178 – Master

Suyin’s skull was throbbing by the time her duel with Vianora Enren finished. In some senses, it was one of the most difficult encounters of her life. Not because the elf challenged her in any martial or magical capacity, but because keeping her mouth shut turned out to be a monumental struggle.

Something was up with Vianora. She might not be an expert blademaster in hiding, but she also wasn’t a random silver-ranker. First off, even a silver would have more experience with a sword should it be her primary adventuring weapon, or if wielding a weapon mattered to her class at all. Her deficiency seemed general when it came to melee combat, not specific to a blade.

Secondly, while Suyin hadn’t been able to suss out hidden swordcraft, she could tell that the woman was faster, stronger, and more perceptive than she was pretending to be. By a lot. Vianora wasn’t concealing mastery of the blade, but she was feigning a slower reaction speed. Why?

And lastly, a silver-ranker wouldn’t have a sword so interesting as the black-and-purple one Vianora wielded. Though Suyin guessed that wasn’t entirely true. Rare and amazing artifacts did appear in the hands of the unremarkable from time to time, either through inheritance or chance. Suyin might have entertained the possibility if not for other surrounding evidence. All of the oddities had to relate to each other.

Nevertheless, Suyin said nothing and treated Vianora Elren like the two other combatants she had fought. It was the least she could do after offering such a disgustingly uncalled-for insult. If the woman wanted to hide her background and capabilities until later in the tournament, who was Suyin to judge, much less interrogate? She had planned on doing the same thing until the unfortunate headache, Wade Marsh, had forced her hand.

Vianora conceded the bout by announcing a forfeit, then thanked her for the help. Suyin bowed and departed while biting her tongue.

I wonder if Master was paying attention. And if he was, what he thought about it all.

She only realized she’d left behind Ring Seven and was making a beeline for the old man when she was halfway up the hill. Her gaze fell on a figure lounging near the top where the slope smoothed out. He wasn’t alone. A woman accompanied him; he was lying on his back with his head in her lap. She appeared to be in her fifties and wore a smitten smile.

Already? Suyin thought, eye twitching. It hasn’t been an hour.

“Don’t you have qualifying matches to be working through, Master?” she asked, making the woman jump.

Master turned his head lazily, blinking in fake surprise at her arrival. And it was fake surprise. He could probably feel the footsteps of every person in this field. Tell them apart, even. For all she knew, he’d watched her fights by sensing changes in the wind currents. He might have studied Vianora Enren more closely than she had, from two hundred meters away and with his eyes closed.

She didn’t know her master’s true capabilities, but he was not some simple Titled, and Titled were already capable of feats to astonish a layperson.

“Oh, there’s no rush,” Master said, waving a hand. “We have all day. I’ve found a more important calling, if you haven’t noticed.” He beamed up at the woman. “Is the purpose of life not to enjoy the beauty the heavens so graciously bestow upon us? Work can come later.”

The woman, who was very much not schoolgirl-aged, tittered like a schoolgirl. Suyin couldn’t suppress a second eye twitch. She clasped her fists together and bowed to her master’s most recent victim—not that they ever saw themselves as such. “I apologize for interrupting, ma’am, but may I have a moment to speak with my master?”

He sighed, leaned up, and squeezed the woman’s leg. “Will you, Edel? I’ll come and find you.” He winked. “It’s a promise.”

The woman blushed, and Suyin fought desperately not to roll her eyes. Edel stood and smoothed her skirt. She gave Suyin an annoyed look as she passed.

Suyin was unfazed by the interaction. It was not new. It was so old, in fact, that she struggled to maintain good manners with Master’s various women. She would’ve warned Edel that Master was incorrigible and exactly the scoundrel he presented himself to be, but she had discovered years ago that was what they wanted , most of the time. Somehow. She didn’t understand.

She also didn’t like dwelling on her master’s love life, so she redirected the train of thought off the nearest cliff and promptly forgot about it.

Master crossed his legs and began pulling at his long mustache. “So, daughter of mine, I can see that something ails you. Illuminate me.”

“Someone as irresponsible as you has no right to call himself a father.” The words came by rote. The exchange had happened verbatim dozens of times, and Master found it as amusing as always—he laughed good-naturedly.

She had a complicated relationship with the man in front of her. She did consider him a father of sorts, seeing how he had saved her at the age of six and raised her. Technically. She was old enough now that she knew the way he’d gone about it strained the definition of ‘raised.’

Master was a great man with legendary feats to his name. He was kind, brave, and generous. He could lay low a Titled with the ease with which she could a silver ranker. She wouldn’t be alive if not for him and, almost more importantly, wouldn’t be half the swordswoman.

All of that said, he was extraordinarily irresponsible and shortsighted. Impulsive, too. His many centuries of life had granted him very little maturity. The rare instances of wisdom were almost always an act put on for a secondary mission. In short, she was more of the parent in their relationship than he was. She honestly wondered how he had survived before he had scooped her up to manage their affairs.

Probably because he could cut mountains in half.

“I just had a very strange fight,” Suyin said. “I was wondering if you watched it.” Though the hill they were standing on overlooked much of the grounds hosting the qualifiers, Ring Seven didn’t have a particularly clear sightline.

He clutched a hand to his chest with a look of pure affront. “Of course I did. You insult this old man with a heinous accusation! Miss my daughter’s matches? Here I thought I impressed on you the importance of manners.”

She ignored his theatrics. “Did you, or not?”

“Yes.” He chuckled. “And your previous ones, too. I particularly enjoyed the spanking you gave that… what was it? Wade Marsh? You’ve always felt injustice more keenly than me. You’ll make a great hero one day.”

Aggravatingly, she felt her cheeks color. She wasn’t sure if he was teasing or giving a genuine compliment. Likely both, since that would be the most annoying of the options. “Vianora Enren. Have you heard that name?”

“Never in my life.” He returned to stroking his mustache. “You’re right, though. She is interesting.”

Suyin leaned forward in vindication. “I knew it. What did you see?”

“She’s faking it.”

“Faking what?”

“Her skill with a sword.”

Suyin paused. “No, I ruled that out.”

“Did you? On what grounds?”

“…her ineptitude seemed genuine.”

“You decided it wasn’t deception because it was convincing?”

She crossed her arms. “Nobody could fake being a novice that well.”

“Is that so?”

“Could you?”

“I am honored my daughter thinks so highly of me, but there exist people who have skills that I do not.”

“Then what’s your evidence?”

He hummed for a moment before answering. “Presume you are correct. Why, then, when you nearly cut her in half, did her heartbeat not fluctuate even slightly?”

A chill went through her. That would be stoicism beyond all reason. Suyin had only read an impassive expression; she couldn’t hear her opponent’s heart beating in their chest.

Yet Master could? She glanced over her shoulder. Ring Seven was a good distance away. She shivered. Master didn’t display his strength often, so she was still caught off guard when he made casual references to his absurd abilities.

“She is completely convinced that you cannot harm her,” Master said. “And I doubt she’s insane. Which means she’s probably correct about that fact.”

Suyin chewed on her lip, working through the implications. So powerful that she didn’t think my blade could break her skin? Or almost as humbling, that she had time remaining to dodge or deflect despite my sword being half an inch away?

She had sensed the woman’s total disregard of her, but she had revised her interpretation of why upon seeing that clumsy stance. She didn’t want Master’s theory to be true simply for how embarrassing doubting herself two times in a row would be.

“Her deception was flawless enough to fool me even when I was looking for it?” she asked, struggling to come to terms with that fact. “That’s not the only explanation. She could be a novice swordswoman but formidable in other ways. Or safe from injury for one reason or another.”

“It takes ingrained power for one’s heart not to flutter at a sword about to cleave them in two. But it’s not impossible. That said, the simple answer is most often the correct one. Which is more likely: that the swordswoman who believes your blade cannot pierce her flesh is sufficiently skilled at feigning ineptitude, or that”—he rolled his eyes—“she is, say, a priestess with impenetrable shields protecting her, and is playing at being a warrior for some inscrutable purpose?” He rubbed his chin. “And she is hiding her strength, make no mistake. I hope you gleaned that much. I dare say she hides more than you think. Her reactions are… fast. Even if she wasn’t acting on them, I could see her responding. Her eyes, her muscles. For a priestess to be that powerful in physical matters…”

A healer of that level might not even exist. She saw the logic in her master’s argument. And yes, she had observed the woman’s reflexes, even if her technique hadn’t been skilled. Not that she had known Vianora was hiding that much. Enough to draw her master’s attention. In that case, it would be too much of a stretch to believe that the elf didn’t possess a martial class. That her secondary stats accounted for such speed.

“She’s really that strong?” Suyin asked. “You make it sound like she’s nearly on your level.” It took a lot to catch Master’s eye, old monster that he was.

He huffed. “I wouldn’t go that far. But Fate does have a way of conspiring so that important figures meet. It’s why I avoid the capital cities. This tournament will have dozens of us swarming about. It’s going to be a messy several weeks.”

She digested that. “What do we do with this information?”

“We’ll be seeing more of her, and my interest is piqued. As is yours. Moreover, she made a point of convincing you that she was weak.” He smiled. “I believe she was testing you.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “Testing me?”

“She showed approval for your handling of that brute, did she not? And she recognizes your skill. You were taught by me,” he said with a laugh. “You should offer to train her.”

She was caught even more off guard. “What? Train her?”

“She repeatedly thanked you for your help. I can’t fully guess her motivations, but…” He shrugged. “See what happens. It’s a natural excuse for you to get closer. Or don't, if you have no desire to learn more about the mysterious elf.” He raised an eyebrow pointedly.

She glared at him, but took his point. While she wouldn’t go around pestering the enigmatic Titled-in-hiding, perhaps there was merit in attempting to make contact. Offer to train her, though? Where did Master come up with that?

I guess she did go out of her way to ask for pointers. Testing me by seeing how I handle a student, maybe? She shook her head, confused.

With the conversation settling there, Suyin considered everything they’d talked about. The crux of Master’s argument came from his intuition, and while he was a scoundrel, a child, and an idiot, she wouldn’t discard any of his comments that analyzed another person’s skill.

If he said the peculiar woman was hiding her swordsmanship so expertly that even she couldn’t glean the truth underneath, then he was most likely correct. Despite all his faults, Master’s name was known from sea to sea. The deepest reaches of the dwarven enclaves and the most secluded elven glades told tales of his deeds. In all of history, only the Party of Heroes could be truly called his betters.

Indeed, as little as anyone might expect it upon seeing the old man, the person in front of her was Yxamas Faleryn, Sword Saint of the Waxing Crescent. And he would be winning this entire tournament—handily.

“Now, off with you,” Master said. “I have a lovely woman to seduce. I swear it’s become a pastime of yours, getting in my way.”

The brief respect born from her musings evaporated. She sighed, bowed deeply, and turned to make her way back down the hill.

“And send Edel up, won’t you?” he called. “I’m comfortable.” He stretched and fell into the grass in an indolent manner.

“This disciple believes her name is being called at Ring Seven. My apologies, Master, but I must make all haste.”

“You know I can hear a fly beating its wings from a thousand paces away? No such thing happened, brat.”

“My deepest apologies, Master Faleryn.”

“When did my daughter get so rebellious?” she heard him moan behind her. “What did a caring father do to deserve such treatment?”

Again, she sighed.

She did that a lot around Master Faleryn.

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