Chapter 366: Grandparents
Waking up to a now somewhat familiar ceiling, Lucas groggily pushed himself out of bed and made his way over towards the dresser, fumbling around in the dim light of dawn for a change of clothes.
10 minutes later, arriving at a large training hall, the young boy was greeted by his two Junior Sisters, both of whom also looked a bit sleepy still.
"Is Master not here today?" Eris, with a small yawn, asked curiously.
Shaking his head, Lucas replied calmly, "No, Master had business to take care of in Martin. Something about the family’s higher ups wanting to meet to discuss... well, something; I’m not really sure what."
"Oh," Eris nodded, not particularly surprised or disappointed.
3 days ago, she, along with Lucas and Christina, had all participated in their official Discipleship Ceremony; but honestly, not much had changed.
Celestina was still super busy taking care of all the things a Marquess and General had to take care of, so more-often-than-not, it was others who oversaw their training or they simply did self-study when no one was available.
Today, however, seemed to be a case of the former, as not long after Lucas arrived, a couple who had become familiar to the trio entered the hall.
The man was tall and well-built, with short-cut red hair characteristic of the Balfour Family. A pair of sharp, amber eyes, a neatly trimmed beard, and a smooth mustache adorned his stern-looking face.
Anyone who saw him and his seemingly perpetual scowl would immediately think he was someone strict with both himself and others, and they would be right as he was the Balfour Family’s Chief Law Enforcement Elder, responsible for maintaining order and discipline in the family’s domain.
The woman, quite contrarily, wore a light, friendly smile on her face. She was vibrant and youthful, with shoulder length blonde hair, jade green eyes, and an enviable figure.
There was no doubt she was incredibly beautiful, but there was also a subtle air of ferocity surrounding her. Coupled with the many faint scars that marred her skin and her well-toned muscles, it was obvious she was strong and had plenty of real-life combat experience.
A friendly, free-spirited, righteous warrior would probably be most people’s first impression of her.
None of that was important, however, compared to their identities and their relationship with Eris.
"Grandpa! Grandma!" The young red-head called out happily.
The moment her innocent voice rang out, Elliot Balfour, youngest son of Celestina and father of Sasha, instantly transformed into a blur, dashing over and scooping up his granddaughter and hugging her tightly.
With a goofy grin spreading across his face, Elliot nuzzled his young descendant and asked sweetly, "How’s my favourite little Eris today? Did you miss Grandpa?"
Although he was extremely strict with his own children, Elliot Balfour doted excessively on his grandchildren, a fact that often caused Sasha and her older siblings to role their eyes in exasperation
"En en, I missed Grandpa lots!" Eris laughed happily in response.
"Oh, my darling! How did that disobedient daughter of mine give birth to such a precious gem!" Elliot cheered, tickling Eris with his beard a bit longer.
After he finished fawning over the granddaughter he had only recently met, Elliot turned to the other young lady in the room and nodded respectfully, "Thank you for being such good friends with Little Eris, Your Highness."
Smiling as she shook her head, Christina simply waved off the compliment, "Eris is both my Senior and Sworn Sister, it’s only natural for us to get along well."
Done with his greetings, Elliot declared, "Good, let’s start your training for today."
"Ahem," Lucas coughed awkwardly, a helpless smile covering his face.
"Hm?" Turning his head slightly, Elliot glanced down at the third child standing nearby and muttered, "Oh, you’re here too, brat."
"Greetings, Elder Elliot," Lucas replied politely, doing his best to not let out a sigh.
Ever since they first met, Eris’ grandfather had been like this, always glaring at him in an unfriendly manner.
Pursing her lips, Eris pouted slightly and asked the question that had been on her mind for some time now, "Grandpa... why do you always act like this around Lucas?"
Snorting disapprovingly, "He may be Mother’s First Disciple, and he may be a little smarter than most his age, but if he thinks that’s enough to win my precious granddaugh..."
*WHACK!*
Ignoring her foolish husband, who was now splayed out on the floor, sporting a rather large bump on the back of his head, Tegan Balfour shook her head helplessly and patted Lucas gently, "Don’t let that old windbag get to you, he’s just jealous."
"Uhh... en," Lucas could do nothing but nod, almost feeling sorry for Elliot.
Almost.
Knowing things would only deteriorate further if they lingered on this subject, Christina stepped up and asked, "Since Uncle Elliot and Aunty Tegan are here, I assume we’ll be doing weapon training today, yes?"
"Correct," Sasha’s mother nodded, ushering the 3 children over to the side of the hall where the racks of training weapons were stored.
From how familiar everyone in the dojo was acting with one another, it was clear this was not the first time Elliot and his wife had come to act as instructors for Lucas, Eris, and Christina.
There were a number of reasons Celestina had made this arrangement, Elliot and Tegan being Eris’ grandparents being among them, but what really motivated the Marquess’ decision to have her youngest son and his partner train her Disciples was because both of them were perfectly ambidextrous and specialized in dual-wielding weapons.
For Lucas and Christina, it didn’t really matter who trained them as long as they were strong and experienced enough, but it was a different story for Eris. It was imperative that the young girl quickly adapted to using her left hand in combat while still retaining as much sense for using her missing right arm as possible.
In this regard, there were few people in Misty City who were better suited to supervising Eris’ development than Elliot and Tegan.
Adjusting the prosthetic fitted on her right arm, Eris next grabbed a short sabre and got into a ready stance.
As usual, Christina grabbed a rather long, heavy broadsword. This was her preferred melee weapon and the one she had the most experience in using.
For many years, the princess had tried to become a spear wielder in order to emulate her idol, but it had never quiet felt right to Tina.
That wasn’t to say she was bad at using a spear; quite the contrary, actually. Christina was more than competent with this type of weapon, it was just that it didn’t seem to suit her for some inexplicable reason.
After her recent experiences in the South-West Province, the princess had become much more comfortable with herself and completely abandoned the idea of switching her primary weapon, deciding to stick with what felt most natural to her instead.
As for Lucas, his eyes swept over the various weapons before he picked up a short sword and dagger.
The reason for his choice wasn’t because he was particularly talented at using this combination of weapons, but rather because he figured it would be informative given who their teachers were today.
While Tina was a sword prodigy, and Eris was an all-round genius when it came to anything combat related, Lucas didn’t have any particular talent when it came to wielding weapons.
If you put a sword in Lucas’ hands, he could use it fairly effectively, but no more or less so than if you had given him a spear or axe.
Many, many rounds of experimentation had made the young boy realize he didn’t have raw talent for any particular weapon. Perhaps he was a bit better with swords, but that was probably a result of him having had more practice with them rather than an innate affinity for swordsmanship.