The days went by, Hugo and Cassidy sent each other letter. Esral had revealed her feelings to him once but he had rejected her, but now, he felt love for both women, both Cassidy and Esral. Esral and him shared her room during the night, in secret, away from the view of the others and he kept sending letters to Cassidy about what he was doing, without mentioning Esral and only talking about wanting to see Cassidy. The final round came around. He was matched against the Shuriman sword master who wielded the life and death blade.
"Let the fighting begin!"
"Give up if you don't want to die," The other man said coldly, "I'll give you three seconds to step out of the ring, if you don't you die," Hugo stayed still, "3, 2, 1, well time is up and you are still here, like the other men you will die," He ran forward and swung the blade at Hugo. Hugo didn't move and just stared at him and the blade moved towards his stomach. Esral looked at the scene unfold in front of her. Why isn't he moving? If he gets hit he will die, he knows that, what are you doing Hugo? The blade hit his stomach, slashing a cut across it. Hugo fell back and his body lay still on the floor. The other man shook his head as he put the blade back in his sheath and turned his back. Esral hid the tears in her eyes.
"Ha ha ha," The sword master turned in shock as he saw Hugo stand up behind him, "You are so cocky because of the blade you wield."
"You should have died," The man said drawing his blade, Hugo slammed his palm into the man's face, sending him to the ground. Hugo drew his sword and brought it down. The man blocked it with his blade and Hugo removed his blade and slammed his foot in the man's chest. He grabbed his neck and lifted him at arm's reach. The blade swung towards his neck, he grabbed the blade and ripped it from the man's hand and threw it to the side, cutting his hand. The man tried to free himself from Hugo's grasp. He grabbed a dagger from his belt and stabbed it into Hugo's arm. Hugo didn't react to it and turned to look at Esral and held out his hand with his thumb to the side. She held out her hand and held her thumb up.
"Death hasn't come knocking on your door," Hugo said as he tightened his grip then tossed the man out of the ring, He bent down and picked up the man's blade and held it in his hand, "I don't think you, of all people, should control this power, but you fight well," He threw the blade and it planted itself at the man's feet, "Train some more, and maybe try to use a basic blade, you should be able to fight without that blade."
Esral walked down from her seat to the floor of the arena. She walked over to the ring. She climbed onto the ring and walked over to him.
"Follow me," She said, "I have to give you a reward, and there are too many eyes here."
They walked into her room. He removed his shirt, revealing a broken blood pack and a wooden shield.
"What did you want to tell me?" He said sitting down on the bed. She sat next to him, her look told him the whole story.
"That is how you survived?"
"Yeah, but it is a simple trick, what did you want to tell me?"
"And your hand?"
"Answer my question, maybe I'll answer yours."
"The real question would be what I want you to do to me."
"I should've guess that," He said as he threw his sword onto the floor, "Does the door lock?"
"No, but I will just tell my servants not to disturb me."
"You had to have planned this earlier," He said as she got up, "Were you that confident that I would win?"
"No, actually I thought you died on that strike," She said heading to the door, "I was about to breakdown in tears."
"I just did it to fool him," He laughed, "Clearly I fooled you as well."
She returned a few minutes later. She closed the door behind her. Hugo sat up on the bed. She walked over and sat next to him. She leaned her head on his shoulder.
"So what do you want to do?" He whispered into her ear.
"I feel like you can guess what I want."
"No, I can't, you should tell me," He said as he pushed her down to the bed and moved above her, "I really can't guess."
"Um, before we start, I don't know how to say this, um, well," She stammered nervously, Hugo placed his finger on her lips.
"Let me say it for you, I can guess this," He said, "This is your first time, did I guess right?"
"Yes..."
"That doesn't matter, if the reward is your body, then I will take good care of that reward," He said as he kissed her neck, "This isn't the first time I've done this."
"What does that mean?" She said pushing him up, "Done what?"
"Had sex, I have a little bit of experience," He smiled, "So trust me, if you ask the girl who was with me for my first time, well, I was as nervous as you."
"Okay, I hope you take care of me."
"I will be leaving tomorrow, so I plan to make the most of this time."
"Can't you stay a little longer?"
"I have to return to Bilgewater, I promised Cass that I would return after the competition, and it's been 2 months," He said, "Don't worry, maybe I'll join you on the Ionian war front, I'll find some excuse, but maybe in a few months, I have to spend some time with her."
"Do you give her a nickname?"
"You wouldn't like it for you."
"What is it?"
"My little fox," He laughed, "She has fox ears and tail."
"Really? She does?"
"Yeah, I would have to find one for you."
"You'll figure it out," She said, "Guide me tonight, I trust you."
"Of course, my ice queen," Hugo paused, "Nah, maybe my frozen queen, or frozen goddess, or my demacian queen, what do you think?"
"Whichever you want, just don't waste time," She said, "We can eat dinner in an hour or so, then we can continue this little fun."
"If you want, my demacian queen."
"I like that," He woke up early in the morning. Esral was holding him in her sleep. He smile and kissed her forehead. He sat up on the side of the bed and grabbed his clothes and put them on. He put his sword on his belt and stretched. He walked to the window and looked out to the sleeping city. He sighed. At least I get to see Cass, Esral will be fine when I am gone, she shouldn't worry too much, she will probably just miss me. He peeked his head into the hallway. No one, good. He walked back into his room and gathered his things. He wrote a quick message and put on a new shirt. He left his room and left the message with one of Esral's servants. He took one of the horse from the stable and left the city. A tear came to his eye, he wiped it and flicked his hand at the ground. Well, I'll be back soon. She woke up and looked around the room. Where did he go? She put on her clothes and ran into his room. Where could he be? Did her just leave without saying anything? She went back to her room and looked out the window. Why wouldn't he leave me anything? Did he just take advantage of me? Could he be that cruel?
"Ma'am, is something wrong?"
"No, no, I'm fine."
"Well, Hugo, the fighter that won the competition, left me this, for you," Esral grabbed the letter from her hand. She walked into her room and closed the door. She stood just behind the door as she opened the message. She read it, then read it again, then read it again. So he didn't want to make me sad by waking me just to see him leave, I guess it would have been worse. She flipped the page. He doesn't say when he will return. She sighed and sat down on her bed.
After a few days of travel, Hugo docked in Bilgewater. He walked up to his house. He knocked on the door. Fuck! It's really early. The door unlocked and Cassidy greeted him with a tired face. He waved at her and smiled. It took her a second before she realized who it was.
"Hugo! You're back!" She said hugging him, "I am so happy, how was the competition?"
"Pretty easy, honestly," He said as they kissed, "I had fun still."
"I am so happy you are back, I really missed you," She said before yawning, "I am really tired, Nehro is pretty restless, I can't wait for him to sleep like Nami does."
"Maybe you could sleep some more, or lie down, you seem exhausted," He said as they entered the house, he sat on the edge of the bed, "How has it been?"
"Honestly, it's been fine, everything is fine, no problems, aside from a drunken brawl, everything here has been fine."
"I am talking about you and these two," He kissed her cheek, "I will go talk with my advisor for the rest, you don't have to explain it to me."
"Oh, actually, I gave the medals under the name of the Bilgewater Empire," She smiled, "I was so nervous, all the families were there, some men looked appalling."
"How so?"
"Some had been destroyed by the war, like amputated, two of them were," She said, "Division 6 guys."
"Yeah, about them, they were front line men and got hit with a blade trap on the corner of a wall, and the other received 5 shots in his leg," He said as he took a drink, "I am sure you did fine."
"They all seemed happy."
"Of course, it is a huge honor for the families," He said, "I don't have one since I am still the general."
"I wish that there wouldn't be any wars."
"We are allies with Demacia and Shurima and Ionia have problems with Demacia and on their own," He moved his arm around her, "So I don't think we will have any problems."
"Since when are we allies with Demacia? I thought you wanted to conquer all of Terruna, what happened to that?"
"One day I will, but if we are allies we can expand and have our empires grow and flourish, you know, to just live in peace."
"Look who's talking."
"I would love for there to be more peace if I could stay with you more often," He played with her ears, "I missed you."
"Stop, touching, my, ears," She said swatting at his hand, "I am too tired, and Nehro and Nami are here."
"Geez, I forgot how much this did to you, maybe I should just," He caressed her tail, "How about that?"
"Stop, that," She said as her tail flickered about, "You really have to stop playing with me."
"Sorry, I missed doing this for two months."
"About that, where did you stay?"
"In an inn in the city, near the arena," He lied, "It was fine."
"Did you meet their leader? How is he?"
"I did, the guards told me to go to her when they saw the letter I had."
"Her? I would have thought that it would have been a man."
"Did the old Bilgewater convince you?" He asked as a joke, "This isn't the Cass I married."
"Would you stop that? I just thought that the leadership would have been given to a son, not a daughter."
"Well, I don't know, but clearly she enjoyed the competition, she was at every fight," He explained, "From the first to the last, she even chose whether or not the men would die, I only kill 2 of them."
"Only 2," She giggled, "You're funny."
"How has Nehro been?"
"Restless, the creator didn't give him the attribute of calmness, pity."
"Neither did he give him the ears, or the tail."
"Yeah," She said as she swatted his hand preemptively, "Can you not?"
"Sorry, I just like turning you on."
"Yeah, but not now," She smiled and kissed him, "Maybe later."
"Even after these two, you still haven't changed," He said, "Today there is no school right?"
"Yeah, so they will probably sleep in, maybe not Nehro, but if you want you can go to see your advisor now," She kissed him again, "I will probably try to sleep some more and see you later."
"If you want I can stay."
"No, it's fine."
"Okay," He said walking to the door, "Maybe later today we can do something together."
"Maybe," She yawned as she lied down in the bed, "Maybe, have fun."