Artemis and Trinity were caught off guard with this suggestion as they both look back at him with a stun expression.
"Honey you're not thinking about teaching her how to hunt demons right?" She voiced with a bit of authority which kind of shock Artemis. He stiffened in place since she only used that voice when he made her angry or forgotten something extremely important.
"Of course, not dear, I was only thinking about training her in archery, so that she'll be able to defend herself in such a case. Didn't your father teach you hand-to-hand combat to deal with unruly men."
"Fine. But only archery, I don't want her getting involved in anything dangerous that could cause her to have an early death," Trinity subsided a little.
"I understand honey. I will only teacher her archery." Then he turned to the little girl, "How about you come with me to the hunter's training grounds today?"
Artemis was not sure about learning archery, but she knew one thing for sure that she never wanted to relive that horrific event ever again. She put on a brave face and nodded her head looking up at Vincent.
With that confirmation he stood up walking towards the front door. "I'll wait for you outside while you get cleaned up. You can't train with jam all over your hands," he said with a mocking tone as he perceived out the front door.
After Trinity cleaned up the little one's hands, she took her by the hand and led her out the door. Even though she trusted her husband, she still wanted to make sure that he would keep to his word. Her husband was a loyal, stern, brave, and benevolent person. She also knew despite all that he was also a mischievous and thrilled driven man. It was essential that she tagged along for her baby girl's sake.
The training grounds were on the outskirts of Wisteria Town. It was a perfect location, since any new trainee that wanted on field experience could go on an outing with an advanced hunter into the woods to hunt wild animals or track down a demon nearby.
When Vincent, Trinity, and Artemis walk inside the training grounds all eyes were on them. It was not that women were not allowed in the training grounds, it just so happened that all the females in their town, prefer to be a good wife or loving daughter at home. Trinity being the wife of their leader had visit before, so this wasn't the first time enter their hall. However, this was the first time a little girl accompanied the monarchy pair. The training room went silent for a moment upon seeing the little girl, then went back to training when they saw the glare their leader aimed at them.
Vincent lead his party over to a young hunter bearing a familiar face. The young hunter was one of the hunters that saved the little girl from Apatite Village. Seeing Vincent drawing in closer in his direction, he immediately stopped what he was doing and stood firm in his spot.
Artemis wasn't sure how she felt walking into the training grounds. As they were walking, she looked around seeing only men. This made her extremely uncomfortable seeing how she would have to be the only female training among so many men. Her nerves calmed down a little when she saw a familiar face, the face of her savior.
The boy…no the young man looked like he was maybe in his late teens. He had pale skin like her mother, with black short hair stood in front of her waiting patiently. Looking up into his brown eyes made her felt safe in the unknown surrounding. They were warm, friendly, and welcoming unlike the rough and terrifying eyes of the behemoth.
"Travis!" shouted the man with authority.
"Yes sir!" the young man answered on command walking forwards a few steps, then stopping a few inches in front of them.
"I need you to help me train this little one. When I am not around you are responsible for her training," issued Vincent.
"Training, sir?" asked the young man a bit puzzled looking down at Artemis.
"Yes! I want to teach her how to depend herself by having her learn archery."
"Yes sir. Would you like me to go fetch her some training wear then? It would be difficult to train in a dress," inquired Travis noticing the little one's attire.
"Hmmmm..... you have a point. Yes, go fetch her a pair of clothing from the set of male trainees' uniform. Bring a size small," ordered Vincent.
"Yes sir! Right away sir," responded Travis running off into another part of the building.
After Artemis changed into one of the trainee's uniforms, she felt uncomfortable in that type of material, but she didn't let her benefactors know. Walking back into the main hall from the bathroom she noticed she didn't see her party anywhere. A surge of expressions creep up inside her until she her a familiar voice.
"Artemis over here," a husky and deep voice commanded across the opened room.
Artemis followed the voice which eventually lead her to the behemoth. She followed her father outside the barrack to the back courtyard, where her young benefactor, and her mother were standing under a larger oak tree.
"Travis will show you how to shoot a longbow, so you will have a clear idea of how to shoot," he said looking down at Artemis, then he turned towards Travis. "Travis you may begin."
Travis stood 40 yards from a nearby tree. Standing straight in front he took a deep breath calming down all his nerves. He had to make this shot almost near perfect, since the big boss and family was watching. Finding his center, he straightened his back with his feet parted mimicking his shoulder-width followed with the gesture of drawing back on the bow string. Standing perfectly still as if he was imitating the tree. He stared down the tree before releasing his three fingers hold on the arrow. A thwish sound was then heard from the bow and a swoosh sound followed as the arrow soar through the air hitting the tree with a short and quick thunk. Placing his bow by his side upon contact with the tree, Travis looker over to the family party with a smile.
"Well done, my boy. I told them you were a great recruit," Vincent praised the boy by slapping him against the back.
Trinity smiled giving him a joyous applause, while Artemis was bewildered by his talent. Travis on the other hand smiled brightly at the overall praises even though his back was being pummeled repeatedly by his proud leader.
"Alright, little one that's how you shoot a bow. Before we get you a bow you need to improve on your physical strength and endurance. So, I think we should start with some lite lifting exercises," suggested Vincent leading the group back inside.
Artemis was not sure what that entails, but she complied with this behemoth following him back into the training barracks. For the next couple of weeks, Artemis reported to the training grounds for strength training. Her lift training consisted of traveling multiple sandbag within her arms from the north side of the barrack to the south side of the barrack. Of course, she carried each bag one at a time, backing one up, then putting them down on the other side and repeat. The first bag she trained with was ten pounds which eventually increased as she got stronger.
When she started to feel the burn from that exercise, she would take a break before starting with her endurance training. A five lap run around the compound daily was supposed to help with her stamina. She even had to work on her stability and balance by standing still in various poses quietly. Vincent would even make the exercise more of a challenge by making her hold solid objects while she stood like a statue.
Once she started feeling little fatigue from her muscles, she was finally allowed to shoot one of the smaller longbows. Of course. her first attempt failed....and her second....and her third...and so on…and on. The repeated failure attempts frustrated Artemis, but that did not stop her from her goal.
It was a month later that she finally was able to hit the target tree and this time the arrow wedged itself into the tree instead of just grazing it. Artemis felt so accomplished with her first successful results. She got many congratulations from all the hunters and her mother except the behemoth, who thought it was to earlier for such excitement.
As the days went by, Artemis preferred going to the training grounds to train and shoot, instead of staying home being a girly girl. Around the town most people started to gossip about Vincent and Trinity's mute tomboy daughter. The majority of the gossips were negative, but no one dare mention it openly around Vincent which he chose to ignore anyway. Artemis out of her own free will stopped dressing up like a girl and asked for outfits fit for training and hiking.
Even though Trinity disapproved of Artemis hunting animals with her husband and self-proclaimed older brother Travis, she knew she would be safe under their care. And although she was a mute, she was able to interrogate easily into this new town of hers. She had a new loving mother, an overbearing father, a thoughtful brother and many…many… overprotective uncles.
At the age of 16, she was strongest woman in her town and the only female hunter…..while secretly a female hunter. Her mother was not aware of the fact she has been on many captured and locate missions with her uncles and brother.
Archery terminology:
Longbow- is a type of bow that is tall – roughly equal to the height of the user – allowing the archer a fairly long draw.