Training #2

After experiencing the effects of foolishly sparring with live steel and sharp blades, the two boys recuperated for a day from their light scrapes and cuts; only for them to continue again for the next days with wooden weapons with the same dimensions as their deadly counterparts.

Tak!-Tak!-Ta-Ta-Ta-Ta-Tak!

“Is that all you got?!” Ayama hollered loudly, the rapid melody of clicks ringing loudly between the scarce air between the duelists. Ayama held the longer wooden sword tightly with both hands, deflecting and parrying the shallow thrusts and slashes being thrown at him– without being forced back.

Akiro huffed, smirking through the fatigue, still dishing out as much as he could. “N-Not even getting started!”

Tak!-Tak!-Ta-Ta-Ta-Ta-Tak!

The sound of wood striking against wood echoed across the sand– blow after blow, strike after strike, and combinations were continually thrown by either of the two, their arsenal of moves being improved and enlarged after each bout. The two would break themselves and the weapons as they tenaciously hammered away in training.

Of course, there were the occasional missions in between training, the Heroes had to sustain themselves after all, but even those were getting more and more infrequent as the monster’s population– routinely kept in check by the City’s mercenaries and Adventurers– had been declining to a scarce degree.

“Oh!” The desk clerk waved enthusiastically, his expressions snappy and quick to adjust from the boredom, “Finished with your quest already?”

“Y-Yeah.” Ayama forced himself to smile, despite being drenched in the goo produced by Carnivorous Desert Slug. “Now pay up.” He demanded, tossing the heart of the accursed beast.

“I need a shower,” Akiro gagged.

In more recent news, the Black Market had been dismantled quite bloodily, the blood of criminals and guilty people had stained the streets and cave of Oasis City. The violence required for such a drastic, but necessary change in the city could not have been done without the Kingdom’s Army moving in, but the Hero's involvement in the matter could have helped speed up the process if it weren’t for the apprehension of killing.

“Where the hell have you two been? The city is in an uproar.” A gruff, annoyed voice gripped at the presence of the Class’s more unpopular duo. Masashi glared from the second-floor balcony of a large tavern, the tavern they had been instructed to meet at.

Akiro promptly ignored him and climbed the rickety stairs. Upon reaching the top steps, Akiro and Ayama shed their armor haphazardly around the floor, shaking the sand from their bodies and hair. The blatant ignorance of the two irked the berserker, who promptly jumped form his seat to pick a fight.

“Why I oughta–”

“Ah!” Brandon waved, smiling softly at the two, his aged features rising slightly in annoyance at the loud insurgent. “You two have arrived!”

Akiro and Ayama bowed strictly, taking the last of the available seats at the back of the formation. The teachers stood at the front, Kaiser taking the closest position by the center, His expression was heavier and more serious than usual, quite odd for the tender-hearted knight.

“I have gathered you all today, to assign one final lesson before you can say that you are truly prepared for this world.’’ The Knights told them, “I am not in power to force you, but I am bound by my responsibility to tell you.”

They summoned heroes to watch the head knight with a curious silence. “Today, you are permitted to partake in bounty hunts, specifically on criminals. You are to kill them if they resist.”

Everyone except Akiro and Ayama was surprised, naturally so. They’re just adolescent students who should’ve started studying for college. The thought of killing another human being had never graced their minds before. Or most of them.

Kenji raised his hand. “W-we’re going to k-kill humans?”

Olivia slammed her heel. “Criminals, lowly scum- not humans.” She clarified the class– Masashi too– were all aghast. “This city has been the breeding ground of criminals, low-lives who threaten the peace of this Kingdom.”

Shigeko was appalled, still ignoring what Oliva said. A criminal was still human in her eyes. “What! We'll kill people?” The sharp, concise questions sparked many conflicts.

Sebastian chimed in to quell the heating tension. “Yes, but the Priestess and Healers are permitted not to participate– as per the Church's regulations, but you are not allowed to extend your services to them.”

Maki just sighed at the commotion. “Well, understandably, Priestesses shouldn't kill, but do we not have a choice?”

The serious officer flinched slightly, his jaw chewing his tongue; but after a long second, shook his head, his childish features slowly beaming with cheer once more. Akiro and Ayama knew it was forced, but the change in his temperament made the students relax.

“No, you are not.” He reassured, “But please…please take heed– and be careful.”

The sighs let out by the class were loud, relief washing over them like waves. “Thank goodness!”

“You’re dismissed!” Kaiser waved, turning away from the confused children. Brandon wasted not a second to reach for the younger knight’s shoulder, leaning into his ear.

“What are you doing?” He hissed, “They need this… the faster they get it over, the better for them!”

Olivia then added to Brandon’s concern, “They’re not kids! They’re heroes, with responsibility– what foolishness is this?”

Even from the back of the room, Akiro tuned into the hushed voices of the professors, ignoring the bubbling cheer of his own peers. “I see. I guess that was that.”

The friend to his side leaned forward, “What did you hear?”

Akiro shook his head as he arose, pulling up his own hood. “Nothing much, just expect more soldiers to come. Bounties for collecting might be available soon”

Ayama shrugged standing up too. “Well at least money will circulate just fine, I was worried about the economy of this place.” He stretched, “Monsters have been vanishing as of late– so business has been slow.”

“True,” Akiro agreed, “That’s not just the things slowing down these days.” Aside from the current state of the City’s internal affairs, the meeting was useful to Akiro in other ways. He was now enlightened on everyone’s capabilities at that moment. “[Tomigura Takumi, ice mage, Lvl 32] [Onishi Akiko, Paladin, Lvl 39] [Sasawa Yaso, Archer, Lvl 43] [Matsumura Shigeko, Priest, lvl 29] [Kenji Kinote, Tanker, Lvl 42] [Yamazaki Toshiyuki, Martial Artist, 43] [Nishimura Hitomi, samurai, Lvl 41] [Hashimoto Mari, Magic Gunner, Lvl 40] [Okuda keiichi, Earth mage, Lvl 34] [Isa Tsukiko, Healer, 29] [Yastuke Kenji, Support mage, Lvl 32] [Takeshita Eri, Fire mage, Lvl 36] [Shimizu Sango, Healer, Lvl 29] [Haruto Itsuki, High Knight, Lvl 42] [Tahara Maki, Wind Mage, lvl 38] [Tahara Kasumi, Lightning mage, lvl 37] [Hamasaki Masashi, Berserker, Lvl 52] [Teramoto Toshio, Ninja, lvl 47] [Furutani Ryuta, Tamer, lvl 37 ] [Matsuko Rei, Alchemist, Lvl 25] [Kagiwara Tsukiko, Dark mage, Lvl 32] [shinomura Mitsuko, Light mage, lvl 33]”

This was their life for the time being— training, occasionally hunting, and more training. Days had passed, days turning into weeks, and those weeks turned into one month. The Army had finally settled into the city, for managing the city’s dirty wealth and security, turning it into a grand military base.

Oasis City then began exporting these goods to Adventurers, making the availability of goods and equipment known throughout the kingdom; and merchants, adventurers, and civilians swarmed the city by the hundreds. Naturally the power vacuum created had been filled by the military, soldiers patrolling the wall instead of easily bribed gate guards.

“Are you okay!?” Ayama yelled, his hands around his mouth like a cone, amplifying his voice upward. He looked up with a concerned expression, “This was such a bad idea.”

“I-I’m fine!” Above him was Akiro, upside down and dangling from two wires anchored on the wall by his sickles. “I just slipped! Nothing too serious!”

“O-Okay!” Ayama replied, Akiro grabbed the wires with both hands to orient himself, starting his climb once more, slowly making his way up.

“It’s working!” Akiro beamed in amazement, the system of pulleys and gears attached to him from under his coat not breaking.

The climb was long in distance, but it was even longer when danger herself was breathing against his neck. Despite the danger, Akiro took his eyes off the wall and look down to

Ayama, who continued to watch him; however, before he could open his mouth to talk— the air rumbled deeply.

Grrrrrrrnnggggggmmmm….

The ground vibrated at the sound, the topmost layers of sand being flung around. The power was not restrained to the ground either, the wall Akiro was attached to vibrating slightly as tremors passed through the sandstone walls.

Ayama nearly fell back, his arms flailing to keep himself upright. “What was that!” Because he was much closer to the ground, the vibrations traveled through his body. “Akiro!” he yelled desperately, his sense screaming at him. “Don’t come back down! I’ll meet you in the city! Somethings out here!”

Grrrrrrrnnggggggmmmm…

The suspended Assassin nodded, watching him rush into the city through the small gate before he resumed climbing. But as he did, the rumblings grew stronger, the vibrations lasting much longer and recurring much more frequently.

Akiro tried to reach for a protruding brick, latching onto it with his fingers, and he would’ve been successful if it weren't for his radar. His intuition made him freeze, his body turning rigid as stone as he turned his head.

The sand dunes crept close, increasing in speed the closer it got to the city walls; but it was not a moving mountain, it was a mountain displaced by an incredibly large creature. The creature’s armored skin slowly crept from the ground, rearing its repulsive head.

“Oh no.”