Timber

Early in the morning Ataru and Rosalind found themselves walking through the city. “Are you alright? You look tired.” Rosalind asked, looking to him with a worried expression. Rune had put him through the wringer, he hadn’t worked that hard since before he was injured.

“Just a late night workout, I’m a little out of shape. Gotta really temper this body of mine, ya know?” He said, choosing not to mention Rune.

“I see, by the way, it didn’t seem appropriate to ask at the time, but what is a car?” She asked.

“So imagine a carriage.”

“Okay.”

“Now imagine one that moves without horses, really fast and with a metal body.”

“Hmm, sounds fascinating. What powers these machines?” Ataru scrunched up his face, he wasn’t exactly an engineer.

“Uh, engines?”

“Ah, like those on a train?”

“Y-yeah? Most of them are powered by gas, some with a battery.”

“I’m assuming not the baseball kind of battery. I believe we have something similar.”

“Mana stones?” He guessed.

“Correct. I wonder if we could create a car in this world. The engines powered by mana stones are fairly large, they would need to be minimized first…” Rosalind began mumbling to herself, likely creating a blueprint in her head already. He had to wonder what sorts of things she’d have made already had she not been locked away for so long.

“Oh, is this the place?” Ataru stopped in front of a store selling various weapons and armor. Rosalind snapped out of her daze and looked up at the store’s sign.

“Cole’s Smithy, yes this is the place. We have some money to spend since Gerald paid for our clothes, we should buy you a weapon.”

“Yeah, I guess I can’t keep improvising in the middle of a fight, and I’d rather not have my hands frozen together again.” Rosalind cleared her throat and entered the building.

Ataru scanned the walls, searching for anything that interested him.

“What may you be looking for, young man?” A delicate feminine voice spoke, he turned his head to see a woman sitting behind a counter. She appeared to be in her twenties, her long black hair was tied back, and she was wearing a well worn leather apron.

“Uh, something really sturdy?” He said, not quite sure himself. At the very least he didn’t want anything difficult to use. The woman stood from her seat and walked over to him.

“My, my, you have quite the physique, something sturdy you say?” She motioned towards an array of different clubs. Ataru looked through the selection before his eyes stopped on a metal club. It was around three feet long, with round metal studs arranged on the surface. It looked very much like a kanabo, a Japanese club, though in his mind he just thought of the word bat. “This one?” The woman picked the weapon up with surprising ease and handed it to him.

“Here, you hold it like this.” The woman moved behind him and adjusted his grip on the weapon, then using her legs to move him in the right pose. Ataru had to wonder if this was how she typically treated customers. If he weren’t so excited to use the weapon he might have been flustered.

“H-he can figure out how to hold it.” Rosalind stepped forward. Lightly pushing the woman aside. “Seriously Ataru, have more awareness.” The woman giggled.

“My apologies, was there anything I could help you with, young lady?” It was obvious the woman was amused, Rosalind took a deep breath before speaking.

“Yes, actually. Do you have any mage’s staves? Something affordable, please.”

“Why yes, in fact I have just the thing for you.” The woman walked to the back of the shop, moving out of view behind a door.

“Watch out.” Rosalind leaned towards Ataru and whispered. “She’s trying to butter you up to spend more, don’t fall for it.”

“Huh? Was she?” He responded, taking slow practice swings with the bat.

“Yes, she’s clearly trying to–” Rosalind stopped talking as the woman entered the room carrying a wooden staff. The shaft was covered with bands of black leather, and the tip was a bramble of wood that enclosed a round red stone.

“How is this?” The woman asked, handing it to her. Rosalind took the staff and looked it over. As she examined it the woman moved to her side. “I feel I should tell you, I’ve seen powerful mages hold their staves like this.” The woman guided Rosalind’s hands to grip the staff, holding it upright. “Perhaps it helps with spell casting?”

“W-wha?” Rosalind’s face turned a bright shade of red. “N-no? I don’t think that really helps!”

“Not even like this?” The woman motioned with the staff, swinging it left and right.” Rosalind was now visibly sweating.

“I-I assure you it does not!” She stammered.

“Really? And here I thought I was onto something, oh well.” The woman took a step back from her. “Are you happy with it?” she asked with a smile.

“I’ll buy it!” Her voice cracked as she took out her coin purse.

Finally exiting the store, Rosalind leaned against the wall to catch her breath. Ataru, meanwhile, was pointing towards the horizon with his new bat, much like a batter would to call out a homerun. “That was… A trial.” She put the staff away in her magic storage before turning to Ataru. “Baseball is higher on the list, huh?”

“Hm? What was that?” He said, looking back to her.

“Nothing, let’s head back.”

At night, Ataru made his way to the park to train with Rune. As he arrived, he saw them swinging their sword. They didn’t have their armor on, revealing that their entire body was well toned. They were in better shape than he was. “Is that your chosen weapon?” Rune said as he approached, they continued swinging their sword. Atauru held up the bat, which now had a leather strap attached to stow it away when he didn’t need it.

“Yeah, I figured I’d go with something familiar.”

“Do you have experience with clubs?” Rune asked.

“Kind of, not really as a weapon. More for a sport.”

“Is that so? I’ve never heard of a sport that uses a club like that.” Rune stopped swinging and set the sword down upon the grass.

“Oh, I could tell you about it!” He said, his eyes lighting up.

“Tell me about it as you warm up. Five thousand, remember?”

“Yeah…” He began to swing the metal bat, at the same time explaining his favorite sport to the second person in this world.

“Hmm, I’ll have to try this game sometime.” Rune said after hearing Ataru’s explanation. They were currently doing a handstand with one arm, slowly going up and down.

“Right!? I can’t wait to form a team.” Ataru said, currently doing the type of push-ups intended for normal people.

“I’m sure you’ll be able to do it, I think people need something like it to ease their minds now that the war has ended.”

“Oh yeah, you fought in the war, right?” He asked.

“Somewhat, I rarely fought on the front lines, and I did not take orders from anyone other than the general. Even then, I refused to kill anyone.”

“Really?”

“The only demons I have killed were some of those that attacked my home village, and the Demon King.”

“Any reason why?” Ataru flopped onto his stomach before forcing his aching arms to hold himself up again. Rune switched to their other hand, still upside down.

“It was a promise to the god of mercy, in exchange for the power of the holy sword.” Rune said. Ataru looked over to the bandaged greatsword sitting on a bench.

“I’m guessing it’s pretty strong?”

“You could say that, it was the only way I could beat the Demon King.”

“I see.”

They continued their training in silence, until Rune picked up the blunt training sword. “I believe it’s time we did more practical exercises. Attack me with everything you have.” Ataru picked up his weapon and looked over to Rune. The last time he attacked them he ended up getting flung around. “Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you.” Rune said with a calm smile. It somehow wasn’t very reassuring. He shook his head and charged forward, swinging straight for Rune’s head. Rune’s blunt sword caught the bat, they otherwise didn’t move an inch. “That approach will work on mindless beasts, but it won’t work on powerful monsters, and it certainly won’t work on a seasoned warrior.” They pushed back on the bat, causing Ataru to fall back.

Some time passed, until Ataru could no longer move as he laid gasping for air on the ground. Rune stepped over to him and looked down. “Your left hand isn’t your dominant one, is it?” They asked.

“That obvious?”

“Yes, you also refuse to hold your weapon with both hands. Is your right arm injured?”

“Yeah, my shoulder to be specific. I can use it, but not for long before it becomes trouble. What? Think I can fight without it?” Rune shook their head.

“No, it just means I’ll have to adjust your training. Also, it means you’re more impressive than I thought. I’ve seen soldiers retire over similar injuries.”

“Heh, thanks.” He said, before getting to his feet. “Okay, one more time!”