“Are we there yet?”

“...”

“Are we there yet?”

“...”

“Are we—”

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!”

Myr watched as James and Webb quarreled with each other on top of a Walker. She’d thought that it’d be rare to see James lose his cool, but apparently, Webb knew just how to push his buttons.

And, despite having been told to shut up, Webb continued his teasings. Made Myr wonder why James hadn’t replaced Webb yet. Or maybe James’ grooming me to be his replacement?

Unfortunately for him, Myr had no intention of joining his guild. But she was going to take advantage of this in every way she could. Starting with… actually getting James to train her.

Myr took a deep breath. She was only a Walker away from them. Tensing her leg muscles, she leaped the gap and landed on James’ Walker.

“H-Hey, d-do you remember what you said before?”

“...About training?”

“Y-Yes.”

James frowned. Clearly, he’d forgotten about it. After a few moments, he spun around and grabbed Webb, who was sneaking up on him and threw him onto Myr.

Myr reflexively caught Webb in a bridal carry and blushed as she dropped him onto the cold, hard floor of the Walker.

“You two, go scout. And Webb, teach Myr how to use the sword.”

“But boss—”

“No buts.”

Grumbling, Webb grabbed Myr’s hand and jumped off the Walker.

.

.

.

.

“Legs spread. Shoulders relaxed. Eyes straight. Got it?”

Myr nodded. She did exactly as Webb told her. But soon, she felt his hands on her body.

“Just fixin’ your posture. Don’t kick me again.”

Myr took a deep breath and kept her eyes straight. Well, at least he’s telling the truth. She couldn’t feel any malintent coming from the vice-captain.

But her eyes shook. However innocent Webb’s touches may be, they couldn’t help but send shivers through her body. She tried her best to keep the flush from rising to her face and tried to distract herself.

But in this clearing in the forest, there was nothing but trees and grasses.

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“And… perfect. Now thrust!”

Myr obliged and jabbed with her rapier. Hearing the clean sound of her blade splitting the air apart, she knew that her posture was perfect!

As she turned around, completely ecstatic, she found Webb smirking at her. “Enjoyed it?”

Myr blushed furiously. She stormed off into the forest without leaving a word.

“Hey! Wait up!”

***

Shit, did I take it too far?

He’d only intended on messing around with Myr for a bit, and maybe get in her pants too. But seemed like he did too much.

Webb ran through the forest, frantically looking for the new recruit. And he soon found her. However, something was a bit off—Myr was standing there, frozen on the spot.

But Webb didn’t care. He quickly approached her and tapped her on the shoulder. “H-Hey, I’m sorry, okay? Let’s finish scouting before boss gets on our asses.”

But Myr didn’t answer. She quietly took out her rapier and got into a stance. The same stance that Webb had just taught her.

How does she do it so flawlessly? Even he was mesmerized. But Webb didn’t have time to linger on that thought any longer, as he suddenly heard a loud cracking noise followed by a loud bang.

Sharp pain then came. Webb could only take a glance at Myr before he was knocked into a nearby tree.

A shadow appeared right before Webb. It was an animal of some kind—not that Webb was in any position to figure that out. He raised his twin swords up and quickly blocked the claw of the beast.

But his swords broke.

He realized he was fucked,

And the beast did, too.

Time was seemingly stretched to infinity as he held his breath and gazed at his executor. Just as the beast was about to strike again, a small rock hit its head.

“Kitty, over here.”

The beast turned around. It bared its fang at Myr, who had just annoyed it.

Despite having just escaped death, Webb pried himself out of the tree and coughed up some blood. He still managed to get out a few words between the wheezes. “D-Don’t— I-It’s fast!”

Myr didn’t seem to care. She carefully got in position and circled the beast.

Absolute silence.

A leaf fell,

And the beast disappeared.

A loud clang rang out as Myr’s rapier and the Beast’s claws met mid-air. She directed its attack toward the ground before stabbing its body with her stinger.

The beast growled. It alternated its gaze between Myr, Webb, and its wound, before retreating behind the trees.

After the beast was gone, Myr sheathed her sword and quickly ran up to Webb.

“Y-You alright?”

“Damn girl, taught that cat a lesson, huh?” Webb coughed. He’d finally figured out what the beast was. And he didn’t like it.

“D-Don’t talk. T-The wound’s going to get worse….” Myr reached into her backpack and took out a roll of bandage. Then, she ran around the forest to find any usable plants.

***

“T-This is gonna hurt.”

Webb suppressed a grunt and sighed. “Wow. Very helpful. You told me WHILE you’re doing it.”

Myr simply kept silent. She finished applying the herb to Webb’s side wound before plopping down to the ground and wiping her sweat.

“W-What was that?”

Webb picked up his swords and inspected them. Seeing that they were now useless, he threw them away and took out a pair of daggers instead. Only then did he answer the question.

“Shadow Panther.”

“...I-It’s just a big cat. W-Why are you so grim?”

“Yeah, a big cat. I can handle it if I wasn’t distracted. But they’re supposed to live in the South only.” Webb looked at Myr expectantly. But the Wyvern girl simply shook her head.

“A-And?”

He sighed. “And they’re not supposed to be here! Either some caravans transporting exotic beasts crashed or—” He threw one of his daggers into a nearby bush. A grunt, followed by a loud thud rang out. “—somebody took ‘em from the South and trained ‘em.”

Blood flowed from the bush. Myr could feel her entire body shivering in fear. Someone was… there?

Webb grunted as he stood up and walked over to the bush. He pulled out a dead body from there.

“Ah, bandit scout. Same as the guys we killed, I think. See this, recruit? Even if the battle’s over, don’t let your guard down. You’re lucky this guy’s only here to scout.”

“So…”

“So get your ass up!” Webb slapped Myr’s back. “We’re going back to boss.”