Lazy life continues

It's been a year since Arthur fell from that cliff, although me and my parents did receive a mental message from him just a couple months ago. Figures that the protagonist wouldn't die from a measly fall from a cliff. This has set my mind at ease and being lazy has been far easier lately. Before I would always find my lazing disturbed about thoughts concerning Arthur, but now I know he's going to come back with an anime pow rip so I can coast on the easy life.

At least that's what I would like to say, only mother and father weren't joking when they said they would get me a tutor… And the "assistant" of the tutor is here right now staring down at me. The one looking down at me with a furious expression is Claire Bladeheart, niece of the guild leader of the Xyrus branch, Kaspian Bladeheart. She's 5 years older than me making her 10 to my 5, but that doesn't mean she takes it easy on me during practice.

"I can't believe you're my sparring partner, I despise lazy people." She scowled at me before stepping back and turning to her uncle who was pulling out different wooden weapons.

"Uncle! Why are we training this lazy kid! He doesn't even want to be here!" She whined and her uncle only flashed a small smile and I caught his gaze.

"Because it's a way for him to get out of guild paperwork." I said off handedly and returning my eyes to the blue sky, but not before I see him instantly straighten with a cold sweat.

"Now, now. Lets not go spreading nasty rumors, shall we Rhys? I would hate to immediately skip to the advanced training." I eyed him to see if he was bluffing, but that mischievous look in his eyes told me he wasn't so I shrugged.

"Whatever you say, instructor." His eyes lose their intensity as he places the last weapon on the table and steps back turning toward us.

"Alright you 2 come grab your weapons that you wish to use." His hand held out to the displayed weapons and I let out a sigh.

"I don't wish to use any of them." I grumble as I wearily raise myself and look at the gathered weapons. Hmmm axe? No I'm not a barbarian. Staff? No it takes too many hits to kill. Sword? Not bad but that's kind of Arthur's thing. Hmmm a spear?

"Hey Kaspian?" I ask while looking at the spear on the table. He bristled slightly at me casually using his first name, but he didn't say anything about it

"What is it Rhys?" He steps beside me to look over the table. Claire had already grabbed one of the long swords that had been on the table, though I guess for an adult it would be a short sword.

"What would you say if I took 2 weapons. Say the spear and a short sword as a back up?" He eyes me curiously, I suppose not expecting someone lazy to want to take up 2 weapons at once. However the way I see it if I learn both at the same time it will be quicker than mastering one then mastering the other.

"I don't see a problem, but why the spear and sword?" He looks at me quizzically and I just look at the weapons. I can't exactly say that the Spartans of Greece used spears and then a short sword as a back up. They technically used a sword the length of a long dagger being only 12inches(30cm) while the standard was 18-24inches(45-60cm). But I already have a dagger, so I'm going to pick the standard length.

The wooden sword was a double edged straight short sword, and the spear was topped by a flat leaf spear head and at the bottom was a thick spike that served as a counterbalance. Of course I wasn't going to have a shield as I'm already going to be carrying 2 weapons at any given time and I'm definitely not going to add to that with a heavy shield.

"Well the spear will give me more range, but if I'm fighting in an enclosed space I will also be proficient with a sword." I finally responded as I slipped the short sword through a loop on my pants and held the wooden spear in my hands. I didn't know much about weapons, but the spear felt sturdy with a good balance. However it was heavy in my non mana reinforced arms.

"Very well, we'll have to see about getting you another teacher for more in depth spear training, but I can help for now. Why don't we start with a little spar? Claire will take it easy on you and besides your father has told me that you're a natural when it comes to battle strategy. I'm sure you'll figure something out." He ended in a cheery tone, but I could see the calculative look in his eye. He wanted to see this "battle strategy" for himself.

I nod and step across Claire in the square field he had marked out. She hadn't formed her core yet, so I wouldn't be using mine to reinforce my body. Time to find out how I stack up against a 10 year old I suppose.

"First to earn 3 strikes on their opponent will be considered the winner. The loser will have to do 10 push ups for every hit they received. Are you 2 ready?" He asks as he takes his spot just outside the field and Claire nods as she holds her long sword out in front. I could already see that the sword was quite heavy for her as her arms were shaking slightly as she held it out. I however just kept my spear lazily held against my chest with spike in the ground.

With a nod from us both Kaspian raised a hand high into the air before quickly dropping it down.

"Begin!"

Like I expected she seemed to at least have some skill with the sword. Instead of holding it above her head while she ran forward, she tucked it close to her chest with tip pointing toward me. Once she reached she stabbed out with the rounded tip wooden sword, but I just side stepped it. My mind began picturing what Arthur would do, but that quickly proved ineffective.

Arthur's fighting style was complete different from hers. He focused on movement and confusing the opponent by never staying in the same spot. Claire held firm and tried to win through pure strength. Whether this was a childish notion of trying to prove girls weren't weak, I didn't know. I was however going to use it to my advantage.

With the butt of the spear still firmly in the ground I dodged another heavy swing of hers, but this time she swung horizontally and I let it hit the spear. The shock from the impact shook me slightly, but she felt the majority of the stun as she recoiled. I kicked out at the bottom of the spear, releasing it from the ground and bottom of it sailed toward her as the middle of the spear was held loosely in my right hand.

She leaned out of the way just in time and I let the spears momentum carry it through until now the tip of it was pointing toward her and I tightened my grip. I jabbed out with great speed, but she swiped this time knocking my strike off course. Loosening my grip to lessen the impact on my hands I let it slip until I'm gripping right above the spike. She's still off balance so I pull hard and send the spear and myself into a tight spin.

On her back foot and sword still carrying the previous momentum to her left she couldn't protect her right side as I whipped it around like a baseball bat and caught her on the ribs. The cry that came from her lips startled me more than the spear actually coming into contact with her. She had dropped her sword and clutched her side on her knees as she began to cry.

I was frozen for a moment as I hadn't thought I used that much force, but I suppose that built up momentum is devastating even with this small body and a training spear. Kaspian ran up to Clair to check on her, but he had a bit of a cheeky smile which confused me.

"There there Claire. I tried to warn you that not everyone would go easy on you." He said with a slight chuckle in his voice, but Claire just looked at me with teary hate filled eyes until her uncle prodded her injury and it sent another cry from her throat. I felt bad, I had just hurt a 10 year old girl enough to make her cry. So I did the only thing I could think of.

"Excuse me Kaspian, but can I take a look?" He looked confused but scooted back and let me see the rapidly bruising spot on her ribs. I looked to Claire's eyes to still see that same angry expression, so I gave her a soft smile.

"Sorry, Claire. Let me fix it for you." It was probably stupid to do, but my guilt was powering my brain more than logic as I raised my hands to her ribs and a green light began to emit from them. I didn't miss Kaspian's gasp of shock as he saw me begin to heal her and Claire's face had changed too. It lost the previous anger and was replaced with relief but also a brief sparkle in her eye followed quickly by a faint blush across her cheeks.

Moments later the bruise faded away and I felt a slight drain from the healing and sat back on my heels with a sigh.

"There, should be good as new with maybe a little tightness. Sorry again Claire." I stood up and held out a hand to her and noticed her blush deepened ever so slightly as she gripped my hand to stand up. Kaspian stood up as well with a knowing smile towards Claire, who looked away trying not to meet his gaze.

"Thank you for that Rhys, though I think I'll have to have a brief chat with your parents before I leave. I think we'll end this session here for today. You're free to keep the spear and sword to train on your off time. Come along Claire, let's get you home." He gave her another mischievous look which caused her to duck her head slightly as she sped past him. Only when she was about 30 feet away did she turn a round with a small smile and wave her hand back to me.

"I'll beat you next time, Rhys!" She called and whirled around before I could wave back as she and Kaspian headed for the manor. With a big sigh I plopped to the ground and looked up at the fading light of the sky. This is going to be troublesome if she's developed a crush on me. Damn it this is why I wanted Arthur here, he's supposed to distract all these lazy time disrupters from me.

Though a faint smile crossed my face as I felt the spear in my hand. It had been a little fun to spar against a new person if not a little exhausting.

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Little fighting scene for our MC. I was going to have him just use a sword like Arthur, but I was like "hmmm nobody uses anything but a sword or magic in these FFs" so I decided to use a spear. Not totally original and I still ended up with him having a short sword, but oh well. Probably going to do another time skip, but not sure.

See ya then.