11 Chapter 11- How to use a Sword

Seeing four people coming out of hiding Oliver also took out his sword and stood in a stance pointing the sword towards them.

It was then that he saw what the four shadows looked like. They were a group of young adults at the age of around 20, with dirty and torn-up clothes. They themselves looked as if they haven't taken a bath for more than a month with their crooked teeth and skinny arms and legs.

Except for the guy standing in the centre with a bit of meat on his bones rest looked like they were suffering from malnutrition. The guy in the centre was obviously the leader of this rag-tag group of local thugs as he was the only one who even had a sword in hand as much cracked it looked. The rest of them just had either half-broken swords or small daggers.

After finally getting a good look at them did harry scoff and said, " And here I thought we had gotten into trouble with some big shots, who would have thought it was just a couple of brats who have bit more than they can chew? Anyways I don't wanna waste my time with you guys. Just turn away and fuck off and I will leave it as some childrens' farts."

"Hehehe old man you think we are brats huh, well no worries we will let you see who is the kid when we play with that lovely piece of meat over there. I am sure it will be a good lesson for you."

"Common boys let's cripple this old man's legs and let him see how these bunch of children play with his wife, hehehe." The boss ran towards Harry with the other three right behind his back.

Listening to this Harry also got angry and took out his sword and took a couple of steps forward. But then he stopped and took a stance showing that he hasn't fallen for their provocations. He then waited for his enemies to reach him showing his experience in a sword.

The boss was the first one to clash his sword with Harry while 2 of the underling closed from the two other sides, closing Harry in a small space. Harry just smiled and parried the boss's sword. As soon as he flicked his sword boss stumbled backwards, in the meanwhile, Harry blocked the other two swords at the same time.

"Huh, you guys are better than expected, being able to attack together. Streets must have taught you that. But you guys are still brats wet behind their ears." as soon as he said that, he flicked the underlings' swords leading to shouldering the one on his right and kicking the one on his lift straight into his chest.

At the end of this short exchange, all the three thugs were stunned but the boss quickly recollected himself and said, "Jerry finish off the kid and capture the wife and the kid till then we will keed this old man bussy. Let's show him what the streets have taught us."

Jerry was apparently the last guy with the dagger. As soon as he got the order he nimbly ran out of the Harries range towards Oliver. Seeing this Harry was about to give him a chase but then he heard. "As if old man"

The boss swang his sword towards Harry to get his attention while the other two underlings supported him.

Seeing Jerry run towards him with a grin, Oliver came in front of Eline and Erica. He got ready to face his first fight in this new world. Although he had no idea how to use a sword he had plenty of experience with hand-to-hand street combat, after all, he had been an orphan himself. The number of bullies wanna be he faced every day with Theo was long forgotten. The only difference today was that Theo wasn't here keeping his back safe.

Seeing the thug come into his range Oliver picked up his sword over his head and swing it down towards the thug's head with all his force. See this Jerry got startled for a second and then quickly tried to block it. And then they clashed.

[Tinnnnnnn.....]

Due to the awkward last-second block done by Jerry and the full force swing of Oliver's sword. The dagger in Jerry's hand slipped out while the sword in Oliver's hand vibrated like a violin string.

Recovering earlier as the dagger fell out of his reach Jerry straight up went for a punch to get Oliver first.

Having his hands numbed by the clash Oliver let his sword go because he knew that if he still kept using the sword, which he clearly had no idea of how to use, he would get punched in the face.

As soon as he let the sword go, he bent his waist sideways to dodge the punch. Then he put pressure on Jerry's shoulder which he used to punch, with one arm while locked his elbow with the other while pushing Jerry down to the ground. This way neither Jerry was able to punch him back with the other arm nor get out of his lock without breaking his elbow.

Seeing Oliver easily handle the underlying, Harry smiled while the boss had his face gone dark. Harry also decided to finish things on his part quickly before another error occurs. The truth was he had gotten easy seeing them just being local thugs and not some big shot bandits, which let this slip up on his part. So with the next two moves, he sliced the heads off of the other thugs with a clear swipe.

Dealing with the three thugs Harry came to Oliver who was still holding Jerry down and said, " Good work Oliver, now let me finish this off. And then we can go back to making dinner."

Oliver silently nodded and let Jerry go. Before he could beg or run for his life his head was flying in the sky.

Although after seeing a mountain of dead bodies Oliver wasn't that affected, he still felt as if he had swallowed a pebble that got stuck in his throat. But he was slowly getting used to the world he was living in and his new norms.

After clearing out the bodies (and the heads) Harry and Eline invited Oliver to join the dinner with them for thanking him, after all, he did help protect Eline and Erica. After a couple of seconds of thought, Oliver agreed to them and had dinner with them.

Coachman also told them that from tomorrow they would try to travel at a faster pace so that they could come into the proximity of the next towns before the day ended so that they were in a more protective area. He didn't want a similar thing to happen to them again.

Although entering the towns and staying in an inn is a much safer option but not only would take them much more time but it was also a much costly option. After all, inns are not that cheap even for a stay for a single night when you have to travel such a long distance and have to sleep in soo many inns.

After the dinner was over Eline went to clean the pots in which they cooked their food. While Harry and Oliver starting to chat a bit.

"So Oliver today must have been the first time you used a sword right."

"Yeah as you can see I have never used a sword. This thing is more of an ornamental piece that gives me a sense of comfort."

"You say that but you held yourself very well even without it. In fact, it didn't look like it was your first fight either. You were very calm in comparison and your moves were much better than any thug wannabe."

Oliver smiled and said," you are not wrong, you see when you are an orphan you usually learn these things by fighting with everyone around. But that is the limit of it. After all, you can't do much with your bare hands when the enemy in front of you is wielding a sword."

"That's not entirely true, if the enemy doesn't know how to use a sword either and is just swinging his sword blindly then even bare hands are good enough, that is if you know how to use them. But I know what you are saying and you are not entirely wrong either. Let me tell you one thing Oliver, what you did today was one of the most idiotic things that could have killed you and put the life of Eline and Erica in danger. Don't ever.... let the sword in your hand go. It's the most basic thing you need to know about swords. The moment you let a sword go is the moment you die. You were lucky your opponent was an idiot himself. But if he wasn't then all of us would have been dead by now."

Listening to Harry, who got very serious in the end Oliver got shocked a bit and then lowered his head.

Harry sighed and said," Look, Oliver, I just have two suggestions for you, seeing you use the sword today I would say either you give up on using a sword... Or let me teach you how to use it properly."

Oliver's eyes widened when he heard what Harry said, "Wait you will teach me how to use a sword?"

"Hahaha, nothing that serious boy. I am not a professionally trained solder myself but I have been using this sword for more than 15 years. I can teach you some basics at the very least as a return for helping my family today. Anyways you don't have to answer immediately but think about it till morning."

"No need. Can we start right now?"

Seeing the eagerness and determination in Oliver's eyes Henery laughed again and said," You sure are enthusiastic. No problem we can at least start with some light exercises for today and then continue with the basics tomorrow."

Listening to him Oliver knew that this was the right decision, after all, he knew that he won't be able to run away from fighting and killing for much longer after all this was the world where he was living now. It was killed or be killed and he preferred to be the one remaining alive after all he had much to do and many promises to keep.

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