Chapter 10

Rain could only stand there stunned, with her mouth hung up a little bit. Kalic stood there waiting for Rain to respond to him as if what he said was something to be expected. However, Rain wasn't alone in being stunned. Some of the other members who had been watching and heard what he offered were also shocked.

"I'm sorry, I think I miss heard you. You said you want me to join the Aeitha Guard," Rain said slowly in order to make sure Kalic heard and understood her.

"Yes, that is exactly what I said."

"But why?"

"I just told you. You nearly bested me in combat, plus the fact is, you are a 'powered' and Aeitha needs more of them in service. You are well qualified to be part of the guard. Even more so, from all of my interactions with you, I can certify that your personality is fit and you don't hold any malicious intent."

"I don't even know how to navigate through the town, I just got here."

"That's fine. I need to put together some teams to investigate the beast forest anyways. All you need to know about the town is where to get food, this building, and how to get to the forest."

"You've thought of everything have you?"

"No, I didn't. But everything just makes sense for you to join." Rain couldn't help but sigh. It really did make sense for her to join the guards. Everything would just get easier for her, plus she would have access to a good group of people that could keep helping her get stronger.

"Alright, fine. I'll join." Kalic couldn't help but smile when he heard her response. He quickly called out to everybody in the courtyard.

"EVERYBODY," Kalic yelled out. The rest of the courtyard paused what they were doing and looked over at the two of them. "I want to be the first to introduce you to your newest member, Rain." Rain's face immediately went red from embarrassment. She didn't expect Kalic to go and introduce her just seconds after she agreed to join. The room was silent for a moment, then they started clapping. She heard one person somewhere in the back yell out 'WELCOME'. Rain just didn't know what to do so she just stood there.

Some people came forward and started to greet her and introduce themselves. Everybody was friendly, but she just could not remember everybody's name or face. After a little bit of time, everybody greeted her and had gone back to the things they were before Kalic introduced her.

While the introductions were happening, Kalic had taken Rain's wooden sword and had gone back to the rack to put the weapons away. But now the two of them were standing in the courtyard. Kalic looked down at Rain and smiled before he started walking back off the courtyard to get his boots.

"Come along, I'll show you around and get you geared up." Rain went and followed Kalic around. Turns out the whole building they were in was the base of the Aeitha Guards. The building was also much larger than she figured it to be. She didn't know exactly how many guards there were but had to assume there were at least a few hundred. Kalic showed Rain a room that was reserved for her. It was rather small, with just a bed, a small desk, and a tiny dresser. It being small didn't bother her as she didn't think she would be in there all too often. Kalic also showed Rain a small library the guards had. It wasn't stocked with any sort of impressive information, but there was some information in there that could be valuable to some people.

The two of them were ending their tour, and the last room they were heading to was the armory. When the two finally made it into the room, Rain saw that the entire room was filled with weapons. Longswords, bows, shortswords, spears, daggers, and just about every other type of weapon one could think of were in there. They were all lined up against the wall, neatly locked away. Along the walls were also different types of armor, however, most of them were the leather that most of the guards wore. At the back of the room, there was also another door that lead into a different room, but instead of an actual hinge door, it had a swinging door. From that room, the sound of banging metal and fire crackling could be heard.

"HAN," Kalic yelled out. A soft grunt responded, which was followed by the sound of heavy metal things being put down. Soon after, a bigger guy walked out of the swinging door. He had dark black hair and a grizzly beard, he was fatter than most people Rain had seen, but the man still looked like he could rip a wooden log in half.

"What do you need this time Kal," the man said. Kalic let out an annoyed grunt as he rubbed his forehead in annoyance.

"How many times do I tell you not to call me Kal."

"How many times do you tell me to stop eating and drinking so much," the man called Han said in response.

"Fine, whatever." Kalic motioned his hand towards Rain and continued on. "This is Rain, our newest member. She needs a weapon and a set of armor with the fur." Han looked at Rain for a moment before he spoke.

"I don't know if we have any armor that is even her size. I would have to go and make one."

"Um, actually," Rain interrupted. She scratched the back of her head and gave an embarrassed smile, "I actually don't like the inflexibility of armor. I like being able to feel free, and armor usually just hampers that." While what Rain said was true, to a degree, she also didn't like the look of armor. She wanted to look cute in this world, and the armor never really did that.

"Oh," Kalic said in surprise. "You didn't tell me that."

"Well, I wasn't expecting to wear armor so soon," Rain said. Kalic could only lightly chuckle in response. He did turn to look at Han to see what his response would be. Han too also looked me up and down and began to think of things. However, his gaze wasn't as intrusive as Kalic's had been. Han looked more like he was trying to envision something over her, rather than looking through her.

"We could just use a move of the fur and make some sort of cloak. Would provide some of the protection the fur provides, while still allowing her to be free. However, it wouldn't be as good as the armor would be," Han stated, shrugging his shoulders as he seemed to think of it in a cost-effect mindset.

"I'm fine with that. That does sound kind of nice." Rain nodded to herself before she thought of something. "Wait," Rain said as she lifted one of her shoes. "I think I'll also need something better than whatever this is." Han looked at the shoe and shrugged.

"Yea, that should be easy. I can just make some boots or something."

"Alright," Kalic said while nodding. "The next thing she needs though is a short-bladed weapon. A shortsword would be preferable, but whatever you got on hand now would work just as well." Han nodded in response and quickly walked over to a section of the wall that housed all the swords. He walked right to where the shortswords were and quickly unlocked it, put the blade in the sheath, and then tossed it to Rain. She caught it, then started to look at the weapon. The sheath was basic leather, it also had the appropriate parts to attach it to her hips. She pulled the sword out a little bit and could see that the weapon was made of plain steel. All in all the weapon was rather basic, but it was hers. Rain had her own weapon and couldn't help but smile. However, she didn't get to keep the joy forever as a notification went off.

*Ding*

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You have collected -Basic Steel Shortsword-

Rating: E

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Rain quickly read the notification, a little surprised at the fact that items had ratings, but looked over at Han, who seemed to be waiting for her to be done inspecting the weapon.

"Sorry," she said innocently as she beamed a smile. Han quickly looked away and scratched the back of his head.

"Anyways, I should have the cloak and boots done in a couple of hours, so come back later and you can pick it up," Han said as he started to lumber his way back into the other room.

"Only a few hours," Kalic asked in a joking manner.

"Shut up Kal, it's just sewing, and I've got Lee back here working on the larger orders anyways," Han said as he walked through the door into the back. Rain looked at Kalic confused.

"What was that about," she asked.

"It's nothing, now come, I need to create a squad to go check out the forest." Kalic and Rain made their way back to the training courtyard. Rain was paying attention to the route they took as they traveled in order to remember the way they took. As they exited out of a door, Rain saw that they found themselves back out in the open-air courtyard.

"Alright, using that new sword of yours, go and do those movements I taught you. And I don't mean just rep through them, I want you to perform with the purpose of perfection. I want you to improve on something every single time you do it. If you aren't changing something, you are doing it wrong. I'll be back in a little bit, I'm going to go and try to create some squads for going into the forest." After finishing, Kalic left Rain in the courtyard. There were still people using it and practicing, but they were all sparring. She was the only one who was by themself.

"Whatever, I guess I'll get this time to do my own thing," Rain thought to herself. She took her shoes off and stepped into the courtyard, and walked over to an unused corner. She drew her shortsword and dropped the scabbard. She started practicing her movements, slow and steady as Kalic told her. Concentrating on each and every movement, ensuring that everything was done right.

However, every single time she'd catch something wrong. Whether it be in the very beginning, the very end, or in which way between, there was something wrong. She would repeat the movements fixing the problem she caught, yet there was always another. Rain lost herself in the movements and didn't realize the passing of time. She didn't catch anything that was going on around her, whether it be the burning suns beating down on her, or the onlookers who seemed curious about the person they'd never seen before. However, Kalic's voice broke her out of her trance.

"Rain," Kalic projected right behind her. She quickly turned to look at him confused. "I called your name thrice now, for a moment I thought you were actively ignoring me.

"Uh... Sorry. I was just too focused on the movements." Rain quickly grabbed her scabbard and put her shortsword back into it.

"It's fine, just good to know you haven't started ignoring me. Now, I'm introducing you to your new squad.