Before I could mutter a word the twins both dash forward to attack me. No choice here huh? I quickly draw both my swords and prepare for a fight. Tch… I don’t have enough time to grab my gauntlets and greaves… thankfully I wore my bracers and shin guards under my clothes just in case.

The first twin swings his spear at my legs as the other swings at my shoulders at the same time. In order to avoid their attack I hop into the first twins swing and slash at it with my right arm and knock the other twins spear higher with my left sword. Before I hit the ground I continue to spin and dig my short sword into the ground and adjust my body using it as a base to kick off knocking the first twin back a few steps.

As soon as I retrieved my short sword, the second twin took another swing at me. Barely having enough time I duck underneath it and run towards him as fast as I could. He had however anticipated this and stuck the spear behind him to propel himself upward with a high aiming front kick knocking my sword into the air behind me. Before I could regain my balance he had already followed up with a back kick knocking me into the air.

As if he knew I was going to end up there, the first twin had came back and swung his spear at me full force. With only my short sword to defend I was sent flying into the bushes nearby. Tch… my hands numb now… do they have some kind of twin telepathy or something!?

“What the hell is your problem this time!? Your answers better be good!”

I swear if they don’t have a good reason I’m beating their faces in for that.

(First Twin) “You lied to us! You claimed to not be in a relationship with our sister, yet Gavin and I could tell. The look on her face when she talked about you, what kind of sorcery did you use on our sister!”

This Sis Con! It’s not like we can just tie up our sisters and keep them away from boys their entire life! I know! I’ve tried! And who are you calling a Liar? Was what I was going to say but Gavin didn’t let me utter a word.

(Gavin) “You are a disgrace of a man! A young girl had just came by and told us that you had harassed her at the bakery and even stole her pie! She asked us to bring you to justice!”

WHAT!?! I harassed HER? She’s the one that punched me and stole MY pies! Just you wait little girl, I’ll get even with you! By the look of those two there’s no use talking to them. I guess there’s only one way to get through their thick skulls… Beating into them.

“Liar? I didn’t lie to you two, nor did I harass this girl. You brats seem to be too full of yourselves. Let me guess… you guys must be pretty good at sparring. But here’s the thing boy’s… there’s a difference between a match… and a fight. The battlefield isn’t so nice a place, the world’s vast ya know. I’ll properly… thoroughly... burn that into your thick skulls in place of Harvey.”

As I speak I take my remaining equipment from my bag to switch them out. After putting the hood and mouth cover up, I put on my gauntlets and greaves. Hmm… good, I can feel my hand again… well then shall we?

“Best you two stay on your toes… this will hurt you more than it will hurt me.”

Breaking out into a sprint I run towards the first twin Aiden, he again sweeps his spear towards my legs. This time I throw off my cloak into his face and pull out my chain and tie it around his spear and his leg. As he tries to throw aside my cloak I then strike his elbow as I roll over his attack breaking it.

Gavin by then had finally got close enough and I conjure up a large ball of water and hit him in the face with it disorienting him for a moment giving me enough time to tie the rest of the chain around Aiden’s neck and unbroken arm. Once I finish tying him up I tighten the rope and he hits the ground… face first… because I kinda… slammed it into the ground.

With Aiden out of commision I wait a moment for Gavin to regain his vision. Once we had eye contact I looked him straight in the eyes and tossed my sword into the ground.

“Next lesson for you, there are people out there who unarmed are more deadly than an armed man. Remember this one… not like I’ll give you a choice.”

Gavin breaks eye contact for a moment and sees his brother tied up on the ground unconscious. Enraged he thrusts his spear directly for my heart, too straight forward of an attack… ever heard of a feint? I quickly side step away from the spear’s tip and hit it with the back of my hand. Closing in afterwards Gavin tries to kick me upwards again, don’t these guys have any other tricks up their sleeves?

As his leg comes up I lift my right leg and stomp down at his raising foot interrupting his kick. Following up with a punch to his stomach, Gavin arches forward from the force of my punch. I lift my other arm towards his head and grab his head bringing it down to meet my knee breaking his nose in the process. As his body arched back from my knee, I stomp my foot into the ground to adjust my balance. I then grab onto his shirt and pull him back towards me as I twist my body, throwing him aside.

Well then, I guess I should call Erin to fix these two up and straighten them out. It’s been a while since I actually fought with the intention of hurting someone. It’s either been don’t hurt or kill lately! Hopefully this comes out to be a good experience for both of them. Following the rules of combat is good and honorable… but when someone’s out to kill you… All those code’s of conduct,

Erin was extremely upset with her brothers and she didn’t heal them all the way, just enough to stop the bleeding and any wounds that might cause permanent damage. Their attitudes towards me however took full 180 turn...again. I was trying to enjoy my baguettes when they came in bowing their head and apologizing for their disrespect and they were sincerely sorry for the misunderstanding.

That’s strange… I didn’t know bowing like that was a… thing here? For the most case, everything I’ve seen was more European… But then again I don’t really know that much about them anyways!

We ended up talking about our last fight since they seemed to have questions about it. Right now the only way I can tell the difference between the two is the fact that the first twin Gavin has his armed wrapped up… because I broke it… and the other twin Aiden has bandages all over his face.

(Gavin) “Master Kuro after much thought I could not understand why you would abandon your cloak in the middle of battle like that. Especially after you had told us that it was made from a Wyvern’s hide? Why throw away such an item?”

Ha..? He doesn’t understand something like that?

“Alright Gavin, I need you to think about not why I did it, but what happened BECAUSE I did that.”

If I feed them the answer they’ll never learn so I return his question with another.

(Gavin) “I could only see the cloak Master… it distracted me for a moment because I was wondering why you would abandon it…”

(Aiden) “So you couldn’t see him wrap that chain around your spear and legs I think. Am I correct Master?”

Why are they calling me master suddenly? It’s not like I’m going to teach them anything, I can use a polearm just not proficiently enough to change my current fighting style.

“That’s right Aiden, it was to distract Gavin and blind him while I restrained him. That consequently is why I broke your arm, to further dull your judgement and slow your reaction time.”

There aren't many people who can go through the pain of their arms breaking and still think clearly. Aiden’s face suddenly brightens up and I could imagine a light bulb appear over his head.

(Aiden) “So that is why Master threw water at my face! Also Master, I was wondering where did you hide all of that? I did not see any form of container on your person or anything that could hold that amount of water.”

I snicker and conjure up two balls of water in front of them.

“Magic Aiden, I never said I couldn’t use it, I just made so the thought would never cross your mind. Manipulating your opponents thoughts can give you an edge in battle, havn’t they taught you about feints? When people react to things outside of their expectations their judgement is slowed, sometimes completely unable to react to it. You take any opening the opponent gives you, but instead of waiting for them to present it, you need to actively make openings for you to exploit. Remember I told you guys there is a vast difference between a formal match where there are rules and a fight.”

They both seem to be lost in thought for a moment but seem to understand, we ended up talking for a while longer until my stomach started to growl and decided to get some lunch. They apparently haven’t been to the bakery near their house before even though it’s really good. As we walk I get the feeling… I’m forgetting something still…