RavensDagger - Black Apron - Max Level Archmaid - Chapter Forty-Four - Swordsmanship Training

Sloth cover, WIP!

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They arrived in Markarfljot with some time to spare. Unfortunately, Lucky wasn’t able to walk. She was currently being carried (like a princess) by Cricket. 

Rosario had given her a small dose of healing potion, as well as a sip from a stamina potion, and both helped the young woman, but it was clearly not quite enough because after six solid hours of lunges and carrying the pails, she had simply collapsed.

She was still impressed. 

On arriving at the city, they had to cross a large bridge across a rather wide river. Markaflokot was nestled in the foothills at the base of a small mountain range. It had several districts, each atop a different hill, and was a rather spread out city. The walls on the eastern side, across the river, were rather impressive. Each was three stories tall and thick enough to serve as a road. There were towers dotted along the wall as well, with massive ballistae sitting atop them pointing eastwards.

The guards at the gate let them in with no trouble, and soon enough they found a rather luxurious inn just across from the adventurer’s guild.

Her plan had been to stop here for the night, grab materials the next day, then continue on, but with the state Lucky was in... she chose to spend a full day here. It was a reasonable choice and it would allow the horsegirl to heal a little from the long day’s work.

She did her usual [Rogue] routine that night, then retired to get some sleep herself.

The next morning, Lucky seemed much better. “I’m sorry,” Rosario said as they had breakfast. “I may have pushed you too hard.”

“No, it’s fine,” Lucky replied quickly. “I can feel the difference already, I think.” She gripped her bicep and squeezed and even through the fabric of her shirt there was a bulge from her muscle.

“I was planning on taking off today, but we’ll leave early tomorrow instead,” Rosario said.

“I will regret saying this,” Cricket said as she joined them in the inn’s salon and slouched down in place next to them. “But the Adventurer’s Guild here has a large training yard, and there are several young sorts looking for people to train with.”

“Oh?” Rosario asked. She glanced at Lucky, who blinked guilelessly before catching on. “I suppose that we could find different partners for you to train with. And you as well, Cricket.”

“I was correct. My wisdom did not fail me, but my mouth did. I could have kept mum! I should have stayed silent! And now? I feed coal into the furnace of your torturous ways!”

Rosario dragged both of them to the Adventurer’s Guild an hour after breakfast, making sure that they both brought their training weapons. Cricket had no issue entering with her guild card, and the [Clerk] at the entrance took one glance at her level and job and let her in as well, though they did have to explain that Lucky was a prospective member going through early training for her to be allowed in.

The training ground of the guild was an open space with several squares on the ground that were edged by logs and filled with loosely packed sand. A pair of young men, both with [Guard] as their job in the late teens, were wrestling in one of those squares. 

Further out, a man was holding a wooden sword and very obviously instructing a trio of others on how to move with it. “That seems appropriate,” Rosario said with a gesture. An [Inspect] on the teacher came back with an interesting result.

Huron Dunecrawler

[Blademaster] - Level 52

A third-tier job, similar to her own [Swordmaster] but with a slightly broader focus. 

The man noticed them approaching and lowered the wooden sword he held. His eyes scanned all three of them, even as his students turned to stare. “Good evening, gentleladies,” he said with a kind but severe and serious voice. He was an elf, or perhaps half-elven? The man was certainly tall and lithe and his ears were pointy, though not nearly as long as her own.

“Good evening, [Blademaster],” Rosario said. She noted that most of his focus was upon her. “I was wondering... I have a young woman here than I am training. I was wondering if it would be possible to join your lesson here, this morning?”

The man’s lips thinned. “I see. A master is always in want of a disciple. Though... what are the qualifications of this young [Soldier]?”

“Her qualifications?” Rosario asked.

“Her talent,” he replied. Then he gestured to his own three disciples. “Vernon McCormick here is the son of the McCormick knightly family. Wayne Levine here is a talented young fighter that rose in the ranks before becoming my disciple. And Dean Hamilton here is the son of the famed Hamiltons, and is Dawntown trained in the art of swordfighting.”

She glanced over the three boys, [Inspect]ing them in turn.

Vernon McCormick

[Swordsman] - Level 19

Wayne Levine 

[Gladiator] - Level 31

Dean Hamilton 

[Blade Dancer] - Level 18

All second tier jobs, like what Cricket had. If she had to guess, the oldest of them was in his late teens, which as far as she was aware, but them all at slightly above the average level for their age. Perhaps that wasn’t surprising with a [Blademaster] as teacher.

“I see. Lucky here had no talent,” Rosario said.

Lucky flushed red, and the grip on her training sword’s pommel tightened. 

“Then why would a swordmistress accept her?” Huron asked with a quirk of his brow. “She has the build and appearance of a farmer, not a future [Swordmaster].”

“I said she had no talent,” Rosario replied simply. “Talent, as you seem to describe it, is the inborn ability to be greater. A head start. A genetic advantage. She has some speed, and good health, but that isn’t talent, merely good circumstances. No, what Lucky has is determination. In my experience, that is more important.”

“Hmm.” Huron touched his chin. “Perhaps. Then how would you propose that we do this?”

Rosario bowed her head a little. “Simply. We have three arenas here? We take turns. Your boys fight Lucky, then Cricket. Do not hold back. I will provide healing. We stop once Lucky gives up.”

“You think she will win?”

“Oh, no, not at all,” Rosario said. “I think she will spend the day eating sand and gaining bruises. Your boys will gain some experience sparring with Cricket who is a challenging foe to touch. Lucky will learn why her footwork and stance are important.”

The man sniffed. “An awful way to teach,” he said.

“I learn by example,” Rosario said with a shrug.

He wasn’t entirely dismissive, however. “I could be tempted. At a cost, however.”

“Name it,” Rosario said.

“First... I wish to see your blade, and then I wish for you to demonstrate your ability with it.”

That was... an interesting offer. She thought about it for a moment, then accepted and undid the leather fargo holding her scabbard in place. With the sword and sheath unhooked from her belt, she held them before her and slowly slid the sword out, then knelt and placed the scabbard onto the ground.

The blade was technically a rapier, though it was very much a transitional one. The blade was relatively thick near the ricasso, like a smallsword, but it quickly became slender. It had an elaborate swept hilt, though it didn’t have much of a basket to it. It was, of course, perfectly balanced so that her index touching the guard could swing the entire blade around.

[The Silver Saint's Needle]

Enchanted Smallsword - Fourth Tier

Enchantments: Everkeen, Unbreakable, Sundering, Spellcleaver, Vorpal, True Strike

Huron inhaled deeply while looking at the blade, then his brows rose when she flipped it around and held it by the blade, offering him the hilt.

“No,” he said after obviously fighting with himself. “I shan't. Though the extension of the offer is... appreciated, Swordmaster Thorn.”

“Certainly,” she said. “Cricket, could you fetch me some paper?”

Cricket shrugged, then flounced off to do just that, returning with a sheet of white paper from the office indoors. The blademaster and his students watched as she prepared a small, simple demonstration.

She tossed the page upwards, and it sailed up, then came down.

Rosario swiped her sword through it, moving just slow enough that they could see and holding back so as to not cause any great wind.

The paper fell, intact.

“I don’t get it,” one of the boys said.

His master cuffed him behind the head. “Do not question the swordmistress so,” he warned, then he turned curious eyes onto Rosario. “Though, truth be told, I also fail to see...”

Rosario smiled. “The mark of a master of the blade and indeed the sword, is that we can cut anything, is it not?” she asked and Huron nodded. “Then, what is the next step, if it is not to learn how to move beyond that, to discover the freedom of when not to cut?”

The space was silent, then there was a sniff.

Huron found a handkerchief and dabbed at his eyes. “Thank you, Swordmaster Thorn,” he said before clearing his throat. “I... I think I'm beginning to understand.”

He bowed, and she curtsied back.

It was, of course, utter bullshit, but he was eating it up.

“I will go first, and as one so deeply humbled, I only hope you will join the rotation, so that we may learn more,” Huron said.

Then he gestured for Lucky to take her spot in the middle of one of the sandy pits. She did so, very reluctantly, then accepted one of the wooden training swords from off the rack. 

“Are you ready?” Huron asked.

“Ah, I think so, Blademaster Huron,” Lucky said.

“Good.”

He moved forwards with the full speed of a man well into his third tier, sword sweeping through the air lightning fast. It caught Lucky on the lower leg, below the knee, and flipped her. She hadn’t even gotten a muscle to twitch before she was horizontal in the air.

For all of the speed and force, it was a gentle attack. She landed relatively softly in the sand with a poof and a cough, but was otherwise uninjured.

“Next, I suppose?” he asked.

“Indeed,” Rosario said. “Cricket, do you want to be next? We can have you take the arena next to Lucky’s?” Cricket was shaking her head violently, her arms swinging into a large X, then out to the sides in the universal umpire symbol for ‘no.’ “Good, take your spot, Cricket.”

The morning, then afternoon, then early evening passed thus. Blademaster Huron and then all three of his boys would fight them one at a time. Lucky would have the snot beaten out of her, though the boys eventually learned to slow themselves down to a pace just beyond what she could handle.

Then they’d fight Cricket and get their cardio in. Cricket couldn’t keep up with Huron at all, but against the three younger men she was a menace. Her skills didn’t lend themselves to striking them, but they made her impossible to hit. She’d bounce, flop, fall, jump, and tumble away from swings and stabs, making space with return attacks from the many unsharpened knives and practice blades she had on her. 

The boys won seven times out of ten, but never once did they win without working for it.

And then they’d fight Rosario.

She allowed them to make some efforts, which she suspected was why they quickly allowed Lucky some room to breathe as well. They’d strike, and she’d parry. She decided that she would hold a tall fencer’s pose throughout, and wouldn’t move a foot, and so she didn’t, simply standing in the middle of the arena and deflecting blows while punishing over-comitments with fast retaliatory strikes. She held back enough that no one earned anything worse than a bruise to the body or ego.

Huron was a better combattant, and frankly, he was more experienced than she was.

If it wasn’t for skills and significantly higher stats, she’d have been embarrassed by the man. He even forced her to move a few times.

Though, in her own defence, her only fights so far had been against two Titled and their entourage. They had not been spars were the intent was to sharpen one’s skills.

The evening ended when the sun did, and Rosario invited the group to a nice dinner. 

They had to carry Lucky over again, but Rosario was sure the woman had picked something up from it; she had levelled up to 4, after all! 

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