Hero Worship
Characters: Yuuri, Alford, brief bit of Conrad
Notes: The briefest of kisses.
The high noon sun was beating down on the training grounds in what felt like a relentless fashion, and the young boy king of Shin Makoku and his maken moaned in unison at the heat. It was much too hot to train that day.
Of course, neither king nor sword were in an active stance: They were sitting miserably but safely on the sidelines watching Conrad and Alford spar.
"I bet his sword is what makes it so easy," Yuuri muttered in envy, just loud enough for Morgif to hear and moan in protest. Alford seemed a natural at swinging his sword in a skilled and graceful manner. He wasn't as polished as Conrad—no one was—but as Yuuri's retainer gave suggestions for improvement to the younger swordsman, Alford quickly and easily made the adjustments necessary. He was a much better student than Yuuri, for what little he seemed to need to learn in comparison.
But Yuuri was sure the cool Holy Sword helped with that, too.
Their swords clashed once again, the sound of the friendly metal as it met filling Yuuri's ears as he watched the two men draw together in combat. Conrad said something that Yuuri was out of earshot for, but Alford nodded and they separated to replace their swords back into the sheaths.
"Your Majesty, we're going to take a break for some lunch," Conrad called out as the two men walked toward him to retrieve the rest of their belongings. As they drew closer, Yuuri could make out the thin sheen of sweat on their tanned skin and silently bemoaned their ability to make sweat look attractive; when he was sweating all he did was look as though he hadn't bathed that day.
"You two look so cool out there," he smiled, handing Alford the towel he had been fingering in his hands while watching them spar.
"Thank you, but I have a long way to go," the journeyman deflected modestly, taking the towel.
"Then I don't want to consider how far I have. I know that even if I practiced my whole life I won't ever be as great as Conrad is." Morgif hummed in agreement and the young pair grinned at Conrad. Conrad continued to wipe at the back of his neck with his own towel, somehow the person who had perspired the least despite being the one that had been moving around the longest. He threw the towel on his shoulder when he was done and bent to pick up his uniform jacket.
"Beyond the basics and good practice, skill with a sword is learned on the battlefield. That being the reality, I should hope that His Majesty does not become even half as capable with his weapon."
Yuuri nodded and grabbed Morgif, leading the way inside for much needed food and drink.
The rest of Yuuri's afternoon was filled with paperwork and classes, so he had asked Conrad to be attentive to Alford until he could steal away some time to spend with him later in the day. While not a dignitary or royalty, Alford was still a visitor of Blood Pledge to be attended to by the Maou, but his lackadaisical approach allowed Yuuri to spend most of his day going about his duties without much fuss. (Not that this pleased him, but it meant that he wouldn't have to spend twice the amount of time doing all that boring stuff tomorrow, so better to keep up with it.)
As evening fell and dinner passed, Wolfram had whined and shouted but eventually agreed to be the one to put Greta to bed that night so Yuuri could spend more time with their human guest. He found Alford in the room he had been assigned for his stay, the young traveler writing what seemed to be a letter.
"It's to my father," Alford explained as the Maou peered over to look at the paper. He couldn't read the human language. "I try to keep him up to date on my travels when I get the chance."
"He must be so proud of you," Yuuri gushed. "Going around and saving people must be hard work." 'Maybe even harder than staying awake through one of Gunter's lectures,' he thought to himself.
"It can be a little hard at times, but everyone has aspects of their job that are difficult."
Yuuri felt the hero was being much too modest. "But you go around saving people," he insisted. "The hardest thing that I do is pace myself so I don't get a cramp in my hand while signing documents. Oh, and I try to keep myself out of trouble so the others don't have more work to do. I seem to have a knack for finding trouble though. Like just recently…"
And the Maou of Shin Makoku prattled on in that fashion for quite some time, so when Alford's lips gently met his, Yuuri thought it was probably just to get him to shut up. Not that he was complaining. Regardless of the reason, the softness and assuredness of Alford's claim was one thing the king found he could not pinpoint on the qualities of the man's holy sword.
