Another couple of years passed and we had turned 12. Catherine and I managed to survive together up until here after lots of efforts. We took on variety of tasks from the guild in order to live a proper life. Soon, we even became an official member and made a lot of acquaintances.
"Oh, you kids are here again!" Jack, a muscular dark-haired swordsman waved to us.
"Do you want to join our group for this task?" Mary, a skilled red-headed archer with long, curly hair handed a paper.
"Catherine! Let's have a round!" Sophia, a feisty but humorous fighter wrapped an arm around Catherine's neck. She's always up for any good fights.
A pair of eyes were observing us from the corner of the guild. Andrew, a slim and quiet assassin who had only took on individual tasks. He's the youngest of the four and the closest in age with us two.
They were the few people we got close to in this guild. Andrew is a bit of a special case, though. He barely speaks but sometimes treated us with drinks and snacks.
"Jack! Teach us how to use a sword!" Catherine demanded out loud as she struggled in Sophia's arm.
"Hm? You want to learn swordsmanship?" Jack asked before chugging a glass of beer.
"Yes, please!"
"Aww, but you're already good at hand-in-hand combat. Just wrestle with me, Catherine. I'll teach you more tricks!" Sophia ruffled Catherine's hair.
"How about a bow? Long distance attacks are great too!" Mary joined in.
"No. Swords, please," Catherine said, looking at Jack with anticipation.
There's a reason as to why she wanted to learn swordsmanship. She's been going on it for days already.
***
"Lucius, the Leonhart march will be recruiting squires soon! Let's be a knight!" Catherine said, barging into the room we had just afford to rent the previous month.
"Hm? Suddenly?" Surprised, I looked up from the book I was reading.
"They pay well! We will also be given dorms and free food!" Catherine said excitedly while perching on the arm of my chair.
"We don't even know how to wield swords?"
"Then, let's learn it!"
That was why we're in this situation. Catherine had managed to free herself from Sophia's clutch and is currently staring intently at Jack. Jack shifted in his seat uncomfortably from the pressure of her gaze.
"….please teach us, sir," I also asked for his help.
"Ha…you kids won't yield either way, would you?" Jack said, sounding troubled. His free hand scratched the back of his head.
"Come on, Jack! You're taking a break now, aren't you?" Catherine said while clinging onto his arm.
After a lot of 'please's from Catherine, Jack reluctantly gave in. "Fine, fine…I'll teach you," he sighed. "Just so you know, I won't go easy just because you're kids," Jack said, wagging his index finger at our faces.
"Alright! You're the best, Jack!" Catherine jumped.
With a smug smile, Jack replied, "Call me teacher."
Catherine and I looked at each other, her eyes were filled with a new kind of light this time. With a nod, we exclaimed at the same time, "Yes, teacher!"
"There he goes again," Mary let out a small sigh.
From then on, our training routine began. Running laps, swinging sword in the basic position for a hundred times and receiving blows of Jack's sword. The day began as early as dawn and ended only at dusk. We had two breaks which are for breakfast and lunch. The lunch break is longer to avoid the scorching sun. That was the only mercy Jack had given us. Calluses started to form on our hands after a month and a half of training.
"I want to learn skills! Teach us skills, teacher!" Catherine flailed.
"You need to strengthen your core first. Get used to holding the sword," Jack replied sternly.
"I'm used to holding it! I even brought it to sleep!" she complained.
It's true, she really did brought it to sleep.
"There's only a couple of months left before the recruitment. Can you please teach us some skills that could be of help in spars, teacher?" I asked him.
"Hm…" Jack thought for a bit. His hand began stroking his neat beard while his eyes wandered onto our faces. One time at the ground, where Catherine was and another fell on me.
Giving it a serious consideration, Jack crossed his arms before finally agreeing. "You kids did learn very fast," he said. "Maybe it was because of your adaptability? Then, I'll teach you some skills starting tomorrow."
"Thank you, teacher!" I bowed.
"…you didn't even consider it when I asked." Catherine pouted, still spread on the ground. Some dry dirt had got caught in her hair.
"Haha, don't take it to heart." Jack squatted down and ruffled her hair, making it clean again."Well, I'll see you two tomorrow. Rest up for today."
After giving Lucius a light pat on the head, Jack stood up and entered the guild. Catherine also had pushed herself up and we made our way back home.
***
Catherine and I learned and trained without fail everyday. We sometimes sparred with each other, counting our respective accumulation of wins. She's currently leading by one. Jack's teaching was strict but easy to follow, as if he was used to training people.
"Alright, I'll give the short explanation for the basic skills. Keep it in mind as I'm not repeating myself, " he said during our first skill training session. "First, slashing. It can be vertical or horizontal. Any angle, actually. It's the basic offensive move. Naturally, you'll need to learn how to dodge it. Create a distance if you're planning to be on the defensive."
"Blocking is also a choice," I added.
"Right," Jack nodded. "Only if you are strong enough. Had the opponent be bigger and stronger, you'll be pushed back eventually or worse, pinned. Never let yourself got pinned down, alright?"
"I don't think that'll be a problem since we had been blocking your blows," Catherine said, yawning from the theoretical class.
"Of course, but there's another continuation step for it."
"And that is?"
"Parring," Jack said. "You could try parring to be on the offensive. Alter their trajectory and look for an opening. And that's when you—"
"Stab!" Catherine interrupted.
"Yes. Thrust your sword at them. Had you aimed for a vital organ, you'll win."
"Nice ~"
"But it's only a spar for the competition," I said. "The sword stops right before it touched the opponent."
"Yeah, yeah. Sure."
"Ahem, and that move is called riposte. You can also win by sweeping the opponent's sword and disarming them."
"Boring," Catherine said.
"I'm aiming to do so," I said.
Those are the few basic skills we learnt throughout the couple of months. We trained, then sparred together. Repeat.
"Alright, now both of you try to land a hit on me." Jack raised his wooden sword
Catherine and I looked at each other and nodded. Jack stood a few feet from us, his smug smile was the same as always.
"Don't regret it, teacher!" Catherine got into position.
"We're ready," I said, also raising my sword.
At the count of three, we lunged towards him at the same time. Catherine and I split right in the middle before raining our attacks on the middle-aged man. Catherine took the left while I'm taking his right. Catherine skidded to a brake, gaining her momentum before jumping up. Her sword slashed vertically over his head.
"Too obvious!" Jack blocked the attack and pushed against Catherine's momentum. It wasn't hard to do so as Catherine was a lot smaller in size. She got thrown backwards and hastily landed on the ground. She got her footing stable.
My sword flew towards his side, only to get parried away. The tip of the sword almost grazed him but he was quick on the defensive. Wasting no time, Jack kicked me on the stomach, causing me to skid back from the force.
"Teach, you were a knight, weren't you?" Catherine grinned while attempting another slash. It was a direct attack, as if she's not even planning to actually land a blow.
"I told you, I was a woodcutter," Jack said, easily parring away her sword.
While his focus was away, I took the chance to sneak behind him and kicked his knee fold. The hit caused him to lose his balance and stagger back. That was when I noticed his smug smile.
*He purposely gave me the chance,* I thought.
"You're a bad liar!" Catherine slashed her wooden sword against Jack's right shoulder.
"Ho, you kids are not so bad at all!" Jack said in amusement while steadying himself.
Once he straightened up, Jack almost immediately swept away Catherine's sword, flinging it into the air. His sword then thrust towards mine, leaving me unarmed and still in awe.
"However, you two are still way too young to beat me!" Jack laughed heartily.
Catherine was already making faces. I am not too satisfied, either.
Seeing our expressions, Jack patted both of our heads with a large smile on his face. "…but I'm sure that both of you will pass for the recruitment. Don't worry too much and do your best!"