Chapter 38 - #38 Esdeaths past and beliefs (1/2)

”Now, please go to sleep and don't cause any trouble.” I said after dragging Suzuka into her tent.

”I don't need to sleep but if you want to sleep, we can!” She replied with a small ”shy” smile.

”No thank you, I have my own tent but Mez can keep you company, right?” I refused with a calm expression and then looked towards Mez.

”Wha-? No! I don't want to be here with her.” Mez almost immediately replied with a horrified expression.

”Do whatever you want, however, it is your duty to look after her. I don't want her to sneak attack me at night or I will have a word with Esdeath and make her send you back to the Kouken Temple.” I said with a stoic face, completely ignoring Suzuka.

Hearing my words, Suzuka calmed down a bit and Mez had a serious expression on her face but that would very quickly change...

”If you don't want her to sneak attack you, you can sleep in my tent with me~! She won't dare to go there!” Mez said with a teasing smile and winked at me.

”I would actually reconsider that offer of yours if you helped me at that time when Suzuka lost it.” I replied with the same teasing smile.

Hearing my reply, Mez's eyes widened and then narrowed while glaring at Suzuka in frustration.

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'Fuck! I shouldn't have treated it as fun...Here goes my chance being with Akashi alone.' Mez thought with a frustrated expression while wanting to stomp down but she would destroy the entire tent if she were to do that.

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I let Mez together with Suzuka inside the tent and left.

When I wanted to go for a walk outside of our temporary camp, I was stopped by one soldier.

”Esdeath-sama requires your presence in the commanding tent” The soldier said and quickly left once he left me the message.

What does she want?

I thought on my way to her tent which was much bigger than others.

”Hello?” I said when I stopped in front of the tent because I had no idea if I should just walk in because there were no guards at the entrance.

”It's you, Akashi, right? Come in.” I heard Esdeath's voice almost instantly.

”I have got a message that you want to talk to me...?” I came in and asked her with a calm expression but that quickly changed to confused when I noticed her wearing ”lighter” clothes that were showing off a bit more of her porcelain skin than her usual military uniform.

”Yes, I wanted to make sure that those corpses you left on your way were just bandits.” She said while sitting at her table without any awkwardness.

”I asked one woman who was also the last member alive and she said that they are just bandits.” Seeing how she wasn't feeling ashamed or anything, I simply recovered my calm expression and explained.

She really doesn't feel any fear to wear a nightgown in the camp full of men but I guess no one would dare to come in without an invitation.

Esdeath was currently wearing a white opened shirt, revealing her flawless pale stomach and short leggings, revealing almost her entire legs up to her thɨġhs.

”Good, one more question. What were you doing when you took care of those bandits? You could have informed us about this but you didn't so what happened? Not to mention how that black-haired girl was strangely behaving while looking at you.” Esdeath nodded with closed eyes and then she opened her narrowed eyes while looking at me, observing my expression.

”Nothing to worry about...We just went to get rid of the blood to a nearby river.” I didn't bother to hide that fact and simply revealed it while shrugging my shoulders with a small smile which made her frown down.

”I don't mind this little fact but that still doesn't answer why is that girl behaving so weirdly...” She crossed her legs and said with a small smile after seeing my honesty.

”Ugh, please don't make me say it aloud. She is crazy and I had to calm her down but I don't think it helped at all. Let me give you advice if you will want to punish her without killing her one day, it's better to gently pat her on her head than torture her.” I said with a forced smile.

”...I won't ask for details. Let's change the subject...when will we have our spar?” When she heard my words, her expression became slightly weird but she quickly recovered and changed subject with a smile.

”...We can actually have one right now but wouldn't our spar wake up most of the people here?” I thought for a few seconds before replying to her with a grin.

”Then let's go far enough away from the camp! I will dress up and we can go!” She answered with an excited expression and immediately got up from her seat and went to her bed where her clothes lied. She started to take off her current clothes without minding my presence.

...Are all women shameless in this world?

I thought and turned around to respect her privacy.

”I am done! Let's go.” She said and grabbed my hand from behind, dragging me outside of her tent.

We easily sneaked out of the camp and entered the forest to find a suitable place for our spar.

”Akashi, who trained you?” Esdeath asked me with a curious smile while we were jumping from one branch to another, occasionally killing a few Danger beasts bold enough to attack us.

”...I was introduced to the world of fighting by a man named Arno. He also taught me a lot of things but the experience was hard-earned, he gave me just basics and threw me into a wildness.” I replied with a nostalgic smile while looking at the night sky.

Esdeath looked at my nostalgic face without saying anything, just closely observing me.

”What about you? I heard that you come from Partas Clan.” When I finally recovered from my nostalgic moment, I asked her with a smile.

”I was trained by my father, he was leader of the Partas Clan before our clan was massacred by one of the Northern Tribes.” She said with a calm expression as if she didn't care.

”Northern Tribes, huh? Aren't you angry at them? Don't you want revenge or are you that type of person who doesn't want to spread 'chains of hatred'.” I was slightly surprised by how calm she was so I asked with a slightly ridiculing tone.

”We were weak. We deserved to die.” She replied shortly without getting angry at my tone.

”I see...Social Darwinism.” I muttered with a thoughtful expression.

”What would you do in such a situation?” She asked me a question that I didn't expect and I suddenly stopped on one of the branches.

”Akashi?” She also stopped and asked with a confused expression.