Mercenary Initiation III

Before the match even started, the crowd was already mumbling about how Trisha was going to win and there was no point in watching Kies get battered. A few even left and went back into the tavern to go back to drinking.

"Looks like those idiots are underestimating you. You better prove them wrong," she smiled at Kies.

"Don't know. They might be right. I'm not sure how I should feel going against one of the strongest people in the guild."

"What is this? You're losing your confidence before the fight even started? Are you really going to let them get you down like that?" Despite the entire crowd thinking that Kies was going to lose, Thrisha was still encouraging him to continue with the fight.

"Don't listen to them! You can do it?" Kies turned around and saw that Iris was cheering for him but it was hard to hear her even with how loud she was since the crowd was drowning out her voice.

Kies chuckled. "I never said that now, did I?" He didn't intend to lose this fight. It was a shame to have to go against the toughest opponent here. He wanted to pick someone in the middle like Iris did so that he wouldn't have to show too much of his strength, but it was too late now. Kies lifted his sword and checked it one last time before pointing it at the mercenary. "Here I come!" Faster than anyone could see, Kies closed the distance between them in an instant and slashed at her. The mercenary was stunned at the sudden attack and barely had the time to react and dodged just as the blade passed over her head.

Kies brought the sword back around and slashed at Trisha's head again but she rolled backward and evaded the attack. "Woah, you're quick!"

Those two attacks from Kies silenced the entire crowd. They didn't even see him move at all. He was standing a few meters away from her and he appeared in front of her in the blink of an eye.

"Who would've guessed. The weakest-looking one might just be the strongest out of you four. So, your reason for wearing a cloak. Might it be because you're a master of some sort and you don't want to reveal your identity?"

"I'm nothing of the sort." Kies lifted his sword again and held it out next to him. He then winded it up and thrust it at Trisha, stabbing at her chest. She blocked the attack with the flat of her sword but was pushed back a little by the force. Kies didn't give Trisha the chance to counterattack and ran at her with a flurry of strikes just as Wompa had done to that old mercenary.

To Kies' surprise, the mercenary managed to block and dodge all of his attacks. The two of them jumped away and sized each other up again. "Hm, looks like I need to take this fight seriously... My dagger!"

At her command, a dagger flew into the ring and she caught it midair as it flew by her head. "Now then, let's restart this fight." Trisha held up her weapons. She had a sword in one hand and a dagger in the other.

This was the first time that Kies is seeing someone fight with both of those weapons at the same time. But he wasn't afraid. In fact, he was a little curious as to how she fought. Kies charged at Trisha a third time and did the same thing he did before. He delivered a flurry of slashes at Trisha but found that it was less effective than before. Trisha easily blocked all the attacks with her dagger by moving it around and parrying wherever Kies' sword was aimed at. She then counterattacked with her sword and almost landed a blow on him.

The two of them jumped back again and Kies checked himself for any cuts or scrapes. He saw that he was completely fine and turned back to Trisha and saw that she was also unharmed.

"This is definitely a first. No one had ever been able to keep up with me like this before. Hmph, I might really be losing my touch..." she grumbled. "But needless to say, you've passed. Does anyone disagree with that?" She turned around and looked at the crowd. No one said a thing but Kies knew that they were all agreeing with her decision. "Good. Now, let's finish this fight. I want to see who wins."

Kies readied his blade again. But this time, he didn't charge recklessly at Trisha in an attempt to overpower her. He instead slowly walked over to her with his weapon raised. The two of them circled around for a couple of seconds, observing each other's movements and looking for an opening.

Kies saw Trisha's eyes go from his sword to his legs for a split second... A mistake. It's essential to keep one's eyes on the opponent's hands at all times. In that Amal's window of time, Kies attacked. He swung his sword horizontally, forcing the mercenary to take a step back to dodge the blade. He took a step forward in response and kept up this momentum by attacking her nonstop, forcing Trisha to continue taking steps backward until she was about to hit the crowd. The people behind her backed away to give the two fighters space.

Kies saw another opening as Trisha suddenly stumbled on a small rock and took it. He swung his sword at her but missed. "What!?" Trisha jumped and bounced off the flat of Kies' sword as it went by, causing the sword to go down and cut into the dirt.

She then spun around Kies and appeared behind him in under a second and swung her sword at his neck. Seeing how he wouldn't be able to block it in time, Kies ditched his weapon and did a somersault towards the crowd to dodge the attack. He exited the roll on his feet and stomped the hilt of his sword and sent it flying into the air. He caught the sword just in time to block Trisha's next attack.

"Fancy. But we mercenaries don't do fancy. We do dirty!" Trisha moved back and swept her foot across the ground, sending up a wall of dirt and sand and blinding Kies for a second, but that second was all that Trisha needed. She did a spin and kicked the sword out of Kies' hand before pressing her dagger against his neck. "My win, wouldn't you say?"

"I lose." Kies accepted the defeat. Had he been fighting with his greatsword, he would've won but this was fine too. He accomplished what he wanted to do, which was to pass the test.

The crowd cheered and a couple of people ran up to him and clapped him on the back.

"You might've lost, but that was still impressive, kid."

"I take back what I said earlier. How does a drink sound? While you're at it, might I interest you in joining our group?"

"You gave the sand demon a real workout, not bad! Not bad at all!"

"Sand demon?" Kies asked.

"Yes, that's my nickname. Or it used to. I'm far too old now," Trisha told Kies. "Anyway, all of you, screw off! I have a word with him and the other three."

The mercenaries all went back into the tavern, leaving just Kies and the other three outside with Trisha. The few random spectators from the street that joined in with the mercenaries also walked away and went on to do their business.

"Anyway, I would like to congratulate you all. You are now mercenaries. I'll give you your cards when we get back in," Trisha told the four after everyone left. "So, what are your plans now? Do you want to accept a job right off the bat? Or perhaps something else?"

"We want a job right now," Sirks told Trish.

"I see. Guessing you need some money quick?"

"Yes." They didn't have much left and needed enough money to stay somewhere.

"Well, I can't give you any of the hard ones right now since you're all still new."

"But didn't we beat a bunch of your men?"

"Yes, but rules are rules. You have to work your way up to the tougher jobs. But with your skills, I doubt that it would be a problem."

"I see... Then which ones are we allowed to take?"

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