Reincarnated as the Baron's son: My Infinite Card Upgrade System-Chapter 69: A spar to the death?

"We currently have 170 workers ready to join you in the project," Hina relayed.

Alaric was seated inside his room, while Ava and Hina stood behind him. On his working table was a 3D structure of the project he was planning, already built with toothpicks and glue.

One could see Aurora and Laura playing in the background in their pet forms.

"And Father? Has he approved of it?"

"Yes, he has. In fact, he already helped us arrange the carriages to head out to Ernesto," replied Hina.

"Very good. Good job, Hina. You deserve a reward..." Alaric looked at her. "If you need anything, let me know."

At first, Hina stole a glance at Ava, clearly seeing how dull her expression was, before replying to Alaric.

"Thank you so much."

"Okay, let’s head out. We need to gather the materials needed too. We can’t rely on Ernesto for that. If they don’t have what we need, it will cause a major drawback." Alaric stood up from his chair, walking over to the bed to grab his coat.

While he walked, Ava wanted to say something, and yet...

"I thought Count Velmo would be sponsoring any resources needed?" Hina asked.

"Of course. He is going to pay me back every penny. Let’s go."

"Lord Al—"

Before Ava could call out to him, Alaric had walked out of the room, completely ignoring her.

Hina sighed. "What did you do to him to make him so mad?" she asked.

Ava wasn’t in the mood to answer. She simply looked to the ground while her fingers tightened around the hilt of her blade.

"Whatever the case may be, just leave him alone. It’s clear he doesn’t want to talk to you," Hina said before also leaving.

A few minutes later, Ava was walking down the hall, her eyes scanning the window where she could see Alaric and the rest of the workers cutting down trees.

It seemed normal until she saw Hina laughing alongside him. Something about the sight made her feel angered. Her fists were clenched despite her expression staying the same.

From nowhere...

"Ah, Commander Ava, what are you doing here? I thought you would be with Lord Alaric," Stefan spoke.

He was just walking out of the weapon room, where he had gone to polish his blade.

Upon seeing him, Ava said, "Come, let us spar."

Stefan, who had been begging Ava for a chance to spar with her, instantly had a huge smile on his face. Not a part of him thought to question why she suddenly asked that of him.

The next thing he knew, he found himself standing in the training ground with a blade in his hand. Some of the soldiers who were initially training on the field paused to take a look.

They got to watch both their commanders fight one another. It was simply free entertainment.

As Stefan looked at Ava, he couldn’t help but feel the raw aura flowing from her body. Even if he tried to ignore it, the flow of the aura still made his body quiver.

"Uhm... Commander Ava?" he called out, a drop of sweat leaking from the side of his forehead.

"What?" Ava answered, her gaze so hard it felt like she was staring a hole inside him.

"Just to be clear, this is training, right?" Stefan tried to confirm.

Instead, Ava clicked her tongue at his question.

"Yes."

She ended up replying.

Smiling, Stefan grabbed his blade with more confidence, knowing it was just training and there was no way he would die from it.

"Okay, I’m ready."

He smiled.

In the next second, his eyes widened in fear as Ava suddenly appeared in front of him, her blade stretched to the side for a strike.

’What the...’

No one who watched was able to follow that movement. It felt like she simply teleported.

’How is she this fast?! Shit! If I don’t move right now... I fear I am going to die!’

Those thoughts squirmed through Stefan’s head as he grabbed his blade, his eyes still widened in fear.

Bawwww!

He was lucky enough to block the attack with the side of his blade. Still, the impact sent him flying multiple distances until he collapsed to the ground.

He saw it clearly—Ava’s red glowing eyes before she struck her blade at him. Those were not the eyes of someone who just wanted to train.

Before he could tell what was happening, Ava had arrived in front of him with a whoosh, her blade already raised to the sky.

"Shit!!!"

Stefan rolled backward, allowing Ava’s blade to dig into the ground where his crouch once was.

Just like the last two attacks, Stefan could barely follow Ava’s movements as she sent a kick directly to his jaw.

He felt his nose shift as blood spewed out while his body went flying.

Almost instantly, she arrived beside Stefan again, this time her hand covering his face as if trying to suffocate him.

Stefan struggled to free himself, his legs dancing desperately in the air.

The soldiers that watched felt sorry for him, as some were already looking away.

Suddenly... 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

"Why is he treating me like it’s my fault the Count kissed me?" Ava blurted out.

But she didn’t stop there...

Her grip tightened around Stefan’s head.

"Talk about being selfish. He has slept with so many women that he barely remembers them all. Why the hell is he ignoring me then? And what does he mean, ’Don’t involve yourself with me’? Does that mean I’m fired? How is that fair when I didn’t do anything...?"

"I... don’t... know what you’re... t-talking about..." Stefan managed to speak, despite being snuffed out by Ava’s palm.

"If he had told me to kill the Count, I would have done so without a second thought. I don’t know why I care about him ignoring me. I shouldn’t. And I still do. Am I supposed to be that replaceable? It’s not my fault; I didn’t do anything!"

At this point, Ava was close to crushing Stefan’s skull.

Then, Erica showed up, grabbing Ava by the hand and uttering...

"Ava, what do you think you’re doing attacking a knight like this? Stop this at once."