With a quick greeting to all the Twin Horns we were soon loaded up and leaving Ashber. Like my parents they all seemed to be kind people and looked after us as if they were our family. Taking time out of their adventures to help repair our house when Arthur blew it up, even just stopping by when they were in the area. Which to me seemed like quite a lot with how out of the way Ashber is.
Me Arthur and Mother were in a wagon with with Durden and Angela, while the other wagon had Helen, Dad, Jasmine and Adam. It was so Angela and Durden would be closest to us for protection, or so Dad and Helen came up with. It was interesting to see the dynamic between the group as they fell in to motion with almost no disruption.
During the ride I was finding it to be quite uncomfortable riding in the wagon due to the stuff wheels not providing any cushion over the rocky road. I had to do some breathing exercises to push away the nausea that came with it. Thankfully looking out of the wagon and feeling the fresh mountain air on my face helped keep it at bay. Meanwhile Arthur was somehow able to read from his books despite it all. I don't know how he can do it, though I guess I got car sick on Earth as well.
However it wasn't long until the travel caught up to our toddler bodies. Even Arthur with his core wasn't able to fight the tiredness he felt and we were soon sleeping on a pallet of blankets in the wagon. I did my best to ignore the coos and giggles of Alice and Angela as they watched us. We ended up sleeping until we stopped later that night where we would set up camp and eat dinner.
"I heard your pops say that you're some kind of genius mage… Is it true you've already awakened?" Helen asked while sitting down on the opposite side of Arthur from me. We had all settled in for the food that had been cooked up, a nice meaty stew that warmed my small body against the chilly mountain air.
Once Arthur confirmed, they began talking about his core and what stage it was at. This conversation reached the ears of the others around the campfire, namely Adam.
"Hey Reynolds, do you mind I test little Art and maybe Roland too if he's feeling up to it?" Adam asked with curiosity in his voice.
"Ahh, I'm not a mage yet." I said half disappointed and half thankful that I wouldn't have to spar with an adult.
"Yet! Which means you will be soon, so you might as well train when you have the chance to get stronger." Adam responded with a smile. I looked to our parents for help, but it seemed they didn't mind the suggestion.
"Alright but be careful. They haven't done much combat training yet." Reynolds said and I gave him a look of betrayal but he didn't seem to see it. I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to see Arthur who looked at me with an equally exasperated face, but he still had a bit of confidence
"C'mon Roland, it's just practice after all. Follow my lead." Arthur said with an encouraging smile, and I envied the confidence that he had in himself.
"Come here kids. Haha, let's see what you two are made of!"
We squared off against the red haired spearman, though now he was armed with a wooden stick that he had broken off a tree. Me and Arthur wielded our wooden sword and while I held mine in the basic stance our father had taught us, Arthur had a slightly different and more imposing stance.
Without saying a word he suddenly dashed off towards Adam, both of them reinforcing their weapons with mana while all I could do was hurry after. Arthur was fast, but I was faster at least until he pushed mana into his body to increase his speed. I could somewhat keep up, but he still reached Adam a good three steps ahead of me.
Arthur had faked a horizontal strike from the left, but after a set rapid steps he had readjusted and was bringing his sword from the right. The brief maneuver had allowed me to catch up, and true to his veteran adventurer status Adam was able to recover and force Arthur to adjust. His stick whipped up with enough force for it whistle between me and Arthur and based off his reaction he was also surprised that I was there already.
Arthur had crouched and began to jab out, but spun instead when he saw me on his left. My strike was a much slower swing to Adam's left due to my manaless body, not to mention my limited time with swords. He quickly shifted, trying to put me between him and Arthur, striking down at my sword to knock it away. I attempted a roll forward and the sudden movement caught him off guard but I was painfully shown my error as his stick caught me across my forearms before I was able to tuck and roll.
However it was worth it as he no longer had me separating him from Arthur and I was now behind him. They exchanged a couple swings at each other while I gritted my teeth against the pain in my arms. My hands begged me to drop my sword, but when I turned and saw their fight something welled up with in me. I didn't want to be so weak that I couldn't even take one strike from a stick.
Arthur managed a strike in Adam's ankle that caused it to buckle. Right when it seemed Arthur was going to capitalize on it, Adam went into a split, spinning to try and leg sweep him. When Arthur jumped up I knew he would be defenseless so I lunged as far as my small body would allow at Adam's side.
He was already swinging his stick for Arthur's airborne form and my lunge was slightly off target, hitting him in the arm instead of his side. This knocked his strike slightly off going under Arthur's prepared guard to which it came back whacked me as Arthur brought his sword down in an over head swing at Adam.
I didn't get to see what happened as I was sent tumbling with an ache rapidly spreading across my left ribs. By the time I stopped rolling I saw Adam sitting on the ground running his arm where I struck it him and Arthur was spread out breathing heavily with his sword several feet away lying next to Adam's stick.
I just flopped back and let out a deep breath which I instantly regretted as pain shot through my ribs. However, despite the pain, I could feel a smile spreading wide across my face as I looked up at the night sky. I was sure that this was the most fun I had ever had. I could feel my hand still clenching the sword in my right hand and I realized that I really liked the feel of it in my hand.
"Oh dear, are you alright?" My mom crouched next to me as she looked over me worriedly.
"Mom, I hope I form my core soon so that I can get stronger." I said happily as I looked at her. Soon Arthur was standing beside her along with Dad all looking at me with the same warmth I felt for them. I went to sit up by pushing myself up and instantly regretted it. My arms throbbed viciously and my ribs hurt more than anything I had felt since coming to this world.
"Geez, you're just like your father and brother." Mom muttered as she held out her hands, and that familiar warm and soothing healing energy engulfed me and the pain eased rapidly.
"Haven't taught them to fight my ass! How the hell did you train these little monsters? Adam groaned as he rubbed at a new sore spot on his head that seemed to have came from Durden thumping him after the spar. Though I got the feeling that he was more talking about Arthur, after all I did little more than swing my sword like a club. Several things I did I imagine were quite stupid, if anything I was lucky his strikes had hit my arms and ribs and not my head. Though I guess luck plays a part in a fight as well, it just up to the person that can take advantage of it when the moment appears.
"Mom I think im ready to sleep". I said as I felt my eyes growing heavy, the adrenaline leaving my body and the fatigue of the day washing over me.
"That sounds like a good idea." Mother nodded, and just before we were about to head to the wagon Jasmine stepped next to Arthur.
"Your fighting style is… unique. How did you do that step after the feint?" Arthur's surprise was evident from her words.
"Thank you?" He managed in reply, despite being caught off guard by Jasmine of all people talking. I wanted to learn it too, but my body was just too exhausted to do anything more than be carried to tent I would be sleeping in and passing out. I'll have plenty of time for Arthur to teach me his techniques anyways.