章 300: Chapter One Hundred - She’s having fun

In appearance, Pria was quite lovely, with large eyes sporting indigo irises and long straight hair that was an interested mix of tarnished gold and dusky silver. Her height was not petite nor was she weak, just in comparison to the two Male martial artists, her frame might ordinarily invoke some protective feelings. She was normally straightforward, amicable and while not one to wear her feelings on her sleeve, she was not one to shy from confrontation... unless she happened to be in close proximity to Bowyer, at which point she became an ordinary young woman of her era experiencing the first flush of blossoming love.

On seeing the exuberant brunette with curls that were somewhat wild in comparison to her overall appearance, she began to feel niggling doubts, reducing her already placed upon the edge self esteem.

Pria and her entourage had thought that they knew all of Bowyer's close friends and comrades, but they did not know this girl, which unsettled them. Not only that, she was so quick to volunteer to assist... was that not just adding another blockage upon the 'river of love'... forget that the boat for two had yet to set sail! Unknowingly, Maimai had placed herself in the role of antagonist in their romance novel.

Maimai brushed a nail over the edge her long knife, seemingly oblivious to their glares. Or rather ignoring them. There was no point attempting to pull such sister power upon a girl like her, she didn't want to have anything to do with their BG plot... she had her own ship to protect!

Seeing as their pleading/threatening mix of silent messages failed to move the other girl, a more vocal member of the entourage attempted to use words; "I've not seen you before in the martial arts schools."

Friend B offered the 'voice of reason'; "Perhaps little sister is a first year from the outer school and we haven't yet met."

"Nope, I'm from the outer alchemist school," Maimai responded, breezily.

Pria glanced at Bowyer, his eyes were on the other girl, her heart felt pained. Returning her gaze to Maimai, she murmured; "I appreciate that you are willing to help, but being your senior and part of this discipline, I fear that you would just get hurt."

Maimai's head tilted to one side. "Why? That's your practice sword isn't it? This knife of mine has been neglected, the edge isn't sharp anymore, so don't worry, I won't hurt you either."

"But..."

"Enough," Jin Li sneered, "this Lord dragged himself and my small alchemist over to assist people. If we are no longer necessary, we will leave now."

He turned upon his heel and spun around in an elegant manner that had the entourage momentarily bewitched, their eyes capturing the perfect balance of posture, the sweeping motion of his long, silken black hair... and then he grasped the hand of that bespectacled youth and they snapped out of their daze. Still, the thought of 'why doesn't this look wrong' did cross the minds of one or two...

Leon tugged on Jin Li's sleeve; "B-b-but I want to watch M-Maimai spar."

"What's there to see?" Jin Li retorted crossly. He'd witnessed Maimai's martial arts before (that time, they had been working in conjunction to settle certain matters of vengeance), he felt she was adequate, but it didn't mean he wished to waste his time watching her play now. Unfortunately, when his small alchemist glanced up at him with those large, pleading black eyes, he experienced a moment of weakness and relented... but he wasn't happy about it.

"Let's begin!" Bowyer insisted, he shared a smidgeon of Jin Li's feelings. He really didn't want to be here either. However, Leon's strange friend made him curious; if she did have some talent in martial arts, why was she in the alchemist school? Rumours abound and not too exaggerated by little Sun, while Maimai's sister was an alchemist talent, Maimai herself turned was a cauldron's number one enemy. He wanted to watch and see how else she could surprise him.

Pria (and her friends) gave up trying to convince Maimai to not spar and the ashen haired girl took an elegant stance, flicking her slender sword upward to state that she was prepared to begin. As per the advice from her friends, she would just have to display her ability before Bowyer, regain his attention this way. There were also enough witnesses that this alchemist girl couldn't play some tricks and feign being weak or hurt during the spar, using this to invoke pity.

Maimai held her blade in a defensive manner, planning to not to attack or counterattack; this spar was meant to improve Pria's grasp on her swordplay after all. She herself just wanted to stretch her muscles a bit.

Pria unleashed the set of sword movements and from Maimai's view, the other girl looked tall, slender and elegant as she attacked. Her grasp of the sword was confident, even if her eyes flickered in doubt, possibly over the movements themselves. Maimai easily defended using the blade of her knife even as she stepped back to increase the distance between herself and Pria.

However pretty, each swish of the sword seemed a little too exaggerated, taking some effort, in contrast to Maimai's knife that only need move a little here and there to block the moves for the most part. Only one time did Maimai need to be swift, lifting her blade to block an overhead movement following a feigned thrust to the side opposite her wielding hand. But this movement was also the part that Pria was the least confident in, otherwise Maimai might have needed to reconsider how she defended against it, perhaps needing to counterattack instead to break her opponents stride.

"Stop," Bowyer clapped his hands together, his face had turned serious as he turned his mind to considering the problems within the sword movements. The series itself was not bad, quite suitable for the girl, however she, as Maimai had already realised, was exerting too much effort into her movements between positions. For example, the side slash need not such a wide arc and the minor step back Pria made to readjust her footing was necessary and meant she had to work harder to complete the next motion.

He mentioned these things, demonstrating the specific motions which caused Pria's eyes to fill with awe before he had the girl begin the sword set once more. This time, she did improve, but Bowyer wasn't paying so much attention, instead his eyes had wandered to her opponent. Maimai looked too at ease while defending against Pria's moves, her eyes were sparkling and her light smile was not strained at all. Pria's brow was glistening slightly, while her opponent was far from out of breath.

"M-Maimai seems t-to b-be having fun," Leon murmured close to Jin Li's ear unintentionally, as the man was leaning back in boredom. Jin Li's lobe itched and he couldn't help but frown. Was his small alchemist paying that girl too much attention again? He sneered, inwardly. Seemed his lover need to be retaught.

Leon, who did not know he'd set himself up for a 'light' punishment, was startled by a sudden clapping that filled the brief void of sound once the clash of metal had ceased.

"Excellent! Most excellent! Such finesse and poise, my dear, I don't suppose you would do me the honour of giving me your name?"