Benefit or Disadvantage?

Artemis felt slight discomfort at such formal gestures from pretty much anyone but especially him. She just met this so-called assassin Ash so the closeness felt weird to her. Anyways, she didn't want to seem rude so she awkwardly smiled and slightly bowed back before sitting back down.

"It seems as if I have to tell everyone this when I meet them, but you do not have to be so formal with me. So please communicate as if we are already friends and not simple acquaintances", she kept a small smile on her face to seem kinder.

"So may I simply call you Artemis or do you have preferences?", Ash asked.

His voice was soothing. He spoke smoothly without any errors or profanities which, in all honesty, was a bit boring for Artemis although it was a sign that he was literate. He had this small smirk on his face which made her second-guess something in the back of her head.

"No, Artemis is fine", she left it at that and began to eat her food while Sir Magnus sighed a bit and looked at Ash, giving him a small reassuring nod.

"Are you always like this?", Ash questioned her to which she looked straight forward, putting down the fork on her plate.

Sir Magnus brought his hand up to his face, rubbing his temples, trying not to intervene.

"Hm? Always like what? Cold? Careful? Skeptic? With new people, yes. Please do not take it offensively, I need some time to warm up to you."

Ash raised an eyebrow and looked at her before slightly chuckling, "Don't worry, you could trust me. I'm no spy or traitor if that is what you are thinking."

She smirked and shook her head, getting up and taking her plate into her hands, "That's what they all say. Good job on giving yourself away." She looked at both Sir Magnus and Ash, bowing slightly once again before walking away into the kitchen, "Thank you for the meal."

The dining table was left with only Ash and Sir Magnus, staring at each other with a mix of different expressions. A mixture of confusion and slight amazement would be the best way to describe it.

Ash slightly put his hands up as if saying to Magnus, "I am not a traitor though. Why is she accusing me of such a thing?"

Sir Magnus shrugged and shook his head a bit, "Once again, she is right. Give her some time to warm up to you. A couple of practices and days of working together may be enough. Just try to be as friendly as possible. I will speak to her about the accusations, it is a bit out of context on her part. Anyways, how have you been?"

Ash nodded and they strike up a conversation, letting some more time pass by. Meanwhile, Artemis washed her plates, thanking the cooks for the meal, and went to the training room, resting a bit as she looked at the clock.

"Hm..", she was looking at the hands of the clock, being really entranced by them. Moving right, each second, minute, and eventually hour, making it tik.

About half an hour passed by before Ash and Sir Magnus came into the workout room where she was. She sat up, not showing much expression, going over to the closet and turning her attention towards Ash.

"Pick your poison", she said before opening the closet door, revealing the practice weapons.

He walked up to her, towering over her slightly as he began to look at the possessions.

"Artemis, come here, please. I need a word with you", Sir Magnus called over to her, walking out of the training room and waiting for her in the hallway.

She walked past Ash and came out into the hallway, closing the door slightly, "Yes? Is something wrong", she questioned.

"Well er- no it is not that, it is just that-", he sighed a bit before continuing to explain, putting on a small smile, " Please try and be a bit more welcoming towards Ash. He is after all going to be there with you at the final mission, you should try and get to know him."

Her eyes grew wide with disbelief, "What?! Are you serious right now?! You didn't even tell me?!"

Ash smirked to himself before running his hands along a sword with bright red ruby diamonds that glowed when the sun rays hit them through the small window. He had been listening to their conversation while trying to come up with some tactics for the practice.

"Hush quiet down, please, Artemis! That is why I am telling you to warm up to him. And for god's sake, please! Please do not call him a traitor! He is a good well-minded student. I have gotten to know him extremely well and he has a good head on his shoulders," Magnus put his hand on her shoulder, giving her another reassuring smile.

She sighed as her brows were kept furrowed, her arms closed. It didn't matter if they just met, she didn't like him. As a matter of fact, that is the exact reason why she wouldn't trust him. Who automatically trusts a stranger simply by some things that have been said about them? It just didn't make sense to Artemis. Anyways, she nodded to Sir Magnus and walked back into the training room, walking over to the closet with weapons, picking up a sword as well.

She tied her hair back, stretching her legs and arms as well as wrapping some bandages around her hands, mainly the knuckles. Entering her mind to search for moves that may be useful, she closed her eyes for a moment. Finally opening her eyes after a couple of seconds, Artemis gripped her sword and looked straight at her new opposing partner.

He looked at her with a smirk that she did not like too much and had received bad energy from. She returned to him her serious and unamused expression that she always kept on her face.

“What’s with that expression? C’mon~ You can’t still be thinking that I am a traitor, can you Artemis?”, he coed into her ear, making her hate him even more then she originally did. How she hated her name leaving his mouth. She despised it even more now than her original enemy.

”How do you know I’m not a benefit to you?”, he continued.

”How do you know you’re not a disadvantage”, she stated firmly before charging at him with her sword, brows furrowed.