Chapter 174: The One Who Escorted Abby


    ise longed to ask them more about her since he couldn''t see her for himself but was afraid they would see him as a threat. The one time he tried asking Lian it hadn''t ended well.


    "Do you remember me?" he asked a few days into training as he sparred with the boy.


    Lian squinted at him a moment before remembering. "Oh. You were the one who escorted Abby herest year. This was your n, wasn''t it? I wondered why we were getting help from Shibatsu all of a sudden since we didn''t have an alliance with them or anything."


    It wasn''t apletely negative response. Encouraged, ise continued. "Yes. Could you tell me how she has adjusted here?"


    Admiration filled his eyes as he answered. "Adjusted? She practically runs the ce. I can''t tell you how many things she''s in charge of now. Everybody fights over who gets to use her because of how talented she is. She''s so smart and beautiful and she really believes in you even when you think you can''t do something. She already turned down a few proposals so no one has been brave enough to try in monthssay, why are you asking about her?"


    "No reason in particr," ise lied.


    Lian''s eyes narrowed as they zeroed in on the ribbon still tied to his wrist. "I don''t believe you. That''s her ribbon, isn''t it? She was wearing one just like it when we first met. Are you the reason she won''t ept anybody around here?"


    He didn''t answer and took advantage of the boy''s distraction to flip his sword out of his hand. That made him even more insistent on getting an answer but ise wouldn''t tell him. He stomped off in a huff and hadn''t spoken more than two words at a time in front of the Warrior since.


    That was when he had been forced to eavesdrop on those Kanta boys to get any further information. While they were the most useful way to hear about Abby, they weren''t the only ones who talked about her.


    Tahvo, the man who ran the printing office, was in the same training shift as a few of his employeester in the day and sometimes they would talk about work on their water breaks. Abby''s name came up a few times in rtion to picture books they were developing.


    The baker''s husband brought her up too after trying a new creation she and Sia whipped up together earlier in the day. The woman who upied such arge part of his thoughts seemed to be involved in almost every aspect of her vige''s culture in some way or another.


    Not only had Abby adjusted, she seemed to care about improving and advancing her new home the same way her sister had. ise was more proud of her than he had the right to be considering the casual nature of their rtionship.


    After hearing so many tiny things about her life hear he wanted to hear it from her own lips desperately. The two of them had so many things to tell each other. But he was still stuck here.


    mar came to check up on everyone''s progress every few days and he finally managed to catch him before starting another set of core exercises for the trainees. He couldn''t quite keep his voice casual when he asked, "When will we be able to leave the camp?"


    He grinned mischievously, reading ise''s desperation with ease. "I take it you have something very particr you''d like to do that has you so anxious?"


    He scowled in response. This man was far toofortable teasing people for someone who was supposed to be in charge of a nation, even one as small at this. "If you already know what I want to do there is no need to ask."


    mar shrugged. "I suppose that''s fair. Just so you know, a certain someone has been asking me the same question every other day since the restriction started. I''m wondering if I should send some of the women over with lunch instead of letting the men bring it themselves tomorrow."


    ise''s heart skipped a beat. Had she really? Did Abby want to see him half as much as he wanted to see her?


    "If you could," he said, trying to keep his cool. "I am sure the men here would appreciate the show of support."


    mar pped a hand on his shoulder. "I''m sure I can make it happen. A fair number of the vige girls are curious about the neers after all and keep talking about wanting to meet them. The younger generation who was raised elsewhere isn''t as cautious toward strangers. Go ahead and tell everyone as an incentive to train harder."


    He walked away to go find Carrick and get a progress report on how his men were doing leaving ise with far too much hope. Tomorrow. He would get to see her tomorrow. He would need to wash that ribbon.


    Training for the rest of the day went by in a blur, even though some of the exercises were grueling. He had been through it all before but it had been a while so he was out of practice for some of the more difficult ones.


    "What on earth are you so happy about?" a Warrior named Kel who shared his rank asked in confusion as they sat next to each other for dinner.


    He was clearly exhausted and rolled his shoulder with a wince. He was out of practice for these sorts of training drills as well. The Warriors, as instructors, didn''t have to do as many as the poor Kanta nsmen did but still had to demonstrate how they were done.


    ise coughed to cover his embarrassment. "The n leader mentioned that women from the vige will be bringing us lunch tomorrow."


    That perked Kel right up. "Really? I wonder how theypare to the women back home. I have only seen some of the older ones when we were on our way through town. I would not mind finding a nice Kanta girl and staying here. Their vige is far nicer than the one I left behind."


    He had expected there would be Warriors like Kel on this mission. The ones who had no real home to return to. It would be mutually beneficial for both parties if a handful of Warriors decided to stay. They could help hold the military together after the main forces left.