IGIWS: FIRST DRAFT: Chapter 198 (Patreon)

You all know the drill! This is a alpha state read and will be deleted once I do a final pass.

***********

After minutes of sparring, Johan was starting to get the hang of channeling his mana into his sword and shield.

Quinus was impressed with how quickly Johan was grasping the basics of channeling.

"See! It's like riding a bike," Quinus stated.

Johan chuckled, "What's a bike?"

Quinus shook his head.

'Hanging around Rya has made me slip back into Earth sayings.'

"Nevermind that, Johan. Look, your technique has improved in a short amount of time. Do you feel how it feels natural for you now?"

"I feel like I need to focus on it a bit more, but I'm getting the hang of it," Johan replied.

"Well, once we are in the capital. You can come by and practice with me," Quinus offered.

"That sounds nice, but I wish I could learn some spells... It would have been nice if you and Lady Rya could stay here a little longer," Johan said.

It was at that moment General Douglas walked up to them.

"Excuse me, your Highness... But we've delayed the trip for long enough. We need to get back on the schedule," the General said.

Quinus looked up at him and nodded, "I guess you are right."

It was at that moment when Rya, Tayna, Nieren, and Yuliana came walking up. Percy and Dalia were by the carriage, and Sir George was finished stowing the supplies on the horses with the other knights.

"My Lady. Did you enjoy the show?" Quinus asked Rya with a smile.

Rya rolled her eyes, "Yeah. I'm glad you could get some training in, Johan. But..."

Douglas head snapped to Rya.

"But what?" Quinus asked.

"Well, if we have the space, I can teach Johan on our journey to the capital. If that works for them of course," Rya suggested.

Douglas looked at the Prince with a glare, "Your Highness. It's a big risk added the young Lord and his wife to the party. We will start spreading ourselves thin at this rate."

Johan looked disappointed while Quinus gave Douglas a stern look.

'He's worried about being spread thin? Douglas has no clue who's riding with him and his men. Shit, all of us can take down an army no problem. Even if the Yuliana has to fight... We will be fine...'

Everyone was silent before Rya spoke up.

"So, are you saying that the Royal Knights of the Kingdom of Fiafyr is too weak to protect their Prince and his guest from a bunch of bandits and other threats along the way?" Rya questioned.

All the knights and Douglas glared at the young elf.

"How dare you suggest that the Royal Knights are weak! How dare you, a mere outsider question our capabilities," Douglas shouted.

"I'm not questioning you or your mens abilities. But it seems like you lack confidence if you're worried about protecting a few people," Rya said with a smirk.

The knights grumbled in response, and some were gripping their weapons in anger.

"We out only twenty-four strong and if we have to with a hundred people... then what?" The General questioned trying to hold back his temper.

Rya gave him a unamused looked and was about to speak when the two dwarves and Sir George burst out with laughter. Dalia was smirking as well.

"He says, 'then what!' Haha! I'll tell you what General. We open a cask of ale and take bets on who will slay more. The Crown Prince or the Saintess," one of the dwarves roared in laughter.

Douglas' right eye was twitching while the other knights were taken back.

"You're telling me that you and these three can take on a hundred men," the General stated.

"Not one hundred. But twenty thousand," the other dwarf laughed.

Douglas wanted to discipline those two dwarves.

'Who the hell do they think they are? Making a fool out of me...'

"If you're so sure then, how about a little wager?" Douglas barked back.

Everyone was surprised at this.

"What kind of wager, General," Sir George asked.

"Lady Rya can take on ten knights, then the Lord and his wife can join us. And we'll see how you fair," the General explained.

The knights started to chuckle as they liked the idea of teaching this noblewoman a lesson.

Quinus walked up to Rya, "Babe? Are you okay with this? I can order them to back off. They are my men after all."

Johan hurried over as well, "I-It's fine my Lady. We can come visit you in a month or two. There's no reason to-"

Rya held her hand out and stopped Johan from speaking.

Tayna was a little worried for her friend. Very few women fought on the battle field especially noble woman.

"Lady Rya. Please reconsider this. I don't think a Lady such as yourself should partake in a knight's training. It's beneath you," Tayna urged.

"Don't worry. It'll be fine. Plus, they need to learn a lesson," Rya winked at them.

Tayna knew that look. It was the same one she gave her when she was questioned her for being evil by nature. 'Oh boy! M-Maybe I should back up.'

Tayna grabbed her husband's hand and pulled him a few feet away.

"Huh? Tayna? What's going on?"

Tayna just gave him a nervous laugh, and said, "Don't worry, dear. Lady Rya is going to need some space."

"Huh?"

Quinus noticed Rya giving him a wink.

He sighed, "Alright, just make sure not to kill them by mistake."

"Don't worry. I'll go easy on them."

Rya walked forward with a grin and took a spot in the middle of the training ground.

The knights looked at her with disgust.

The two dwarves looked over at Sir George.

"Betcha one gold piece the Saintess takes them down in thirty notches," the one dwarf stated.

"Really? You're on. She'll take them down in twenty-five notches. What about you Dalia?" Sir George asked.

"Ou! Ou! Put me in for fifteen notches! Alpha is going to kick their asses," Dalia replied.

Sir George and the dwarves chuckled.

"I'm in for fifteen gold pieces, for twenty notches," the dwarf named Kyan replied, while his comrade pulled of a wooden object that looked like it was a incense holder and he placed a long thin stick with tiny bumps running evenly along the length of the rod.

"Alright... It's ready to be lit," Suhail stated.

Kyan nodded and channeled his mana into the tip of his dagger. Waiting to light it once the fighting started.

Rya was standing there waiting to see who her opponents would be. Sir Richard stayed out of it with thirteen other knights that didn't want to fight her.

"Ten of you will fight her at the same time," Douglas shouted.

'Hmm, this should be interesting. Ten knights. But this should be fun,' Rya thought as she cracked her knuckles.

"Should I hold back from using my magic?" Rya asked the General.

"Of course not, Lady Rya. We can handle any spell you have. For Mages fear us," Douglas smirked.

"Alright, if you say so."

General Douglas ordered his ten knights and they formed a line facing her. They readied their shields and drew their swords.

Rya took a relaxed stance and created a stone poll from the ground. She grabbed it and twirling it around.

'Hm! Nice balance. I'm getting better at creating these staffs... Huh? Oh yeah, got to focus.' Rya thought as she stopped twirling the pole staff and had at the ready underneath her armpit.

"Whenever you're ready, General," Rya smiled.

'Tch! I don't care what stories the prince and Sir George told me. No one can take on ten fully armored knights with their own enchanted weapon and armor. Not even the Hero of the Demonic War.'

”Show her why the Fiafyrian Royal Knights are the best, men," the General roared.

The knights roared and readied themselves for a fight. They rushed her and she was surrounded by nine men and one woman.

'Huh? I thought they would be as fast as Sir George? Interesting.' Rya thought as she waited for the knights to strike.

Three knights came bearing in and started swinging their swords at her.

*Swing! Swing! CLANG!*

Rya nimbly bent backwards was able to dodge the first two blades and parried the third.

'Hahaha, sparring with everyone over the past month is really paying off. Well, time for the counter attack!' Rya thought.

Rya spun the stone staff above her head and brought it down hard onto the third knight's shield.

*Clang! Thud!*

Her strike knocked the shield out of the way so she had a clear shot at his face.

"Ack!"

She hit him square in the face. Breaking his nose and losing a few teeth.

The other knights watched in shock to Sir Glen's face plant on the dirt.

"She's mine!"

*Shing!*

A sword grazed Rya's neck as she bent backwards and did a backflip.

'Hm! Not bad. He's fast.' Rya thought as she looked at the knight while in the air. And just a she landed on the ground. The earth shifted under her feet as she moved herself right back at the knight.

*Clang!*

"Urk! Gah!"

*Thud!*

Rya slammed her stone pole against his chest, causing him to cough out blood before passing out.

"Dammit! Don't let your guard down," the third knight shouted.

'Shit! The bitch is fast.' He thought as he lined up with two other knights.

*Clang!*

*Thud!*

One swung and hit the staff. While the other swung at her legs.

*Swish!*

'Hm! I guess his shield is pretty tough. But their shins are exposed.' Rya thought as she spun around her staff smashing it into the three knights' shins.

*THUD!*

*Crack!*

'Damn!'

'Shittt!'

'FU-'

*Thud! Thud! Crack!

Rya shattered all three knight's leg bones, causing them to drop on the ground and cry out in pain.

The five remaining knights looked at their fallen comrades in fear.

'No way. No one is that fast. I thought she was a mage. Not a warrior. What the hell is she? And how the hell is she moving so fast?'

"Don't just stand there! Form up! We can take her down together," a female knight roared. The remaining knights quickly formed a line.

Rya smiled as she moved towards them in a blink of an eye. Smashing her staff into the middle knight's shield.

*Clang! Clang! Clang!*

She continued to strike him with the stone staff, causing him to slowly back up.

"Urgh! Huff! Gah!"

"Flank her! Flank her," the female knight roared.

Two more knights joined in and tried to flank her.

'Hm! Time to change it up a bit.' Rya thought.

She slammed her foot down and sent the dirt into the three knight's faces before smashed the poll into each on of their sword hands. Fracturing them and sending them to the ground.

*Thud!*

*Crack!*

*Clang!*

"Ahhh! My hand. Shit," one of the male knights cried out while holding his arm. He was about to get up but Rya slammed her staff down on his chest breaking his ribs, causing him to cough out blood and passing out due to the pain.

The other two received a similar treatment as they too were knocked out into a bloody mess.

"Bart! I got the front and—" the female knight tried to regroup but Rya used her wind magic to swiftly glide around the Knight named Bart and crashed his shield arm which dislocated his shoulder and he was down.

*CRACK!*

"Ahh-Arrgg," he dropped his sword and fell to the ground holding his arm.

"Gotcha," Rya said as she twirled her staff and swung it at Sir Bart's head.

General Douglas witnessed nine of his knights getting easily defeated by a single woman in under 15 seconds.

'No way. The Prince has to be snipping a tall tail. No one could be this strong! And how is she so fast? No one can be this fast.'

The female knight looked panicked at first before regaining her composure.

"I won't give you an opening. You're fast, but you're not faster than my blade," the female knight stated as she got into a defensive stance.

"Is that so," Rya grinned before her azure eyes glowed.

*Whoosh!*

"Huh?"

*Shing!*

The female knight panicked as Rya's staff was coming straight from her. She did everything in her power to avoid her attack. She contorted her body just enough for Rya's staff missed her face but it left her torso opened and she used the other end to hit her breastplate instead.

"Gah!"

*Clang!*

Rya wasn't done as she continued to launch a flurry of strikes on the poor knight.

"Gah! Ah-gah-Gah-GAH-GAH-GAAAHH," she was battered with attacks.

*Clang!*

*WHOP*

*CRACK*

*THWAP!*

The female knight's sword went flying after Rya fractured her forearm and her body was covered in bruises.

*Thud!*

"Ough-Gah!"

Rya's last attack was a hard swing to the knight's legs, sending her crashing to the ground with two compound fractures.

'M-My legs!?'

The female knight was sitting on the ground looking at her sorry state before looking up at Rya who still had her staff in her hands looking down at Lady Rachel with what she thought was a sinister smile.

'S-She's a monster! She's going to take over the kingdom and we will all die! No... I failed!' Lady Rachel cried in her mind as the tears flowed from her eyes.

Douglas and the knights that didn't join in the fight didn't know what to do.

'She's killed my men... Do I try to stop her from killing her? What about the others? Should I go after her or stay and help the wounded? But we are no match for her. Damn you, Prince Quinus. This is all your—' Douglas' cursing stopped when he saw Lady Rya reach her hand out towards Lady Rachel.

'This is the end!' she thought as she closed her eyes and prepared for the final blow.

Rya didn't know the knight's thoughts, but she saw the look of defeat in her eyes. 'Haah... I bet she thinks that I'm going to kill her. Well I won so let's heal them up.'

She channeled her mana into her hand just before she touched her head.

'Huh,' Lady Rachel felt a gentle touch on her head and a soothing sensation flowing through her body.

She cracked her eye open and saw her compound fractures disappearing while her arms and legs straighten back in place. All the pain vanished in a matter of second.

'It's healing magic?' she was in shock at the fact that the woman who easily killed all of her comrades is now using healing magic on her.

'What the hell is happening?' Rachel looked you as saw Rya smiling at her.

"You need to work on your stance. You need to fight like a woman, not a man," Rya chuckled before turning her attention to the rest of the wounded.

Rachel didn't understand. She was defeated. Why is she helping her? Why didn't she kill her? And why did she say "fight like a woman" instead of "fight like a man?"

Douglas couldn't believe his eyes as Rya when from one knight to another healing all ten of them without breaking a sweat.

He looked over to the Prince who wasn't looking to happy for some reason. While one of the Dwarves was cheering to winning his bet against his friend, Sir George, and Dalia.

"It was seventeen notches, shorty! I won!" Dalia protested.

"Oi! You chose fifteen notches and it when over!" Kyan barked back at the wolfkin.

"But I was closer! So it should count!"

"That's not how it works, you dumb wolf! It's not who's closest! It's about who who doesn't go over the time limit," Kyan countered.

"That's not fair!" Dalia cried out.

"Dalia... It's okay. Sometimes we lose," Percy said while trying to calmly diffuse the situation.

"Humph! Fine. You're lucky that my Beta is here. Otherwise, I would have ripped your beard off your face," Dalia turned her head and stuck out her tongue.

"Ha! I didn't know wolfkin's could be so funny," Suhail laughed.

***

Douglas then looked back a Rya who was helping up one of his knights.

All of them looked dumbfounded at the events that transpired.

'Why didn't she kill us?' one of the knights asked in his mind.

'Why didn't she torture us and leave us for dead?'

'S-SHE REALLY IS A HEALER! And a WARRIOR! I didn't know anyone could do both.'

Seeing helping his men made Douglas realize something.

'All the stories of healers from the past always mentioned of it took a lot out of them each time they healed their emperor. Always struggling to not pass out or even die because of the mana consumption. But she just healed ten people and isn't showing any signs of fatigue. A-And she's a warrior on top of it... How did the prince tame her?'

Prince Quinus wasn't a happy camper as he looked at Rya.

She didn't notice while helping the last knight.

"Ummm... Is something the matter, Your Highness?" Johan asked.

"..."

"Your Highness?"

"She almost got killed when Sir Walfort came charging in and almost grazed her neck... I almost lost her once... And I'm not going to lose her when she's standing in front of me," Quinus' said with a cold tone.

Johan gulped as he was sweating bullets he's never seen this side of Quinus before. Tayna didn't know what to say herself.

"S-So what are you going to do, your Highness?"

"I need to correct her defenses. I'm going to train her," he said before looking over at Sir George.

"George! Get me the Twilight Dancer and Sun's Fury," Quinus ordered.

"Huh? Right away," Sir George ran back into the carriage and got the weapons that he was asked for.

Quinus walked over to Rya who just finished healing the last knight.

"Oh? Come to congratulate—"

"What is this?" Quinus said as he rubbed his finger over Rya's neck where the blade of Sir Walfort almost cut her throat.

"That's not necessary. I'm perfectly fine," Rya was used to this behavior during sparing. It seemed like anytime she made a mistake, Quinus would try and correct her.

"Rya... If you are sloppy with your training you will pay the price in battle. This is serious," Quinus scolded.

"I was holding back so I wouldn't kill someone," Rya defended herself.

When all the knights that fought her heard that they had mixed feelings.

'Holding back?'

'Was she serious? Or is she making a fool of us?'

'What a monster.'

"I know. And I appreciate that, but there maybe a situation where you exhausted your mana and all you have is your physical strength. And even then you should be able to hold your own. Take your sword and get in position," Quinus held out Rya's sword to her.

Rya sighed and took her sword and got in a ready position.

Quinus then pulled out the Sun's Fury and readied himself.

"Now block my attack."

"Okay," Rya said as she was prepared to receive Quinus' attack.

"HYAH!"

*Shing!*

'She still leaves her sides open. She's too cocky,' Quinus thought as he moved with blazing speed.

*Cling! Clung! Clunk!*

Rya was having trouble keeping up with Quinus. His attacks were coming at her so fast and so accurately that she started give ground quickly.

'Damn it. How can he hit me so quickly? His attacks are getting stronger each time. I have to do something else,' Rya's eyes darted around as she tried to find an opening. But then Quinus' blade parried her sword and knocked it out of her hand and then his blade was coming for her neck.

'Move back! Move back! Move~' *Thud!* "Huh!?... Ack!"

Rya didn't realize that she was pushed back to the manor wall and bumped into it right when she was trying to move away.

*Shing!*

Her eyes went wide as her body was frozen still as the cold steel touched her neck. In was in the same spot where she was almost killed. But Quinus' control with the blade was so superb that he had the dull part of the sword resting against her neck.

The cold steel and Quinus' scent sent shivers down her spine as she looked at Quinus' expression. Seeing his golden eyes stare down at her, like a apex predator who's caught his prey, sent her heart into a frenzy.

'G-Get it together Rya! H-He's not flirting!... But God damn. He looks so hot when he's serious. Hehe, but if I play this right. I might be able to turn the tables,' Rya smiled as her heart rate picked up.

"Rya... Do you see the weakness in your form? You need to protect your vitals. You can't rely on your mana all the time," Quinus' tone was different than the usual playfulness he would have. It was serious and stern, but when he spoke, he face moved in closer, their lips just centimeters apart.

"Y-Yes, Your Highness," Rya blushed as her body heated up.

"Now... What have you learned today?"

"U-Um. I know that my technique is not there... But I don't know what exactly that I'm messing up, babe... You've been training for decades, while I have only been doing this for maybe a pant," Rya was starting to pant lightly.

Quinus' serious face twisted into a grimace before he let up on Rya.

'S-She right... I keep wanting to treat her like a seasoned veteran. But she's still all new to this... Maybe I should have someone else teach her the basics... Maybe I can get Lady Nelumbo to train her? But then that would mean I would have to spend less time with her...'

"Babe? Are you okay?" Rya whispered.

Quinus was brought out of his thoughts and noticed that Rya was blushing and looking at him.

"Y-Yes. I was just thinking," Quinus answered.

"Thinking? About what? What's on your mind?"

"W-Well, I was just thinking of getting someone else to train you the basics when we get to the capital. But then I realized that I would have to spend less time with you,"

Quinus' honesty was refreshing and a bit shocking to Rya. But also a bit worrying.

"Babe... You don't have to worry about spending time with me. I would be happy if you could get me a teacher to teach me the basics. I know that you are busy running the country and you're training is a huge help. But I don't want to be a burden and take up your time,"

"You're not a burden. I want to help you become strong," Quinus stated but then he remembered what Lady Nelumbo told him years ago. After his mana vein awaken and he couldn't control the flow mana through his boy. She said, One thing you will have to learn is when to move on to the next lesson. 'Yeah, Rya knows far more on using mana then me. And Lady Nelumbo knows far more about teaching techniques and swordsmanship than I do,' Quinus looked at Rya. "I think it's time..."

"Huh? What do you mean, babe?"

"Lady Nelumbo is the only one who could train you properly in the basics. She was the one who trained me before my mana vein awakened. I can still show you the ropes, but she knows more about teaching the fundamentals than I do."

"Oh? Well if you trust her. Then I will trust her. Thank you," Rya hugged him tightly and gave him a peck on the cheek.