Reith led his group through the crowd of people in the center plaza and scanned the newly fortified café on the side.
'Those Roman bastards really don't give two shits about our kingdom!' He angrily thought before signaling his group to dive deeper into the crowd as he locked eyes with a young mercenary hanging around the soldiers.
Although the mercenary was young, Reith felt a shiver run down his spine, as if multiple gazes were peering down on him, while their eyes met.
Reith sneered as he removed his eyes from the strange locked gaze and motioned for the group to follow him deeper into the crowd.
The small group of cloaked people vanished into the crowd and escaped from Kellen's sight.
'Huh... I know Strom said we would just be waiting around for the legionnaire to arrive without resistance, but there are a lot of shady and strange looking people here...' Thought Kellen as he looked back to Strom sitting across from him at the outdoor table continuing to play with little strands of electricity.
The soldiers around Kellen continued to act in this lax manner as a day slowly passed, until one of the younger soldiers in the group rushed over to Strom and Kellen's table.
"Sir! We've received news from the group traveling with the legionnaire!" Quickly relayed the soldier as he bent down his head while handing the message in his hands over to Strom.
"Oh! Looks like we won't be waiting here for as long as I wagered!" Shouted Strom happily as he glanced over to Kellen with a big grin on his face.
"Really? What does it say?" Asked Kellen thankfully while hoping their boring wait could be over sooner than originally intended.
"It says here that the legionnaire will be arriving sometime before dark, which gives us some time to polish your skills before the officials get here." Said Strom as he put the message down on the table and looked up at the position of the sun.
"It's only noon, so lucky for you we have plenty of time for me to form some academy material out of you yet!" Laughed Strom as he grabbed his scabbard that he had hung on the back of the café chair and gestured for Kellen to follow him with a strange grin plastered on his face.
'Oh no... I know that familiar grin...' Groaned Kellen inwardly as the sadistic grin that Strom had leaked from the corners of his mouth reminded him of a familiar someone.
'I thought I despised almost all the humans that little brat created, but surprisingly I think I'm beginning to like this one...' Ironically said Osiris from within Kellen's mind.
Hearing the old man's input on his assumptions only confirmed Kellen's sad suspicions on how this "polishing" of skills would turn out for him.
Seeing that Strom was already walking a few paces away, Kellen grabbed his longsword he had yanked from the previous battlefield and ran after him.
After catching up with Strom, Kellen looked back towards the café before questioning their destination.
"Aren't we supposed to be stationed there for the time being?"
Strom laughed in response and pointed to a strange structure across the plaza in the opposite direction of the temporarily fortified café.
"Don't sweat the details mate! We will only be across the plaza anyways... Besides I would be more concerned about our sparring!" Said Strom excitedly as some electricity sparked from the corner of his eyes.
"Wait... Wait a minute... Sparring?" Said Kellen in disbelief while thinking of his ptsd from the grueling training he went through in the spatial hell.
"Well how else am I supposed to gage your skill or offer improvement?" Replied Strom in a matter of fact way as he pushed open the doors of the tavern like building.
Kellen sighed and scratched the back of his head in defeat as he followed after Strom into the building.
The inside of the building looked just like a small tavern when standing near the front half near the door. Multiple tables lined the space with warrior like people eating and drinking at each one heartily, and behind them seemed to be a bar/reception area which Strom was walking towards.
A young man that looked similar to that of a butler back in Kellen's world greeted them as they approached the counter, but behind his friendly smile Kellen could see disdain and disgust.
'I guess we should have expected this kind of reception considering Strom is still wearing his Roman uniform.' Thought Kellen as he realized the reason for the receptionist's discontent with them.
Kellen glanced behind his shoulder to gaze at the other peoples' expressions in the tavern like room and was unsurprised to see a similar reaction behind their drunken stupor.
"We would like to rent out one of the training rooms for a few hours." Said Strom without paying attention to their obvious unwelcomed presence.
"Sure... That'll be seventy-five druma per hour then."
Strom sighed before taking out a small bag from within his uniform and flicking a few silver coins to the receptionist.
"Thank you for your business..." Mumbled the receptionist through a gritted smile as he tossed Strom a small key.
Strom didn't answer and simply looked towards Kellen and nodded over to a hallway beside the end of the counter before walking off towards it.
Kellen quickly followed after Strom since he didn't want to bear the unwelcoming glares in the room any further.
"So what even is this place?" Said Kellen as the two of them made their way down the dimly lit hallway.
"Well, basically it's a travelers' guild, but it's mostly frequented by warriors who need a place to stay or a quick place to crash in while on their travels. Most places or cities have them, but the difference between one located in a city compared to other areas is their utilities and amenities." Said Strom while twirling the small key in his hand as they continued to walk down the hallway.
"However, the only thing we will be taking advantage of and the only reason for our visit is this right here." Stopped Strom as they arrived before a door close to the end of the hallway.
Kellen curiously peered into the room after Strom, who once finished with unlocking it, pushed open the door. The room wasn't very large and Kellen wagered that it was no bigger than twenty-four square meters, but what did catch his attention were the racks of wooden training weapons that lined the left wall.
Strom walked into the room and smiled as he followed the kid's gaze towards the wooden weapons.
"I guess you already guessed what we will be doing here then. Go grab the weapon you are most accustomed with and then we will start." Instructed Strom as he picked up one of the wooden longswords that lined the wall and inspected it until deciding it was satisfactory.
'Yep... Here we go again... But this time it'll be different... I just can't let him develop any weird ideas like that rubbish old man.' Thought Kellen as he picked up a longsword that was similar to the one on his waist and walked over to the center of the room.
"Alright, show me what you know..." Said Strom as he flicked the tip of his wooden longsword towards Kellen to beckon him forward.
'I can't have him looking down on me... Let's see what results that damn training in the spatial hell gave me!' Thought Kellen as he rushed towards Strom with practiced footwork as if he had been a swordsman for decades.
The wooden swords clashed repeatedly from all kinds of angles as the speed of their collisions continued to quicken their pace. Both swordsman circled each other and traded blows with the occasional counters and parries, but neither side could pierce past their opponent's guard.
'This kid might be the greatest swordsman of his generation...' Thought Strom in delight as he analyzed each and every one of Kellen's moves. From his footwork, to positioning, and to his natural reflexes, Strom was impressed by the completeness of the kid's form.
'But can he deal with the surprises that the battlefield and his opponent can bring?' Strom pondered upon the thought before deciding to test the kid further, since as a soldier himself, Strom understood the unlikelihood of a fair fight in the real and cruel world.
Kellen was easily keeping pace with the Roman commander's movements and sword flashes as he even had time to throw in his own tricks. However, just like Strom, Kellen was unable to get any leeway and could only manage to stay at a comfortable stalemate.
'This is disappointing...' Thought Kellen with a frown after realizing his skill with a sword was roughly the same as the commander even after Osiris's hellish training.
Suddenly, the continuous barrage of swords halted as Kellen's sword failed to parry the next slash from the wooden blade in Strom's hands. Strom expertly flicked his sword which resulted in the clanking sound of a wooden sword hitting the floor of the training room.
Kellen stood still in shock, as he gazed from empty hands, to the sword lying on the ground behind his right side, and finally towards the wooden blade pointed at his throat that raced with electricity.
Thinking back on the previous movements that he had witnessed, Kellen still could not understand what happened.
'I know he has somehow harnessed the power of lightning and can imbue it within his sword, but I already faced that before without a problem...' Stooped Kellen as he questioningly looked towards Strom for an answer.
"How di-"
Suddenly, the wooden sword pointed at his throat flicked up and smacked against the bottom of Kellen's chin, which sent a piercing shock racing throughout his body.
Kellen was forced to kneel with one leg on the ground in order to not throw up or fall over and curl up into a ball from the super charged shock sent by the sword.
'Oh for fuck's sake! Of course it's another sadist!' Groaned Kellen as he looked from his knelt position at the grinning Strom.
'Oh! Yes, I have decided this is definitely one of my favorite humans!' Said Osiris cheerfully in Kellen's mind after seeing the classic shock therapy of his put back into action.
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Hey guys! Regular releases should pick back up again now that I have gotten control and management over my classes. I actually have a midterm tomorrow so I'm hoping that goes well... While I was engrossed in studying and work I continued to develop the course of the story and put more time into developing the characters. I will try to start writing farther ahead of the chapters I release so that there are more consistent releases. If you enjoy the story don't forget to vote; it helps me a lot and really encourages me to write more. As always much love guys and I'll see you in the next chapter!