The Southern Barracks Ch 4

Kaga was silently following the red locks. After a few minutes of walking the scenery started to change. Child laughter vanished and was replaced by painful whimpers. The smell of flowers no more pleased their nose, instead the stench of rot and piss was surrounding them.

The goal was finally seen. A big building made of stone that towered over the training grounds. Inside were grim faced men with bandages and poor armor sets. One of them was shouting commands. He was a tall bulky man with short silver hair and beard. His left eye was covered by a black eyepatch but the other sharply observed the training soldiers. Like a lone boulder in the snowy terrain stood Commander Patrick Kusneu. No one needed to ask who the leader of the place was one could tell by first glance.

"Good day Commander! May we use the training ground? Oh, but we don't have our own weapons with us so could you lend us some?"

Dime's voice was cheeky and her tone cocky. She didn't bow to the Commander just marched to the training grounds, with the half ram man following her.

"Who are you greenhorns? Disrespectful little brats should be disciplined not bothering soldiers in their training!"

His tone was firm, voice deep and intimidating like the rumble of a stormy sky. If Kaga haven't been in a knightage before he might have been scared shitless, but the masked woman seemed to have no problem with it.

"Is that a no?"

The stiff face of Patrick seemed to twitch at the corner of his lips.

"Get the fools some swords! Thank the Mana that you have found me in a good mood."

-If this is the good mood, what’s the bad? Stuck up old fag.

After so many years as a knight Kaga hated strict bosses with a burning passion. Berating younger folks or hybrids just because they were the cousin of some faraway noble's fifth bastard son. People with no talent or compassion just getting to position by being born to the right house.

He glanced at the trainees. Most became white as marble, but they brought them the equipment without fault. Two tattered swords, a set of bow and arrows and a dagger. It was laughable how used and old they were.

“Thanks a lot. Here, grab something Kaga. We don’t have much time.”

Dime’s energetic voice brought him back to reality. He nodded and grabbed the bigger sword. Rust was eating the stealth, but he could swing it around for two hours. His first movement aimed at the dummy and hit the heart with a stab. It was still confusing why they had to do this, but he didn’t complain.

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“Commander, who are those folks?”

“Luca, getting out of the infirmary already? Anyway, good timing. What do you think of them?”

“The masked woman clearly doesn’t know what she’s doing. Too many unnecessary movement and bad grip on the handle. The horned hybrid however looks like he’s holding back a lot. There is no pressure coming from the sword at all, like he’s swinging a paper.”

“Hmm… so that how it seems to you. But Luca the girl’s every hit landed on the same spot. Not just near it, it’s the same down to the manaparticle.”

Luca who was working with the commander since he enrolled stared at Dime with sharp eyes. The more he seen the more his mouth was in agape. Dime really looked amateur with her movements, but she still survived in this environment without the ability to control mana.

The Commander also seen Kaga who was clearly hiding his strength, but he have seen a lot of different folks who wanted to keep a low profile. However, it was the first time someone like the masked lady appeared. He also sensed something weird from her, like her energy was twisted in weird ways. As he was close to the sword master level himself sensing others became a second nature, but that girl remained a question mark. His train of thoughts were abruptly disturbed by the very subject of it.

“It was a great session, here are the weapons. See you soon!”

The pair left without further delay. Some soldiers looked at them with great interest.

“Concentrate on your own training! I don’t want to hear injured reports after catching an ordinary thief! Luca come with me.”

The soldier followed the Commander to his office. It was a shabby room with secondhand furniture. The door cracked as he opened it. Inside were mountains of documents and books that awaited them, but now wasn’t the right time. The walls were covered in medals and portraits of the previous Commander.

“Luca those two were an odd pair. My intuition tells me that they will come here often. Next time when they are leaving follow them discreetly. If you lose them then its fine, just don’t get discovered.”

“Aye Sir!”

“I feel the wind of change coming, maybe they will be its bringers.”

“Will things get better Sir?”

“I’m not sure…”

Kaga was walking beside Dime with his eyebrows knotted.

“Bad memories?”

“You could say that…how did you do it?”

“The dummy?”

“Yeah, I’ve never seen something like this. The first thing we learn is form, because good form will guide your blade, or so I thought. Yet here you are. Swinging everywhere but the right direction yet perfectly strickin the same spot.”

“If you have really good eyes you won’t just see the outcome, but the process itself. Your process is to do it from beginning to end, but for me the opposite is true. I see the outcome that I want so I can calculate what motions can and should my body do to get to that point. I don’t have any special skills I could teach to others. Just doing what I can with what I’ve got.”

“That is why you cover your face? So others can’t see your eyes?”

“………….You could say that.”

Her voice was low almost silent. As the wind blew the red locks the sharp face that usually curved to a smile was now seemingly lonely. Thoughts far away from the slums of Norning. Kaga didn’t ask more. She will tell him eventually when the time comes. He should be uncomfortable that the woman knew so much about him and he nearly nothing of her, but for some reason he seemed to be okay with it for now.