Chapter 17:

17. The second stage-exam

Waldina - Journey as a ninja in another world


The next morning Waldina didn’t stay put for long. She woke up to the sound of early birds singing, long before Blancob and Kiandra. She decided to use this rare chance to her advantage.

First Waldina straightened her black ninjadress so it would look less like she’d just slept with it on - which was true. Then she added her weapons to her dress-up. She sheathed her longer sword on to its sheath which was hanging on her hips. The other she sheathed to the sheath tied behind her back. Then she checked the sharpness of both her daggers and shurikens before putting them back to her thigh belts. After finishing her preparations she went further into the forest, far enough from Blancob and Kiandra that she wouldn’t accidentally wake them up as she was practicing her ninja skills.

Leaps, twirls and techniques related to agility began finally coming to her quite naturally and effortlessly. Waldina was pleased with this realization. Using the weapons on the other hand was still slightly difficult and unnatural. Though perhaps it was understandable. A regular office worker didn’t exactly need to use swords, daggers nor shurikens. Maybe some would even find it strange if that kind of worker had such knowledge. Except for those who participated in some sort of group activities, such as fencing or kendo. And Waldina had never participated in such. At first she hadn’t got the chance and later on she decided she was too old to give it a try.

In reality she’d always lacked the courage to try.

Right now she was regretting it so much. Oh how much easier adapting to this new life as a ninja could’ve been if she’d had experience of holding some kind of sword beforehand.

Waldina sighed deeply and turned to look at her bracelet. She scrolled through her acquired ninja skills trying to figure them out. Smokescreen had gotten upgraded since she last tested it out. A sudden rush of excitement urged her to try it out in its newest form.

The smokescreen let out a whiz as it began spreading the smoke in the area. It was now covering quite a large area and its color was denser, making for a better cover. Waldina was pleased with this discovery. The smokescreen would surely come in hand in the upcoming battles.

She’d also finally acquired a short distance teleportation skill called a hop. The skill held so much potential and possibilities yet it had its downsides. The hop was needlessly difficult to control and she couldn’t use it many times in a row. In future as her skills and level advanced it would surely be a great asset but for now she’d have to be careful using it. She wouldn’t be able to depend on it in a real pinch, if she ever got into one. Yet it didn’t mean she shouldn’t practice. And that she did.

“Here you are, Waldina,” Kiandra called out, waking Waldina back to reality from her training trance.

“Ah, good morning Kiandra,” Waldina nodded and wiped out sweat from her forehead. She sheathed her sword and walked to the yawning Kiandra. The fairy’s wings seemed to still be asleep as the tips were only slightly pointing upwards.

“Mornings,” Kiandra replied quickly gulping her upcoming yawn, “So do we attack the thieves today?”

“That’s what I was planning on,” Waldina stated as they returned to their camp and Blancob. The gigantic bunny was just opening its sleepy eyes and smiled at the two of them drowsily. Waldina couldn’t help but smile at the view. Sleepy bunnies, no matter how gigantic they may be, were absolutely adorable.

After breakfast Waldina briefed Kiandra and Blancob about her plan for the attack. After making sure everyone understood their roles, Waldina and Kiandra began sneaking towards the thieves’ camp.

Blancob could undoubtedly be a great asset in battle, yet Waldina was afraid the bunny would draw too much attention to them. Blancob wasn’t exactly small so it could be spotted from faraway. Not to mention its lack of agility. What kind of ninja would Waldina be if she were to sneak with spotlights on her.

Not to mention the fact that Blancob’s skills would most likely affect both Waldina and their enemies. She really didn’t care for extra distractions nor challenges. She was confident in her skills but she knew she wasn’t omnipotent. The more factors tilted against her favor, the better. Besides she was - and had always been - more of a solo player than team player. Though, having Kiandra with her made her more like a duo player than anything else.

Kiandra flew high up in the air, staying close to surrounding trees to ensure she’d stay hidden. She followed Waldina’s lead from there. Waldina herself was sneaking closer to the thieves’ camp. Her body was pressed close to the ground, ensuring she wouldn’t be noticed. The bushes and other small plants gave her plenty of cover, though only if she stayed close to the ground.

After she reached the thief guarding the camp at the very edge of the camp, Waldina signed Kiandra the starting mark. Then she swiftly leaped behind the man without giving him any time to react, hit him unconscious and dragged him towards the closest tree tying him to it.

As silent as she was, losing their guard hadn’t gone unnoticed from the other thieves.

From the direction of the camp two men and one woman charged towards her. The men were holding swords and the woman was picking arrows for her bow.

Waldina picked a dagger between her fingers. She aimed carefully, throwing the dagger straight to the bow and from there to the archer woman’s shoulder. The impact broke the bow in two and the woman dropped to the ground holding her shoulder in pain. Though Waldina didn’t have much time to check on the woman's condition nor action as the men were closing the distance between them and Waldina.

She grabbed her sword and evaded the men’s blades easily. Two against one wouldn’t be easy yet she didn’t feel the need to ask for Kiandra’s assistance as of yet.

Waldina hit the other man’s sword with her own causing it to drop on the ground. Then she jumped at the other man’s sword, stepping on it towards the astonished man. With a rapid kick she dropped the man onto the ground. Without delay she leaped down from the falling man’s sword and as she made contact with the ground she tripped the other man by straightening her leg to the side.

“Kiandra!” Waldina called with a sharp tone. Kiandra appeared above her as one blue light ball. The man laying on the ground, still conscious, reached for his sword, but Waldina stepped on his wrist putting a stop to his plans.

“L-lady, I can see underneath your skirt from this angle,” the man tried letting out a voice imitating a lewd pervert, but desperation ended up taking over him. Waldina laughed dryly at it. She glanced meaningfully at the man as she pointed out:

“I hope the view is worth the trip to the prison.”

She had small shorts underneath her skirt. As a ninja she didn’t have time nor chance to worry over skirt etiquette as she moved in fights. Besides, would it really matter at all? It could work as a distraction tactic, after all.

“Aqua príschar,” Kiandra’s clear voice cut the air and Waldina nodded contently. Kiandra trapped the enemies Waldina had defeated so that they wouldn’t escape before she’d defeat each and every one of the enemies.

From somewhere far away a singular arrow grazed her ear ever so slightly. Waldina smiled grimly at it. In front of her was standing three sword-wielding thieves, one man and two women. From behind them, further away hidden with tree leaves she noticed two arrow heads and eyes filled with bloodlust. As far as she was aware, she could now see all of the remaining enemies.

Waldina grabbed again a couple of her daggers and aimed at the archers laying low in tree branches. She held her sword steadily in her other hand as she charged towards the sword-wielding thieves.

First she struck the sword down from the woman closest to her and slashed straight to her weakpoint. The woman fell down and Waldina focused on the remaining two thieves.

The two played well together. When the man’s blade clashed with Waldina’s blade, the woman pointed hers to the ninja's back. Their guard had no apparent holes, and it definitely didn’t help to get shot by an arrow from time to time. Waldina had clearly failed to take down the archers earlier.

When a sword came from the left, she evaded to her right. And again to the left as another blade approached from the right. The sword dance continued for a while without either side showing any intention of giving up nor getting worn out.

Suddenly Waldina saw a chance to grab her victory. She evaded quickly the arrow flying towards her from a distance. At the same time she managed to lead the man straight to the arrow’s fly route. The man grimaced from the pain and Waldina took the chance to take him down with her sword. Afterwards defeating the woman wasn’t much of a challenge as they were clearly meant to fight as a duo. A couple of swift sword clashes and a nicely timed trip later the woman was laying on the ground, unconscious.

At the same time Kiandra had headed towards the archers at the edge of the camp. One of the archers had already fallen down from the tree and was now unconscious. Kiandra placed him under her spell water cage before focusing her attention on the archer still stationed at the tree. The woman’s attention was closely on Waldina. The ninja’s dagger was next to her, stuck at the tree’s trunk.

Kiandra went through her choices and decided to use her skill called water bullets. Without uttering a word she aimed her hardened water bullets straight at the archer and her bow. The fairy shot those bullets for so long that the archer couldn’t keep on standing at the branch and fell down. After the archer was on the ground Kiandra placed her under her water cage as well. Then she flew back to Waldina.