74: Opening The Pouch

Opening The Pouch

'If you can hit me during this bout, I'll owe you a favor.'

That was the deal Norvella made with me at the start of this training session.

I could feel myself dig into the dirt beneath my bare feet as I got into a stance of preparation.

Norvella and I stood across from each other, swords gripped tightly in our hands, as we stared each other down in silence.

A few seconds later, she proceeded to rush towards me with the blade at her side.

I stood in the same spot, leaning forward a small bit as Norvella stepped within range.

Since the beginning, I noticed that Norvella had started off by using the Sword God Style, which was pretty obvious considering that she had made the first move. That was basically the Sword God Style's motto.

'Victory goes to he who moves first.'

It was a style of swordsmanship that emphasized speed and aggression.

Norvella swung her blade in my direction, which caused me to quickly shift my stance as our swords clashed together, a loud 'CLANG!' noise reverberating between the two of us as a result.

I spent the next few minutes trying my best to parry and deflect her powerful strikes, but the woman's relentless barrage of cuts and thrusts didn't leave me with enough time to find a suitable counterattack that would lend me a win.

I kept going in order to learn her fighting patterns. Eventually, I was able to find a small window that I could hopefully manipulate to my upper hand.

This was one of the disadvantages to the Sword God Style. It wasn't all that subtle in the way of fighting, nor very clever in it's strategizing. However, I wasn't trying to put it in a bad light because it actually was a very good style.

She threw out an overhead swing and I raised my own sword to block the strike, which is when Norvella pushed forward with her weight in an attempt to knock me off balance, but I used that to my advantage in order to shift the course of our intense spar.

Taking a step backwards, I moved my entire body just slightly to the right as Norvella continued forward with her built-up momentum, unable to stop herself in time to switch directions.

During that moment, I went from using the Water God Style to letting one of my hands drop down to the holster that was fastened to my leg.

The Water God Style was a kind of swordsmanship that specialized in defensive techniques emphasizing parrying and counter-attacking oncoming attacks.

Swiftly pulling out the knife that was gifted to me by the white haired maid, I thrusted it forward in a desperate attempt to salvage a victory for myself.

The North God Style was all that I had left to try.

It was a style of swordsmanship that greatly differed from the other two kinds. The North God Style had a lot more versatility, as well as odd quirks that the practitioners were known for.

The North God Style's emphasis was mostly on the ability to adapt and use your surroundings in order to survive.

However, going into detail about each style is a completely different story. Not to mention, it would take quite a while.

It's not like I was experienced enough in any of them to do that sort of thing in the first place.

In a flash, Norvella shifted the tides once again as she slipped a foot around one of my legs before launching me onto my back, which nearly sucked all of the air out of my lungs. My sword was flung out of my hand while the knife had been slapped to the side.

All of that happened in under two seconds, which left me disoriented and painfully groaning on the ground. However, I wasn't surprised in the slightest at the end result of our spar.

This was how it usually went between the two of us.

'GG.' I thought to myself, humbly accepting Norvella's hand in order to get back on my feet.

The defeat didn't bother me all that much, which was due to the fact that our wide gap in skill and experience had become very obvious once she beat me for the hundredth time, as well as the fact that I had just turned nine years old about a week ago.

While something as insignificant as a birthday wasn't all that important to me, I was still aware of just how valuable those moments were in hindsight. In my previous life, I remember not ever caring about the celebration of birthdays simply because they never had any appeal in my opinion.

However, I also remember having people that I deeply cared about at those parties, and then unfortunately pass away not too long after. They always served as a depressing reminder of how much time you truly have with the people around you. Not to mention, the fact that you shouldn't take any of those people for granted.

I gave the woman a strained smile, rubbing the back of my neck at the same time. "Well, it seems like I still have a lot of work cut out for me if I want to get that favor."

For some strange reason, all Norvella did was stare at me for a couple seconds, which confused the hell out of me. At least, that was until she looked to the side in order to show me the back of her neck, which is where I saw a very small incision that had been made.

There was a single droplet of blood that she rubbed off with her finger, peering down at it with a look of interest. "You were saying..." Norvella trailed off, raising an eyebrow with a hint of amusement in her eyes.

--------------------------------------------------

It was another uneventful day.

There wasn't much that I felt like doing as of lately, so I've been spending that time with my mother instead in an attempt to reduce my feeling of boredom.

For the past two hours, we've both been laying next to each other on my bed in a calm and relaxed manner, talking about random topics that come to our minds. For example, I hadn't been aware of the fact that she was currently in the process of trying to find another maid.

The reasoning behind it was to help alleviate some of the physical work from Norvella's shoulders, which was due to how much the woman has been contributing to my training as a whole. The white haired maid had pretty much become my teacher in that regard, therefore I could agree with the generous idea of hiring someone that could possibly help her take care of tasks around the manor.

Unfortunately, she hasn't been having much luck in finding a suitable applicant.

The vampiric milf had certain requirements that needed to be met, after all.

Helena was laying on her stomach, feet pointed towards the ceiling as she embraced a more childish persona that was rarely ever showcased around anyone but me specifically. Due to the fact that the moon had already replaced the sun in the sky, she was wearing a nightgown as well.

It made for a mighty fine view, that was for sure.

Eventually, another topic came up, and it was one that I honestly wasn't surprised about.

"Now that I think about it, did you ever open that pouch you got from the merchant like a year and a half ago?" Helena asked with a genuine tone of curiosity, tilting her head to the side as she looked at me.

Smiling at the woman, I shook my head in the negative. "No, I still haven't done it."

Rolling her red slit eyes in amusement at my plain answer, she motioned towards the nightstand with a hand, which is where the pouch had been collecting dust for a long time. "Why don't you open it right now? I'd love to be a witness to such a glorious moment. Perhaps it could even become a vital point in your life that would go on and contribute to helping shape you into the man that you'll eventually grow up to be in the future." Helena lightly joked, a smirk on her face the whole time.

This time, I was the one that rolled their eyes, but it was more so because of how extra the woman was being with the current topic of discussion. It wasn't like I was avoiding any opportunity that came up to open the pouch. I just didn't really think anything of actual value would be inside of it.

A large sum of money? Considering I was a member of the Vizac family, which had become quite wealthy in recent years, I already had plenty of that to begin with. However, I figured that it was about time since it's been held off for so long now.

Pulling the pouch out of the nightstand, I set it on the bed and sat next to Helena, who moved a bit closer in response. Casually opening the small bag without another word, I dug my hand into it in an attempt to get a feel for what was inside before I actually looked at the contents within.

At first, the only thing that I was able to feel was the hard surface of coins, which confirmed my previous suspicions of it being full with money. However, as my hand was rummaging through the pouch, I felt an unknown item slip onto my left index finger.

"Oh?" I said in confusion, pulling my hand out in order to see what it truly was. Helena leaned forward with a look of interest on her face.

My curiosity quickly dwindled down once I noticed that it was literally just a plain-looking ring with an odd design that went over the profile.

(For reference.)

Turning towards my mother, I raised an eyebrow at the beautiful woman when her eyes proceeded to widen in surprise at something that I couldn't see. "What is it, mom? You're making a weird face right now."

"Well- Honey, your eyes just changed colors all of a sudden..." She couldn't help but let out a giggle at the situation, finding amusement in the entertainment that was being provided for her.

Standing up from the bed, I eventually found a small handheld mirror before checking myself out. That's when I noticed the obvious change that my eyes had undergone. "Oh. Perhaps this ring isn't as normal as I previously thought, after all."

They had changed to a dull blackish color now.

Humming to herself, my mother flipped onto her back as she pointed out one of the first thoughts that had immediately come to mind.

"It must've been some kind of ring that was going to be sold to a non-human. During my occupation as a regional lord, I've spent a lot of time around merchants that constantly feel the need to try and persuade me into buying something from them." Helena sighed, a hint of frustration in her voice. "Considering the fact that I'm a female vampire, they'll usually focus on jewelry or magical items, but I can't really blame them for something like that. While I like those sort of things every once in a while, I always get a funny reaction out of them whenever our discussion starts to veer towards the topic of weapons."

Ah, that's right. Helena actually used to be somewhat of a battle maniac when she was younger, mostly during the years that she had been an adventurer. It was a big contrast compared to how she usually acted now, which was more so due to the fact that she underwent quite a bit of growth.

Not to mention... she gave birth to a child just a few years ago, and had to take care of me without the help of her past significant other, whoever the hell that was. I never bothered asking either, which was because I didn't have any desire of knowing who he was.0

Fucking deadbeat.

...Coward.

Shaking myself out of increasingly-dark thoughts, I set the mirror back down and slipped the ring off of my left index finger before placing it on my nightstand. I'd make sure to keep it with me from now on just in case it was needed.

The only thing else left in the bag was just a bunch of coins. I figured it could be a part of my spending money. There was actually quite a bit inside of the pouch.

Eventually, the two of us went to sleep in each other's arms, deciding that cuddling together sounded much nicer than going to bed alone.

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