Sword
The clashes of wooden swords could be heard all morning long, as the two practiced combat for a while now.
"Not bad, but..."
One of the swords flew up in the sky and fell to the ground, making a loud thud. The guy pointed the sword at the fallen boy's neck.
"You still got a lot to learn, Ryuu."
"How are you so good, Zych?", said the boy as he took Zych's hand to get back on his feet.
"It's just the matter of practice. But now, it's time to spice things up"
"Huh?"
Zych then proceeded to grab something from his bag. It was two swords. Real swords, made out of iron. He threw one at Ryuu and unsheated the other one.
"Are you ready? Don't hold back."
"Zych, are you insane? We're gonna hurt eachother!"
"Don't be a pussy."
Ryuu unsheated the sword. He was afraid that either of them will actually get hurt, but he didn't want to look weak.
"I'm ready, Zych. No holding back, huh?"
Zych got down as he performed a quick slice at Ryuu's legs. Ryuu jumper over it, then performed an overhead slash as a counter attack. Zych parried the slash with his sword, then pushed Ryuu's sword all the way down with his. Ryuu mustered up all his strenght as he pushed his sword, now. Even with the strenght of an Ogre Lord, Zych was still stronger. He laughed seeing Ryuu barely managing to hold up. Out of desperation, Ryuu kicked Zych in the stomach, pushing him away. Zych was astonished by this dirty move.
"Hey boy, that ain't what I taught you."
"You said that anything goes when you are in a fight."
"This is sword practice, not a fight."
"It is a fight."
"No."
"Yes."
"Whatever. Then I can use this."
Zych dissapeared, like he went invisible. His footsteps could still be heard, but he wasn't there. Ryuu listened carefully to the sound of the footsteps to deduce Zych's position.
It seems he went invisible. I didn't know he could use magic.
The footsteps suddenly stopped. Ryuu could deduce that the farthest position the footsteps could be heard is around 5 meters away from him. That means Zych didn't just stop running: he jumped up into the air. Using his own position and the approximate speed of Zych's movements, Ryuu could get a good guess at Zych's jumping angle.
That means...you're there!
He slashed his sword at the air. Zych became visible again as he fell to the ground. His entire chest was covered with a big, bleeding scar.
"Oh shit! Zych!"
Ryuu rushed to his mentor. To his suprise, he was smiling.
"Damn kid, you predicted my exact position. Maybe I underestimated you. Don't worry about this, it's not that deep. Plus, Mira can fix me up."
"I'll call her right away, stay here and don't move!"
Zych nodded.
After a few minutes, Zych could see a figure of a purple haired girl and a red haired guy rushing to the courtyard. Mira quickly cast a healing spell and a painkiller spell, and Zych stood up.
"L-luckily its not a deep cut. Z-zych, why did you make him fight you with actual swords?"
"C'mon, it's more fun this way.", Zych smiled at Mira. However, the non serious answer just angered her and she smacked him in the head with her staff.
"Idiot..." mumbled Mira to herself.
"Ryuu, I want you to keep that sword I gave you. It's a pretty fine model, produced here in the capital."
Zych took a sigh.
"Also, you'll need some real practice with the sword, no more playing around with me. Listen carefully. You'll now leave the castle, and Mira will lead you to the city's advanturer's guild. You'll be taking monster slaying quests from the guild until you reach the rank Gold. Only after that you'll be allowed back into the castle.
"What about the ball in 6 days?" Ryuu asked.
"Forget about it. If you somehow manage to do it before, you can come, sure. But that'll be hard, even for you. Also Mira, before you part ways with him, cast a Appraisal Block on Ryuu. Hopefully he won't need it."
"Alright. So I'll be a part time advanturer."
Even though he didn't seem like it, Ryuu was excited. He couldn't wait to see some of the world outside castle.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Go." Zych gave a hand signal to Mira.
"O-okay. Ryuu, follow me."