2 Chapter 58: Cooped Up

It was the morning of the third day since Lucilla's departure and Sara was avoiding Yuki. It seemed the young Demon partially blamed her as one of the reasons her sister has died. Realizing her life was in danger Sara quickly made herself scarce with the help of Judieth, Anastasia, and Christina. They were thankfully much stronger than Yuki and could keep her safe till Lucilla came back.

She was in her room accompanied by her maid Shizuka and Maisy the slime. She was more than a little frightened to leave her room knowing Yuki was somewhere outside. The two maids keeping her company help eased her anxiety, but she whole heartedly wished for her teachers return. Since she still had four more days before Lucilla's return, not including this one, she was out of luck.

Not wanting to waste her time she did keep up with her training, trying to tap into her element. She sat in her room cross legged, with the curtains drawn closed, blindfolded, and even a sheet draped over her body to block out as much light as she physically could. Lucilla said she was making great progress in the forest, but even she could tell it has greatly slowed with such a rudimentary method.

She wished she could emersed herself in the element as much as possible, but it was extremely hard to do so. Unlike the other elements, light and dark were hard to fully connect with since they weren't a physical phenomenon. The only other way to speed up this progress she would have someone like Cristina use dark magic on her, but she still mistrusted the woman greatly. She would go as far as to say she didn't really trust anyone other than her teacher, Shizuka, Judieth.

The only reason she trusted Judieth was simply because her teacher treated her almost like an advisor as sorts. She noticed that whenever Lucilla needed to search for an answer, she didn't have she would always turn to Judieth. Of course, she also knew she trusted her sisters, more than Judieth, but that was only because she knew they wouldn't harm each other.

Morella in her opinion was the only other person that she could call trustworthy, but she is dead now and could no longer be counted on. She never trusted Yuki. She could feel the malice radiating off the seemingly approachable and kind girl. She didn't really spend that much time with her and Yuki in the same room, but she got the impression she was treated more as a little sister to be protected than anything else. Which was baffling to her.

'Now I have neither my teacher or Morella to calm her down.' She lamented

With her mind wondering on such things, she inedible lost concentration. Sighing in defeat she removed the sheet over her head and pulled down the blind fold. "Can you open the curtains please?" She asked looking towards her maid's direction.

"Of course." Answered Shizuka, moving to complete her masters wishes.

Sara smiled, happy that despite her fall from grace, and no longer having the money to pay her, the fox woman maid stayed by her side. She glanced towards Maisy's direction. The slime stood stark still near the door unmoving. Sara didn't bother asking her for anything because Maisy refused to do any other task that didn't relate to what her master had ordered. Which was to protect Sara.

"Are you finished for the day?" Maisy asked Sara, stepping closer.

"Yeah." Answered the young girl.

Hearing this the slime turned back into her blob like state before wrapping themselves around Sara's torso underneath her clothes. Once Maisy was settled Sara turned to her maid once more. She was hungry and the only way for her to get food was to have Shizuka go out and get it for her. She was just about to ask the fox woman to do just that, when a knock came from her door.

"...." Sara froze, thinking that Yuki was at her door somehow, before realizing that girl wouldn't do something courteous such as knocking. "Who is it?"

"It's Christina."

Sara frowned. What would she want with her? She was going to tell the vampire to turn around and leave, but her curiosity on what would make the blond come here outweighed her aversion. She trusted Christina as much as one trusted a known traitor, but she also knew Christina wanted to stay on friendly terms with her teacher. Harming her was a surefire way to lose her teachers trust, making it unlikely for Christina to harm her in any compacity.

"Come in." She spoke. With her permission the door swung opened, and Christina stepped through, followed by the cat Beast-Folk close behind. "What do you want?"

"You wish to be useful do you not?" Chistina said, her strange dialect nowhere to be found.

"I do... why are you asking?" She asked cautiously

"I'm offing to have Aliaa train you in Lucilla's stead." She gestured towards the cat woman dressed in black. "I fear Lucilla may be a little distracted to help you with your combat training."

"...." Sara studied the two of them as Christina went on explain why it would be beneficial to have Aliaa help with her training.

There was no malice or danger coming from the two of them. So, Sara knew they weren't here for anything nefarious. She also knew the vampire was probably correct. Lucilla will most likely be preoccupied trying to kill the Hero. She was sure she would still spare time for her, but her focus will mainly focus on the Hero.

She thought about Lucilla's actions since the death of Morella. She barely paid any attention to anything around her. Even when she started feeling better, she spent more time with Anastasia when she wasn't busy grieving her sister's death. While her teacher still asked about the progress of her training when they saw each other, it always felt as if her mind was elsewhere.

"What do you say young lass?" Christina asked once she finished talking.

"... Only when Lucilla can't." Sara answered before turning to Aliaa and giving the older woman a bow. "Thank you for taking the time to train me."

Aliaa smiled at the young girl before answering, "No problem, I'm sure Lucilla would feel more at ease knowing you can properly defend yourself."

"How about we start now?" Christina said clapping her hands together getting their attention. "I know you can't leave your room because of Yuki, but practicing the basic movements is still important."

Sara agreed, and turned to grab her daggers, only to be met with her maid already holding them out to her. Giving the fox woman a small thanks in appreciation she turned back towards Aliaa. For the rest of that morning and a little into the afternoon the two of them practice the basics.

She couldn't wait for her teacher to come back.