"****" A cloaked man curses and leaves the shrubbery, escaping into the woods as he dodges an arrow sent by Lily.
I try to give chase, but the man is faster than me. After losing sight of him I turn around and return to a contemplative Lily.
"That man who was watching us must at least be a B ranked adventurer, since he's faster than you." Lily's eyes narrow as she analyzes the escapee.
'Strange. Too many suspicious things have happened to be coincidences. First, I wake up here, then I discover someone replaced my clothes with copies, next we encounter a C class monster where there shouldn't be one, and lastly after our fight with the monster we discover we're being watched... At least some of these incidents should be linked...'
"This is just speculation, but maybe that man or someone he's affiliated with brought the horned bear here?" I explain my conjecture to Lily.
"That could certainly be the case... I've never heard of a C class monster showing up here naturally, which would make that man the likeliest person to have artificially brought it here." Lily nods and agrees with my opinion.
**Silence**
"Well, guess there's nothing we can do about it now. We should head back to town, Jeff told me he'd teach me how to use my daggers this afternoon. Need any help carrying that?" I say as I motion toward the improvised skin pouch Lily made.
"Don't worry about it, you're already carrying the heaviest, most dangerous part." Lily slings the spoils over her shoulder while declining my offer.
'Wait! What?! Most dangerous?!'
"Ummm, what do you mean by the most dangerous?" I question Lily as I reposition the monster core for minimal skin contact.
"Oh, I've heard of people going crazy and dying from the magic inside monster cores." Lily casually states as she glances at me.
My face turns white as a sheet when her statement registers. I stand stock still and gradually lower my eyes to the core in my hands.
"Hahaha! I'm kidding, those are just rumors about more powerful cores! The magic in a C class monster's core isn't powerful enough!" Lily giggles and slaps her knee.
'Snap! Her innocent first impression has caused me to underestimate her again!'
I glare at Lily, but I can't stay mad and end up cracking a smile. This reminds me of when I goofed off with my sister in my old world. I miss those times before we both set off on our own paths.
**Sigh**
'Someday Lily and I will separate as well, I shouldn't get too attached.'
"Come on, let's go." I remind Lily, who's having a giggle fit.
We return to the village, carrying our spoils of war and chatting about anything that comes to mind. Lily gives me part of the skin for hiding the core and I discreetly go to my room at the inn. When I drop the core off, I check my shoulder where the bear scratched me for infection. Surprisingly, it's already half healed. Then, I head toward Jeff's smithy.
"Adam! You came! I knew you wouldn't pass up an opportunity to learn from an expert like me! Hahahaha!" Jeff welcomes me in his usual jolly manner as I enter the smithy's backyard.
'Of course I wouldn't! I have my pride! I wouldn't have gone into engineering if I wasn't convicted to learn everything I can!'
"Thank you for inviting me, I look forward to learning from you!" I politely respond, with a new version of the speech I give all my professors...
"Hahaha, this guy knows how to appreciate skill! You should learn something from him Caspian, Heath." Jeff calls to two young men who approach from behind him.
One of them I recognize, Caspian is the skeptical guy who responded to my request for clothes. He has a lean but muscular build and well proportioned body parts. Otherwise, I can only describe him as average, short dark hair, Asian looking skin and brown eyes.
The other I haven't met before, apparently he's named Heath. He resembles Jeff in his large build and a beard. Unlike Jeff, his beard is bright red though. His skin is the usual dark brown.
"Let me introduce you! This is Caspian, he tells me you've already met. And this is my nephew Heath, I'm sure you'll get along. You'll be training together for a while, so you best become friends as quickly as possible. Caspian, Heath, you guy's train together over there. I'll be teaching Adam the basics for now." Jeff familiarizes me with my new classmates and sends them off to train.
'Hmmm, so this Heath is Jeff's nephew, I wonder what his personality is like? I'll have to talk to him later, if he's anything like his uncle I should have no problem.'
"All right, I'll start by teaching you how to fight with a single dagger for now. It's best to have your other hand empty for grappling and balancing yourself. Put your dagger in your dominant hand. All right, there are three basic stances, high guard, shielded guard and wide guard. First, in high guard you want your dagger hand up and forward and your grappling hand mid-height and back. Yes, like that, except your left hand should be a bit closer to your chest..." Jeff teaches me the basic defensive stances and corrects me when I'm wrong.
I practice the various defensive postures until I have them memorized and can smoothly transition between them. After a while Jeff claps his hands and calls the others over.
'Are we done already? I thought we would train another hour at least!'
"All right boys, you two look like you got a good warm up and Adam has learned the basics of defense. Now, you three should build team work and improve your abilities through live combat training! So, whenever you're ready, you three come at me! I'll judge how much you've learned! Hahahaha!" Jeff's eyes narrow as he walks to and picks up a massive hammer lying at the side, laughing all the while.
'Hold up! You never taught me any offensive techniques! What's going on! How am I supposed to fight like this! I'm still worn out from fighting that horned bear! And, that laugh is a lot creepier when used in this context!'