Chapter 18: Fight Club?

Saturday morning there’s a small crowd of students gathered behind an academy building. The children of Baron Kaine, Tim and Roland. Baron Sonde’s eldest, Michael. Viscount Til’s daughter Liara and the sons of two counts, Alfred Pruss and Leonard Bernard.

Everyone has a wooden practice sword, and a school sword instructor has been enlisted to act as referee.

“These are friendly matches amongst first years, there will technically be a winner, but please remember everyone is at this academy to learn” Sword Instructor Phil says, “the best swordsman from the first round of matches will get a bye to the final since we only have 6 competitors, I’ll be picking” he continues and scans everyone’s faces.

“The rules are simple, no blows to the face or neck, and no elemental magic. Disarming your opponent or landing a telling blow will result in victory”

“Now the brothers have requested to face each other first, so Tim and Roland Kaine you’re up”

The brothers are grinning from ear to ear, they must have a long standing rivalry. They take their places on marked spots in front of the rest of us. It’s clear that mock battles are frequently held here.

“BEGIN”

Tim is bigger and I’d guess older, but they’re in the same year?

Tim kicks off the ground and swings his sword down, trying to end the match in one blow, but Roland parry’s the strike. Roland’s counterattack is faster, but there isn’t much strength behind it. They exchange strikes back and forth, parrying or grazing the arms and shoulders of one another until Tim gets in close and makes a sort of football tackle. Roland’s sword flies from his hand as he falls down.

“Aw c’mon, it’s supposed to be a sword match. You always rely on being big. You’re big and stupid!” cries Roland.

“Haha you never learn little brother, a fight is just a fight. It wasn’t against the rules” Tim says.

“WINNER, TIM” Instructor Phil interjects.

“You’re 10 minutes older than me Tim, you’re not a real older brother” huffs Roland as he picks himself up and brushes the dirt from his butt.

Fraternal twins I guess, and Tim’s way bigger, sucks to be Roland.

“Next match, Michael Sonde and Liara Til”

Michael has a stoic look to him, I haven’t sparred with any girls so I’m impressed by his composure. I’d feel a little weird about it.

Liara has olive skin, shorter hair and a tom boy kind of look, she seems muscular for a girl.

“BEGIN”

Liara is true to the tom boy aesthetic and jumps forward instantly, swinging for the fences. Michael’s form is excellent and he blocks each strike while stepping back to soften the blows, but he’s getting overpowered. I can see the magic Liara is pushing out of her feet to enhance her movements, it’s powerful and she’s kicking up some dust.

Liara doesn’t cease in her attacks, leaving Michael no chance to counter, a telling blow from her would hurt and despite his composure, Michael knows he’s outmatched. Michael brings his practice sword up to try and parry Liara’s attack in place, but he doesn’t have the strength. His practice sword is knocked into chest and he flies back about a meter.

“WINNER LIARA”

She’s the best one here so far, oh but I’m next.

“Next match, Alfred Pruss and Leonard Bernard”

Leanard is a pretty boy, with blonde hair and blue eyes to boot. He looks the part of a student at a royally funded academy.

“BEGIN”

Neither of us jump forward like the last two matches, Leonard’s stance is solid, two hands on his sword and a balanced center of gravity. We inch our way towards each other, wondering who the first to attack will be.

Leonard jumps forward using magic to enhance his kickoff, he aims a stab for my chest, but I step to the right and bat his sword to the left.

He lands and turns to face me instantly, this time approaching with a number of sword slashes from side to side. It doesn’t take much to parry them and his face is showing frustration, I suspect we’ve found a sore loser.

Leonard steadies himself and attacks with all his strength, trying to slash my chest diagonally. I don’t want to give this kid a meltdown, so I’ll end it here.

I step just outside of the swing’s range, but Leonard’s move was all or nothing. When he hits nothing, he starts tumbling forward, and I take that opening to step forward and trip him. He falls forward and I press the tip of my sword to his back.

“WINNER ALFRED”

Leonard dusts himself off and makes his way to join the small crowd before I do the same.

“HEY ALFRED” someone yells. Is that Eric? Sure enough, he’s come to watch… and he brought the Princess.

“Great match man, he couldn’t land anything on you” Eric says excitedly.

“Ha thanks Eric, I was hoping he’d tire himself out with all the big swings, I was lucky he fell” I didn’t show anything crazy, but Leonard used a fair amount of magic to only slice the air.

But Phil interrupts our chat.

“Liara will be skipping to the finals, Alfred when you’re ready you’ll be up against Tim” he says..

“Right, I’m ready now. Let’s go Tim” I say with a smile, and Tim smiles back. He might be a jerk to his little brother, but I think he likes fighting.

“BEGIN”

Tim launches himself forward immediately, his swings are wide like Leonard’s and about as powerful. If Tim works on his magic more he could really hit hard.

I evade the first few strikes, if he gets close I think he’s going to drop his shoulder and charge me like a battering ram. I dance in and out of Tim’s range, but Tim doesn’t look frustrated like Leonard did. He must have fun just swinging his sword.

Swing, miss, swing, miss. I let him slice the air to pieces before deciding to get revenge for his little brother. Tim’s a few inches taller than me so if I drop my shoulder and charge him it’ll be like a gut punch. Good for ending a fight without really hurting someone.

Tim swings diagonally down from right to left with all his might, but instead of evading I step in and parry with a strong swing of my own. His sword and arms are knocked up slightly, leaving his lower chest and stomach wide open. I step forward and lower my shoulder then kick off the ground lightly to crash into him.

“HRK GUH”

Tim falls to the ground and takes a painful breath.

“WINNER ALFRED”

A moment later his breathing steadies-

“God damn Alfred are you made of metal? It feels like I ran into a wall” Tim asks from the ground, rubbing the point of impact with his hand and wincing.

I offer my hand to help him get up.

“Ah sorry about that, I saw you do it earlier so I wanted to try it when your hands got knocked out of the way” I reply and he smirks.

“I can’t be upset losing to my own move, but you really felt like a brick wall..” he groans while looking me up and down like he’s searching for a secret weapon.

Magic infused muscles and bones are hard to cut with knives and swords, makes sense they hurt to be tackled by. But it puts me in the finals, I’m glad I had some warm up fights before fighting a girl. It definitely would’ve flustered me in the first round.

“Alfred, you and Liara are in the finals, but you should rest for a minute. You just went back-to-back” Phil interrupts.

“I don’t mind going now, it’s good to work on my stamina” I reply.

“Alright, but no whining about being tired if you lose” Phil says with a shrug, “Alfred, Liara, finals are now” he adds.

We take our places. Liara seems to be measuring me with her gaze.

“BEGIN”

Liara doesn’t kick off right away, instead she approaches me slowly, likely aiming to start the fight in her ideal range. Once there, she starts swinging like a wild animal, using every bit of magic she can push out of her feet to increase her speed and power.

She was taking it easy in her last fight, I thought she was strong, but she’s very strong. Stronger than I want anyone here to think I am, so I’ll be dodging. I start my dance again, evading her strikes by a hair’s width then feinting counter attacks to slow her down.

My first mom always said to be gentle with women, but my hero used to call them whores. I’m going for the liver.

Liara keeps swinging and I keep dodging, but I stop feinting counter attacks. Her speed increases without that threat and she swings even more aggressively. Most of her attacks are a diagonal arc, so I start evading by only moving side to side.

Reading the change in my movements, Liara lowers her backswing to slice it horizontally across my body.

Just what I was looking for.

She swings right to left with a perfectly flat stroke aimed at my chest, instead of backing up I duck under it and leap forward. I swing my sword diagonally upward and aim for the area just under her right-side ribs. It connects flush and Liara jumps back, still with her sword up.

A moment later she winces and falls to one knee, letting go of her sword. Getting hit in the liver can have a delayed reaction. Grandpa taught me that one.

“WINNER ALFRED”

I reach my hand down to help Liara up, but her breathing is too ragged.

“I.. need a minute..” she mumbles.

The liver does not appreciate getting hit.

“The right side is sensitive to a blunt hit, if it still hurts tonight you should get it healed” I say while pulling my hand back.

“You baited me into that attack, that was good.. guh” she groans, still holding her side, “I can get up” she says.

I reach my hand down again and help her up, she wobbles then hangs her arm around me like a crutch.

“Argh sorry, I thought standing would feel better” Liara says.

“It’s my fault you’re hurt, I don’t mind helping. I’ll make you some water” I say.

I hold my right hand up and make a small water ball in front of her face. With the hand supporting her back, I apply healing magic aimed at her liver and abdominal muscles.

“Thanks, I didn’t know you were a water affinity” she says with a pained smile before gulping down all the water I made, “ah, that actually made me feel better” she adds.

She pulls her arm back from around my shoulder and starts to twist her body, testing for pain.

“It’s sore, but it only hurt at first. I don’t think I’ll need healing” Liara says, the color returning to her face.

Well, you already got healed.

We make our way over to the small crowd before Sword Instructor Phil stops me.

“Alfred, you think through your fights well, but playing around so much will cost you at some point” he says with a stern teacher expression.

“Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind” I reply with a polite bow.

Guess he isn’t a sword instructor for nothing, but he didn’t look at me like I was a freak so it should be fine.

“Alfred if you were that good you should’ve told me” Eric mutters at my arrival.

“You’re overestimating me, I have a little more experience than your average first year, that’s all” I reply.

“Says the man who didn’t did get hit once and isn’t sweating” Eric looks me over with a squint.

“Aha you know I hunt a lot, stamina is my best attribute” I say nervously.

“I agree with Eric, you looked calm in the face of powerful sword strikes. Not many students would look that way” the Princess adds.

Sigh.

“I think everyone fought well, it was a lot of fun” I say with the warmest smile I can muster.

Tim and Liara join the group having fully recovered.

“What sword supplemental are you taking Alfred?” Tim is the first to interject.

“I’m not taking any, I wanted to focus on other things at the academy” I answer.

“You’re not trying to become a knight?” Liara asks with a cocked head.

“No, I’m not, I learned how to use a sword so I could get permission from my family to go hunting. My family’s estate is at the edge of the forests and mountains in the south, and ever since I was little all I wanted to do was go exploring and hunting there” I reply honestly.

I’m in a pretty good mood, I like winning and aside from the Princess this is a good crowd. Everyone seems to understand and nods along until the Princess freezes and looks at me.

“You’re not thinking of hunting past the wall are you? There are creatures in there that require trained knights to eliminate” she asks with a concerned look.

“Oh about that.. I actually spent last weekend hunting there..” I reply while scratching my cheek, “but it wasn’t a problem, the predatory animals are easy to avoid”

“Alfred it’s dangerous, if you’re ever missing from a Monday class we’ll all think you’ve been eaten” the Princess says with a humph.

“I promise you Princess, I wouldn’t do anything that puts me in danger. I saw one of the larger animals I was warned about, and they’re too large to be nimble. I’m sure I could just climb a tree if I was ever cornered” I say to try and quell her fear.

The scary predator in the forest reminds me of a bear from my last life, and they were great climbers, but I’m hoping this Princess is sheltered and doesn’t know that.

“Alfred!” she shouts and stomps her foot, “those animals are expert climbers. Many explorers died with the same hubris as you. At least have proper information on dangerous areas..” she mutters.

Balllls.

“My apologies your highness, I’ll consult explorer depictions in the library before I return to that area” I say with a bow.

“I’m not upset as the Princess, I’m worried as your classmate and friend. Please be careful” she requests a worried look.

Friends? I can fake my death. Right, ok, I’ll give myself a unique scar on my hand or arm and make sure everyone sees it. Then I’ll cut it off and leave it for the knights to find outside the wall.

“I wouldn’t worry so much Princess, Alfred’s been hunting since he was a kid. And he’s good enough with a sword he can probably handle what he comes across” Eric says, coming to my rescue. I’ll have to reevaluate him, that was a bro move.

The Princess glares at Eric then back to me.

“Fine, but if you miss a Monday class unexpectedly, I’m sending the knights” she says, refusing to yield completely.

The rest of the students and Phil have cleared out leaving only Eric, Princess Sylvie, Tim, Liara and myself.

“What are you doing now Alfred?” Eric asks.

“Oh umm..”

“You were planning to go hunting weren’t you?” the Princess asks while glaring at me. She has me by the balls.

“I promised I would refrain” I say, trying to curb her wrath, “it’s getting hot out so I was going to enjoy a cold drink in my dorm”

And since we’re in different dorms I can slip away undetected. It’s fool proof.

“How delightful, let’s all go" Princess Sylvie says with a shit eating grin, "I’ve never seen the old dorms, I’d like a tour” 

Balls.

“It would be an honor to be your guide Princess” I reply with a forced smile.

I’m pretty sure she gets annoyed when other students act too formal, so I’m bowing.