“That’s how you’ve been training him!?”

Shavie looked on with disgust as she watched a mockery of a training drill. It was already bad enough that Markus wasn’t getting the benefit of standard training, but what she was watching wasn’t a drill.

It was utterly disgraceful.

She watched from her wagon as Markus waved a weighted rope around as he moved forward, the rope jerkily moving in the air as he moved. It was much like a child would do if they were playing with a cat, though on a larger scale. But that didn’t make it any better; in fact, it made him look even more ridiculous. And even he knew it, judging from his beet-red face as everyone stared at him. Even Lily and Isabella were trying to stifle a laugh.

“Don’t listen to the nonsensical banter from the side, Markus. You’re doing great,” Paige responded as she “trained” with him.

“Great? First, you had him stretch for god knows how long, and then you have him swinging a wooden stick with a rope and a stone on the end. Tyler, put that down! No Party member of Isabella’s will train like that.”

Shavie glared at Tyler as he dropped the stick in his hand. He watched with a frown as Markus moved.

“It looks silly, but it does look like a workout, Miss Shavie. Besides, it looks challenging enough.”

Shavie grabbed the edge of her cart and lifted herself up before something caught the edge of her shirt. Turning, she looked down to see what had caught her.

“Aunt Shavie, you promised!”

Isabella held tight as she attempted to pull her back. Swatting her hands lightly, she turned to the other silent companion in their cart, who also stared skeptically at the sight.

“I promised I wouldn’t interfere when I thought I would see some real training, not, not that! Come on, back me up, Stella.”

Paige wasn’t backing down though.

“We agreed to not interfere with each other's training methods. Now, I know it looks a bit unconventional, but It’s the best way I know of how to train Markus. Unless the two of you have a better idea of how to train a Swordsman?”

Shavie stopped and bit her lip. That was the problem with her background, she had no idea how regular people trained. As she thought back to what she had to go through as a child, she couldn’t even be sure her training as an Assassin was typical. But it didn’t take a genius to know this wasn’t normal.

So, Shavie defaulted to someone who was learning how.

“Tyler, how do Apprentice Warriors train at school? That's close enough to what Markus is.”

Tyler paused as he stopped checking his gear as he thought about her question. She could tell that Markus was listening as he slowed his movements down.

“Typically they start with practice swings, then move onto drills and-”

“Aunt Paige!”

Shavie grinned inwardly as Paige stopped to explain herself.

“That’s for typical people, Markus. Of course, they’re going to do something more structured when there are that many people learning. But I’m teaching only you and Tyler, so I have the flexibility to cater my instructions to what you need. Which, for you is flexibility, and Tyler’s problem is his stance.”

“What’s wrong with how I’m standing?”

“Look at your leg gear. It seems you are falling to your knees when you take a heavy blow. Nothing wrong with that, but it’s a bad habit to get into,” Paige cautioned.

That...was true. Shavie knew from her time watching Isabella and her Party train that he did have that problem. But then again, his opponents were Protectors, and they hardly ever pulled their attacks back. And she had no reason to correct his problems. That was for him to figure out.

But that wasn’t important to Shavie, not like Markus’s training. He was a full-blown Demon Lord, not some typical swordsman. And this farce of training would not get him anywhere close to that level. No, she couldn't let Markus waste his best learning years with this crap!

“Teach him something useful for a Swordsman; like [[Fast Strike]] or something. He has the mana capacity to learn a few moves. From what I see, there’s no way he would last against an opponent with what he knows.”

Paige stopped twirling and frowned as she caught Shavie’s meaning.

“That’s because he’s not learning to fight people. In case you haven’t noticed, the kids are learning to be Adventurers. And we’ve taught him how to subdue an enemy if he needs.”

Paige shrugged. Shavie controlled her urge to scream at the insufferable Warrior.

“You don’t need to teach him how to kill people!” ‘Not at this point, anyway’ “-but at least teach him how to fight someone above his level.”

“Yeah, I think I’m doing a good job. And my Party thinks so to,” Paige said with a self-righteous smirk.

Of course, from where she was crouching, she could see the resigned faces on Markus, Zenith, and Nick opposite of her.

‘Even your own Party Members don’t believe you!’ Shavie screamed in her mind.

She sighed, but it gave her the perfect opportunity to test something out.

“Prove it.”

“Hm?”

“Prove that you can fight against someone at the same level, using just what you’ve been teaching him, Warrior.”

“Farmer. At least get my Class right.”

“I’ll call it as I see it.”

Shavie scoffed as Paige started to frown.

“Shavi-“ Stella whispered furiously.

“Call me Farmer Paige, before I start calling things as I see them too.”

Shavie was about to speak but noticed a gleam in the warrior’s eye. Paige was starting to get mad. Why on earth she was getting mad about her Class was beyond her though. For someone who reached the top, Paige treated her actual Class like it was a burden rather than a boon.

“Keep the peace, Shavie. Calling her a Farmer to keep her happy is simple enough,” Stella whispered. “We lose out far more than they will if you keep this up.”

Which was also very true. But seeing Markus learning like that irked Shavie more than she would like to admit. And if the Warrior was willing to fight her as though she were a Farmer, then why not? She already knew this mock fight was heavily stacked against her, so any advantage she could secure was one step closer to victory.

“Fine. Fight me like a Farmer. Show me your training will amount to something.”

Eyeing Paige’s “Farmer’s” outfit, Shavie could tell that it wasn’t anything special. She half expected it to woven from steel thread, but this close, she could tell it was just plain cotton. She'd seen bandanas with better stitching and less rough than what she was wearing. As for her weapons… she didn’t even have a single weapon on her. Just a few gardening tools and a really, really, worn down hoe strapped across her back. And nothing was even enchanted. All in all, Paige was taking her Class far more seriously than she’d first expected.

‘...is she a Warrior? Hell, a regular crossbow bolt could probably kill her.’

Shavie cast a covert stare to Stella. Her information should be right, but all the signs so far painted her as an actual Farmer. Jumping out of the wagon, Shavie started warming up as she looked around for a good place to fight. Training on an open road was acceptable, but mock combat, not so much.

Jumping a low, wooden fence abutting the main field, Shavie wandered onto a pasture and continued stretching as she tested the soil beneath her. The field was full of clovers and partially tilled; typical for the late winter season. She could already spot a few young farmhands headed her, clearly trying to decide if they should talk to her or just chase her off.

“Huh, you know, I half expected you to start a fight on the main road,” Paige said from behind.

“I know the local laws.”

“Ah, right. The other one is a Librarian now. Luna, right? I was wondering how you were able to skirt so many laws. Did she help you get those paintings as well?” Paige asked nonchalantly.

Seeing the farmhands come closer, Paige passed by and waved. “Since you’re so eager to lose, I’ll deal with these workers while you limber up. Haven’t fought someone for real in years.”

Shavie ignored her, though her random comment stuck with her. Was something wrong with those paintings she had?

Filing the comment away, Shavie waited for Paige to finish bargaining with the workers to allow them to fight. Eyeing the hoe, Shavie narrowed her eyes as she inspected the hoe. Though the handle and head were well worn, the underside of the blade edge caught in the morning sun. A wicked sharp edge was concealed below the dirt. The shaft too was battered from use, but she spied a few nicks that stopped suspiciously.

‘The shaft is concealing an interior metal rod. At that point, why didn’t she make the whole handle a metal pole?’

Still, with just a hoe, the types of attacks she could do was severely limited.

“You ready?” Paige called, motioning the farmhands to go by the wagons. Unslinging the hoe from her back, Paige happily smiled as she hefted the hoe to her shoulders, walking away until she was a scant twenty feet in front of her.

“I’m ready. Let’s see just how good a Farmer is in a fight.”

“Oh, I’m sure you’ll be surprised in a second.”

Slowly shifting her weight to the balls of her feet, Shavie adjusted her daggers hidden within her sleeves. She had to deny Paige from getting a good swing in with her hoe. Or at the very least, she had to stop her from angling to her sides.

Shavie and Paige stared at each other, waiting for the other to move. Normally, it would be to her benefit if Paige moved second, but there was no telling what her Class specialties were. Most Warriors were offensively based, but standing in front of Paige, her intuition was screaming that it was a bad idea to make the first move.

‘Is her subset defensively based? Paladin perhaps? Or something more troubling like Duelist?’ Shavie thought to herself.

Sweat trickled down her brow as Shavie stood there, trying to find a good opening to strike. With none present, and her brain warning her not to close in, Shavie did the next best thing.

Swinging her arm upward, she threw the hidden dagger with an underhand throw, the blade crossing the distance swiftly as she swiftly retreated.

“My move!” Paige shouted as she shifted her body slightly, twirling the butt of her shaft to deflect the dagger away. Taking a step back, Paige smirked as she swung the hoe down to the earth between them. Shavie’s eyes widened as she jumped sideways. Most attacks aimed at the ground had to go in a straight line. But she hadn't expected this to happen.

“[Power Till]”

The earth erupted from the impact point, the soil upheaving in a pillar as it traveled forward.

Shavie turned her head in time to see Paige grinning, her hoe arcing towards her face as she swung it down.

“Shit!” Shavie swore as she hurriedly stepped forward, using her other dagger to stop the shaft from hitting her. She frowned as the dagger bit into the wood shaft but stopped, the telltale ding of metal against metal shrilled against each other as Paige forced her back.

Stepping forward to strike, Shavie twisted as the bladed edge thumped next to her, the ground exploding again as Paige evaded direct combat.

Shavie grimaced as she realized what Paige was doing. She was showcasing her footwork. Dodging the hoe as it bent upwards, she moved out of the way, looking for an opportunity to strike.

‘Hoe my ass; she’s using the damn thing like a spear! Did she take the spearhead off and affixed a hoe instead?’ Shavie ducked out of the way and increased the distance between the two of them.

Throwing her dagger down, she glared at Paige as she pointed at the faux spear in her hand. “Farmer my ass! You’re a fucking Spearmaster!”

“Farmer. Didn’t you see my awesome tilling skill?” Paige asked as she pointed at the field.

Gone was the packed earth and fields of clover. As far as she could see, the ground sparkled as the sun hit the moist earth, while an earthy smell radiated around them.

Shavie could feel her eyes twitching. “Peh. [Power Till]. You just regulated how much power you used from [Earthquake]. Besides,” Shavie pointed a to the hoe blade! “You till backward, not forwards. Your Skill is a fucking lie!”

“Haha, who can say for certain though?” Paige laughed as she strolled back to the dumbfounded spectators. “Strength isn’t everything for a Swordsman. It might be hard, but trust me. I generally know what I’m doing. Markus won’t be any weaker than he was before. Now, about Isabella’s training...”