The Heartstone Journey II

Book 5 | Ch. 14 - A Practice Match

Morning broke, filling the fortress with its gentle light, accompanied by the blaring sound of an alarm that echoed through the halls of the dormitory.

"God damn it~! WILL YOU SHUT THE F-!"

Before Nick could finish his frustrated outburst, Cloudy quickly intervened, placing a hand over his mouth to stifle the words. They all shared the same room and didn't want to cause any unnecessary disturbances or draw complaints on their very first day in the guild.

Cloudy shot Nick a stern look, silently reminding him to keep his voice down. Nick grumbled under his breath, remembering that he'd cooperate when needed.

The alarm continued its relentless wailing, jolting them awake and urging them to start their day. With a collective groan, they began to rise from their beds, rubbing the sleep from their eyes and preparing themselves for whatever challenges awaited them outside their sanctuary.

"This must be how it feels to wake up.."

"IN HELL~!" Nick declared, his voice carrying through the room that held only two other occupants.

We chose to ignore his exaggerated statement, although deep down, we couldn't deny that he had a point. The incessant blaring of the alarm continued to assault our eardrums, refusing to cease until ten agonizing minutes later. 

While we understood the importance of not oversleeping, the intensity of the alarm felt... excessive, to say the least.

Grabbing our belongings, we strapped them to our backs and sides, mustering our energy as we marched out of our rooms. Cloudy took it upon himself to catch Nick up to speed on everything that had transpired with Royal and the guild master, ensuring that he was well-informed.

"So the duel is today?" Nick asked, his voice filled with a mix of freight of me and curiosity of the duel.

"Yes, it is. I'll need your help to prepare. I heard there's a training area on the western side of the fortress. We'll be heading there for a warm-up." Royal replied, his voice filled with heaviness

Moving along the sunny streets following the flow of people, we made our way towards a large building that exuded an aura of cleanliness and maintenance. Inside, there was no sign of a register or employees. 

Instead, a long wooden floor stretched out before us, adorned with an array of training weapons made from smoothed black wood. Swords, axes, spears—there was a wide variety to cater to each individual's preferred style.

"Hurry it up. You better kick my ass if you even want a chance at beating someone that's the top dog here." Nick said bluntly, selecting an axe to use for practice that was good enough for the time being.

"Cloudy you mind?" Royal asked, his gaze fixed on Nick.

"Yea I'll countdown." Cloudy affirmed, understanding the situation.

"Before we start, remember that this is a practice match. No injuring one another, and be careful not to draw too much attention since others can show up," Cloudy announced, his gaze fixed on Nick.

"Bitch! I get it, I get it already! Just start the countdown already!" Nick replied impatiently.

My weapon was not a rapier but a wooden short sword since there are no rapiers to use that are made of wood so I improvised. Standing a few meters apart I knew from the beginning Nick had the advantage. 

His strength could be on par with experts here. His battle instincts were heightened like an animals and his aggressiveness can catch many others off guard but that is also his flaw. When he pushes too far that is the time too strike! I just need to wait for that..