44 The Sword Saint

(Noir PoV)

I arrived at the gate to the academy and looked around. As expected of a Saturday, there were no annoying nobles in sight. Well, except for the three at a bench a couple of meters away.

I recognized one, Chris, standing next to an older gentleman. His face was as emotionless as usual but also held a trace of… annoyance? Trepidation? Maybe unease? It was hard to tell, but it was present.

The older man to his side had withered gray hair and facial hair. He had quite a few wrinkles and it was clear his age was catching up with him. He as well as a sword sheath strapped to his waist. Above all of that though, he had a strong aura.

The last person was a woman who looked to be in her mid thrties. Her hair matched that of Chris' and flowed down to her midback. She held a paper fan and waved it in the air. When her eyes found me they locked on me hard, and for whatever reason she grinned.

"Noir?" The older man asked as soon I got within a reasonable distance.

"Yes, and you." I held out my hand for the man to shake, and he did so lazily.

"Just call me Des-." His words were cut off by a cough from the sitting woman.

"Dear.." She said calmly and directed the man a small telling smile.

The man sighed heavily, like he was about to do a significantly daunting task. "I am Desmond Fia Arclight, an Earl and Sword Saint under this kingdom."

The woman seemed satisfied and turned her attention back to me. "And you too young man, you are a nobleman, introduce yourself properly."

"Uh, sure…" I responded weirdly. This woman was strange, but I wasn't getting Agatha vibes so I took it in good faith. "I am Noir Fou Stardia, a Baron."

Again, the woman looked please. "Very good, my name is Isabella Fia Arclight, wife of Desmond, and the mother of who I'm sure your already well acquainted with, Chris."

She stood and took a bow. From her side I could see Desmond giving her an annoyed gaze.

"Now then, Lord Stardia, I'd first like to thank you for breaking away my son from that Marie girl." She said that last part with a hard scowl that even Angie in all her dislike for Marie wouldn't be able to produce. "His mind clearly must have been somewhere in the stars, so I'm glad he had a friend to snap him out of it."

Yeah, I was getting weirdo vibes. I waited for her to continue, to then move onto chastising me for how I kicked his ass bad and embarrassed him in front of all those people. That never came.

"You're welcome?" I replied sensing there was nothing coming after that. The weirdo vibes were increasing and I gave a sidelong look to Chris to see if anything was indeed out of place. Nope, he looked unsurprised.

"Bella, this meeting was not for you." The man behind her grumbled and in a strange twist his sword was unsheathed and extended to her neck. "If you're done, kindly go sit down."

Was I experiencing domestic abuse? And why the hell did Chris seem so unaffected, dude your dad was pointing a sword at your mom.

I thought to step in, but the way the womans smile widened and her next actions stopped me. In a skillful throw she pulled a knife from somewhere on her person and threw it at the man.

Desmond was forced to deflect the projectile with his sword, and then back pedal when a now sword wielding Isabella came down on him.

"If you won't take the time to thank the boy properly who else will dear?" The woman replied spinning the sword in her wrist. "Your dismissal of proper etiquette is why you're never invited to parties by the other royal court nobles."

"Good, like I want to mingle with those cretins anyway." Desmond scowled and met his sword with the woman's.

"What the hell is going on?" I asked the boy beside me.

"A common squabble…" Chris replied easily. Yeah, it was a family of weirdos.

…

"I see now…" Desmond spoke over the battlefield we now found ourselves in. After the 'common squabble', Desmond while carrying an unconscious Isabella led us here. True to what Chris had told him, the man was only interested in one thing.

Which is why I now stood over a sprawled out Chris, his sword far off and my own pressed into his neck.

I helped him up and looked over to the Sword Saint. His gaze was penetrative as it looked over the two of us. Chris recoiled into himself, and averted his eyes downward to the ground.

"You are self taught, that is what you told Chris?" Desmond asked me.

"Yeah, I don't exactly have a teacher." I shrugged.

"How long do you intend to cling to that lie." Chris grumbled and turned a semi pleading gaze to me. Oh, was I putting him in a worse spot? Sorry dude.

"It is not a lie. Perhaps you would've been able to see that if you weren't so busy getting seduced." Desmond looked down on Chris with a rather cruel glare. "His swordmanship is amateurish at best."

Excuse me asswipe? You wanna go? I swirled around to raise an eyebrow at the man.

"Father, are you implying my skill is below that of an amateur." Chris fought back, clutching his sword hard.

"No, you are an embarrassment, but no child of mine could ever be that incompetent." He sure was confident wasn't he, and harsh.

"Than how?!" His words did nothing to appease Chris.

"He is using his raw strength and his senses, besides that his technique only includes the very basics of slashes and stabs." Oh… I was? I'd like to deny it, but the man was given his title for a reason. To be fair, I was just mimicking, and its not like I'd call myself a swordsman to begin with.

A look of realization over took Chris and he turned to me.

"Yeah, I guess." I again shrugged and then turned to the man. "So uh, did you want to fight?"

"I did, but that desire has died. I came here thinking you were an actual swordsman, being how you defeated two of my disciples."

Uh, so why the hell was I here. I could be in bed cuddling next to my awesome and very huggable girlfriend, but I was here, and for a reason that was losing its significance exponentially by the second.

"Instead, I'd like to ask you to train under me, your abnormal strength and reflexes will put you far above the other canidates to my title." He withdrew his sword back into its sheath and spoke to me.

I remained silent, piecing together how to reject this man as politely as possible. Somehow, he sensed that.

"My title, different from others, is not one that is inherited from generation to generation, it is one that a single person throughout the Kingdom may possess at any given time." He started. "Our government will value you as one of their greatest assets, and along with that comes a level of power and sway."

Yeah I knew where he was going, and maybe a few months ago I would've actually been clinging to his every word.

"I'm informed that that sort of power would be quite useful to you in current events." He finished in wait for my response.

"Yeah… sorry. I'll have to refuse. I don't have the time to dedicate to much else right now." I had two lovable girls to take care of. "And I'm confident that I can handle myself without such a title, as esteemed as it is."

For a few moments the man just stared blankly at me. Before long a small frown overtook him and he sighed. "Well, I suppose if Vince of all people is willing to marry his daughter to you, that incentive doesn't work as well." Huh? Oh… was that confirmed? I certainly hadn't heard anything about that.

"Still, as a reward for snapping my son out of his delusion," he turned a cold glare at the aforementioned boy, "I'll support you in this predicament you've found yourself in, all I ask is you regularly spar with Chris. This school has done nothing but soften him, I think it's about time we reverse that."

That last part was spoken more to Chris than me. That, I wasn't declining. It was a worthwhile deal with little expense on my part. I conveyed as such.

"Sure, I'll keep him on his toes." I held out a hand for the man to shake and gave a little smirk to Chris.

The man shook my hand and nodded. "Then that concludes my business with you." He said and then rummaged through the inside of his coat. He pulled out a rolled up paper and held it out to me.

"From Duke Redgrave, hes tasked me with delivering this to you. It is rare that man shows such promise in another. I look forward to seeing how deserved that trust is." I took the letter and the man fixed his coat.

The man gave a strong vibe of not liking to waste time, and soon he departed with his wife on one shoulder and Chris on his side. Apparently, the boy would start his 'reeducation' under the man, effective immediately.

…

For obvious reasons, I was knocking on Angie's door five minutes later. It hadn't been long since she got back to the academy, but I knew she'd definitely have received something about whatever was written before I did.

Sure enough…

"NOIR!" The ground left my feet for a second as I was yanked in like a ragdoll. The door closed with a loud slam and as soon as I reclaimed my ground I found myself having to catch Angie as she jumped on me.

Her teary red eyes looked into mine with passion and she wrapped her legs around my waist. Before I could say a word she grabbed my face and forced her lips against mine.

I'd love to believe that this reaction was simply because she missed me so much in the short few hours we had been away from eachother. But the reality wasn't exactly disheartening.

"I thought you were still in pain, but you seem pretty fine." I noted with a small smile when our lips finally parted.

"It hurts so much!" She said with a still wide smile. Her eyes roamed over to the paper laying flat on her workdesk. They then fell down to my pocket where mine was stashed away.

"You didn't even open it!" She said in an ardent yell and snatched it from its resting place.

"Well that is why I'm here." I noted amusedly and watched as she with shaky hands undid the red tie looped around it. She held out the unfurled paper to me and I read it over.

Her smile never faded and with her eyes she beckoned me to read faster than my already abnormal pace.

"Well then, I guess all that's left it to put a baby in your stomach." I quoted her previous words from yesterday like a checklist.

"Heeee!" She squealed in unadulterated delight and squeezed my head. It was quite strange, to go from friends to dating to engaged in all but two days, but it made sense with a noble culture that outright removed that second part.

"I hope we can wait on that though, I don't know if I'm ready to be dealing with stinky diapers just yet." I appended with muffled words as my face burried in her clevage.

"I'll think about it." She said sing-songly, and something told me she was being entirely serious about that.

So yeah, I guess the academy did serve its purpose, I had found my bride… or rather brides. Livia was already my fiancé all but offically and on paper, but I'd make sure that girl would be right next to Angie on the alter.

The actual marrige date was to be determined, for reasons relating to my status and rank it was arbitrary. Duke Redfield had made it very clear that I'd have to make a bigger name for myself before that wedding

ring officialy slid on her dainty little finger.

Too bad for the Kingdom, I'd go as high as I needed to for this woman, even if it flipped the whole place upside down.

…

A/N: Throw powerstones to celebrate the long awaited return of this novel. This volume primarily focuses on the romantic development between our characters, soon we'll start to see more action in the next volume.

Also, for those who missed my previous notice there are some really dedicated spammers, so if this story starts to get targeted by them, I'll be forced to reupload this on an entirely different account and name to spare your eyes from their wretchedness. This of course comes at the expense of all my statistics which is sad. Anyway, I'll keep you guys updated if that happens.