Capítulo 29: Chapter 28: Revelation (10)
Noah didn't come back.
Balling his hands into fists in a bid to conceal his nervousness, John eventually fell victim to his worries and grew restless.
After Noah had been escorted away by Annette and Henri Everbright, John and Leah were ushered to a vacant training room in the apprentice barracks by Mary. Call it backhanded, but Everbright coveted talents, and Leah earning the attention of the capital knights as a Gemstone was counter to Everbright's interests.
As for John, well, let's just say Leah would not have come so obediently if John was left behind…
Dirty or unrighteous as it sounded, by securing John, Mary had guaranteed Leah would follow as the little girl wasn't quick to trust anyone. Noah proved himself capable of defending himself, but John was still weak while Mary was a young Ninth-Tier Knight.
Leah nervously followed after her second brother.
Mary pressed a hand over her eyes and tried to sort out her thoughts without much progress before she had to turn her attention back to John and Leah again.
"John, where going?" Leah bobbled over to John who had quietly made his way to the exit of the apprentice training room.
She was taking Noah's instructions to watch out for John with utmost sincerity- well, to a point.
"I'm going to find Noah," John said.
Young Leah was immediately tempted, opening and closing her mouth as various thoughts flickered across her tiny head until; "Leah come?" The words involuntarily left her mouth.
"Oh no the both of you don't."
Mary apprehended Leah and dangled the hell spawn upside down, Leah thrashing as Mary leveled a look in John's way, daring him to try to leave.
"Hag-?!"
Water particles began to form droplets in the air, trying to shoot towards Mary's eyes, but Leah's concentration was quickly broken.
Slap!
"Ugh?"
The water dispersed, tears misting over Leah's eyes as she rubbed at her butt cheeks.
"Go on," Mary glowered, raising her free arm in a motion to spank Leah again. "See what happens."
"John John- she a bully hag!" Leah yelled while covering her butt with her hands. "Save Leah! Leah leg stuck!"
"It's not stuck if I'm holding it," Mary's brow twitched before focusing her attention on John. "I don't know about this brat, but you resemble your older brother more. You said Noah asked you to trust him, so why don't you just listen and wait for him?"
John had no way to rebut the words, choosing silence as he felt a suffocating sense of inadequacy.
How did things turn out this way? Why was it that he was nothing more than a burden?
Even Leah had awakened as a Gemstone, but he was just plain John.
John was smart. He quickly understood that Mary was right, but that didn't mean it made him feel any better about the situation.
Rather, it made John feel more strongly that he had to change and better himself. The scene of Noah dueling with Caren came to John's mind more than anything else.
John couldn't change whether he was a Gemstone or not, but there were other aspects he could achieve by persevering.
Looking at Mary, John gestured to a rack of training swords in the room.
"Then…a sword." John said, moving to pick up a normal practice sword. "Can you help me practice with a sword?"
Mary watched John in silence, unscrupulously dropping Leah on the ground before she crossed her arms in thought.
If teaching John the basics of swordsmanship could prevent him from leaving and causing trouble, then Mary felt like the trade could be worth it.
"Learning a sword isn't something to be done half-heartedly," Mary advised. "What makes you think you'd be cut out for it?"
John stared Mary in the eye, clumsily trying to get a feel for the sword in his hand. "I didn't know my brother could fight like that. He's never shown us before."
"Hmm?" Mary's curiosity was prickling at her but she did her best not to show it. "If he didn't show you before, what was he like growing up?"
"The best!" Leah exclaimed after picking herself off the ground.
"For as long as I could remember, he took care of us." John said, a sense of nostalgia in his voice. "He was always awkward about it, but he did his best to raise us in the slums."
"With his skill, why didn't he decide to serve as an armed escort? Far more money could have been made?" Mary expressed her doubts.
John kept mum, also doubtful, but keen enough to have his own suspicions. The answer may have had something to do with Noah insisting he and Leah constantly dye their silver hair brown.
"Will you help with a sword or not?" John changed the subject. He'd rather ask Noah to teach him, but Noah was far too involved in what was happening to have the time.
"Very well," Mary conceded and grabbed a practice sword.
Mary moved to stand across from John while Leah was pouting on the side, her butt still feeling sore. The witch had been heavy-handed to inflict the most pain, while not leaving any lasting damage.
Leah waddled to John's corner, glaring at Mary.
"If you're anything like your brother Noah, perhaps you'd be just as talented?" Mary mused to herself.
John swallowed, but hardened his expression at Mary's words. He held tight to the hilt of his practice sword, but the sound of the door opening drew everyone's attention to two new arrivals.
One was immediately familiar to John and Leah as Noah's dueling opponent, Caren. However, the other named Helen was unfamiliar.
"Did I hear that right?" Caren smoothly interjected, revealing that she'd been listening in from who knows when. Be that as it may, her intentions could not have been anymore blatant. "Your Noah's siblings? Then you should know where he is-"
Helen pushed Caren to the side, smiling gracefully with a greatsword taller than she was precariously hung on her back.
"Don't mind her." Helen jeered. "It's just the words of a loser."
"...Bitch," Caren glowered, but it changed nothing.
The two of them were looking for Noah.
Leah was instantly on edge while John grew apprehensive.
What had Noah gotten himself into?
From young, Noah himself had been the one to caution John and Leah against the schemes of nobles and corrupt people.
"Well, if he's not here, I guess it's fine," Helen said, appraising John with a hint of playfulness. "You want to learn, right? How would you like to experience the sword of a real knight?" She offered.
"Ahem," Caren coughed, interrupting Helen. "On the ground of a real knight, the weapon is obviously something more manageable such as-"
"Who's toothpick broke against a common sword?" Helen rebutted.
"..."
John stared uncertainly at Helen and Caren before turning to face Mary for a solution.
Unfortunately, Mary's patience finally snapped as Caren and Helen began to bicker while John insisted on being taught.
To be honest, Mary still wasn't sure if it had been the correct choice to listen to Annette and guard Noah's siblings rather than her lady. She and Noah apparently had plans to venture out of Everbright with the estate's knights for a small outing.
Mary should have come. No, she wanted to.
However, it was her lady's orders.
That damn Noah.
If he got her lady injured in this random excursion there'd be hell to pay.
Mary huffed.
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