Arcadia's Ignoble Knight: The Sorceress' Knights Tournament

Chapter 20

It was late at night. Christo had left a long time ago, and Caspian knew that he should have gone as well, but he stayed in Axium, wandering the town with Erica and her entourage. Perhaps a part of him had been hoping that he'd get to see Elincia again, or maybe it was because he had no desire to return to the place that hated him.

Lights filled the night air, not the twinkle of stars painted across the sky, but of a thousand spirit crystal floating on a unique propulsion system. It was another invention by Karen Hildegarde. He didn't know how it worked, but it was truly an impressive piece of technology, albeit, it was also the most fatuous bit of magitech that he'd ever seen.

Cassidy was no longer crying, but she had stopped talking to him entirely. He wasn't sure what he'd done wrong, but it must have been bad for the normally polite girl to stop talking to him.

"Cassidy, are you upset at me?" he asked.

"Hmph!"

Cassidy turned her head away from him—

"Kya!"

—and because she wasn't watching where she was going anymore, she tripped on... something, and fell flat on her face. As she lay there with her butt sticking in the air, Caspian wondered if she would ever stop tripping over her own two feet.

Kneeling beside her, Caspian helped her sit up. Cassidy's face was covered in dirt, and there was a large scratch on her forehead.

"A-are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

"You don't look fine." Caspian reached into a pouch on his thigh. "Here, I've got something that I can at least wipe the dirt off with."

"I don't need your help, Master Caspian."

For some reason, her use of the word "Master" made him wince.

He tried to help Cassidy stand up, but she didn't accept his hand and stood up on her own. She pushed past him. Walking into the crowd, Cassidy disappeared. Yet even so, Caspian could hear her shriek of "kya!" and the sound of her face planting itself into the cobblestone when she fell again.

"That girl..."

"Are you worried about my maid, perchance?" Erica asked.

"Perchance!" Tiffania cheered beside the sorceress.

Caspian did not appreciate the leer on Erica's face. "Of course I'm worried. Have you seen how clumsy your maid is? What if she trips and falls into the sewers beneath the city or something? Someone needs to look out for her, and since you're clearly not doing it, that means I have to do it in your stead."

"My, how valiant of you," Erica said. Caspian thought she sounded sarcastic. "In either event, I wouldn't worry about Cassidy. Cauliflower can find her."

"It's Collafloore," the half-elf boy grumbled before disappearing into the crowd. Having been subjected to Erica's terrible name calling before, Caspian felt for the boy.

At least she's not butchering my name anymore.

"So, Caspie, about my maid..."

Looks like I spoke too soon.

"What about your maid?"

"What do you think of her?"

"What do I think of her?" Caspian parroted, frowning. "You mean, like, as a person?"

"As a person, as a lover." Erica waved a hand through the air. "I'm not asking for something specific like that. Just tell me what you think of her."