While everyone was busy discussing things and the hall and trying to diffuse the awkward atmosphere, Shun and another figure following behind were casually making their way out

“Ya totally messed everything up back there”

“Oh yah? I did great then”

“Ya know if yer salty about all that ya could have just requested something in return”

“Yah that was the plan at the beginning”

“At the beginning?”

“Yes, but after I saw their faces I just had the urge to smack ‘em hard you know”

“Smack yer butt, now I have to receive harsh lectures cause of yer stupid stunts”

“Well at least you get to keep your legs right?”

“Sigh, whatever there’s no use crying over spoiled milk, tell me now what did ya hope to accomplish after all this”

“I smacked faces”

“What else”

“Smacked a bit more faces”

“…...If ya weren’t half disabled now I would have beat yer ass into one piece”

“Haha!”

Shun walked forward without paying too much heed to Vince’s concern, he didn’t care to explain why he did it for it would spoil his plans off course

‘Okay, now I need to fix my legs and start on part two, I wonder what a pig’s swollen faces would look like, a boar? Well I’m sure I’ll find out when I’m done with them’

He went back to the walls, this time he didn’t wait till night to go to Catherin’s room but directly sneaked into it instead, after that showdown with the king he didn’t need to keep appearances and have them keep tabs on his location

Before he even knocked on her door Catherin opened it and welcomed him in

“Master, have you changed your mind”

“No, I may have stirred the nest early though”

“Ahh that’s why you were so happy a moment ago!”

‘Ugh I keep forgetting were connected’

“Lets get down to business, are you proficient in the halberd?”

“Yes master, I have the Halberd Mastery”

“Then from now on after dark I need you to teach me in secret, make use of the window to jump down and train me, I will sneak away from the room once I make sure there is no one there”

“As you wish”

“Don’t interact with me other than that since they might keep an eye on me from now on, I had messed their plans after all”

Catherin nodded, they discussed the precise time and place before Shun went out and headed toward the training area where he spared with the instructor

Along the way he received many hostile stares, some even emit killing intent, everywhere he went all eyes were on him

‘News sure spreads fast, well this makes my plans run smoother’

Once he was at the facility he went straight toward the big man at the center, then he called out for him

“Grant, may I have a moment of your time”

The man turned a deaf ear and continued to train his soldiers

“Thrust your wait with your arms, you must achieve balance with each swing, do not….”

He continued to bark out his orders without turning to face Shun

‘Hmm I can’t outright enrage him since I don’t want to look like I had intentionally dropped my teacher, after all I want them to think that they cornered me not me giving up on the benefits on my own’

He continued to think about it for a while, while Grant continued to ignore him, incidentally at that time one of the soldiers came in while talking to his friend in a normal but audible tone

“Did you hear about what that rascal that trained under Grant did? It seemed he actually talked back to the king!”

“Who hasn’t heard about it? He dared do something like that after captain Catherin just saved his life, that ungrateful bastard”

“She didn’t just save his life, I heard the medics say she even carried him all the way to the medical ward! Ahh why couldn’t it have been me that she carried, if only I could be smothered in her large bosom, I would die of happiness”

“Bah I dare you look at her chest for a second and not have your head stamped into the mud, stop day dreaming you can’t get within an inch of her”

At this point Grants temples pulsed with anger, he turned to the back and gave a hateful stare toward Shun, who was none the wiser about what’s happening, he had been too focused on the task at hand he didn’t seem to hear the two young soldiers talk

“Rascal what the hell do you want!”

Shun had a puzzled face, but he soon rolled with it, he thought to find an opportunity to get kicked out during training

“I’m here to train as usual”

“With that bum leg of yours? Hah you probably couldn’t even run a lap much less fight!”

“I don’t need to fight I’m here to train, it’s enough to practice basic swings as I stand”

“Little rascal you listen to me, don’t think that your all hot just because you got your ass saved by the captain, she wouldn’t even spare you another glance if it wasn’t for the infiltrators that made it in, so keep your distance from her and stop acting all smug in front of me”

Only now did Shun get the general gist of it, he smiled in his mind as he prepared to fan the flames a bit

“Sir Grant you should indeed continue to train the young “hero” after all we don’t want him to blame it all on you when we have our fight”

Suddenly a sweet voice rang from the side, both men turned to the source and saw a blond haired girl that looked no older than eighteen swaggering her way toward them

“Lady Fiola! What brings your esteemed self here”

“Oh I’m just here to issue this man right here a challenge to duel”

“Th-this rascal here!? But why would you dirty your shoes with him, if you so much as wish it I will wipe the ground with him!”

Suddenly Grant took out his halberd and jumped toward the defenseless Shun, giving him no time to prepare

Shun was surprised at the development, but instead of acting in haste he looked toward the girl by the side, when he saw her smiling with no intention to intervene he knew it was a trap of sort

‘He’s not stupid to want to attack just like that, they must have had a plan from the beginning, this was the same girl that Vince talked about before, it seems they either want to humiliate me here or at the very least injure me’

He looked back at the airborne Grant, his mind instantly thought of three possibilities

‘Take the hit, dodge and injure your legs further, or...’

Thud!

With a dull sound Grant fell on the ground in pain, gasping for air like a fish out of water, he looked at Shun in slight fear and trepidation for he never thought the boys Soul Rend would be so powerful after only a few days

“Only cowards sneak attack”

“Like yourself?”

Shun tried to humiliate Grant but received a brutal refute in return, then he remembered he was a Stealth user which made his cheeks flush for a second

“Heh if that is all you have then please surrender before you humiliate yourself in the arena”

“You keep barbering about the arena this, the fight that, wanna tell me when I agreed to have a duel with a blabber mouth such as yourself?”

The girl’s eyes suddenly turned sharp, killing intent harbored within, she had never been talked to in such a manner before that her cold fury was ignited without restrain

“You would do well to remember not to talk to me in such a manner again peasant, I’ll have you know I am lady Fiola of house Fernasko, nothing the likes of you can even look up to”

“Whoever you may be it doesn’t matter, in the end you’re just a noble and I’m, as you had generously pointed out when you came, a “hero” so you would be the one minding your manners miss fiasco”

“Fernasko!”

The girl huffed and puffed for a bit as her rather moderate chest heaved up and down, but she soon reigned in her anger and spoke in a cold aloof tone

“I do not argue with foolish men like yourselves, believe whatever you may believe, in the end you shall see the truth of your inferior existence in the arena”

“Like I said what are you going on about?”

The girl suddenly smirked and shoved a paper in his face, on it were a few lines explaining a challenge, and at the bottom were two stamps

“I issued to you a challenge and it was agreed upon by the master of the arena himself! You are obligated to attend, off course if you kneel and beg me right now I might let it go”

The girl smirked at him with playful eyes

“So what if he accepted? I heard nothing of it”

“Haha, who cares, any duel agreed upon by master Galluis must be attended, it’s only natural”

“Oh? And would you fight an injured man such as myself? Where did the face of nobility go?”

“Weren’t you the one that said it would heal with but a few herbs? Oh “hero” how could you forget your own words”

The girls face almost read “You dug your own grave”

“Hmm fine so be it, but I shall not study under this person, he is an abomination of a teacher”

Shun pointed at Grant in displeasure

“But off course~ I will personally arrange a teacher for you~”

After the girl spoke she wrapped the paper in put it back in her bosom, then went away with a swaggering hip

“See you in two weeks~~”

‘No wonder it smelled so sweet, so that’s where it was’

Instead of being worried Shun thought about the pleasant smell that came from the paper, then he shrugged and went back to his room

As for worrying about the duel? He could end her in a second with Soul Rend, he had purposely gone easy on Grant so as not to cause a huge stir and to make them underestimate him

‘That was surprisingly helpful in my plans, now I just need to beat her up and I would be done with my second act, this is actually pretty easy isn’t it’

He hummed to himself on the way back, he was going to rest in his room but he saw Vince leaning on his door

Vince looked at him deeply before sighing for what felt like the hundredth time today

“I cannot teach ya anymore, yer on your own”

Those were his only words, along with a pat on the shoulders before he left