“I don’t know you. Naturally, I don’t know anything about your life specifically,” I said in response to Bren’s father.

“That’s damn right!” he said. “Yet you come here and tell people that you could improve their lives!”

“Do I need to know your personal problems to be able to tell that beasts are an issue?” I asked him. “What about armed soldiers being ordered to hunt a little girl? Is special knowledge required to see that something is wrong about that?”

“The king’s family has led us well for generations! One wrong decision doesn’t invalidate that!”

“We do agree that it was a wrong decision then.”

“Don’t get smart with me, girly!!” he said and looked at me threateningly, but Bren stepped up to partially shield me from his father.

“This is enough, dad!”

“Boy, I swear—”

“It’s alright, Bren. Thank you,” I said and motioned for him to step back, before addressing his father again. “I meant no disrespect, I merely stated an observation. The former administration has made mistakes before, and I feel certain that we would agree on that. I also don’t judge them for many of the things they did to protect the town and its citizens under the circumstances. I know they did their best in many cases. However, that doesn’t mean there is no room for improvement.”

Initially, I had thought these two guards had stayed here to watch over the prison, but Bren’s father was clearly not here to help us, and with the way they had acted, he might’ve actually planned to free the prisoners. I would need to get him to accept me, because I really didn’t want to imprison innocent people this early, just to keep them from doing what they thought was right.

“And you think you can do better?” he asked with a derisive laugh. “I can’t wait to see your face when the beasts come knocking and you tremble in fear, waiting for the guards to save you! People will see who you truly are, missy! An opportunist who came here when the town was at its worst, trying to take advantage of the situation!”

Huh. He thinks I would hide from beasts? Doesn’t he believe in my abilities? I told Bren and the others to mention the encounter with the teddy bear, and I had also shown them what I could do to a tree. Maybe some people will need to see it for themselves.

Interestingly, he was spot on with his last statement. We were indeed taking advantage of this opportunity. Though whether that was bad was debatable in my eyes.

“That’s how you see it? Curious,” I said. “How about we make a deal then?”

Raising one eyebrow in suspicion, he briefly looked at his colleague and then back at me. “A deal?” he asked.

“You appear to be under the impression that I wouldn’t, or couldn’t, do anything for this town, and that I would cower before beasts. I think there’s a simple way to show you what I’m capable of. Let’s have a little sparring match.”

In the blink of an eye, his mood seemed to do a complete one eighty, from annoyance and anger to amusement. “Hahaha! You want to fight me? Spraying a little water on me won’t make me run away, little miss!”

I couldn’t imagine that he hadn’t heard about my abilities, but he clearly didn’t believe a word. Let’s see what he says after this.

“Hey, Lilly,” Tomar said to me in a quiet voice. “Is this a good idea? People are already staring.”

Prompted by his question, I took a look around and saw quite a few eyes on us. This was only natural when we were arguing like this in public, but I had been so focused on Bren’s father that the other people hadn’t really registered. However, this shouldn’t be an issue.

‘Who cares? Show him what we’re capable of!’

Chill, Lilana.

“It’s fine,” I said. “It’s going to be a practice match, and it will show him and others that we’re not to be underestimated.”

“Hm, alright.”

“Here’s the deal,” I said. “We’ll spar one-on-one, no deadly blows, and if I win, you give us half a year to show you what we can do for this town. No complaints, no tricks.”

“Half a year... Tsk, ridiculous. And ‘if’ you lose?”

“We could leave town, or we could let the king go and work under him. I’ll let you decide.”

“You are going to regret this,” he said with an evil smile.

“I doubt that...” Bren said in a quiet voice.

“Hey, if she’s actually able to—” the other guard started, but Bren’s father shut him up immediately with a brief glare.

“Make some space, will you?” I asked of the others, and they formed a bit of a rectangle, giving us room in the middle, while holding back the onlookers that were starting to gather.

“I haven’t asked your name yet,” I said to Bren’s father. “Would you mind telling me?”

“Grym Vance.”

Grym...? Well, that fits. Now I just have to explain what’s going on here to the people, so they don’t speculate and spread rumors that I attacked someone or something.

“People of Alarna!” I said, turning away from Grym and addressing the passersby around us. “Mr. Vance here is doubting my intentions, my ability to protect this town, and whether I can actually improve the lives of the citizens! And I believe he is right to do so! He clearly wants what’s best for the town, and doubting a new authority figure is natural! Proving myself will take time, but for now, I have proposed a sparring match, to alleviate his worries a little! After all, how would I protect anyone if I’m not able to defend myself?”

Many looked excited, and the crowd grew even more after my announcement. They had seen me use some of my abilities, but not in a combat scenario. If Grym didn’t believe his own son that I could do real damage, this might actually be a great opportunity. We had gotten to this point without any fighting, even though I had been prepared for it, but now people would get some more proof of what we could do after all.

I turned back towards Grym. We had a square of about twenty by twenty meters for our match, with Tomar, Bren, Brie, and the other guard positioned at the borders. The preparations were done. “Whenever you’re ready,” I said, prompting him to make the first move.

Grym spat on the floor, unsheathed his sword, and got into position. Bren had mumbled something that I wouldn’t regret this challenge, and I suspected that Brie and Tomar probably thought that I would win easily as well. Of course I wouldn’t have challenged him if I didn’t think the same thing. He looked old, he was just a rank and file guard, and I knew that I could hold my own against guards.

I prepared to activate a mana wave with a snap to defend against his assault, after which I would threaten him with a water script and end the fight. A simple but effective strategy. To my surprise, this sequence of events didn’t happen. Grym launched himself in my direction and I was momentarily surprised by his speed. He might not have been a category six, but I had barely enough time to react with a snap before he would’ve reached me. Instead of running into my mana wave, however, he jumped back the second he noticed that I was doing something. He wasn't able to see the mana, but the way he looked at the air around me, he had probably felt what I had tried, and he immediately realized that getting close to me would be dangerous.

Huh... He’s way better than expected, I thought. But it wouldn’t matter. He would need to get close, while I could easily attack at a range. And even if he evaded, he had to get close to me at some point. That would be the end of it. Or so I thought. Grym stared me down for all but two seconds before he grabbed his sword’s sheath and threw it at me, while I was still musing about which script I should use to attack him. Whoa, the hell!?

As I ducked to evade the sheath, I momentarily lost sight of my opponent, but I could practically feel him launch himself at me once more, while I was distracted. Shit! Are you stupid, Miles!? Why did you fall for that!?

I had sparred with Reurig to prepare for potential confrontations with guards and agents, but he had fought nothing like this. Maybe it was a difference in experience, or maybe Reurig had acted differently because he knew my tricks, but I quickly realized that I was out of my depth here. I had hopelessly overestimated my superiority. Worse yet, just winning wouldn’t be enough. We had an audience, and I had essentially wanted to make an example of him. My victory had to look good, or at least competent.

I knew he was gunning for me right now, I knew I didn’t have time to think, and yet I froze for a fraction of a second, while admonishing myself for this move and considering what to do now. At any other point, the very obvious answer would’ve come to me quickly. As long as I could snap before he reached me, we would be back on track and everything should work out. At that moment, however, the surprise had yet to wear off. I was worried the fight might be over, and all of our plans with it.

In that brief moment of desperation, I suddenly felt the mana in me rise up and erupt from my body in a wave. For a moment, I finally saw Grym, barely a meter away from me, before the wave hit him and threw him back a few meters. My mind finally kicked back into high gear. I got up from my crouching position and hurried over to where he had landed, while activating my water ball script. The second he recovered and tried to stand back up, I hit him straight in the face and he crashed back onto the ground.

I had seen guards take such a shot to the face and fall unconscious, I had seen them be disoriented for a moment, but Grym was the first who seemed completely unfazed by it, at least in regards to the physical effects. He looked up at me with wide eyes and an open mouth, as I stood above him, aiming at his head. “You lost,” I said.