Sovereign's Path

Chapter 28: A year later

A year later.

Early morning at the Silford estate training grounds.

The maids and guards that had gathered along the fence weren’t supposed to be there. They had duties. Responsibilities. Things that needed doing.

None of that was happening right now.

Because Leon and Yuki were sparring, and once you saw it, your duties could wait.

...

Yuki moved first.

She closed the gap fast and threw a straight palm strike at his chest. Leon slipped to the side, grabbed her wrist and used the momentum to step in, going for her ribs.

She pulled her elbow down, blocked it clean, grabbed his collar and yanked him forward.

He planted his foot and didn’t go anywhere.

Instead he grabbed her arm with his free hand, pivoted, and tried to throw her.

She twisted out of it like she’d been expecting it and stepped back.

They faced each other.

"What was that for Lord Leon," she whined.

"Your block was late," he said.

"It landed didn’t it ?."

"So did my grip."

She looked at him. He looked at her.

"Again," she said.

...

He came at her this time.

Three quick strikes, high, mid, low. Testing. She blocked the first two and stepped around the third, catching his arm and pulling.

He went with it, rolled, came up from a different angle and drove his elbow toward her jaw.

She leaned back and it grazed her chin. freēwēbnovel.com

Both of them paused.

"That one was close," Leon said.

"Close isn’t enough Lord Leon," she said.

"Give me ten more minutes."

Something in her expression shifted. "Is that confidence or delusion."

"Ten minutes," he said. "Then you’ll know."

She came at him.

...

"He just went for her jaw," a maid whispered.

"I saw," the one beside her whispered back.

"He’s seven."

"I know." Things like this really use to make him believe anyone could change, afterall...

They watched Yuki drive forward with a combination that had real intent behind it, three strikes that flowed into each other cleanly. Leon blocked the first, redirected the second and the third caught him on the shoulder and pushed him back a step.

He recovered. Reset his stance.

"Better," he said.

"I wasn’t trying to be better," Yuki said. "I was trying to hit you."

"You did hit me."

"Not where I was aiming."

A guard standing nearby crossed his arms and said nothing. There was nothing useful to say. He just watched.

...

Back and forth it went.

Leon was reading her well. Better than a year ago.

After Yuki became his assistant, Leon decided to start putting some effort, stuffs like simple morning training or venturing into beastglades for simple quests, and also, helping his sister out, and after a year, a sparring match like this wasn’t a rare sight for anyone.

Especially when he had this battle maniac he named Yuki, its truly hard to believe that she was the nine tailed fox, all she does was nag and whine all the time, more or less follow him around doing nothing, he truly wondered if his siblings assistants were half as irresponsible as Yuki was.

He’d stopped trying to match her straight on and started working angles instead, making her adjust constantly, never letting her settle.

It was working. Slowly.

Yuki had stopped repeating combinations after the third exchange which told him she’d noticed.

He faked the right, dropped low and went for her legs.

She jumped it and came down with a strike aimed at the back of his neck.

He rolled forward, came up on his feet and turned to face her.

She was already coming.

Her palm connected with his chest and this time it had real weight behind it. He slid back half a meter, feet dragging on the ground.

He looked down at the marks his feet had left.

Looked up at her.

"Okay," he said. "That one actually landed."

"You left the center open," she said.

"I know I left it open."

"Then why."

"Experiment," he said.

Her ear twitched. "Lord Leon. That is a terrible reason to take a hit."

"Results were interesting though."

She stared at him.

Then before she could respond, boots came across the grounds fast. A guard, envelope in hand, looking mildly stressed.

He stopped at the edge of the grounds and held it up.

"From Lord Arlott," he said. "He said immediately Young lord."

Leon straightened.

"Ehh your Dad’s a real party crasher" Yuki whined again.

He walked over and took the envelope. The wax seal on the front was his father’s personal crest, pressed clean.

He looked at it for a moment.

---

Leon broke the seal and unfolded it.

He read it once.

Then stared at it for a solid three seconds.

Then his expression changed, right now Leon was making the most ugly expression he could imagine, this wasn’t just about the letter .

"That old man..." he muttered

"What is it," Yuki said.

"Here !" He said throwing the letter to her, after reading Yuki’s expression weren’t ugly like Leon’s, instead she looked puzzled.

"What’s Aurenfall ?" She asked .

Well it’s a once in a decade event where all children gather both nobles and commoners, all children ranged up to the age of twelve gather, the event has two things, one is the ball, where all parents follow their children to the occasion and all children gets to know each other both nobles and commoners , the second one which is the main event is a battle, where all the talented children gather in a collouseum and fight leaving only one winner, there are some rules, but it helps the kingdom to know the talented ones, and also this wasn’t just any event, it’s once in a decade and is if course viewed by everyone in the continent.

Now according to the letter, his father wrote, he has to go.

"That old man..." making decisions without informing him in person.

"Can’t you just decline it" Yuki asked a bit puzzled, afterall, he could just ignore the letter and ditch the event, this wasn’t the first time Leon has done this afterall.

[A/N: Leon doesn’t attend events]

"Well, this is compulsory for every noble you know ?"

Not just nobles, even commoners attend, that was how grand and serious it was for the youngsters,

Wanna make your debut? Aurenfall

Wanna catch the interest of the Kingdoms guilds ?

Aurenfall.

Literally, for those with no background, this was their one way ticket to a comfortable future.

Considering that he hasn’t attended any event, what confused him wasn’t that, just what could that old geezer be hoping to accomplish by this at this point, Well, it’s not like he wanted fame anyways.

It rubbed him in a wrong way and he felt like he shouldn’t go, like he was being dragged into something else entirely. but he shrugged it off, he never really attended any event anyway, maybe he shouldn’t trust his instincts this time around.

"I might as well give it a try" Leon sighed.

"Huh" Yuki turned.

"I said we’ll give it a try" The tone looked forced, he was obviously irritated as he ruffled his white hair.

"Really ?" Yuki beamed.

"Lord Leon was attending an event ? It appears the the world is about to end", she grinned making a comical expression, obviously teasing him, with her tails wagging left and right.

"Oi what’d you say, take that back" Leon , obviously embarrassed.

"No can’t do, Ah, yes let me go prepare your dress for the event " Yuki said, wagging her tails as he ran off.

"Oi Get back here !"

...

While a lot of the residents of Novaria were doing their thing, In an auspicious room that screamed shady, a bunch of cloaked figures gathered, Eight in total.