Mercenary Initiation II

Unlike the fight between Iris and the other man, this fight lasted for more than a minute. The two fighters exchanged strike after strike and blow after blow. Sirks suffered a couple of cuts on his arm while the opposing side also suffered a few minor injuries as well. Nothing was at a life-threatening level... yet.

"Hey, isn't that the army's sword style?"

"It is."

The mercenaries spectating were talking about how Sirks' form belonged to the military's style and Kies could see how. Unlike his opponent who was fighting wildly and with no grace, Sirks had a motive behind each slash or stab. They were made with the purpose of killing while the mercenary's fighting style was more like using underhanded tactics and trickery to find an opening.

"You're good," Sirks complimented the mercenary after trading another few blows with him.

"I can say the same to you. Though, I think this will be my win."

"Huh?"

The mercenary suddenly kicked up a cloud of dirt into Sirks' face, forcing him to stumble back while trying to get rid of it. "Hey, that's dirty!"

"I'm a mercenary, what's your expect!?" While Sirks was still getting the dirt out of his eyes, the mercenary slashed downward with the blade to disarm Sirks but before he could, Sirks suddenly turned and kicked his hand as the blade was coming down.

"What!?" The sword flew out of his hand and almost impaled someone in the crowd. Sirks grabbed the man with his open hand and threw him onto the ground and brought the sword down on him. "Sh*t!"

*Piff!* The sword buried itself into the dirt right next to the mercenary's neck. If it had been a few centimeters right, it would've killed him.

"You were saying?" Sirks was still rubbing his eyes and getting the dirt out, but it was clear that he won the fight.

"How!?" The mercenary didn't understand how Sirks was able to do that when he couldn't see.

"I'm used to fighting blind." Sirks stood up and stretched his muscles before turning to the woman with the eyepatch. "So, what do you think?"

The woman clapped her hands a few times and said, "Congratulations. You pass as well. Now then, which one of you two wants to go next?" She turns to Kies and Wompa. The two of them looked at each other, unsure of whether or not they should go first. "Don't be shy now. We ain't got all day. If you can't decide, I'll decide for you."

Kies was fine with that and so was Wompa. "You decide then," Kies told the woman. "Don't mind if I do then. Since we had a girl go first, and a man go second, I reckon that she should go next, and you go last. It sounds fair this way."

Wompa shrugged her shoulders and walked into the ring. Everyone gave a loud cheer for their next contestant. "Do you want me to choose your opponent as well?" Wompa nodded her head yes. Once again, the entire crowd surged forward with everyone offering themselves to be her opponent.

"Settle down, you dogs!" the woman once again yelled at them to calm down. But she couldn't get them to quiet down h less she picked someone. She quickly waved her finger around the crowd and stopped on someone on her left. "You! Get out here!"

A very old-looking mercenary stumbled out of the crowd, looking quite displeased about being chosen. "There's a bunch of youngsters looking to get picked and you choose me?" he grunted.

"Just fight already or else you're getting no drinks from me tonight."

"Hmph." The mercenary didn't look happy about it but he walked into the ring. "My back is killing me, but whatever." The mercenary drew his sword and hobbled over to the center where Wimpa was waiting. "Do you need a weapon too or do you fight with fists like your sister over there?"

"Wait, how do you know that we're sisters?" Iris asked. They looked nothing alike and even had different colored hair. While Iris' hair is red, Wompa's was brown hair.

"Don't underestimate an old-timer's ability to know these little things," the old mercenary mumbled. "And if you really want to know, you two have the same eyes. Wild and unyielding. I already know this isn't going to be a fun fight for me," the mercenary scratched his back. "Alright, do you fight with weapons, or no? I want to get this over with already."

"She fights with daggers," Iris answered the mercenary for her sister since Wompa can't speak.

"Daggers?"

"You heard the girl. Toss them in!" the woman yelled at the mercenaries. At her order, two daggers flew into the ring and landed at Wompa's feet. She picked them up and tested them by swinging them a couple of times before looking satisfied with them and turning to face the mercenary.

"You ready?" Wompa nodded her head yes. "Okay, since I don't want to receive backlash from these pricks for hitting a young girl, I'll let you have the first move."

Iris accepted the old mercenary's offer and made the first attack. She ran up to him and slashed at his neck with her left dagger. The mercenary didn't need to move and simply tilted his head back a little to dodge it. Wompa spun in a circle and attacked with her other dagger at the same spot. The mercenary couldn't tilt his head any further or else he would lose his balance and so he took a step back.

Wompa wasted no time and used this opportunity to deliver a flurry of strikes at the mercenary, aiming at random spots on his body. The mercenary parried most of the attacks with his sword and dodged the other ones that he couldn't parry. The two of them continued this for two whole minutes without stopping. But the mercenary eventually ran out of energy and couldn't keep up with Wompa anymore.

"D*mn, y-you're really aren't giving me a b-break!?" the mercenary managed to huff out between Wompa's attacks. He pushed Wompa away with all the strength he had left and jumped back. He was breathing heavily and was out of stamina. "I lose," he admitted his defeat before Wompa could rush at him again.

The crowd booed at the mercenary but he didn't care. "Why don't you try having a go at her!? See how long you can last!" he yelled at the crowd.

"Quiet!" the woman shouted at the crowd. Everyone piped down and looked at her. "Even though surrendering is disgraceful, I'll allow it... this time." Anyone could tell that if the fight continued, Wompa would have been the winner anyway. The old mercenary couldn't keep up with her at all.

"Does that mean I still get drinks?"

"Yes."

"Phew. Then I'm out of here." The mercenary walked past Wompa and the woman and back into the tavern to finish his drink. He wasn't interested in watching the last fight and just wanted a break.

"Now then, we still have one more to go, and that is you," the woman turned to Kies. Everyone jumped up again in order to get selected but the woman slushed them all. "You all had your fun. It's time for me to have a go at it," she said as she stepped into the ring herself.

"What, you're going to fight him?"

"Yes. Why not? These guys are interesting. They won three out of three against you idiots. I don't think we can take this one lightly after what we just saw."

"Aw come on! You've got the easy one. Do you see how scrawny he is?"

"Yeah, this will be a slaughter for you. Let one of us go at him instead!"

The crowd began to complain about the woman choosing Kies as her opponent since he looked like the weakest out of the four. "Quiet all of you! You're hurting the poor lad's feelings," the woman hushed them all again. But unlike all the previous times, they didn't listen to her this time. They were still being loud and rowdy after she told them all to quiet down.

"Alright, since you all don't want to listen to me, it looks like I need to remind you all who's in charge. Anyone who wants to fight him has to win against me first!" The moment that she said that, the entire crowd went quiet. It was like someone died or something.

"Good. Now then, do you need a weapon?" the woman asked Kies.

"Are you the strongest here?" Kies asked in instead of answering her, seeing how she was able to get everyone to back down with just that one statement.

"No, but in my prime, I was one of the best. I still haven't lost my touch now but I am a bit slower. Anyway, the name's Trisha. Do you have one or do you prefer to stay unknown? Seeing how you're wearing a hood in this sweltering heat, I'm assuming you don't want to give me yours?"

"Sorry."

"That's alright. Instead, show me what you got. Weapon?"

"Sword." It would be unfair to take out his greatsword for a small fight like this so he asked for a normal one instead.

"Two swords!"

The crowd shifted around and there was some mumbling and two swords flew into the ring. "Take your pick. You choose whichever one suits you better and I'll take the other," she told Kies.

Kies went up to the swords and examined both of them. They were roughly the same but one was slightly longer than the other while the other was slightly wider. Kies chose the longer one and left the wider blade to Trisha.

"Okay, whenever you're ready."

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