The Training Ground

A full three days walk to reach the closed training ground. A trip enough to make Alice's feet sore again. She never walked such a long distance in her life. During her time with this man named Recared, she came to know a few things about him.

One, he had no interest in women, and neither he did in men, he only cared about cleaning his sword and training. 'He was definitely a single man.' she thought.

'Not my type,' she liked the loving and caring type of men. Not this man who starts yelling as she take more than a minute to take care of her business and constantly nags at her for spacing out and losing focus.

"Are you dozing off again? Be careful we're going down a hill." Recared told her as he leaped down a cliff from one rock to another.

'What is he? A mountain goat?' imaging his face like a goat with a white beard made her smile, him yelling would be funny with a goat face.

Alice took the rope she was keeping on her waist and threw it at a nearby tree. The rope twirled and twisted around a thick branch with a tight grip. Using that she swung down the cliff with ease and with a smile on her face.

"The air is nice!" She said, and thinking, 'thank god I don't need to take another step, my feet hurt!' She couldn't imagine jumping from a stone to the other as he did, her feet were almost sore enough to cripple her.

"Now your rope is stuck." Recared glared at her.

"No, you're too stubborn. Women hate untasteful men." With a single twist of her wrist, the rope flew back to her hand as if it was a live snake.

"You're quite skilled with that." Recared looked at her.

"I used to play with it for years since I was but a little girl, it just came in handy." She smiled. Even with how harsh he was, she didn't dislike him for a couple of reasons.

Recared kept covering her with his jacket from the night's cold and spent the night guard to protect her. She saw him by more diverse provisions at the village than what he had before which was him considering she might not withstand hard bread and water for days. Also even though he nags, he never tried to stop her from doing what she liked. He just made sure she knows and remember that those actions weren't befitting of a blood beast hunter.

"We reached it, this will be your home for the next year," Recared said a large fenced ground appeared in the distance. "The blood hunters training ground, make sure not to appear weak or you will get bullied." He was trying to advise her.

"Did you get bullied, would the mighty Recared cry?" she started laughing at him.

"Only five of a hundred graduate the one-year training, those who failed are unbefitting of the blood beasts' hunters' title. They lack both morals and strength." Recared stared at her.

"And you mean?" She stared at him.

"Just know that a woman might face a worse fate than being beaten for fun. Make sure you never show weakness. Be strong, hard, and unfazed and you will survive." Recared said with a serious face. "I will also ask the teacher to keep an eye on you in case something happens."

Alice finally understood the extent of his worries, this place she was going to isn't a place for the faint of hearts. The training ground of blood, sweat, and tears.

As they reached the training ground, a bunch of students rushed to greet Recared. It was rare for them to meet a hunter who was on the job.

"Sir Recared, I see you brought a new face?" A bearded man approached them causing the students to run away. They hated him, he was the harsh teacher that kept beating them up in training.

"Please train her well, she already had two beasts to her name," Recared said with a big smile.

"Is that so? She doesn't look that…Special!" The teacher immediately punched her in the face sending her body rolling away.

"I take it back, she has talent, and she can stay." The teacher said as he saw that Alice blocked his punch with her arms. If she took the punch to the face, she was far better being sent to a caring facility and then integrated back into normal society. But if she just reacted to his attack it meant that she was able to fight back.

"AGRAAA!" Alice growled, "You old fart!" She immediately stood up with her forearms blue and her nose bleeding, tears pooling in her eyes. Throwing the wood axe directly at the teacher, she wasn't going down.

Recared just stared at her, she wasn't supposed to fight back. That punch was a test of endurance and reaction.

"I see a fierce one, remind me of my youth." The teacher immediately caught the axe with his bare hand.

Just as he finished his sentence with a smile, he saw the rope's tip close to his face. SLAP! The tip slapped his face harder than any hand could.

A red mark of imprinted on his cheek and his nose started bleeding, she even woke the pain of his cracked tooth.

"Haha! Bluh!" She giggle a bit before vomiting, she reached her limit and passed out.

The teacher looked at her with confused eyes, "Was that just an adrenalin rush?" He wiped the blood from his nose, he was starting to like this girl already.

"She strangled a blood demon to death and fed his corpse to wild hogs, and then chased another to another town and engaged with him in combat. I managed to help in that fight."

Hearing Recared's words, the teacher's smile only got bigger, "She is already doing better than novice hunters, I see why brought her." The teacher then called a bunch of hunters to carry her to the nursing room. She was to be healed and sent to a private dorm room to rest until tomorrow.

"Recared, would you stay here?" The teacher asked with a sad smile, his bleeding nose didn't help.

"Sorry but I still have jobs to do, I need to go."

"I see, your talisman is extremely effective against blood beasts to not use. Just don't forget to give the supply stock a visit." The teacher smiled as he walked inside the training ground.

Recared headed toward the stock to resupply and repair his weapon.

…

Alice woke the next day alone in a room she doesn't know, what woke her wasn't Recared's screaming, it was the voice of a man shouting in the hallway. "You girl, wake up this isn't your home!"

"It's neither yours so leave me alone, I will be up soon!" She yelled back.

"Fine, the mock test is about to start so hurry!" The man then left, all he cared about is her waking up and getting ready as soon as she can.

After a while, she walked out toward the training ground feeling all the eyes on her. She was the only girl present, there were some female teachers but among students, she was the ugly bird.

The teacher from yesterday walked toward the student and divided them into two groups and made them face each other one on one. Alice watched the other students fight and gave them scores based on how hot they are. None got above 4/10 which was concerning.

Quickly, it became her turn. She walked to the stage with worried steps.