Rayne thought that the worst was over when they had gotten back to Algar after killing the troll, but it had yet to come.
"Look me straight in the eye, trollface. See the sword coming for your neck!" Hobbs shouted over the cheering of the spectating soldiers.
Rayne brought his shield for the blow just in time and felt a jolt that numbed his arm. Hobbs followed it with another strike and he put his sword forward, ducking low to take on the attack.
Sword met sword. And he was pushed back. Hobbs' strength overwhelmed him and the man charged with his body.
He put his shield out again, but it did nothing but force Rayne to jump back. He nearly lost his footing with it and steadied his stance and breathing, exactly as he recalled.
"In a forest, you will slam into a tree if you try that, boy." Hobbs sneered and the cheering intensified.
Rayne gritted his teeth and took the risk to glance at the men enjoying the beating. A few regulars, a few forsakens, and Kesh. The man had survived the troll swipe with a few broken bones, and was now smiling.
Unlike the others, he didn't seem to be doing it because he wanted Rayne dead. But because he himself had gotten a beating from Hobbs earlier in the name of a sparring session. A bruise still showed on his cheek where he had gotten a sharp punch for dropping his sword.
"You aren't in a village fair to look around, forsaken. Focus!"
That brought him back to the spar and he saw Hobbs' blade moving to hit his arm and twisted, dodging the strike and slammed his shield into the deputy's shoulder, but it worked only for a second.
Hobbs didn't budge and grinned, slamming his sword down in a downward motion. Feeling death come at him, he relied on his shield back, but the force struck him like a meteor.
He lost his grip on the shield and it fell on the ground.
Rayne immediately ducked as Hobbs' fist passed through the air and went on the offensive. He aimed his sword at Hobbs' legs, but he stepped back.
Before he could get himself out of Hobbs' reach, his knee came for him. It hit him right in the gut, and another kick did the job, sending him sprawling into the dirt.
He gasped, the grip on his sword hardening and pushed himself up.
"Not bad," Hobbs said. "At least you have some bark. But in a real fight, there would be a sword deep in your heart by now. Humans are seldom as stupid as trolls."
He realised what it was then. Not just a spar. Hobbs was beating the ego out of him. At least he thought so, but Rayne hadn't felt like a victor after the troll fight. Just a survivor.
Still, it was a beating for the squad to see.
It made Rayne angry. He felt weak, like a boxing bag anyone could trash around. He couldn't let that be.
He surged forward with a mad charge.
Hobbs grinned, expecting it. He swung his sword downward, taking advantage of his massive height. And Rayne answered with momentum. Both their blades clashed again and again in multiple strikes.
With no shield, he used every bit of his power into attack.
Every move this body had learned—Sword strikes, stance, footwork. It all came out as a display. He manoeuvred himself during parries to not take the bull burnt of Hobbs' attack and treated it as a life and death battle.
Hobbs stopped holding back halfway through his offense, using his whole bulk into the attacks, making Rayne jump, roll and duck to survive. But he kept up, deciding he had to do one final move.
He dodged as the sword came for his shoulder to the left and kicked Hobbs with his knee. He staggered back and Rayne went for the kill, aiming for his stomach. But midway through the strike, he froze.
Hobbs twisted his body in an amazing display of flexibility that Rayne hadn't expected from a man his size. A clang rang out as their swords met and he felt a hand grab his shoulders and throw him back in his moment of surprise.
Pain erupted as his shoulder hit the ground, but it was bearable thanks to his tolerance skill.
When he looked up, his eyes met Hobb's blade. Rays from the sun bounced off it.
He gritted his teeth. "I give up."
"You don't give up in a fight. You either kill or get killed," Hobbs snarled, removing his sword from his face and giving a hand to pull himself up.
Rayne's body hurt from all over and he had scraped his knee. But at least, he had fared better than Kesh. Though, that didn't make him happy.
Kesh hadn't even lasted a minute. Bruised and blood spilling from his nose.
"It's good to see the troll didn't bite off your balls," Hobbs said, his voice returning to calm now that the spar was done. "What level was your sword mastery last time you checked?"
"Level 2," Rayne replied, his instincts telling him that it should soon level up.
"Not bad for a level 2. I guess you levelled at least twice from the troll."
It was actually thrice. A big jump that Rayne was proud of, even if the troll hadn't given a stat point or skill. Coupled with the goblins, he had gotten five levels in a day.
Rayne nodded, looking up at Hobbs. "What's your sword mastery level?"
The giant laughed. "Better than yours. Why?"
"You used an axe in the troll fight."
"That's another lesson you will learn here," Hobbs said. "No good soldier trains with only one weapon. You need to learn the strengths and weaknesses of each. Specialisation can come later if you manage to upgrade your class."
Hobbs gestured to him to go sit and Rayne hurried along to the bench at the edge of the sparring ground. A few soldiers snickered at him, but no one came forward with an insult.
That was good enough. The troll fight, and now the sparring session worked well to hold them back from doing anything stupid.
"Good job. You acted the same you did during the troll fight. Charging right at him with suicidal intent," Kesh said, handing him his canteen.
Rayne gulped it down in one swoop and took a breath before replying. "Hobbs and the troll are equally terrifying anyway."
"That doesn't seem to stop you. I almost thought Hobbs would accidentally cleave you."
"If he did, that's no accident."
Rayne sat down, feeling the aftermath of the battle. He had felt it when he had crawled out of the river. A feeling of tiredness that permeated every cell inside his body. He just wanted to rest the whole day.
"Rayne Frayser! Where is he?"
He raised his head up at the voice and saw a soldier walking towards Hobbs and the rest of the spectating men. He met eyes with Kesh who shrugged.
So much for resting the whole day.
Rayne got up from his seat, making his way towards Hobbs and the man who had come looking for him. It was a regular with short cropped blonde hair and a messy beard.
"What do you need me for?" he asked, tensing a little not wanting trouble.
"You the traitor?" The soldier squared him up.
"His son, yes," Rayne replied. "What do you need me for?"
"Axel wants to see you. Come with me."
Rayne's heartbeat quickened and he glanced over at Hobbs who nodded. The soldier was already moving and he had no time to wonder whether it was a good summon or bad. The latter probably going by the history of his body.
He quickly followed him, moving further from the sparring grounds. They passed by a few curious soldiers and other staff before entering the tower.
Catching up with the soldier, he asked. "Any chance you know what's going on?"
The man grunted, not replying and Rayne took it as a cue to stay silent. They moved up the floors before finally standing in front of Axel's office.
Rayne waited as the man knocked on the door. "I brought the traitor with me."
"Send him in," said Axel from inside.
The soldier opened the door and shoved Rayne inside before leaving. He did a quick look at the office again—gaze holding onto a tome opened on the desk with the description of a large grotesque monster with six arms—and waited for Axel to raise his head up from the paper he was scribbling on. A bit surprised that the man resembled nothing of the drunk officer he had seen in their first meeting.
He looked much more focused with a more organised room and no alcohol around. But he might just have them under his desk.
"I can't drink with so much work around," Axel said as if reading Rayne's thoughts. "This year's exodus is starting to be worse than the previous ones."
"How so, sir?" He asked.
"Lot more dungeons opening up. Our forces in the eastern and northern sides are having enough deaths that the travelling priests are having a hard time. They are even calling up bloody auxiliaries that can't wield a sword properly even if their life depends on it."
"If they are going to the frontlines, their life does depend on it."
Axel chuckled, finally meeting eyes with Rayne. "Yes, it does. But I didn't call you here for that."
Rayne's jaw tensed. He wondered if he had been heard using the goblin tongue. No one had mentioned it, so he had thought that he was safe. But what if Axel had. He was clearly the highest levelled man in the—
"I'm assigning you to the scouts."
"Scouts?" he asked, surprised. "I don't have training as a ranger."
"Just listen," Axel growled, quieting him up. "It's part of a patrol squad around the western parts. Near the goblins and trolls. They are short handed since a few died during the troll battle and one idiot fell into a goblin trap and spiked himself to death."
"Goblins lay traps?"
"Grey ones don't. They are merely idiots, but goblins have variety. Green ones are craftier, they lay traps. There are red ones who are better fighters and a few others, but we haven't seen any of those in these parts for years."
Rayne nodded. He once again cursed the knowledge on the Pascar plains taught back in the training camp in his memories. They have grouped every goblin species together. And before that, he'd no need to look into goblins.
"It's temporary since our squad had been told to take care of the goblin and troll problem," Axel continued. "Most of the forces are in the frontlines and they don't want these vermins at their back. Your job will be to work with the scouts and find as many nests as you can and report back. Any questions?"
Lots of questions hovered in his mind, but Rayne could see it in Axel's gaze. He didn't want questions. He asked for formality. The veteran leader wanted him to follow his orders without any questions.
So, he nodded. "No questions, sir."
Axel smiled, but his eyes held no compassion and held him the writ he needed to show to the scout leader.
Rayne took it, saluted in the Valerian custom, and turned back to find his way to cold water. Sweat still clung to his back from the spar.
"I will have someone send you the squad's expenditure books. I need them lined up and calculated," Axel's voice froze him in his tracks. "I hope you haven't forgotten one of the reasons I let you stay here. With deaths, it becomes important to calculate cost and pensions."
Rayne frowned, but knew he had no choice and turned back. "I will get it done, sir."
"Good. You may go."
But he stood there for a second longer. Axel raised his eyebrows in question.
"I would like an empty book for my own use for the job," he said, revealing his intentions.
"Why? Paper is expensive."
"I would like to practice my writing in my leisure. There's not much to do in the tower other than training and most soldiers hate me."
Axel looked at him with his unreadable eyes and Rayne was sure his request would be rejected.
"Okay." Rayne smiled, thanking the new gods that governed this world. "I will have it sent with the squad books. Now, leave!"
He bolted off. An idea formed in his mind on how to use the book.
***
"And then, I moved to jump over the ridge and straight into the shoulder of the ember golem. It was bloody fuckin' hot, I tell you! I nearly singed to death. But then, I got my wits together and plunged my sword into its crystal eyes…"
Rayne groaned for the third time as Fredrick, the scout leader, blabbered about his exploits. It had already been five minutes since they entered the western edge of the plains, and the man hadn't stopped. He acted contrary to what a scout should.
It made Rayne wonder if the man was the son of some knight or noble house. And a glance at the four scouts attentively listening to him with an occasional mix of amazement and praise confirmed it.
Two more men walked behind him, simply content with listening.
Behind them stood Rayne alongside another forsaken named Nate that had also been pushed by Axel to join the scouts. Also, the only one who bothered to converse with him and wasn't outright treating him like an enemy.
"If you are wondering, then yes, Fredrick is the fourth son of a baron in the southwest of the kingdom. Apparently his mom is Rosarian, hence the red hair," Nate said, explaining the background of their temporary leader.
Rayne looked at the long red hair of the man tied up in a braid. Some sort of a fashion statement. "Why did Axel put someone like him in charge?"
Nate snickered. "I don't know. Noble favours. It runs in all their bloods and squad leaders aren't anything different. You should know."
"I actually—"
"What are you babbling about? Focus!" Fredrick shouted from the front. "I don't want monsters on my head. I already have a traitor at my back."
With that, he grunted and got back to talking about his "exploits".
Rayne looked at Nate who shrugged and both of them frowned. They were stuck with an incompetent leader on their patrols who only saw their faults and not his.
It was much worse for him since it was pretty clear from the start that Fredrick had it out for him. Once again, he was handed the short end of the stick, but he could do nothing about it right now.
He hadn't liked being part of the scouts, but if he managed to gain some merits, his position in the squad might just get better. He had confidence he could, even with a hostile leader with no support.
All thanks to one skill he had gotten in the goblin hunt.
Goblin Tongue (Uncommon) - Level 1
Everyone knows their mother tongue, but not everyone knows the goblin tongue.
The skill allows the user to understand and converse with goblins of any kind alongside similar monsters like trolls and hobgoblins.
Gives basic literacy in speaking and understanding the language of goblins.
As he walked, Rayne smiled, knowing a lot would depend on his new skill.