The Foolhardies - Chapter 166 Clueless

No, I wasn’t imagining it. The infamous Dawn Breaker was indeed a woman. She was, in fact, a tall redhead with high cheekbones and a spattering of freckles over her perfectly straight nose.

“You’re a girl…” I repeated still surprised.

Piercing gray eyes glared back at me underneath s-shaped eyebrows.

“So, what?” she growled. “Looking down on me now?”

Holy crap, I knew her voice was an octave higher than normal but I didn’t think it actually was a girl’s voice I’d been hearing all along.

She lunged forward with her broadsword swinging sideways at me.

“Whoa! Hold on! Time out!” I screamed as I dodged to the left.

That was unfair. I needed time to process this sudden reveal and she wasn’t giving me any.

“What? Can’t fight a woman now that you know who I am?” she hissed.

No, I could fight girls. I trained with several every night. But I couldn’t exactly tell her that what was throwing me off was the fact that she was very pretty. Not like Aura who was perfect in her otherworldliness, but more like Ashley in that pretty next-door-neighbor vibe. And she was on the youngish side too, and possibly just two to three years older than I was.

I dodged a second attack, a thrust that would have skewered my head if I hadn’t moved away at the last second.

“Time out already,” I pleaded.

At the same time, I launched a counterattack with my falchion that forced her to step away, giving my warrior’s heart a chance to sync back with my stupid teenage brain.

“Look, I don’t mean to sound insulting… I don’t think being a girl makes you weak at all. In fact, I think most girls are seriously dangerous opponents,” I babbled on in an effort to explain my sudden change in attitude. “But you’re called the Dawn Breaker so I admit that I was caught off guard by your, um, pretty face…”

That last part ended terribly, and it caused my cheeks to feel extra hot.

She raised an eyebrow at me.

“Are you dumb?” she asked. “You’re letting my looks distract you in such an important fight?”

Well, that was harsh. And here I was trying to be nice. But she had a point, and I conceded that I might actually be a bit dumb when it came to the opposite sex.

“You realize we were just trying to kill each other, right?” She pointed her greatsword toward me once more with one hand while her other hand went to the side of her face to hook her hair over her extra-long ear. “And now I don’t feel an ounce of fight left in you…”

“Whoa… you’re a half-elf,” I blurted out.

It was the ear. It was too long to be a human ear which was a contrast to her face that most definitely had human features. Elves don’t get freckles or pimples for that matter.

My realization made her eyes narrow into deadly slits, and I knew she was just about ready to murder me which I understand was a trait among half-breeds, how they get riled up whenever someone mentioned their mixed heritage.

But before she could blow up on me, I raised a hand in a gesture of peace. “I’m not trying to make you angry… it’s just, I’ve never met a half-elf before nor was I expecting to fight a pretty girl tonight… so could we please just chill for a bit and discuss the possibility of not trying to kill each other?”

My latest nonsensical outburst actually made her eyebrow rise even higher.

“Oh my God… you’re flirting with me in the middle of a battlefield,” she rationalized.

“I’m not!” I protested.

She giggled. The freaking Dawn Breaker actually giggled like she was watching a funny movie.

“Stop that!” I yelled. “I wasn’t flirting… I was just trying to be nice…”

“Well… I know I’m good-looking but this is a first,” she continued.

I glanced to my left and right in the hope that Aura wasn’t around to hear this obviously deluded person. Who actually compliments themselves and says that they’re good-looking?

Luckily, Aura was far away from my position. In fact, while I acted out the part of the lead in a rom-com, Aura was leading a charge of our Foolhardies cavalry deep into enemy territory. And she wasn’t the only one doing her job too.

Luca had successfully managed to disrupt the enemy’s shield wall by harassing its left flank. This made it easier for Ashley’s shield squad to break the enemy’s wall in two and push her squad forward through the breach.

Closer to me, Azuma was showing off his war-god skills and reminding everyone around him just why he was so feared on the eastern borders of Trickster territory back in the day. I had no doubt that Edo, who I couldn’t see, was doing a fine job reaping lives too.

In fact, my guys were doing such a good job that the enemy’s formation on this side of the battlefield was in danger of yielding to us. Their success made me feel remorseful that I wasn’t doing my job at all.

I glanced back at my opponent who was still rambling about how she’d never experienced getting hit on in a battlefield, and the sight of her acting like a teenage girl evaporated all the remaining fight I had in me.

“W-why are you looking so intensely at me?” Her greatsword actually shook in her hand as she asked this. “A-are you having perverted thoughts about me?”

Oh, man… this girl was seriously deluded. And just as I was about to suggest something stupid like a cease-fire because I really wasn’t in the mood anymore, I caught something strange from the corner of my eye. A second of realization later, and I hurtled myself toward the half-elf.

I dodged the much weaker slash she aimed at me—possibly because she’d lost her will for battle too—and tackled her to the ground. We hit the sands with me on top of her, and just as she protested that I was a pervert, I shoved her down by the shoulders and pushed my face closer to hers.

No, I wasn’t performing perverted acts on a battlefield. What do you guys think of me? I was simply saving her life from the familiar-looking battle-ax that had been thrown at her.

That battle-ax probably meant General Red Bull had escaped the enemy’s ambush, and I wondered inwardly how I was going to explain this situation to him later.

I felt the swish of a shadowblade cutting through the air above me and knew we’d escaped danger by a hair’s breadth.

The nice scent of lavender wafted up to my nose, and I realized I was actually sniffing the Dawn Breaker’s hair.

“Get off me, you creep!” she snarled.

As I stared at her scandalized face, I realized what this might have looked like. So I rose to my feet and tried to explain, but she cut me off with a swing of her shadowblade.

“Look, I wasn’t trying to do anything creepy, alright!” I reasoned. “I was just—”

“—Why did you save me?” she asked in a less combative tone than previously.

She must have seen the battle-ax fly over us too and realized I wasn’t actually a pervert. Still, her narrowed eyes told me that she wasn’t about to lay down her weapon and thank me.

“I…” I thought about her question, and it took me several seconds to come up with a response. “You know… I don’t actually know why…”

I didn’t know why I was being truthful either. It’s not like I was actually falling for my opponent, but it just felt like I couldn’t watch her die in front of me, at least not while she babbled on like a normal girl.

“Have you ever been to Mudgard?” I asked suddenly.

“What?” she asked, her face transitioning from suspicion to confusion.

“There’s this restaurant in Starlight City called Ed’s Chocolate Bar… best milkshakes on the planet,” I blurted out.

Her face changed from one of confusion to one of sudden realization. “Are you… asking me out?”

“Wh-what? N-no! I’m not!” I said quickly. “I’m trying to explain… I was at Ed’s after school today with my friend, Arah, and you sort of remind me of her which is possibly why I saved you…”

“So… you have a girlfriend? Weren’t you just hitting on me?” she asked, raising an eyebrow at me as if to say I was some kind of a douchebag.

“N-no! I don’t have a girlfriend. Arah’s just my friend,” and as I said this, a flash of memory hit me, a beautiful girl cutting off her golden hair as proof or our partnership.

The memory of that moment brought a warm, soothing feeling to my chest which must have translated to my face as the girl told me that I was blushing.

“You are a strange boy,” she said.

“I-I am not strange!” I countered.

I saw the hint of laughter in her eyes and knew for certain that the fight had left me. And in my head, I wondered what I could do to make her go away without having to fight her.

That answer was provided to me seconds later when I heard two distinct calls aimed at both of us.

“Get out of the way, Dapper!” Red Bull yelled at the same time as someone from the Dawn Breaker’s side yelled, “Commander, we’re here!”

We both glanced in the direction of the commotion and watched as Red Bull, a sword in his hand, was charging toward us. But he’d been waylaid about ten yards away by a group of enemy riders who were obviously there to distract him while one of their numbers rode to the Dawn Breaker’s side.

A fairy in similar armor as hers reached a hand to her. She took it wordlessly and climbed up to his swifthart with him.

An audible explosion rocked my ears, and I glanced to my left and watched Red Bull break through the enemies surrounding him so he could renew his charge.

Seeing that display, I thought to myself that his name was very on the nose.

“Dawn,” the girl said, forcing my focus back on her.

She was sitting behind her teammate and looking down at me with eyes that were more curious than hostile.

“My name is Dawn… I lived in Starlight until I was eleven, and I remember Ed’s Chocolate Bar…” she said in almost a whisper.

Then she was gone and being chased by Red Bull who was being chased himself by her own guards. They left me standing there in the middle of all the chaos more than a little feeling confused about what the hell just happened.