh... let me sleep on that and get back to you later." Caspian tried for diplomacy. He wouldn't let her know that he had no intention of ever becoming her Knight, but he didn't want to tell an outright lie either. So long as she thought he was considering her offer, she'd never suspect that the only thing Caspian was considering was how best to tell her, "not a chance in hell."