Chapter 2 - When Tested

  The testing out phase of the training was coming to an end and everyone was currently preparing for the sparring sessions, carefully considering their options on what runestone they'd be using.

  Ren had settled on the grease spell. After the slight commotion, he had asked Sam if he could try out another stone. He wasn't that curious about the healing spell, and he definitely wasn't too keen on bothering everyone with a giant smoke cloud. Or at least, that's how he'd imagined it would go. He thought about using the strength spell, but eventually decided against it as he got scared he wouldn't be able to hold back and badly injure his opponent, or even himself.

  The participants were assigned as pairs within each group. A total of eight matches would be ongoing at the same time, each with an officer overseeing them. There was a bit of a down time as the officers were still setting things up.

  Ren figured he'd check on Tujin's group to see how he was holding up. And he'd found him diligently repping some practice swings.

  "Did you get a tough one?" Ren asked as he neared him.

  "Yeah. That big guy over there." Tujin nodded towards the guy's direction. "I saw him usin' the buffin' spell, too."

  Tujin calling someone big was pretty rare. Sure, it wasn't that unusual seeing a few brawny looking men in a mercenary camp, but this guy got him sweating. He should be avoiding a straight up contest of strength if he wants to win against him.

  "Well, which one did choose?" Ren said. He wouldn't have picked the same stone, right?

  With a grin, he showed Ren the runestone in his hand. Ren recognized it immediately and sighed in resignation.

  "Really? You're going head to head with that guy?"

  "Oi. You think I'll be losin' to some muscle head?" Tujin asked, disappointed with his friends reaction.

  "He's basically a giant. Look at him!" Ren voiced his concern.

  "Bah! I know what I'm doin'. When you're that big, you'll be slow and predictable. Nothin' I can't handle."

  Ren relented when he heard his answer. He could tell that Tujin had at least some sort of plan going into this.

  "You, who'd you get?" Tujin asked.

  "It was some guy named Miller, I think."

  "Miller… Miller. Hmm, sounds familiar. I know I heard of him before."

  After a while, the groups were called to gather up again. It was time for the first round of matches.

  "I should head back. Do your worst out there." Ren said.

  "You too, kid. You look pretty confident, though. Seems I'll be keepin' this little pouch of yours."

  "Uh huh. You better treat me to some food after this." He said as he left.

  Ren was more hopeful than he was confident. The captain personally guaranteed him a spot if he did well. It got him thinking. What Tujin said was right, about this being an opportunity they shouldn't pass up.

  The first match was already about to begin when he got back to his group. Sam was explaining a few rules to everyone.

  "I'll be stepping in when it gets too dangerous. Remember to make use of the runestone. You won't get a chance to use one in a practice match like this too often. And the winner of the match gets to keep the stone they chose as an incentive to try their best." Sam finished explaining. That last bit in particular peaked the group's interest and got a number of them pumped for the fight.

  Sam walked inside to the sparring area and referred to the list of names he was holding.

  "First up, Devon and Harriette! Step inside, please." Sam called out.

  Two individuals made their way through the crowd and stepped inside as instructed. Harriette, having a smaller build, was at a slight disadvantage against Devon. They both wore leather armor and were equipped with a wooden sword and a steel buckler.

  Ren was familiar with both of them. Like him, they were new recruits who joined around the same time. He'd sparred with Harriette before but not Devon. Harriete being one of the few women here, made use of her speed and agility to make up for her petite frame. This was a style that Ren was well-versed in, as he also had to compensate for his lack of strength.

  "Lightwork, Devon!" Some of the recruits cheered him on. "She don't stand a chance!"

  "Are you both ready?" Sam asked, eyeing the both of them. After getting a nod from each he shouted. "Begin!"

  Harriette made the first move. She sprinted full speed at him, readying a swing. Devon dodged to the side and parried a follow-up before countering with a near-miss, forcing her back. But like a spring, she bounced back into close range, unleashing consecutive attacks, strike after strike. Devon stood his ground against the nimble Harriette, and was doing his best to block and parry with his buckler. He'd defend against three or so attacks before he could throw one of his own. It was a close back and forth. Neither of them have a clear advantage. The match went on like this for a while as each of them refused to miss a beat.

  Devon, perhaps getting impatient, activated his runestone and instantly overpowered his foe with brute strength, tipping the scale in his favor. Harriette had to focus completely on dodging and deflecting. A single hit while he's empowered might lose her the match. Devon's onslaught continued as he repeatedly kept reactivating the buffing spell anytime it would run out. Things were not going so well for her. She attempted to distance herself but her foe was relentless. She felt his sword graze her arm and she reeled in pain.

  Harriette blocked the next swing with her sword, barely fending him off. Devon seized this chance and muscled his way in. Activating the last charge of his runestone. She buckled under the sudden burst of strength and used this momentum to slide out of the way. He stumbled forward for a brief moment when all of a sudden, his vision darkened as they were both enveloped in a smoke cloud.

  The onlookers could barely see the fighters but could still hear them tussling. It didn't take long for the smoke to dissipate and much to their surprise the pair was now on the floor, both unarmed. Harriette had a firm hold of Devon's arm and was curving her back to bend the arm in the wrong direction. Seeing this, Sam quickly stepped in before she could and stopped the fight, declaring Harriette the winner.

  Ren was impressed along with the rest of the group. They applauded her for managing to turn things around. Devon and his friends looked devastated. Sam congratulated Harriette afterwards and told her to keep the runestone and get some rest.

  After the match, Ren could feel everyone's excitement go up a notch. Sam continued to call out the pairs, one after another, and took note of the variety of outcomes. Most of them were mirror matches where both used strength buffs. But there were some interesting fights, too. Someone even tried using the gust spell straight out of the gate and lost shortly after.

  The list was almost up and it was finally his turn.

  "Ren and Miller! Step inside."

  *

  A while ago, Tujin had finished his match victorious. He went over to Ren's group to spectate. He wasn't about to miss this, he thought.

  He watched Ren ready himself, with a sword in hand and nothing else. Like always, he held his sword low, with one foot in front of the other. His shoulders, relaxed, and his eyes, focused.

  In front of his friend, a man who was slightly taller and a lot bulkier than him. Tujin knew this Miller guy, but couldn't quite remember from when or where. He definitely wasn't a recruit like Ren. Miller was holding a wooden greatsword up on his shoulder and had the air of an experienced soldier about him. But despite this, Ren hadn't the slightest hint of being intimidated.

  "Both of you ready?" The officer asked. Tujin noticed that the officer looked pretty worried, like he was unsure of something. "Well then, Begin!"

  The match started with Miller closing the gap within a second, swinging a massive greatsword downwards without hesitation. The match was shaping up to be over before it had even started. Everyone spectating was probably thinking along the same line. But Tujin scoffed at Miller's attempt at ending it with one shot.

  The impact of the blow was tremendous, sending a bunch of dirt flying everywhere. But anyone paying attention would know that this was because Miller had hit nothing but the ground. Ren simply side stepped and parried it just enough to not hit him. Without backing off, Ren kicked the back of Miller's knee and elbowed his ribs, followed by an uppercut to his face, a quick flurry of blows with no wasted movements. Miller didn't have any time to react and ate all the attacks head on. He shrugged off the pain and powered through, swinging once more, and missing. Ren kept close to him and easily circled around. The quick and precise blows kept coming, aimed at the same three spots he'd initially hit. Ren was barely attacking with his sword and was only using it for deflecting and parrying.

  Ren had such an unthordox style. Some would even consider it a dirty way of fighting. But Tujin knows that all of Ren's moves were built off of pure practicality and experience. Living in the streets for most of his life, he was forced to learn how to fight, one way or another. And what everyone was seeing now was the result of that.

  Miller, not one to go down easy, was starting to adapt to Ren's moves. He was hurting but was still standing strong. He'd probably thought by now that swinging his greatsword at this range was not the best idea. Ren stuck too close to him, out of reach. Committing to this, he let go of his greatsword and began throwing punches of his own. A few of them landed but most only glanced and grazed the slippery bastard.

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  Tujin was starting to feel bad for Miller. He knew all too well what it was like to be at the receiving end of this. Not once had he won a spar against Ren.

  If the match went on like this, Ren would be taking the win. But the seasoned merc had a lot more fight in him than this. Falling down on one knee, Miller feigned pain on his ribs, but was actually grabbing the runestone in his pocket. The spell activated and caused his whole body to glow. Ren quickly distanced himself, wary of the spell.

  This was a mistake, apparently, as all of Miller's bruises were now rapidly healing. He stood back up grabbing hold of his greatsword, and spat out some blood like it was nothing. This time around, he favored caution. He held his sword with both hands in front of him, keeping an advantageous distance between them.

  Ren had to change his approach as well. Now that his opponent was on the defensive, he circled around slowly, keeping Miller on his toes, stalking his prey like a vulture. Of course, this was far from how the situation really was. Ren did'nt have too many options for offense. And was worn down from their previous exchange. Miller, on the other hand, was basically unharmed and still had a few more uses on his runestone.

  Both contenders made use of the lull to strategize and catch their breath.

  It was obvious that Miller had no intention of closing the gap, standing firm, ready. Nowhere else to go, Ren leaned on his speed and tried blitzing back into close range. The massive greatsword denied him entry, with a sweep to the side followed by a downward slash. Ren narrowly dodged the sword strikes but did not expect the kick aimed straight to his gut. The boot knocked the wind out of him and pushed him far back, a clean hit.

  Ren steadied himself and rushed back in without hesitating. He feigned going right only to swiftly circle back to the other direction. His attempt at diverting attention worked, but only for a second as Miller unexpectedly let go of his sword after swinging. And he spun with his arm outstretched, hammering Ren's face with the back of his fist, another hit landing, forcing him to retreat.

  Ren was back where he started, running out of options.

  The number of spectators was growing by the second. Most of the groups had already finished their matches and had nothing better to do. This match in particular was rapidly gaining attention. It was quite exciting, a recruit, holding his ground against the experienced Miller. In the midst of it, Tujin had overheard some comments.

  "The recruit's done for. Got nowhere to go but forward."

  "Mm, and the boy looks exhausted."

  "Miller's got more heals in the tank too. He won't even need to use it at this rate."

  "You guys think so?" Someone replied. "The kid still hadn't used his runestone, could turn things 'round."

  "Miller's got this in the bag." Another interjected with confidence. "I once saw that guy wrestle with a bear and come out on top."

  It was an unbelievable story, to say the least. But despite the obvious disadvantages, Tujin was convinced that his friend was going to win. He'd come to know Ren through the years. And he knew that when backed into a corner, Ren always found a way out.

  As if on cue, Ren made his move. He dashed forward, staying low, attempting to run past the greatsword's range once more. Miller, of course, expected this and sweeped wide to keep him at bay. Ren ducked as low as he could to dodge under, almost sliding into close range. He succeeded, but had completely compromised his position, leaving him wide open. Not passing up on it, Miller hoists his sword above his head and slams down like before. Ren, miraculously, parried the blow to the side, while practically laying on the floor. The sword missed his him by a hair. He felt the impact of the sword embedding itself into the ground. But he wasn't going to make the same mistake again. Miller let go of his sword and raised his elbow to start free falling onto Ren, planning on crushing him under his body weight.

  What came next, betrayed everyone's expectations.

  The kid would have snapped like a twig under the bigger man's elbow. But even as he hit the ground, the crushing blow never came. Instead, Ren had literally slipped out of harms way and quickly stood back up in one swift motion. Miller tried to do the same but kept failing miserably. He slipped and fell and slipped again. Before he could even process what was happening, and how he was covered from head to toe with grease, Ren already had his sword up high, ready to swing down with all his might.

  "Stop!" The officer interrupted, just as the sword was about to fall, signalling the end of the match.

  *

  Out of breath, exhausted, he could still hear his heart drumming out of his chest. Ren falls on his butt. He'd won.

  It came late to him that he had a whole audience cheering him on. At some point in the match, he'd switched over to survival mode and tuned everything else out. Throughout his past misadventures, Ren had gone into this trance more times than he would have liked. He was getting used to it at this point.

  "What's your name, kid? Wasn't paying attention earlier." Miller snaps him out of his daydreaming, still lying on the floor, drenched in grease and sweat.

  Ren, no longer needing to be hostile, smiled and went for a handshake as a sign of respect.

  "It's Ren. I'm new here." He answered.

  Miller grips his hand firmly and taps him on the shoulder.

  "I'm Miller Gepni. A former knight of house Cilsworth. You fought incredibly well."

  "Y-you're a knight, Sir Miller, sir?" Ren asked, perplexed.

  He laughed and tapped him on the arm some more, getting grease all over him.

  "Ha! I haven't been called sir in years. I a knight, not anymore." He said, correcting him. "If you're wondering how you ended up fighting me, well, the Captain put me up to it, said I should test you out. I'm sure you've impressed him well enfg-"

  Sam cut him short and threw a bunch of towels at Miller.

  "Did you have to go hard on him, Gepni?" Sam asked. He helped them both up after Miller was done wiping off the grease.

  "I think it turned out fine, no?" He replied. "You had plenty of chances to stop the match early, too. And you didn't."

  "I would have if the Captain wasn't staring daggers my way everytime something would happen." Sam reasoned. "But enough of that, the match is over. Both of you can get some rest now. I still have more fights to officiate."

  Sam kicked them out and moved on with the remaining matches.

  Before they headed their separate ways, Miller shook hands with Ren one more time, looking him straight in the eyes.

  "You've got a lot of skill for someone you're age. I look forward to working with you, Ren."

  He wasn't expecting this. Ren was unsure how to respond to that. He basically confirmed that he'd gotten his first job. And it was in the Capital, no less. It wasn't often that he'd receive such honest praise. Ren had grown distrustful over the years. Even now, he still had a lingering doubt, deep down, that this man in front of him was lying. But he had no reason to.

  "Likewise. You're praise means a lot to me." Ren said, bowing, sounding as genuine as he could.

  Miller nodded. One last tap on the arm and he went on his way. As he left, another person approached.

  "You nearly got split in half there, kid. You alright?" Tujin said.

  "Were you worried for , or your money?"

  "He almost cracked your skull, dimwit! And my coin wasn't goin' anywhere, what with how much you were showin' off there. I'm sure you got the job."

  Ren chuckled, hearing the concern in Tujin's voice.

  "Hey, Ren!" A couple of fellow recruits came up to him. "That was a crazy match just now. Congrats on the win."

  "Yeah! Especially the last part where you slid under but still parried that massive sword. How'd you do that?"

  Ren shows them his sword, dripping with grease.

  "I splashed both of our swords when I got close enough."

  He showed them the runestone. It was used up and wasn't glowing anymore.

  "Lucky that he got drenched in it too and slipped." Ren explained.

  "The grease spell?" Tujin was thinking. "I tried that one, and a single use barely covered my hand."

  "I don't know how to explain it either. I can just use it all up in one go, sort of." Ren said.

  "Wait. Don't tell me. You were guy showing off that massive wind gust earlier?" One of the recruits asked.

  "Oh, the one that blasted officer Sam off his feet. Yeah, I saw that." The other recruit added on.

  "With that much talent, you should've been a Spellblade!"

  The two recruits continued praising him. Ren felt awkward. He'd never been the center of attention like this before. A few other recruits that knew him noticed and went to congratulate him too. It was an ambush that he didn't have an escape plan for. It was an oversight on his part. He should've ran while he could, what a blunder. The bombardment of questions and congratulatory praise went on for a while. And they eventually devolved into an after sparring discussion group. Ren was right smack in the middle of it.

  "Alright everyone, ease up on him." Tujin interrupted, saving Ren from his plight. "My friend here's a bit shy, but nothin' a little booze won't fix! Drinks on me, to the bar!"

  "Uoogh! To the bar!" Everyone cheered.

  Ren was further dejected, his palm on his forehead. He never enjoyed revelling like this. Tujin knew what he was doing. Thankfully, the last of the matches were over and Sam had come to save the day.

  "Hold that thought!" Sam grabbed everyone's attention. "Before anyone goes day drinking, I'd advise you all to stick around for longer. I'll be calling out the names of everyone who'd shown promise. If you're on the list, then you'll be coming with us to the capital in the morning."

  Mercenary contracts that aren't involved in a war were few and far between. Those assigned to this particular job would be lucky.

  The participants who'd won and those who felt like they performed well, readily complied and hoped for the best. Meanwhile, those who'd lost, carried on with their regular camp duties.

  "Ah, the drinkin' will have to wait then, boys." Tujin remarked. The festive mood was gone as fast as it came.

  And so, the disorganized mob had gathered in front of the stage again. It had roughly half as much people than before. Each of the groups officers were ready to list out names.

  It took a while to get through everyone, and around a hundred people were selected. Fortunately, this included both Ren and Tujin. After which, the captain stepped forward and had begun the mission briefing.

  "You lot had shown me what you were capable of today, and thus, had been assigned to this contract. In two days, a grand wedding will be held in the noble's plaza in Mithiin. We'd been hired as a personal guard for the bride herself. The task is simple. I've been asked to bring with me an elite few and cooperate with the royal guard in making sure that this monumental event plays out smoothly, and that no harm will befall our client, Alice Mytheria, the second imperial princess." Gildas elaborated on the details.

  Those who knew of her audibly expressed their excitement. Ren had heard rumors that the three imperial princesses were all frighteningly intelligent and possessed beauty that rivaled what's described in fairytales. It's said that all of them had inherited their father's intellect, and were geniuses in their craft. Many can confirm this as they had already seen the first princess. She's known as the imperial providence, blessed by Lumina herself and was currently serving as an army commander in the conquest of Kargafell. The other two were rarely seen in public but were both integral parts of the current empire's rise to power.

  The captain thoroughly discussed further details about the mission and had delegated tasks to every squad. The briefing ended at noon. The whole camp was set in motion, preparing for their trek to the capital tomorrow.

  *

  "We really did it huh," Ren said, stuffing his clothes into a bag. "You've ever been to Mithiin?"

  "Not quite. They say the city is a sight to behold." Tujin answered. He was looking for a place sit on in the damp and dusty tent that Ren woke up in.

  "And that the food is to die for, yeah?" Ren added.

  "That's right, they got some kinda dish with boar meat in it. Only heard stories of it. Leave some for the rest of us, will ya'?"

  "No guarantees. They might run out of boars by the time I'm done."

  "Heh, don't get thrown in jail then, kid. Mercs aren't all that respected, I'm sure you know. Be careful out there."

  Ren had finished prepping. He turned to Tujin, and had some words he wanted say.

  "Hey, uh-" Ren hesitated. "Thanks, Tujin… for looking out for me all this time."

  Tujin was taken aback for a second. He'd never heard Ren thank someone so sincerely before.

  "Don't mention it. You would've done just fine, even without me backin' you up."

  "I'd still be stuck in the streets of Inari if it weren't for you. So, I owe you one."

  "Ahh, just get out of here already before I puke all over ya'. About time you saw more of what's out there in the world." Tujin said, pushing Ren out of the tent.

  "I'm off, then. Don't miss me too much." Ren said.

  Aside from actually wanting to thank him, he was succesful in making things awkward for his friend. It was payback for trying to drag him out to drink earlier.

  Ren made his way to the rendezvous point. He was assigned to Sam's squad along with Harriette and a few other recruits. They were tasked to head out early and purchase supplies for the group ahead of time.

  When he got there, Sam and the rest of the squad were feeding the horses and were almost done getting things in order. There were around twenty people there. It seems Ren was the last to arrive. Sam noticed Ren approaching, all set to go.

  "Good, seems everyone's here." Sam gathered his squad members. "We'll be bringing five pack horses and three wagons with us. Those who know how to ride one, mount up. Everyone on foot is on guard duty. We're heading out!"