The Crimson Tale of Conquest

After about ten minutes, the bells outside stopped ringing. Ruby, who was nibbling on a cookie, looked out the window. Her Golden-brown eyes watch the clouds in the sky as they drift undisturbed through the air. The birds sing as they fly above the city without a care. Smelling the distinct scent of the city below and rotting flesh of an animal as she waited.

Eventually, the door opened, and a man with slicked back black hair entered with Sara following behind him. The man wore a black suit while Sara was now fitted into a green dress. The two of them sat down on the sofa opposite of Ruby, who was still snacking on the cookies in front of her. She looked at the two of them a cursory glance before taking a sip of tea to wash down the cookie she just ate.

Seeing her attitude, that can be called disrespectful, the soldier that looked to be guarding Sara, and the man looked at Ruby with disdain and muttered, "Insolent," under his breath. The man gave the soldier a look before turning his attention back to Ruby. He looked Ruby up and down, appraising her.

He noticed that the woman in front of him didn't seem to care for formalities. He also noted that she looked slightly annoyed to be here, though she did continue stuffing cookies into her mouth with no reservation. The fact that she wasn't wearing any shoes was weird, but he decided to ignore that. He came here to thank the young woman in front of him, so he decided to let a bit of her attitude slide for now.

"Hello miss, my name is Drakove Prosperty." Drakove said, greeting Ruby. "And you already met my daughter Sara. Sadly, my oldest is out on an expedition, so he couldn't be here today."

"... I'm Ruby." Ruby said.

"I would like to thank you for bringing my daughter home safely. She explained how you saved her from some criminals last night. I'm in your debt." Drakove said, expressing his thanks.

"... You're welcome. If that's all I would like to go now." Ruby said, placing down her empty cup of tea. Since there were no more snacks, she decided she no longer wanted to stay. She still didn't know what to do with Sara, but she figured if she really needed to, she could just run away.

"Ah, wait. Sara said she promised you a reward." Drakove said, noticing any interest in staying had dissipated once she finished eating everything. He didn't like the idea of not paying back a debt. He also hated the idea of owing someone something. They were two similar feelings with two different meanings.

With a glance from him, the maid in the room quickly left to grab more cookies and tea. Drakove wanted Ruby to stay, not only to give her a reward but also get a read of her. Sara told him that this young woman had promised to be her teacher. He still didn't like the idea of his daughter learning how to fight but this incident has scared him.

Sara has escaped into town many times, but even though Drakove got worried he never thought she was in too much danger. She never crossed over the inner wall and stayed in the safest place in the city apart from the noble district. He also tried locking his daughter up completely before but that just made her angry at him and she still escaped anyway without a problem.

For a child with no combat experience she is surprisingly effective at escaping the castle without anyone noticing. No matter how many guards he posts around her room and exits. Her naturally weak presence seems to work in her favor. Even ruby who's senses are sharper than most, especially her nose, lost track of her even when she was right next to her.

So expecting his daughter to try and sneak out again in the future and worried that she might get attacked again he decided that it was time to let her learn how to fight. He could ask one of the soldiers but he didn't want them distracted right now. With the residence in the Enchanted Forest agitated and the frequent Dragon sighting lately he's had everyone on high alert. He sent his son to talk with Lady Nielia to find out what was wrong.

'I just want to know your character a bit more. Sara seems to have taken a liking to you and would probably not accept anyone other than you to train her currently.' He thought. 'It would take too long to convince her otherwise so for now I'm willing to let you teach her. If you're skilled enough anyway.'

Soon the maid returned with another cart full of cookies and tea. Drakove noted that Ruby looked slightly pleased. It was hard to tell thanks to her butting on a stony face, but as a politician he's learned how to read people even. To Drakove Ruby was an open book.

"So about your reward, is there anything you want?" Drakove asked watching Ruby as she answerd.

"... Not really? What would I even ask for?" Ruby said putting sugar cubes in her tea not even looking at Drakove, which earned her another look from the Soldier at the back of the room. Ruby didn't really have any desires other than protecting those she cares about so the idea of a reward wasn't that tempting.

"There isn't anything you want?" Drakove asked, a little loss. Everyone wants something.

"... Maybe sweets?" She said still putting sugar in her tea. That was the only thing Ruby could think of. She liked sweet things and he seems to have a lot of sweet things.

".... Is that all you want." Drakove asked incredulously.

"... Yeah, probably."

"Alright, we'll give you some sweets that won't spoil anytime soon."

"Thanks!"

Drakove could tell Ruby wasn't lying when she said all she wanted was sweets. She even looked exited when he agreed so he had to accept that that's all she wanted. 'No, no, no. I'm sure there is something else. That can't be all she wants, right?' He, in fact, could not accept that it was the only thing Ruby wanted.

"... Is there anything else you want with me?" Ruby asked taking a sip of her overly sweet tea when Drakove went silent.

"Father, what about her teaching me?" Sara said looking at her father.

!?!?!?!?!?!?

Everyone in the room jumped a little when Sara spoke. She was forgotten and unnoticed by everyone in the room until she spoke again. It was surprising enough for the soldier to reach for his weapon before stopping himself. Sara realized everyone forgot about her but she ignored that and looked at her father with pleading eye's.

"Ahem, So my daughter tells me you would teach her how to fight?" inquired Drakove.

"... I did." Ruby answered.

"Are you perhaps proficient with knives when it comes to combat?" He already knew Ruby used knives thanks to his daughters story, but he wanted to hear it from the person themselves.

"... I'm good enough. They're more of a secondary weapon though. I mainly fight with my hands, i'm a pugilist."

"I see. If you don't mind I would like to test how proficient you are in fighting with knives." Drakove said. Before his wife died she had tested Sara to see which weapon suited her most and the conclusion she came to was she was more suited with fighting with knives.

Having the blood of Lady Prosperty meant entering the Enchanted forest. Most of its inhabitants won't attack the Prosperty family, but there are still wild monsters that don't obey anyone keeping the forest dangerous. Sara's mother wanted to prepare her children for that responsibility, but sadly she died before Sara could start her training.

'There aren't that many knife users if any at all among the soldiers so this helps too.' Drakove thought.

"... You want to test me? Are we doing it now?" Ruby was clearly annoyed at the idea. "... Can't we do it after I Finnish eating?"

'Or she doesn't care and was more concerned about leaving the snack behind.' Drakove concluded. Ruby as it turns out was extremely simple to understand. 'Which is honestly a good thing. It makes her more trust worthy otherwise.'

___________________________________

Raven black hair billowed in the wind as Golden-brown eyes glared at the person in front of her. Standing in a relaxed posture the girl observed the soldier in front of her. It wasn't the same person that was in the meeting room with Drakove and Sara, he was standing on the sidelines with the others. No this was just a normal soldier with nothing special about them.

Ruby was in a small training area with the bright blue sky looking down on her. The smell of the rotting flesh followed her. The source was sitting somewhere on the wall surrounding the area. Not that she payed much attention to it, she was sizing up the opponent in front of her and if she had to guess they were slightly stronger than Freddy.

'I'm guessing the reason I'm facing a normal soldier instead of that guard over there is because they want to know how strong i am to the average soldier.' Ruby thought. She may be simple but she wasn't stupid.

Ruby couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed. She's slowly grown stronger it wasn't by much but she's sure she could beat this poor guy in front of her with no problem. After all he's only a little stronger than Freddy and she's capable of beating him without much problem. Her abnormal strength made fights easy and boring.

'Let's just get this over with. I don't even want to teach Sara I just want to keep tabs on her.'

"Ready?" The Soldier standing guard next to Drakove said. "Start."

In an instant Ruby circulated Chi through her legs adding the wind element to it to increase her speed even more. She was next to the low ranking soldier in no time at all, knife already making its way at him. The soldier relying on his training even while shocked manages to divert the knife with his sword before backing off.

The soldier had a reach advantage so as long as he doesn't let Ruby get too close he should be fine. Ruby just circled around him throwing a dagger at his back before charging her way towards his flank by channeling Chi in her legs to give her another quick boost of speed. The soldier had two attacks to deal with now.

Blocking the dagger first since it was aimed at his head, the soldier managed to knock it aside. By doing that though he left himself open for Ruby to get in close. Now completely in his personal space Ruby brought her knife to the man's neck, he barely managed to step back in time. By doing so he lost his footing. Taking advantage of that Ruby makes a low kick sweeping the soldiers legs from under him.

Falling on his back the soldier found himself prone with Ruby over him. Quickly circulating Chi through himself he tries to swing his enhanced fist towards Ruby as he approaches his upper half. Seeing this Ruby used her arm to redirect the attack grunting as the shock of the attack caused her pain. She then proceeded to place her knife on the man's neck drawing blood.

"Match!"

Ruby got up and looked at the soldier for a few seconds before looking away. If Ruby was honest she doesn't think any normal fighter will be able to defeat her. The only person she knows that can stop not only her but the two powerful women in her group was the Hero. As long as Morella or Judieth were around they had nothing to worry about.

Plus the Hero hasn't been able to really do anything. So even though he was a threat in combat it didn't really matter if he couldn't even find them. As long as nothing goes wrong Ruby was confident they should be able to achieve their goals of finding her home town and making their way towards Judieth's laboratory. Plus once Ruby and Yuki fix themselves they should become stronger than they already are.

'If things continue as they are now we should be completely fine.' She thought confidently. 'If we keep things up Yuki, Ella, and me should be able to live in peace. Judieth too I guess if she sticks around.'

With that thought she made her way towards the people on the sidelines.