“Why? Are they poisonous?” I didn’t open with this question right away because it would be suspicious, but it was what I was aiming at from the start.
“Yes. Their blood can paralyze an adult for a couple of minutes, but since you’re small it should take you out for an hour. Also, it causes light hemorrhage, usually on your eyes, but if you concentrate it and mix it with purple death petals, the bleeding gets strong enough to kill an elephant before the effect goes away.” She said quickly like she was the biggest poison enthusiast in the world.
“Ok…”
That was… oddly specific. But good to know, I guess.
I couldn’t help but keep staring at her for a couple of seconds, I wasn’t expecting that level of detail.
“Uhm, hehe… I learned a bit about poisons so I could be better at making potions. I need to be careful about this stuff, you know? You wouldn’t want to drink a poisonous healing potion now, would you? If you know about the most common poisonous effects, you can prevent mixing something you shouldn’t.”
“Yeah, that makes sense!”
She sounded a bit suspicious at first, but I guess I was worried over nothing.
So, she knows alchemy, huh? With all that glasswork upstairs, I could ask her to teach me a bit. Only a bit though, I hate chemistry.
Just tell me what to mix together and in what order so I don’t accidentally kill myself.
Poison surely is useful in the right situation, especially since I’m still small. I wouldn’t want to eat poisoned meat though, so I won’t use it for hunting.
We continued leisurely walking towards the waterfall, when suddenly Luna stopped talking in the middle of answering my question about spells
“Big sister?” I asked while looking at her trying to guess if something was wrong.
My answer came immediately. She had a serious look, and I could see coldness in her eyes, she wasn’t making any exaggerated facial expressions, but somehow just looking at her chilled me to my bone. It was like she turned into a completely different person.
She stopped walking and seemed to have noticed the shocked look on my face, because she turned to me with her usual smile and said:
“Don’t worry Cona, there are some bad guys following us, but Luna will take care of them, ok? You just need to close your eyes and only open them when I tell you to.”
As soon as she finished saying that she turned again to stare directly in front of her with that same cold look. Her smile vanished faster than it had appeared.
I pretended to close my eyes at first, but obviously I kept them slightly open. I wouldn’t miss this opportunity for anything. Not only I would witness my first real fight, I could also participate in it if I waited for the right moment. To say my body was filled with adrenaline was an understatement.
Holy shit! It’s finally happening! All those years daydreaming that I was reacting to a mugging were not for nothing after all!
Ok… I can do this. I watched enough gore on the internet to make a serial killer blush, and I’ve been in enough fights to not tense up now. I just have to pretend I’m an innocent child and strike at the right moment.
I don’t have Toba’s strength, but I have courage. I’m sick in the head! I’m a sick bastard! I can do this!
“How long are you going to keep following us for? Aren’t you ashamed of skulking around a lady and a child?”
Just as she finished saying that I started hearing movement in the nearby bushes, and then I noticed we had walked into a little clearing. It wasn’t big, but it was the only clearing near the waterfall that I can remember.
If they had been revealed earlier when we were surrounded by trees, we would be frighteningly close to them, and they could attack without time for us to react… Has she led them here on purpose?
Just as I was beginning to see Luna in a new light, four bandits walked out from behind trees. How did I know they were bandits? Because they were the most stereotypical bandits imaginable.
Some wore hoods, others wore bandanas, one had a shaved head, and all had lots of scars and bruises. I mean, come on, they had leather armor and short swords, for God’s sake! It was impossible to be blander than that.
It was like they were randomly generated, if I squinted really hard, I’m sure I would be able to see their level and health bar.
Guys, a little variety would be nice, this is my first combat, you know? It should be a little special.
Just as I thought that, two more bandits appeared, readying their bows.
Fuck… What kind of comedic timing is that?
At this point I was starting to get a little nervous, the made-up scenarios in my head were all 1x1, I couldn’t fight more than one adult at once, even if they looked like a generic level 1 bandit.
Luna seemed to maintain the same cold expression, not even a hint of doubt or fear in her eyes.
It was scary, but at the same time it soothed me. If she knew their exact number before, it meant that she was really skilled, and if she didn’t but also didn’t flinch even a little when they came out, then she surely had the strength to back up that calm and composed attitude.
“Woman we all know you’re not just a helpless lady, you can drop the act now. What happened to the three men we sent to investigate the tower, huh?”
“You mean the three bandits you sent to rob us? Who knows, maybe a tiger ate them.” She said playfully in a surprisingly threatening way, it was like the bandits were no more than ants in front of her.
“Fine… Play your game all you like, I don’t know how you got in that tower, but you will tell us all about it soon enough… hehehe.”
The man with the disgusting laughter was one of the four bandits with swords that appeared, he seemed to be the leader, but he wasn’t dressed any different.
What really caught my attention, however, was what he said about the three other men he had sent, how long have we been observed for? I thought this forest was in a secluded place since Luna was the only other human I saw, but apparently, we’re not as alone as I thought.
I unconsciously got closer to Luna and tightened the grip on my sword, she seemed to be waiting for something and was observing them carefully, her eyes seemed glued on the two archers standing further back.
The “Leader” noticed that too, and when her eyes wandered again to the archers, he and two other bandits started moving from our left and rushed at her with surprising speed.
They were fast, I could still follow their movements with my eyes, but my reaction time didn’t even come close to being able to react to it. Luna, on the other hand, reacted so immediately to their movements that if it wasn’t for the clear attempt at a surprise attack on their part, I wouldn’t be able to figure out who moved first.
I didn’t know when a dagger had appeared in her left hand, but just as the first bandit got into range, she parried his sword perfectly, and struck his right eye at an angle in a perfectly fluid movement. I didn’t have time to be impressed, however, because as soon as she did that, my brain got overwhelmed with information.
Not only the other two bandits had closed the distance, but I also heard bows being fired from the direction of the archers. Not only that, but the fourth melee bandit started rushing at me from behind!
It was too much happening at the same time, so I decided to try my luck avoiding the arrows and focus on not dying with a sword stab on my back.
Turns out real combat was a bit more complicated than that.
I just about managed to turn around and already saw a sword coming in my direction, all I had time to do was tighten the grip on the hilt as much as possible and strengthen my base.
Luckily, I was already holding my sword in front of me, and I don’t know if the bandit attacking me was underestimating me or if it was just incompetence, but he didn’t change the trajectory of his attack.
His medieval style short sword clashed against my gladius, and somehow It didn’t go flying out of my hand.
My entire body ached, my arms hurt like they were going to break, and I was almost thrown to the ground, I just barely managed to keep standing while holding my sword. Much to the surprise of the bandit it seemed.
“What the fuck?”
That confirmed it, he wasn’t expecting resistance at all.
I fought against every instinct in my body that was trying to make me stand there like an idiot, I had thought badly of Luna before because she often stood in shock when something surprised her, but now that my life really was at risk, I was the one who was about to get killed by inaction.
I had to move, I spent all my life saying men were made to fight wars with swords and hunt game with spears instead of sitting for 8 hours in a chair listening to teachers rambling, I couldn’t waste time now that I got what I wanted.
I knew I was a hypocrite, but I needed to pretend at least a little bit!
I screamed at the top of my lungs to shake away the fear, and taking advantage of the bandit’s surprise, I stabbed in front of me with one hand while taking a large step forward.
I didn’t aim, I didn’t have time to even think about aiming. But… I was a kid still, and so, much to the dismay of my opponent, my sword pierced halfway through his crotch.
That’s a weird angle to defend, I guess.
“AAAAAAAAARGH… YOU LITTLE SHIT, I’LL KILL YOU.”
My eyes widened as I stared at the blade coming straight down my head, I didn’t have time to react at all. All I could do was scream.
Well, I guess this is it. Considering Luna doesn’t cure him or something, at least I can die knowing that I won’t leave this world with a negative KD.
My scream was interrupted with a sharp sound of metal clashing. And a moment after, the bandit’s neck painted my face red, squirting blood like a garden sprinkler as he fell on his knees.
“Luna?” I turned around in confusion. Just a few seconds had passed, had she already finished her fight?
I was so afraid and immersed in my first battle to the death, that I didn’t notice the sounds of the battle behind me. The two other melee bandits were laying on the ground with stab wounds in their necks, right next to the leader that had his brain pierced through the eye earlier.
As I turned again to check the archers, I stepped on two broken arrows, their tips were dented like they had hit solid rock, but what scared me the most was that they were clearly pointing at me. I don’t know what Luna did, but it saved me.
Just as my senses were fully returning from the shock, a terrible smell invaded my nostrils, and then I remembered I was going to check the archers before my attention was caught by the arrows at my feet.
It was a gruesome scene to say the least. The archers were blown in half and completely carbonized, the grass near them was also completely black, with the fire slowly advancing around the black ring of the explosion. The only color inside that black ring where 4 halves of human shaped coals stood was the red and pink of their guts slowly crawling from inside their bodies, breaking flakes of burnt flesh and organs in the process.
Did I mention I had seen plenty of gore before? Well, let me tell you something, the internet doesn’t smell.
“Blech…” I ungracefully vomited a little from the putrid smell.
The battle was over, and only now I was beginning to realize that I almost died. With the adrenaline leaving my body I was beginning to feel nervous again, but that’s to be expected. Life or death situations were not something I was used to yet, but I would be fine in a couple of minutes.
Huh? Why… Why am I crying? Why can’t I stop? Shit, I can’t let Luna see me like this!
In my head I was trying my best to stay calm, and in some sense, I was.
I was still in shock of course, but as I said before, that was to be expected. For some reason, however, I couldn’t stop myself from crying a bit, and my body was lightly shivering.
Luna was quick to notice me, she had a sad expression on her face that was full of regret.
As she got close, she knelt down, cleaned the edges of my mouth with her robe and gave me a tight hug. We were both covered in blood, and the smell of burnt flesh was still strong as ever, but somehow that hug was enough to make me forget about all of it.
Damnit! Why am I like this? Am I that much of a pussy? I already died once, I shouldn’t be so afraid.
“You should have stayed with your eyes closed Cona, when big sister is with you, you’ll always be safe, you can trust me.” She said while her regretful face slowly gave way to a comforting smile. She was obviously blaming herself but wouldn’t let that trouble her now that her attention was needed. Surprisingly mature.
“But I- I would die if I didn’t guard that blow.”
“I kept my eye on you, I didn’t interfere because you acted quickly and I saw the resolution in your eyes, but I had a spell to protect you.”
Those words stung a little, my life was never really in danger since she apparently had total control of the situation, but even with her assisting me, in the end I couldn’t finish the job.
“So, you believed in me, but I still couldn’t kill him by myself in the end. If I had reacted after my initial blow, I could have killed him. I had plenty of time to do it since the pain took him by surprise, but my body didn’t react fast enough.”
She had a slight surprise on her face as I said that, I usually tried to speak in a way fitting for a kid but I ended up being careless due to all the strong emotions I was feeling.
“Cona, your body could fool someone with all that muscle, but you’re still 3 years old remember? No matter how strong you are already, and how fast your hybrid heritage makes you develop, you simply don’t have the experience yet, no children should have.”
The experience part is true, but I’m not 3 years old…
“Besides, you did great today, you made the right judgement trusting your back to me, and because of that you almost managed to win against a much more skilled adult. In fact, to be honest I’m a little shocked at how you managed to stand your ground.”
“… That’s only because of my training, but I could have killed him if I reacted faster.”
“…” She paused for a minute with a complicated look on her face, it was like she was pitying me, but there was also something else mixed in there.
“What?”
“That word… No child should say that word so casually.”
“…” Now it was my turn to be speechless, even if the crying helped me maintain appearances a little (which was on purpose by the way, I definitely wasn’t scared after almost dying), I was still insensitive in my words, I had to remember I was still a child.
She was surely suspecting something by now, if I didn’t come up with a good story, I would be up against the wall soon.
“Just who was it that took care of you and Toba before I found you two? You already knew how to do all those weird training movements, but you didn’t even know how to speak.”
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