Chapter 174 - The One Who Escorted Abby (1/2)

Blaise longed to ask them more about her since he couldn't see her for himself but was afraid they would see him as a threat. The one time he tried asking Lian it hadn't ended well.

”Do you remember me?” he asked a few days into training as he sparred with the boy.

Lian squinted at him a moment before remembering. ”Oh. You were the one who escorted Abby here last year. This was your plan, wasn't it? I wondered why we were getting help from Shibatsu all of a sudden since we didn't have an alliance with them or anything.”

It wasn't a completely negative response. Encouraged, Blaise continued. ”Yes. Could you tell me how she has adjusted here?”

Admiration filled his eyes as he answered. ”Adjusted? She practically runs the place. I can't tell you how many things she's in charge of now. Everybody fights over who gets to use her because of how talented she is. She's so smart and beautiful and she really believes in you even when you think you can't do something. She already turned down a few proposals so no one has been brave enough to try in months…say, why are you asking about her?”

”No reason in particular,” Blaise lied.

Lian's eyes narrowed as they zeroed in on the ribbon still tied to his wrist. ”I don't believe you. That's her ribbon, isn't it? She was wearing one just like it when we first met. Are you the reason she won't accept anybody around here?”

He didn't answer and took advantage of the boy's distraction to flip his sword out of his hand. That made him even more insistent on getting an answer but Blaise wouldn't tell him. He stomped off in a huff and hadn't spoken more than two words at a time in front of the Warrior since.

That was when he had been forced to eavesdrop on those Kanta boys to get any further information. While they were the most useful way to hear about Abby, they weren't the only ones who talked about her.

Tahvo, the man who ran the printing office, was in the same training shift as a few of his employees later in the day and sometimes they would talk about work on their water breaks. Abby's name came up a few times in relation to picture books they were developing.

The baker's husband brought her up too after trying a new creation she and Sia whipped up together earlier in the day. The woman who occupied such a large part of his thoughts seemed to be involved in almost every aspect of her village's culture in some way or another.

Not only had Abby adjusted, she seemed to care about improving and advancing her new home the same way her sister had. Blaise was more proud of her than he had the right to be considering the casual nature of their relationship.

After hearing so many tiny things about her life hear he wanted to hear it from her own lips desperately. The two of them had so many things to tell each other. But he was still stuck here.

Alamar came to check up on everyone's progress every few days and he finally managed to catch him before starting another set of core exercises for the trainees. He couldn't quite keep his voice casual when he asked, ”When will we be able to leave the camp?”