As Erin walked forward to meet with Richard, Anna stopped her as she took her wrist."W-What is it, Anna?" She asked.
"Erin, I think you are forgetting something. Are you sure you wanna be seen like that by our Lord?" Anna said.
Erin was startled. She looked at her own body and her face reddened. Her clothes were ruined, so she was half naked at that point. Hugging her body with her hands, she turned to Anna again, only to see her laughing eyes and playful smile. Erin"s face reddened even more. She felt wronged. At the same time, she was thankful to Anna for the reminder.
Erin looked at Anna with an expectant gaze. Seeing Erin"s pitiful face, Anna couldn"t control herself any longer and snicker. First, she helped Erin to clean her body from the blood and dirt. Then she opened a bag which was on her back and took out a dress from there. It wasn"t rough and was soft to the touch. The most important part was that it wasn"t exposing Erin"s body at all. She helped Erin wear it and put a coat on her in the end. Now she looked like a real princess.
Erin felt refreshed now. With new energy in her, she started walking again. Finally, they met with Richard. Erin totally ignored him and started making a camp. Anna was helping her with the task. After the camp was finished, Anna started a fire.
During that time, Richard was watching Erin. He was thinking what he should do now, so she would forgive him. And still, thinking about the human village, he started to doubt himself too. Was he getting soft-hearted? He was trying to change Erin. But for some reason, he himself was changing as well. Was it because he was thinking of her as his future wife?
He shook his head to get rid of those ideas for a moment, concentrating on the present.
"Tomorrow I"ll teach you a new skill." While saying that, he didn"t look at Erin at all. It was obvious that even if he looked, she would still ignore him. It was a bit frustrating for him.
Erin felt conflicted. She chose to ignore him, but he was going to teach her a skill. What should she do? Learn the skill? Or continue to ignore him? The skill would be useful for sure, but if she accepted, she wouldn"t be able to ignore Richard. That really troubled her. Thinking about the kiss and hug, she felt annoyed, so she said, "Sure, but there will be a rule first. From now on, no touching. You can only show me the skill and describe it to me. Don"t make a contact with me."
Richard became speechless. Was she so much against that? He couldn"t really understand. What was wrong with those? They were from the same race and the last ones. They had a connection with each other and could feel each other. Of course, they didn"t understand each other completely, but that was enough for trust. Still, she was trying to stay away from him. Why? He couldn"t get over it.
On the other hand, Anna was smiling from the side. Erin"s temper was a bit childish but cute. She really wanted to see the Lord getting along with her master. Everyone in the castle actually wanted to see that. Only her master was clueless.
As it was getting late, the three of them had their meal and moved to their place to sleep. Of course, Richard was alone again.
The next day, Richard started to teach Erin the new skill.
"You already know how to merge with the shadows, but not how to use them. The next thing I"ll teach you is how to create your own domain. Depending on the power you have, you can make it longer and cast it more times in a day. The domain that I"ll teach you, is, of course, darkness. You need to merge with the shadows, then why not create your own and merge with it? Cover your surroundings in darkness and make your opponent blind. At the same time merge with it and your opponent will be an easy target."
As he was explaining, darkness descended upon them. "Of course, for us vampires, with our good vision, that"s not a problem. There are other races with a good vision, but still, the domain can give you a lot more options in a fight to restrict and attack your opponent. After all, you can use other skills with it."
Erin got excited from the description. Wasn"t that strong? Her own domain would be truly helpful for her. She nodded as the eager expression was shown on her face. She totally forgot about ignoring Richard and got close to him, ready to try a new skill.
Richard smiled from that reaction. So she had finally given up with the cold façade? Well, that was good. He started explaining the skill in more detail.
"You should feel your surroundings, the shadows you are merging with, and try to manipulate them to create a sphere around you. That way, you will create your domain, but that part is really hard. We"ll work slowly on it."
Erin nodded and started learning earnestly, totally engrossed in the new skill.