Capítulo 31: Barbara
"Hey, glasses boy. I have to ask you something."
A girl with short black hair and who also wears the same glasses as mine walks towards me.
"What is it?"
"You have... the Assassin Amulet don't you?", she asked.
"Huh?"
*Wait! Does she know about my amulet? Should I deny it? Or tell her the truth.*
"What? Answer me."
She has a serious look as if she's going to kill me if my answer didn't satisfy her.
"Yeah, I have it."
"I see. Now... give it to me."
"Huh?"
"Hey, Hiro!", Vinna call me.
"Don't worry, let me handle this."
*She knows about my amulet and now she wants it. Just who is she?*
"Hey, why do you know that I have this amulet? Who are you?", I asked.
"Ahhhh... I just want that amulet, I have no time to answer your question."
The commander turns around and walks inside the HQ.
"C-Commander?"
"Take your time.", she said while waving her hand.
"Ernesta do something!", Vinna said.
"Ehhh... just let them be."
"But!"
"I'm going to get some snacks and watch."
"You little!!!"
"Ahhh."
I sighed.
"Them let me change the question. Why do you want the amulet?"
"Hmmm... how about this, entertain me and I'll tell you everything."
"Entertain?"
"Yeah... in other words... fight me."
"Fight?"
"Hey!"
"Vinna, it's okay."
"But! Tsk!"
"Be careful Hiro. That girl is on another level.", Rick warned me.
*Vinna and the others have them defeated by a single person. That means she's really strong.*
"Fine, I'll fight you."
"Hiro?!"
"Good luck Hiro!!!"
"My, my. It looks like I going to have multiple fights in a single day."
*Well this is bad but this girl might know anything about my amulet.*
We went to an open space in the back of HQ.
"Woah! This place is surely huge."
Facing each other, I grab my knives and go in a fighting stance.
"So you really that amulet huh."
She even knows what's Assassin Amulet looks like.
"Now, let's start!"
She immediately dashes towards me.
*She's fast!*
I couldn't react immediately. She holds tight her kukri and smashes it towards my ribs.
"Guh!"
She only uses the back of her kukri but I think one of my ribs is broken already.
"Woah! That's it?"
"Go easy on me."
"Nahhh... you should tell that before our fight start."
I can't stand up properly because of my broken ribs.
"Now! Give me that amulet."
She runs towards me and starts swinging her two kukris.
I keep dodging and blocking her attack but it's useless. She's so fast that only a few of her attacks I can only block and dodge.
"What's wrong? Tried already?"
Thankfully she keeps using only the back of her kukri. If she didn't, I might be full of wounds and blood right now.
"Don't worry, I can still fight... I think."
"Ehhh. Come on, don't disappoint me."
*I have to attack at least.*
I dash towards her and swing my two knives.
She just keeps dodging it like she's dancing.
"Come on, I know you can do more than that. Afterall..."
"Huh?"
*What did she say?*
I lost focus on our fight. She find an open and hit my stomach with her knee.
"Guh!"
"Boring..."
*I have to focus.*
I jump away from her and grab the smoke bomb in my pocket.
Throwing it to her, she immediately swings upward her kukri causing it to fly upward.
"Same trick won't work at me."
*This is bad.*
She dashes towards me and spins around.
I manage to block one of the kukris but the other one hit me in my left shoulder.
"My, my. You can still fight huh."
I'm still blocking her kukri while ignoring the pain.
*I have to think.*
"Woah, I won't let you think of a plan."
*This is bad!*
I'm using the knife in my right to block her kukri. My left hand won't be able to block her next attack because of pain.
She raises her other hand and swings it down.
I spin around her and go to her back. She's open but since I can't move properly my left shoulder I have to leave it.
Jumping away to her. She turns around and dashes at me. Swinging her two kukris left and right repeatedly.
I keep jumping away to dodge it all.
"Don't just keep dodging, attack me too!"
She lowers her stance as if she's ready to dash towards me at full speed.
*This is not good.*
I immediately grab the smoke bomb in my pocket and throw it on the ground where I'm standing.
The smoke bomb immediately explodes and cover my surrounding with smoke.
I saw the girl's shadow dashing towards me. I immediately jump to my left.
"Huh? Smoke bomb again?"
I lower my stance and wait for an opening.
*With this she wouldn't find m-*
"Gotcha!"
"Huh?!"
She appears behind the smoke and swings down her kukri towards me. I immediately block it using my knife.
*How did she...*
"Sorry, but I used to hunt at night so blocking my vision won't help you."
I can't attack her and at the same time block hers.
I feel like I'm fighting against Ernesta.
"So, what now?", she asked.
*As if I know.*
Unlike Gavril, I don't know how she fights. Her moves in unpredictable. She's so used to fighting like a professional.
I'm still blocking her kukris. Since my left shoulder already recovers, I swing it towards her. She immediately leans back and jumps away from me.
I still have some tools on me.
I immediately stand up and run towards her.
"Oh, you're going to attack now?"
I change the position of my knife and slash it towards her. She use her kukri to block my knife. I bring more force to my knife and ended up slipping up my knife to her kukri. I ended stepping forward unintentionally and almost lose balance.
I immediately turn around and thrust my knife at her but she sandwiched it between her two kukris. She raises her kukris throwing up my knife.
I grab something on my uniform and throw it at her face.
"A smoke bomb again? Wait this is..."
A throw a stun grenade that creates very bright light and loud noise.
"My eyes!", the girl shouted while blocking her eyes with her right arm.
I step forward to check her but when I'm close to her, she looks at me with her eyes that telling me that I'm been fooled.
"Just kidding."
"Huh?!"
I immediately jump away from her and grab a grenade in my uniform and throw it on the ground before she dashes towards me.
*Boom!*
The grenade can cause some scratches to a person but not enough to cut some limbs.
"Hey!"
"What?!"
*Did she just ignore the explosion?*
"Gotcha again!"
She grabs my collar and lifts me upward then smashes me to the ground.
"Guh!"
"Whoops. I think I overdo it."
"Hiro!"
*I lose.*
"I broke his spine... I think."
"You!!!"
"It's okay, My spine is okay. Thankfully the ground is grassy."
"Hehe, I win."
"I guess I have to say goodbye to my amulet."
"Don't worry, I won't take it."
"Eh? But I lose."
"I said you have to entertain me. I never mention about winning or losing."
"I see..."
"I already know that you have no match on me.", she said proudly.
"Ugh..."
"Well, I already doing this for decades, I don't expect some kiddo would defeat me."
I stand up from the ground while holding my back in pain.
"It hurts."
"You okay Hiro?"
"Yeah."
"What a good fight Hiroro.", Ernesta said while holding a popcorn in her hand.
*Where's did she get that?*
"What's your name?", she asked the girl.
"Oh sorry, I beat up that guy without saying my name."
"Could you just apologize without mentioning that you beat me..."
"Hehe, I'm Barbara."
"Hmmm... Barby!"
"...Huh?"
"Yeah, nice to meet you, Barby! I'm Ernesta!"
Ernesta extends her hand to Barbara.
"Oh, nice to meet you... Ernny."
"Ernny? That's sounds good."
"Wait... isn't the same name that I call to you when you give me a nickname?!"
"Hehe."
"Hey, Barbara.", I call her.
"What is it?"
"You said that fighting relieves your boredom right?"
"Yeah."
"Then... how about you join to A-1."
_________________________________________
"So, it is true that you, Barbara, gonna join to A-1?", Commander asked.
All of us have been called to the meeting room because of this.
"Yep!"
"I see."
"Do I have to do something or pass some requirements?"
"No need, all I need is whether the members will agree or not. So, A-1 will you agree to let Barbara join A-1?"
"I want Barby to join!"
"We agree."
"Wait!", Vinna shouted.
"Do you disagree Vinna?"
"Ah, no, I just wanted to ask what amulet she has.", she said while pointing her finger towards Barbara.
"Amulet? I don't have one."
"... What?!"
"What's with that surprised look?"
"Well..."
"' We've been defeated by the person who didn't have amulet', that's your saying in you're mind don't you?"
"Geh!...Kinda..."
"It is okay to let someone who doesn't have an amulet join? Well I mean Cedric and his men are part of our team even though they don't have amulets but they go in training to fight Outsiders without needing one."
"I understand your concern Darius but you already see that she slaughter multiple Outsiders and beat all of you in a fight right?"
"Yeah... sorry."
"Don't worry handsome! I can protect myself and all of you if you wanted."
"I think no one objects. Here and now, I, Commander Elizabeth, declare Barbara as one of us, an A-1 member."
""Yehey!""
Ernesta and Barbara hold hands and jump at the same time.
"I guess we're going to have two Ernesta in the group now.", Darius said.
"I have a bad feeling about this.", Rick said.
"One Ernesta in already pain in the butt, making it two is kinda a pain in the whole body..."
"Ernesta, bring her to her room and walk her around the HQ."
"Aye aye!"
The two of them run outside the room.
"Hiro.", Commander call me.
"Yes?"
"Thanks.", she walks outside after saying that.
"Thanks...huh."
All of us are already aware that we can't ask for any help from the other kingdom help ever since the incident. Having a great fighter like Barbara would be a great help.
________________________________________________________________________________________
Early in the morning, waking early and walking in the hallway.
Barbara become one of us just yesterday.
I'm thankful even though we lose Cedric and the others, we have Barbara.
"Hey! No running!", someone shouted.
"Huh?"
I look behind me and saw Barbara running...naked.
"..."
"Goodmorning Darry!"
Barbara jumps on me.
A huge pair of melons is in front of me.
*What should I do?*
I asked myself.
*Should I dodge it?*
But if I did, Barbara would get hurt and mad at me.
*Then catch her?*
Isn't look like taking advantage of the situation? They would think that I'm a pervert or something like that.
While I'm thinking, I didn't notice that Barbara is only a few inches close to me. I have no choice but to choose option 2.
I spread my arms and wait for Barbara to land on me but before that happen, I heard and feel some shaking on the ground.
Something appears between me and Barbara.
I lose balance and fell on the ground while Barbara land on the object that appear.
"A rock?"
"Barbara, you can run in the hallway but put on some clothes."
It's Commander who create those.
"Yes!"
"Barby!"
Ernesta running towards us wearing nothing but bath towels.
"Ahhh."
I sighed.
__________________________________________
After taking lunch, I took a stroll inside the HQ to check some things.
I spotted Barbara looking at the window.
"Woah! You have winter grass here!", shouted.
She's talking about the white grass in Wintergrass village. Most people call it "winter grass".
"Yeah, although I don't know why it is white in the first place."
"If I remember, it's a mutation that Sages made a long time ago. They trying to make grass that illuminating but it ended up like that instead."
"You sure you're knowledgable about that.", I said.
"Nahhh, I just read it in the book."
"You love reading?", I asked.
"Well... did you know that we always desire the things that we lack."
"Hmmm, well... I don't know."
"I'm actually a beggar when I was a kid. No parent, no name, no school, nothing. Whenever I look at the normal kids, I'm always feeling jealous. At one time, I sneak inside the school and stole some books. At first, I'm only looking at the drawing and pictures in the book since I don't know how to read. That's why I sneak again inside the school and try to listen to some lessons. I learn to read, write, calculate, and anything else. By learning that, the books become more useful to me. That's I ended up learning some things."
"I see... it must be painful."
"Now, now. Don't feel so bad to me. My situation helps me a lot."
"How so?"
"Well... let see... we can say that I learn how to survive at an early age. Since I got nothing and I'm alone, I have to become strong and creative in order to survive. You can say that I become who I am because of my past."
"I see... you know, in our house, I have a room that is full of books."
"Really?!"
"Yeah, when I go home... wanna come with me?"
"Of course!", she shouted.
She grabs my hand and holds it because of excitement.
*How cute.*
"Hey, Barbara."
Hiro walking towards us.
"Yeah?"
"I have something to asked you."
________________________________________________________________________________________
*Come on, I know you can do more than that. After all... you're her son.*
The word she said is still fresh in my mind.
"You said something when we are fighting right? Are you talking about my mother?"
"Well... who else. Hey, Hiro."
"Yeah?"
"Alicia... Alicia Sage... that's your mother's name right?"
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