As Adellene finished unpacking, she then followed Darius outside. He was just patiently waiting at the wooden bench outside the shabby wooden shack.
*hmm*
"Took you long to finish unpacking."
"Ah~mhm... I had to look for a bag to place my clothes. So what are we going to do here. It's already dark outside as well."
Darius stood up and took a wooden sword with him. He also had a long stiff branch and tossed it to Adellene.
*tried to catch the branch*
" E-eh?! What's this branch for?"
" I need to teach you how to fight without magic."
Adellene was confused to why Darius suddenly had thought of this. She just then followed Darius to where he's headed to a nearby forest. After a few minutes of walk, they then reached a circular stage surrounded by trees.
"Darius, you're not pla~ eeek!!!"
Darius suddenly swung the wooden sword towards Adellene which made her cower and covered her head with her tiny hands.
"ARE YOU PLANNING TO KILL ME WITH THAT WOODEN SWORD?!"
Darius then came close to her and sheathed his wooden sword.
"Anyone would in any battle or duel. You should learn how to defend. Stand up and defend yourself."
They then stood again and both readied their weapons. But then Darius put down his weapon and ran over Adellene.
"Eh-ehh?! Don't you dare belittle me!"
Adellene then closed her eyes as she swung down the branch from above to hit Darius. But then the branch was just stopped by his hand.
"You can be easily tripped with your stance. Let me help you form a stand where you can't be slipped."
"Wait what? I thought you started to attack..."
Darius then held her arms and moved her legs as to form a proper striking stance similar of a warrior holding a claymore.
Adellene, flustered as she was touched by Darius, just stood like a statue. But she then realized she is now standing stable yet less constricted.
"Oh~ I can now do something with this stick."
"Hmmm... Now, try striking it down with full force."
She then swung it with all her force and it looked like a proper strike to her.
"Uh..."
She looks at Darius, some how expecting something like a praise but none were given.
"Now hold your ground and I will start attacking."
Darius then charged in at full speed. But this time, Adellene did what she felt was needed and with all her force, swung down the large branch.
*Woog*
The wood hit on Darius and it seemed that the impact connected fully. But the wooden sword came in and almost hit Adellene's forehead.
Adellene dodged at the last second and swung the branch again sideways and this time, it hit on Darius' face.
*whooop* *boog*
Adellene then dropped the branch and went towards Darius to check on him. She noticed his forehead was bleeding and she checked her waist if she brought any healing salve.
"In war, do not show kindness towards the foe that is still breathing."
Darius then pushed her. Adellene on fell flat on the ground with nothing on her to defend herself.
"That us your first lesson for melee combat. Stand up, get the stick and fight."
Adellene stands up and stares at Darius with teary eyes.
"You... YOU REALLY ARE JUST A BRAWN WITHOUT A BRAIN!!!"
Darius, not knowing what to respond, just respond with a blank face.
"You are bleeding! Let us go back and treat that wound. You might get infected. You really are stu~"
Darius then charged in again and strikes a full force swing towards Adellene. Knowing what the dash looks like, She then swung it sidewards, but this time Darius rolled and tackled her, leading her to lose the branch and is now on the ground again.
"Ughh! Why YOU!!!"
She then punched Darius who did not expect any counter. Adellene then grabbed the branch and swung it towards the staggered lad.
"Here you want something unkind, THEN TAKE THIS!!!"
*whoop*
The branch hit Darius and it shttered as Darius' barely covered his face. The branch hit the arm but still his head went off because of the impact.
Adellene still charged in and made a flurry of swings. It hit everywhere and Darius had no choice to take the practice seriously. He then took out the wooden stick and scabbard as the off-hand weapon and swirled it towards her legs.
"Next step, always expect a counter attack from your enemy in a combat."
She fell sideways and hit the ground hard but she managed to cover her head. Darius then swung the wooden sword towards the girl and hit her. She barely blocked it with her arms but the force still made her dizzy.
"Are you still able to hold up with your weapon?"
"Do you think *cough* *cough* I can still fight?! ARE YOU REALLY INSANE DARIUS?!"
Darius then sat down on the ground and gave her a smile. He then wiped the blood on his forehead.
"You are holding up good Adellene..."
"I need to HOLD UP! Or else I'll hve a concussion or even worse, a broken skull!"
"Alright, I will have to find a bandage to close this wound."
Adellene, worrying about Darius just let out a sigh. She then stood up and grabbed her satchel nearby.
"Come here and let me use this cloth."
"No I~"
"Do you want to get a direct hit on your head?! If not then let me do this to lessen the pain."
Darius surrendered and let the girl help him patch his wound. They then came back to the shack to notice something was off. The shack has its inside lit up.
They both then crouched and hide. Clanks and clangs were heard from the inside. Glass bottles and utensils were clashing with each other. There must be a rodent that came inside Darius' house they both thought.
"Darius... Check ~"
Adellene points at the window above their heads. Darius then peeked over and looked over the room. He sees a tall figure inside and this is surely not a rodent.
"Thief. Stay here, I'll go and sort this out."
Darius then went off without hearing any word from Adellene.
"Why you~ ughh..."
She continues to look over the window. Later on, she sees the door being opened in full swing and it startled the thing that was searching inside the room.
"Wha~ hey! Why are you here?! Are you another thief as well? Y'know this hou~"
Adellene saw Darius punched it with no hesitation. It fell on the floor and Adellene saw that it was a person. She's confused as to why there's someone trying to rob this house.
Darius then gave her a signal to come inside the house. Adellene then followed him inside the room and she saw the thief lying on the ground, unknown to her whether that person is still breathing.
"Hey Darius! Did you kill this man?!"
"Him dying to my punch is not my resposibility. It is his own weakness that killed him."
"Hays... Are we really going to that way huh?"
Adellene, with her hand over her forehead, just let the flow leave things lead. But her worries just reached over her and she went down to check the signs of life ou tof this thief. Darius, knowing this would happen, just closed the door and checked if someone saw what happened.
. . . .
"I feel air, his pulse is here. He's probably unconsious. We will pay for what you did right now..."
"Why would we pay for the thief?"
Adellene just looked at Darius with disappointment. Whether it was a dry joke or an actual response, she just thought that this person is as barbaric as a fleet soldier out there. She then tries to carry the thief towards the bed but looked at Darius again just to see a confused look from him.
"What?"
"Ughh~ hay... Are you just going to stand there and not help me? Are you really asking to be put behind those rusted bars? Because I don't and surely I wanna live my life freely."
Darius then grabbed the man at his back by the hood and tossed him over the haybale nearby the storage area. Adellene is just speechless with everything that happened within few minutes.
"Alright, what are we gonna do now? Someone needs to check on him..."
*cough cough*
The starts to twitch as if he was showing a sign of being conscious. The hood over his head fell and it brought up a young face with a laege bruise from Darius' punch.
"A kid? Uhhh~ Darius, I think we got to send him to the town. Maybe Sir Rain can handle him..."
"You think so?"
"What do you mean think so? That is a young kid! If that kid's head was flinged off his body then we will be in jail no doubt! Good thing he's only unconscious or else it~"
"Ughhh.... ~"
Th thief woke up from being punched by Darius. He ruffles off his head, making out where he is and what happened earlier. He then looked at Darius and Adellene who are watching him as well.
"WhaAaA~???"
"!!!"
"Who are you?!"
"Ah... Kid, we should be the one to ask you that. Who are you? Why did you break into this tree house?"
"Eh? Ohhh..."
The thief suddenly jumped from bed and tried to pull out his dagger from the scabbard but it was already taken by Darius.
"Wha~ Hey give that dagger back!!!"
"Why are you inside my house?"
"Your hou~ ahh you mean this filthy tree cabin? Ha! Was trying to see if the hermit living here could've kept an elven treasure. But oh well~trash and trash. Just filthy trash."
The thief just keep picking stuff off and throwing them in the ground. But his movements are quite suspicious, and slowly he reached the doorway but before he got out, he was grabbed by the back of his clothes and thrown back to the wooden sink.
" Owww!!! Why did you that?! Man I swear if I have that dagger I could slit your throat and take that woman off you!"
"Hey watch yo~"
The thief smiled at Adellene as she spoke. She felt disgusted and frightened all of a sudden.
"Haah~ I wonder what I could do to you once I take him down. What are you to him anyway. He's got no money to live a life in luxury. No crown nor bejeweld sword."
"He~ he is a good man unlike you!"
"Oh a good man~ what a charming guy eh? WAKE UP WOMAN! He ain't giving a good life!"
The thief suddenly came close to Adellene and told her,
"Y'know, you can be my toy for the night and you get fair share of my stolen~"
*swooop*
*bonk*
A large stick hit his head and he felt that so hard, he crouched.
"OUCH!!! What the ~"
*thud*
A punch straight to his abdomen hit. He flew across the room.
"Not bad Adellene..."
"Eh? You mean the strike?"
"Few more days of training and you're good to go."
Darius, who was just keeping his cool down came close to the thief with glaring eyes and look down to him.
"You're robbing the wrong hermit."
Then two furious punch landed straight to his face like a comet falling unto the surface. His face looked like it could have caved in with those punches.
"Ah~ Darius, I think he's done for. I don't think he's gonna wake up tomorrow after those punches."
Darius grabbed him by the collar and checked for any signs of consciousness.
"Hmm~"
...
The thief dropped like a ragdoll as soon as Darius dropped his collar.
"Hey, tie him up, tightly this time. We will be bringing him to the town guards. Maybe Rain can pull out some details from this monkey."
"Uhh... What details are you talking about Darius?"
"You don't need to know. For now get some rest and we'll be taking our leave before the sun rises."