We stand on the green field and look around briefly before I look at them and think about how they should best begin the training.
"Draw your swords," I say in a commanding voice.
The girls nod and draw their swords from their hips, and Lui takes hers from her back with a clean swing. All of them hold their swords in their right hands. I walk toward them and start with Lui, who is standing on the right. I take both of her hands and move the left hand slightly backward, and she fixes it in place. I take her right hand and align it forward so that it is angled diagonally in front of her, her left leg slightly back and her right leg slightly forward.
I do the same with the other two on the right, and they blush slightly while I do it. Only Lui remains calm and composed while I put her into position. The girls are now all standing in a good fighting stance, and I point at Lui and give her a sign to come toward me and attack me.
I tell her, while she swings her sword stiffly, that she needs to stay looser. She seems a bit calmer, but not really looser. I deflect her first strike with ease, and she is pushed back by the recoil, her legs becoming heavy from the impact.
I had also enchanted my dagger, and by now it is almost perfect. I just need to add lightness so that it becomes lighter than a feather. I return to a fighting stance and look at Lui as she slowly tries to move again, and actually manages to do so. She goes back into the fighting stance I had shown her earlier. She charges at me again, but this time she practically flies across the ground, barely touching it as she runs.
I dodge to the right and knock Lui to the ground. She is learning faster than I expected, so I immediately call Sür forward. Lui stands up, breathing heavily, and goes back to the other two, while Sür has already started running. When I make the same movement I did with Lui earlier, Sür runs forward, but still more slowly and only half as fast as Lui, who is currently leaning forward with her hands on her knees and still breathing hard.
Sür reaches me, and I catch her sword with my hand, blood dripping from it. I cast a healing spell while removing my hand from the blade, and Sür looks at me worriedly.
"Everything okay, Mi… uh, I mean Cro," Sür says while pulling herself together, just barely correcting herself in time.
I nod with a smile and show her my healed hand. She looks relieved and smiles back. She jumps back in a large leap and then goes back into a fighting stance, and this time it looks more professional and elegant, and her posture is loose and relaxed.
I make the same sign again, signaling her to attack me. She sprints toward me, her legs moving very fast and drawing closer and closer. Her sword is only a few centimeters away. She is very fast, but I simply dodge. I move my body in such a way that she runs perfectly past me, then I strike her back with my elbow. She spits as I hit her with my elbow and she flies to the ground.
I look at her with a satisfied smile, as she is strong enough for a beginner. This time, Mori steps forward while Sür slowly retreats. I do the same with Mori, and Sür and Lui watch the fight with wide eyes, making giggling sounds, because Mori had said beforehand that she would land a hit. But I dodge every strike, and after dodging five times, I knock her down as well with a sudden movement. The other two start giggling even louder.
Mori looks down at the ground with a smile on her face and then at her sword, which she puts back into the sheath at her hip. The three of them now stand in a line again after Mori returns to her place. I clear my throat and point at Lui, who looks at me in confusion. With my other hand, I point at Mori and grin broadly, as a funny idea has come to mind.
The two of them will fight each other, and then the stronger one will advance, while the loser will fight the remaining one, a mini tournament.
"Both of you, step forward, Lui and Mori," I say with a grin.
I look at the two of them and see how they step forward and look at each other. I explain to them what is going on and how it works, that they are to fight each other, and the winner advances while the loser fights the remaining one. The three nod in understanding, and Lui and Mori look at each other challengingly.
Of course, the winner of the second fight will then fight the first winner. I raise my hand and form a pistol shape with it, meaning only the thumb and index finger are extended. I fire a fireball from my index finger and count down from five to zero. When I reach zero, I shoot the fireball into the air, and with a bang that radiates rainbow colors like a rocket, it signals the start of the fight.
The two girls charge at each other, but Mori dodges Lui's fast swing, and I immediately recognize that she copied it from me. Her movement is still clumsy, but the technique itself is almost perfect. If they keep this up, they will soon be my equals in sword fighting, though magic will still take some time.
Lui rushes past Mori with her swing, while Mori attempts to hit Lui with a dulling spell using a swing from top right to bottom left. But Lui parries it with her sword by swinging it from front to back and blocking it behind her back. Mori recoils and jumps backward, even though she is usually the one with the upper hand. Lui is able to parry and defend well.
Mori takes a short breath, her heart racing with excitement, while Lui simply breathes steadily. She charges forward, and it looks as if she is flying. I snap my fingers and transform her sword into a rapier, which is definitely better suited for her, while Mori's style fits a katana better. The two girls stop and look at their new weapons in confusion, while I place thoughts into their minds explaining how to use their weapons.
In Lui's mind appears a vision of a person with black hair and green eyes charging at a straw dummy and delivering fifteen thrusts in less than five seconds. In Mori's mind appears a vision showing how to fight with a katana, featuring the same person from the rapier vision, now wielding a katana, a sword that is longer with a curved blade. The man charges at the straw dummy and splits it cleanly in half with a vertical strike.
While Lui and Mori look at me in confusion, I consider a suitable weapon for Sür. A bow would suit her better, but I am unsure whether I can turn a sword into a bow. I snap my fingers, and Sür's sword becomes a bow with a quiver containing an infinite number of arrows, and at the same time, knowledge of bow combat is shot into Sür's mind.
I raise my hand again and give a signal for them to resume fighting. Lui charges at Mori, who has her hand on the hilt of her katana in its sheath, while Lui pulls her rapier back and prepares the five-hit combo.
Lui thrusts her rapier forward, and in that moment Mori draws her katana and blocks all five thrusts, which are unleashed in under one second, then swings her katana so that Lui feels the blade at her neck.
"Good, the winner of the first duel has been decided," I say loudly.
I point at Mori, who is jumping up and down with joy like a rabbit. I grin while Lui looks down at the ground in disappointment. However, the good thing about this tournament is that if Lui wins against Sür, she gets another chance to fight Mori.
I whistle, and Mori sits down on the grass of the field, where there are now hardly any people training. Lui now stands opposite Sür, who is already holding the bow in a ready position, while Lui prepares her thrusting combo.
I raise my arm straight up again and form a pistol shape with my hand, a fireball already forming at the tip of my index finger. I fire it. Sür draws her bow and takes three arrows, combining them with fire, water, and lightning, while Lui draws her rapier and charges forward.
Sür fires all the arrows at once while holding the bow horizontally, and the arrows fly toward Lui. Lui tries to dodge by jumping, leaping over the arrows, but she does not notice that another three arrows with the same elements are already flying toward her.
While Lui remains confident and still does not notice the arrows coming at her, I watch the fight intently and wonder who will win, as Sür currently has the upper hand. I look at Mori, who is also watching the fight closely and sees the same thing I do, that Sür has the advantage.
Lui is experienced but clumsy, and all her movements are too imprecise for a katana and bow opponent. Lui is hit by the arrows, which of course have blunt tips, and she flies into the grass with a loud impact. She spits, her back curling in pain, while Sür wipes sweat from her forehead and exhales in relief.
Lui tries to return to a fighting stance but only manages to wobble. I raise my hand to declare the fight over.
"Sür wins the penultimate fight," I say with a grin.
Lui sighs in frustration, and Sür briefly puts her bow away, while Lui sits down where Mori had been sitting earlier. Mori now stands opposite Sür, who briefly considers how she can win against Mori's katana, since katanas are the best weapons against bows, at least if the wielder is fast enough.
I raise my hand again, form a pistol, and fire another fireball. The two draw their weapons, and Sür immediately fires arrows imbued with fire, water, and electricity. The arrows fly toward Mori, who cuts through the water arrow and the fire arrow and also slices the lightning arrow. But because the blade is made of metal, which conducts electricity perfectly, Sür paralyzes Mori, and Mori is immobilized.
While Sür fires twelve arrows at once in a single second, she is learning incredibly fast. Her precise bow stance is also incredible. As I watch her in amazement, Lui merely sulks, though she watches the two with shining eyes.
As the sun slowly sets, it is truly incredible how fast time passes. Mori is hit by the twelve blunt arrows and flies to the ground, sealing Sür's final victory. I clap and look at Sür as she attaches her bow to her back, clenches her fists in front of her body, and smiles.
I then look at Mori, who is also smiling and putting her katana away. After that, I walk toward Sür, who takes a short breath.
"Congratulations, you won, and we'll do this once a week, and until then, you'll all train diligently," I say with a broad grin.
The girls nod, and the four of us stand in a line. After some time, we return to the city, and the next day we go back to the field and begin training again. And so an entire month passes, during which we only trained and held these tournament games.
The first time Sür won, the second time Sür again, the third time Mori, and the fourth time Lui. But Sür was always in first or second place, while Lui was usually in last place, third. It seems she can handle the rapier, but she is not the strongest.
We leave the house and head toward the guild. After a month, we are finally back. It has been so long that I have forgotten my rank. I take my guild card and see my rank, D-rank, just like the other three.
We stand in front of the guild and smile, as I plan to take a quest for all three of them. That is why I want to go into the guild, hopefully we can manage everything in one day.