“You don’t have to worry much about your early opponents at the tournament, Young Terrin.” Lindwal said as he performed a downward strike on me using a big blunt sword, similar to Takana’s weapon.

“Why is that?” I wanted to block it with my two blunt daggers but I refrained from doing it, I wasn’t confident if could entirely block it. Instead, I saw an opening and dodge to the left. After the strike hit the ground, it left a deep mark. It was a wise call to dodge it.

“Most of the people you will be fighting are sheltered nobles whom, granted, have had extensive training due to their wealth but they haven’t experience any real battle. That’s your advantage over them. Experience.”

“Is that so…?”

Lindwal nodded. “Though, it’s not my intention to inflate your head. Best still be on your guard.”

William only wanted me to defeat Galbero. And if I had an advantage like that, I could easily defeat him. I’d fought monsters ten times larger than Galbero and end up defeating them. Though of course, I still didn’t think I could beat them. My lack of confidence always stopped me from thinking such things.

As I went to the left to possibly inflict some attacks on Lindwal, he spun, twisted his right knee and kicked me with incredible force. For an old man, you’d thought his kicks would be weak but that was far from the truth. Even though I blocked it with my arms, his kick literally sent me flying across the field.

What the heck is with that kind of kick?

I stood up, my mind a bit wobbly. After a couple of second, I regained my composure and brushed off the dirt on my hair.

“My apologies, Young Terrin, I am old now and have forgotten how to control my strength. My body simply does not listen to me at times.” Lindwal apologized. Even his apology was so full of dignity and pride.

“It’s all right. You did say earlier you would be rough…” I chuckled wryly. Damn, didn’t expect this training to be that hard. Someday, I’d really like to smack Takana on the head.

“Yes…Galbero’s strength will someday rival my strength. I’d suggest avoiding any direct hits when fighting with him. With your frail body, three direct hits on your head or chest might cause you to be knocked out.”

After advising me, he went for the offensive. With speed you wouldn’t see with an old man, he hammered his weapon at me. I immediately dodge it but before I could bounce back, another attack surprised me.

With a slash, and knowing I wouldn’t be able to dodge it, I blocked it. But with only one blunt dagger. As expected, the dagger broke and shattered, leaving me defenseless against the raw force of Lindwal. As the weapon hit me, I, again, was sent flying. This time, though, I hit a tree and completely lose consciousness.

What a strong opponent… I thought as my eyes get blurry while seeing Lindwal hurriedly coming closer to me.

*

Later, I find myself resting on my bed. I had no idea how I’d gotten there or what happened after my practice with Lindwal.

As I looked around, to my surprised, I found Risa and Merry both seating down while their head rested on the bed. They must have been waiting for me to wake up. These two were such worrywarts but I didn’t find that so bad at all. In fact, it made me smile because they genuinely cared for me.

I poke Merry, who was the closest to me, and woke her up. As she woke up, she was glad to see me doing okay. Risa followed suit but she was still worried as she checked if my body still hurt.

“I’m fine now…I think.” I stood up and stretched my body. I didn’t feel any pain or discomfort. “How long had I been out?”

“You’ve been out since yesterday,” Merry said as she stood up. “I’ll go get some water for you.”

“Man, I didn’t know Lindwal was that strong,” I said as I stretched again.

“He is the head security, after all, and he’s serving William. I did expect him to have some fighting spirit within him.” Risa sat down the bed, sinking on the soft and fluffy bed. She stretched her back and let out a relaxed sigh as she slept in an awkward position earlier.

“Will you be okay during the tournament?” Risa asked worryingly.

“It’s not like you to worry that much,” I laughed jokingly. I patted her head, her pink hair fluttered. “I’ll be okay. We have to kill William and bring you to your sister, right?”

Risa nodded and Merry came back to the room with a glass of water.

I found out after Lindwal knocked me out, Kihana came to heal me. She healed my wounds and bruises but couldn’t wake me up from my unconsciousness. Nevertheless, I planned to thank her. Also, it seemed Takana showed up and made fun of me. He knew I wasn’t going to die from that, so he took his sweet time to laugh until he got bored. Typical Takana.

We found Elird training with Takana on the open field. In the end, he chose to be a Warrior. I didn’t understand how Takana managed to convince Elird on being a Warrior but no matter what it was, it worked. Takana sometimes had a way of convincing with people, just like what she did with Fuyuki at Roq. Maybe it was because of his brazen personality. Nah, surely, Takana annoyed Elird to the point he had to accept being a Warrior.

The tournament would start with the Rookie bracket up to the Champion bracket. Elird had joined the Rookie bracket, that was why he hurriedly chose a class and immediately practiced. He wanted to capture the eyes of the nobles, hoping he would be able to woo a young noblewoman.

“You’re not gonna last in the tournament if you hit like a girl!” Takana enthusiastically shouted. He grinned from ear to ear as he defended an attack from Elird. Though he had a shield, Takana refrained from using it and instead used his colossal sword to parry Elird’s attacks.

“Damn, you’re tough, Takana!” Elird was grinning, too. They were both enjoying it. Sweats fell off Elird as he repeatedly bashed his big weapon on Takana. Similar to Takana, he also had a shield and he also didn’t use it. It was most likely about their pride and stubbornness and not being lazy about using their shields.

Takana blocked Elird’s attack with his weapon and overpowered him with it. As he was being pushed back, Elird decided to take a step back. “Even though I attacked you countless times, you never got pushed back, Takana. I think my opinion of you is changing.”

Takana’s eyes happily bulged and the thought that someone would respect him made him grin from ear to ear. “Ha! Finally someone accept my coolness! Praise me more, Elird. Tell me how cool I am!” Just as he saw hope, despair immediately dawned on him as he uttered his downfall.

“On second thought, it might have degraded more…” he started to furrow his brows, as if questioning why he even started to admire him.

Takana lowered his head as if admitting defeat. Then all of a sudden, he shouted at the top of his lungs and charged towards Elird. “I’m going to kill you, brat!” He looked like a monster mercilessly attacking a prey. For someone who’d been with Takana for a long time, I didn’t find it scary as I knew it was only a façade at best. But for Elird, it was a whole another experience.

“Who are you calling a brat!? We’re almost the same age!” Even though he was a big man, Takana was fast. Elird only had a moment to dodge or hold his ground but in his eyes, he had already decided what to do. He put one foot forward and bent both his knees. He readied his sword to deflect Takana. In other words, he chose to stand his ground.

Within the span of a moment, the winner was decided. As Elird held his shield to block Takana’s incoming attack, Takana grinned widely. It turned out that whoever used their shield loses the practice match.

As we approached the two, Kihana and Fiss gave both of them towels. Along with us, they were also watching. Again, was this some sort of couple thing I didn’t understand?

“Man, you didn’t even make me sweat,” Takana mocked him while wiping himself.

“Huh!? You’re wiping yourself right now!” Elird pointed the towel and even pointed the sweat falling out of Takana’s face.

“For a second, I thought you were gonna cry earlier, Takana.” I interjected.

“Elird needs to train more if he wants to make me cry,” he then looked at me. “How about you, Terrin? The old man knocked you out good. That was so funny, though.” He laughed as he remembered what happened yesterday.

“Yeah, never knew Lindwal was that strong…”

“Of course, he’s strong! How could you not know he’s strong!?” Takana furrowed his brows. I knew he was strong but I might have underestimated him a bit due to his age. “It’s because he looks like an old man, isn’t he? This is why you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. Actually, even in the cover, he looks strong! Didn’t you see the way he carried himself? Full of pride and dignity, Lindwal is a true warrior, I tell you.”

“Yeah, I might have overlooked that part…” I said, remembering the times Lindwal would discreetly show his strengths. “Well, that’s over now and I’ve learned my lessons.”

“Good, good,” Takana confidently nodded as if he did something deserving of praise. “I heard the one you’re fighting has the same class as me.”

“Yup and that’s why I wanted to train with you in the first place,” I looked at him in disappointment.

“Hey, don’t look at me like that! I told you, if you’re helping William, I’m not going to help you.” he looked away, trying to escape my dissatisfied eyes.

“You should have asked me to train with you, Terrin. I have more or less the same strength and power as Takana…” Merry’s stares sent shivers on my entire body. Oh boy, was she angry.

“I wanted someone who uses a big sword, and you’re probably too fast for me, Merry. I wouldn’t be able to keep up with you entirely…” I said apologetically.

“Is that so…?” an awkward atmosphere filled the air and it made Takana annoyed.

“You two should get a room!”

“For once, I agree with you, monkey,” Risa interjected with a mocking compliment.

“Right? Wait, who are you calling a monkey, huh!?”

“But she’s right, though. You are a monkey.” Merry said coldly. It made the group laughed and erased the awkward mood.

“Well, Takana is a good monkey, if that’s the case.” Kihana smiled at Takana. Needless to say, he looked a bit speechless as he heard those words from Kihana. It might have even shut him off. Thank God, now I could finally talk to Elird.

“So, big day tomorrow, huh?” I said to Elird. It felt nice talking to him as if we’d been friends for a long time. I guess our situations created memories, huh?

“Yeah…”

“Are you nervous?” Merry kindly asked.

“Well, it is my first tournament…”

“Don’t be nervous!” I looked at Risa questioningly as she shouted him a words of encouragement. “These people will be around to cheer you.”

Who are you and what did you do to Risa?

“How about you? Aren’t you going to watch?”

Risa nodded. “Yes, yes. Risa would rather not watch a bunch of rookies, you see. I know it gets tedious fast.”

There was the Risa I knew. Her brief yet sharp words could penetrate even hearts covered in hard shells. Her cold personality against humans never ceased to be frightening. Well, at least Risa was right about one thing. We would watch his fight until the end.

As Elird sunk in despair as Risa mercilessly murdered him after giving him encouragement, Takana began to laugh. “Hehe, that was good, Risa, I’ll give you that.”

“Risa doesn’t need compliments from an idiot monkey.”

“This kid…”

Nothing much happened after that. Elird and Takana continued to practice while the rest watched. As for Fuyuki, she was alone with William. I hope her training went well.