Oddballs (2)

"Bloody hell." The man with the green scarf muttered, his cigarette slipping from between his fingers.

"Aren't you lot going to stop them?"

He addressed Ramona and Noah standing next to him, grumbling as they ignored his words, watching Valentine kneeling in front of Lillith with a hopeless expression.

"No," Ramona answered, pulling on her robes. "It's already over."

As she said that, Valentine's shaky voice stopped Lillith's gait from advancing any further, admitting defeat with hands raised in surrender.

Their spar lasted for less than two minutes, ending with Valentine earning a couple dozen bruises all over his skin and a handful of tiny cuts across his face.

Clink!

The man lit another cigarette, filling his lungs with nicotine in one go before exhaling the smoke on the blonde boy next to him.

"You!" His voice cracked in agitation as he tried to wave it off, but the sickly smell couldn't disappear instantly, gathering the attention of everyone around him.

Below him, red hair spun in his direction, followed by a childish, high-pitched voice.

"It stinks! Stop it!" The small girl puffed out her cheeks at the man while he looked up at the open ceiling and shrugged, taking another whiff of his cigarette.

"leth me jus fi'ish ith." He spoke with it between his lips, putting his hands in the pockets of his old, brown coat.

The girl seemed to not care about it, already preparing to smash his jewels once again with her brittle fists until someone else stepped in, separating the two with her bulky frame.

"Martin, can't you just step away from us while you smoke?" A tall girl with navy hair said in a calm voice, placing her hand on the child's shoulder. "Carina and Matt are still growing, if you keep doing it next to them, they could catch a disease or worse..."

Looking at him with her cherry eyes, the man sighed, pulling out the cigarette from his lips.

"My fault, Liv." He said before looking at Carina glaring at him from below, and stepping away, finding a place for himself at the corner of the training grounds, letting out another puff of tarnished smoke.

"Why didn't you let me hit him?" Carina pulled on her hand.

"Why would you?" She asked back, kneeling beside her.

"Carina, please. You have to behave-"

"What are you? Her mother?" The blonde boy cut her off, looking down at them with disgust.

"Quiet, Matthew."

"Don't you dare utter my name in such a tone, don't you know who I am!?" The boy snickered, glaring at Noah from the corner of his eye and murmuring.

"You're lucky the Knights are here, or else your tongue would have been rolling on the grass a long time ago."

Livia rolled her eyes while calming Carina down, her kind words making her pout and cross her arms.

"You're mean." She stuck out her tongue at Matt before trotting away and leaning on a boy behind her, his long curly hair bringing her comfort as he wrapped his hand around her shoulder.

Livia let out a short sigh, standing up and coming up to Noah conversing with Ramona, her footsteps making the two glance in her direction.

"Mr. Knight."

Noah turned to her, raising a brow.

"Yes?"

"I was told that we were requested by Lady Aurora. Do you know how much longer we have to wait?"

Noah's eyes briefly stayed on her before glancing at Ramona, who shook her head with an apologetic look. The knight looked back at Livia, his gaze cast down.

If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"I'm sorry, I haven't been informed of that. It seems she is running late."

"Nah, she's not."

Heads turned towards the voice as Lillith limped toward the group, her wooden shortsword in her hand.

Noah's head tilted to the side.

"Lillith?"

With a sigh, she thrust the wooden sword into the ground, leaning on it with her elbows.

"Something serious happened, and Lady Marshal had to go for a while. She told me to take care of the newcomers with Noah and Harry, but it seems he's also absent."

"I saw him on guard duty not long ago-"

"Ah, yeah, I forgot he had that." She ran her fingers through her unkempt hair, heaving a sigh.

"Well," Lillith shrugged. "We can do it even without her or his help, right? Miss Ramona?"

As all eyes turned in her direction, she quietly nodded her head before opening her lips and startling Noah with her next words.

"Livia Garst, twenty-two years old and born on December third. Likes to work out and help others using her strength. Ignis is based on directing intent at a specific target and affecting the user, does that suffice?"

Lillith grinned from ear to ear, while Livia looked at her with wide eyes, astonishment written all over her face.

"How did you..."

"She's a devotee," Noah answered before she could fully consume it, speaking of it as if it were common knowledge. "Lady Ramona is a distinguished person of high rank amongst the believers around these parts. You may not have heard of her since it's been two days since you were brought here, but Lady Ramona is one of, if not, the best, devotees in the world."

"Lady... Ramona?"

Livia blinked slowly, looking at Ramona as if finally realising who she actually was. In a trembling voice, she asked her, barely able to make a sentence.

"Y-you mean, that Ramona?" She looked at the woman in amazement, her eyes lighting up like two little red gems. "The disciple of Saint Sunday?"

"Yes." Ramona nodded her head, bringing Livia to the brink of passing out on the spot.

Her legs grew weak as Noah caught her falling, her brain short-circuiting.

"B-but that, Sunday? Disciple? What? W-where, what is this..." She stood up with his help, hesitantly looked at the trio before walking off to where Martin was smoking, still mumbling jibberish under her nose for everyone to hear.

It seemed that Sunday was a very well-known person, and it was not without a reason.

Saints were the most powerful believers of all, faithful towards the Goddess even in the darkest times, known for wielding powers that can shift the world on a whim.

Only seven saints existed across the world, and Sunday was the most well-known one out of the bunch, known as the Saint of New Day.

Noah and Lillith watched Livia walk away before turning their heads toward Valentine, still kneeling on gravel, his face veiled in his own shadow, hiding the expression he was currently making.

"So what do we do now?" Noah asked, his eyes locked on Valentine's weakly moving chest.

Lillith stepped in front of him, blocking off his view.

"Don't worry, he's fine. I took some load off of him." She explained as she raised her left sleeve, showing her bruised skin with a grimace. "As much as I hate to admit it, the guy's pretty tough, almost as durable as Harry, but he's too dull for this, it won't be long for him to break himself."

"I suppose we can go practice today," Noah said as he walked past her. "I know the perfect place for that."