The One Unworthy of Legends - V:1.1 - Maria's Ascension

~ Chapter 25 ~

Cody smiled, his sword was deflected perfectly by Maria, "That was great, your stance is decent, and that parry was well performed. We'll be able to move to basic offense soon." Cody praised her, she was panting with sweat dripping down her brow.

"Really you think?" She asked, a smile bloomed on her face. "How long are you planning on staying?" she asked suddenly, her sword lowered.

"Umh, heh." Cody's smile faded, "Yeah, I can't stay here forever, I. . . have responsibilities. Although, I will likely be returning after I finish your training." He spoke with uncertainty.

"Is there something you're staying for Cody?" Maria asked suddenly, immediately striking his vitals.

"Well, possibly."

"Is it Skarlet?" She asked, once again, successfully parrying and leading with a strong stab to his heart.

"Yes." He sighed, "I'm worried about something."

"Hero stuff?" She said with a joking tone, but once again, she had him on the floor.

"Yeah, probably, I had a vision a bit ago. Like a prophetic dream, and I'm worried that something is coming soon. I want to be here when it does." Cody finally surrendered, he let the information flow. Telling her about the dream in vague detail.

"You're a good guesser. . ." He sighed as he led the way back inside, Clara stood there holding a towel out for Maria. Cody stopped for a moment, Clara was wearing a new collar, it was simple and leather not metal like what she'd been wearing previously and it had a golden tag with her name on it.

He shook off his dread and forced a smile onto his face, Everything will be alright, I can do this. He thought as Maria wiped her face, Clara took Maria's training sword and handed it to a butler. His name was Joseph, he was one of the new staff hired by Maria. Clara followed Maria as she headed upstairs, likely to take a bath.

"Stay Cody, I won't be long." Maria said over her shoulder, "Come on Clara, let's take a bath together."

"Yes." Clara nodded, following Maria down the hall. Cody sighed, moving to a bench in the entranceway he sat down.

Joseph returned not much later, he handed Cody a towel as well. "How's it been, is she settling in?" Cody asked him.

"The mistress, she finds working on paperwork, constantly, tiring. Although, miss Clara helps a bit. She gets her work done a majority of the time." Joseph responded.

"How about the orphanage, I hear she's been putting money towards that." Cody changed the topic.

"Well, in fact, the orphans don't have to beg for food anymore, the orphanage has more than enough funds to feed them." Joseph explained, this made Cody smile, he was glad that the girl was still doing the things that made him help her in the first place.

"What about talks of adventuring." Cody brought up a final subject.

"The mistress. . . still shows great interest in adventuring." Joseph said with a sigh, "It's the main thing that distracts her from her work."

"Ah, well maybe at some point she'll be able to be an adventurer." Cody replied hopefully. Joseph nodded before bowing and leaving to attend to more of his duties, Cody leaned back and dozed off.

Maria closed the door behind Clara and began undressing, Clara walked over and started the bath.
"Eh, I'm quite sweaty hmph." Maria exclaimed a she stepped out of her clothes, she scampered over to Clara and grabbed the ribbon on the back of her maid dress. With a tug, she unraveled the apron and yanked it off. Clara made a surprised yelp and spun around as Maria tugged her dress off.