Training Results and a First Deployment

The estival truce now over, I kept on diligently following the training regimen Xenia and I had come up with.

The night before her departure, my master had once again barged into the baths while I was there. Her intent had been to have, I quote: “an open-hearted discussion without any manner of pretence or shame”. Basically indicating that she wanted to hear if I had been able to sort out my worries and If I had found any satisfactory answer as a result.

So I told her about how I had been able to open my heart to someone unexpected, trying to keep it vague in order to avoid any potential complication considering the status of the person in question.
Then I told her how it had been enough to stroke the dying flames of my motivation; convincing me to keep on pursuing greater mastery in swordsmanship for the foreseeable future. Or at least until I found reason enough to stop altogether; something like ultimately deciding to return to my world for example. Which to my surprise she accepted with a only a relieved sigh and a parting remark along the lines of, Good, then I'll see you in winter, take care, after giving me a rough pat on the head.

You're the one who needs to take care though...

I have to admit, somehow her curt manner of speaking is very comforting to me. I can tell that she cares but also that she doesn't want to overstep any boundaries. All without any calculation, intuitively.

“I certainly am blessed with a great master, aren't I...”

“Damn right you are !”

“!?”

Striding confidently from the forest next to the old training ground I was currently using, came a single girl. With golden hair, she wore clothing reminiscent of horse riders from back home, with dark brown sturdy leather. She also wore a metalic breastplate as well as armguards and knee braces of seemingly the same material. And last but not least, she held a large sword with one hand, its blade resting on her right shoulder.

Her sword was little shorter and slimmer than Xenia's, but I was pretty sure this was still a two-handed sword.

Women here really are built different.

“And to whomst do I owe the pleasure ?” Trying to sound a little sarcastic to put her lack of manner into perspective, I inquired about her identity.

“Cut the crap and mind your tongue, ya're in the presence of the third princess of the country, son. And hero or not I won't easily forgive just 'bout anyone because of nonsense like status, ya hear ?”

I still wish you'd introduce yourself before threatening me though. And what's up with this kingdom anyway, aren't the princesses a little too unhinged here ?
Maybe it's just my expectations crumbling, but the first prince at least felt more like one.

“My apologies then. Hmm... ”

“Well whatever, the name's Seri, Seri Ispron. You ?”

“Taitaku Hyouma, just call me Hyouma or Taiyo for short if you prefer.”

“Taiyo then, now I'll cut to the chase, so, tell me, what'cha think about the commander ?”

She is referring to Xenia right ?

“What do you mean ?”

“Don't give me that, in that way obviously. Ya're a man no ?”

“Huh ?”

What does that have to do with my impression of her ? She's a great teacher and a kind soul, but beyond that I don't know what to tell her.

As I was taking my time to come up with an answer, I heard the princess, Seri, begin to tap her foot with irritation. So coming to the conclusion that I didn't have much else to say besides what immediately came to mind, I answered thus.

“Well, I think she's a great teacher. She is also very considerate to someone like me who had never held a sword before, and her swordsmanship is a sight to behold, I'd say ?”

“I already knew that ! Well, I can figure as much is what i'm telling ya.. What I'm askin' is whether or not there's something, you know, more, between t-the two of you !”

Oh okay so that's what she meant.

“Nothing much to say about that, she already told me she wasn't interested actually.”

And that she's interested in women even, if I recall correctly.

“Y-you wrench... Didja try to make a move on her ?! ”

“Huh ? No, If I had to say she is actually the one who has made a move on me if anything.”

Barging into the hero's, a man's bath barely covered as a woman, it would have been stranger to call it something else. Thankfully though she cleared away the misunderstanding pretty quickly, to her credit.

“Then why would she tell ya she's not interested if she was the one pouncing on ya, huh ?! Are you tryna piss me off ?! ”

Having lost her temper, she furiously planted her sword on the ground and made to equip her fingerless gloves that dangled from her pocket.

Sensing the urgency of the situation, I quickly put my hands in the air as a show of surrender and apologized.

“Sorry I didn't explain it properly, so...” Making an effort to keep my tone even and my gaze straight on her, I explained what happened at the bath.
That said, even after that she still eyed me with suspicion, so I told her about the reason for my training as well.

Once I was done with that part though, she snorted derisively and removed her gloves.

“Gahaha, men really are like wild beasts! Ya always need to compete over stupid stuff and to find excuses to put that worthless pride of yours on the line. Ridiculous. Tho' I guess it can be entertaining in its own way so whatevs'. At least thanks to that, now I get how you weren't even a threat to begin with.”

“A threat ?”

“Ya don't need to get it. Well now that I've lost interest here I'll just go back. See ya.”

“Hey wait !”

As I made to grab her arm, which looked at least as strong as mine, she shot me a feral look before I could.

“!”

“Don't ya touch me with those filthy hands. And state your business fast before I lose patience and hurt ya.”

Unfortunately I had only stopped her on impulse, and I myself was trying to compute the reason why I did it in the first place.

However it seems I would not be allowed a lot of time to deliberate so I said whatever came to mind first.

“Train me !... Please.”

A flash of surprise crossed her face before it returned to a scowl.

What am I saying !?

But then she seemed to have had an idea so she crossed her arms in consideration.

After a moment of deliberation, she turned back towards me with a fearless, daring smile.

I'm screwed...

"Alright Taiyo, I'll allow it."

"O-okay." Thanks I guess, I was about to say but that sounded dangerous so I refrained.

"But I won't go easy on ya. I have my own schedule to attend and as ya can tell I'm right handed too, so there is a buncha stuff we won't be able to do."

Is there any point then ?

"Which is why, we'll mainly do sparring." She added with that same threatening, yet amused smile.

Cornered and with sweat dreaping from my face, I answered weakly.

"I-I'll be in your care then..."

"You can call me Seri without honorifics, since I also am not interested."


And that's how I ended up stuck with a demon as sparring partner until a certain incident.

                                                                        _______________

About two months later, during a lesson about magic in sir Prakia's office, someone suddenly knocked at the doors.

"Sir Prakia, my name is Neil. You must have heard of my coming from Head Priest Darlin Mendfort. May I enter ?"

"Of course, go right ahead."

Entering without a sound, Neil, with her hooded figure made her way towards to back of the room where sir Prakia and me were seated next to his office desk, in front of a blackboard.

"You can take a seat next to our esteemed hero on the couch."

"Please call me Taiyo, sir. As I do not yet consider my title to be fitting for me."

As my training with Seri had progressed throughout the past weeks, my confidence had itself taken quite the deep dive into oblivion.
Her mastery of the sword was on another level entirely. And while far from as refined and sturdy as my master had it, Seri's movements and overall style was rather wild in comparison. Her only aim was to deal damage to her opponent, and she could not care less about dignity or finesse.
She would strike with the pommel of her sword to cut my breathing short, used the flat of her sword to block thrusts, and even threw her sword itself at me at times. 

As a result, the little confidence I had built for myself after having been able to recreate some of my master's moves accurately, had been shattered in the face of Seri's raw power.

Incidentally, at some point I learnt that she was in fact a registered Adventurer at the capital city's guild. And since I was not familiar with the occupation then, I had had to ask what it entailed.

So I learnt that it was basically people or groups of people who registered at a specific agency, a guild, and whose activity revolved around the exploration of lands, dungeons, labyrinths and the like and that they were paid for taking on requests from the people around the kingdom who came to the guild corresponding to their order of business to ask for help. 

In addition, there was a common system used by every guild. A ranking system. And since the merchant's guilds and the adventurer's for instance, did not deal with the same kind of requests, the titles awarded to their members differed in kind.
And so Seri, at the adventurer's guild of Ispron, was ranked in the third grade from the top, dubbed Whale rank. Not to mention that she was also the leader of a party of five including herself.

So at some point, both in a way to avoid dealing with her too often but also in order to diversify my arsenal, I had asked sir Prakia if he could take me as disciple.

"Understood Taiyo, now miss Neil would you mind removing your cloak so we can proceed to formal introductions ?"

"Yes."

When she removed the hood and the robe she was wearing, I instantly recognized her.

It's the elf I saw at the summoning ceremony !

"Then Taiyo, if you please."

Crap, I stared again! I really ought to be more careful with that, especially around women.

"Y-yes, my name is Taitaku Hyouma, I was summoned from another world to become a hero. You can call me Taiyo by the way. Nice to meet you."

I couldn't help letting some informal speech slip in my intro since she looks to be about the same age as me, I hope she won't hate me for it.

"Pleased to make your acquaintance, sir Hero. My name is Neil, I work as a mage at the service of the church."

I guess it would be harder for her to treat me as equal considering her position.. kinda hurts though.

With that out of the way, sir Prakia concluded the part he was explaining to me on the wind magic attribute and asked Neil about the attributes she had mastered.

I guess it was to be expected, for someone doing magic for a living.

She had mastery over five elements, Dark, Wind, Water, Light and fire.

As for me, since I first managed to use ignite with the fire attribute, I had decided to focus on deepening my understanding and usage of that same element.
That being said, I grew curious about wind. So in order to force myself out of my comfort zone, it was the first element I asked sir Prakia to teach me in addition to fire. And so we had spent the last couple weeks working on it. Or at least I had, with sir Prakia overseeing my progress and attempts.

Although, now that Neil would be studying alongside me, it was decided that we would work on the earth attribute. It was the only one she did not master, and since I was there mostly out of curiosity as opposed to out of need, I complied without resistance.


                                                                         _______________

A few weeks later, as I was sparring with Seri in the underground training area reserved for knights, a raucous voice suddenly drew the attention of all present.

"Taitaku Hyouma, come to the meeting room post-haste. The king has summoned you as well."

'As well' ? And wait why is Richard here right now ? There should still be a month or so before the winter break for Glursem's harvest.

"I'll be ready this instant !"


Once we arrived in the meeting room, that is to say the king's office where the war council had been held, I saw unexpected yet familiar faces.

"Look at you all manly and imposing... good job keeping it up." It was Xenia, my master, who whispered words of praise as I stepped inside the room and made to stand beside her.

That being said, the faces of everyone else, the king's especially were rather sombre.

"As some of you already know, our esteemed commander of the third squadron, Avery, has been severely wounded. As a result there is now a gaping hole at fort Brighton."

As it happened, after sir Avery had escorted Xenia and her troops to the fort, he had been ambushed on his way to the frontlines.
Though thanks to his usual caution, the damage had been minimal at first. But then once the situation had started looking brighter for him and his men and after he had left the frontline to head to fort Brighton to bring reinforcement, a second ambush had been awaiting him on his way. 

As a result, while he had been able to flee with a dozen men, he was severely injured in the process. So now the question was, how could we patch the hole and maintain the pressure on fort Brighton ? 

There came a proposition from the king.

"So I was thinking, sir Hyouma, no, sir Hero. Would you be willing to give us a hand in this time of need ?"

That's...

But as I was about to respond, I caught sight of Richard from across the table who looked at me with defiance in his gaze as well as with a slight grin as if mocking me.

Because of that, the words I was about to say got caught up in my throat.

It has already been over three months since I started training; I can hold my own with a sword, and I can use a the moderately powerful spell Fireball. And considering they should not let me take too much risk in a first mission, especially with that bastard accompagnying me, I think I could give it a try. 

"Your Majesty, first of all I want to express my gratitude for this opportunity. I was considering ways to repay the way you and your kingdom has treated me since my summoning, and had not dared dream of such an opportunity. I may have been summoned to be a hero, but without prior experience in the field; that is to say with either the sword or magic, I was simply not confident in my ability to leave up to your expectations. However now..."

I took a breath before continuing; eyeing my master briefly to deviate some of the attention to her.

"Now that I have been taught the basics by Master Xenia, commander of the fourth platoon, I dare hope that I could prove useful for such an endeavor if you will allow me."

I kept my training under sir Prakia and Seri a secret to avoid sounding conceited and waited for the king to answer.

As I felt the firm, gloved hand of my master on my shoulder, the king spoke.

"Magnificent, truly magnificent ! Such a show of modesty and resolve ! A display wholly befitting of our Hero ! Then let us make preparations. You will depart with second commander Richard in two days. I will let the finer details in his hands and simply offer my gratitude to you. We, at the castle, will pray that you come back to us unscathed and bathed in glory. That which you deserve."

"You praise me too much Your Majesty. It is I who should offer my thanks in response to the confidence you placed in me."


And so it was decided. In two days time I would depart for the northern front and experience my first deployment as a Hero.