44 Maria's Reques

"Who the hell are you and where am I?" seeing only a shadow of a figure, the woman tried to reach for something to protect her, but her equipment was too far out of reach. Leo understanding her fear, halted his movements before trying to explain what had occurred after her fight with the spider.

"You were poisoned during that fight. If it wasn't for the antidote I had received back in the city before I ventured out here, your life would've been forfeited." Now that the woman started to calm down hearing that he had saved her, Leo slowly walked forward. The woman instantly recognized him and was rather shocked.

"How were you able to save the two of us when you look younger than a teenager? Even if you came from the closest city to these parts, that level of strength would not make sense given your age!" The woman did not know whether to laugh or cry. Here she was being saved by a young boy that had his true power hidden away for no one to see.

"I did not catch your name before you fainted from the poison, what was it? It sounded like it started with an M." Leo started to question this woman before giving her the chance to continue asking her own. He wanted to build a relationship with her since she told him before that she was a citizen of a nearby village.

Leo felt that if he became friends with her, that his living situation while battling the spiders would be an improvement. If he was able to sleep and eat within a village, it would be much safer than being out in the wild surrounded by monsters and others with ill intentions!

The woman did not answer Leo right away as she checked the wounds on her body. Knowing now that she was fully healed, she started to sit in a meditation type position before speaking to him. "My name does not actually start with the letter M, I was about to tell you to address me as Miss." The woman said.

"I am after all, the chieftain's daughter of my village. Unlike your city or some of its close territories, villages like our own name a chieftain and are to fend for ourselves. Even if you were from a noble background, you would still need to address me as such."

Leo was taken back but was not surprised. This woman that was in front of him was able to take down a massive and formidable spider by herself. It took him a single blow, but he had to use all his strength to accomplish this!

"I will make an exception for you. Since you saved my life without me needing to even ask you, and from the look on your face it looks like you did not know my social standing within my village. You can call me Maria in private, if you dare to do this instead of calling me Miss, there will be consequences." Maria told Leo with a burning gaze in her eyes.

"Well then Maria, you can call me Leo. I hope that we can become friends in the future, please I made some soup for you while you were still out cold. I need to change into dry clothes which I will do outside, but please feel free to eat as much as you would like." Grabbing dry clothes to show Maria that he was telling her the truth, Leo made his way outside of the waterfall area to change.

After several minutes, Leo returned and saw the whole big pot of soup gone while Maria had all her armor and equipment back on. Turning towards Leo, Maria gave him a fierce look before calming down slightly while he started to ask her even more questions.

As it turns out, a rule of her family that controlled the nearby village and its politics forbade its women to venture outside and to see any form of battle. Maria wanted to escape the fate of just being someone's housewife in the future with no true freedom and so she fled to battle these spiders.

Being so close to the spider cave, the villagers had a long warlike feel towards the spiders. The Spider Queen posed a threat to their livelihood more than any of the nearby monsters or creatures, and so they have battled endlessly with the Spider Queen and her children. Every generation of warriors of the village would campaign against the spiders to try and destroy them as they would the villagers.

"Growing up, every child regardless of male or female would be trained like a warrior. In a desperate situation, the women would help protect the village from its foes, but this was only in a real emergency. I hate the idea of being a stay at home wife, my true passion is on the battlefield and I want to live and die on it!"

In this moment, Maria looked like a heavenly goddess who wanted nothing more but to smite her foes. This was a heroic aura that only a warrior with true desire and passion could unleash towards others. Watching her speak with so much emphasis on battle made Leo feel rather uncomfortable.

"You must be wondering how I fell into the waterfall earlier?" Leo started to explain to Maria how he heard her screaming out suddenly in her sleep at her father. With a concerned look in his eyes, Leo kept himself in a composed, yet friendly manner.

"My father since I was a child only wanted me to live a happy life. Unfortunately for him, I am not a woman who can live such a life that he wants for me. Once I return to the village, he will most likely trap me in our house for many years until I yield my passion and love for the battlefield." Shaking her head now becoming lost in her own thoughts, Maria couldn't help but to let out a small saddened grin.

"I do have a request; can you accompany me against the spiders? With your ability to survive against being outnumbered, we could surely kill quite a few by working hard together." Maria asked Leo determined for him to accept her offer.