Chapter 226

Natalie was consciously aware of how much stronger she’d become over the past few weeks, much less the past several years, but experiencing it first-hand as she began her duel with Gareth—a normal person, rather than a peer—nonetheless came as a surprise.

Of course, she put barely any strength into her swings, fully aware of how fragile her opponent was. There was not only a level difference, but also a training one, a gear one, and a fundamental class one. Even massively limiting herself, Gareth struggled to keep up. Natalie didn’t know what kind of ‘training’ he’d been doing, but certainly it wasn’t intense spars with other men and women who’d been fighting for their entire lives, as Natalie was accustomed to even before heading for Tenet.

That said, he wasn’t horrible, Natalie guessed. She caught glimpses of talent in the way he responded to her movements. The way he balanced his weight and repositioned, how he watched her hips and hands to read her intent, and the ease he swung his axe with. Clearly, this wasn’t some new, idle dream of his: he’d been putting in genuine effort to become a better fighter, likely for some time. Natalie could respect that.

As the fight progressed, Natalie became suspicious of something—something she alerted to in the way Gareth moved and responded to her own movements. She started leaving more and more blatant openings in her guard to see how he would react to them. And while he did seize some, only in the politest ways possible. Aiming at her stomach, arms, and legs. And, even more incredibly, not at full strength.

Natalie disengaged. “You’re pulling your punches, aren’t you?” she asked incredulously. “And you’re avoiding hitting my face.” She’d been deliberately guarding it poorly. “What’s wrong with you? You know the head is a weak point, right?”

Gareth blinked, the accusation having come unexpectedly. By the bewilderment on his face, Natalie even started to think that she might have misinterpreted things—that he really hadn’t noticed the openings, and wasn’t simply ‘avoiding hitting a woman’.

But then his eyes turned shifty and he looked away. “Just, uh, didn’t see them. My bad.”

The response dispelled the last of Natalie’s doubts. “Bullshit,” she said. “I’ve been leaving myself stupidly open. So you’re just that terrible?”

Gareth seemed like he wanted to defend himself, but he couldn’t, not without admitting to what Natalie already knew was the situation—that he had been trying ‘not to hit a woman in the face’. Or even anywhere with full strength, which was doubly outrageous, because it was Natalie who needed to be pulling her punches, not him.

She didn’t know whether to be more annoyed or amused. It had been a while since she’d run into that sentiment. ‘Gentlemanly’ behavior had been present in plenty of spars when she was younger, but obviously was burnt out of anyone who frequented the fighting circuits of Valhaur. If not simply by using common sense and recognizing that any part of their sparring partner should be fair game, regardless of gender, then by having their asses handed to them on repeat until they let go of any such ridiculous ideas.

Whoever Gareth had been using as training partners, she suspected not many, if any, had been women.

Natalie studied the boy for a few moments longer, annoyance on her face, before she snorted. She turned and scanned the training yard, quickly finding her target.

“Hey! Liz!”

Hearing her name, the dark-haired royal faced Natalie, tilting her head in curiosity. She’d been talking to Ana.

“Come over here real quick?”

Liz jogged over. “What’s up?”

“Need a healer on standby, if that’s fine?”

“Oh?” Liz said. She looked worried at Gareth and then back at Natalie as if she wanted to say something.

“Not for him,” Natalie said, rolling her eyes. Why did everyone think she was going to break the civilian? “He’s a level one. I’m going easy on him.”

“Then, um...?”

“For me,” Natalie said.

She set her hammer face-down into the dirt and gestured for Gareth to approach. He did, confused.

“Punch me in the face,” Natalie said.

“What?”

“Try to break my nose. Give it your best shot.”

“Uh—?” Gareth asked, pointing at himself, suddenly alarmed. “You want me to do what?”

Natalie faced Liz. “He’s scared to hit girls,” she explained. “He’s been going easy on me. Me. He thinks we’re delicate flowers.”