Chapter 25: First Lesson

"S-So…"

I said as a strong breeze passed by, blowing my short hair. I turned my head around everywhere. After that short conversation with Cainne and started to have our training, he didn't seem to move out of his position and just gave me crossed arms.

"…where are the materials?"

"There are no materials." He said with a straight face.

"What?" I exclaimed. As far as I know, training should have materials and weapons to practice. I might not experienced be in a training ground before, but I'm sure that the knights have any equipment to train. Well, since he's an encantor, maybe they have a different method of training.

"In order to learn how to use magic, first, you must learn how to not use magic." He answered my question indirectly, which I didn't really appreciate.

"H-Huh?" I stuttered with a raised eyebrow.

"What I mean is…" He started to explain after he saw my face, cold sweat dripped from his head. "…you must learn how to fight, how to protect yourself without magic."

After hearing what he said, I couldn't help but be amazed at the encantors. They weren't actually using their magic all the time. Come to think of it, I never saw Cainne used his magic before, except the weapon that he used. I never thought that encantors would be this so hidden and secretive.

"There are three things you must learn." He added, pulling me out of my thoughts. I raised my head to look at him. "First, you must fight with instincts."

As he said those words, I felt a sudden pain on my shoulder, causing me to get pushed away. I reached for it and trying to remove the pain using my hands. Also at that moment, I saw Cainne stretched his arm, and his hand formed into a fist.

My eyes widened as I don't know if my assumptions are true or not. Did he just punch me? I've never even caught his hand going after my shoulders.

"If you don't know what you or your opponent will gonna do next, then the real battle is a game over for you." He said, claiming that he's the culprit behind that attack.

That's right. If I can't even see that blow of his earlier, then I should be dead soon when the real opponent does that to me. I have to expect fewer allies and more enemies in this world, or else, I could let my guard down.

He suddenly pushed me with his open palm, causing me to fall down on the green grass. He did it again this time, and that really made me irritated. I looked at him with slight anger. But he was training me, so it's nonsense if I'll get angry at him.

"Try to dodge my attacks, Meria." He said as he also gave me a death glare, inviting me into a battle that he had an advantage on while I don't have zero knowledge about it. I know a lot of things, but that doesn't mean I know everything, even the world of combat.

This continued for hours and hours. The sun reached the top of the sky, exposing more of its light and heat towards everything that it sees. Sweats poured all over my body, but thankfully, I changed my clothes into more comfortable in battle, which the tendrins gave me.

I wore a long-sleeved thin shirt with a new brown leather tunic over it. It was opened since my shirt got exposed, tied with loose threads. They replaced my long skirt into a shorter one above knees, with thin hazel leggings and a pair of long boots.

I tried to dodge his attacks every time but to no avail. I kept falling, feeling the pain, and he kept winning, pushing me down on the ground once more. I stood up every time I fail, but he keeps pulling me back.

After several fights, I heard him sighed in his position, in which I was alerted. So I immediately stood up from lying down and turned to look at what he was about to say.

"It seems like this won't go anywhere if we continue." He said, lowering his head, no hope for me and my skills.

"What?"

My hands crumpled until they became hard as turtles' shells. I gritted my teeth, hiding the frustration.

It's true. The fact that I couldn't be able to fight for myself hit me hard. I never wished to fight and protect myself like this. I just wanted to live normally with my brother and my friend, to become the teacher that I wanted to be.

Right now, I have a different life, and I couldn't be able to know how to approach it in the way that I can be used to it. Everything is hard. This life is hard. I don't know how to fight. I'm not a knight or an encantor.

But… if I just keep getting weak, couldn't be able to protect myself from threats, then I will easily vanish from this world.

"If this is too hard for you, then I won't train you how to fight, I'll just teach you how to–"

"N-No."

Before he could finish his sentence, I interrupted with a decline. He turned to look at me with a raised eyebrow.

"No, it's fine. I wanted to continue."

After staring at me, he finally gave me a sincere smile.

"Then, let's go!"

The training continued but I still couldn't be able to dodge his attacks well. Compared to my weak and slow body, he had incredible speed and agility that an ordinary human can't even see between the actions.

"If you want to sense your enemy, don't just rely on your sight." He advised me while trying to reach for a surprise attack towards me, which I didn't end up dodging. I dropped on the ground once again. "Use all of your senses."

I stood up from the ground, trying to calm down after all of the beatings. His attacks maybe not that fatal to me, but they still gave me never-ending pain, couldn't be able to focus on what's in front of me.

I closed my eyes. All my vision went black. The green grass and the bright noon was no more. All I can hear was the wind that kept my hair flowing, and the birds chirping in the trees.

Then, between those sounds, I heard footsteps. I heard quick footsteps that are getting louder every time, and I felt that it's getting near towards my direction. Then, the course of the wind in front of me changed. Unlike the wind from my back going to the north, this short current wind coming towards the east, which aimed for my whole body.

I decided to walked to the left, trying to avoid the strange current that I felt earlier. After that, the wind immediately changed direction from the east to the south, coming towards me once more. I dodged it again.

I decided to open my eyes, trying to see the whole environment, now that I could be able to sense his presence without using my sight. I saw him reaching for me with his fist, aiming for my right cheek. I quickly dodged it as I sensed the wind coming towards me.

This lasted for hours and I started to get used to his attacks. I dodged some of them by remembering what he said, but most of it just gave me immense pain all around my body. Learning combat skills really isn't easy.

We finally decided to take a break, and after hearing it, I couldn't help but to sat down on the ground, taking a bath in the cold breeze. I stared at the blue clear sky, didn't care about the heat hitting through my body.

My hour of relaxation was interrupted by footsteps hitting through the grass, getting closer in my direction. I turned around to see Cainne smiling at me, holding two wooden containers filled with clean water. He lent one of them to me, which I accepted without hesitation.

"I never thought that you can do combat," I said, as he sat down beside me, staring at the sky.

"Hmm…" His only reply as he closed his eyes. "…I can't defeat the Cerberus if I don't know how to fight, right?"

When I heard him say that, I flinched in my seat. I almost forgot that he was actually the one who stabbed through the Cerberus without it noticing him approaching. I feel so embarrassed about myself.

"Oh yeah… right…"

Because of me forgetting about it, he burst out laughing at his seat. I couldn't help but pout at him, getting a little annoyed by his laughter. After seeing my face, he decided to stop.

"Before I started traveling, I was once a knight at Lamician." He said. My eyes sparkled out of amusement. That's why his combat and swordsmanship are incredible despite how small his body is for a knight. "And I'm also one of the sergeants there."

"It's never a great occupation, but I learned some things." He added. "Until I left…"

"Why?" I asked, started to get curious about his identity.

"for… personal reasons." He answered, although that's not really the right one, and still decided to avoid my question earlier. I let it slide since it's not yet my place to convince him to say the truth. But if one day that I'll become desperate to know about it, then I hope he will let me know about it.

Come to think of it, Lamician is full of secretive people. They may be loyal and majestic, but they hold so many secrets, as I've read about them in a fiction story. They're known to hide many things from each other. Since he's an encantor, then that's no surprise.

"When the time comes that I can go to Lamician…" I changed the subject and gave him a wide smile. "…can you be my tour guide, then?"

"No problem…" He also smiled, but then immediately lowered his head."…when that time comes…"