42 Confronting the sister

Raymond and Lux had successfully formed a partnership with one of the merchants in the nearby town called Roth. After that was done, Raymond and Lux were headed back to the Guild space. As they were walking Raymond whose senses had greatly increased was able to hear nearly silent footsteps following behind them.

He could also smell the scent of something like a perfume. At first, he thought that it was just a coincidence that someone was just going the same way as them, but now it was different. The person behind them actually followed them all the way to the Elisora Forest. It was obvious now that the person was tailing them.

Raymond held the hilt of his sword and started using linker skills on himself and Lux. When Lux noticed that he was being buffed by the Guild Master he also held onto his sword hilt.

"Hey, how about you come out now?" Raymond spoke after he was done giving buffs on himself and Lux.

"..." There was no response. Lux then took out his sword and looked around warily, while Raymond was trying to pinpoint were the smell was coming from.

"Are you sure you don't want to come out now?" After asking for a second time, Raymond looked at the direction where he smelled a bit of the person's perfume. When Clarise saw that Raymond was looking directly at her she had no other choice but to show herself.

'Well, I guess hiding really isn't my style.'

When Raymond saw the person who was following them coming out of her hiding place, he was nearly mesmerized by her beauty. He had seen numerous beautiful women after coming to this world, as most of the captured women have above-average standards. Even the demi-humans were extremely nice to look at, but this person was beyond that. The person looked like a character from one of his favorite VNs but the color of her eyes were different. The VN character he remembered had sea-green eyes but this woman had piercing blue eyes. Also, her hair wasn't tied in a bun but in a ponytail.

Not only did she looked like that lady knight character he remembered, she was even wearing a similar full plated armor with an old styled dress, made from old-fashioned blue cloth, underneath. Her demeanor exuded pride, confidence, and majesty. She was practically a twin of that VN character.

"Are you going to ask if I am your Master?" Raymond couldn't help but blurt out those lines as he looked at the stunning beauty before him. When Clarise heard what Raymond said she frowned.

"I see you're one those kind of men." Clarise's killing intent was directed at Raymond who was jolted awake. He then understood what just came out of his mouth and shook his head.

"Sorry, I didn't mean it that way. You just reminded me of someone that said something similar upon meeting me." Of course, that was only in a game. "If I offended you I apologize, but can you tell me why you were following us?"

"... Fine, I accept your apology since you look sincere. But make another comment like that and I might cut you down. As for why I'm following you that boy should know." Clarise gestured at Lux whose body shook a bit upon being looked at by her. Also, though she accepted Raymond's apology Clarise continued to frown at Raymond while assessing him.

"Guild Master, that person is Daniel's older sister."

"Oh, so you're Daniel's older sister. Are you here to meet him?"

"Yes, I wish to bring him back home with me."

"I see... I could allow him to follow you back, but he would need to return here."

"Who are you to decide that?" The atmosphere once again grew tense as this time Clarise drew her twin blades.

"I am his Guild Master, and he has already pledged his allegiance to me. I do understand that he has a family and that you are worried about him. Which is why I'm allowing him to return home every now and then." Raymond answered calmly as he was also getting ready to counter whatever Clarise throws at him. Though Clarise didn't understand what a Guild Master was, she could understand the term pledge his allegiance.

'Did this guy trick my innocent baby brother?!'

As the two were staring at each other intently they didn't notice that Lux was already gone as he started running back to the Guild Space. He wanted to bring Daniel so that he could talk to his sister.

...

Clarise who had her whole focus on Raymond saw that though his stance was good it wasn't that of a swordsman. The stance he took seems to be more for an unarmed fighter than a swordsman. It also looked like Raymond had a lot of openings, but Clarise still felt that getting close was extremely dangerous.

'What's with this guy his stance, the way he presents himself, all of it makes him seem like a total amateur, but my instincts are telling me that he's really dangerous.'

"Are you really not going to give me my brother?"

"I never said I won't give him to you. I only said that you need to bring him back to me." After hearing Raymond's answer Clarise no longer hesitated and charged at Raymond. She used combat energy to boost her speed. She used a movement technique called [light Step] which allows her to move a few meters in a blink of an eye.

The moment she got close to Raymond and was about to strike, she saw Raymond drawing his sword at unbelievable speed. If she attacks now she would lose in speed and get cut down instead. So Clarise decided to block the sword strike with one of her swords. Once she was able to block Raymond's strike she was surprised to feel how powerful he was. She was forced to use another knight technique [Iron wall] which strengthened her weapon so that it would be able to withstand Raymond's strike. Her stance almost broke as she received Raymond's sword strike.

As her left hand trembled by the power of the strike, she used her right-hand sword to attack. She tried to pierce Raymond's left shoulder. She didn't aim for a vital point since she didn't want to kill him but simply knock him out. Raymond was able to easily dodge the strike by moving his left shoulder backward letting the piercing sword past by.

Raymond let go of his sword then tried to grab hold of Clarise's right hand but she quickly withdrew it. She then spun around and tried kicking Raymond's neck, but Raymond swayed backward and was about to counter with a punch but then Clarise backed away.

'I see so that's why his stance was all over the place. This guy isn't a true swordsman, his a hodgepodge of different things.'

After that one brief exchange, Clarise had a better understanding of the opponent in front of her. She then started to control her breathing as she inhaled and exhaled at specific intervals. As she was about to get serious she heard a familiar voice.

"Big Sis!" Daniel arrived with Lux.