Riku L continued to stand on the edge of the plateau before sitting down, watching everyone train. He assumed they were knights in training, students training to become knights, or something of the sort. "In a world with magic like this and creatures like griffons and possibly even dragons, what can a simple knight hope to do? I got my ass kicked by magic users... I couldn't do a thing..." He rested his head on his fist, his elbow against his leg as he watched everyone train. "If they had actual metal weapons they'd be in serious danger against someone like Seto..."
He imagined several knights going up against Seto, their weapons flying out of their hands and impaling each of them before they could even get close to him. Seto would walk away with a smirk. "Yeah, I wouldn't want to be in their position... That could've been me if I had some kind of weapon on me..."
He shook his head at the thought, then imagined a few going against Seto's sister, Kana. She would easily evade each of their bladed weapons, her arms and legs turning to metal as she crushed the armor protecting them with a simple punch and/or kick, too fast for them to defend against. "Yeah, she'd easily kick a small platoon of knights' asses..."
He then began to imagine a group of knights going against Aina. She would keep her distance and protect herself from their bladed weapons with a barrier of light, then fire several rays of light at each of them at once. She would toy with them, some of the knights having hope they could actually defeat her before she revealed her true strength and decimate them all with a single, powerful ray of light.
Riku sighed again, chuckling nervously. "Yeah, there's no way... That's just three of the many abilities a mage could have... Man those three are seriously amazing." He smiled enviously. "I wonder what kind of magic I'll have..."
"Is there something I can help you with stranger..?" The soft, humble voice of a woman called out from behind him, causing Riku to jump up and look back. He turned to see a beautiful woman standing just a couple feet behind him. She had long, platinum blond hair that went down to her waist and deep blue eyes that looked like sapphires, having a small body, yet there was a powerful aura about her.
"A-Ah...I..." Riku was speechless, unable to form a coherent sentence in the face of such beauty.
She tilted her head. "You..? There's no need to be afraid, I'm not going to hurt you." She smiled, giggling softly.
Riku wasn't one to fall for a girl's looks and he rarely trusted anyone right off the bat. He kept his guard up just in case the woman tried anything, though he could tell there wasn't much he'd be able to do just by looking at her. "I-I'm just watching..." He averted his eyes slowly.
"Ah I see, you're watching my students train? Would you like to learn how to use a certain weapon?"
"Uh, well, I'm a mage so..."
She looked confused at his statement. "Even mages use weapons. Some types of magic are dependent on them. Everyone in this world can use some kind of magic, but those with magic that isn't so...well...'stupendous' come here to learn how to use weapons of their choice. It may help them in the future if they ever encounter dangerous mages, want to become heroes, etc."
"Would've been nice the other day..." Riku mumbled.
"What was that?"
"Oh, I just said...I can't imagine learning how to use a weapon would do much good against a really dangerous mage..."
The woman stared at him for a second, her face blank before smiling again. "Are you sure about that?" Riku tilted his head. "You see, my magic too, is simple." She held out her hand, a small light in the form of a spinning star formed in her hand.
"A shuriken?"
"Not quite." She lightly tossed it at him, the star spinning as if it were a shuriken before shining brightly and popping like a firework in his face. It didn't hurt him much at all, just surprised him and caused him to move back, the light blinding him for a second. When his vision cleared, the woman was now standing in front of him, smiling. His cheeks turned a faint red at her closeness, but he shivered, noticing she had a wooden dagger held against his throat.
"You see, even simple magic can be useful in terms such as these. If this were a real dagger and a real battle, you'd be dead now. That is what I meant when I said learning how to use a weapon could be useful in a battle with a powerful mage. Just look at me, I'm a simple weapon teacher and I'm in a position where I could kill a great hero."
Riku shivered once more at her words, but smirked as well, trying to keep his cool. "I see what you mean..." He didn't question her knowing who he was. He just assumed Riku F. was a famous hero in this world.
The woman paused before continuing. "There are also certain weapons made with magic attributes or made to go against mages. Depending on the weapon, they can be a bit pricey, but some people also make their own." She let her arm fall to her side before giving him another smile. "So I wouldn't underestimate a person based on what kind of magical abilities they have or the way they fight."
He looked back and noticed he was at the edge of the cliff. "Right... Never underestimate anyone..." Riku then thought to himself, "That's twice I've been put in a position where I could easily be killed... If I underestimate a real opponent again, I'll die for sure..."
The woman grabbed Riku's arm and pulled him away from the edge. "There we go, safe now. Maybe we shouldn't stand near the edge of the cliff." She giggled.
He nodded. "Safe indeed... So, what's your name, miss weapon teacher?" He smiled awkwardly.
She smiled back at him. "My name is Artemis. I'm a master of many weapons. It's nice to officially meet you, Hero Riku."
His eyes widened for a moment as he realized she shared the name of the famous Artemis organization of his world, as well as the goddess Artemis from the Greek mythology of his world. Since mythology in this world might be different, Riku didn't mention it however. "Likewise, and just Riku is fine." He thought to himself, "I'd rather not be called a 'hero' until I do something heroic..."
"Is there a specific type weapon you'd like to use? Magical? Energy powered? Maybe the original thing? Oh, and we can't forget about what weapon you'd like to use as well."
"Well..." He muttered, thinking to himself. "I'm not really sure honestly. I've never really thought about it." He then thought to himself, "I never even imagined I'd been in a world like this, much less learn to use a weapon in it. F. doesn't seem to use any weapons, at least, not that he's told me about." He then spoke aloud. "I figured my magic was all I'd need until that little bout with you just now."
"Right, well, why not just try everything and see what you like best?"
"That's...an excellent idea. As expected of a weapon teacher."
She smiled and nodded. "Everyone has their own style of fighting. If they prefer to just fight with magic that's fine, as well as fighting with just their bare hands. There are classes for those types as well, just not here."
"So that's probably how F. learned to fight, unless he was self taught."
"I have a feeling you'll find just the thing for you. But a certain question still stands, do you want to learn to use a weapon in one of my classes?"
Riku stopped and paused, looking down and thinking to himself for a moment. "Who would I be learning under?" He looked up at her as he spoke.
She paused and thought to herself for a moment as well, afterward her lips curving into a sweet smile. "What would you say to learning directly under me?" She tilted her head to the side.
Riku's eyes went wide and his mouth hanged a bit. "A-Are you serious? Directly under you? B-But that's not fair to-"
She rose her hand, silencing him. "I know how people treat you. It's why you never show up to those meetings correct? But I know you're a great person. You not only take quests given to you by the kingdom, but you also do things without being asked. That's why I don't mind teaching you what I know, without making you pay anything. If I could help the hero I admire so much with what he does best, that's more than enough payment for me. It's also extra encouragement to accept my offer, isn't it? You can show the world just how great a person with weak magic, a woman no less, can be as a teacher." She smiled and held her hands over her chest, directly over her heart, as she spoke to him.
Her words made the "hero" blush a faint red. He could tell those words came directly from her heart. "How could I say no to something like that..?" He thought to himself and sighed, ruffling his hair. "You're definitely not making it easy to say no. Then again, who would say no to an opportunity like this?" He grinned. "Alright, I'll accept your offer. When do we start?"
Artemis gave a soft smile and let out a sigh of relief before speaking again. "Whenever you wish."
"Then let's get started right away." He gave her a confident smirk, which she returned with her own playful smirk.
"Very well, let's go." She led him to a small metal building that was filled with several different weapons. Riku tried everything from different swords, spears, lances, axes, maces, even dual wielding, but nothing seemed quite right.
"Dual wielding is cool and all, but I'm not looking to be some emo protagonist." Riku thought to himself, then spoke aloud. "Maybe my fists would be best after all.."
"Hmm, let me show you one more thing." She led him over to the back of the room of weapons and several different gauntlets were lined up on the wall.
"Wouldn't gauntlets go into the fist category..?"
"Yes, gauntlets would." She picked one up and put it on, clenching her hand into a fist and a hidden blade popped out of the top of it. "These however are called blade gauntlets." She smiled and Riku gazed with awe.
"Let's use these." He said with zero hesitation.
"Very well." The woman giggled.