36 Teaching A Savage (02)

"Focus on getting combat down first, you impetuous brat." Nimral's intoxicated babble was crystal clear for the world to see. His words were blurring together, slipping and intertwining in a slurred sound that vaguely resembled a full sentence. How he was reduced to such a sad state by one handful of the herbal spirit was a mystery to all but the brewer. Chiyo was surprised that the old nimm could even talk, saying something useful being a blaring contradiction to his current condition.

Perhaps it would have just been more useful to bring up the topic last night? All she would've had to do was make him drink a cup or two of her freshly brewed liquor, and voila! Instant confirmation. Oh well. The time had passed, and she was going to get what she desired anyways. She mentally noted that the next time she needed to convince her new chief of something, she would just hand him a cup and await success.

Steering her mind to another matter, she took Nimral's words into consideration. She had noticed that Alban's movements were wild yet coordinated, maybe not the clearest indicator of lacking prowess but evident to the experienced eye. This wasn't a bad thing, it's what made his form of fighting unique. The real problem laid in the fact Alban had no actual form to speak of. There was no real technique, and his foundations seemed to be shaky at best. His combat ability purely consisted of his abnormal body and considerable strength. Some style would bring his movements to the next level. She now knew how she could repay the boy that liberated both her people and herself.

"Okay, how about I teach you how to fight? You seem to be the type that likes to battle, as evidenced by the smile on your face that day. I could teach you to be a lot more effective at it if you let me~" She cooed, her tone emphasizing her allure in, her cherry lips being the sole lineament Chiyo was proud of. She may not have had eyes, but she was charming in her own unique way. The lack of eyes erased any semblance contradiction, her smile being one of the only things you could focus on when staring at her face. Her mien was honest, and her intent was too. Alban took it all iin, before agreeing and getting ready to voice his consent. Before the words could escape his mouth, the stupefied old man laying on the ground voiced his discontent.

"Ahm alreay trainin 'im, you shud jus gooo back. I gots em handled." Everyone present couldn't no longer decipher Nimral's sentences, the pronunciations degrading further into an erroneous and intelligible prattle. The single handful had pushed him halfway into senility, if he was a mysterious old man with bad habits before, he was now more like a mysterious bad habit that took the shape of an old man. All present promptly ignored him, though Chiyo realized that training Alban with that old man pestering her would be a bit of a problem. she offered a hasty compromise.

"How about you do...whatever you do with him, while I teach him after?" Her prompt was quickly met with a snore. Her attention shifted from the poor excuse of a chief to the handsome boy she still didn't know the name of. She was still waiting for her answer, her audience had just became the main focus instead of the oaf lying face down on the stage.

"The old man can't interrupt me now, heh. I'd like to be taught, I've got some serious problems that I'd like answered right now. Can I get your guidance, Master Chiyo?" The boy radiated gratitude. He was at his wits' end dealing with the annoying asshole that went by the name of Nimral. He appreciated the old man, too, but come on. The guy just threw him under the bus not even thirty minutes ago!

"Master, huh? You've got some manners for a savage that gets their kicks from killing monsters so hard they revive by a therapist. Ask away~" Her smile was a bit captivating, representing a fatal temptation in Alban's unwavering eyes. It wasn't the temptation of anything relating to the flesh, as what anyone else may have been led to believe. It was the whispers of forbidden knowledge, the monoya woman before him becoming the snake to his Eden, the apple to his Adam. The best part? He didn't even have to go to that death trap-- I mean, high school looking building. It felt like he was ordering a doctorate online and getting away scot free after pretending to be a top professional in his field! How sinful.

"Your wind magic, can I learn it?" That was the pressing question that dwelled in his mind, this was the apex of the knowledge he wanted to receive. It may have been childish, but he was mesmerized by the little air push Chiyo had exhibited to prevent his burgeoning alcohol spree. It was only stopped because of Alban's attention being drawn to the cool wind powers, but he was pretty grateful that she had stopped him anyways. He didn't want to end up like that snoring blathering idiot after all.

"Sure, you can learn this and much more. I bet that muscle-head told you that killing moves were stupid, and they are. That's why I'll teach you the closest thing to it, ALONG with lectures on other elements. Sounds like a sweet deal, right?" Chiyo raised both hands into her mouth and softly giggled. She swore she could see stars in the boy's eyes. Honestly, she might've taught him just to witness that sight, she was pretty enthused to meet someone like her. One that had both a propensity for brawls and using their brain. You'd be surprised how rare that was out in the sticks.

His lips firm, his eyes shining with curiosity and the wild aura that was slowly entwining itself into his whole being were showing all how much a hunter valued techniques, even subconsciously. Alban sat down on his knees in a seiza, before bowing his head on the terra firma that his other "master" was splayed upon. "Student Alban greets the Master!" The voice oozed with thankfulness, Alban taking the hand the lovely woman had extended to him. He would escape from training with that gorilla all day (he could definitely take it for an hour so), AND get smarter in the process. Talk about a win. After all, getting your shit kicked in for a whole day didn't seem to be a very clever way to be imparted knowledge. He wasn't even nearly as bad as Nimral when he was training up the imps!

Chiyo found Alban cute, patting the boy on this shoulder and gesturing that she'd meet him tomorrow. She achieved this by pointing on the ground to which both Alban and Nimra saw the words 'Meet you whenever you're ready' expertly carved into the ground. It was almost as if the letters were there since the start of time, the crevices and details looked so natural. Alban looked down at Nimral and realized that he probably had lots of spare time for today.