Chapter 16 - A Spar Of Gifted
Lucius couldn't see to the side, but Kiana quickly turned the wheelchair around so that he would face his mother, countess Lita.
Lucius blinked a couple of times, as if greeting her, and Lita smiled in response.
"It's good that you are getting down here now. Some fresh air outside should help you. Even the healer said that some sun and air would be good for you." Lita spoke.
"I was thinking of taking him for a stroll around the mansion grounds for now or even to the city, maybe." Kiana said.
"Hmm… the mansion grounds is fine, but if you are going out to the city, then you need to take guards with you. With our current situation, I don't want any unexpected surprises." Lita replied in a concerned tone.
"Of course, madam. I wouldn't dare to even think of letting Asher fall in harm's way." Kiana stated.
"Good. Well then go on, have fun." Lita said as she gestured for them to leave.
Kiana nodded in response and turned the wheelchair towards another corridor. From what Lucius could tell, that hall was the main connecting hall of the mansion from where all the routes to the different parts passed.
The corridor they were passing through right now was much smaller and only took them a minute to cross. They reached another hall, at the end of which there were two large doors. Lucius moved his eyes around and saw the banners with the crest of the Inanis family hanging here too.
'I really need to improve my condition, I should be able to move my neck at the very least.' Lucius thought to himself, feeling a bit frustrated.
As soon as they approached the doors, a pair of servants opened them.
"Lord Asher, miss Kiana, please." They said respectfully.
Kiana gave them a slight nod before leaving the mansion.
Bright sunlight greeted Kiana and Lucius as they saw the garden ahead of them. Finely pruned laws and flowers were planted everywhere, along with shrubs and hedges. Some trees could also be seen planted at regular intervals that created an archway along the paths.
The entire garden looked rather beautiful, and Lucius couldn't help but appreciate it. Even in his past life, a garden like this would have been thought of to be good. At the distance, Lucius could see the guards that were patrolling the Manson grounds.
"Now that I think of it, when you went to the battlefield it was still winter. It's a rather opportune time for you to awaken, as now you can enjoy the spring." Kiana said with a gentle smile on her face.
She started pushing the wheelchair on the stone paved paths as they looked around at all the flowers and plants. Eventually, they crossed the entire garden and reached the area where the stables were. Lucius could see around twenty well maintained horses that were either eating hay or being cleaned by the servants.
Kiana didn't take him there as the ground there was muddy and would trap the wheelchair. Thus they only watched from the distance and she could tell from Lucius's eyes that he wasn't much interested in it.
"Let's go ahead then," Kiana said before pushing him to the next area, which was a group of twenty houses.
The houses were made of a combination of wood and stone, and Lucius could see some people dressed in the attire of servants there.
~sigh~
"Feels just like yesterday when I moved from the servant quarters to the mansion," Kiana said in a melancholic tone.
'Seems like she was indeed promoted or something. So the servants usually stay here while some of the more important ones with bigger duties stay at the mansion itself.' Lucius inferred.
They went ahead and finally reached the area where the guards lived at. This was a smaller guard barracks that was intended for the mansion guards to stay at. There was also a training ground in front of it where a few guards were gathered around.
It was then that Lucius saw something that shocked him.
"HAA! Take my Rock hammer fist!" One of the guards shouted.
Lucius saw the right arm of the guard getting covered in rock like layer. In less than two seconds, it was fully covered and he slammed his arms towards his opponent who he was sparring against. His rock covered arm was about to hit the other guard when suddenly he jumped to the side like a rabbit.
~BAM~
The Rock covered arm of the guard hit the ground below and knocked up a small cloud of dust. The other guard though kept on hopping like a rabbit, his speed faster than what a normal human would be able to move at.
"Ha ha, even if your Rock Arm gift is higher ranked than my rabbit feet, it can't do much if you can't hit me." The other guard taunted.
"Don't you run, Ian! Fight me like a man!" The guard with the rock arm shouted.
"What use is fighting like a man if you're going to die straight away. The true man doesn't just fight with his brawns but also with his brain." The man named Ian shouted.
~Bam~
~Dham~
~Thwack~
The rock armed guard kept on swinging his arms and attacking the guard named Ian. The first guard had covered both his arms with rocks now and was using them like sledgehammers. While their power was great, there wasn't much damage caused by him to Ian.
About two minutes had passed since the spar had begun and by now Lucius could see drops of sweat on the face of the rock armed guard.
"Admit your defeat, Ron! You will be running out of aether soon. You can't keep this up with your high level of consumption." Ian said while dodging another one of Ron's blows.
"SHUT UP!" Ron yelled as he lifted both his hands up high and clasped them together to hammer them down.
~Crack~
The stone ground beneath them cracked and created tremors, which made Ian stumble.
"Now I got you!"