Edol frowned as he looked down at the overweight bird in front of him. The young Brit was holding a wooden practice spear, the hand grasping the spear covered with fresh new calluses.
"This is just a waste of time! My daggers will work on anything I really need to fight! If there's something like that bear again, I can run away and let someone else handle it."
It had been nearly a week since Edol took down the massive bear previously hunting the forest, and he had yet to leave Hearth. After the celebrations, Sal approached the Brit, then thrust an old wooden spear into his hands.
The next morning, Edol was dragged from his room in the town hall an hour before daybreak and forced to begin training in spearman ship.
Swing.
Stab.
Thrust.
Parry.
Edol was forced to repeat attacking motions for over an hour, motivated only by Sal's threats of violence and harsh words. What's more, he sucked at it. Badly.
One might expect that someone who could duel a massive hell spider with just daggers wouldn't have too much trouble learning a new weapon.
"Uh-! Cough, cough. I hate this spear. Hate it."
Over the past few days, Edol discovered a new talent.
Turns out, accidentally stabbing himself in the stomach with the butt of the spear while fighting the bear wasn't a fluke.
Even when his opponent was an empty bit of air, the Brit still managed to bring pain to his gut.
Impressively, over the past few days, Edol's skills with the spear hardly improved at all.
"Ghost, I'm really not cut out for this. It's so inflexible! When I'm using daggers, I can move my arms freely. This? It's like I'm hefting around a tree!"
Ghost preened his feathers and looked up at Edol.
"Edol."
"Hm?"
"I have bad news."
"Hm?"
"That is a tree."
"?!"
Edol threw the wooden spear to the ground in shock. It was perfect timing, as Sal was just returning from checking a few traps. Growing tired of watching Edol's negative progress, the huntress had taken to leaving the boy alone to practice.
Edol had, of course, tried slacking off the moment she disappeared.
That time had been just as much of a mistake as throwing his spear just now.
"Edol! What are you doing?! That spear is worth more than you! Pick it up and clean it off, now!"
"It's a chunk of wood! Screw this, I'm leaving. I've already wasted too much time here."
Sal failed to respond, a slightly lost and depressed look on her face.
Edol had only remained in town to wait for Willow. The girl had promised to guide him to Edain before she departed for Miaan, and Ghost had urged the Brit to accept her offer. After chatting with both Willow and the townsfolk, he learned that Willow's Longgrass trading family was quite influential. An introduction to some of her connections couldn't hurt, especially for the duo- knowing little about the East.
From Edol's perspective, the girl's mood had stabilized over the last few days. She had returned to the cheery form she had when they first met, no longer brooding over the aftereffects of her loose mouth. She didn't even seem that hurried to head west to Miaan, being confident that her father could handle himself over there.
As such, instead of immediately departing, she spent most of the week with old Nes.
When Edol and Willow were both free, the two hung out together or with Weiss. Fishing, cooking, and listening to stories about the surrounding lands, the two spent a lot of time together.
The image of Willow began to overlap with Edol's memories of his sister, and he soon began to view her in almost the same way. Willow always seemed happy and never stopped chatting with the Brit.
'If only Sophie was more like this back at home... I wonder how she's doing now.'
Even with how much Edol had enjoyed hanging out with Willow, he didn't want to sit around in Hearth any longer.
'With or without her, I'm leaving tomorrow. Sal is getting way too annoying, and I'm not actually learning anything. I'll probably have to head to a large city to find any books on legacies or magic, there's none here.'
Resolving himself to depart in the morning, Edol turned and walked away, heading toward the river. The fish weren't nearly as plentiful as deeper in the forest near where he'd first arrived, and Edol had begun finding fishing to be relaxing. It certainly helped that he could sit still, resting his aching muscles while still appearing to be somewhat productive.
"Let's go have some fish, Ghost. A bit further away from town this time, let's get ourselves some lunch!"
After lifting the large bird, Edol strolled away, a bit more bounce in his step now that he'd decided to abandon the spear.
"B- but… your training…"
Left behind and forgotten, a few tears leaked from Sal's eyes.
"My student, abandoning me… Why? Why does everyone always leave?"
"Hey Sal, how's it going?"
A cheerful voice interrupted Sal's melancholy, and the woman looked up to see a dark-haired girl.
"Willow! Wha- sniff- what brings you here?"
"Were you just crying? Here, I have my handkerchief."
After wiping her face, Sal lowered her head and spoke softly.
"I- I wanted to teach Edol the spear, but he's just left me. It must be my fault. I must be a bad teacher. A bad teacher, friend, teammate…"
Sal looked up, and her gaze was met by Willow's… excited eyes?
"Edol can use a spear too? Awesome! I really want to fight him now! Which way did he go?"
Sal dully pointed towards the river, and a few more tears leaked out as she watched the girl run off.
"Abandoned by my friends, relic team, and now my student. Even Willow doesn't want to be around me. Why? All I've done is try to help…"
~
A smooth, clean river flowed past lazily, carving through a small clearing a small walk north of Hearth. Tiny pebbles lined most of the banks, always damp from the splashing water less than a meter away.
"Ah, now this is the life. No training, just relaxing and catching some lunch."
Edol had already been planning on snacking on some fish and packed some spices into his new satchel in the morning. Along with all the supplies he'd been given for his upcoming travels, Weiss had also given the brit permission to take spices from the public kitchen for any cooking he wanted to do. For fish, pepper and garlic was a great combo!
It didn't take more than a few minutes for Edol to pull in enough fish for the duo to munch on.
'It won't be comparable to what Weiss makes, but it's cooking time!'