Applying to be a guard

As the seemingly injured youth reached the guards and stood still in front of them, the guard who had just sat down gestured to himself and said,

'I'm Baran, and next to me are Jaron and Gerald. We will review your skills today to see if you are fit to be our lady's guard.'

The youth nodded.

Jaron, who thought the kid would be just like the others, felt more disappointed after taking a close look at the kid's hands. They were disfigured—some of his fingers were completely cut off, while others had lost a phalanx or two. He whispered to his colleagues,

'No matter how good he used to be—if he was at all—with those hands, he won't be able to hold a sword, let alone a broom to sweep the floor.'

Baran kicked Jaron under the table and said,

'Just get on with it and find out.'

Glaring at Baran, Jaron got up and said to the youth,

'Well, would you like to tell us who you are and what type of combat you specialize in?'

The youth replied in a monotone with a deadpan face,

'My nickname is Wind Crusher. I specialize in magic.'

Jaron continued to question him but didn't actually get anything more than this phrase—until he asked,

'Well, one more question before we go on: why would you like to guard the lady?'

'Master told me I need to do it,'

Wind answered.

Surprised, Baran asked,

'And what would your master gain from that?'

Wind replied,

'I don't know. You can go ask him if you wish.'

The trio believed it would be meaningless to ask anything else out of this kid. He didn't seem to know where he even was.

Gerald got up and said,

'Now, this is the fun part. I need you to try and attack me. If you land a hit, it will boost your chances of being chosen as the lady's guard.'

They started to walk toward an empty part of the field next to them and gestured at Wind to follow. As soon as they reached the spot, Baran and Jaron took a step back, and Baran said,

'You will start attacking when I clap my hands.'

He raised his hand to clap but stopped when he saw the uninterested kid raise a hand and ask,

'What would be considered as landing a hit?'

The trio laughed, and Gerald said,

'Don't worry about me. Come at me with all your might. I may not look like much, but I have the best defense art in the whole kingdom.'

At that point, something strange started to happen around the youth. The ground seemed to shift where he stood; the sand started to shake, rise, and fall, mixing with small rocks.

Baran raised his hands and clapped.

Wind started to walk slowly to the right in a circular motion. Gerald planted a massive shield in front of him, and a blue light emanated from the shield when it landed on the ground.

At first, only the land where Wind stood shook, but soon every part of the field he stepped on began to vibrate, with sand and debris jumping around.

Jaron, who had been intrigued by this phenomenon when it started, now felt like it was just an interesting magic formula—but nothing more than that was happening. Feeling bored, he told Baran,

'How about it? Want to place a bet?'

'Bet on what? The kid hurting himself? Based on his condition, he seems to be an expert at that—or his master is a real menace.'

Jaron scratched his head.

'Then how about how long he'll last before running out of Roh?'

Baran said,

'Fine. A dinner from the Wood Ring—he'll last five minutes.'

'You actually think he can do that? Look at him. All he's doing is circling around and making the sand dance a little.'

As they finished speaking, Wind returned to his starting position. He raised his left hand and aimed it at Gerald.

'Are you sure about your defense?'

Gerald yawned and gestured with his hand for Wind to come at him.

Wind lowered his hand, and as soon as he did, the dancing sand and debris slowly began to rise, taking the shape of 29 small tornadoes crashing down on Gerald.