"Good work today!" Gobber patted my back roughly, "You're quite good, hahaha."
"Are mornings usually like this?" I asked, it was rather chaotic, although not disorganised, it was still messy.
"No, it's usually during dragon raids. The beasts are tough, so our equipment breaks more easily with them." He explained, "Well, you're free to go now, there shouldn't be many customers after today. Plus you have training at noon right? You'll need to get ready, Valkyr is quite rough with her teachings."
"Alright, I'll be back again tomorrow." I walked out.
"Alright, there'll be more to do tomorrow." Gobber warned.
Although I still had some time to spare before afternoon, the sun wasn't at its highest point yet. I decided to go take a look at the training arena anyway. I was curious at how the place looked and operated, I could probably come there to train with others if I had the time.
As I made my way there I noticed that Stoic was paying attention to the training just up at the viewing deck. Walking up towards him I saw that he was watching with a small old woman.
"Chief." I called him. "What are you doing here?"
"Ah, Mal, perfect timing." He happily greeted me. "This is Gothi, our village elder. Best you treat her kindly, she's fiercer than she looks."
"Greetings Elder." I greeted Gothi.
She nodded to me in response, and began to write something down on the ground. I realised the inner rim of the deck was composed of a sandbox like structure. It seemed it was for her to write on to.
"Unfortunately I can't read runic elder," I embarrassingly said.
"That's alright, I'll translate," Stoick chuckled. "She greets you well. She wants to know how you found Berk so far."
"It's not bad," I replied, "The people are good and hearty, it's more peaceful than life in the south, if you take away the dragons that is."
"She's happy that you like it here, and she welcomes you to the tribe," Stoick translated. "Oh, and if you need medical help, she'll be the one to help you. Just make sure you don't eat anything beforehand." He whispered to me. However, his words did not go unnoticed and was given a smack on his behind by the elderly lady. Seeing the large chief be berated is quite funny.
"Anyway, aside from that, I came to tell you that you don't have to do much training. During your oath taking you displayed quite some feats of strength and skill, and just today I heard from the others that you were more than capable of dispatching a dragon. Just don't crash into homes next time, yeah?" He winked.
"Haha," I let out a strained laugh. "It wasn't intentional."
"It's alright, I'm just surprised that you can fit so much power in that small frame of yours." Stoick gave me a pat on the back, "I didn't believe it, but with so many people vying for you I'll have to believe it." He took a look back into the arena, "Well, what do you think of the next generation kids?"
I looked over to one corner of the arena and saw that Valkyr was teaching a group of kids, they looked to be around 15 years old or so. However many of them were already around my height, which did little to make me feel better about my genetics. I took a look at the bunch and noticed a few stand outs. One of them had average features, he wasn't as tall as some of the other's or bigger. His fighting style was aggressive, which seems to make sense with the character he was showing. Another was a girl, who looked a lot younger than the rest. She moved with agility and her strikes were fast. The third one was a big kid, he was quite adept at using his weight towards attacking his opponents. Every swing he made could be felt and seen, the kid he was fighting looked like he was about to shit himself fighting. Lastly was an interesting one. The kid wasn't the fastest, but she had sharp eyes, every attack made towards her was dodge by just a little bit without error.
"Those four stand out to me." I mentioned. "That angry kid could be very adept with a sword and a buckler."
"That'd be MeadHead," Stoick introduced, "His family settled her not long ago either, he's short tempered but willing to prove his worth."
"That small girl, isn't she too young to be doing this?" I pointed at the other one.
"Her? That's Asdis, she belongs to House Hofferson. She's the only one around her age, the other's won't be trained until the next 5 years. Her parents figured she would be alright in participating, in fact her performance is quite good." He explained.
"She's fast, and very good with her body. A stabbing sword like a rapier would fit her quite well." I moved on to the giant, "That big kid, he's got a lot of strength in him. He would be suited with a heavier and sturdier weapon to use his full potential, that training sword looks like it won't hold for long before breaking."
"Haha, right, that boy has broken more weapons than I could count. He's just the warrior we need, Munnr of House Thorston, he's an outlier in the clan, he follows orders and is focused." Stoick proudly looked at him, "If I had a son like him, I would be relieved to pass down the title of chief."
"Lastly, that kid over there should be using a bow. She's got good eyes and judgement, it's a waste to have her use a sword for the rest of her life. How about training her in that instead, and training her in dagger use on the side?" I proposed.
"Hmm, we are adept in using bows, but no one is a master at these arts." Stoick sadly said, "It sad to think that she won't be able to reach her potential."
"If you want I can help Valkyr teach the kids, I'm pretty good at several practices." I mentioned it to him, which made him quite happy.
"It hasn't been long yet you're already helping the village out, it seems that your family has raised you properly. May the gods treat them well in Valhalla." He clapped his hands, "If you don't mind, you can help her between shifts at Gobber's."
"I might as well, I have to keep myself occupied somehow." I accepted.
"Perfect," Stoick gave me a bump to the chest, "I owe you for this. Looks like they're finished now, you can talk about it with Valkyr as well as the training." He said as he left with Gothi, who waved goodbye to me as well.
Walking down into the arena, the kids passed by me quickly as they ran out to play. Valkyr saw me entering and waved me to come to her.
"Aren't you hot wearing that helmet all the time?" I asked.
"No, Gobber made it so that the air can get in easily, as if the helmet wasn't on at all. Are you ready for training?" She asked.
"Haha pretty ready, by the way what are the requirements of passing your training?" I inquired.
"Well, you have to beat me for one," She said. "Why do you ask?"
"I'll tell you later." I shrugged, "How should we start?"
"I have to see where you are at first, then we'll go from there. Grab a weapon from the weapons rack, and we'll start the sparring." She pointed towards the rack and walked into a more open space.
I grabbed a regular longsword and walked towards her, we stood roughly 5 steps apart. She also used a longsword for this spar, since we're sparring I decided to take this a little lightly. I'll use her to test the level of skill most the vikings have, since she is one of their best.
The two of us stood quietly for a small moment before I began the first move. I began to circle on her opposite side to find an opening, she met by action by defending against my advances. Lunging at her quickly I threw a feint then pulled back to see her reaction, surprisingly she took a big step forward to try and take my attack. Seeing that I threw a feint she slashed towards my middle to which I gave a direct block to. As her attack hit she took a quick step back holding her sword on guard at her front.
"Not bad, you're as good as you said." She approved, "Those stories weren't all tall tales after all."
"Ah, I should really not drink." I awkwardly said, "I really don't know how I acted."
This time she made the first move, this time attacking my right shoulder. She also took a big step forward, as I deflected it to the side I was met with her shoulder plates crashing into me. I took the hit and directly grabbed her hand that had the sword. I realigned my weapon and attempted to strike her helmet with the pommel. However I felt myself caught off balance as she placed her foot between mine and pushed me completely off my feet.
"Shit," I muttered loudly, not expecting her to wrestle me. Still holding her hand I intended to drag her down with me, unfortunately due to her height and strength I only held myself up. I shifted my feet to gain some leverage and thrusted the sword tip towards her. However she merely twirled, in less than a second I found myself on the ground with my left hand being held towards my back and being held down by her.
"You're taking this too lightly, you aren't using your strength at all." She figured, "If you want to protect us you have to take this seriously."
"Alright, alright," I sighed, it seemed that I had underestimated her too much. "I'll play seriously this time."
"Good," She relented, allowing me to stand up. "Let's give it a go again."
"Oh, you're not getting me this time." I smiled.