Haru stood in the small courtyard behind the Hostess of Fertility, the sun had yet to rise above the horizon and the air all around was still cold and it chilled Haru down to his very bones making him shiver slightly. However despite the cold Haru had not felt warmer inside in days, he had woken up early and could not go back to sleep as he was too excited for what the sun would be bringing to him as soon as it rose.
His first training lesson with the Elven waitress Ryuu.
The only sounds around were the soft songs of the birds singing their sweet morning chimes and the soft click as the blade inside of the white haired boy's pair of boots shot out and sheated itself over and over as Haru tapped his foot against the dirt to pass the time. The day outside of the pub actually seemed to do quite a bit of good for the white haired boy, he woke up in the following morning with a new vigor in his body and he felt as though he could rush right back off to the dungeon and tackle the underground labyrinth for second time.
Though much to his own dismay Syr as well as some of the other waitresses convinced him to rest for just one more day before starting his training. Though the day had been rather long and grueling to suffer through, he did manage to get some decent work done while he lazied around in the attic for a majority of the day.
He had used a knife sharpening kit kept in the kitchen to get his knife in an at least passable condition with a fairly sharp edge, though several small dents and dinks in the blade still remained from his first botched attempt in the dungeon. He cleaned the dried blood off of his set of black boots and gave the protective metal toe plates a small spit shine to give them a slight glint.
The rest of his day he had spent examining the paint grenades that Syr had bought for him at the one store that they had visited only the day prior. From what he could tell there was a kind of paste that was thicker than water that was trapped inside with a thin outer casing that could be broken even if it was simply dropped or knocked around roughly. Meaning that if he did end up somehow being able to use the items he would have to be quite careful to not end up breaking them all in his pocket of backpack. There were easily a few dozen of the small items that filled up the crate, however he could not afford to waste any of them just messing around and trying to practice with them.
So instead he settled on carrying only one of the paint grenades with him and walking up and down the street just in front of the Hostess a few times, he gathered up a small collection of rocks that weighed as closely to the brightly coloured item as possible and took them to the small yard behind the Hostess. He set up several empty wine bottles that the Hostess had squeezed every last drop out of and set them up in a row along the table.
Haru had skipped rocks with his grandfather on the small river near their shared home so he had thought he would be somewhat decent at the activity. But as he quickly learned it was not as easy as he had believed it would be, he spent a couple of hours throwing the rocks at the bottles just to be able to hit the glass containers. Eventually the white haired boy got used to the weight and started to be able to knock the bottles and soon after that was able to knock them over completely. He would knock them all down a few times before he would back up a few more feet away from the bottles and try again from a farther distance, getting progressively better over his hours of nearly mindlessly twiddling around.
Haru was still unsure about the paint grenades and if he would be able to achieve anything even worth while with the items that for the most part sounded as though everyone else that had tried them gave up on. Though for some unknown reason that Haru could not explain he was still rather optimistic about that items, though he reasoned that it possibly had to due to the fact that if he didn't make them work out then Syr would have wasted another five hundred valis on him for nothing in return.
When Haru had woken up early and found himself unable to go back to sleep, he forced himself to get up from his bed and get dressed for the day. Though he was unsure as to what exactly to wear, so without knowing what to expect from the Elf he had just dressed himself as though he would be heading to the dungeon. He wore his stitched up brown pants and black long sleeve undershirt with his brown jacket with the black patch on the right shoulder overtop of his shirt. He wore the pitch black boots on his feet with the hidden blade inside the soul. He had the kitchen knife that Syr had gifted him strapped to his right thigh with an extra belt.
Once he was fully dressed he creeped his way down the stairs as quietly as possible as to not wake up anyone else, just because Haru had a poor sleeping schedule did not mean that everyone else around him also had to be the same.
While waiting outside in the small courtyard the white haired boy wondered about what exactly the Elven waitress had in store for his training, if she would just try and lecture him about the fundamentals of fighting or if she would be more of a hands on instructor and try to get him to practice movements.
As if she was some form of spirit just as Haru had thought about the blonde haired Elf she walked through the backdoor and into the backyard, she wore the same clothes that she had worn when Haru had seen her training for the first time. A simple loose white t-shirt with a pair of brown shorts. However she did not carry with her a wooden sword as she had done previously instead she carried two smaller blades in her hands stored in pitch black sheaths, to Haru's eyes the blades were nearing a foot and a half in length from the pommel to the tip.
"Good morning Mr. Fenris, I did not expect you to be up this early. Bad sleep again?" the Elf asked him as crossed her right arm over her chest and placed her other arm just below her elbow and stretched out her arm, repeating the process with the opposite arm a second later.
"Not my best sleep I will admit… but certainly not my worst! I was pretty excited and couldn't go back to sleep so I just got up a bit early to wait for you to show up, I thought you wouldn't be up until a bit later too."
"I normally get up around this time, I just stay in my room and make my bed and do my uniform usually and take a few minutes to really wake you ready for your lesson today? I have work after this so we do only have about an hour or two today, my apologies if this ends up being a bit short." the Elf said in a soft apologetic tone that the white haired boy was quick to respond too with a sharp bow.
"That's fine! It means a lot to me that you would be willing to train me and because I can't even pay you for the lessons right now… I really don't have any right to complain about how long you get to teach me for, I get that your job is more important. I don't blame you for that at all, so please don't apologize to me." Haru had kept his sight fixed on the ground and his feet while he spoke to the Elf, eventually he straightened himself back upright out of his small bow and smiled slightly. "So… what are we doing today?" Haru asked with a slight tilt of the head, something about the question seemed to put off the Elf a little bit and for a moment Haru had wondered if he had possibly said something wrong until the waitress spoke calmly.
"I had been putting a fair amount of thought into it… and I think that dodging attacks would be the best place to start. We can move onto other stuff afterwards… though I will admit… I have never trained someone how to fight before so I may not be the best instructor I am afraid." Ryuu said calmly as she took a step towards the white haired boy and rolled her shoulders a few times to get some mobility in her body.
"That sounds great to me Ryuu! Don't worry, I am sure that you will be an excellent teacher!" Haru said with a bright smile that helped to calm the Elf down at the very least a little bit, even if she did teach him poorly she doubted that the boy would particularly be able to tell or complain. Until it was too late, that is, if she did mess up her instruction there was a possibility that her teachings could cost the young boy his entire life and potential future. So she had not planned to go particularly easy on the boy and treat him as though he was a child, if he had really wanted to become an adventurer he would need to grow up quickly if he wanted to survive the perilous depths of the dungeon.
"I… I appreciate your optimism Mr. Fenris. With that said, I think that we should just get started right away."
"Sounds great!" Haru said as the Elf took another few steps towards him and extended her right hand with an open palm to hand him one of the two short katanas that she had brought outside the Hostess with her.
"Ryuu I can't possibly—" Haru stopped as the Elven waitress held up a hand to silence him as she closed her eyes for a moment and waited for the boy to stop speaking.
"Do not misunderstand Mr. Fenris, I am simply lending you the blade for the length of the lesson that is all. I would normally be fine with someone using their own weapon but I don't partially have a high confidence in the durability of your kitchen knife… so just use this for our lesson and give it back once we are finished."
"Oh, okay… t-thanks..." Haru reached out his own right hand and accepted the short katana and took a moment to examine it closer, it had a wooden handle painted black with a dark gold fabric wrapped around it to make a form of diamond shape design. He held the sheath with his left hand and placed his opposite hand on the handle and pulled the blade from its holster. The blade was quite shiny, so much so that Haru had to squint his eyes for a moment once he had pulled the blade from its home. A moment later he could see his reflection in the side of the blade, he could see his beat blue eyes like glowing orbs and his snow white hair in the reflection and he could see his own amazement on his face.
Though the blade was made for fighting more than vegetables like Haru's knife had been made for he could not spot even a single dent or blemish in the blade's edge. He slipped the sheath into the space between his pants and his belt to hold it in place, with his now free hand he touched the blade with his left hand to feel the blade and he gave himself a small cut on his index finger.
"Damn! Thats sharp…" Haru commented rather loudly as he waved his right hand around for a moment before popping his index finger into his mouth to lick his wound.
"It is quite sharp, so please be careful Mr. Fenris… it would be a real shame if our first lesson together ended in some big accident." the Elf commented as she pulled out her own blade and set down the sheath on the table a few feet away and walked back in front of Haru and crouched ever so slightly and got into a proper fighting stance.
"Alright… get into position Mr. Fenris so I can begin to assess how much exactly I am going to need to teach you." the Elf commented which for a second confused Haru, he was practically in position already and could not think of anything that he would normally be doing differently. He looked himself and up and down and shrugged slightly "I think I am ready, am I not?" he asked the Elf with a slight tilt of his head to the side.
"You are not, do you see anything wrong with your form right now?" the Elf asked with a slight sigh realizing that he did not even have a basic understanding to build off, and that she would have to build the base first and go from there.
"Not really, can you tell me what I am doing wrong?" Haru said as he gave himself one more look over and could not spot anything that jumped right out at him that he was doing wrong.
"I will do one better, I will show you."
"What's that suppos—" before Haru could finish his sentence Ryuu did a small dash forwards faster than Haru could blink let alone reasonably respond too in time. As she did a small spin to the right, lifted her right leg out and extended it out into a small kick the attack connected with the white haired boy's gut and sent him flying through the air. Several feet away he collided with the singular tree in the small courtyard and curled up into a little ball and groaned rather loudly and clutching at his stomach.
It took a few seconds for the Elf to realize what exactly had happened and she dropped her shoulders and loosened her grip on her blades handle enough that it nearly feel to the group before she shook her head and clutched it tightly again to the point that her knuckles were going almost as white as the young boy's hair. I went too far again… that's not good… Ryuu thought in her mind as she quickly made her way over to the white haired boy to make sure that he was still in the realm of the living.
Ryuu would be the first person to admit that she had a tendency to take things too far, if she was being truthful with herself she was rather pleased to be training with an actual person again and not just her imagination and dummies. Training by herself could only really get her so far, but she did not have that many other options given her situation. Some of the other waitresses at the Hostess had volunteered to train with her in the mornings though those training sessions had all ended in the same result, her training partner storming off to lick their wounds after Ryuu had taken it too far for the fifth or sixth time just that morning.
The Elven waitress admitted that she should have held herself back a lot more and eased into the training instead of jumping head first into the lesson. If the boy sat up and said to her that he was no longer interested in training with the Elf anymore Ryuu would not even blame the aspiring adventurer for his choice.
"M-Mr. Fenris ... are you alright? I-I do apologize for…. that… I will have to be min—" before Ryuu could finish her sentence, she saw the white haired boy slowly remove his head from its hide place, which was his legs that he had curled up to his chest. He had the most genuine, thankful smile that she had ever seen, which given what she had just done to the poor boy was the last thing that she expected to be greeted with.
The white haired boy slowly rolled over and sat back upright and used the tree that he collided with to support his aching body while he stood up, he kept his one hand on the tree to support himself while he continued to smile despite the pain. "T-thank you… f-for correcting me.. R-Ryuu…" the boy managed to stutter out as he appeared to be out of breath from the single kick. While the pain was killing the boy and he had a bit of a struggle just standing on his own two feet, he was thankful for at the very least two things in that memorable moment.
He was thankful to be taught by someone who could mold and make him into a real adventurer and not just another statistic of people that had died in the dungeon that month.
And Haru was thankful that he had elected to skip breakfast that morning, Syr's food tasted godawful going down and Haru did not want to learn what the same food would taste like coming back up.
"D-do you know what you were doing wrong…?" Ryuu asked several seconds later as nothing else came to mind on what to say to break the drawn out silence that was forming between the two individuals.
"Not quite… could you just tell me this time please…? After that kick I won't be forgetting whatever it is that I did wrong anytime soon…." Haru said as he laughed a small chuckle which he came to quickly regret as it sent another shot of pain through his stomach. With his opposite hand that was still clutching onto the katana, he wrapped it around his lower body to try and lessen the searing pain but to no avail.
"You… you kept your feet close together and weren't bending your knees… you will have a harder time keeping your balance and staying on your feet like that ... so keeping your legs more spread and bending your knees will go a long way…" Ryuu commented as she took a hesitant step backwards and waited for him to respond, it took a few moments for the boy to nod and eventually push himself away from the tree and wobble slightly for a second before gaining his balance back. "Are… are you sure that you are alright to continue?" Ryuu asked with a slight tilt of her head to the side.
"Yeah… yeah don't worry about me… all good here…" Haru said weakly as he gave Ryuu a small smile the best that he could to put the Elf at ease.
"Alright… try getting back into position, take your time…" Ryuu said as she averted her eyes for a moment as she found it increasingly uncomfortable to watch the poor boy try and stand on his feet without falling over as his knees were shaking slightly.
Ryuu's Elven ears twitched ever so slightly as she felt as though someone was watching the two, though she relaxed once she came to realize who it was that was exactly peeking at the two through a small gap between the wooden door and its frame. While she turned her attention back to the white haired boy that had assumed the ready position she got herself into the same position and prepared for her second charge.
"Alright, just try and dodge… I will go a lot slower this time..." Ryuu tacked onto the end of her statement, though mentioning to go slower was more of a reminder to herself then it was to help inform the boy. She waited for a nod of approval and when she received what she was waiting for she pushed off the ground and headed straight for the boy. Much to both the surprise of Ryuu and Haru himself the white haired boy jumped to the side to dodge the Elf's attack and did a small roll before settling in a crouched position and twisting around to face down Ryuu and keep his eyes on his attacker.
He actually managed to dodge… though I suppose to survive the dungeon he would have at least learned a little bit… let's see if he can follow it up… Ryuu thought in her head for a moment before she advanced towards the boy again, he was caught on the backfoot and had not managed to get back to his feet in time. Meaning that in order to dodge he would need to roll out of the way again, as he tried to roll to the right he could see Ryuu take a small side step to the left.
Haru had failed to dodge for a second time and his reward was a kick to his bicep that sent him skipping across the ground like a flat stone would across a slowly flowing river. Several seconds of groaning later Haru managed to sit back upright and got ready for another lecture from his Elven instructor. Though what he had received instead was a weird look in the Elf's eyes as she got back into position to continue her attack, as Ryuu made her push forward Haru scrambled backwards and just narrowly dodged the first of her attacks.
The attacks that came afterwards were just as close as Haru continued to kick his legs and push against the dirt with his palms backing as far away from the Elf as possible until he felt his back bump up against something and he was unable to back away any farther. He turned his head around to the right slightly and was able to see that while he had been so focused on the Elf that he had forgotten about his surroundings and crawled so far back that he had hit the wall of the building.
By the time that Haru looked back Ryuu was standing at his feet and looming over the white haired boy with her left leg raised up and ready to stomp down. He closed his eyes and crossed his arms out in front of himself to offer his torso a small amount of protection from the waitress as Haru got ready to accept yet another harsh kick.
Yet a few seconds had passed and no pain came, Haru slowly cracked open his eyes and parted his arms just a smidge to see that the Elf no longer had her leg raised and ready to kick him again and instead it was firmly planted on the ground. Much to Haru's surprise she leaned down slightly and offered the boy her right hand, he reached up with his own right hand and she assisted him in standing back upright with a small tug.
"That was not great…" Ryuu started as she let go of the boy's hand the second he was back to standing on his feet and stood with her hands on her hips while he had dusted himself off. "But, it was not terrible either… you did make some mistakes… though everything that you did wrong can be fixed up easily enough…" she added which seemed to brighten the white haired boys' smiles slightly.
"When you are in the dungeon staying on your feet is really important, not to say that you can't roll out of the way of attacks or fall down sometimes… those things happen after all. Just make sure to get back to your feet as quickly as possible, that is something to be mindful of Mr. Fenris." Ryuu said calmly as she took a step backwards and gave the boy a short break while she continued to correct the flaws in his movements.
"Additionally, you were so focused on me in the heat of the moment that you lost track of your surroundings… that can prove to be fatal and lead to your death. Keeping an eye on your opponent and making sure to not lose track of them is really important… but keeping track or the surrounding environment is also really important… I know that it can be difficult at times to try and focus your attention on the two but with enough practice in real situations you will find a good balance." Ryuu said softly as she wondered what exactly she should go about teaching the white haired boy next.
Before Haru could respond to Ryuu's critique of their brief interaction there was the slight creak of a door that led to the kitchen and they turned their heads in the direction of the sound. Ryuu knew who it was without even needing to look, the individual had been watching them for the past several minutes though because they had not particularly been an annoyance or a bother the Elf tried to pay it no attention.
"Aren't meow being a bit harsh on the poor boy Ryuu?" the black haired Cat Person said as she leaned up against the doorway and folded her arms, a small smug smile on her face. The Cat Person was wearing a pair of black shorts that left a majority of her thighs exposed and a loose white tank top that left her stomach open for the world to view.
"I am just doing what I feel is best, do you think that you could be doing any better?" Ryuu asked as she folded her own arms and kept a straight face directed towards the feline waitress.
"No, no… I wasn't saying that… just thought that I would remind meow to be careful, we don't want the boy to be bedridden again for a week or two after you… take things too far." Chloe commented as she pushed herself off of the doorframe and shut the door and walked a few feet towards the white haired boy.
"S-sorry Chloe… did we wake you up? I know that you have work in a little bit so if we woke you up I—" Haru was interrupted by the black haired Cat Person as she waved his statement off with her right hand.
"It's fine. I was going to get up soon anyway, when I saw meow doing this little lesson outside I thought I would swing by and say good morning is all." Chloe said softly as she took a few more steps towards the white haired boy and smiled slightly more with each step.
Once Chloe stopped walking and was just a foot away from the white haired boy as he had backed up against the wall she turned her head around and looked at the Elf with a small smile. "Hey Ryuu, how about letting me have a go? I promise to not scratch him up that bad and teach him something useful." she said in a reassuring voice.
Ryuu who had been standing only a few feet away pondered the offer, she was hesitant to accept the Cat Persons offer as she just like all the other waitresses in the Hostess was well aware of her interest in younger boys. Though Ryuu questioned for a moment if calling it simply an "interest" was a slight understatement, in reality it was more along the lines of a deep fascination and teetering on the edge of obsession.
Though she was hesitant she did remember that being taught by multiple people could prove to be beneficial for a learner, they get to learn from people with different skills and techniques. As well if they are taught by just one person they can start to develop the same bad habits that their instructors have so it would be beneficial at the very least.
With a small sigh and sag of her shoulders the Elf gave into the Cat Persons seemingly innocent request to help train the white haired boy in front of them and spoke calmly. "Fine… you can take a turn and teach him whatever you think would be best for him to learn…"
"Thanks Ryuu! Meow won't regret this!" the Cat Person said as she gave the Elf a thumbs-up with her left hand, though for some reason in the back of Ryuu's head she could not help but feel as though she would come to regret letting the black haired waitress have a go at Haru.
"I am probably going to regret letting you… but if you are not stupid you won't try anything… I am going to go and get a glass of water and I will be right back. Keep the training going while I am gone." Ryuu said as she walked over to the bench and retrieved the sheath for her short katana. She sheathed the blade and and set it back down on the table and made her way to the door that led into the kitchen, while she was walking to the door she thought if she should get the other two people that were in her company a shrink as well and turned around for a second to ask the question that popped up in her head.
"Mr. Fenris, do you want a glass of water?" she asked with a slight tilt of her head to the side while her face remained nearly emotionless. The boy did not even have to verbally answer her question before she knew the answer, just the look alone on his face was enough for the Elf to make an estimated guess what his response would be to her offer.
"I would love one… p-please if you don't mind!" the white haired boy said with a smile of relief at the thought of a cool drink to rid the dryness of his throat and tongue. He assumed that it was due to the fact that during the kicks he had received from Ryuu and the deep breaths he had to take to try and breathe normally his mouth had dried up more than a desert.
"Chloe, how about you?" the Elf asked though it was mostly out of common courtesy, she was quite sure what the response would be from the black haired Cat Person. Chloe was far more interested in drinking some form of alcohol than she was interested in drinking water. Ryuu had once asked if that was because Chloe was a Cat Person and they were said to have a general dislike for anything to do with water and she got to enjoy not only a rant about how that was an inappropriate question from not only the former assassin but also the other Cat Person waitress, Anya and even the Head Chef, May.
"Naw, I will pass… appreciate the offer though Ryuu." the Cat Person said as she did not bother turning around and simply waved a dismissive hand and a small flick of her slender tail.