They hiked for nearly an hour to the last known location of the goblin party. It was a small crossroad on a backwoods trail, paths that lumberjacks would use but rarely saw commercial travel. The sighting had been yesterday, and there was plenty of evidence of the mage: shrubbery had been flattened with boulders, while the ground was ripped up with rocks and potholes. As far as he could see, there were no obvious tracks leading away from the battle. A resigned groan threatened to overtake him at the prospect of another wild goose chase for some goblins.

  Luckily, the battle was not entirely devoid of information. Their opponent was obviously a geomancer; judging by the holes in the path and shrubbery, it seemed they relied on throwing earth around rather than any clever terrain manipulation. A small sigh of relief escaped his lips at being proven right, and he shared the insight with the other two. Syra nodded back while Rayne took on a contemplative look.

  “Is there a danger of them casting other sorts of magic?” Rayne asked. His voice carried neither fear nor trepidation at the prospect, merely a curiosity.

  Syra gave him a so-so gesture. “Maybe. Learning one kind of magic is hard enough for civilized scholars, though. If it were a hobgoblin, I might worry, but reports are clear they’re just a plain one. Trying to whip out any other type of magic would just backfire on it”

  “We shall still need to find them first,” Leon interjected.

  The two nodded as they all split up around the crossroad and looked for anything that might speak of where the goblins had gone. Leon tried to remember the lessons on tracking from the books he had read, his eyes roving the ground for footsteps or disturbed greenery. It was frustrating how little he saw, even more frustrating when Syra called them over, crouched down and examining a spot he had already looked over and disregarded.

  “Looks like they went south,” she concluded after a moment of thought.

  “They’re probably camped along the north bank of the river then, unless they’re fording it every day for raids,” Rayne deduced immediately.

  “We should comb it from the lake and move in-land, look for any signs of them from upriver,” she said as she stood back up, already making her way back into the forest.

  Rayne followed after her, and Leon followed after him. Off the lumber roads, the conversation in front of him died down as they all kept watch for monsters; he could still catch occasional snippets of conversation and snickers, however.

  Occasionally, they would stop, Syra stooping low to investigate some innocuous detail. It was a frustrating endeavor trying to notice the clues she picked up: tracks in the ground he could not make out, bushes disturbed in such a way that was apparently indicative of goblins rather than deer. Nevertheless, he tried, all his concentration spent on the futile attempt to track as well as she did, or even to see what she saw.

  So it was that Leon only had a few seconds to react upon hearing the rustling of some nearby foliage. He managed to draw his greatsword as five banivs burst from the underbrush. Syra and Rayne seemed to have been surprised by the sudden appearance as well, and while the Katiine recovered gracefully, the same could ill be said of his student.

  Leon considered rushing in to deal with the enemies, but held himself back. Five banivs were hardly a threat, but they still presented a unique opportunity to see how his companions handled monsters. Staying back, Leon observed the two leap into action.

  Syra was quick and managed to kill a monster before Rayne had even finished pulling out his sword. She then dispatched two more while Rayne awkwardly faced off against the last two. Leon, meanwhile, stood to the side with his sword still sheathed, and watched his student clumsily take on two banivs. He was cognizant of Syra eyeing the banivs and Rayne with trepidation, but took comfort in the fact that she was confident enough in his student’s skills to sheathe her own shortswords and walk up next to Leon.

  “You didn’t react.” It felt like more of a statement rather than an accusation as she waited on his response.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  He gave her a shrug. “If you two had failed to deal with a few banivs, we really should not be hunting goblins.”

  She laughed quietly. “That’s true, but not exactly fair.” He raised an eyebrow and she continued. “You get to judge us, but we learn nothing about you.”

  He hummed even if the observation was empty. They had seen each other fight in initiation, and they had seen the aftermath of goblins he had slain single-handedly. While Syra’s skills were similarly not in question, he had wanted an opportunity to see what his student was capable of, or more accurately what he would need to learn.

  The man in question had managed to deeply wound one of the monsters while they were talking, and as far as he could tell, had not been hit yet. But it was still a slow process full of dodges and weak swings against two low-ranked monsters.

  Syra kept an eye on Rayne as she continued. “So, why don’t you spill a bit about yourself.”

  Leon considered her for a moment before speaking. “I have D-rank strength and high E-rank for my other stats. I believe you know that I am capable in combat.”

  She gave him a half-smile even as she rolled her eyes at his self-analysis. “I sorta meant outside fighting. Why’d you become an adventurer at all? I’d have thought someone like you might have safer job options.”

  “I am a good fighter.” He stood a little taller. “And once I am firmly in the Gold-rank, I will have the influence and coin needed to reestablish my house.”

  She raised an eyebrow, but lost the opportunity to inquire further as Rayne finished off the two banivs. He seemed a bit tired but otherwise uninjured. The monsters were riddled with slashes and wounds. They were not clean kills nor efficient, but they at least showed him that there had been progress since initiation.

  Having finished off the foes, Rayne did not seem the most pleased to see the two of them standing around without helping, glaring at them even as he was stooped over and taking in great gulps of air.

  “Thanks—” He gasped for breath. “For the help you guys. Real nice teamwork.”

  Syra gave him a sly smile. “We thought you had it and you did. Good work there, champ, you did great. We’re sooo proud of you.”

  Leon felt his face heat up at the implicit suggestion in her words. Thankfully, it seemed his companions were too busy to notice. Rayne growled and Syra laughed while Leon made sure to regain his composure before speaking.

  “We shall focus on your offensive abilities once we return,” he instructed.

  “‘No defense? He spent the entire fight dodging rather than parrying?” Syra asked.

  Leon shook his head. “Evasion works better for his style than defense, and he’s too weak to properly block and counterattack anyhow.”

  She nodded approvingly at his explanation while Rayne merely groaned in anticipation of the training he was to be subjected to.

  It was a nice atmosphere, Leon decided, for how short a time it lasted before they were walking again. Occasionally, Syra would call back to ask him a question, he would politely respond and ask a question back when applicable, but their conversations would inevitably lull after that, and she would return to her dialogue with Rayne as a duo.

  Rather than dwell on how to maintain conversation, Leon instead thought on how best to train Rayne now that he had seen him in real combat. His basic footwork was decent, and he knew how to avoid getting hit, the issue seemed to come from his ability to finish an opponent. He could have him wail at a dummy for hours on end, but that was not exactly a great image as a trainer. Perhaps they could have a mock duel where dodging and blocking were illegal.

  That might make for better torture rather then training—I might kill him by accident.

  He sighed, being a teacher really was more complicated than he had expected. Rayne was an entirely different type of student than he had been, along with being in a wholly different situation. It was not as though he could exactly take the time to train him up from a child, slowly building a foundation and improving along the way. Any bad habits Rayne learned would stick as he would lack the freedom to try alternative styles. In a job of life and death, people would resort to whatever they were most comfortable in, and as such, that style would continually ingrain itself onto the fighter, regardless of intention in training.

  He was not sure if the man realized it or not, but he had already settled on a style, so it was Leon’s job as the teacher to make sure he could fight as best he could with that method. Even if he himself was more familiar with a different one.

  His companions laughed ahead of him while he stared at the back of his student. In time, he would need to train knights for his household, and before that whatever companions he formed a group with. This was but the first of many trials, and his pride demanded no less than perfection right away.

  Rayne would become a competent fighter, nay, a great one. He would make sure of it.