Author's note: Sorry for the late post, tests, tests and tests! College is busy man, I tell you!...the fact I began to play terraria again has nothing to do with the delay. >_>
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After that incident, both Reynald, and Larissa returned to a relatively stable daily life:
Reynald ended up in the healer’s house, every day for the month. Every time he fought, he progressed a little bit on his swordsmanship, and lasted a few breaths longer against Gerald: Unlike every other squire in the village, he had slowly learnt how to fight, from experience on fighting somebody much stronger than him, rather than learning from being taught in the ‘formal’ ways.
Larissa never mentioned the incident with the great wolf, not even to Reynald. It was as if it never happened, as she focused on training on the path of the hunter. Arnold, meanwhile, had his injuries fully healed, but yet he faked them, mostly to spend a few more days being lazy, as he swore that he will give his all in the knights’ academy.
The fleeting days had passed, and before anybody knew, it was already a day before the knight ceremony, in which Arnold would go to the knight’s academy in the capital. The lifestyle they grew so used to, was about to end.
In the shooting grounds, Larissa was standing right besides Leonard, looking rather serious for once. Not using a short bow anymore, she had switched to the longbow, which was just a foot smaller than herself. “Larissa, today, I want you to do the hunter’s test. I have seen your skills, and I believe that you are among the best in the village, even if your rank is among the lowest. I wish to change it today: I wish to see how much you have practiced during this month.” He said, as he picked a basket full of apples: 50 of them, in fact.
“The test is simple. I shall throw apples, and you must hit all of the apples with the bow. A mere test of accuracy and drawing speed. If you are unable to do something as simple as this, then you are not fit to be a hunter. If more than three apples touch the ground without your arrow, you have failed.” Leonard said, although he was lying: no test was as difficult as the one Larissa had to do today…Yet, he knew she was skilled enough.
“Dad, if I pass this, then I’ll be officially a hunter, not just a scout am I right?” Larissa said, staring at Leonard as he nodded. “Then begin the test!” Larissa said, with a smile as she nocked an arrow to the bow.
“Hasty, but I suppose that’s the way you were raised.” Leonard replied, as he grabbed an apple from the basket, throwing forward, steadily throwing apples faster and faster. First one every 10 seconds. Eventually, it shortened down to 9 seconds, 8 seconds, and still getting faster. Larissa was hitting every one of them, but missed a few already: once when it shortened the interval to 9 seconds, and another time, at the interval of 5 seconds, where Leonard threw the apple up, rather than just forward.
It was getting harder for larissa, not just because of Leonard’s throws: her breath was slowly getting more ragged, her hands began to tremble, as she shot more arrows. She didn’t even bother to count how many she missed: She didn’t have time to, she could only shoot.
Eventually, only 5 apples remained in the basket. The interval between throws was just 1 second for the next three. For the last two apples, Leonard threw both at the exact same time at the same time, rather than having an interval between them.
Larissa’s eyes squinted, as she shot an arrow, hitting the first of the two apples…and yet, the other apple…she saw it slowly falling down onto the ground. She waited for this test for her whole life, yet it was going to fail...
Entering in a state of panic, Larissa felt a surge of energy, she managed to take another arrow from the quiver, pulling the bowstring. Yet, She couldn’t control the sudden force she felt, as it was much bigger than expected: The bow, which was already quite a feat for Larissa to wield it with her size, had its string snapped due to how much she had pulled. What she didn’t notice was, that as the energy surged inside of her body, a small black aura, not too different from the incident a month ago, came from her body.
As soon as the string snapped, it felt like Larissa’s mind snapped as well, staring at the apple on the ground…
“You’ve passed, with a rather…impressive result: You’ve missed only two apples.” Leonard said, eating one of the apples which didn’t get pierced by the arrow. He was impressed, yet he did not speak up. He didn’t know how to show such feelings to those he cares about. But…there was something. Something that happened in the last second.”…And how did you snap the bowstring?” Leonard asked, crossing his arms. He had suspected something was wrong a month ago, yet he could never put his finger quite into it.
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“Uh…I just…did?” Gulping, the archer let out such words as she had a small smile on her face, and rubbed the back of her head.
“…No matter what, don’t use that power again.” Leonard replied, as he placed his hand on Larissa’s head.
“Why?” Larissa asked, now even more curious about the subject. Why was she banned from using it? She could only vaguely recall the sensation of when she used such power. It was somewhat vague, yet Larissa knew it. She knew that the sensation was not different at all, from when she touched the black mist the great wolf had.
“…It’s…it’s too early to explain, Larissa.” Leonard said, as he let out a sigh. “I have to go.” He added as he walked away from the shooting grounds, in a hurry.
Meanwhile, Reynald was standing right in front of Gerald, in the training grounds. A simple scabbard, with a wooden sword, hanged on his waist, as he finally wore something less casual than before: A leather armor. Not enough to block Gerald’s strikes, but it was better than nothing.
“Reynald, I know we’ve been sparring every day. I truly enjoy it but…today, it might be the last day we’ll be able to spar for a long time.” Gerald said, with a smile as he looked at Reynald, like a father would look at his son. Reynald just nodded, not as afraid as he was a month ago.
“You’re getting better every day. By now, I can count on the numbers of one hand the squires who can beat you, including those one year old. And so… I’ve decided. I’ve kicked the worst of the group out, for one extra year of training, and put you in his spot. Tomorrow, you’ll go to the knight ceremony. The people will surely wish to test your skill before you are accepted as a knight, though…so let’s consider this morning as a warm-up. Give me your best, boy!” Gerald said, drawing his sword. Without waiting for Reynald to reply, he already gave a horizontal slash with the wooden sword.
Yet, it was a motion Reynald was somewhat used to. Quickly, he reached for the hilt of his sword, on the right side of his waist, with the right hand. He lifted the sword upwards, while holding the wooden sword’s tip with the left hand, to block the incoming slash. As soon as he felt the slash hitting the wooden sword, he jumped, using the momentum to get some distance from Gerald.
Reynald fell to the ground, and rolled until he was in a sitting position, quickly lifting the sword diagonally in front of him to block a vertical slash from Gerald. Sweat dripped on his forehead, as he barely managed to block the incoming slash, and ruin the sword’s momentum. The teacher now lifted his foot, planning to kick Reynald away, although he quickly saw through the teacher’s move, and in the same second, slashed at Gerald’s leg, making the kick miss, just barely.
Only now did Gerald, for the first time in the spar matches, took a step back. Yet, it wasn’t to defend himself, but rather, to position himself to do a sword thrust at Reynald…and this time, the young squire didn’t react in time, getting hit on the forehead with the sword’s tip, getting knocked out another time.
“…Sheesh…you’re getting better than I expected…” Gerald mumbled. “To think you’ve lasted this long, even when I used underhanded tactics…”
“Done with training your disciple?” Leonard said, as he walked in the training grounds. “Change of plans. We’re doing it now. For the old times’ sake, I’ve came here to say goodbye.” The archer said, not giving any room to reply.
“...The deal was one month. I still have one day.” Gerald said, looking rather serious now, as he looked at Reynald. “One day, Leonard. One single fucking day before you go reckless on your own ideals.”
“…One more day, then I’ll leave. It’s dangerous around here, we need to go to the capital. For her safety.”
“You’re being too worried, nothing big will happen.” Gerald said, with a small grin on his face.
“….I hope you’re right. For the sake of us all, I hope you’re right.” Leonard replied.