A few days had passed since I asked Mrs. Kaite about her recommendation for a combat instructor, and he finally showed up to meet me.
"Hey, I heard your apprentice was looking for someone to teach them how to swing a weapon. Is she free to have a chat right now?" A large man with a low booming voice came into the back with Mr. Darius.
"Do you think you could have her back to me in a few hours? I was gonna be teaching her something new today, and I'd still like a chance to get started on it. But she's not got anything important going on here otherwise. So, let's get you two introduced. She's right over there, I'll step out so you can talk." Mr. Darius didn't stick around and was back out in the shop in just a few seconds.
"Hello there, my name is Amara. I assume you're the one Mrs. Kaite sent my way to help teach me?" I put my hand out for him to shake.
He seemed surprised at how small I was, probably expecting someone further along in their apprenticeship or even someone with a full class. Regardless, he took my had and shook it. "I'm Alex, and yes, I was asked to come by Mrs. Oaks. She was pretty adamant that I wouldn't regret at least meeting you. She gave me a basic rundown on what you needed from me. You need a combat instructor right?" I nodded. "Well, I suppose I'll have to at least test you and show you the basics. It shouldn't take too long, and by the end of it we'll both know if we want to keep meeting up for training."
"That sounds good, let's get to it then. Where are we going to train, Mr. Alex?" I started walking towards the door.
"The only decent place for weapons training is one of the guards' training grounds. Luckily, the one we're going to us usually fairly empty, so I can teach you with few interruptions. It's near the outer wall, follow me." He headed out of the forge, and I kept close behind.
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"Alright, it's time to see what you can do, Amara. First thing to do is test out how well you can use a weapon. Kaite asked me to help because you plan to use a hammer, right? Well, I've got a training hammer right here, so let's start." He tossed me a large wooden mallet.
"First, try to swing that mallet at this dummy's shield to see how you handle the rebound. After that hit the dummy as hard as you can." He stood to the side and I took my place in front of the dummy. I could clearly see some enchantments in parts of the dummy, probably for durability or regeneration magics to save money.
I gripped the hammer and swung hard against the shield, trying my best to hit it in the center. As the hammer impacted the center of the shield, I could feel the hammer give a little, and a crack spread across the wooden head. The hammer bounced backwards and I stumbled with it.
"Well done, we'll have to work on that. Now go again." Mr. Alex was nodding with his hand on his chin.
I got set to hit the dummy again, and swung as hard as I could, aiming for the center of the chest. The hammer impacted the center of the dummy, and promptly splintered into pieces. The previous damage had weakened it too much, and the force of the blow caused it to shatter. In the center of the chest however, an imprint of the hammer's head was left, showing just how much force I had put into it.
"Holy shit!" Mr. Alex shielded his face from the shrapnel and cursed. "How did that even happen? These hammers are meant for guard apprentices, usually up to level seven! At your age, you shouldn't be past level five at most!"
"Well, I usually don't tell people my level, but for someone planning to teach me, I suppose it's important for you to know. I'm currently at level 8, and for a blacksmith, you should understand the importance of strength, right? Please keep this quiet though." I hoped he wouldn't tell anyone about this, as it was unusual for someone in a crafting profession to gain experience before graduating, and especially not enough to get to my level.
He put his hand up to his forehead, and sighed. "This is entirely unexpected, but it explains why Kaite was so certain I'd be the best to teach you. It seems like we'll have to get right into the basics of how to use a weapon like yours. First, would you let me hold it for a second? I need to get a feel for the weight you'll be working with on your own." I handed my hammer to him and he tossed it around a bit. "This is quite a light hammer for the size, what is it made out of? I've not really seen anything like it before. It probably has the weight of a hand axe instead of the war hammer it is."
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"It's a special type of mithryl that I made with a friend's help. As far as I know, only this hammer and her sword are made of this metal." He handed my hammer back to me, clearly deep in thought now.
"It seems like I'll have to get something special for you to train with. A wooden hammer isn't going to match the weight well enough to really teach you how your own weapon will act when you're using it on your own later on, and doesn't seem to be durable enough to withstand your full strength, so I'm going to have to get you a metal one. I think a basic iron one should be enough, but it'll take me a day or two to track down a suitable one. What time are you free to join me here?"
"Usually, I'm at the forge until dinner, then I do magic lessons afterwards, but I should be able to either get out of the forge earlier some days or take some days off and alternate magic practice and weapon practice. There is also a chance that I could leave home earlier in the morning and meet you before going to the forge. Which of those do you think would work better for you, Mr. Alex?" I was a bit worried that he would have some sort of issue with the scheduling.
"If that's the case, I have guard duties during the morning, and am pretty much only free to teach you three times a week in the afternoon or night. Alternating your magic training sounds like the best option for me. I'll come by the smithy again once I've got your new training weapon, and I'll give you the training schedule then too. I suppose that we've got some time to teach you a few of the basics with a spare hammer, since we won't be having you hit anything. Give me a minute." He went over to grab a spare hammer, and started having me swing it over and over again to teach me the correct way to do so.
We did this for a few hours, changing the way I was holding and swinging it a few times. It was kind of tough work, and by the end of it I had definitely worked up a sweat.
"I think that's enough for today. You're improving at a great pace for a newbie. But you'd better get back to the smithy before D Darius tests me a new one. I'll see you again later this week to iron out plans. You remember the way right?" Mr. Alex seemed impressed with my progress, and I had to say, all this training was pretty fun, too.
"Yeah, I'll see you later in the week Mr. Alex!" I rushed back to the forge to finish off the day's lesson.
"So how was the crash course with Alex? You seem as energetic as ever." Mr. Darius seemed to be waiting for me at the entrance to the forge.
"It was really fun. But I did break a hammer during the tests he gave me." It was evident by my face how I felt about it, and Mr. Darius started to chuckle.
"That sound ls just like you. They underestimated the strength of a blacksmith's apprentice, it seems. That'll teach them to judge a girl by her looks yeah? So, broke the shaft of the hammer with the impact?" Mr. Darius grinned at me.
"Oh, no. I broke the head of the mallet during the tests. It shattered and threw splinters everywhere. But it definitely surprised Mr. Alex a whole lot." I was beaming at him.
"Well, that says a whole lot more about your strength then. If you don't mind me asking, how high on average are your stats?" Mr. Darius was cautious about nobody being around while we talked.
"Well, it's an average of about 50 I'd say right now. Excluding karma and luck, of course. But apparently they can't really get any higher before I graduate for a special reason that I would prefer not to get into." I nearly whispered the info because it was very sensitive. "With how important keeping this quiet is, maybe I should try to get some sort of skill for hiding things or avoiding eavesdropping, yeah?"
"Might not be a bad idea, and all you'd need to do is focus on that sort of thing while talking in a group. With your comprehension speed, it shouldn't take long at all to gain a skill like that."
"Thanks for the information, master. We should really get back to my lessons now though, shouldn't we." I grabbed my hammer off my back and got back to work again.
I spent the rest of the day as usual, working the forge and then doing magic training.
'I had fun today with my new instructor. Did you do anything exciting, Ciara?'
'Not really. Mom and I have been tracking a beast through the forest getting set to ambush it for an adventurer request. It hasn't been particularly fun or exciting, but it's always great to learn new things about my job! I should probably get some shut eye though, it's a long day ahead of us tomorrow. Have great dreams, Amara.'
'That sounds like a great bonding experience, and sweet dreams to you as well!'
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Nothing eventful happened in the next few weeks. Mr. Alex got back to me with a working schedule for our training days, which I brought to Trix and Ms. Jasmine just to make sure it worked with them, which wasn't a problem. I steadily trained up my skills with a weapon, and even gained the [Hammer Novice] (Lv. 1) from all the hard work.
Everything was proceeding smoothly and I settled into a routine that sped time by even faster, up until the point that another month had passed, and suddenly, in the morning right after breakfast, I heard Mama shouting my name.
"What's going on? Is everything alright Mama?" I came scrambling into the room with her, worried something had happened.
"Amara, go find your father and then get Mrs. Blanche, the baby's coming and I need her help as fast as I can get it!"
I was frozen to the spot for a second in surprise, then rushed to get everything she had asked me to do done. I processed what she had told me while I was rushing around and a smile bloomed on my face. I had to let someone know how excited I was, and the most important one was just a thought away.
'I'm about to be a big sister!'