Chapter 38: Talents

Kat just told Lupy to do whatever she wanted. While they were all generally trying to avoid fatalities during this conflict, preserving their own lives was more important. These guys had gone out of their way to chase the girls down. While the blame seemed to lie mostly with the young knight in charge of the group, there wasn’t anything Kat could do about it. Perhaps Bandit could sneak up on the guy and take him down before Lupy had to fight through the other twelve soldiers, but that could backfire.

Things were complicated by the fact that some other adventurer had bumped into them just as they were fleeing from the squad of soldiers. As far as Kat could tell, he was a few years older than them but hadn’t been an adventurer for very long. He must have gotten separated from his group in the confusion. She didn’t have any responsibility to watch out for his well-being either, but the way he was willing to face down an entire group of soldiers to defend the three of them was touching. Kat didn’t want anything bad to happen to him. Despite Lupy’s rough treatment of the boy, she probably felt the same way.

As a last resort, the girls could put the young man to sleep or otherwise quickly incapacitate him with abilities. That way, they could go wild without revealing their secrets. Kat didn’t want to do this if they could avoid it. She was low on mana, and the other two girls weren’t particularly skilled or practiced with casting magic. If they screwed up, they could get overwhelmed or possibly allow some of the soldiers to escape. Even if things went well, they’d have to eliminate all of the soldiers as well as the knight. It would be better if the girls could simply overwhelm the group with fundamental skills.

While Kat was thinking this through, Lupy drew her axes and stepped toward her opponent with an unhurried gait. The soldier facing her took an instinctive step back at the way she approached so calmly and confidently.

“Have you even fought human opponents before, girl?” the soldier asked, drawing his sword and bringing his shield forward in a defensive stance.

Lupy paused her approach, eyes slightly wide. “Obviously.” Her expression became neutral again as she stepped forward.

“It’s not obvious at all. Even for adventurers, young girls—“

Both axes plowed into the man’s cheap shield, burying the bits from toe to heel. One of the axes has contacted his wrist, lacerating his skin and drawing a small amount of blood and a very loud grunt of pain. Before he could counterattack or step back, Lupy yanked on the shield with both axes, somehow pulling it free from the man’s arm. He jumped back in surprise.

Lupy raised the shield over her head by both axes, releasing a martial artist’s shout as she pulled her weapons in opposite directions, shredding the shield. The pieces scattered and fell to the ground.

“W–What the hell was that!” the soldier screamed.

Lupy plodded toward her opponent once again.

“Th–That’s not something a normal person can do!” The distraught solder fell down all on his own and tried to squirm away from Lupy.

“On your feet, Soldier,” the knight commanded, voice cold as ice.

Lupy hadn’t been walking particularly fast so the soldier managed to regain his footing and take a two-handed stance with his sword. He raised it and waited for the moment Lupy stepped into range. With a grunt, he brought his sword down as fast as he could, making no attempt at finesse.

Rather than block or redirect the sword slash, Lupy simply sidestepped out of the way of the attack. When the soldier lost his balance again and stumbled forward, she kicked his shins, causing him to fall flat on his face. Lupy hopped into the air, raising her legs into a cross-legged sitting position. When she came down, her full weight landed on the soldier’s upper back. She lowered one of her axes to the man’s exposed neck menacingly while holstering the other. Lupy reached out with her free hand and picked up his sword. “I want to try this.”

“I–I give up!”

“There’s no giving up. Goodbye.” Lupy centered her axe over the man’s neck like she was measuring something then raised it up for a large chop.

“W–Wait!” the knight yelled.

“Lupy!” said Kat, taking the knight’s side on this.

The ax descended before anyone could move to intercept. As it neared the man’s exposed neck, it came to an abrupt stop in a display of considerable arm strength. She leaned down to whisper. “I was just kidding.” Lupy hopped off of the man and trudged over to the point she started the battle at.

As Lupy arrived back at her starting position, everyone else started breathing again. The young man who Lupy had tossed backward a few minutes ago was gaping. Kat shook her head back and forth in exasperation while Bandit just rolled her eyes.

A couple of soldiers helped the defeated man to his feet and pulled him away gently.

“Girl…” the knight began, thinking about what he wanted to say next. “Where did you learn to fight like that?”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“Quests? Fighting monsters?” Lupy answered, although even she didn’t sound convinced by her own words.

The knight turned to one of his men. “What do you think?”

“Nay,” the soldier responded. “Those moves were specialized. There’s something she’s not telling us.”

“Well,” the knight replied, “we’ll just have to drag it out of her.” He pointed to someone else. “You, go next.”

The soldier was clearly reluctant but he didn’t argue. He stepped forward and took a fighting stance.

“Don’t allow her axes to impact your shield square,” said the knight. “Deflect at angles and overwhelm her. But don’t kill her. I’m curious what her story is.”

Rather than accept the advice quietly, the soldier said, “Sir, she’s not dual-wielding axes this time…”

“Hm?” The knight turned back to Lupy, noticing that she had an ax in her right hand and a sword in her left—the sword she confiscated from a soldier a few moments prior. “Girl, have you trained with a sword?”

“No,” Lupy answered honestly.

This time the knight shook his head in exasperation. “Whatever.” He glanced at Bandit, who was quietly watching from behind Lupy, then looked back to the battle. “Go.”

Lupy and her opponent charged at each other from the get-go this time. As she pulled her arms back and braced her legs to release two devastating swings, the soldier further accelerated his forward motion, pulling his shield back for a shield-bash. In response, Lupy shifted her weight slightly and delayed swinging her arms.

The soldier’s action wasn’t affected by Lupy’s adjustment. He proceeded to shield bash her with his full power. Shortly before the shield made contact, Lupy jumped backwards, greatly reducing the impact she took when the shield struck her midsection.

The soldier had a clear view of what happened, but he needed a moment to shift his weight before he could bring his sword arm to bear. In contrast, the impulse forcing Lupy’s body backwards provided the push her arms needed to strike immediately. Utilizing conservation of momentum in a way she was surely unable to explain with words, she brought her ax down on the soldier’s extended upper arm while stabbing the sword forward toward the center of his abdomen. Since she was reaching around the shield with her small body, her ax couldn’t quite reach the man’s shoulder or she’d be unable to stab him with her sword.

Although the soldier had begun to swing his sword at Lupy in a descending diagonal, the blows to his shield arm and chest armor spoiled his balance, causing his sword to redirect toward the ground. Before the tip could meet dirt, he’d already let go of the sword. Although the damage to his body was greatly reduced by armor, his arm had taken an absolutely brutal blow. He stumbled backward while trying to support his left arm with his right. “I—I give up! My arm!” He grunted in pain and collapsed to his knees.

“Just what the hell are you!?” the knight bellowed.

“I’m Lupy.”

The knight ignored Lupy and turned to Kat. “Healer girl, heal him!”

“Why?”

“Why!? He’s going to lose his arm if you don’t do something!”

“I’m low on mana. You heal him.”

Bandit tilted her head, surprised by Kat’s unusually sharp tone.

“Me?” the knight asked. “I’m not a healer, you fool. Of course I can’t heal him. My unit isn’t assigned any healers. Isn’t that immediately obvious?”

“None?” Kat brought her hands to each side of her face. “Why did you abandon your healers and chase us into the woods, then?”

“Y–You damn cat girl…”

“I’m not a damn cat girl, I’m Kat.”

“…What?”

“If you apologize and call me Katherine then I’ll heal his arm.”

The knight was turning red. He drew his sword and took a step towards the three girls.

“Wait, Sir!” one of the soldiers shouted from over where he was trying to help his injured comrade. “For now, let’s get her help!” The man turned to Kat. “Miss Katherine, we’re sorry for any rude words. Please help him. He wasn’t involved in the offense.”

“You!” The knight clearly didn’t appreciate the way his men were going around him.

“Okay!” Kat stepped over with Lupy and Bandit following closely behind.

The remaining soldiers stepped back to give her room.

“I didn’t say—“

“Heal!” Kat announced, pointing her staff at the injured soldier’s half-severed arm, cutting off the knight before he could get any words in edgewise. “Heal! Lupy, your attacks are insane. Heal!"

A heavily-breathing Kat inspected the man’s arm. Once she confirmed it was on the mend, she stood and marched away along with Lupy and Bandit. Lupy was the first to turn around. “Next!”

The soldiers looked to the knight. He narrowed his eyes at Kat, then Lupy, then turned to address the soldier he was questioning earlier regarding Lupy’s skills. “Well, what do you think now?”

“It’s a talent.”

“What?”

“Sir, it’s a weapon talent. I’m sure of it.”

“Not special training or the like? What makes you so sure?”

“We already knew she was skilled with axes, but the way she handled the sword was surprising. From that ridiculous position her stab was perfect, even though she was attacking with an ax at the same time, all while getting pushed back through the air by a shield… If she was older I’d say it’s possible she just happened to master both of those weapons, but, that timing…”

“Precisely what type of talent?” the knight inquired.

“Either bladed weapons or melee weapons, probably. I bet she can wield a spear well too. Offense and defense.”

“Oh, spears are fun!” Lupy interjected.

Ignoring Lupy, the knight continued his questioning. “Just what is a talent? Have any of you heard of this before?” He glanced at the remaining soldiers, most of whom immediately shook their heads.

“Sir, talents are extremely rare. I’ve only ever heard of a couple, although they’re mostly just rumors. Apparently, one person was spotted hiding inside their own shadow.”

“Hah! Preposterous.”

“Maybe Sir, but I’m sure talents are real. She’s gifted with certain types of melee weapons, or maybe all melee weapons, and probably just doesn’t understand it yet. The Guild hasn’t even noticed, I bet.”

“If what you say is true, then the Union’s Guild has a remarkable asset at its disposal, no?” The knight’s question was rhetorical, but one person was unlikely to notice that.

“We’re not from the Union,” Lupy explained.

“Lupy, you don’t have to…” Kat trailed off and gave up.

“Hm, now that you mention it, a party of all beast-kin in the Union does seem unlikely. Where are you from and why are you here?”

“We’re from the Holy State,” Lupy continued. “A dragon asked us to go east and look for—“

“Wait, a dragon!?”

“Yes!” Kat replied, cutting in before Lupy could say anything unnecessary. “We just happened to be there when a dragon requested adventurers. I don’t really understand what happened, but he asked our party to go east and tell him later whatever we saw. The Union Guild hired us to help just today. That’s why we’re here.”

“So you’re interfering with our liberation just because some Guild employee asked you to?”

“Liberation?” Kat repeated. “What is that?”

“Liberation is when—“

“Oh, is that why your army was hiding in another country?”

“Y—You!” The Knight was turning red again.

“Whatever! Let’s continue!” said Lupy.

“Yes… let’s continue.” The knight gestured to another soldier. “Don’t hold back.”