Andrea could not believe the idiocy this slave was speaking. The goblin was nothing more than a slave and therefor had nothing to wager in the first place. Not to mention the audacity to challenge a night to combat even if the the rules were odd. Andrea removed her helmet to make her anger known to the creature.
"What foolishness is this I hear. You have nothing to wager and certainly have no right to make demands on my person!" She spat out angrily at the violet skinned menace.
"Oh? So you believe I have nothing?" the goblin laughed at this only to make the lead knight even more furious," Se I have no will? No memories? Do I not have my knowledge, mind and heart!?"
"Whatever you believe you have is nothing more than illusion allowed to you by Princess Grace's kindness," Andrea answered as she began to take off her armor," More so, you have clearly been abusing her kindness and I will not let this stand!"
"Lady Andrea, please calm yourself. She only seeks to do her job the best she can," Grace pleaded on her maid's behalf now that she had properly righted herself and retrieved her parasol. Andrea allowed a soft smile to grace her lips before pulling them back in fury. There was no way someone as weak and untrained as the princess was ready for that kind of training. She also doubted she'd ever be with her unfortunate kindness. It still hurt to see such a heart and know that it was not what the order needed to save humanity from its dire straits. All the same, she wanted her last few years with the princess to be happy ones. She would not allow some lowly creature to ruin it. After all, how could she be happy if the Princess is hurting.
"You really need to toughen up Princess. I got this easy. Too bad you don't want the wager Gold Locks. You might have had a chance of something nice," the ever annoying goblin joked as she tossed a broom that was about the right size to be wielded as a sword. The goblin ran back to the manor and retrieved another such broom and wielded it like a spear or possibly a glaive.
"You have no right to speak to her in such a manner cretin!" Andrea growled as she approached after removing the the plating. As she walked, she began to remove the mail. She came to a stop a little bit away from the creature and removed her gambeson," I will enjoying putting you in your place."
"Please, will you two stop!" Grace asked once more.
"You are too kind princess, we would stop at your order, but I refuse to stop at this request just as much as your fool servant from the looks of it," Andrea denied as she took a stance with the broom. She was certain the others were laughing at the sight, but she was not going to back down and allow this creature to get away with assault of the crown.
"Sorry to say, but I can tell this new guard ain't gonna train ya properly princess. So let me show her a thing or two. I know I can have you up to snuff by the end of the year! Maybe not amazing, but I'll make sure you can hold out long enough for help to arrive if your opponent is better than your everyday soldier!" her foolish opponent refused as well while she smiled to the Princess.
"Regardless of your silly mention of a wager, this will be a duel to see who is the best to handle training the Imperial Princess, Grace. Seeing as this needs to be a showing of skill and not equipment, I will accept your terms of no armor and brooms.," Andrea intoned as she assumed a two handed stance as if wielding a sword with her left hand on the tied bristles of the broom.
The violet skinned creature laughed at this," Like you're really going to honor that and train the Princess! Let's face it. If I left it to you, you'd just play at it and give her the easiest time until it showed no results and then ignore her training entirely in favor of pampering her."
"How dare you! I would train her enough to see her aptitude and-"
"Like I SAID, only you mean to pretend, say she isn't fit for whatever reason and then pamper her. The way you been acting says everything I need to know about someone like you. You're just a toady looking to get all nice with her," the BITCH interrupted.
"How dare you! Princess, please signal the start!" Andrea screamed in fury.
"But-" Grace began only for the bane of all decency in this word to dare show her insolence once more.
"Just let it happen Princess, Oaguz told me about your interests in the place I came. If you do know about my people, then I'm certain you know the next part of this little tale," the violet fool cut off the princess's protest and winked. The other goblins started laughing at this for some reason. The Princess seemed to be confused for a moment before her ruby eyes widened. She looked to Andrea for another moment as if considering something.
"Very well, when this handkerchief touches the ground, begin," Grace finally agreed sullenly as she removed a handkerchief from a hidden pocket in her skirt. She let it go and the wind picked up. She watched as it flew high. She smiled as she hoped it to be some sign of peace to come. Then a rock hit it and brought it and her hopes of the fight not happening tumbling down. Glanced at the source to see a smirking Shritoo with her arm outstretched from the throw.
Andrea was annoyed at the sight of the now flying piece of cloth. She was rather annoyed, but she guessed it was a sign of the goddess that the battle was not to be.~Maybe there was something about the importance of the goblins after all and it wasn't that fool Jerich losing his mi-~. This thought was interrupted by the sight of a rock hitting the cloth. She smirked at the sight and looked to her soon to be dead foe. There was no need to look after all. It was going to be obvious when it struck now.
Soon enough they both heard the rock hit the ground not far away. Andrea lowered her stance to better guard against a charge from her smaller opponent. Due to the height difference, she had a clear advantage thanks to the greater selection of threat vectors for her to strike with. She was taken by surprised by the creature instead choosing to angle her weapon low and circle. The goblin in fact did know a thing or two about how to fight. That being said, Andrea wanted this to be over as soon as possible and so decided to close and take the offered initiative and take the offense.
She smiled wide as she made a downward thrust. Just as she expected, her foe dodged it easily with a sidestep. The knight stopped her charge as she diverted the thrust to follow. One of the advantages of using two hands to wield a weapon was the ease with which one could redirect their movements. You could even change your hold quickly and more safely. Andrea quickly did so and went for a follow up slash using only right hand as she slammed her left hand upon the ground to stop her momentum as she had thrown much of her weight into the initial offensive. She had failed to hit the damn monster. She had been too angry and had gone for a quick and hopefully fatal engagement. Sadly, her foe seemed to have a good read on her and managed to outmaneuver her. She was cursing herself for making the very mistake she had expected her foe to make. She had been expecting to put the bitch down easily in spite of her apparent skill. She had been wrong and it had cost her. She was now in a low position and recovering and her foe was closing in on her to take the offensive.
Grizt knew quite a bit about fighting. She will admit that she wasn't the best, but she will admit to listening to stories and being resourceful. In this case, remembering the story of a goblin swordsman purposely arriving to a duel late to piss of his superior foe and come out victorious for clouding their judgment. Goblins were small, and while the had some magics and advantages, they simply were not a physical match for those around them. So, they learned to be tricky and resourceful instead. Doesn't matter who's better. In the end, someone's gonna die and it better not be you. That's not to say they had no honor or that they were generally dishonest. Far from it, they valued fairness among their kind and found honor through cunning. It's why they could get along with the orcs, dwarves, and elves. Well, they used to anyways. Certain lords screwed it all up on the goblin side and there is sadly no recovery in sight after their monumental stupidity.
Regardless, she had secretly handicapped her foe in a couple of ways. She not only made the woman angry, but had made the woman want her dead. So it had been obvious where and to some extent how she was going to strike. Her enemy needed to go for vitals. Specifically ones that could kill. This greatly reduced her opponent's viable targets. Even better, thrusts had the best chance to do the intended damage. All she had to do was let her opponent do most of the setup work for evening the playing field. Now that she was down, it was time to teach another annoying bitch about sharing respect and giving her what she deserves! The smile that graced Grizt's lips was quite vicious. She was going to enjoy this.