Startled by someone being so close to her, Candy reached down and picked up on of the dolls. Then she smacked the face away from her. The young man she hit went crashing into the ground.
“Owowowowowwwww! What was that? I was just trying to wake you up!”
Further away, his friends started shouting.
“Serves you right for scaring someone awake.”
“Who’d ever think it was a good idea to do that, especially to someone sleeping here. Oh wait, you.”
Rubbing the back of his head, the youth complained.
“Aw, come on. I didn’t think I was gonna get beaten up, plus I’m a trained soldier! I thought I’d be able to dodge.”
Looking at how lively he was, Candy inwardly sighed in relief.
‘I was so startled I didn’t control my strength. Lucky I didn’t kill him.’
After arguing with his friends some more, the youth turned and reached out his hand.
“Sorry for scaring you, I’m a bit of a jokester. Well, not anymore though.”
“It’s okay, sorry for hitting you so hard. I’m Candy.”
She grabbed his hand and stood up.
“Leo, nice to meet you. Whoa, you’re tall.”
When Candy stood up, her height caught the youth off guard.
“Haha! Shorty!”
“Ah, shut up!”
After shouting at his friends again, he turned back to Candy.
“Sorry about them…and what I did too.”
She laughed.
“Don’t worry about it. But you know, if you had any ulterior motives you wouldn’t be standing here right now.”
“Glad I didn’t then.”
As they were speaking, a large group of people emerged from one of the archways. Leading them was a well built middle aged man. Looking at the group of troublemakers, he spotted Candy.
“What are you three doing over there?” Oh, a new recruit?”
Turning to Candy, he reached out to shake her hand.
“I’m Charles, the guard captain. You are?”
“I’m Candy! Nice to meet you, but I’m not a new recruit, I’m supposed to meet a friend here, but that’s not until noon.”
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
“I see, oh, you’re a Boar! Nice to see a new adventurer around here.”
The Captain turned away and started organizing the morning’s training.
Candy watched as the carefree group immediately stood to attention.
[System Quest]
‘Huh?’
[System Quest: Increase favorability with Silva’s guards
Reward: Increased status and influence among the city guards
Intermediate Adventurer’s License]
‘It wants me to become friendly with the guards? Why?’
‘Well, they seem like good people, so why not?’
…
“Alright, line up! We’re going over the basics today!”
“Aw really?”
“Hey Cap, you know we’re better than that!”
“I swear I could do this in my sleep!”
“That’s exactly why we’re doing this. Even if your brain stops working during battle, ingraining the basics into your bones might just save your life.”
“The Captain’s right, you know.”
Candy walked over and stood next to the Captain.
“The basics are the foundation of every sword skill. Perfecting basic attacks and movements also improves higher level ones.”
“Oh yeah? Then show us!”
Leo shouted with a grin on his face.
“Hey Leo, don’t go making trouble during training!”
The Captain turned to Candy.
“Sorry about him. He’s a great fighter but because of that he gets cocky.”
“Don’t worry about it. Also, I’d be happy to show them what a true understanding of the sword can do.”
Candy walked over to a rack of training swords and picked one up.
‘Alright! Time to test some skills. In Achievements of Heroes, being intermediate level in a skill meant you had mastered all the beginner level skills. Let’s see if it’s the same for this game.
The Captain moved out of the way as she prepared to demonstrate.
“Alright, let’s start of super simple. Downward slash.”
She raised the sword with both hands and slashed towards the ground.
As the sword came down, the onlookers heard a whistling sound as the sword cut through the air. It was a simple move, yet it contained a staggering amount of precision and power.
“Hey, no way.”
“That’s insane.”
“I don’t even think Captain can do that.”
‘Yes! It worked!’
Candy smiled to herself as she walked over to one of the training dummies. The poor wooden figure had no idea what was about to happen.
Widening her stance, she held the sword with her right hand. Bringing it near her left shoulder, she stepped forward and swung horizontally. The dummy was severed clean in two. The only sound was the upper part crashing to the ground.
The group of guards and even the captain were shocked silly at the sight.
As they came to their senses, the group erupted into chatter.
“What the hell was that?”
“That’s a training sword right? Why did it look like she used a real sword.”
“I could barely see the strike!”
“Is she a master?”
“What is going on.”
As Leo listened to the words of his colleagues, he inwardly shuddered.
‘Now I’m really glad I didn’t do anything else when I woke her up. Oh shit, I woke her up. She’s not angry right?’
Deciding that he would watch his back more closely for a while, Leo walked up to Candy.
“Alright, I admit. That was a crazy level of skill. You win. But one day, I will definitely surpass you!”
Saying those childish lines, Leo walked back to his position.
“Well, I certainly didn’t expect that. How’s someone like you only a novice adventurer?”
“Haha, I only became an adventurer yesterday, so I haven’t had a chance to show my skills.”
The captain watched as the guards trained with determined looks.
“Even though we’re on the frontlines, these guys don’t get to see true power very often. I know there are some adventurers in this city who have such skill, but they tend to train with the monsters and dungeons around the city. We guards don’t usually go far, so they’ve never seen skills like yours. As their captain, I must thank you again.”
“I’m glad I was helpful. It’s been a long time since I’ve done something like this.”
‘Really, too long.’
As the guard captain looked at her quizzically, a notification popped up.
[Favorability Increase: 1st guard unit
Current Impression: ‘Truly someone worthy of the title Adventurer.’]
