Nathan didn’t feel rich at all. “A silver an hour? Are you out of your mind? You know I had to kill a lot of goblins to get what little money I have? Almost died, even! I can’t afford that!”
The old man didn’t look impressed. What was impressive was the little wooden block the man was whittling on. While the man’s arms looked thin and fragile, his knife moved around quick and with purpose as it shaved of a bit of wood here and a bit of wood there. Almost as fast as the eye could see. He looked up at Nathan as he spoke, and all the while the knife kept moving. “My prices are fair. Look at it as an investment. With my help, you’ll be able to hunt even more goblins, and then you can afford even more lessons. Everyone is a winner!”
“You are that good of a trainer, are you?”
The man laughed as he scratched his short beard with backside of the knife. “No, but I expect you to be that bad of a student. Even now, looking at you, I can see your faults. As an example, your posture is all wrong. You stand straight up as if you are at a parade. A hard breath of wind could have put you on your back. And you don’t even have a weapon. There, you even get a lesson for free; Get a weapon. My, I am generous today.”
“I have weapons,” he argued. “Besides, it’s not as if I’m gone be attacked right now.”
“Oh, you can see the future, can you? Then perhaps you don’t need my training. No loss for me. I have plenty of other students.”
“Where? Where are your other students?” Nathan asked in disbelief, looking around the small but clearly marked training compound. Besides the human-sized hay targets, the area was deserted.
“Around”, the man asserted.
As Nathans irritation was starting to show on his face, his eyes were once again drawn to the figure in the man’s hand. A moment ago, it hadn't looked like anything, but now it was clearly in the form of a little animal. A cat, perhaps?
He checked the time and figured he could play for a couple of hours yet. “Fine, you win. 3 silvers for three hours.”
“Good!” The man jumped to his feet as if he was a teenager. “First hour is free, so that will be 2 silvers. Since you are a friend of the village, I can also offer you a quantum price. Buy 5, get 6. So, 5 silver for 7 hours. Up front, of course.”
Nathan sputtered. “Now you suddenly give me a better price? Why didn’t you offer me a free hour earlier?”
The man looked a bit flabbergasted. “Well, everyone gets a free hour. That’s just common knowledge. Now that you mention it, though, there have been fewer takers than I expected. But I’m easy. If you want to pay full price, I'm not arguing.”
“For some reason I doubt that” Nathan muttered to himself while counting out the coins. “Here, 5 silvers. Can we start immediately?”
“We can. Just a second,” Bernard said as he disappeared the coins inside his vest. For just a second his face went slack, and his eyes went empty before he seemed to snap back and became even more intense than before. He quickly looked around, taking in the whole area, before his eyes finally rested on Nathan. “Right then... Eclipse. So, what kind of training are you after?”
“I have a spear and a mace I use for melee, and a crossbow for ranged. I think I’m ok with the crossbow, but I could need some pointers with the others.”
“Sounds good. Let’s start with spears.” The gray-hair had a pouch similar to Nathan’s, but his looked to be of greater quality. He pulled out a training spear with a blunt wooden end and tossed it to Nathan, before he pulled out a similar one for himself. “I want to start off by evaluating your current level. Just go over there and hit one of the targets as you normally would.”
The training spear felt exactly like his own, both in weight and balance, or at least similar enough that Nathan couldn’t feel the difference. He got in position, and stabbed forward a couple of times, hitting the target in the head and torso.
“Freeze!” Bernard walked around him, as Nathan stood still. “The main advantage that spears have over other weapons is its range. Being able to hit your opponent without them being able to hit you. Simple, right? But that advantage is not worth anything if you are not actually using it.
“First, you are holding the spear as if it is a quarterstaff. I you want to twirl it around and hit enemies with both ends while you’re doing flips and shit, that’s all well and good, but then you should use a different weapon –and also train for a couple of years.” The old man slapped the knuckles of Nathan’s hands, before moving them both to better positions further back on the shaft. “You hold it like this, and you use the right hand to move and aim the spear, and the left to balance it. The left should be straight as you stab, while the right should be bent so that you can adjust to the enemy's position.
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“Second, you have to use your legs more! I can see in your movements that you have some hand-to-hand or martial arts training, but you are using it incorrectly. Instead of using your legs and hips as if you are going to throw a haymaker, use them as you would when throwing a jab. Step forward with your left and kick off your right using a straightforward power vector, then move back to your initial position after the attack.
“Third, and least important, if you want to get the best range, lean forward as you stab. This can be dangerous if you are also inside your opponent’s range, but if you have the range advantage, that could give the extra centimeters you need to get a good hit. You could also pivot on your left foot and stab one-handed for extreme range, and while that move has its moments, you lose control of the weapon and run the risk of being countered. Anyway, we’ll get back to that and other more advanced moves and positions later, when you have the basics down. Now, hit the training dummy again, only do it properly this time.”
This went on for the first two hours. Nathan would attack the dummy, and Bernard would instruct him through criticism. Harsh, but effective. After the demanding trainer was satisfied with his spear work, they did the same all over again, only with a training mace instead. Using the experience with the spear, the progress with the mace was faster, and Bernard nodded in approvement at the end of the third hour.
“Yes, this is much improved. Possibly even adequate.” Bernard collected the training weapons and deposited them into his bag. “I think you are ready for actual sparing next time, unless you want to learn the basics for another weapon? Or a shield, perhaps? I recommend you get one, by the way, as it will complement both your weapons. But nothing so heavy that it impedes your movement. A buckler would work nicely, but something a bit larger would also be fine. Anyway, good work today. I’ll be here waiting until next time.”
Nathan thanked Bernard for the training and headed over to Ruth’s shop to see what he could afford.
“Hi there, Eclipse! Welcome back. What can I get you today?” he heard as soon as he walked in.
“Hi, Ruth. I’m looking for a couple of things, but I’m also here for inspiration. Do you have any belts?”
“I sure do! Did you have anything special in mind?” Ruth indicated a small area with different belt-variations available, everything from a thin simple rope to woven colorful creations.
“Yes, I need a leather belt with a way to securely attach this so that I can quickly reach it at any time.” He pulled out the mace and showed it to Ruth. “Ideally, I also want to attach two daggers in the back facing opposing directions, and if there are some loops or something like that to attach other things, that would also be nice.”
Ruth looked at the mace while rubbing her chin. “That one is too long to comfortably hang from your waist in a way that you can grab the handle and start swinging. All the weight is at one end, meaning it will swing around while you move and probably trip you up. You could use a baldric with a thick shoulder strop and have it across your back instead. You would have to throw back your cloak to reach it, though. Still quick, but not as quick as drawing a sword. Combine it with a thick leather belt, and you should be covered."
Nathan pictured himself heroically pulling out the mace from over his shoulder mid-spin while fighting an overwhelming group of goblins, then pictured himself tripping over a fence and getting clobbered in the privates by his own mace. Both things would probably be entertaining for any viewers, but he knew which alternative he himself preferred. “Do you have something like that?”
“No, we would have to have it custom made. We have the parts, so it shouldn’t take long. If you want the daggers included, the price is 3 gold and 4 silvers. Just for the belt, it will be 1 gold 6 silver. I’ll even throw in a way to hang a sword from the belt, if that is of interest. Mind you, this includes the discount you get for being a friend of the village, so don’t go and talk about this price to anyone else. Don’t want to give anyone unrealistic expectations.”
Nathan silently cursed himself for paying so much for the lessons, although he had to admit that he did need them. “How about 1 gold and 5 silvers if I promise to come back and buy the daggers here when I can afford them?”
Ruth looked at him through thin eyes while the edge of her mouth twitched downward. After a short while -which felt much longer- her hand shot out to seal the deal. “Agreed, but don’t think I will not hold you to that. Until you deliver on your promise, no more discount.”
Nathan didn’t like the sound of that as he had also wanted to buy some armor and prioritized that ahead of the daggers. Perhaps he should also have prioritized it ahead of the belt, but it was too late for regrets now. Besides, it was a good price. Or at least he thought it was. He counted out the agreed price –all in silver as he didn’t have any gold– and checked how much he had left. 5 bronzes. Shit.
“When will it be ready?” he asked after Ruth had recounted his coins.
“Come back tomorrow and I’ll have it ready for you. Until then, anything else I can help you with?”
“No, that is all for now.”
“Great, then I will have to ask you to leave. There is a village meeting, and as one of the elders I have to attend. While I am gone the shop will be closed.”
“Eh... sure,” Nathan agreed and moved outside, closely followed by the shopkeeper.
She didn’t actually lock the door or anything, but as she walked away both the inside of the shop and the area outside immediately surrounding the door grew dimmer. Looking at it, it certainly gave the impression that it was closed.
Just out of curiosity, Nathan tried to push the door open, and sure enough, it was locked.
Ruth had already reached the tavern, which would host the meeting in a private room at the back. Some other respected villagers also moved in that direction, so Nathan figured the meeting would start any second. He briefly considered following them so that he could see what Bruce wanted to speak about, but he was mentally tired after the fighting and the training and decided that it was no harm in waiting. Besides, it was time to log out.