My thoughts were a confused mess as Elise disappeared. I didn’t have a reason to doubt that she had called off Clarise, but I was still wary as I made my way over to the gated community and inside. Almost instantly I felt safer, but common sense told me that was a foolish way to think.
Today had been a mistake. Leaving the house had been a mistake. After everything, I was still thinking like this was earth. Like the cities would be safe and well policed, or at least that violence and kidnapping wouldn’t be quite so openly done. Though, have cities on earth ever really been safe? Better than this to be sure. I never had to worry about things, provided I stuck to the streets and the daylight.
But this wasn’t earth. And I wasn’t one of a faceless mass here, able to simply walk about as though it was my right. I had come with Ophelia, and tied myself to her by agreeing to help her. And her enemies had likewise become mine. I thought that had meant the competition alone, and that even the visit by Clarise the day before had been something odd but not dangerous. I understood now that that wasn’t the case.
“What now…” I grumbled to myself as I entered the front door to the Eilif manor. I did the shuffle about, getting dinner from the cook and learning that Ophelia and Titus had not yet returned. They had sent a messenger however, informing me that my new teacher would arrive in the morning, and they would be back in the afternoon.
I went to bed that night frustrated and annoyed. I didn’t really have any intention of going on that ‘date’ with Elise. Turns out, I have absolutely no compunctions around lying my ass off to get out of a dangerous situation. And I still didn’t understand why she wanted me specifically. Realistically, I should be an awful choice for someone with actual options. I wasn’t particularly powerful, I wasn’t a fighting genius, and I didn’t have any special skills.
The only things unique about me were the Paradigm Shift Device, the relative rarity of a ranged barrier user, and coming from a different world. And really, she shouldn’t know about any of those yet. Perhaps an informant had told her I used barriers, that was a possibility. A likely one even, considering how quickly Clarise had found us. It shouldn’t be common knowledge, but I hadn’t hidden it back at Maugdlin.
She should want a capable partner with influence in the city or even influence with one of the city's trading partners. Lacking that, I knew there were families who made careers out of being elite fighters and mercenaries. One of them would easily outclass me in combat talent and training.
I buried my face into my pillow and yelled, trying to clear my head. Why even bother thinking about it? Without so much knowledge that I just didn’t have, trying to make an educated guess would end with unsubstantiated conjecture. I’d set myself down the wrong path. What I needed to do was figure out a way to break my word about the date without sullying the reputation of Ophelia’s family.
I gave up. My head was hurting from the stress, my eyes were burning from exhaustion. The adrenaline had left me long ago, and all that it gave me in parting were sore muscles and wobbly knees. Three deadlines were on the horizon. 3 days until my ‘date’, 7 days until the induction, and 18 months until the competition. Whatever the outcome, I had to be stronger. Today had been a wakeup call of sorts, and I knew I wasn’t going down a path where just existing in this world was a possibility anymore. Not unless I wanted to just book a ride out and hope I ended up somewhere better.
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The next morning I got up feeling much better. My muscles were no longer sore, my head was clear, and the sunshine coming through my window did more to appease my mood than anything else.
“Sunshine?”
Ah shit. I had overslept, no doubt. The true daylight here was always short, starting much later and ending much earlier than it had in Maugdlin due to the high mountains on all sides that blocked out much of the sun’s light. If the sun was overhead, it was already nearing noon and the teacher was supposed to arrive in the ‘morning’ which… was really damn vague.
Grumbling, I got dressed. “Better not be some damn ‘your late’ bullshit lesson thing.” I put on my usual attire, once more supremely grateful for the dungeon’s reward. Self-cleaning and self-repair were fantastic enchantments and it made the gear excellent to be worn day after day without smelling or falling apart.
As soon as I was dressed, I darted down the stairs to the kitchen and found the cook. He was the only member of staff I really saw regularly, and he had introduced himself as David.
“Morning David! Did that teacher arrive?”
“Ah, yes. About an hour ago. He told me not to wake you.” The cook handed me a plate of something that looked like potato and scrambled eggs hashed together. Not a bad breakfast, though I really wish I had some bacon. I missed bacon.
“Well dammit. Did he seem upset?”
“Not really. Amused perhaps?”
“That does not bode well.” I said, sighing as I did my best impression of a vacuum cleaner and ate the food as quickly as possible. Upset would at least be reasonable. Amused was worrisome.
David and I exchanged a few more pleasantries as I finished my food and put the plate in the sink. He was a nice guy and so far I had enjoyed our quick talks about food, cooking, and just general news. A wellspring of well-meaning information that man was.
Once I finished my food, I headed out the back door into the courtyard. The courtyard was a wonderful affair. Surprisingly lush for this climate, it was excellently maintained, with large winter shrubs grown into a privacy fence around the property. Most of the land was dedicated to flat, open areas covered in dirt and sand, making its primary purpose as a training field obvious. However, the areas closest to the manor were more delicately maintained with a series of winter plants and some type of rosebush that managed to bloom into beautiful red flowers despite the cold. The blooms of that bush were beautiful, a deep blood red tinged with ice yet to melt in the spring sunlight that was just beginning to come over the mountains.
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My reverie however, was quickly interrupted. As I stood there, gazing about, I heard a strange whistling noise for the briefest of moments before my left shoulder exploded into pain. The blow brought me to my knees as I clutched my shoulder and let out a slew of profanity so wide and verbose that a sailor would be blushing. I shall spare you the details, but I was quite liberal with my usage of words best kept out of polite company, I assure you.
When the pain finally faded, I turned my head and stared at the person who had done it. On first instinct, I wanted to call him old but that didn’t quite feel right when I got a better look at him. The man was tall, standing a good head over 6 feet. He had jet black hair peppered with that amount of gray that helped men get better jobs and that women tried to cover up.
He was wearing a simple tunic of faded blue, darker lines hinting at what had once been words of some kind that had faded from the garment long ago. Flowing pants hid his legs entirely, making it hard to judge exactly where they were, and soft leather boots kept his steps almost silent. His mouth had an amused line to it, and a wooden sword hung loosely in his hands.
“Awake now, right?” He asked, a cheshire grin on his lips as he looked me over. “At least you are still here and not running off. The youth in this house some days…”
“Fuck. Off.” I grumbled, standing up and still rubbing my shoulder. It was numb, but the feeling was lessening by the moment.
“Next time, be on time, and I won’t have to hit you.” He walked over to a weapon rack that had been set up recently. “Now, Titus said you use a spear in his letter, yes?”
“I do… about five feet long.” I answered warily. So it HAD been a ‘be on time’ lesson. A damn painful one. “Are you the combat instructor?” I asked, making the decision to not let that one interaction completely turn me away from learning. One thing has changed for me since coming here. I could handle the mental stress of combat far better than I had any real right to. Pain, fear, all of it melted away if I willed it to. Perhaps that was an effect of the focus core, or perhaps it pertained to one of those attributes the PSD mentioned being raised?
“I am. I am your instructor for everything in fact. Titus explained your situation to the normal instructor, and she requested that I attend in her stead. Considering you need a lifetime of lessons distilled into under two years, someone able to give you their full attention seems more appropriate.” He was grinning again. I did not like that grin. But… if I could get strong enough that I didn’t have to fear walking the city? Would it be worth it, only time would tell I suppose.
“Then let's get down to business, I suppose…” I felt unsure, but I had to at least be willing to try, or why was I even here.
The man tossed me the wooden spear, a training weapon that wouldn’t cut, but looked like it could certainly break some bones. It was hefty and a bit flexible. Not a perfect recreation of my own real weapon, but close enough to learn from I suppose.
The next hour was spent in relative silence. I fought with everything I had, but my teacher had absolutely no problem repelling every attack I thought to give. On the other hand, I was quickly covered in bruises as he repeatedly struck through my defenses. Even when I started to employ my barriers, he was quick to redirect his attacks, or simply overwhelm my ability to cast them.
The man was better than me, obviously. But the difference in skill and strength was so overwhelming that I couldn’t land a single hit on him for over an hour. I tried, I really did. I went as far as to kick dirt up into his eyes, try to stab his feet, and even pulled out my tome once and threw a force bolt at him.
That last one was what ended the encounter. He somehow managed to smack away the small bolt of force with his hand, then stepped in, sword stabbing forward and striking the tome itself, sending it flying away.
“You shouldn’t use those.” He said, stepping back. “They are a crutch that can be taken away in a moment's notice.”
“It's not like I have a lot of options right now.” I said, heading to pick the tome up and slide it into a pocket of the robes. “You saw how my fighting is. This is my only option if I don’t want to get killed.”
“Still. You do not want to become reliant. The spells these can offer are weak, mana inefficient, and the book itself is delicate. A small flame is enough to set it ablaze. If you rely on this instead of your own body, you’ll find that it fails you in a critical moment.”
He had a point, and I knew it. But the tome had been keeping my ass above water for awhile now, letting me attack without fear of death. And it was the only offensive thing I had in my arsenal besides the spear.
“I can see you are reluctant to give it up…” He sighed, shaking his head. “I won’t take it from you. But, you will not use it here. We have a lot of work to do, and I don’t want you building up bad habits, so refrain from using it anywhere, if possible.”
“I can manage that. So teach, what are we doing next?” I asked, curious. And just now realizing, I had never gotten his name. I asked, but he just shook his head.
“Just call me teacher. That will be fine. Names have a power to them you know.”
I didn’t know actually, but okay. “Fine. So teacher, what next?” I asked again, letting a little impatience into my voice.
He seemed more amused than annoyed by this, but he continued his lesson. He gave me feedback on what I had done wrong during the spar, commenting on every part of my weapon handling. Then we took a break, and spent another hour on learning the history of the land I found myself in. Once we were both rested, He began a physical routine to develop my body’s strength and agility.
“We will meet every morning at dawn, before the sun breaks over the mountains. Every fourth day will be a rest day. Is this acceptable?”
“It sounds fine, but I still have obligations to Ophelia.”
“I know. I shall accommodate anything your mistress requires of you, of course. She is the one paying for your training, after all.”
It made sense, but the admission still surprised me. “I didn’t realize…” I said, lips pursing into a frown as I thought that over. I suppose someone had to pay the man after all.
After he left, I went to David and got a late lunch. While I was eating, Ophelia and Titus finally returned. I don’t know much about footsteps typically, but the ones that I heard approaching the dining area sounded…. angry.