.
[Studded Liro leather pants: made from thee tough hide of a Liro lizard. Durability 30/30, defense +7, endurance +2, agility +1.
Plat 0
Gold 0
Silver 34
Copper 817
Iron P 982
Inventory
None
Titles
Novice slayer: 10% to attack damage
3-1
Two months passed as ash trained with Zelan. From morning to night all Ash did was work through a series of movements. After he got the foot patterns down, standard attacks were added. Every few days Zelan would add a new movement, but no matter how much time passed Ash never was allowed to forget the basics.
Every night Ash was so tired that he had to crawl into his bed. To add to his troubles, Yuki would sneak into his room and crawl into his bed. In the morning Ash always got onto the young fox girl, but in truth there wasn’t much conviction in his voice. Still the little girl’s ears would drop and she would stay away for a few days. At the same time, Emelia also seemed to call him to her study more often during his short rest periods. At first he complained, but when the maids started to bring in refreshing drinks while he sat on the soft sofa, it started to become the highlight of his day.
Just like any other day, Ash woke and happily found himself alone in his bed. Every part of his body screamed as he started to get up from the bed. Ash held back the moan that wanted to spring from his mouth and started to stretch his muscles. The first few days of training Ash had risen early, but once Zelan had noticed that, he had started the training earlier. Thinking back, Ash wished he had just used that time to sleep in for a few moments longer.
As Ash left the manor, he was surprised that he didn’t see the stack of swords and spears laid out that Zelan often used to train him. What awaited him instead was his instructor, standing with a small pack slung over his shoulder. “Today we start the second phase of your training. We will enter the labyrinth and you will fight.”
Smiling, Ash turned to go back into the manor, but Zelan’s cold voice stopped him in his tracks. “Where are you going?”
“To get my sword and armor Master,” Ash answered as the smile faded from his face.
“No need. You have relied on the strength of your gear instead of skill. Today all you will need is this,” Zelan replied, tossing a copper sword to Ash.
“Yes master,” Ash said as he deftly caught the sword with his right hand.
“Don’t sound so disappointed,” Zelan said, slapping him on the back as they walked toward the manor gate. “I thought that it would take you half a year before we started practical training.”
Feeling slightly better, Ash let a small smile spread across his face as he followed behind Zelan. “Which floor are we going to?” Ash asked when they neared that entrance of the labyrinth.
“The first floor of course,” Zelan replied as if the question was asked by a child.
Ash let out a sigh but didn’t voice any complaints as he followed behind Zelan. Just like his first time on the first floor, it was crowded with youth fighting the weak slimes. Moving away from the large crowds, Zelan brought Ash to a small corner of the floor where they found a lone slime. “Today you will fight without using any skills.”
Ash nearly laughed out loud. Even with a copper sword, that didn’t change the fact that the slime was the weakest creature in nature. It was slow and gave a small shake as a warning of its attack. Stepping forward Ash started to attack when something struck the side of his head. Looking on the ground Ash noticed a small stone lying not far away. “Pay attention to your surroundings. Letting your guard down will only mean your death in a real battle.”
Rubbing the side of his head Ash turned his attention back to the slime which had started to jiggle slightly. Stepping back Ash dodged the attack and struck with his sword and the slime withered. Turning around Ash expected a happy Zelan, but instead he got one who looked as if Ash had just kicked his pet. “Why did you retreat? What advantage other than dodging the attack did that movement give you? First lesson of the day is that you should never retreat unless it gives you an advantage or there is no other choice, and when there is no other choice, it just means you haven’t trained enough.”
“Understood master,” Ash said as he picked up the iron penny the slime had dropped along with the slime core.
“What is that?” Zelan asked as he stared at the iron penny is Ash’s hand.
“Crap,” Ash said to himself as he quickly thought of an excuse. “It is a unique ability of mine…I…Don’t really understand it myself.”
“Humm…Well no reason to worry about it,” Zelan replied. “Let us continue.”
Ash was forced to fight another ten slimes while Zelan threw stones at him. When it was clear that the slimes posed no threat to Ash, they moved to the boss room.
Unlike the first time when Ash had fought the king slime, he found its movements easy to escape due to the movements that Zelan had taught him. Ash thought that he had improved greatly, but Zelan still was able to strike him with three stones during his fight, but not once was the slime able to hit him.
“Not bad, but you still need to pay more attention to your surroundings,” Zelan said as they moved to the second floor. “Right now because you have fought here before, you know nothing else will come, but if you don’t train yourself to stay vigilant, it will come to haunt you in the future.”
“Yes master,” Ash said rubbing a small knot on the side of his head where one of the stones had struck. Ash wanted to retort, but he understood what Zelan was saying. When he was fighting the lizards, Ash had trouble keeping up with the movements of two enemies at the same time. If he had been trained better maybe he would have fared better during the fights.
The more time he spent with Zelan, the more Ash came to appreciate the man’s teachings. He was strict and unyielding, but he didn’t care about things that didn’t relate to training. Zelan said nothing about Ash absorbing the monsters after he had killed them. The slimes didn’t have any more skills for him, but they increased his skill level by .01 percent with each one he absorbed. It wasn’t much, but he wanted to know what happened when the skill reached a higher level.
Zelan made Ash fight the saber bunnies on the second floor, just as he did the slimes. Unlike the slimes, the bunnies were faster and attacked more frequently. Since they were the first monster he had ever fought, he knew their attacks by heart, so it was not hard for him to fight them while dodging their attacks. After Ash had killed over a dozen of the saber rabbits, Zelan decided it was time for them to move to the next floor. Since the lightening rabbit movements were almost the same as the saber bunnies, it was easy to beat, even while dodging Zelan’s attacks.
Ash ran into his first real trouble on the third floor when fighting the kobolds. Unlike the past floors, the kobolds liked to travel in groups. When he had fought here in the past, Ash had moved carefully and only fought when he found a group of three or less, but Zelan made him fight against the groups of kobolds no matter how many of them there were present.
After fighting the fifth group of kobolds, Zelan allowed Ash to rest. “What part of the body do you watch to predict an enemy’s attack?” Zelan asked as he handed Ash a canteen full of cold water.
“I watch the whole body,” Ash said between gulps.
“Foolish,” Zelan said shaking his head. “When fighting a humanoid, watch the shoulders. Any movement involving a weapon has to come from the shoulders. When fighting monsters it changes, but the eyes tend to be the best choice most of the time. If you can predict how the enemy will attack, then it will increase your ability to dodge. I also want you to start trying to feel the air when you fight. It doesn’t matter if its human, or monster, they will release an increased amount of bloodlust when attacking. You need to learn how to sense it.”
After a short rest Ash was forced to continue fighting until he could fight six kobolds at once without receiving a single hit
from either the monsters or Zelan’s random stones. After he had accomplished this feat three times, Zelan notified him that it was time to return to the manor. Not once in his life had Ash remembered being so happy.
“Ash,” Emelia’s voice rang out loudly as he staggered into the manor. “What happened to you?”
“Huh,” Ash responded as his mind was in a haze. Looking down Ash noticed for the first time that his clothes was in tatters and covered in both his blood and that of countless kobolds.
“Let’s get you to the bath,” Emelia said as Zelan snickered behind Ash. “Emelia narrowed her eyes as her gaze shifter to the older sword master, but she held her tongue.
Ash didn’t complain as Emelia helped him to the bath, but once he noticed that she was helping the maids strip the clothing from his body his mind started to clear. “I can do that myself,” He said holding onto his pants as he backed away.
“Fine, don’t blame me if you drown,” Emelia said as she left the room, her face slightly red. Ash let out a sigh of relief when Emelia left, but then his eyes fell on the two maids who started to move toward him.
“Ummm….I can…Ahhhh” Ash’s voice was cut off as the two young ladies attacked, stripping him.
Leaving the bath, Ash looked back, his eyes slightly red as he looked at the giggling ladies who were giving him wicked smiles. All they had done was strip him and wash him, but the look in their eyes and odd movements of their hands made him feel as if he had been violated, but he had to admit that he now felt much better.
“Master Ash, Lady Hawkwing has asked that you attend to her in the study,” One of the maids said as he entered the manors main hall.
Expecting to hear another rant about how Zelan was treating him too roughly, Ash took a deep breath and knocked lightly on the door of the study. When a light voice replied with “Enter,” He pushed open the door to find that Emelia was not alone. A thin bearded main sat opposite her in one of the rooms cushioned chairs.
“You called for me?” Ash asked, feeling a slightly nervous energy in the air.
“Yes. Mr. Arnold, why don’t you tell us what you learned?” Emelia said as she looked at the older man.
“As I was telling the young miss, we have located the mother of the young fox girl. The unlicensed village that was attacked was small and only three men and four women were taken during the raid. The group that raided the village was comprised of three slaver groups. With only seven slaves captured, each group was given two of the slaves. Sadly Yuki was given along with one of the male salves caught, instead of being kept with her family. The mother was given to a rather new trading group operating out of Talam. She was quickly sold to a farm just south of the city.”
“Can we buy her?” Ash asked slightly worried.
“That shouldn’t be a problem young sir, but the trouble is how to retrieve her…” the man said his voice faltering.
“Thank you Mr. Arnold, you can leave now. I will explain the rest from here,” Emelia said dismissing the older gentleman.
After Arnold had left, Emelia turned to Ash with her face pinched in thought. “I told you that those of the beast tribes are not looked on in favor within the human kingdoms, but it goes a little deeper. If I were to spend effort to buy a single slave, then it could cause rumors…I…Don’t think it’s right but…I don’t have enough power right now.”
“I understand,” Ash said with a weak smile. Ash had spent enough time listening to Emelia to understand that women had a lower social status then men in this world and she had to take care about her actions. “I can buy her myself. Since I am not a noble, I doubt that much will be said about it,” Ash said after a few moments of thought.
“That is true but…” Emelia replied with a worried look on her face. “If you leave the city then Earl Demeter…”
“Don’t worry, I will be fine,” Ash said sticking out his chest. “I made a promise to Yuki.”
“I can’t stop you, but do you even have the gold to buy her?” Emelia asked with a frown. Seeing Ash wince, Emelia couldn’t help but laugh. “Don’t worry, I will send you along with two hundred gold. No matter how much she cost this should buy her five or six times over.”
Unable to control himself Ash wrapped Emelia in a hug and twirled her around in his arms. After a few spins he regained his composure, sat Emelia down and laughed. “Thank you.”
“Umm,” Emelia stuttered, her face flushed. “You will have to pay it back…So…You better come back safe.”
“I promise that even if I have to cut off my own arm, I will pay this back,” Ash said smiling.
“You don’t have to go that far,” Emelia said, but Ash never heard her words as he rushed out of the room to go talk to Zelan. He knew where Yuki’s mother was, but he still needed Zelan’s permission to miss training to go retrieve her.
3-2
Zelan sat listening to Ash explain why he had to leave with an emotionless look on his face. As Ash finished, he clinched and unclenched his hands nervously.
“You want to leave during the most important part of your training to go buy a slave?” Zelan asked with one eyebrow slightly raised. “Ok, but I will be going with you. To tell the truth, there is limited training in the labyrinth. As long as we set aside five hours a day for training, then I don’t see a reason not to allow it.”
“Thank you Master,” Ash replied happily. Even if he had to train during the trip, he had been allowed to go without having to beg.
As Ash left Zelan’s room he pondered about telling Yuki about her mother. It wasn’t an easy decision to make. Normal travel to Talam took about a week, but if he had to travel while training it would take longer, though he didn’t know how long. If something happened to Yuki’s mother between now and then, he didn’t know if he could explain it to her after getting her hopes up. To be honest, he was surprised that she hadn’t asked about her mother once since he had promised to find her. In the end, Ash decided it would be best to keep his silence until he was sure that he could reunite Yuki with her mother.
After returning to his room, Ash pulled out his worn travel pack and started to organize his meager belongings. Since Zelan wanted him to train on the trip he was sure that he wouldn’t be allowed to use his armor or sword, but he still placed them in his inventory just in case they became needed. Zelan had said more than once that you never knew what might happen and should prepare for anything and everything.
As Ash was situating his clothing in his pack Yuki burst into the room. “Master,” She yelled as she jumped onto his back. Every day when she returned from school she greeted him, but most of the time he was still training with Zelan. On the few occasions that he was resting, she always took the opportunity to cling to him. “Master, are you going somewhere?” Yuki asked as she looked over his shoulder, her small hands digging into his shoulders.
“Yes, tomorrow I will be going on a training trip with Master Zelan for a few weeks,” Ash said, wincing from the pain her sharp nails as the dug deeper into his skin.
“Master can’t go,” Yuki declared as she let go of his shoulders and wrapped her thin arms around his neck.
“Yuki, I will only be gone for a little while. I’ll be back before you know it.”
“No,” Yuki said, tightening her hold as she buried her face into his neck, making it hard for Ash to breath. Ash was starting to get annoyed, then he felt something wet fall on the back of his neck. “If something happens to master, Yuki will be alone.”
“Yuki, I have to go but I promise you I will be back,” Ash said as a warm feeling spread through his chest.
Yuki didn’t say anything, but she let go of his neck and hugged his arm. “Can Yuki stay with master tonight?” Yuki asked him with large upturned red eyes.
Looking down at the small girl, Ash had to fight with himself but at the end he lost to the look Yuki was giving him. “Yes,” Ash said, dropping his head in defeat.
“Hehe,” Yuki giggled as she hugged his arm tighter.
“I�
��ve been beaten by a kid,” Ash said, shaking his head and laughing to himself.
“Mou…I am not a kid…Soon I will be fifteen, a full adult,” Yuki said pouting.
“Then until you turn fifteen, you are still a kid,” Ash replied with a smile. While he said those words, Ash had to laugh at himself. He was only a few years older than Yuki, but no matter how he looked at her, all he could see was a small child. “I wonder what her mother looks like?” He asked himself in silence.
For the rest of the evening, no matter what anyone said to her, Yuki refused to let go of Ash’s arm. Ash didn’t say anything, but when it came time to eat, he found it hard with the use of only one arm, yet he still didn’t have the heart to make her let go. He didn’t know why she had gotten so attached to him so quickly, but he figured that she had grasped onto the first thing she could after losing her mother. A part of him could understand her feelings as he himself had no parents growing up and had often looked for someone, but each time he thought he had found that person, they had let him down. Now in the opposite situation, he didn’t want to do the same.
As Ash crawled into bed with Yuki still clinging to his arm, he promised himself that no matter what, he would return with Yuki’s mother. “She needs someone better to count on,” He told himself as he closed his eyes as Yuki rubbed her cheek on his arm with a large smile on her face.
The next morning, Ash woke finding it hard to breath. Opening his eyes, he spotted a pair of small reddish-brown pointed furry ears. Yuki was sleeping soundly on top of his chest. Not wanting to wake her, Ash carefully shifted her to the bed and covered her before grabbing his travel pack and stealthily leaving the room.
Standing outside the door, Ash looked back and gave a silent farewell to Yuki and hoped she wouldn’t be too upset. Turning around, he found Zelan sitting halfway up the steps from the second to the third floor while a trio of maids glared at him. Seeing Ash, Zelan smiled and waved at him. “The little maids here really don’t want anyone to go near your room.”
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