If I want to have my way sometimes, I need to at least be able to back myself up. So that's why I need to know some form of fighting.
At least that's what I thought.
"This is hard as fuck."
I stare down at the little wooden dagger in my hand blankly.
I don't even know how to grip it properly, much less swing one. If I had someone to teach me or at least show me something I could probably figure out the rest from there…
I tried a few things, but I'm willing to bet gold that I look absolutely stupid.
'Ugh, I know Hale might know how to a little, he stayed at school a lot to practice some of it.'
Ayra might also know, but I don't know how to interact with her at all, nor do I even know her that well.
'Damn.'
What if I just try my fists?
I blink.
I could do that, I guess. I set the wooden daggers apart from the pile I had made and head over to the dummy.
It's about my height or so, actually a little shorter now that I get closer. Maybe a little taller than my neck. To my chin?
I tilt my head down at it and make a fist with my right hand.
I reel it back, and…
BAM!
"..."
Sweat forms on my forehead.
'S-shit! The dummy just completely fell apart! Was it bad?'
I look around in fear.
The dummy literally just fell apart into splinters! It's completely shattered on the floor!
'Do I need to pay for that? They won't beat me for this ri-'
My thinking stops as I hear clapping from another hallway, perpendicular to the one I had originally walked into the testing room from.
"Damn, kid! You blew that thing apart!" A man's voice calls out as he steps into the moonlight.
He's wearing some silvery armor, a dark blue crest on his chest. His boots clink against the stone with every step.
He's clapping, too, like what I just did was for entertainment.
"You must be much stronger than what you look like, huh?"
He smiles and tilts his head, looking at the dummy as he gets closer.
I only stare at him, my eye wide with fear, "Y-you won't tell anyone about that, right…?"
He looks back at me, then, "Pff… tell anyone? Kid it's fine, these things break all the time. Though…" He looks over me with a squinting eye.
"A kid as scrawny as you completely blowing apart one of these things?" He walks past me and picks up a piece of wood, tossing it up and down in his palm.
"That's some strength. Makes me wonder what your infusion is."
He smirks at me and stands up, putting his hand out toward me, "Name's Terrick Lynel, yours?"
I look down at his hand and put mine there, shaking his hand, "F-Fault."
He nods with a little smile, "Well, Fault, what do you say I teach you a few things?"
My eye widens, "Really?"
He nods back, "Yup, c'mon, allow me…"
He pats my shoulder and looks at the pile of wooden swords and daggers. He squats down and inspects each one individually.
He whistles, "Let's see here… hup!"
He jumps back up with a pretty large wooden sword, "Here, hold this."
He tosses it to me, which I catch carefully and just hold across my arms.
"Uhm…?"
He grabs one of his own and smiles.
"First, I'll teach you stance and how to hold a sword. Maybe a couple of things after. Anything more than that'll cost ya."
He winks at me, "C'mere, kid."
I cautiously take a couple of steps toward him, and he stands just behind me.
He's tall, must be in his twenties or so. He has really dark blue hair just like Duke Lynel, perhaps a shade darker than the Duke's too. His shoulders are broad and he stands with his chest puffed out, even under all that armor.
His features seem quite defined, a couple of small cuts on his face and one across his nose. His eyes are a silver color, too.
He puts his hands on my wrist and adjusts them, then he kicks my first foot up and a bit more out of my center, then my left foot more in.
He tilts my wrists up, making me point the sword just to the side and up into the sky. Next he moves his hands toward my chest.
"Uhh…"
"Just a second, it's fine."
He places one hand on my back and the other on my torso, making me straighten up my posture, next he turns my waist just a slight bit to the left.
"And… there!" He smiles and takes a step back, admiring his handiwork.
"Now, keep both hands on the grip, keep the sword steady and keep your eyes on your opponent."
I look at him, then toward the dummy he faced me at.
He steps over to my left side and looks at my face.
"Oh, hey… wait a minute."
I could feel him lean in close, but I leaned away as well.
"You're that kid! The one-eyed one with the white and black hair!"
He jumps back and smiles, seeming to have just noticed my appearance.
"U-uhm, yeah…" I quietly agree, and keep my eye on the dummy just ahead of me.
He clears his throat, "My bad, now… just angle your front foot toward where you want to strike, put power in your back foot, and lunge at it, slashing at an angle."
I take a deep breath and nod slowly.
'Angle the foot, power in the back… and…!'
…!
I lunge, shooting forward fast enough that my hair blows out of my vision, I get close enough to the dummy in an instant, even though it was just a few meters ahead of me.
"Hah!"
'SLASH!'
I lift the wooden sword he gave me and cut at an angle, from the dummy's shoulder and down toward its hip.
THWACK
The dummy's torso splits open and shatters, so does the sword I was holding. Crumbling from where I was holding it and up.
"A-ah…!"
I gulp as everything made of wood just broke into splinters and pieces, falling on the floor.
Yet…
"Ha! Hahahaha! Nice, kid! Well done!" Terrick's cackling behind me.
"U-uh… huh?"
I turn around slowly, he's jogging toward me with his free hand raised.
"I said– NICE, KID!"
BAM
He smacks my back, hard, making me stumble forward a few steps.
"N-nice?"
"Yes! That was good!"
I felt a smile start to spread across my lips.
"N-nice…"
I let out a shaky breath.
He hands me something new, and sets up another dummy opposite from where I was standing,
"Now here! Try it like…"
*****
"The hell…?"
Morning light shone through the windows of the training ground room as a man stood in white and black attire, a dark blue tie lay just around his neck. His black hair was short, and his eyes were a nice, light blue.
The servant blinked as he entered the training ground. He wasn't expecting much, just the usual dust to clean off in case anyone wanted to use it.
But what greeted his sight was nothing ordinary. Terrick, the duke's own son, and the ash-haired boy people have been talking about in the servant's quarters
The wooden swords were all gone, but he could guess where they were. Only two of ten testing dummies remained, too.
Mounds of broken wood and splintered swords lay on the floor, shattered. The wooden shapes of the dummies, broken, and the stuffing inside were strewn throughout the floor.
His face paled.
"Haah… I want to quit…"
He steps over to the two that were unconscious, and he shakes the boy.
"Mnn…"
"Hey…!"
He shakes him a bit more, "Hey!"
"Ah-! Oh…"
The one-eyed boy leans up, putting weight on his arms behind him as he looks around.
"Mmm… morning…"
"Did you do this?"
He glances up at the servant, "Huh…?"
"Did you do this??" The servant steps out of the way and shows the mess of wood and broken hilts across the floor.
"Oh… yeah."
"All of it?" The servant repeats, glancing at Terrick, still asleep.
The boy nods, "Yeah, he only set them up."
The servant's face paled further.
'A kid did… this? Not even some of our soldiers could completely destroy a dummy! I… I need to tell my Duke!'
"W-well, good morning, please wake up the young master before you leave the training ground."
The servant nods and leaves the two alone.
Fault lay there, sitting up on the floor.
"Uh…"
He turns to Terrick, and shakes his shoulder subtly, "Yo, wake up."
Terrick flicks his hand, "Five more minutes…"
Fault sighs and looks around him.
Looks like a tornado ran through the training ground.
"Uhm…" He stares some more, looking around a bit frantically.
'T-they're not gonna make me clean all of this up. Are they?'
Fault looks at the still-sleeping Terrick. His mouth open and snoring, his arms and legs hugging a broken dummy.
"Shit…"