“...and it’s been hard to keep up with how self-destructive he’s been lately. So, please teach Derb how to fight, every time I go with him It’s aggravating to see him be so bad with it.” “Hey, I thought I was doing pretty good you know!?” Derb had asked Tiffany to join him to meet the blacksmith, but what had ended up happening was her complaining about Derb. He was sure this was planned the moment he asked but it was too late to shoo her away. Derb only got more embarrassed when the blacksmith started talking. “Hah, if I knew the boy was so aggravating I’d have thrown him out a while ago! it’s a shame I’ve already promised to train him. You seem to have some zeal too lass, how about joining me and the boy for training? Learning the sword has never been negative for anyone.” Tiffany shook her head, she didn’t want to be anywhere near the battle if she could help it, she’d rather spend time learning how to avoid those situations. “Ay, guess a lady such as yourself wouldn’t care for the brutality of a close battle. Boy! Get your sword, you’ll be taking me on in battle.” Derb was ecstatic, he’d finally be able to properly learn how to use the- wait what? “Whoah Whoah, let’s calm down for a bit, what do you mean by that?” The blacksmith picked out what seemed like a shortsword in his hand, something Pre-training Derb would be hard-pressed to use. “What do you think I mean boy? Combat is the only way you’ll get anywhere. I won’t be training a coward, one needs to prepare for anything. let us leave to your training spot, it’s been a while since I’ve been outside.”

Derb, downtrodden, nodded to his new combat buddy. “I hope she wasn’t lying about your capabilities, this is gonna hurt otherwise.” Derb only felt worse after that, what terrible things would the man do to him if he couldn’t meet expectations? Soon after they returned the blacksmith wasted no time starting training. “Another thing, we’ll be fighting without magic, this is training, no need to use such crutches.” Derb paled even further, the whole reason he could handle the sword for so long was Connor’s magic, without the imp he’d be left half the man he usually was. “Uh, could I at least use my demon?” The man gave him a cold glare that made Derb feel like an ant. Never disobey Deitre, got it. “Stay close, lass. Trust me when I say we’ll be needing your assistance. Begin.” Derb was still panicking, but he steeled himself soon after. He ran forward with his sword still on his shoulder. Deitre went into a stance, holding the sword in front of him while his body seemed to shrink. Derb shoved his shoulder into the brunt of his sword and used the momentum to swing down, bringing it where the other’s sword was. All he hit was the ground, however. “What in god’s name are you doing swinging at my sword boy? This isn’t a play, aim at their vitals, strike to kill, you won’t usually get a second chance with that kind of sword.” Deitre was standing next to Derb, still holding the sword. “Pull back, then keep attacking. Stay as close to the ground as you can.”

Derb complied, spreading his legs in a half-crouch. He retreated a bit, pulling the sword from the ground. Pulling his sword near him he lunged where his teacher was, attempting to pierce him with the big weapon. All his teacher did was turn to his side, neatly dodging the sword as it once again pierced the ground. “A thrust? Are you serious? You’d have been dead twice by now, again. Swing at the sides, it’s a massive sword, you don’t have to worry about hitting vitals when they’re all smashed to bits.” Derb ran forward, bringing his sword to his side swinging it toward the left of Deitre, all he did was jump backwards. Derb didn’t let up, with his sword still rooted to the ground he ran to the left side of Deitre and spun, bringing the sword from the floor in a 360-degree arc right towards the back of Deitre. This one was noticeably faster, and Derb hoped it might connect this time. To his absolute horror it did, barely plinking off the shortsword Deitre carried.

“That one was barely acceptable. Remember to use your wrists, flexible means said, being too rigid will get you killed.” Derb was starting to suspect that anything he didn’t do would “get him killed'' If it wasn’t for how easy everything was taken by Deitre he would have scoffed. He backtracked, circling his opponent, looking for any way to make a proper attack. This made the blacksmith proud, though he’d never say so. By the way the boy acted he knew his old friend Gerald was spoiling Derb too much. If it wasn’t for the fact that Deitre also gave him an incredible gift he would have already called him out on it. “You’ve been bothering me for the past week and this is all you have to show? My sword isn’t even scratched.” Derb was dismayed… He probably wouldn’t be able to land a blow, but he’d at least garnish approval. He swung the sword from his left, a vain attempt as Deitre dodged. However, the combo didn’t stop there. Instead of the sword hitting the ground Derb kept swinging it in a spin, causing the sword to speed up and slam towards Deitre’s right side. All Derb got was a plink as it bounced off the sword but he didn’t stop there. As the sword bounced he used the repel to continue swinging the sword, turning his back to keep the momentum of swinging at the opponent in front of him. All the hits were registering, and at some point, Derb stopped spinning. Tired, he just focused on keeping his stance as his hands kept swinging with reckless but impressive force. Eventually, it all stopped when his sword was parried, throwing him off balance and slamming him into the ground.

What he did during the battle came to him like a sack of bricks. While gasping for precious breath Derb made a thumbs-up gesture, a signal he and Tiffany came up with for when she was supposed to heal him. Once she was done she was told by Deitre to leave. she had done enough for today, and he wasn’t going to make Derb do anything too bad anymore. “Boy, the way you use your sword is decent, but the way your going is a very risky endeavor. Do you understand why?” Derb shook his head, all he was doing was copying what Deitre did the first day they met. “Why is the way you fight risky?” With a sigh, Deitre looked at the sky, as if reminiscing something nostalgic. “Do you know what a berserker is? Ever read the tales?” Derb nodded. “Big and angry, really good at attacking, but they lack control.” That made Deitre chuckle. “Lack control? Quite the opposite, we have to train much more to keep our sword in check, what we lack is a way to defend ourselves with our style.” Derb understood now, that’s why he was told every missed swing would lead to his death. Because it would. “Is there a way to defend myself with the sword? I didn’t really know about the whole weakness thing until now...” Derb was conflicted, he felt like the style was nice to use, almost freeing really. “You can’t, we’d have to replace the sword for one lighter.” Derb hugged his sword protectively away from Deitre. “Wait, I barely got her! I’m fine with not having a good defense! All I have to do is hit them first or something, right? I could also just use some armor if things are serious.”

Deitre nodded. “I remember my first suit of armor, made to suck in fire like a sponge, next to impossible to properly take on. No one could take me in battle.” He sat down in the field and Derb did the same. “Do you even know the history behind the great war, boy? You don’t really seem properly educated.” Derb shook his head to the rather rude question. “I don’t know anything about it, did it involve the ‘Deformed’ you and teacher speak about sometimes?” Deitre nodded, his face taking a look of disgust. “Those bastards… we should have never let it spread this far. This was due to the negligence of humankind, always remember that.” With a look of remorse, he spat on the ground, leaving derb in confusion. “What exactly are the deformed? Are they a type of demon?” With a laugh, Deitre answered. “Rarely they’re demons, usually the disease affects humans due to our emotions. It’s sickening to see someone powerful fall into despair, only for their last moments to be ruined, only remembered as the deformed who terrorized the world. You wouldn’t want to meet a Deformed demon. Not only are they stronger, but they were usually turned from their hatred of humans, usually molding them into the perfect human killing machine.” Derb was starting to get the picture, whatever happens to become deformed must take an extreme amount of stress. He guessed it was a response from the body to answer the problem at hand. “What happened in the war? What caused so many to become deformed that you had to fight them with an army?”

For a second all Deitre did was look at the sky. “It wasn’t ‘what’ did it, but who. Someone managed to weaponize the infection. It was one of the worst disasters in the world, and it still affects it to this day.” Deitre stopped speaking, realizing what he was explaining. “Why do you know so little about the subject? We live in the middle of deformed territory, there’s no way you could make it here without meeting them. How did you arrive here without knowing even that?” Uh oh, that wasn’t good, he was lucky his teacher didn’t ask him about it but he wasn’t sure if the blacksmith would act the same. “I don’t think I’m at liberty to say. Honestly, even I don’t know how I got here.” Derb looked at the sky, wondering if he would just wake up from this like a dream. He wondered if the beating of his heart was fake, the mana in his core... “Don’t sweat it, boy. It isn’t like I don’t have my fair of secrets, much stranger than yours might I add.” Derb chuckled, even with how impressive his teacher and blacksmith’s past were, he doubted they’d beat him in terms of the strangest event. “I’ll check if that’s true someday, sooner or later.” They both got up, signaling the end of the conversation, as they were getting ready to head back towards the village Derb sighed, he still had to learn from his teacher before he could fall asleep.

As they split paths Derb called Connor from the skies. The imp dived down in a graceful fall, nearing itself to Derbs left. Despite all his new ways to defend himself, he still saw Connor as his main line of offense. “Hey buddy, you’ll never leave my side, right?” To his surprise, he saw the imp nod, but then brushed it off since it probably just took his statement as an order. “Aww, that’s actually kind of nice. You’re a good imp you know that?” It only expressionlessly started flying around him, probably how they defend their masters? He stopped thinking until he got home, only to see the surprise of a lifetime. “Ahh, boy, good to see your back, I was just preparing the items for our new lesson.” Lesson?! The old man had a stack of dead wolves in the house! “Please… I have no idea what’s going on, could you explain why you made the house smell like a wet dog?” With a grin, the teacher answered. “Why, we’re making you a mount, boy.”