CHAPTER 14 - Alliances and Training

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Arty/Arteria Blaze helped out the freedom fighters into getting the freed slaves to the ocean ports where they will be sent off in ships that will sail them back to their homelands around the continent.

Arty learned that to get them back through the roads of the land is too dangerous and that the threats of the slavers are still out there since they have been sanctioned of their illegal activities from the Mad King of the central capital of the continent of Eden world.

That and the freed slaves at the time before they were about to be shipped off, they had demanded to the freedom fighters that Arty should come along and be there to send them off with goodbyes for they wanted their savior to be there for them as they all went back home.

So at the edge of the port and Arty watched them all the freed slaves come aboard into the ships and waving them goodbyes, she was smiling also when some of the children hugged her legs affectionately and thanked her again for saving them.

Arty indulged the kids, feeling very happy inside of doing her first good deed as the heroine, and ruffled some of the kids' heads to return their affectionate gestures to her.

Then their parents called for them that it's time to leave now, and a few of the children complained and didn't want to go and leave their hero behind, but Arty reassured them all that one day she'll see them again in the future and that they should all go home and be careful and safe from now on from any enemies they might encounter, including the slavers.

Once she sees all the freed people on their ships and watches them leave into the vast horizon of the sea, after that they are gone and then she slowly turned around to look at the remaining freedom fighters who had stayed behind in their mission to deal with more slavers and free others in that area she's in.

Arty and the group of freedom fighters looked to be like they're all thinking about what to do.

Arty seemed to be wondering and hoping whether she would be able to persuade them to accept her alliance despite that she's just a normal person and have not found the Fiery Blade and became known as its chosen wielder, and the group of freedom fighters is wondering about what to do with this new stranger who made the effort on saving and freeing the slaves and had killed one slaver back then.

The group of freedom fighters suddenly tensed as if they sensed something approach and instantly they moved to split themselves into two rows and kneel in respect for a new person that had arrived on horseback and walk through them in the middle to approach the lone woman at the end, and from what Arty can see or deduce, this must be the leader of the group.

Arty got herself to be calm and quiet and face the newcomer bravely without fear as the person who looked to be a man garbed in dark black clothes and a hood covering over his face, dismounted from his horse and prowled towards her like a panther stalking his new prey curiously.

She almost stiffened and froze up in fear when she sensed some kind of shadowy aura emanating from his whole being. And for a moment, she thought that this mortal man is actually some kind of magical being of sorts.

It turns out her thoughts were right when the hooded covered face rose a little for her to catch sight of his eyes that seemed to shift and turn into different colors from an eerie green to an icy blue type.

'A shape-shifter. I never thought I'd get the chance to meet one already.' Arty thought to herself mentally as she bravely faced the shape-shifting being of a male that's facing her down and trying to intimidate her to reveal her true nature or something.

Arty remembered that when she wrote in the story, one of the magical creatures and beings she had created and written were the infamous and mysterious shape-shifters.

They are beings that could shift their forms into any kind of beings, from human to elves, from beast-people of the lands to merpeople of the waters, and from changing their solid strong bodies into wispy ghost-like forms of shadows.

The hooded shape-shifter kept staring down at Arty as if trying to assess her for a moment before he spoke to her in a dark tone that almost sent cold shivers down her spine. "Why are you here? What is your purpose?"

Arty figured that the group he's leading have not sent word or told him of her good deeds that she had done before so she told him everything and made sure that everything she said sounded honest and true. For she also remembered that the shape-shifters are also skilled lie-detectors.

Once she had told him this, the hooded man stared down at her even more for intimidation and when he seemed to deem her trustworthy and have approved of her being there, he nodded.

It made Arty almost slump with relief in the outside of her whole body, but she managed to hold it back herself so that she wouldn't give out any suspicions into the freedom fighter leader that she has ulterior motives or something.

Then she took the chance to ask him. "I would like to request a simple thing from you, good sir. And if you refuse this, then I will understand and leave you and your group be and you will never see me again."

The leader tilted his head to the side as if curious with what her request would be and Arty hurriedly speaks it out before she becomes nervous and not say it. "I would like to learn more about how to fight better and I'm hoping that you could give me some training about it. I'm aiming to become a warrior in the future. It is why I have come here to this area, hoping to find something that would better my skills in fighting."

He blinked a bit in surprise at her simple request and then nodded to her again as if accepting it and he and his group will help her and train her to become a better fighter.

Arty was happy about being accepted and having alliances and training with the freedom fighters. It looks like that she'll be spending some time staying with them for a while, so she'll have to hurry to get back to the village, pick up her stuff and come back before they might change their minds and leave her behind.

She wondered again what's in store for her in the future as she stays with the group of allies she had first made successfully and thought about what kind of training she'll go through to be skilled as a warrior that she will be in the story.

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