Arcadia's Ignoble Knight: The Sorceress Of Ashtown Chapter 5

The train had started moving a little while ago. Because he wasn't at the academy, Caspian had taken to wearing something a little less conspicuous. His black pants ruffled as he s.h.i.+fted in his seat, and his brown leather boots scuffed against the carpeted floor. The white collared s.h.i.+rt he wore had a slight dip in the front. A brown traveling cloak had been thrown over the entire ensemble for good measure, and a red bandana was tied around his head, keeping his red bangs out of his eyes, while also hiding his ears. The clothing he'd donned was loose and way more comfortable than the academy uniforms. Those outfits were torturous.

Stupid old man and his stupid militaristic dress code. Didn't he realize that not everyone enjoyed dressing up like a dog of the military?

Looking out the window, Caspian's eyes gazed upon the pa.s.sing scenery. The area around Arcadia's Knight Academy was mostly gra.s.sy fields and plains. There was little else to see except for the occasional farm here or there. It was a very rural place. Agriculture was big in this particular side of Arcadia. It was nothing at all like the technologically advanced Temarian province, or even the industrialized Dystian province, which was his current itinerary. The Ruudon province's primary resource was its livestock and its agriculture.

While he sat there, a slight grumble emerged from his stomach, reminding him that, in his haste to escape from Christo, he'd forgotten to eat breakfast. He must have incurred some really bad karma to suffer under that fool. He'd never believed in the idea of reincarnation, but there had to be something he'd done so far in the past that he didn't remember it, something so horrible the spirits had decided to punish him. It was the only way he could explain why he'd had such a ludicrous case of awful luck. As if his entire life being destroyed hadn't been enough, life just had to stick him with an annoyance like Christo.

His stomach rumbled again.

"Ha..." Caspian sighed. "I guess all that running has made me hungry."

Standing up, Caspian made his way out of his compartment and into the hallway. The slight squeal of the train running along the tracks accompanied his footsteps as he walked into the next car; an open car with several booths for people to sit in, he noticed. It appeared to be quite crowded, with nearly every seat taken. There were so many people that their faces actually appeared to blur together in a mishmash of color and hair.

All of the people in this car were peasants, like him. The rich had their own set of cars near the front. He'd never been there, but he'd heard tales of their extravagance. Purportedly, the cars up front looked like the stateroom suite to an expensive inn. Julius had once tried riling him up by bragging about how he'd gotten to ride in them several times. He'd also mentioned how he felt sorry for Caspian, because he would never get to experience the joys of riding in one.

That day, Julius had received a broken nose during their spar.

While Caspian had never been to the front cars, he always had tickets for the sleeper cars. That was one of the greatest benefits to being given tasks by the headmaster. He always got his own compartment. Which was just as well, since he disliked large crowds.

Just as he finished opening the door to enter the second to last car, someone else tried doing the same thing, and when they realized nothing was there for them to push open, they lost their footing and stumbled through.

"Oof!"

"Kya!"

The results were about what could be expected from such a first meeting. Caspian ended up colliding with the much smaller body of whoever ran into him. Because the other person was moving so fast and Caspian's pace was slow, he was knocked onto his backside. He also ended up smacking the back of his head when it had a meeting with the floor. The other person fell on top of him, their momentum so great that it pushed them forward.

"Nggg..."

Groaning, Caspian slowly blinked his eyes to help them regain focus. The blurry outline above of him soon sharpened, allowing him to see a head of dark brown hair attached to an attractive, if slightly una.s.suming, face. Cute. That was the word he was looking for. The girl on top of him was very cute, in a plain sort of way. Soft cheeks, a small b.u.t.ton nose, thin lips and a tiny cleft in her chin made up her most notable features.

He stared at the woman, whose eyes were closed, his mind trying to think of something to say. Being at an academy filled with teenage boys and old ladies who hated his guts, Caspian had very little experience with women. Try nil. It didn't help that he wasn't the most sociable of individuals.

Still, he could be polite when the situation called for it.

"Hey there, um, are you alright?" he asked, wincing.

Smooth, Caspian. Real smooth.

"Yes," the girl above him said, her eyes slowly opening, revealing dark brown, doe-like irises to the world. "I'm really sorry about running into you. I was in such a hurry that... I... I... I..."

The girl stopped talking as she realized their position. Her eyes went from his face, down his body, then back up to his face. His body. His face again. His body one more time. Then his face. Caspian could practically see the comprehension of their situational altercation dawning on her face.

"Eek!" With a shriek of surprise, the girl jerked backwards as if slapped, not only falling off of him, but also landing on her backside. She quickly scrambled back to her feet, almost tripping over the hem of her outfit on the way up. Once she was finally standing, she bowed deeply to him, her face suffused with red. "I-I-I'm very sorry for running into you like that! Please forgive me!"

"It's fine." Climbing back to his feet, Caspian tried to rea.s.sure the girl that there were no hard feelings. He might be a bit of a jerk, but it was only to people he disliked, such as Julius and Christo. The idiots. This girl hadn't done anything to earn his enmity, and accidentally running into him wasn't enough to invoke his ire either, especially not after an apology like that. "I'm not hurt or anything. What about you? Are you okay?"

"Eh?" The girl straightened up and looked at him in shock. It took her a moment, but she soon managed to register his words. The blush already staining her cheeks began to grow, spreading across the bridge of her nose like a stream of red. "I-I am fine," she stuttered a bit. "Thank you for your concern."

"You're welcome." What a weird girl. Who got embarra.s.sed over something like this? "So what were you in such a rush for?" he asked, letting a bit of his curiosity get the better of him. As often as Christo complained about him going off on missions, he didn't really get outside that much. Maybe four or five times a year. This naturally made him curious about some of the people outside of the small world he often lived in.

And he would admit, if only to himself, that he was feeling a little lonely. At the academy, he only had Christo to talk to—and that was only because Christo was the only person who would talk to him. The others would taunt him, some would pick fights with him, but most would simply whisper cruel words from a distance. He was essentially isolated at the academy. Just this once, it would be nice to speak with someone who wouldn't treat him like he had the plague.

"Oh! I was just about to bring some food to my mis... mis... oh, no! The food is ruined!" The girl stared at the ground in horror, her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open. Caspian looked at the ground as well. Just a few feet from them, a large silver tray lay on the off-white carpet, covered in what looked like something that had been a nice meal at some point, but was now just a mess. "What am I going to do?! I was supposed to bring this food to my mistress!"

So this girl was a maid, then? Huh, now that he was looking at her more closely, he could see that she was, indeed, a maid. Her outfit was definitely made with maids in mind. It was a long, ankle-length dress of dark blue with white frills, puffy shoulders and a white bodice. A headpiece was also sitting on top of her head, keeping some of her curly brown hair out of her face. White garters with black heeled shoes completed the ensemble.

"Calm down," Caspian said, kneeling down to grab the silver tray, careful not to touch any of the parts that were covered in sauce. He supposed he was lucky she hadn't gotten any of this on him when they crashed into each other.

As he stood back up, he looked over at the girl, who was now staring at him with wide eyes. She looked like a lost lamb, or maybe a puppy that had just been kicked. It made him want to help her all the more.

"Look, the solution is simple. You were supposed to bring your mistress food, right? Then all you need to do is go back and get another order." The girl blinked. "I was heading back that way to get something to eat in any case, so you can come with me."

For a moment, he wondered why he was offering this girl his company. It took a few seconds, but he soon realized it was because he felt guilty, just a little. He did run into her, even if he felt she was partly to blame as well. It probably helped that she was a girl, because he knew for a fact that he would not be this nice to another guy.

Hadn't his savior once told him to always be polite towards women? Something like that.

With wide eyes and red cheeks, the maid nodded. "O... Okay. Thank you."

Caspian curled his lips into a slight grin. "Don't mention it."

***

"Let's see..." Caspian clicked his tongue as he looked over the menu posted on the small sign, which hung over the tiny booth. There weren't that many options, but then, what had he been expecting? The menu of a paradise resort? This was a train. Not a five-star restaurant. "I'll have a roast beef sandwich with some Fizzy Pop."

Ah, Fizzy Pop, a beverage of flavored, carbonated water. It was quite possibly the most useless drink ever made, filled with sugar and other garbage that was in no way good for one's health. But, it was also one of the best-tasting drinks the world over. Whoever had invented Fizzy Pop was a genius—at least, Caspian thought so.

"Very well, one roast beef sandwich and a Fizzy Pop," the young women standing behind the book said with a smile. That was another thing he liked about going outside of the academy. People like this woman actually smiled at him. Sure, this girl likely smiled at everyone who came to buy food—it was a part of her job, and it was probably fake-but that didn't matter. He would take what he could get.

She then looked at Caspian's companion. "And what would you like... miss... eh?" She blinked. "Didn't you come by here just a little while ago?"

While the maid tried to hide her face inside of her dress, Caspian decided to spare the poor girl some embarra.s.sment by answering for her. "Yeah, could you get her whatever she had ordered before? I accidentally b.u.mped into her and knocked her food to the ground. And since I'm the one responsible, just put it on my tab, all right?"

"Ah. Okay. Very well. If you'd be willing to wait for a little while, we can have it ready for you in... ten minutes."

"T-thank you." The maid bowed deeply to the young woman. Upon straightening up, she looked at the person taking their order with wide, doe-like eyes that seemed to almost sparkle and s.h.i.+ne in the low lighting. "You don't know how much this means to me!"

The young woman appeared embarra.s.sed at having someone express their grat.i.tude in such a subservient and fervent manner. Still, she wasn't going to be rude to a customer. Best to just accept the grat.i.tude and move on. It's what Caspian would do.

"You're welcome."

With nothing left to do but wait for their food, Caspian and the maid moved off to the side.

Caspian leaned against the wall, arms crossed over his chest, and his eyes closed as he enjoyed the peace and quiet. Meanwhile, the young maid stood a few feet away, her hands clasped in front of her, and her eyes trying to stare at anything but Caspian.

Or at least, she tried not to stare at him. Her eyes kept wandering over to him every so often. He could feel them whenever they were on him. Whenever this happened he would open his eyes and look at her. After several seconds, she would realize that he'd caught her staring, causing her to "meep!" like a frightened mouse, and then hurriedly look away.

This happened several times before Caspian sighed. "Is there something on your mind?"

"E-eh?" The maid nervously fidgeted with her dress. "W-what do you mean?"

"You're staring at me... again."

"Eep!"

"Look, if you have something to ask, just ask. I hate it when people don't speak their mind."

"S-sorry."

Caspian ran a hand through his hair. "No, it's fine. I'm sorry for being rude. I'm just not used to speaking with others very much."

"O-oh, I see. That's alright."

The maid gave him a tentative smile, which he returned—or at least tried to. He honestly didn't know if he'd succeeded, but the girl seemed to relax, so he a.s.sumed he had.

"Thank you. So, what's on your mind?"

"Ah, I was just wondering." The maid fidgeted for a moment, her hands absently grasping the front of her dress as she looked down. "I wanted... wanted to know a bit more about you." When all she received was a raised eyebrow, the girl quickly tried to elaborate. "What I mean is that we've been here for a while now, and I don't even know your name, so..."

"Right, right, that would be the polite thing to do, wouldn't it?"

Caspian uncrossed his arms and scratched the back of his head. He'd completely forgotten about introductions. To be fair, he really wasn't good at this whole conversation thing. The lack of people willing to speak with him meant he was, as the old saying went, up the creek without a paddle when confronted with situations like this. He just didn't have any experience.

"I guess introductions are in order. All right. My name's Caspian." He paused, absently trying to remember what he was supposed to say next. What did regular people say in situations like this? Oh! He remembered now. "And what about you? What's your name?"

The maid bowed to him again, her brown hair spilling over her shoulder. "My name is Ca.s.sidy Benaducce."

Caspian gave the young woman a half-smile. "Nice to meet you."

"L-likewise..."

Conversation trailed off once again. Caspian wasn't bothered by this one bit—he preferred the quiet—but Ca.s.sidy appeared to be somewhat uncomfortable with the silence. Sighing when he saw the young woman fidgeting with her frilly dress, he asked, "so how long have you been a maid for?"

Looking up, Ca.s.sidy found herself staring into his eyes. After a moment, she looked away, but still answered him. "I've been a maid for my entire life." When she looked back at Caspian again, it was to see him raising a single eyebrow in question. "My family has a long history of the women in it becoming maids and the men butlers. My mother, grandmother and her mother were all maids before me. It's something of a tradition for our family."

That actually made a lot of sense. While everyone in Arcadia received a standard education thanks to the decrees set down by the Sorceress Council, it was often the families who taught children life skills. This meant pa.s.sing down their trade from father to son and mother to daughter. If a family had a long-standing tradition of its members becoming maids to the n.o.bility, then it would only make sense that each female born of the family would learn the tricks of that particular trade.

Caspian looked at the girl standing before him, her hands clasped together in front of her. She gave off a very maid-ish feel, so unlike the maids of Arcadia's Knight Academy, though he supposed that was his bias talking.

"What about you, Mr. Caspian?" Ca.s.sidy asked, her head tilted slightly.

Caspian turned his head and looked out the window. They were no longer in the Ruudon province, it seemed, because the earth had become cracked and dry. That meant they had pa.s.sed the borders from the Ruudon province and were now in the Dystian province.

"I'm an orphan, so I don't have any family to teach me their trade or anything like that," Caspian spoke with harsh bluntness.

"Oh!" Ca.s.sidy covered her mouth with her hand, allowing only her shocked eyes to be seen. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to bring up something so painful to you."

"It's fine." Caspian barely withheld his guilty wince. Only a few seconds into their conversation and he'd already snapped at the girl twice. He really wasn't good at this conversation business, it seemed. "You didn't know, and I got over it a long time ago."

"Still, I'm sorry for bringing it up."

Caspian shook his head. "There's no need to apologize. It happened so long ago that I honestly don't remember much of my parents."

"So, you don't remember anything about your family?" Ca.s.sidy's body seemed to wilt like a flower that had gotten too much sun.

"I remember a little bit," Caspian admitted softly. "I can't recall anything about my father, but I remember that my mom was a very kind woman. She was always smiling, always happy despite the life we had to live. I got my looks from her... I think." His face scrunched up. "It's... it's a little hard to recall what she looked like. I was only a child when she died, barely three years old. I remember more about the woman who cared for me afterward than I do my own mother. But, I think I remember her being very beautiful and..."

Sniffle.

Caspian froze. Slowly, ever so slowly, he turned around and was stunned to see Ca.s.sidy crying into her blouse.

"That's... so... sad..."

Caspian tried not to feel guilty, but failed. By the spirits, he really was the worst, making a girl cry like this. So much for being kind and courteous.

"H-hey now, there's no need to be sad. It's like I said, it happened so long ago that I hardly remember any of it."

This seemed to be the wrong thing to say, as Ca.s.sidy cried that much harder. Behind the booth, the woman who took their orders glared at him, as if he'd personally insulted her.

Caspian ignored the glare and rummaged through his pockets before pulling out a small handkerchief. It was more of a rag than a handkerchief, actually, but Ca.s.sidy didn't seem to mind when he handed it to her. She used it to wipe her eyes and blow her nose. When she handed it back, the fabric was wet and covered in snot.

Caspian tried not to grimace.

"Are you feeling better now?" he asked, absentmindedly disposing of the handkerchief. He certainly couldn't put it in his pocket now.

"Yes." Ca.s.sidy sniffled a little, but there didn't appear to be anymore waterworks. "I'm sorry for getting so worked up. I'm just terrible at dealing with sad stories like that."

Caspian didn't think his story was all that depressing, but he supposed from another person's perspective, it was pretty tragic.

"It's fine," he said, trying to make his voice soft and soothing. Trying being the keyword. "I'm sorry for making you, uh, get all emotional like that. I didn't mean to make you sad or anything."

"That's alright." Ca.s.sidy smiled at him, though her eyes still carried hints of tears. "I'm glad you told me." A second pa.s.sed. Her eyes widened. "I-I mean, I'm not glad that it happened to you—your past, I mean. Just that you were willing to share it with me." Her cheeks flared. "So, um, thank you. It must've been hard sharing something like that with a complete stranger."

Caspian felt mildly uncomfortable at the situation. He could feel his own cheeks becoming warm and didn't know how to stop the heat inflaming them. Putting a hand to the back of his neck, he absentmindedly rubbed it, trying to ignore his own burning face. "You're welcome."

An awkward silence ensued between them. Caspian wondered if he should say something else, but a glance at the woman revealed her to be staring at the ground, or the wall, or the ceiling. She basically stared at anything that wasn't him.

Thankfully, before the situation could become stifling in its awkwardness, their food arrived. They grabbed their respective meals—and Caspian received his complimentary glare from the woman behind the booth for making Ca.s.sidy cry—and were soon walking back to their chosen cabins. Or, in the case of Ca.s.sidy, the cabin housing her mistress.

During the walk through the train, Caspian noticed that Ca.s.sidy kept giving him sidelong glances. He wondered what she was thinking about, but decided not to bother asking. Women were a strange breed, or so he'd heard, and sometimes, it was better to let sleeping dogs lie than try to understand what was going through their mind.

They soon reached one of the compartments near the middle of the train, stopping in front of a basic sliding door with a plaque that had the number 56 on it. Caspian gestured at the door with the hand holding his drink. In his other hand was the bag carrying his sandwich. "This is where I'm staying."

"Oh..." Ca.s.sidy said, her shoulders slumping. She looked a bit depressed about something. He didn't know why, though. Perhaps she just didn't want to go back to her mistress. Maybe the woman she served was one of those b.i.t.c.hy types that would scold her for taking so long. It wouldn't surprise him. n.o.bles were a fickle, sn.o.bbish and altogether unpleasant bunch. "My mistress is up at the front of the train."

"I see," Caspian felt strangely... sad? Disappointed? He wasn't sure how he felt. He just knew that he kind of wished Ca.s.sidy could stay a bit longer. He looked at the woman clutching the tray. "So... I guess... this it, then."

"U-um, yes, so it would seem." Despite her words, Ca.s.sidy lingered in the hallway as well.

"Well, um, good bye, then."

"B-bye."

Several more moments of awkward silence past. Caspian eventually entered his compartment and closed the door behind him. Outside, he could hear Ca.s.sidy's receding footsteps.

Heaving a deep breath, Caspian sat down and tried to put the girl out of his mind, but couldn't quite manage it. He stared out of the window while he ate, but he didn't see the pa.s.sing landscape. His mind kept going back to Ca.s.sidy.

She was kind of pretty, thinking on it. Her curly brown hair held a strange sort of appeal, even if it was a little plain, and her doe-like brown eyes sparkled with an innocence he'd never seen before. Her maid outfit also flattered her figure a good deal. From what he could see, she was definitely a budding young woman. Didn't n.o.bles have a term for women like that? He didn't know what it was, but he was sure they had one.

His mind froze as he realized what he was doing. Caspian set his now empty tray aside, rested his head against the window and closed his eyes. He must have been more starved for attention than he thought if he was thinking about a girl he'd just met a few minutes ago.

He so did not need this.