Sergeant's Challenge

"Fighting dirty... I don't like it, but you have to do what you need to do to win," the defeated guard commented. "Though, who taught you how to fight? Actually, did anyone teach you at all? You don't fight like a soldier at all," the guard asked Kies.

"They're mercenaries," Nell told him.

"What!? They're mercenaries!? Well, that explains a lot... Why didn't you tell me earlier!?"

"Is there really a need to say that? They're allies so it doesn't matter."

"..."

"Anyway, I guess that means you two are on the team... I didn't expect you to win, and I still don't like you won, but a promise is a promise," Nell sighed.

"I don't like how he won either since it was dirty fighting, but our enemies are thieves so knowing to fight dirty is useful. It can help you anticipate their moves." The guard brought up a pretty good point. The people that they are going against fight dirty all the time. Knowing how they fight will make it a lot easier to beat them.

"Yeah, you do have a point," Nell agreed. "But before we even start on this mission, I think we should do a bit of training first. You two aren't exactly ready to take them on..."

"We don't have the time for that. We're kind of in a hurry," Kies told her.

"Hurry? What hurry is there? If you just rush in the way you are, you'll die. These thieves aren't small fry you know. They have a notorious reputation for killing those that get in their way. If you're not prepared to fight them then you'll die." It was that simple. Unless they have the strength to kill them, they will be killed instead.

"Yes, because of them we lost three... We lost three..." The guard scowled and cursed. "D*mn it!" He didn't finish what he wanted to say and stormed off.

Everyone is quiet for a moment. They watched as the guard left the training field and entered back into the building. Kies and Wompa turned to face Nell, wondering what happened.

Nell's normal cheerful and uncaring expression had changed and she had an unhappy look on her face as well. Maybe it was best if they didn't ask about it. Judging from the reactions, Kies was pretty sure it had to do with the thieves killing their fellow guards.

"You're not going to ask?" Nell asked Kies in a solemn voice seeing how he turned away from her.

"I think I know what happened."

"Well, if you do then you should understand why we want you both to train before taking this mission. We don't want to lose any more people to the thieves."

"Is there really no other way?"

"Are you that keen on throwing your life away? You might've beaten one of my men but you're still no match for them. Actually, let me tell you something that will give you a clue as to how dangerous these thieves are. One time, we managed to pin two of them down. My squad was working with two other squads and there were over thirty of us. And guess what happened?"

"They managed to get away?" Kies took a guess.

"Not just 'get away.' They tore through our ranks while laughing like maniacs. They got out clean with no injuries while managing to kill five and wounding over ten others."

"Wow, they sound... dangerous."

"Dangerous is an understatement and we both know that. Now then, are you still sure that you want to take on this mission? If you want to, you both will have to go through some training."

"And how long will that take?" Kies asked out of curiosity.

Nell rubbed her chin. "A month?" she estimated.

"A month!?"

"Yes. You need to learn how to use a sword properly. Swinging as hard as you can isn't exactly effective. And as for you..." she turned to Wompa. Even though Nell doted on Wompa a lot, she told the truth about her fighting skills. "A month is generous. There are a lot of flaws in your movements and you rely on exhausting enemies with your fighting style. It's effective, but it's useless if you're facing against multiple enemies."

Wompa's fighting style was pretty straightforward. She confronted the enemy and would deliver continuous strikes so that the enemy couldn't fight back. However, there is a big problem with it and it was as Nell said. If Wompa went against multiple enemies, she couldn't do a thing. Furthermore, she relied on the enemy having less stamina than her which is also very risky. Her movements require a lot of energy, and she would burn through her energy faster than she can burn out the enemy. It worked well against weaker people but it was useless against any fighter who had even a little bit of experience.

"If you really still think that you have a chance at taking them down at your skill level after what I've said, I can prove you wrong right here and right now."

"How?"

"By sparring with me of course," Nell told them like it was obvious. "I'm one of the captains and I didn't earn this title by doing nothing. If you can beat me then you have a chance at beating one of the thieves. Their skill level is roughly the same level as mine."

"That means that if we can beat you, you will let us on the team?"

"I don't know why you're in such a hurry, but yes, if you can beat me, then you can forget everything I just said about you not having what it takes to beat those thieves. But if you lose, you will have to listen to me. Does that sound fair?"

"Yes." Kies agreed that it did sound fair. But the only problem is that he wasn't sure if he or Wompa would be able to beat her. They were definitely lacking in terms of skills and wouldn't be able to win unless Kies used his black sword or his magic. Actually... There might be another way...

"This time, can I use a greatsword instead?"

"A greatsword? You're telling me that you weren't using your main weapon in that last fight? Huh... I should've guessed after seeing how you used that sword..."

"I didn't think you would have one since you all use short swords so I didn't ask."

"That's true. We don't actually have a greatsword here. There are very few people who use them and most of them are in the mercenary guild." Nell crossed her arms and looked around at the buildings. "Yeah, I don't think we have one here," she said again. "Did you not bring your own weapons? You're both unarmed even though you took a request that requires you to fight people," she pointed out.

"We... don't have our own weapons." It was embarrassing to say, but they had no money to buy anything, and Kies was hoping that they would be supplied with weapons if they took this request.

"What? What kind of mercenaries don't have weapons?"

"Us apparently."

"..."

Nell shook her head in bewilderment at what Kies just said. "Uh... I guess I'll check to see if we have one. Stay here." She left the training field and went into one of the buildings which Kies assumed was the armory or storage as it was rather small and was in the middle of the training field. A few minutes later, she came back out carrying something big in her hands. She went up to Kies and handed it to him.

"This is all I can find."

Kies took the wrapping off the weapon and saw that it was a sword. It was bigger than the one that the guards used but it was smaller than his black sword. It was somewhere in between the two sizes but Kies was pretty sure that he could make it work.

"I can make do with this." Kies swung the sword a couple of times and saw that it was easy to use. The weight was almost the same as his black sword.

"Glad to hear. Now let's get started." Nell drew her own weapon and pointed it at Kies. "Remember, if you lose, you can't complain."

"I know." Kies wasn't intending to lose this fight. All around the training field, the sand began to shift. A light breeze came through the area, picking up the grains of sand and sending them rolling across the ground.

"Hm? Where did this wind come from?" Nell looked around confused. "Ah, whatever. Show me what you got."

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