Those of Us Alone

Chapter 63: R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Midori's POV

To say that I was alright after about five hours of very fast-paced travel on horseback, would be a bit of a stretch. I wasn't, by any means, excited to be traveling towards the soon-to-be battle field, but I was, luckily, not having to travel all the way to Kuuto.

Rather, the King thought it would be more helpful for me to join with Geun-tae's forces.

Which is fine and all - because they were closer than the imperial army was - but that did mean that I was hanging out with a bunch of Earth Tribesmen. They may have been the brunt and bulk of any of the Tribes' armies, but, unfortunately, they were well aware of this fact.

"I can't believe General Geun-tae has taken in a charity case from the King," spat a particularly egotistical Earth Tribe Captain - Jaoh. As demonstrated, he didn't really like me. Actually, you could say that he despised my presence, "Not to mention that she wormed her way into second in command."

I rolled my eyes, fastening an Earth Tribe breastplate over my beige kimono top. I had been given armor from the General, but the top - along with the dark brown pants and knee-high brown boots that I was wearing - was something I had picked up on my way out of Saika. Since I had been asked to fight (or at least show up), I figured it would be smart to be wearing sensible clothing.

"Looks like the Lady," Jaoh sneered in my direction, "is too weak to defend herself!"

"Jaoh!" Geun-tae glared over at the captain. We were at a temporary camp, waiting to hear of the advancement of Sen's troops, "Lady Midori is here to help! She - !"

"General," I spoke up, cutting off the Earth Tribe's leader, "pardon my interruption." I knew that there was only one way that Captain Jaoh would even remotely respect me, and it wasn't going to come from Geun-tae defending me, "If Captain Jaoh doesn't believe that I should be in the position that I am," I made eye-contact with said captain, "then perhaps he would like me to prove otherwise?"

There was almost an aggravated sigh from the General, ". . . milady . . ."

"Does that not seem fair," I said, blatantly ignoring Geun-tae, "Captain? In fact, you can decide how I prove myself." There was a loud slap sound, presumably from the general hitting himself as the sound came from his direction.

But that didn't deter Jaoh, who wore a confident smirk whilst addressing me, "Well, Lady," he sauntered over to me, until we were about half a foot apart, "if you want to prove yourself, then perhaps a fight?" Another slap resounded as the egocentric Captain leaned over me trying - and failing - to intimidate me.

I sent a smirk of my own, refusing to let him walk all over me, "Against whom?"

"Me."

~~~~~~~~

I had a light-weight spear in my hand and was twirling it in a circular motion. It was just over my height in length.

As for Captain Jaoh, his weapon of choice was a sword - like all the good, noble men who don't have a mastery of anything else. Though, really, I wasn't quite sure if he was even a master at that, as he pulled one off of one of his men, and it was very obviously not the right size for him.

So, either the Captain was trying to make a statement on how he could 'beat me with a sword that isn't even the correct size', or he was just a complete idiot.

But either way, I wasn't going to allow him the chance to use that as an excuse, "Surely you realize, Captain," I said, coming up to him, an eyebrow raised in judgement, "that you aren't using a sword that plays to your advantages?"