Guidance and Strength

" Ah good to see you joined us Raen. " Aldrich was all smiles even if he wore a mark on his cheek from where his opponent had managed to graze him with the dagger. The larger man came up and clapped a hand on Raen's shoulder while making it obvious he was looking at the weapon in his hand. " Huh so you are the sort who likes lances? That's actually a Kurvarsh lance, you don't often see them that often. " Aldrich pointed to the round end as he continued. " It's the perfect size for throwing but the weight on the end messes with its balance. I've never been very good with it but if you want to try it out, how about we set you up with our spear user? Should be a fair match. " 

Raen moved the lance awkwardly in his hands and realized Aldrich was right, it had a strange balance to it. As Raen continued to toy with it as Aldrich escorted him to where the match had just been going on he whistled and called to one of the men focused on watching the food. " Hey Herran get over here. Watching Ceres cook doesn't make him any faster so why don't you work up that appetite in the meantime? "

The man rolled over and huffed before noticing the weapon in Raen's hands. Herran looked to Aldrich who gave him a wink, knowing good and well what he meant by pairing the two. The rest of the group also had a feeling as to why Herran had been picked but said nothing, although Hala was frowning slightly.

Even with the spear Herran wasn't very intimidating. He was nearly half a meter shorter than Raen. Herran wore a loose fitting tunic and heavy cloth pants, both of which were light brown. He was a little on the scrawny side and with a head of disheveled black hair Herran looked like little more than a field worker. Even so, the seriousness in his eyes warned Raen not to underestimate him.

" Well Raen, lets see what you can do with that. " Herran took a low stance with the spear pointed at an angle towards the ground. He watched as Raen took a similar stance but had a few issues in situating his weapon. Though it was close to the same size, the fact that the weighted ball at its end was heavier than the front made it difficult to locate its balance.

Raen was still adjusting the weapon in his hands when Herran struck. The spear lunged forward and forced Raen to take a few steps back as Herran pressed his charge. The lance in Raen's hands might as well have been little more than a stick for all the good it was doing him. Eventually Raen stumbled over a small rock and Herran swept the spear lower, smacking the lance from his hands.

" Well that's disappointing... " Aldrich spoke under his breath while watching. Even those who had been focused on the food had given Raen their attention. Most returned their focus however once it seemed he would be nothing special. Perhaps it had been too much to hope for another good candidate for the guild to just drop right into their laps.

Herran waited for Raen to collect his weapon, spinning the spear between his hands with a proud smile. In the past he had been outmatched by Juin's son but the Raen before him might as well be using the lance for the first time. Raen himself had noticed the dark glow to the weapon once more, only on parts this time however. When his hands lined up with the glow it disappeared yet again.

Raen looked surprised when he did so, testing out the stance from before and easily holding his balance. Apparently the guidance this time was to find the weapon's balance. Herran and Aldrich seemed to notice the slight change as well, the former of the two preparing his spear once more. This time however when Herran lunged his spear met with Raen's lance.

Though it was imperfect, Raen was able to shift his weight and use his weapon now to block. Blow after blow that had left him backing away before were now turned away by the point of his lance. The change was astounding and even those who had turned away noticed the crack of weapons connecting and looked back.

Aldrich did his best to hide a smirk curling the corner of his mouth. The group had made a bet once Raen left and Aldrich was now looking to be set up for quite the haul. Ceres had finished with his portion of cooking and came up next to Aldrich, chuckling as he did so. He said nothing but went ahead and handed over a few coins before going back to assist Mia.

Raen in the meantime had started to grow more confident in his actions. Herran retained that serious look in his eyes and was obviously trying harder. Attack patterns were more complex and thrusts were faster, yet the weight in the back end of Raen's lance actually made it simpler to change the direction it faced and thus keep up a flawless guard. It really was quite an interesting weapon.

However if all he did was defend there was no chance of winning. Raen's arms were getting tired from moving about the weapon and compared to Herran he was clearly going to be exhausted first. Herran also seemed to notice this, not happy that his attacks were failing but a win would still be a win. He had bet on himself after all.

Herran thrust his spear forward again but this time Raen pulled his weapon away, causing the spear to bounce off the side of his lance's shaft. By stepping forward when this happened, Raen closed the distance between the two of them in an instant.

~Thwack~

The group watching seemed stunned at the unexpected turn around, all save for Ceres and Aldrich. Raen was now the only one standing, Herran sprawled out on his back. When Raen had stepped forward he used where the two weapons touched as a pivot point, pressing down which in turn swung the heavy ball end of his lance up. From there it was a simple matter to aim it at Herran's head. The speed of it had made the scene difficult to catch, as was evident by a couple of confused looks in the group. Aldrich however started to clap as he approached.

" Well look at that, you aren't half bad with that thing are you? Tell me, have you practiced with it before or was this really your first time? " Aldrich's later words were more of a whisper as he was genuinely curious about Raen's ability. Some of the others came up and gave a congratulatory pat on the back while others helped Herran back to his feet. In reality the blow should have been much heavier with how fast it had come but the runes which added realistic weight to the weapons also seemed to dull heavy impacts, even better for practice.

" Ah well no. I think I just got lucky honestly, if Herran hadn't knocked it out of my hands earlier I would have never figured out where the balance was." Raen played innocent of course, no way was he going to share the actual cause of his adjustments. The group seemed happy enough with his answer and even Herran came over to shake Raen's hand. In the next moment though, all heads turned and quickly lost interest in the practice matches.

" Breakfast is ready!"

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The rest of the morning went by in a blur. Raen would watch others spar and from time to time be asked to join in, even having a rematch with Herran at one point. It became clear rather quickly though that even if he could beat Herran there were far better fighters. 

For one there was the man who used dual daggers, Vincent. He had not only beaten Raen but disarmed him as well. Aldrich's combination of attack and defense had been too much for Raen as well. The most surprising loss was to Mia however, her accuracy with a bow and speed keeping Raen from even getting within five meters of her.

It wasn't until lunch that the group seemed to be done with training, coming together to eat what was left from the large breakfast and talk. Mia and Hala both sat next to Aldrich who was just across from Raen. Aldrich called out with a smile, clearly having something on his mind from the look in his eyes. " Well Raen I must say, you handle yourself pretty well. I don't know where are from but I for one would be happy to have you consider our little village home. "

Ceres already knew what Aldrich was up to as did the girls and a few of the men. They all however played their part and nodded or voiced their agreeance with Aldrich as he carried on. " Look I will be honest with you, I invited you out with us this morning to see if you might be able to help us with something. As I'm sure you know, the guild sends out caravans every so often to rural areas such as ours every so often. They pay the village for the number of bodies they take since we can't directly help once we become adventurers but if the number of people is enough that amount is greatly enhanced. " 

Here Aldrich waited for Raen to pick up what was going on, giving a meaningful look. Raen had been listening attentively and figured out rather quickly what this was all about. In fact between their behaviour last night and his talk with Juin, Raen guessed this was their goal before showing up, though he had known nothing about the money. Raen nodded to show he understood which put a bright smile on Aldrich's face but before he could say anything more Raen had something to say.

" If that's the case then I don't mind adding to your numbers so long as my portion goes to Juin.I didn't bother to mention it last night but I actually went to meet with him when I left and I would like to repay his kindness if at all possible. " Raen's words had been unexpected and it showed on the group's face. Juin to them was a man who was famous, their village's magic user and the father of their friend who had passed. It really did seem a small world that Raen would not only know him but would want to assist him as well.

" Done, we were all actually planning to give him something from us as a whole. I don't know your connection to him but you will be helping our home too in this so I don't need to know. " Aldrich clapped his hands together and laughed, glad that it had been so easy to convince Raen to join in with their lot. Most people coveted the strength of an adventurer but many would never dare to face the dangerous life of one. Now all they needed to do was wait for the caravan to arrive in a couple of days.