Job Link
As Sayuri walked into the quiet little town, the inhabitants of Beaanstalk Village regarded her with a certain level of familiarity. They certainly recognized her, and she supposed she shouldn't be the least bit surprised by that. The last time she'd walked this road through the town, she'd been wearing a kimono drenched in ketchup and dragging a dark mage who was bound hand and foot, gagged with his own sock, and just a little cut up. Things like that tended to make an impression on small village folk who weren't accustomed to magic. She wouldn't be surprised if they'd spotted her a mile off.
Of course, whether or not her welcome back to the village would be a warm one or not remained to be seen. On one hand, she'd saved their crops, and really their only livelihood, from a curse. She'd also defeated the plant demons the curse had manifested, at great risk to herself. The tomato ones had been the source of the aforementioned ketchup, and she'd had to toss that kimono out because it had stained. And she'd captured the dark mage who had started the whole fiasco in the first place. That had earned her a respectable reward too.
Still, on the other hand, she might have ditched the dark mage on them and told them to handle that problem themselves. She may have also cut the bindings on his arms before she left. True, the mage had still been gagged to prevent him from cursing anyone, and his legs had been hobbled so she couldn't escape. She figured he may have gotten a few hits in on the mayor, though, before his arrest. She'd had her reasons for handling the situation the way she had. She'd found out the mage had grown up in Beanstalk Village, and the townsfolk had mocked and ridiculed him for his dreams of studying magic. He'd returned decades later to exact his revenge on them for this treatment by destroying their crops. He'd been wrong, of course, which is why she had defeated and captured him, but the villagers had played a role in their own plight as well. She had felt it was fair to make them clean up their own mess, and come to terms with their own actions. Perhaps that wouldn't change what had happened in the past, but it might make them more leery of harassing the next person around who dreamed of becoming a mage. She had hoped it would change their perspective in the future. She had no way of knowing if it had worked, of course. And no matter how good her intentions, she doubted the mayor had been happy with having the dark mage left on his hands, and in his office, in fact.
As she walked down the main street, though, she noticed she was getting friendly nods from the passersby. They didn't seem very bitter, which she took as a good sign. She made her way to the village tavern. She knew that in a village like this, there would be two people that knew the goings-on the best. First of all would be the mayor, leader of the town. However, for reasons that ought to be evident, she didn't really fancy meeting up with him for a chat. The second person would be the bartender. He served the alcohol, and people liked to talk when they were drunk. It was logical that he would know a lot about the other occupants of the town.
So why was Sayuri returning to the village, you might ask? Perhaps another job, another curse to break? No, that was not the case. This was a place where very little out of the ordinary happened. They weren't usually a target for troublemakers, because they weren't usually even noticed. But there was one group of people who seemed to take a keen interest in the sleepy little town- the Rune Knights. See, Beanstalk Village was known as a place where Rune Knights liked to retire, and Sayuri supposed she could understand why. It was a peaceful place, far away from the stresses they'd had to face during their career. It was a place where no one came looking for trouble. And best of all, it was a place with numerous other retired knights, who could count on each other for help if things did go south. All it was missing was an official retirement community name and good advertising.
But surely that would raise another question- why did Sayuri care where the Rune Knights retired? She wasn't a knight, and she had no intention of becoming one. Well, the answer was most Rune Knights relied more heavily on their weapons than on magic. Also, sad to say, it seemed to be the case that Rune Knights had a rather short life expectancy when it came to dealing with dark mages. So any that survived to retirement age were probably rather good with their weapons.
Sayuri was a mage herself, and used her magic very readily. However, her main magic was illusion magic, meaning that, well, it didn't actually do any magic. So if she wanted to hurt an enemy she had to do it the old fashioned way- by hand. She was experienced working with swords- quite good, in fact. But she was a firm believer that you should never stop learning. After all, if you did you would fall behind your enemies. So, she had come here hoping to find a retired knight that would be willing to train her.
She reached the tavern and headed inside, receiving the same reactions from the couple of patrons inside as she had from the villagers outside. It was a nice little watering hole, for such a small village. It only had about ten tables, but that was offset by the long bar, which would seat at least a dozen people. The tables and bar top were all made of the same dark wood, varnished and carefully polished so it shined, although she spotted some deep nicks and gouges in them. Most looked suspiciously like they had been made by a knife. She decided not to think too hard on that. The walls were simple, painted a clean white. There were various pictures on the wall, mostly taken inside the establishment itself. They appeared to showcase patrons- perhaps frequent customers? There were a couple of pool tables at one end of the room to keep the customers amused while they drank. The lighting wasn't the best, so the room was a bit on the dark side even now in broad daylight, but nothing could be perfect. And the biggest bonus was that the place was clean, and appeared to be well-maintained, something that she knew from experience was rare when it came to bars.
She walked up to the bar and seated herself, waiting to catch the bartender's attention. Not surprisingly, that didn't take long. They were always on the lookout for new patrons they could separate from their money. He studied her for a moment before speaking.
"Hey, aren't you the mage who was here a few months ago? The one who defeated that dark mage and brought our crops back to good health?"
Sayuri nodded at the bartender, smiling. "I am. I was glad to be of assistance."
He whistled appreciatively. "Well, you certainly saved the village. A lot of farmers around here would have been completely ruined if the crops had been destroyed. Tell me, miss, what do you want to drink? First one is on the house."
Sayuri appreciated the offer, but she had no intention of taking him up on it. She didn't really drink much, mainly because it had a tendency to make her do dumb things. It was also too early in the day for that, all things considered. Not to mention the fact that is wasn't exactly smart to go drinking before asking a skilled warrior to train with you. That could get you embarrassed, or even worse, hurt.
"Thanks, but I'm not here to drink. I was hoping to get some information."
That definitely peaked the bartender's interest.
"Well, I might just be the person who would be able to help you with that. What do you want to know?"
"I've heard that a lot of Rune Knights retire here. I was hoping I might be able to persuade one of them to train me. After all, you should never stop learning. I was hoping you might be able to help me find one."
The other man nodded. "Aye, I can do that. There are a lot of retired knights around here, but there are a few I can think of off the top of my head that might be willing to train with you, especially considering what you've done for the town. Old Burt used to be a really well-known knight. An expert with that spear of his. Sheila, well, she was known as the Fist Tigress. She was an expert in hand-to-hand fighting. Matter of fact, she still is. Maris is an expert with that whip of hers, it's definitely not something you want to get on the wrong end of. And Ponk is a skilled swordsman. In fact, he used to be a Rune Knight trainer, if I'm not mistaken. He's a bit tough sometimes, but a good person to have on your side if you can handle him."
That last person mentioned made Sayuri's eyes light up. A master swordsman, and a former trainer to boot? That sounded like exactly the sort of person she was hoping to find. And so what if he would be tough on her? Her first tutor in swordplay had been absolutely brutal. And her second, her older sister Mayumi, had been even worse. She was sure she could handle whatever the knight could throw at her.
"That sounds amazing! Is there any way you could tell me where I could find Ponk?"
"Well, his farm is down by the river, just down east to the next bend."
That description sounded oddly familiar. "That sounds like it's where I fought the dark mage."
"It may very well be. Anyway, Ponk's down there working most days, so if you're looking to find him, that's the best place to start."
Sayuri smiled. "Thank you! I think I'm going to do just that."
Sayuri smiled at the bartender again, then rose from her seat and headed for the door, pausing for a moment as he called out a parting comment.
"Are you sure you don't want a drink?"
She just grinned as she exited the building, turning and heading east, following the route the bartender had described to her. She quickly began to reach familiar territory. Sure enough, she recognized the path down to the little farm, and when she hit the edge of the field she realized that this was the exactly place she had fought the dark mage. However, this time around her interest was the house, not the field, so she headed towards it. Thankfully, no giant tomatoes emerged to harass her or ruin her clothing, which she decided to take as a good sign.
The house was a nice one, all things considered. It was on the small side, probably only four or five rooms. It had stone facade and high gabled roof. Definitely country style, but it had a bit of refinement to it, unlike many of the other homes she'd passed on her way here that were full-on rustic. Some had even looked more like barns than houses, to the point where she would have thought they were barns, but for the fact that there were no houses around for a barn to belong to. No, this house had clearly been built by someone from a city who wanted the relaxed pace of country living, but didn't want to give up on style.
She made it to the door and took a deep breath, steeling herself for dealing with the former knight, then knocked loudly on the door.
The door was yanked open almost instantly, startling Sayuri. The man who appeared on the other side had to be in at least his eighties. His skin was well tanned, resumably from working outside on the farm. His gray hair fell to his shoulders, almost shaggy in a way. The only thing that was still young about him were his eyes- brilliant blue and very harsh as they bored deep into her. He still wore two sword belted at his hips. That didn't surprise Sayuri. No true warrior would go anywhere without their weapons. The fact that he still carried his told her that he was serious about fighting.
"I don't know you, girl. Who are you, and what do you want?"
Friendly guy, that. Then again, she hadn't really expected anything different. The bartender had warned her he was tough. So she just smiled at him, keeping her own demeanor friendly.
"Hello. My name is Sayuri. I'm a mage, but I'm also very interested in swordsmanship. I can here looking for a former Rune Knight who might be willing to train me, and the bartender at the village tavern said you might be just the person to help.
The knights snorted derisively. "So Gerald has been telling all about me, huh? Well, I don't have time for amateurs! I've a lot of work to do, you know, running this here farm. So shoo, off with you!" Then he paused for a minute, staring at her again. "Hold on a second. You look familiar..."
Sayuri decided to take the opening, hoping she might be able to persuade the knight to change his mind. Sure, she had different options to fall back on, but she didn't want to have to do that. She wanted to train with him, because she felt he was the knight who was best suited to her.
"Well, I did do a job up here in the village one. I took care of a curse on the crops, and took down the dark mage responsible in the process."
Recognition lit up the man's face. "Aha, I see. Well, that was a nice piece of work there, miss. I heard you beat him with nothing but a sword. No magic involved."
He sounded genuinely interested, which Sayuri took as a good sign. Her feat there probably hadn't been anything compared to what this knight must have handled in his lifetime, but considering her age and relative lack of experience it hadn't been too bad.
"Well, it was two swords, actually. But yes, no magic. My magic is illusions, so it doesn't actually do any damage, hence why swords are so important to me."
He nodded slowly. "That makes sense. Well, you did all of us a huge favor, taking care of the crops like that. We would have lost them all if you hadn't stepped in. So I suppose I can spare one afternoon to help you out." Then he extended a hand to her. "I'm Ponk."
Sayuri already knew that from the bartender, of course, but she decided it was best not to bring that up. She shook his offered hand, glad he'd decided to help her out after all.
"Thank you."
He nodded briefly, then gestured over his shoulder. "There's an open field behind the house. That will be the best place for us to train. Just let me get ready, and I'll meet you back there in a few minutes."
He closed the door before she had a chance to reply, but she shrugged it off. Oh well. She walked around the house to the spot he had described. Not only was it open, but it also had what appeared to be a training dummy it in. It was firmly attached to a wooden post set in the ground, so she guessed it was a permanent feature. So much for being too busy with farm work. It looked like he did plenty of training on his own.
The sound of a door opening came from behind her, and she turned around. Ponk emerged through the back door of the house. He looked... Exactly the same as he did two minutes ago. Some important reparation he must have done, that took that long.
He crossed the distance between them in only a couple of good strides, drawing both of his swords.
"Alright missy, let's see what you've got."
Sayuri complied, drawing her own swords and starting a training match with the former knight. Needless to say, she lost, and she would not admit how short the match was. And that was when the real practice started. He quickly set her up on a set of drills, using the training dummy as the target. And of course he insisted she strike both hard and fast, not taking any breaks. Before long she was starting to get winded and her muscled ached, but he didn't let up on her, and the drills kept getting tougher and tougher.
And then, after several hours, he moved her back to training matches with him, and he showed her no mercy. Well, okay, so he would whack her with the flat of the blade instead of cutting her to shreds, but he definitely didn't hold back on those blows, and by the end of the day she was battered and bruised. Still, she had to admit that she had certainly learned a lot from him- even more than she'd thought she would.
They had finally stopped for the day, and Sayuri sat on the ground, gratefully gulping down some water he'd given her. He leaned against the dummy, not even winded, which Sayuri thought was rather unfair. How could someone his age work this hard and not even break a sweat?
"Well, you did very well today."
Sayuri blinked. That was very unlike what he'd been saying throughout the day. There had been a lot of insults, and she would have sworn 'you'll have to do better than that' was his favorite.
"Um... Thank you."
She wasn't sure what else to say to the unexpected complement. He walked over to her, holding out something wrapped in a cloth. She took the object, unwrapping it and staring as she realized it was a masterfully crafted sword.
"This is one of my old weapons. But you can have it."
Sayuri began protesting immediately. "Oh no, I couldn't do that! It's yours. Please, keep it."
But the elderly knight refused to take it back. "Absolutely not. Take it. I have plenty of others. That was one of my earlier weapons, and once I got better ones I stopped using it. I haven't fought with it in a very, very long time. I figure it ought to go to someone who will actually use it."
She hesitated, overwhelmed by the kindness. It wasn't something she'd expected from her gruff instructor. Still, there wasn't much of an argument to counter his logic with, so she may as well accept the gift.
"Thank you. For the sword, and for the training."
The knight finally smiled, the first time she'd seen him do so all day.
"No, thank you. I was starting to get bored sitting around on a farm all day. It's been ages since I've had anyone to train with. come back any time you need more practice." Then his hardened demeanor came back up and he made shooing motions with his hands. "Now off with you! I have dinner to make, and I'm sure you have someone else to harass."
And without further ado, the grizzled knight disappeared back into his home. Sayuri smiled. Well, it looked like it was time for her to head home and get some rest.
Word Count: 3,297
As Sayuri walked into the quiet little town, the inhabitants of Beaanstalk Village regarded her with a certain level of familiarity. They certainly recognized her, and she supposed she shouldn't be the least bit surprised by that. The last time she'd walked this road through the town, she'd been wearing a kimono drenched in ketchup and dragging a dark mage who was bound hand and foot, gagged with his own sock, and just a little cut up. Things like that tended to make an impression on small village folk who weren't accustomed to magic. She wouldn't be surprised if they'd spotted her a mile off.
Of course, whether or not her welcome back to the village would be a warm one or not remained to be seen. On one hand, she'd saved their crops, and really their only livelihood, from a curse. She'd also defeated the plant demons the curse had manifested, at great risk to herself. The tomato ones had been the source of the aforementioned ketchup, and she'd had to toss that kimono out because it had stained. And she'd captured the dark mage who had started the whole fiasco in the first place. That had earned her a respectable reward too.
Still, on the other hand, she might have ditched the dark mage on them and told them to handle that problem themselves. She may have also cut the bindings on his arms before she left. True, the mage had still been gagged to prevent him from cursing anyone, and his legs had been hobbled so she couldn't escape. She figured he may have gotten a few hits in on the mayor, though, before his arrest. She'd had her reasons for handling the situation the way she had. She'd found out the mage had grown up in Beanstalk Village, and the townsfolk had mocked and ridiculed him for his dreams of studying magic. He'd returned decades later to exact his revenge on them for this treatment by destroying their crops. He'd been wrong, of course, which is why she had defeated and captured him, but the villagers had played a role in their own plight as well. She had felt it was fair to make them clean up their own mess, and come to terms with their own actions. Perhaps that wouldn't change what had happened in the past, but it might make them more leery of harassing the next person around who dreamed of becoming a mage. She had hoped it would change their perspective in the future. She had no way of knowing if it had worked, of course. And no matter how good her intentions, she doubted the mayor had been happy with having the dark mage left on his hands, and in his office, in fact.
As she walked down the main street, though, she noticed she was getting friendly nods from the passersby. They didn't seem very bitter, which she took as a good sign. She made her way to the village tavern. She knew that in a village like this, there would be two people that knew the goings-on the best. First of all would be the mayor, leader of the town. However, for reasons that ought to be evident, she didn't really fancy meeting up with him for a chat. The second person would be the bartender. He served the alcohol, and people liked to talk when they were drunk. It was logical that he would know a lot about the other occupants of the town.
So why was Sayuri returning to the village, you might ask? Perhaps another job, another curse to break? No, that was not the case. This was a place where very little out of the ordinary happened. They weren't usually a target for troublemakers, because they weren't usually even noticed. But there was one group of people who seemed to take a keen interest in the sleepy little town- the Rune Knights. See, Beanstalk Village was known as a place where Rune Knights liked to retire, and Sayuri supposed she could understand why. It was a peaceful place, far away from the stresses they'd had to face during their career. It was a place where no one came looking for trouble. And best of all, it was a place with numerous other retired knights, who could count on each other for help if things did go south. All it was missing was an official retirement community name and good advertising.
But surely that would raise another question- why did Sayuri care where the Rune Knights retired? She wasn't a knight, and she had no intention of becoming one. Well, the answer was most Rune Knights relied more heavily on their weapons than on magic. Also, sad to say, it seemed to be the case that Rune Knights had a rather short life expectancy when it came to dealing with dark mages. So any that survived to retirement age were probably rather good with their weapons.
Sayuri was a mage herself, and used her magic very readily. However, her main magic was illusion magic, meaning that, well, it didn't actually do any magic. So if she wanted to hurt an enemy she had to do it the old fashioned way- by hand. She was experienced working with swords- quite good, in fact. But she was a firm believer that you should never stop learning. After all, if you did you would fall behind your enemies. So, she had come here hoping to find a retired knight that would be willing to train her.
She reached the tavern and headed inside, receiving the same reactions from the couple of patrons inside as she had from the villagers outside. It was a nice little watering hole, for such a small village. It only had about ten tables, but that was offset by the long bar, which would seat at least a dozen people. The tables and bar top were all made of the same dark wood, varnished and carefully polished so it shined, although she spotted some deep nicks and gouges in them. Most looked suspiciously like they had been made by a knife. She decided not to think too hard on that. The walls were simple, painted a clean white. There were various pictures on the wall, mostly taken inside the establishment itself. They appeared to showcase patrons- perhaps frequent customers? There were a couple of pool tables at one end of the room to keep the customers amused while they drank. The lighting wasn't the best, so the room was a bit on the dark side even now in broad daylight, but nothing could be perfect. And the biggest bonus was that the place was clean, and appeared to be well-maintained, something that she knew from experience was rare when it came to bars.
She walked up to the bar and seated herself, waiting to catch the bartender's attention. Not surprisingly, that didn't take long. They were always on the lookout for new patrons they could separate from their money. He studied her for a moment before speaking.
"Hey, aren't you the mage who was here a few months ago? The one who defeated that dark mage and brought our crops back to good health?"
Sayuri nodded at the bartender, smiling. "I am. I was glad to be of assistance."
He whistled appreciatively. "Well, you certainly saved the village. A lot of farmers around here would have been completely ruined if the crops had been destroyed. Tell me, miss, what do you want to drink? First one is on the house."
Sayuri appreciated the offer, but she had no intention of taking him up on it. She didn't really drink much, mainly because it had a tendency to make her do dumb things. It was also too early in the day for that, all things considered. Not to mention the fact that is wasn't exactly smart to go drinking before asking a skilled warrior to train with you. That could get you embarrassed, or even worse, hurt.
"Thanks, but I'm not here to drink. I was hoping to get some information."
That definitely peaked the bartender's interest.
"Well, I might just be the person who would be able to help you with that. What do you want to know?"
"I've heard that a lot of Rune Knights retire here. I was hoping I might be able to persuade one of them to train me. After all, you should never stop learning. I was hoping you might be able to help me find one."
The other man nodded. "Aye, I can do that. There are a lot of retired knights around here, but there are a few I can think of off the top of my head that might be willing to train with you, especially considering what you've done for the town. Old Burt used to be a really well-known knight. An expert with that spear of his. Sheila, well, she was known as the Fist Tigress. She was an expert in hand-to-hand fighting. Matter of fact, she still is. Maris is an expert with that whip of hers, it's definitely not something you want to get on the wrong end of. And Ponk is a skilled swordsman. In fact, he used to be a Rune Knight trainer, if I'm not mistaken. He's a bit tough sometimes, but a good person to have on your side if you can handle him."
That last person mentioned made Sayuri's eyes light up. A master swordsman, and a former trainer to boot? That sounded like exactly the sort of person she was hoping to find. And so what if he would be tough on her? Her first tutor in swordplay had been absolutely brutal. And her second, her older sister Mayumi, had been even worse. She was sure she could handle whatever the knight could throw at her.
"That sounds amazing! Is there any way you could tell me where I could find Ponk?"
"Well, his farm is down by the river, just down east to the next bend."
That description sounded oddly familiar. "That sounds like it's where I fought the dark mage."
"It may very well be. Anyway, Ponk's down there working most days, so if you're looking to find him, that's the best place to start."
Sayuri smiled. "Thank you! I think I'm going to do just that."
Sayuri smiled at the bartender again, then rose from her seat and headed for the door, pausing for a moment as he called out a parting comment.
"Are you sure you don't want a drink?"
She just grinned as she exited the building, turning and heading east, following the route the bartender had described to her. She quickly began to reach familiar territory. Sure enough, she recognized the path down to the little farm, and when she hit the edge of the field she realized that this was the exactly place she had fought the dark mage. However, this time around her interest was the house, not the field, so she headed towards it. Thankfully, no giant tomatoes emerged to harass her or ruin her clothing, which she decided to take as a good sign.
The house was a nice one, all things considered. It was on the small side, probably only four or five rooms. It had stone facade and high gabled roof. Definitely country style, but it had a bit of refinement to it, unlike many of the other homes she'd passed on her way here that were full-on rustic. Some had even looked more like barns than houses, to the point where she would have thought they were barns, but for the fact that there were no houses around for a barn to belong to. No, this house had clearly been built by someone from a city who wanted the relaxed pace of country living, but didn't want to give up on style.
She made it to the door and took a deep breath, steeling herself for dealing with the former knight, then knocked loudly on the door.
The door was yanked open almost instantly, startling Sayuri. The man who appeared on the other side had to be in at least his eighties. His skin was well tanned, resumably from working outside on the farm. His gray hair fell to his shoulders, almost shaggy in a way. The only thing that was still young about him were his eyes- brilliant blue and very harsh as they bored deep into her. He still wore two sword belted at his hips. That didn't surprise Sayuri. No true warrior would go anywhere without their weapons. The fact that he still carried his told her that he was serious about fighting.
"I don't know you, girl. Who are you, and what do you want?"
Friendly guy, that. Then again, she hadn't really expected anything different. The bartender had warned her he was tough. So she just smiled at him, keeping her own demeanor friendly.
"Hello. My name is Sayuri. I'm a mage, but I'm also very interested in swordsmanship. I can here looking for a former Rune Knight who might be willing to train me, and the bartender at the village tavern said you might be just the person to help.
The knights snorted derisively. "So Gerald has been telling all about me, huh? Well, I don't have time for amateurs! I've a lot of work to do, you know, running this here farm. So shoo, off with you!" Then he paused for a minute, staring at her again. "Hold on a second. You look familiar..."
Sayuri decided to take the opening, hoping she might be able to persuade the knight to change his mind. Sure, she had different options to fall back on, but she didn't want to have to do that. She wanted to train with him, because she felt he was the knight who was best suited to her.
"Well, I did do a job up here in the village one. I took care of a curse on the crops, and took down the dark mage responsible in the process."
Recognition lit up the man's face. "Aha, I see. Well, that was a nice piece of work there, miss. I heard you beat him with nothing but a sword. No magic involved."
He sounded genuinely interested, which Sayuri took as a good sign. Her feat there probably hadn't been anything compared to what this knight must have handled in his lifetime, but considering her age and relative lack of experience it hadn't been too bad.
"Well, it was two swords, actually. But yes, no magic. My magic is illusions, so it doesn't actually do any damage, hence why swords are so important to me."
He nodded slowly. "That makes sense. Well, you did all of us a huge favor, taking care of the crops like that. We would have lost them all if you hadn't stepped in. So I suppose I can spare one afternoon to help you out." Then he extended a hand to her. "I'm Ponk."
Sayuri already knew that from the bartender, of course, but she decided it was best not to bring that up. She shook his offered hand, glad he'd decided to help her out after all.
"Thank you."
He nodded briefly, then gestured over his shoulder. "There's an open field behind the house. That will be the best place for us to train. Just let me get ready, and I'll meet you back there in a few minutes."
He closed the door before she had a chance to reply, but she shrugged it off. Oh well. She walked around the house to the spot he had described. Not only was it open, but it also had what appeared to be a training dummy it in. It was firmly attached to a wooden post set in the ground, so she guessed it was a permanent feature. So much for being too busy with farm work. It looked like he did plenty of training on his own.
The sound of a door opening came from behind her, and she turned around. Ponk emerged through the back door of the house. He looked... Exactly the same as he did two minutes ago. Some important reparation he must have done, that took that long.
He crossed the distance between them in only a couple of good strides, drawing both of his swords.
"Alright missy, let's see what you've got."
Sayuri complied, drawing her own swords and starting a training match with the former knight. Needless to say, she lost, and she would not admit how short the match was. And that was when the real practice started. He quickly set her up on a set of drills, using the training dummy as the target. And of course he insisted she strike both hard and fast, not taking any breaks. Before long she was starting to get winded and her muscled ached, but he didn't let up on her, and the drills kept getting tougher and tougher.
And then, after several hours, he moved her back to training matches with him, and he showed her no mercy. Well, okay, so he would whack her with the flat of the blade instead of cutting her to shreds, but he definitely didn't hold back on those blows, and by the end of the day she was battered and bruised. Still, she had to admit that she had certainly learned a lot from him- even more than she'd thought she would.
They had finally stopped for the day, and Sayuri sat on the ground, gratefully gulping down some water he'd given her. He leaned against the dummy, not even winded, which Sayuri thought was rather unfair. How could someone his age work this hard and not even break a sweat?
"Well, you did very well today."
Sayuri blinked. That was very unlike what he'd been saying throughout the day. There had been a lot of insults, and she would have sworn 'you'll have to do better than that' was his favorite.
"Um... Thank you."
She wasn't sure what else to say to the unexpected complement. He walked over to her, holding out something wrapped in a cloth. She took the object, unwrapping it and staring as she realized it was a masterfully crafted sword.
"This is one of my old weapons. But you can have it."
Sayuri began protesting immediately. "Oh no, I couldn't do that! It's yours. Please, keep it."
But the elderly knight refused to take it back. "Absolutely not. Take it. I have plenty of others. That was one of my earlier weapons, and once I got better ones I stopped using it. I haven't fought with it in a very, very long time. I figure it ought to go to someone who will actually use it."
She hesitated, overwhelmed by the kindness. It wasn't something she'd expected from her gruff instructor. Still, there wasn't much of an argument to counter his logic with, so she may as well accept the gift.
"Thank you. For the sword, and for the training."
The knight finally smiled, the first time she'd seen him do so all day.
"No, thank you. I was starting to get bored sitting around on a farm all day. It's been ages since I've had anyone to train with. come back any time you need more practice." Then his hardened demeanor came back up and he made shooing motions with his hands. "Now off with you! I have dinner to make, and I'm sure you have someone else to harass."
And without further ado, the grizzled knight disappeared back into his home. Sayuri smiled. Well, it looked like it was time for her to head home and get some rest.
Word Count: 3,297
