When I reached the forge that Azarus had mentioned, I found that he was rummaging around in a large cabinet in the back. Looking around, I could see that the structure was pretty well outfitted, as far as I could tell. There were tables, large metal cabinets, and tools all over. There was also the forging area itself, as well. There was the expected large anvil and a spacious kiln with an oversized bellows resting nearby. Azarus was sorting through the largest cabinet in the room.

He must have heard me come in because he spoke to me without turning around. “Oi, come over here.” He said to me, motioning me closer behind his back.

I did as he said without complaint. As I did, I was able to make out the contents of the tall cabinet better. Haphazardly stacked inside were weapons of all shapes and sizes. Swords, daggers, maces, spears. You name it, I could see an example inside. Actually, the cabinet seemed to hold much more than its admittedly large size seemed able to hold.

“Is the cabinet enchanted or something?” I asked Azarus curiously.

He turned away from his rummaging to give me an incredulous look. “That’s what you have to say? Look at all of this! Ain’t you impressed? I made ‘em all meself!” He said, slipping deeper into his accent and gesturing to the weapons.

“Cool, I guess?” I said uncertainly. “Dude, I don’t know the first thing about weapons. It’s the magic that catches my interest the most.”

Azarus slumped. “Aye,” He said tiredly. “Standard spatial enhancement. Not uncommon. Now enough of that. We need to pick you out a weapon. Now I know this is a long shot, but do you have preferences?”

I shrugged uncertainly. “I mean, I’ve always thought swords were kinda cool? Doesn’t everyone?”

“Hmm.” Azarus stepped away from the cabinet to size me up. I shifted awkwardly under his gaze. “A sword, eh. Probably not a good idea.”

“Why not?” I asked curiously.

Azarus scratched his chin under his beard. “Well, despite what the stories tell you, swords are bloody difficult to use. You can’t just pick one up and start waving it around without practice. You’re more likely to hurt yourself than the other guy.”

“I mean, you’re the expert.” I paused. “I assume, anyway. I never did ask you what your Professions are.”

Azarus blinked before nodding. “Aye, that’s right. I didn’t think about it. Well anyway, I’m a Weaponsmith and a Construction Engineer.”

“Construction Engineer? If that means the same thing as it does back home, you…design and build, I guess buildings?”

Azarus shrugged before waving his hand back and forth. “Eh, sort of. There’s some nuance to it, and it’s a bit wider than you’d assume. But that ain’t important right now, we’re talking weapons. You have any other preferences?”

I stared at him flatly. “Dude, I don’t know. You’re the one who makes them, I’m guessing you have an idea about what I should use.”

He scratched the back of his head embarrassedly. “Ah, well. You’re right, I do. I just didn’t want to hand you something you’d hate if you had something in mind.” He cleared his throat. “I’m thinking we start you off with a spear.”

“Pointy stick, got it.” I nodded.

Azarus rolled his eyes. “A bit more than that.” He said sarcastically. Turning back to the cabinet, he groped around inside of it for a moment before grabbing hold of something. Pulling it out, I could see that it was a spear. Plainly decorated, it seemed to be roughly seven feet in length and made of dark brown wood. The actual point of the spear seemed to be leaf-shaped and formed of a shining silver material, probably steel. “Catch.” He lightly tossed the weapon in my direction.

I started before fumblingly catching the spear. Holding it in my hands, I was surprised at how light it felt. I guessed it might only weigh somewhere under ten pounds. Looking up at Azarus, I said. “And what am I supposed to do with this?”

Azarus jerked his head in the direction of the doorway. “C’mon, let’s get you a little more comfortable with that.” He walked past me out of the forge. I followed him, still carrying the spear. Once outside, I saw that Azarus had moved a little bit away from the forge in the open area in front of his house. Coming to stand not far from him, I rested the butt of the spear in the grass.

Azarus crossed his arms. “Now, at your level, a spear ain’t too complicated. You pretty much just need to know how to thrust, how to block with it, and how to smack things away from yourself. Give it a go, yeah?”

I stared at him blankly for a moment before glancing around. “What, on you?”

He nodded encouragingly. “Yup.”

“What if I hurt you?” I asked nervously.

Azarus uncrossed his arms and stifled a chuckle into his fist. “You won’t.”

“I mean, are you sure?”

He threw up his hands. “For godsakes, just poke me already!”

“Alright, alright already,” I muttered. Taking a deep breath and grabbing the spear with both hands, I set it horizontally. Exhaling, I stabbed the spear forward at Azarus.

The spear point stopped on contact with him. Hell, it didn’t even rip his clothes. I stared uncomprehendingly for a moment before realization set in and I felt embarrassed. Of course you weren’t going to hurt him, dumbass. He’d kind of alluded to being high-level the other day. I drew the spear back.

“Not bad for a first try,” Azarus said, unbothered. “But you’re holding it wrong. Get in a stance again.”

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I did as he said, this time without question. When I did, he moved over to my side. Grabbing my hands, he moved them on the spear.

“More like that. Gotta change your footing, too.” He said. He nudged my feet into different directions as well. Taking a step back to look at me, he tsked. “Straighten your back and set your shoulders.”

I did as he said. The new stance he had put me into felt a little awkward and I told him so.

Azarus nodded. “Aye, it probably does. You’ll get used to it though. Might pick up Spear Proficiency today. Give it another go, yeah?”

I gripped the spear firmly in the new stance and thrust at him. This time, even I could tell that I had delivered more force. Still stopped on contact, though.

“Better,” Azarus said, nodding. “Let’s try a block next, yeah? Set the spear up across your body.”

I set the spear up horizontally around shoulder height with my hands spaced evenly on the haft.

“More outward,” Azarus told me.

I did as he said.

“Alright, now I’m going to smack it a little. Try and keep a hold of it.” Having said that, he stepped closer and brought his right hand up in an axe shape, and chopped down lightly at the midway point of the spear.

I buckled, not anywhere prepared for the amount of force he’d delivered in that one tiny chop. The spear itself visibly flexed and creaked from the blow as well. I managed to keep my hands on it, though.

“Not bad,” Azarus said musingly. “Let’s try again, yeah? This time, set your feet a bit more.”

He chopped down again. This time, I was better prepared for the blow and handled it much better.

“Alright then. Let’s run through those two exercises for about, oh, maybe twenty minutes?” Azarus said, pleased. “Only really got that much time. We don’t have all day. I can show you how to fight better another time.”

With that, we did as he said. We alternated between practice thrusts and blocks for roughly twenty minutes. Over time, I could tell I was getting better and better at both of them. Actually, it was somewhat uncanny how quickly I felt that I was advancing. When we finished, I told Azarus that in between tired breaths.

Azarus smacked his fist into his palm and nodded. “Aye, ya definitely got Spear Handling then. You can check your General Talents later. Picked that up right quick, didn’t you?”

I was leaning forward with my hands on my knees at this point. It had been a long time since I’d done so much exercise at one time, and I wasn’t used to it anymore. Looking up, I said to Azarus, “Aren’t mages supposed to be more about flinging around fireballs and stuff, and not as much about the pokey-stabby? Why’d you learn how to use a spear?”

Azarus tilted his head, puzzled before realization stole across his face. “I never mentioned it, did I?” He scratched his beard again, embarrassed. “I’m not a Magi. I’m a Cultivator. We’re exactly the sort to learn how to use weapons. And I didn’t just learn how to use a spear, I learned how to use everything. Managed to pick up the General Talent Weapon Handling as well. I’ll tell you, that took me a fair bit of time to do.”

General Talents, huh. I was too tired to ask him about it now. I figured I’d just ask Grey later. Finally catching my breath, I stood up straight.

Azarus nodded at me. “Good?” He asked. I nodded back at him. “Alright then. Let’s get this show on the road, yeah? Hand me the spear. Can’t let the guards see you carrying around a weapon or there’ll be trouble.” After I handed him the spear and he slung it over his shoulder, he set off in the direction of the clearing exit. I jogged to catch up with him.

“What, we don’t need armor or something if we’re going to fight monsters?” I asked him.

He shook his head, not looking over at me. “Naw, no point. Nothing around here could hurt me, and I ain’t going to let anything even touch you.”

Alright then.

Once we exited the clearing and reached the side road that ran between the forest and the mansion, we didn’t turn right like we usually did. We turned left. I asked Azarus about it.

“Entrance to the forest is around back of Magnus’s bloody huge house,” Azarus answered, unbothered. “Nothing for us in town. Just fields beyond the walls in that direction.”

I nodded quietly. We proceeded along the path for maybe ten minutes in comfortable silence before I could see an exit up ahead. Not turning to face me, Azarus muttered loud enough for me to hear. “There’ll be guards up ahead.”

I said nothing, falling back behind him and adopting a similar posture to the one I had used in town earlier. I guessed I was going to call this slave mode, as morbid as that sounded.

When we passed through the exit at the end of the path, I could see that another clearing lay on the other side. Risking small glances to the other side, I could see that the forest ran all the way up to a wall along the back of the clearing on my left. The wrought iron fence that surrounded the mansion continued along the back of it with only a small gate set into the back of it out to my right. Across the small, empty clearing, I could see a gate set into the large wooden wall, not quite as big as the gate at the entrance of the town. Slouching on either side of the gate were two more of the guards-dwarves that I had seen patrolling down.

As we entered the clearing and started making our way over to the two guards, they caught sight of us. Straightening up, I could tell they were trying to look more professional. We stopped right in front of the gate. Azarus addressed the guard on the left.

“Heading out.” He grunted at him before reaching for the lock on the gate. The guard on the right cleared his throat.

“Taking a slave with you this time, Lord Azarus?” He asked nervously.

Azarus turned a gimlet eye on him. “Got a problem with that?” He glowered.

The guard held up his hands. I could tell he was sweating slightly. “No! No problem, my lord!”

Azarus turned back to the gate. “Good.” He said roughly. He finished unlocking the gate and shoved the large wooden doors open with one hand and stepped through. I followed him, keeping my head down. Once I was through, Azarus turned around. “Going to be out for about three hours. Don’t,” He said warningly. “Lock it.”

I could see that both guards nodded vigorously. Azarus grunted again and then shoved the gate closed behind us. As the gate was closing, I could hear the left guard furiously whispering at the guard that had been on the right.

With the gate closed, we both turned around and stepped away from it. Relaxing somewhat now that we were away from prying eyes, I could make out what was outside the walls. It was a much larger clearing than either the one Azarus’s house lay in, or the one we had just left. It was filled with curiously cut short grass with a tree line on the far side of the clearing, this time with no discernable path that I could see.

Azarus had relaxed somewhat as well. Turning to me, he handed me back the spear. I took it from him.

“Alright,” He said to me before nodding in the direction of the tree line on the far side of the clearing. “We’re heading over there.”

We started marching across the clearing. As we did so, I was able to make out some curious marks that had been left in it. Sometimes I would see a large, brown stain left in the grass. Others, I would see a patch of burnt grass extending in a star-burst pattern. All over though, the ground seemed curiously churned up.

It gave me a bad feeling.

When we reached the far side of the clearing and were standing right in front of the tree line, Azarus turned to me. “Now, I ain’t going to let you be in any real danger in there.” He started seriously. “But you have to listen to me, alright? Stick close, don’t wander away, and do what I tell ya. You’ll be fine.”

“Alright,” I said, my voice breaking slightly. I cleared my throat. “Alright, I got you,” I repeated.

Azarus clapped my shoulder reassuringly with one hand before turning around and striding into the forest.

I followed him nervously.