Chương 43: Unarmed Combat

Everything seemed to fall into normalcy once night fell. Father returned within a couple of hours after scouting the area. He found no corpse flies or signs of a rift breaking nearby. Of course, he hadn't ventured deeper into the mountains, but from what he observed, there were only a few dead animals fed upon by the corpse flies and nothing else, but the number of them so low that it didn't look like the numbers of the corpse flies were any more than those Rosalyn dispatched. There was no sign of a swarm coming.

Those insatiable creatures would likely swarm the valley if there was a swarm. That would be a disaster no one wanted to see, as I had already witnessed how troublesome those blighted things could be. Although small, they were terribly swift, with the added advantage of flight. Six whole squadrons of sentries had been deployed for the night instead of the usual two stationed at the foot of the mountain, at their base. While the night guards had been doubled to march around the town as well.

All heralded by the Magistratus, who only stopped to check on his son before arranging everything with the local guild. As the sun peeked over the tallest peaks of the Candor Mountains, I woke up and went through my daily rituals as usual. Rosalyn didn't skip her practice either, even if she was on holiday, but when I asked her to teach me Lightning Shaping, she refused, saying I was too weak. After bickering with her for a while, I learned that Lightning Shaping was far more volatile than Fire or Wind.

Anything could go wrong when casting a lightning spell. It could easily harm the caster. She was adamant that I should only attempt the elementary form of Lightning casting once I advanced to Noble Class. As if that was going to happen anytime soon. At the rate I was going, it would probably take two whole years for me to advance.

"You'll get there," my aunt said.

"Common Class is the slowest... It used to take me more than a season to form an Aether root, but now I can do the same within a month." I'd heard the same from Mum. Supposedly, the more essence you had under your control, the easier it became to accumulate more. Essentially, an awakened pulled essence from the spirit realm, and the more Aether Root one had, the more one could pull to form another.

Finally moving on to my sword practice, I found Eran already in the courtyard, swinging his cane with single-minded focus. I joined him, practising alongside while Father meditated in the open. Half an hour later, Father stood up and cast his gaze towards us.

"I think it's about time I teach you two the fourth form." Both Eran and I froze mid-strike.

"Truly?" I asked. Father cringed.

"Before I do, though," he paused, resting his palm on the pommel of his sword, "I should at least teach you the basics of unarmed combat." I pulled a face. Really?

"What, you don't want to learn unarmed combat?" Father cocked an eyebrow.

"Then I'll just teach it to Eran. I bet he'd appreciate the extra points in Alacrity and Fortitude."

"Wait, I never said I didn't want to learn it." Father gave me a sceptical look, which I returned with my most earnest expression.

"On second thought, your basic sword forms are lacking compared to Eran's. Go practise some more." Then he literally pulled Eran aside and began teaching him. I could have whined right then and there, maybe even cried about it to Mum, but that would've been childish, so I simply watched with a scathing gaze. It looked like he was teaching Eran how to incorporate the sword forms into unarmed combat, which astounded me, thinking if that was even possible. As they started, Father's head turned towards me.

"Concentrate on your forms." I grumbled a bit before returning to my forms. As I went through the repetitive motions, Eran began throwing punches nearby. Between my practice, I caught glimpses of Eran, his whole body springing into the air with shattering kicks. Some of those kicks looked incredible, albeit exhausting too.

"You won't learn by watching," Father's voice cut through my distraction as he did his best to imitate Mum's admonishing glare. He was rather terrible at it. Perhaps he was trying to compensate for the years he hadn't been around, but I didn't complain.

"How would you incorporate the sword forms into punches and kicks," I asked, "when there are four limbs to use?" With a sword, all the moves came from the weapon, but with three other options, the learning curve should be much steeper. At least, that was how it seemed in theory.

"There are five," Father said.

"I'm sorry?" I blinked in confusion.

"There are five options," he repeated.

"You forgot the head." I looked at him as though he were insane. Should I tell Mum what you're teaching me here? If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

"Punching with one arm becomes predictable easily, and a punch doesn't have the reach of an elongated weapon. That's why the forms need to be adapted for both arms and legs... It's slightly easier than the fourth form, but even a little unarmed training can take you far.

"But once mastered, it's just as effective as the sword forms."

"Can I learn it too?" I asked. Completing the Way sounded challenging, but I couldn't miss the opportunity to earn myself more points in my physical attributes. As many as I could save to get them to 50 points would be worth it.

"You may." Father gestured for me to step forward.

"I've seen how good you are at reading between the lines. How about you learn through sparring?"

"Unarmed?" Both of us became uneasy. Poking someone with a wooden cane was one thing, but punching someone in the face? That was a whole lot different. But Father was having none of it, insisting that sparring taught more than practice alone ever could. So, Eran and I fought, and it was somewhat of a different experience from sword practice. Within seconds, it became apparent that both of us were inadequate at it.

Instead of throwing hard fists like devastating blows, our bodies moved as if we were still holding the duelling cane in our hands. [A new Way is accessible: Unarmed Combat I (1/100)] The spell's voice was encouraging, though the progress in it was a crawl. That reminded me of Demon Slaying. That didn't sound forboding at all. Sadly, I was probably not a good match for even the lowliest of those corpse flies, not that I wanted to go after them to solve the problem for the town.

Mum already made sure there'd be no talk of me fighting a demon anytime soon. The whole debacle with the corpse flies already unsettled her. She had been checking on me every once in a while, even when I was around the house. We both found our footing in unarmed combat after about an hour of slow practice, which was more like a rehearsal. Our practice was finally interrupted when a man in a Sentry uniform strode into our compound alongside an elder man in a black suit.

The three stars on the chest of the Sentry uniform indicated he was the captain of the sentries, whereas the other, wizened man had a sword strapped to his waist, looking more like decoration than a practical weapon. The snake insignia on his chest was evidence of his being part of the local guild, Serpent's Spite.

"Jinn," the Sentry captain said, "I have brought along Rowin Ackerman. I'm afraid you two haven't met. Rowin here is the guild master of the local branch and a Prestige Class." Father gave the wizened man a measured glance as they exchanged a nod of acknowledgement. Did they still think it was my father who dealt with those corpse flies? I mean, I'm quite sure he could deal with them, as I saw him dispatching those giant centipedes before.

"Rowin is here with me to discuss a little about the problem we have at hand." Father cocked an eyebrow and nodded.

"Well, let's come inside the house first." After inviting them in, he went with them, but not before giving us a look.

"No slacking while I'm off."

"You don't need to tell us that," I muttered under my breath as the three men disappeared through the doorway.

"Are they here to talk about the rift and corpse flies?" Eran asked, curiosity growing in his eyes.

"I guess," I said. Since the little trouble yesterday, the town had grown a little restless with the news of a problematic rift breaking. Even though none of the findings had shown any signs of it—other than the charred bodies of the corpse flies—common folk only needed to hear gossip to grow restless.

"Let's go hear what they are talking about," I said before quickly running to the open window of the study room where the people were sitting. I saw Mum serving tea while Rose stood on the side. Eran was too curious about the topic to continue his training alone and joined me in eavesdropping.

"The moment," began the man in the black suit, "I got the news and evidence of those corpse flies, I sent word to the main branch."

"With you being here, can I assume," Father said, "it didn't go as well as you hoped?"

"Well," Rowin Ackerman coughed, "the main branch has delegated a team to make their journey to Karmel as soon as we locate the rift. They've left the duty of locating the rift to the local branch." And I thought older men couldn't blush. Father nodded, as though finding nothing wrong with his explanation.

"The unfortunate issue is that we are merely a ragtag group of old adventurers and former soldiers here. You wouldn't find three good fighters among us—at least not active fighters." The old guild master took a sip of his drink.

"It doesn't help that the most promising candidates we take from town always decide to leave for the main branch in Klearon."

"That doesn't answer what you want from us."

"It's simple. I want to hire your expertise on this expedition I'm planning," Guild master Rowin said, looking at my father seriously.

"You will be paid for it, of course, and it would merely be a scouting mission to locate the rift. You won't have to fight on the front lines, which I heard you have good experience of." Father exchanged a look with Mum, an understanding passing between them. Both of them already noticed us, but other than shooting a disapproving glance, they said nothing. The guild man continued, "Captain Maxim will be with us, which gives us more freedom of combat.

Along with Delric, the combat instructor from the Institute, and my current disciple, who is a fine warrior, irrespective of her age." Yeah, that did sound like a ragtag group. If I was interpreting it right, they were taking one from the Sentry employed by the Empire, one from the Institution—which was run by the joint venture of the Empire, the United Guild Coalition, and even the Oracle Academy—and, of course, from the guild themselves, and finally looking for a local help in my father.

I felt like they only need one more from a religious order, and they would have a representative from all the significant organisations of the world.

"Last time we needed to hire outside help, we went to Dalin Stonecutter. That was years ago, and Dalin is a family man now. But we have all heard about your heroics and decided you might be better suited to helping us." His eyes found Mum, and he paused, considering something. Perhaps wanting to see some disagreement from her.

"I have no issue joining," Father said, giving a significant look at Mum.

"But..." Mum completed his sentence, "But you'll have to have a detailed discussion beforehand—about the pay and who would be in charge of things, that sort of thing. I can tell you have organised such expeditions before, but perhaps years ago, so we shouldn't have to tell you about everything necessary."

"Of course, of course." The local guild master practically melted into the couch, releasing a deep breath, his exhaustion and disturbance plain to see. With that agreement, he finally had a team that sported enough fighting capabilities to trudge through the mountains.

"Can I join too?" Rosalyn asked, popping up into the conversation. The guild master didn't know how to answer. Thankfully, Mother stepped in.

"Really? You've barely got a week of vacation, in which you have already wasted two days coming here, and now you want to spend two more days of it hiking in the mountains and fighting monsters?"

"If everything went according to the plan, there won't be much fighting," added the guildmaster.

"Hear him, there will be no fight, " Mum pointed to her little sister.

"Still want to join a bunch of middle-aged men in their unsanitary ways through the wilderness?"