Annie, The leader of this scout expedition watched her ally rush forward to go to strike down the native. She was not in the least bit concerned about this situation at all even though the other savage took down three of her men she still wasn't concerned as they were weak and untrained in martial combat except in sneaking because of their backgrounds as novice assassins. Unlike her who was taught how to wield a sword and her mount from a very young age because she was of the middle nobility.
The native in front of her that was about to be cut down was bloodied and looked half dead already so she expected that he should be an easy target for the inexperienced assassin to deal with as she expected even an untrained peasant should be able to kill this man.
Annie was chosen as leader of this scouting experience because she volunteered for this in order to give honor to her family which was all away across the ocean. As a representative of middle nobility she wanted to make up for not having an aptitude in magic like her elder brother. The family wasted many resources and money in order to teach her about the basics of magic to increase the chances of her having magic aptitude in her early ages because of her intelligence and physical aptitude for it to all turn out that she was not even gifted in magic at all she was just a very physically gifted and intelligently gifted person.
It broke her and her family to know that she is not a mage and thus they made her go with the expeditionary forces in order for her to make a name for herself and probably a good future as a soldier instead of just a stay at home noble. To take down these raiders who has raided many farms on the land of the kingdom would be a high honor.
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Folke saw the man rush forward and by instinct dodged out of the way to the right of the man as his sword came down. Consequently the sword struck the tree and got blunted severely as it was already not the sharpest blade it became something similar to a blunt weapon with all the edges dulled.
The man fashioning to still have a weapon rather than no weapon at all, gripped his weapon hard and began to pull.
He pulled the sword out of the tree and did a horizontal cleave to Folke's head. Folke pulled up his arm in front of his face thinking he would rather lose his arms rather than his head.
Clunk!
The sword struck Folke's arm clean and the man behind the strike looked at this and started to grin. He thought Folke was going to kneel and hold his arm and scream out in pain because the bone was broken, giving him ample opportunity to thrust the blade down his eyes or his mouth to kill him quickly.
But, things didn't go like that. When the sword hit the arm he blinked and then felt a hard pull of the sword in his hands. He latched onto the sword and began a wrestling contest with Folke who had grabbed the blade of the sword with his other hand after the strike. Folke overpowered the man and pulled the sword causing the man to be pulled sharply forward into folke's waiting fist.
He fell down shortly after with Folke standing above him with a sword in his hands. The scene surprised Anne who had watched the whole entire event unfold. Folke on the other hand was also more surprised than Anne who had watched the events. When the sword striked his forearms, Folke felt the pressure but he didn't feel as if the sword actually did him significant damage more than just rattle him. So folke who didn't want to think too hard about what just happened taking advantage struck out with a basic mindset of removing the sword and knocking the man out.
Anne was surprised for sure but the surprise instantly went to fear, she has seen this happen before and where she has seen this happen is when magic knights fight non magical combatants in tournaments to show off their prowess as warriors. Meaning that the man in front of her was a magic knight who is revered as super soldiers of the empire. . .
Anne had received basic knowledge about the inhabitants before they fought this group that the people of this land didn't know what magic was or had anything similar to it.
She took a cautious step back causing a loud snapping of twigs behind her. Folke looked at the girl then he rushed forward with the sword in his hands raised above his head like a newb.