Chapter 212 - Spar with the One-Armed Unit

After they finished their meals the four units took their time to continue chatting while letting the food settle. Despite the pleasant conversation and the relaxed attitude there was a hidden undercurrent among the groups. They seemed to be ready for what was soon to come, an energy hidden in the beat of their hearts and the slight tensing of muscles. Nobody made any sudden moves but after a certain point Jien and his unit stood slowly, grabbing their empty dishes and making their way to the drop off.As if by prior agreement the others stood and followed along, depositing their dishes one by one before filing in after Jien to gather in front of the mess hall. Soon all forty had gathered and it was time to discuss the specifics of what was to come. Carmichael was the first to make a move, approaching Jien with a calm smile on his face, extending his remaining left arm. "I hope you will give us an interesting spar." Jien took his hand using his offhand as if it was natural and gave it a firm shake. "We will need to use your reserved spot since our unit only reserved for the morning."Suddenly a realization donned on the other three units. Jien's unit had always intended to spar with other units. They weren't quite sure how to feel about this. If they had not found Jien's unit of interest, would they be searching for other units to challenge? That thought was quickly snuffed out by another. They had been lucky that Jien and his unit were assigned to the training area they had been, otherwise they wouldn't have seen something so interesting and would have likely continued their drills, lagging behind this unique group of fighters.Carmichael and the other leaders were quick to confirm that they had reserved their training spots for the whole day with a notice that they would be leaving shortly for a meal. With that in mind Jien took the lead once again with Carmichael keeping pace to talk more with Jien, this time regarding what his goal was to be challenging others so soon after being assigned the members of his unit. The blonde, one-armed boy could tell that some of Jien's members had been together before, but he could also tell that there were others that weren't.Jien's response was simple. "What better way to learn to fight with each other than in real battle?" Of course, real battle was a relative term given that these spars were done using blunted training weapons and that they could not aim to kill. Despite this the pressure on them all was indeed real, and it would help them all in refining their teamwork. Jien saw the other boy's eyes light up with understanding. Indeed, what better way than to work out the kinks in a spar from the very beginning.Soon the four units arrived back at the training grounds. They didn't see a new unit having taken Jien's prior training location at the moment so they decided that they would use the entire space until someone did come to use it. The other two teams quickly moved to the seating around the arena area, sitting on the seats that were nothing more than large stone steps. A few of the merchants even started a small betting pool regarding the winner of the coming match. Rebecca of course wouldn't miss the opportunity and chose to head the operation.Due to the small group the possible profits were slim, but it was all for fun and games anyway. It turned out that the odds were truly stacked toward the victory of Jien's team but there were a few of the bandit group, including Bennet, that decided to go against the flow and bet on Carmichaels team. This decision was based both on potential profit, but also because Bennet himself couldn't bring himself to bet on Julie's victory after their spar. The humiliation was sitting in his gut like a boulder that he just couldn't get rid of.Soon the impromptu betting ring was closed and two units in question stood across from each other. The unit of one-armed soldiers all drew their blades, each a different style, length and shape. Each of their stances seemed to vary but they took a simple pyramid formation with Carmichael at the head, his single edged wakizashi held firmly in his hand. Meanwhile Jien and his unit decided to stay together for this first match in a singular unit.Alys and Barret staid to the far edge of the formation and to the front, only behind the Vanguard formed of Julie and Bernard. Jien took his place as controller in the center of the formation with Rosalind and Olivia acting as knights. Andrew stood behind Jien as the healer, an expected role, while Lesley and Robyn stood as the Rearguard. Jien looked up at the stands to Rebecca. "If you would do the honors."