Chapter 38 Sisterhood Initiation
Ardiolyta\'s title of Instructor was well earned indeed.
She taught me how to read my opponent\'s moves, how to grapple, how to counter and even how to use every part of my body as a weapon.
Like seriously, the other day we were sparring, I tried to get under her guard again only for her to swing her chest to strike my face with those massive jugs of hers. That kind of told me the first spar where she trapped my arm was not an accident.
One important fact I got from that was that she does not wear a bra… In fact, I think she does not wear any underwear at all… Which brings about the question of whether it\'s a personal preference or it extends to all Amraps?
Putting that aside, [Machine Learning] showed its usefulness once again as I already claimed my first win against her within the third day of practice.
After that, I steadily started beating her in our spars until it was obvious that I had her completely dominated in hand to hand combat.
Instead of being upset, Ardiolyta simply praised me and said that I was a genius, going so far as to claim that if I was an Amrap, I would have already been considered a full fledged adult.
Even Odeta became more attached to me after I defeated her sister.
Unfortunately, my unarmed proficiency did not go up a level for some reason. I assume that there\'s more conditions involved in increasing these skills but it might just be still increasing in percentage or something. Unfortunately, there doesn\'t seem to be a progress bar to show how far I am progressing to the next tier.
Another surprise came in the form of Odeta fully recovering on the fifth day.
It seems like the salve I gave her was really effective.
Throughout those five days, I came to grow a liking to the younger Amrap especially since the two of us were technically of the same age and we spent quite a lot of time together.
Even though I would have allowed them to stay in the living room, they kept their word and set up camp outside after the first night.
Ardiolyta would go out to hunt animals for food which left me to take care of Odeta\'s needs while she was still healing.
Despite me reminding her that we are of the same age, she kept insisting on calling me big sister because I was stronger than her. I chalked it up to an Amrap thing and just rolled with it.
She\'s really cute though, and having her call me big sister just makes her even cuter. The best part is that she also likes sweets, at least I assume she does since she ate all the sweets I made for her with absolute relish.
Aside from that, we talked and I also read her stories from the books I had in the house. It seems like reading stories was a novel experience for her since the Amraps aren\'t known for their scholars. Neither Ardiolyta nor Odeta knew how to read or write.
I admit that I was quite proud when she was especially enthralled when I read her the stories that I had written back in the previous World. She would give me all these cute reactions and I couldn\'t help but give her lots of head pats in return.
On the day of her recovery though, she requested to spar with me as well for some reason, something that Ardiolyta supported wholeheartedly.
They even made it like it was some kind of official event.
When I asked, apparently this also functioned as a sort of trial to accept new family members to an Amrap family. Basically, this would make me her big sister that is recognised by other Amraps.
They asked if I was open to the idea and honestly… Having siblings was something I never had before so I agreed to it.
"I, Odeta of Amazon Town, hereby challenge big sister Aster to an official duel of strength with big sister Ardi as our impartial judge! Does big sister Aster accept my challenge?"
So cute~
I looked at Ardiolyta who grinned at me, "If you accept, simply say that you accept her challenge after stating your name."
I nodded and tried to emulate how Odeta had challenged me, "I, Aster of Dragon Sanctuary, accept your challenge."
She squealed and turned to look at the older Amrap.
Ardiolyta smiled at her, "I, Ardiolyta of Amazon Town hereby accept my role as an impartial judge to this duel of strength and recognise this an official duel! The duel shall end when one is unable to fight or admits defeat! If both duelists are ready, you may begin!"
Odeta charged at me the moment the signal was given.
Despite her stats being lower than mine, I reminded myself that her proficiency in unarmed combat was the same as mine. So in skill alone, we are quite even.
She started by trying to throw a few jabs at me which I easily avoided by backing away.
She then continued her attack with a low kick at my shins which I responded with a kick of my own with my other leg, deflecting her kick away and forcing her back to avoid my follow up snap kick.
I returned to my defensive stance and she tried to lunge for me again, this time trying to get inside my guard.
Lowering my stance, I struck out with my palm to strike her chest, making sure to use just enough strength to push her back but not enough to hurt her.
I immediately moved forward to try and grab her arm, aiming to use that as leverage to throw her on the ground.
Surprisingly, she reacted by twisting her wrist to avoid me and grabbed onto my arm instead, pulling me towards her while sticking out her leg in an attempt to trip me.
Unfortunately for the young Amrap, I made use of my superior strength there by sweeping my leg to kick her feet out from under her.
Instinctively, she tightened her grip on my arm which I took advantage of by lowering the same arm to cause her to fall on her haunches.
I then circled behind her and wrapped my arm around her neck, using her own arm as leverage to choke her.
I held there for a moment until I felt her tap my arm with her other hand before releasing my choke hold.
"I declare Aster of Dragon Sanctuary as the winner of this duel!" Ardiolyta announced with finality.
Odeta turned around to face me excitedly, "As expected of big sister Aster! You\'re so strong! Please take care of me in the future!"
Aww… Look at her! She\'s so cuuuute! I definitely wouldn\'t mind having her as my little sister!
Ardiolyta strolled to us, "Alright! Now that we are officially sisters, what do you say we all have a bath together after that workout?"
I hesitated, "Umm… It\'s ok, you two can go ahead, I\'ll take one by myself later."
"Nonsense! We\'re practically sisters now! This would serve as a way of sisterly bonding!"
"No, really, I\'ll go and prepare lunch for us so why don\'t you and Odeta go ahead?"
"Eehh… Big sister Aster isn\'t going to bathe with us?" Odeta groaned.
I almost relented and said yes to her right there but I hardened my heart and shook my head resolutely.
Ardiolyta chuckled, "Shy are we? No matter, maybe next time! Come along now, Odeta!"
The younger Amrap pouted but followed her big sister back to the house to take their bath.
Naturally, the reason why I wasn\'t joining them was because of the extra thing hanging in between my legs.
If it was just Ardiolyta, I wouldn\'t have hesitated and agreed right away. But with Odeta there, there\'s no way I\'ll do it.
I idly wondered if I should just tell them that I\'m a futa or continue keeping a secret?
It\'s not like I\'m intentionally keeping it a secret either since they didn\'t ask. I also believe it would be quite weird if I were to just suddenly blurt out \'oh by the way, I have a dick\' to them.
Oh well, if there\'s an opportunity for that, I\'ll explain it to them then.
I know for a fact that futas are considered as a normal gender in this World so even if I were to reveal that to them, the most I\'ll probably get is just a small surprise before they accepted it and moved on. It still feels weird for me though.
All things considered, I\'m still quite surprised that they would consider me as a sister.
I mean, sure, I saved their lives, gave them a place to stay and recuperate, ensured Odeta didn\'t need to lose a limb and nursed her back to health but…
Ok, I take that back, I can see why they would consider me as a sister.
Still, I wondered what were the chances that we would even meet again after they left? This world is huge and since Ardiolyta is a mercenary, they would be travelling around quite often too.
For all I know, I may not even see them after they leave.
Buuuut… I did buy a boon that would help with that, except it\'s under the lewd section so I still need to wait for another eight years before it even has a chance to manifest itself. There are still so many options that I bought that have yet to show itself…
Oh well, it\'s not like I\'m in a rush. Mother should be enrolling me in a school soon so I can just tell them to find me there if they want to.
In the meantime… I have lunch to worry about!