Chapter 5

"You missed one."

"On your right!"

"Focus!"

"Don't just rely on things you can see with your eyes. Try to rely a little bit of your other senses!"

Gai, Don, Joe and Marvelous simply watched from the sidelines as Luka was barking orders and instructions to Ahim who was busy parrying the small pebbles that were aimed in her direction.

With Don's help, they were able to install a simple mechanism that will release small pebbles in Ahim's directions. These mechanisms were installed and hidden in multiple parts of the clearance.

This was part of Luka's training. Training Ahim's senses. Luka is a melee fighter. She doesn't have the strength to deliver harsh blows like the boys do but her sharp senses and wit is what keeps her to be a formidable opponent in battle.

Thus why she is training Ahim to be a whole lot better to detecting blows and recognizing where it came from so that it will abstain Ahim from being caught off-guard.

Ahim had been faring pretty well with this training but there were times when she too was hit by the pebbles that made her wince and Gai was so ready to step in and stop the training. But Luka's menacing glare was enough to hold him off from dashing forward.

"If you keep dashing in to help her at all times then there's literally no point in this training. She wanted to be stronger on her own terms. Having you, meddling in will only slow down her progress. Either keep still or I'd tie those hands and foot myself."

Luka's tone was casual but it was evident that she meant every single thing that she had said.

Although every single in his body screams the command to protect his charge, but his conscious knew better. So, he simply bite his tongue and stayed in his corner.

Luka nodded in acknowledgement before she turned back in Ahim's direction, barking instructions and advices.

Meanwhile, Joe and Marvelous were leaning against one of the surrounding trees, monitoring the training as well as keeping guard in case there would be other interferences (in no way they would be surprised with an attack like the last one).

"So… you coerced Luka to help huh." Marvelous said.

"Maybe." was Joe's short answer.

"You seem to be quite invested with the princess Joe."

"It's part of the job."

Marvelous snickered at the answer. "The job huh. Well, the payment will be bountiful, I have to admit. But something tells me that this is more than the payment."

Joe said nothing in response.

"I won't say anything." Marvelous paused as he stared Joe in the eye.

"Just remember, this is a job Joe. And she's a princess."

Joe said nothing in return as his eyes went to focus back on the two girls. The one in that has her ponytail in a pink ribbon in particular.

"I think that is enough for today." said Luka as she motioned Don to shut the mechanic down.

"I… want to… keep going." Ahim said, panting, her body drenched in both sweat and exhaustion.

Luka simply looked at the princess from the bottom up.

Sighing, she said "Your body is obviously exhausted princess. You can't go any further than this."

Ahim steadied her breathing as she forced her body to stand up straight, like how she was trained since she was child – how to appear strong and dignified.

"Just give me at least 30 more minutes on this." Ahim finished, maintaining the eye contact with Luka, showing that that she was not going to budge.

The two were on the standoff for a while before Luka sighed in defeat.

"Fine. Just 10 more minutes." Luka decided and before Ahim can even argue, Luka immediately said "That is final princess." showing there is no way she can bargain her way through it.

Realizing her defeat, Ahim nodded.

"Joe! Get your ass over here!" Luka hollered.

If Joe was confused as to why he was called over, he didn't show it. Nevertheless, he came up next to Luka, only quirking his right eyebrow to question the woman.

"Today me and Marvelous are in charge to look for food. I need Gai and Doc to start on the fire. Which means… you'll be in charge of monitoring the princess's additional 10 minutes practice." Luka said.

"I really don't think I need Joe-san to monitor me for this Luka-san." Ahim quipped.

"Nuh-uh, if you are left to your own device, heavens know that you won't know when to actually stop. I'm not risking you biting off more than you chew." Luka objected.

"Besides…" Luka drawled "I need him to be your sparring partner for today." Luka finished as she pointed to Joe.

"Sparring partner?" Ahim asked in confusion. "You said before that it was too early for me."

Luka huffed. "Well, you have to start eventually. Marvelous is an idiot who has never heard of restrain."

"Hey!" cried Marvelous to which Luka ignored.

"Doc is out of commission for now and my style of fighting doesn't involve much hand to hand combat so I'm not the best teacher." she paused. "But Joe here, is a master swordsmen. He taught both me and Doc on how to master swordplay when we first started. He knows how to control his strength and he can give you very valuable pointers. So… I'll leave you two to it."

Luka leave no room for any argument from any of the involved individuals as she all but dragged Marvelous away by the collar as the latter was cussing out words to make her let go.

Ahim simply stared at the ground, not exactly know what to do while Joe himself was caught off guard by the sudden stray of events could only gape in disbelief. A few moments passed with both stood frozen before Ahim eventually cleared her throat.

The low sound snapped Joe out of his reverie, forcing him to look forward at the princess who was waiting from some sort of instruction from him. Luka was about to pay for this. Her schemes are not that subtle anyway.

"Alright, what I need you to do first to come at me." Joe started as he unsheathed his sword.

"I'm sorry?"

"Just as I said. I need to see your stance and grip. Only then can I teach you further."

"I see." Ahim said as she fixed her stance. And without sparing any thought, she dashed towards Joe before delivering the strongest blow she can muster, knowing full well that Joe can deflect the attack easily.

CLANG!

Even with the strong impact from having her swing being blocked off, Ahim kept her stance. Joe was silently impressed.

"What you need to do is to focus more on the trajectory of your swing rather than focusing too much on strength."

"Noted."

The two went on and on for a few more minutes after that, Ahim delivering blow after blow while Joe deflected those blows and gave advices to Ahim to which she fixed almost immediately.

It was when Ahim was already out of breath that Joe finally concluded their session.

"That is enough for today." Joe said. Ahim was ready to argue but before she could, Joe immediately said "Pushing more than this and you'd exhaust yourself until the point you can't move your muscle anymore tomorrow."

Acknowledging that it is time for her to stop, Ahim nodded. Her body was aching and unlike Luka, Joe seems rather adamant so there was no way she can ever persuade him to her demands. The princess finally sheathed her sword before nodding to Joe. Indicating that they can walk towards the campsite now.

The two were slowly walking, side by side when Joe said. "Why do you feel the need to master this princess?"

Ahim kept her gaze straight as she said. "When you have witnessed too much people you care about put their life on the line for you and then to see those life being ripped out of their body, to have their blood on your hands… I guess there's nothing wrong with wanting to be able to protect yourself don't you think?"

She said all of that so nonchalantly that Joe was taken aback of how casual her tone was. But the look on her face when she said all that was enough to depict the devastation and remorse that she felt.

"You can't keep blaming yourself like that."

"Even so, I'm not willing to have more people to lose their life under the pretext of 'protecting me'. It's time I learn how to protect myself and be strong enough to protect those that I care about."

Ahim looked at Joe as she flashed a painful smile. "I can't be the helpless princess forever you know."

Joe simply mused at how this princess here never fails to amuse him as he gets to know her day by day. She is a full-pledged royal no doubt.

From her poise and the way she carries herself, one can really tell that she has indeed received intense etiquette training since she was a young child.

But what was surprising was the intense love and care that she have towards her loved ones. Joe didn't miss the fond expression she has whenever she talks about her deceased parents or how the tone in her voice changed into a longing tone whenever she talks about her siblings. Sometimes, whenever she talks about Sebas and her guards that had been with his since she was a child, Joe saw that face that was on the verge of tears but then is instantly masked with the face of indifference.

The princess may thought she was unreadable since she is able to slip on her regal face whenever she wants to. But almost nothing escapes Joe's sight. It was clear as day that the princess blames herself for the lives that was lost.

"Joe-san?" Ahim's voice snapped Joe out of his trance. And there were two things that he realized.

1. Ahim's clear brown orbs were staring right at him, confusion and surprise clearly reflected in her eyes.

And

2. God knows how… his right hand is stationed on top of Ahim's head, softly patting the princess' head.

When he finally come around, he immediately retracted his hand. "I- uh- we should get going. Luka's going to nag our ears off." was what Joe stammered out as he went ahead.

Ahim who was just as surprised, slowly touched her head. The warmth from Joe's hand was still there. Slowly, she chuckled.

It was warm. And comforting.

A/N: OMG it's been a looooooonnggggg time since I have last updated! I'm sorry! I was busy with my online classes, my research paper and catching up with my TBR pile. This fic is moving at a slow pace if I can say so myself but for the future chapters, I'll try to pick up the pace. Comments lots!