I started the fight with a jump, surprising the three men. While I was in the air, I kicked the man in front of me with a side kick.
"Gah!" The man twirled from the impact of the kick, flooring him.
The man on my left went in for a strike, but I was faster. I looked at him as I twirled to slash up at his chest. Kale told me that I shouldn't kill, which was fine. There was only one person I wanted to kill.
"You fucking brat!" The man behind me swung down with his sword, I managed to block it but the force of it sent me down to the ground.
"She's on the ground! Get her!" The man I slashed tried to grab me, but I got into a low crouch and swept his leg. However, The man behind me grabbed my cloak and lifted me.
"Gah!" I yelped as I was being lifted up. I tried finding the clasp so I could release it. Kale noticed that I was grabbed as he was fighting the horseman.
Kale seemed to have paralyzed the horseman with his dagger; a cut was on the hybrid's leg as he spasmed on the Dirt road. Kale rushed to me, zigzagging his way to me until he was behind the man that grabbed me.
"Hands off!" I heard him say as he kicked the man in the head. Causing me and the man to topple to the floor. Kale picked me up as he looked behind me to watch the horseman, who was clambering up from the paralysis.
"Hey listen, how's it going?" Kale asked, still watching the horseman.
"W-what?"
"Answer, how are you feeling while fighting? Got any emotions bubbling or something?"
Oh. He was wondering about my eye. Touching my left eye, I didn't feel anything. I shook my head as he gave me a pat on my shoulder.
"Ok, good. Quick tip; Be aggressive. Once I start fighting this horse dude, I'm going to need you to beat the shit out of these three while they are down."
"That sounds very aggressive." Kicking someone while they are on the floor?
"Yeah, well…aggressiveness is key to our Sword style." He sprung up and ran past me towards the horseman. "And remember, don't kill them! Just knock them out! Don't give them a chance to get back up!" He swung his sword at the horseman, who blocked it with his forearm. Kale and the horseman immediately started throwing slashes and punches.
Huh. Well he's right. Fire king style is all about aggression and brute force. Overpowering those who are weaker. I glanced down at the man I swept to the floor, he was still recovering.
Flipping my blade around so the hilt was in the front, I jumped onto the man. I pinned his arms under my legs as I then smacked him with the hilt.
"Ack, hey-ow!" The man struggled to break free from being pinned as I ruthlessly smacked him with my sword.
Somehow…this is reminding me of something. An image flashed before my eyes of someone else being bashed by the hilt of something, my hands bloodied by it.
But that doesn't make any sense, I've never done this before…it's all just coming as if it was natural…
I kept smashing the hilt of my blade at the man's face. bruises and cuts on his face covered him now as he cried.
"P-please, stop!" He begged.
For some reason, I didn't respond to his pleas. In some sickening way, I was enjoying this. Batting the man's face left and right.
…I remember someone saying that…
I went in for another hit, before I suddenly stopped…What was I doing? I looked at my blade, which was covered in blood now.
(…what are you doing, Sand-.)
I felt a pain shoot through my head as I then Toppled to the floor. It was an excruciating pain, I held my hands against the side of my head. Only thinking of the pain now, it slowly subsided.
What was that? I think I almost thought of someone, but it hurt trying to think of it.
The bloodied man on the floor had seemingly knocked out, all three of these men were knocked out.
I laid on my back as I tried recovering from that sudden headache, confused by it all. I could hear Kale still fighting that horseman, it seemed like Kale was winning as I could hear the Horseman struggling and making grunts.
"Lilith?! Grr, hold on!" I heard Kale say as he was fighting. I turned my head to look where his voice was.
Kale had a clear advantage against this horseman, who struggled to deflect Kale's blows. His arms now red and littered with cuts.
"Nice magic cloak! Too bad it isn't strong enough for my hits!" Kale went in for a swipe, but when the horseman retaliated with a right swing, Kale ducked and gave the hybrid a left uppercut.
Kale wasn't done as he swung around, flipping his blade so the hilt was forward. He smashed the hilt right into the horseman's face, twirling the man in the air as he finally laid flat on the floor, knocked out.
"A magic cloak that enhances strength, huh? That's how you broke that safe.
Adjusting his cloak, he spun around and ran towards me. He knelt down, examining me.
"Hey, you alright? You took these three guys out and collapsed."
"I got a…headache?"
"You don't sound so sure."
"Because I don't really know what it was, it was just a sharp pain in my head."
Kale scratched his head, trying to figure out what had transpired.
I slowly back up to a sitting position, shaking my head. "I'll be fine."
"You sure? It could happen again."
"If it happens again, I'll just live with it…"
Kale frowned as I said that. He then Noticed a civilian who was passing by on the road. It seemed like not many people noticed our little skirmish in the farming district.
"Excuse me! Can you get one of the guards in the market to tell the jailers about some lackeys?" Kale called out.
The civilian was a man who wore a blue shirt and tanned shorts. He looked confused for a moment.
"What uh…happened here?"
"Horseman robbed a shop and I beat the shit out of him for it, now go tell the jailers. It's me, Kale." Kale responded.
The man nodded frantically and ran off to the market district. Kale then put his blade into his holster.
"Alright, now that that's over. Let's focus on you again." He said, sitting down on the dirt road. "You did pretty good, I guess two months of training paid off."
"I only got one of them though." I glanced at the first man I kicked down.
"So? You still were able to take someone down, that's an achievement right there."
We talked about how I did with this 'training session' and gave me advice on how to take on multiple things at once. I was somewhat lacking situation awareness when it came to fighting so he gave me tips on that.
"Now…how's the headache?" He asked.
"It's…gone now." There was no more lingering pain now.
"Ok, good. If it does happen again, let me know. I gotta keep my apprentice in good health." He patted my head as he said that.
Kale was a pretty good teacher, he reminded me of Kota's dad a lot. Kale seemed to enjoy teaching me and having me and Kota around his house, he must be feeling lonely in that house of his. Maybe kale is a lonely person? I don't ever see him talking with anyone else besides tera.
"Hey, why don't you let Tera live with us?" I asked, which caused Kale to choke on air.
"W-what? You want the demon that's attacking me to stay with me? She had her own place."
"Does she?"
"Of course, why wouldn't she?"
"I don't know, she keeps coming to our place and hanging around like she's already living there."
"So you just let her? It doesn't bother you?"
"It makes her comfortable, we can't have a guest be uncomfortable in our home."
"She comes everyday."
Kale sighed, putting his hands to his face. "Alright, here's the deal. I already told Kota this. But I guess I'll tell you." He looked me dead in the eyes. "I can't be with her."
"Why not?" I was confused by his response. I didn't really see any issues with Tera, maybe her personality or the way she acted must've turned kale off. Tera was pretty with her dark skin and black hair was beautiful too. What wasn't there anything to not like?
"I'll make it short for you, I'm sure Kota would probably explain it to you. Maybe you two might have the same reaction. I don't know, But to make it simpler; I can't commit to someone." Kale shifted his posture, tensing up.
"…why?"
"A girl, alright? Lord, you ask too many questions." Kale sounded annoyed. He didn't seem too comfortable with talking about this.
"I asked one question. Besides, what can a girl do to you?" I argued.
"Man, you wouldn't even know what it's like." Kale looked off to the side, eyeing the knocked out men on the floor. "Messing up and watching it fall."
I almost said something, but stopped. I didn't want Kale to get in a gloomy mood. So awkwardly, we sat on the dirt road waiting for someone to assist us.
After a few moments, a couple of guards came running. They seemed to be out of breath.
"Ok, Ok! What's going on here? Whew…" The one guard in the front was sweating and rubbing his forehead to clear the sweat. Where did they come from?
"All from the South Gate?" Kale asked.
"Damn right! Fuck…is it these four men?" The guard looked around at the little skirmish we had.
"Yep, that horse dude right there managed to use mana to strengthen his physical strength and ripped open a shop's safe." He looked at the three men that took down. "My apprentice here took down his goons…or what I think are his goons.
"Hmph, alright. Boys, start taking them, ask questions later!" The guard ordered his men. "Hey kale, you owe us now. You know that there aren't many of us here in the city. Go buy us a beer when you can."
"I'll kindly do that."
The guards then grabbed the bodies, with the Main guard dragging the Horseman by his leg.
"Son of a…Damn, King Lucian don't pay us enough for this!" one of the guards said.
"Hmph, You joined the guards to do what the king says. Only the most loyal can be with us…Are you with us?'
The main guard looked at the frustrated guard, Who hesitated and then silently nodded his head.
Moments later, they all were trudging back to the prison, which was across the market district. They mumbled to themselves as they carelessly trudged the bodies back. Which left me and kale alone again.
"Why aren't there not many guards here?" I asked.
Kale shrugged. "King Lucian wants the utmost loyal people involved with the military or safeguarding the people. They might seem few, but they are fiercely loyal and will do whatever for the king."
"What about you? Aren't there like…other people like you?"
"Like me? Erm…that's complicated."
"How?" Was it really hard for someone to take up Kale's job? All Kale does is watch for any mishaps in the kingdom and basically give praise to king Lucian.
"Not everyone here is trained properly in sword styles. Especially in a city that's mostly magic based. The only reason why I have this job is because…well I'm practically the only swordsman here capable of seeing peace in the streets."
"None of the guards know about sword styles?"
"They do, Earth king style. But it's just not feasible in actual combat. It's more of a defensive style. Which is why Prusha has some pretty good defenses in terms of guards."
I think I've seen Kota's dad use the earth king style before. It was only once, but it was when I sparred with him.
"Anyways, we should clean up and head back home. Maybe check on that headache of yours, are you good?" Kale got up and started cleaning his clothes when he said that.
I shook my head, seeing if there was any lingering pain. Doing that made Kale look at me weirdly.
"You know, you could just…nevermind."
"I'm feeling fine!" I said after checking myself.
I picked myself up from the floor and also cleaned myself, noticing kale walking back to the market district.
"Before we head home, let's grab some food from the market. Kota is probably hanging with tera, so we'll just buy some food. Hopefully those two aren't in any shenanigans."
Joining up beside Kale, we both set off to the market. Hopefully kota is alright after the entrance exam.
I mean, What could possibly happen to him when he has Tera?