144 Vigilant Erin

Erin and Leo had just finished studying under Galana for the day, or rather, Galana had enough of them for now and kicked them out of the study. The sisters felt that they were making good progress in their studies but it didn't matter how well they did, nothing seemed to be enough for the frustrating woman. What was up with her always being angry anyway?

How were they supposed to become friends with that annoying teacher of theirs? They did as Emp asked of them and tried new things almost everyday. At the end they would sit down and discuss between the two of them what went wrong and how to proceed next. They were quickly running out of ideas on how to tame the beast of the study room.

"Maybe we should just ask her why she dislikes us?" Finally proposed Leo as they loitered in the corridor upstairs.

It was such a simple idea that they hadn't even thought about it up until now.

"Maybe, let's try that tomorrow Leo." Erin said along with a praise to her dear sister.

Leo stood proudly with a wide smile in response to the praise. Erin found her sister so cute, she couldn't resist and hugged her strongly, pleasing the smaller girl. Leo was not her only sibling but she was the one person she cared for the most in the whole world.

As long as Leo was having fun and smiling, Erin knew she was on the right track. Her sister was an indicator on whether what she was doing was right or wrong. As long as the girl was happy, Erin felt justified in her choices and actions. Following Emp and Calla all the way to this village, staying here, learning from him. It was difficult and they were far from everything they knew but Leo was happy so Erin had no regrets.

If they could master all the things Emp wanted to teach them, they'd get rewarded greatly but more importantly, she'd be certain that Leo would have a proper future stretching in front of her. She had been afraid for the longest time that Leo would have to do odd jobs forever and maybe even starve. She was so glad to have met Emp and the opportunity he presented them. She was conscious that she certainly didn't deserve that opportunity so she wanted to do her best as a way of thanks to show to Emp that she was ever so grateful for what he was doing for them.

Even if they ended up failing in the end, what they were learning right now was so valuable already that Leo and her would surely be fine afterwards. This was a priceless gift for her, something she could never have given her sister on her own.

It was at this point that they heard a few knocks on the door. Since it was raining outside, all the windows were shut so Erin had to open one up to see. She peeked outside and Leo stretched herself and stood on her tiptoes to do the same. There, in the rain, was a large group of armed women in front of the house. It was hard to tell because they all wore thick rain cloaks or brandished shields over their heads to escape the rain but none of them belonged to the village. Erin knew because she met mostly everyone at the new year feast and even before that.

"Who are they?" Leo asked with a puzzled air.

"No idea, lets go hide in the entrance for the time being."

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"Mhn." Leo nodded obediently.

The two closed back the window, jumped downstairs from the overhanging corridor and slipped in the entrance room. Svae and Calla were downstairs too, working on some food, but Erin knew that Svae would quickly come open the door. Emp himself wasn't here, he was with his mother Marcellia.

Erin felt that the woman was a much better mom than her own who didn't teach them much and didn't have any time for them but now was not the time to think about this. For now, they needed to receive the visitors properly and by that, Erin really meant to make sure they wouldn't cause trouble.

This place might not belong to her but she considered it her home, she did not trust a large group of armed people right at their door. Erin wanted to protect this place as best as she could and so her and Leo faded in the darkness around the door.

The place was just a tiny room to store coats and shoes before stepping in the main room so it was a bit cramped and was a step lower than the rest of the house. There were a wall on either side of the door and the overhanging corridor served as ceiling for the room but there was no second door from here leading into the rest of the house, it was just a sort of cavity. Erin wasn't sure it deserved the word lobby or even entrance hall.

This small place however was perfect to set up an ambush. The light didn't reach here properly while the massive door was closed and there were many corners to hide herself. Under the benches, in the coats, over the door itself, in the corners connecting the walls, for her and Leo, all those place could turn into a decent hiding spot.

She worked her magic through her body like Emp thought her and Leo and climbed the wall in a hurry. In no time, she reached the very corner above the door and let herself fade into it.

She felt very proud every time Emp praised her improvements in her hiding skills so she kept practicing diligently. It was the first time anyone praised her abilities after all. Aside from Emp, no one ever said she was good in anything so she wanted to hear him praise her improvements more. Even if the things he had her and Leo do were exhausting, she was very conscious that she was getting much better than before and it felt exhilarating. Calla would clap at their progress and reward them with the best meals she ever ate of her life and it felt great. It made her eager to seek more of that feeling, Leo was the same, she knew, and above all that, she found serenity in knowing that all of this would truly help her sister for the rest of her life.

Leo hid in the corner opposite to hers and disappeared the same as her, prepared to ambush the intruders if they didn't behave well with their friend Svae. Even Erin had trouble perceiving Leo like that even though she saw her disappearing. The two of them remained very silent, masking their breath in the ambient kitchen noises and the clattering sounds of the heavy rain.

They watched Svae come floating in and reach for the door, it had just been an instant since the visitors knocked on the door. Their friend didn't notice them and turned the handle of the door, pulling it open and welcoming the visitors with a smile. The door let through the wet smell of the rain as well as soaked fur like a wet dog, it was surely the cloaks of the travelers.

"Hi, who might you be? May I be of help?"

"Erh.... Hi? We came looking for Emp but did we perhaps get the place wrong?"

The voice was loud enough to get through the rain and sounded motivated yet hesitant.

They were here for Emp but they didn't state what they wanted him for. Erin expected them to attack at any moment in an attempt to drown him in numbers. Erin knew he was strong but with this many of them, he might worry for the safety of the others. If that was the case, her task would be to make sure that Calla, Svae and Galana could escape safely and run some interference in the group of assailant to ease his task.

She and Leo would want to jump in and help but she knew he'd get angry and worried because he did not think they were strong enough. He might have been right too, she didn't know. There was no one to try her strength against here aside from him so she had no way to judge how strong or weak she was now.

Svae was making a slight frown, this meant that the visitors didn't look at her seriously, probably because she was a cursed-blood. Maybe they even scowled, unforgivable!

A gust of wind brought some rain inside and made the floor wet, Svae floated above it and the sisters didn't flinch.

"Master Emp does live here but he's working with his mother right now." The vaelian told them.

"Oh, he's with Marcellia? Should we go there directly or wait for him here?"

"Knowing her, she might get upset we're disturbing the work." A second voice stated.

"Then would you let us in fish girl? It's raining after all. I'm sure he won't mind."

Svae hesitated so the visitors insisted.

"He's the one who asked us to come here and we all know him well. I promise you won't get in any trouble for letting us four in. The rest will go set up the camp for tonight. You all heard me?"

There were some voices outside Erin didn't catch because of the rain and then a great amount of wet sounds like boots in the mud. Either they were doing as they said they were or they were circling the house to bar any exits.

In theory, at this point, Svae should have asked Calla if she wanted to let them in or not but they all knew how it would end up. She would be too shy to answer properly and would waste a bunch of time, then, because she's such a big softy, she'd let them all in to escape the rain. Big sister Calla was too kind, Erin wasn't blaming her for it though because it was what was the greatest about her. That was why Leo and herself grew so attached to her so fast.

"You may enter." Svae said, opening the door wider for the intruders. "Please, remove cloaks and boots before stepping in the main room." She reminded them. "Who do I introduce you as to mistress?"

"That mistress is the apple girl right?" A brown cloak stepped in, much taller than Svae if she stood up.

That one had the voice who spoke the most.

"I don't know if she remembers us, we barely saw each other when we were last here because she's been avoiding us."

Wasn't that an obvious confirmation that they were up to no good? Even Calla didn't want to see them!

Three more cloaks walked in, a green and grey one with a royal quality to it, a black one made out of the skin of a bear who might be a man and another brown cloak, smaller and thinner.

"We've been escorting the lady Kaisla here," The small cloak said, moving out of the hood to reveal neat blond hair. She was the one who spoke about Marcellia earlier. The woman had a fair triangle nose and heavy cheekbones. She looked a bit like a lady who sold fruits to Erin in Bêtéclair in the past.

"We're/"

"Wait something's wrong." The royal-looking cloak stated with another feminine voice.

Right away, the other three reached towards their weapons under their rain gears. Royal cloak was a dangerous one, Erin concluded. How did she even notice them? If that was the case, there was no point in hiding anymore. Leo reached the same conclusion and the two of them jumped from their hiding spot towards the women under them.

Erin aimed for the royal cloak who was the most dangerous while Leo targeted the main speaker who might be the leader of the group. They didn't need to talk with each other to know who would target who or when, they just knew. The sisters formed a really great team.

The two of them got their short swords out of their scabbards as they fell towards their opponents. Leo and her were still unsure on whether they were evil or good so they wouldn't aim to injure them badly but they wanted to put them under control as swiftly as possible. With the royal cloak and the leader under control, the other would have no choice but to surrender and it would be a victory for the sisters.

Surely, Emp would praise them for their successful ambush.

All she needed was to place a strong strike to the back of the royal cloak's head to knock her out and it would be her victory. It didn't go exactly as she wanted it to however. It turned out that the woman had some incredible reflexes. Even though she couldn't possibly see Erin from were she was, she still managed to twist herself away from her strike.

She failed to hit the woman but extended her left hand as she was falling and gripped her shoulder to spin her around instead.

Meanwhile, the bear fur cloak stepped in the way of Leo and raised its arms to block her fall towards the leader. Leo twisted herself between the arms of the bear cloak, kicked the head of its wearer and jumped unto the leader.

Svae called both of their names in surprise but Erin didn't have the time to think about it. Her opponent slipped out of the cloak as if it was the easiest thing to do, getting rid of her grip at the same time. Under the cloak, a shining armor was revealed in the obscurity of this rainy day. Erin didn't have any more time to react or even begin to think of a new followup strategy that some long wooden spikes came out of nowhere and pierced towards her.

She blocked one of them with her short sword but six others came right through her defenses and pierced through her clothes. She was thrown backwards and after a bunch of loud tacking noises were heard, she was pinned to the wall. She didn't feel any sharp pain so the spikes thankfully didn't go through her but they moved as if they had a consciousness of their own and she found herself bound against the wall in the span of a single breath. She had no idea about what just happened to her but she had been thoroughly defeated.

She tried to calm her fears and panic while she observed the rest carefully. Emp had thought her that panicking was the worst thing to do even if it was really hard not to. She first glanced at her sister.

Leo fared much better and after foiling the interception attempt of the bear cloak, she dizzied the leader, had her fall with a kick at the back of her knee and wrapped her legs around her neck in no time with her short sword pointed right at her. The leader was locked down just as much as Erin was, it seemed that this conflict was a draw.

Erin praised her sister in her head while she took a good look at everyone. Now that all the cloaks were removed, she could see them clearly. The bear cloak was a woman too, she had a shocked expression, a few scars and a braid on the right of her head. The leader had grey eyes reflecting annoyance from having been surprised and taken so quickly and her hair was cut short.

The royal cloak was the most interesting though, she wore a very high quality armor that was leagues apart from those of her accomplices. It was full of detailed designs and finely elegant pieces. More importantly, it was showcasing two symbols Emp had thought her about before, they were prominent on her chest piece and brightly colored. It was obvious even in the dim lighting of the entrance, it was a flower shield protecting a pine grove on the left and a city wall on the right. That meant she wore an armor from Emp's family which was frustrating for her because it meant they were wrong again about their evil intentions.

Sven was shocked speechless while both the knight and Leo spoke at the same time to say essentially the same thing.

"Drop your weapon or your friend gets it!/Let Erin go or I cut that one!"

The grown up knight glared at Leo who glared back without flinching. The wooden bindings holding Erin down came from her back and her hips, they squirmed and squeezed her a bit more strongly to intimidate Leo. Erin wondered what sort of powerful spell that was but before things went further down the wrong direction, she intervened. She was unable to move her limbs for even a tiny bit but she was still free to talk.

"Okay stop it, Leo, let her go."

"But sis!" Leo complained right away.

"Look at her armor." Erin further said.

Leo scrunched up her face as she looked properly and groaned pitifully.

"Uhhhh... We're gonna get scolded again aren't we?"

Leo weakened her grip on the leader's neck and let her go while everyone else looked on with confusion painted all over their faces.

"Could you please introduce yourself properly to reassure my sister." Erin asked the armored Girl.

The woman complied even though the one asking was under her total mercy.

"My name is Kaisla Grovgar, I was sent here by the young lord to meet his wife. The others are huntresses he hired to escort me here."

"So that's why they all looked so shady! I thought you were a large pack of bandits." Leo complained.

"They don't look that shady, you two just see everyone as suspicious even when they aren't! And bandits don't move in packs, they move in gangs." The voice of Galana came from somewhere inside.

Leo got frustrated but didn't find anything to get back at her so she just yelled her name in frustration. Now, everyone from their side had calmed down but Erin still needed to calm down the visitors they had wrongly attacked.

"We're sorry we took you for invaders." She said earnestly.

"Just who are you all?" The knight asked.

Svae hurried to answer, anxious about her friend being incarcerated in a wall.

"I am master Emp's slave, those two are Erin Porter and Leonni Porter, they are friends. Master has been training them for some time."

"We like to watch after the house when Emp isn't there." Erin added.

*-*-*-*

Later that day, Emp hurried home after his work with Marcy trying to escape the rain. He opened the door and closed it back behind him as quickly as possible so that the floor wouldn't be covered in water thanks to the obnoxious wind. He hoped that the girls hadn't left any windows opened or he'd have them clean the mess themselves. The house was just built last year, he didn't want the floors to get all wavy from the water just yet.

Now that he was inside and that the sound of the wind and rain got muffled by the door, he started hearing a vivid discussion in the main room. He removed his boots in the dimly lit half-room and left them with the others. Some of the footwear were unknown to him and he guessed it was connected with the many voices inside.

He peeked inside and saw the sisters standing on the table. They were taking poses and talking enthusiastically about the time Erin and him tricked Leo. They were mimicking the events and laughing along with their audience, commenting on whatever crossed their minds back then.

Sat around the table were Galana, Kaisla, Connie, Tacey and Jaska. He had not realized that it had already been a few weeks long since they left Bêtéclair, he had not expected to see them today. He was also just as surprised to see that Galana decided to join up with them downstairs and seemed to have fun.

Leo was in the midst of telling them all about how she climbed on his back and flipped his helmet around. Emp stepped inside the main room and interrupted her story to save at least a tiny fraction of his image.

"She had it easy because I was busy making sure she wouldn't freeze herself on my hammer and my right hand was busy holding on to her sister."

"Emp!"

"Finally showing up?"

They were happy to see him and most raised a hand to welcome him back. Calla and Svae back in the cooking area raised a hand as well, the presentations must have already been made successfully without him then.

Kaisla stood up from her seat to welcome him more politely. Saluting him along with a formal "My lord." Of course, he returned all their welcomes.

"Hi everyone. I didn't realize it was already time for you to get here. I'm glad to see that everyone is getting along."

"Well it's hard to not get along when everyone's got some good embarrassing stories about how you made yourself look like and idiot" Galana chuckled, more teasingly than mockingly.

"Aye, we were in a good mood because of how your two apprentices received us." Connie said.

"Those two are rather interesting even if the way they welcome others in your house might need a bit of work." The mage Jaska added.

Emp turned his eyes back to to the sister to question them.

"What exactly did you do? Also, didn't I tell you to not step on the table?"

"Oops, sorry." The two girls hurried to get off from it.

They did their best to escape punishment but Emp sentenced them anyway.

"You'll have to clean it before dinner."

Galana laughed heartily while the two girls groaned in disappointment and left to get some cloth to clean with.

While they were doing that, Emp walked to the table and sat down with the rest.

"I guess you've all been introduced to each other already?"

"Almost," Connie answered. "We've met everyone but your wife hasn't said a word yet so Kaisla hasn't introduced herself to her properly yet."

"She's here?"

Kaisla looked around in search of her but failed to notice Calla with Svae. It could have been rather insulting but Kaisla could hardly be blamed for it, Calla worked in the kitchen the whole time with the slave Svae for only company and wore very ordinary clothes. Anyway one looked at it, she couldn't be matched with the image the wife of the next great general should inspire.

"Of course she's here, it's the apple girl over there with the sky fish." Connie laughed. "Even the guy at the gate confirmed it."

"What!" Kaisla felt very embarrassed and quickly looked towards Emp for confirmation.

After Emp nodded, he waved towards his wife.

"That's right, the girl cooking over there is Calla Champom Muracier, my lovely wife."

Hearing that, Kaisla instantly felt really bad and rushed to Calla's side. She performed a perfect formal bow in the manners a knight should and apologized right away.

"My lady, I apologize for my rude behavior. I should have introduced myself properly right away but I failed to recognize the lady of the house. Please excuse the misguided actions of this loyal knight."

Calla reacted by taking a step back, disturbing her diligent work. Her eyes flew towards him with a clear message, "please help".

"Of course she forgives you. Calla doesn't mind at all, in fact, she's much more disturbed by your perfect bow."

Emp came closer and pulled Kaisla back up, making her take a step back to give Calla her own space again. His wife exhaled in relief and gave Kaisla a quiet word of welcome before returning to her cooking. The smell of it was mouthwatering, Emp couldn't wait to have a bite. This reminded him that he didn't know if the others intended to stay. He quickly established a list of priorities in his head and spoke to Kaisla first. She was confused about his behavior and wondering why he didn't let her apologize properly.

"Listen Kaisla, Calla wasn't born in a high noble house and finds all of those show of etiquette awkward and embarrassing. Think about how grandfather reacts to all the decorum and I'm sure you'll understand. Trust me, she's happy to have visitors and doesn't resent you at all for not presenting yourself to her, she's just too shy to speak to you properly yet. Give her some time to get used to you and she'll speak on her own when she's ready to."

Kaisla listened carefully and even though she had some misgivings about not giving Calla the deference she deserved, she still obeyed Emp and gave Calla her space again. She did understand how some people like Aminui and Emp found all this pointless and time wasting but she still wanted to show her respect properly. She had trouble imagining how being shown proper respect could be embarrassing. Since Calla herself gave of a strong impression of agreeing with Emp's words however, she gave another simple "sorry" and went back to sit at the table.

With that out of the way for now, Emp turned back towards the others.

"Speaking of time, are you three busy today? I'd like to invite you all for dinner, Calla seems particularly proud of her work today and it would give us time to talk."

"Sure, I'd be happy to stay. How about you two?" Connie asked the others.

They agreed easily and Emp came back to sit down with them. The sisters also came back at that point and started wiping the table.

The three huntresses seemed rather enthusiastic about tasting what was currently cooking. Emp thought that their encounter would be much more awkward than it was turning out. Last time they met, he almost ended up killing Connie and now they were all acting as if nothing happened.

"Are you really fine with what happened last time?"

The three looked at each other in hesitation and finally, Connie shrugged.

"It went much better than it really should have, I don't see why we'd be upset."

"I almost killed you over something stupid I said once without thinking."

"Wait, what happened exactly? How come you almost killed her?" Galana jumped in the conversation, unable to follow what they were saying.

The five in the know explained what happened in Bêtéclair a few weeks ago briefly but clearly to the rest. None of the three huntresses seemed to keep any resentment to this experience as they retold it to Galana and the sisters.

"So because of what this idiot said in a fit of anger, he almost had to beat you to death with his hammer?" Galana condensed the main point.

Kaisla got annoyed that Galana called him an idiot again but she didn't say anything for now and just watched the rest play out on its own. The sisters were shocked to hear about that story, they hadn't expected to hear about a time were he felt so bad about his own actions. Even for the things they laughed about previously like how the huntresses had him fall down a tree he slept on and how he tricked Leo, he just apologized and didn't dwell on it further. He was ready to laugh with them about it all afterwards but for this, he still felt really bad even if the huntresses assured him it was all fine.

"I think we all needed this and we're glad of how it all went down." Jaska said again.

"It's already a small miracle that we didn't all end up dead for offending a Muracier." Tacey explained.

"We know how the Muraciers are like too. You said you'd crush us if we ever met which should have been an absolute and yet here we are, sat around a table like old time friends." Connie pointed out. "Seriously, the girl spared us because she was a good person, true, but more importantly, she spared us because you were there to fix her and our shameful mistakes for us. That was probably the luckiest moment of our lives. Not only were we forgiven, we came back alive, found out that she ended up with a good guy we knew and also a Muracier and, Tacey finally started smiling again."

"You're mistaken, I'm not smiling at all, it's an optical illusion." The second in command denied.

It was true that right now she wasn't truly smiling but she did seem better than before.

"Look mister young lord Muracier, I was ready to pay with my life to bring back the luck my team lost because of my bad choices. Life decided I wasn't done yet and it's thanks to the girl we made suffer and you, even if you were the one wielding the hammer supposed to kill me. there's no way I'll be angry, I'm thankful instead. You could have just erased us or just left right away after the girl decided it was over but instead, you stayed and even gave us a job to do. You felt so bad about it too, doesn't it show your good character clearly?"

"Yeah, I might have been mad if you didn't have any regrets and just left without a word but you wanted to apologize about it all right away. Now we just feel great, we've gained the trust of a Muracier of all people, Connie showed her resolve in front of two of them and survived to be given a task, it's more than we should be allowed to dream for already." Jaska said.

"My plan to do the same as the renowned Marcelia and get a good noble husband that way doesn't seem as far fetched anymore now does it? With a Muracier backing us up, everyone will know us across the kingdom!"

Connie was rather proud of how things turned out even though she was just as surprised to see it all happen as the rest. She had not planned any of it but she did find the results perfect for her team and herself.

With so many voices and arguments telling him to not mind it anymore, Emp felt much better about it all and enjoyed a long conversation with everyone afterwards.

They talked about their travel, what they wanted to do after, what was happening around the village, and so on. They did a lot of catching up and spoke about some more pointless thing like why the wife of a Muracier was cooking. Tacey could hardly believe it and Emp had to insist that he wasn't too cheap to hire a cook and that he wasn't forcing her to do it either.

"It's really just that she loves to do it."

The incredible taste of the food as well as her giant smile only further confirmed his words. All of that ended up bringing them to the main conversation, brought back to the forefront by Erin.

"What I really want to know is why you had Kaisla come all the way here. Is it really just to meet Calla?"

He had been pretty sure he spoke about all that the day he told them who he was but maybe not, there was a lot to go through after all.

"Didn't I speak about it already? She's a candidate to be Calla's lady-in-waiting."

"What?"

Erin and Leo were more confused than shocked which furthered the idea that he had not clearly talked about it to them before and also that they didn't know what he was talking about exactly. Leo confirmed that suspicion right away by asking the question with a guilty face. Galana probably thought them what it was but either she didn't listen or she forgot right away.

"What's a lady-in-waiting."

"Isn't it a sort of attendant?" Erin tried to answer her sister.

Galana was clearly dissatisfied of their failure to listen to what she was told to teach them but still answered their confusion after a frustrated sigh.

"They're meant to act as confident and friends to the one they serve, do their best to help in any way they can and also, often serve as potential wives to the husband of the lady they assist."

"They what!"

That apparently shocked Erin so much she jumped off her seat in a panic.

For the months to come, Erin kept glaring at Kaisla and the other ladies that would come, afraid that they might break the perfect balance of the house she currently enjoyed. She gave herself a new task that day, stay vigilant and stop the ladies from doing anything suspicious, for the good of her enjoyable daily life.