“Things you read about? Things you listen to? Those don’t stay in the mind for long. Things that got literally beaten into you, on the other hand, will stay with you for much longer.” - Old soldier saying.

“All right, he’ll be fine, just won’t enjoy the headaches he’ll be having for the next couple of days at worst. You can take him away,” said Dacia after she inspected the unconscious trainee on the ground. The training mace Aurora used was more a shaped wooden cudgel than a real mace, but with blunt weapons, even their training versions could deliver lethal hits when one struck hard enough with them.

Aurora had controlled her strength well, though, and only struck the boy with enough force to knock him out cold but without leaving any lasting damage on his body.

“Next! Send someone over who can last a while if you got any, will ya?” Said Aurora from the clearing as she nonchalantly twirled her tonfa around. The way the petite girl confidently strutted around had somewhat intimidated some of the trainees, with more than a few throwing a glance at the still unconscious compatriot of theirs. That said, her next words definitely incensed some of them, hitting right where it hurt. “I don’t know who told you, but nobody likes a quick shot like that in bed. Can’t even last three seconds… for real?”

Wordlessly, one of the trainees, another young human boy, though notably lankier than the boy Aurora laid out cold in moments, stepped forward with his teeth gritted. He walked to the crate of practice weapons and picked out a long spear over two and a half meters long, standing directly across Aurora and giving her a challenging look.

She just smiled from across the clearing instead.

Once Dacia started the next fight, Aurora immediately dashed in. The advantage of having a longer weapon was an obvious one, and as someone who was both small in stature and using shorter weapons by choice – though she still favored her crossbow over engaging in melee – Aurora had naturally practiced to deal with that range disadvantage as well.

Her opponent reacted fast and jabbed at her with his practice spear, but she pushed the tip aside with ease, not even blinking in the face of the strike. Her advance naturally made her opponent nervous as he backpedaled and withdrew his spear for another stab, which she similarly pushed aside with her tonfa. By then she was in striking range and struck back.

Two quick raps with her mace on the back of the boy’s hands made him drop his spear in pain, causing Dacia to call the fight in Aurora’s favor once again.

The next trainee to step up was a human girl who picked up a pair of shortswords for her weapon. Probably affected from having seen how badly her fellow trainees failed to abuse Aurora’s overall lack of size and reach with a longer weapon, she opted for the opposite course instead. It did the girl little good as Aurora trounced her just as swiftly, ending the fight as she hit the girl hard in the solar plexus with the tip of her tonfa.

Neither of the next two opponents she got next managed to last for long against Aurora either, and in the end, the petite girl grumbled as she returned to where the rest of Erycea’s platoon watched the fighting.

Aurora left behind five unconscious or hurting trainees who had their ideas on what it took to join the company as an official member refreshed, as well as a gaggle of young rookies who nervously chattered to each other in the hopes of buoying up their spirits. After some discussion, a young therian boy with features resembling a tiger stepped forward to represent the trainees.

Gustav walked out from Erycea’s side to meet him, as the boy was one of the three earmarked for him to handle.

“Just you? Those two can join in as well. Would be a fairer fight then,” commented Gustav as he pointed at the two full-blooded dwarven youths amongst the trainees. The two young dwarves looked at each other for a moment before Dacia gave them a gesture to go ahead, at which point they walked forward and each picked out some training weapons.

“As mercenaries, we often can’t be picky. Sometimes you have to fight alongside others, sometimes you gotta fight more than one on your own,” added Gustav before they started the fight. He himself carted over a wooden shield the size of a door and a wooden “cudgel” almost as thick around as a grown man’s thigh in his hands. “Come at me, now. Don’t be shy.”

For what it was worth, the three trainees gave a valiant effort in fighting Gustav. The therian boy used a long halberd and attempted to strike from afar while the two dwarves opted for large shields and one-handed weapons to get in close. The three lacked the proper instinctual cooperation a trained unit had, though, as well as the experience Gustav already possessed.

He simply used his massive shield to screen himself from the therian and one of the dwarves before he casually swatted the other dwarf off, sending the youth flying a good distance before he landed on his back audibly. Such a strike might have heavily injured or killed a human, but Gustav was pretty sure that the dwarf would get away with some painful bruises at most.

Then he used his shield to push away the therian boy before he repeated the exercise on the other young dwarf. The second dwarf managed to catch the blow with his shield, but was sent flying off regardless. That was with Gustav already taking it easy on them, slowing his blows at the last moment so that the momentum pushed the young dwarves away rather than smash into them, and they realized as much as they signaled their acquiescence.

Once he noticed he was left on his own, the therian boy dropped his weapon and raised his hand in surrender. He failed to land even a single blow when there were three of them, so he knew all too well that on his own, he stood no real chance whatsoever to prevail against Gustav.

“Smart kid. You’ll go far in life,” praised Gustav with a nod to a therian boy.