Chapter Thirty-One - Unprentice

Hmm, this is AI art of Lucky:

Mingrix is working on another commission... uh, from me, but they'll get around to making real art of Lucky soon~

Speaking of Lucky, what do we think of her after this chapter?

Someone in the comments mentioned Seven Samurai, and... I legit kind of love the idea of Rosario slowly forming a band of very competent...ish young people who may eventually become the next generation of Great Generals in Eleanor's army... regardless of what Eleanor thinks of this, or how much she 'Oooooos' about it. Kind of a vague, long-term thing, though? for now, Lucky~!

***

Rosario checked the fit of her sword in its scabbard as she walked out of Smithville. The day was getting long; they had maybe an hour or two before the sun set. 

“That was generous of you,” Cricket said. “Are you so unbothered by money?”

“I am,” Rosario said. She had plenty to go around. Mostly because her expenses were rather minimal at the moment. Food and stays at a few inns were all she had to worry about for the foreseeable future. 

“Oh, a rich elfen lady, how enticing!” Cricket said. She bounced ahead, then came to a stop and pressed her hands to her lower back. “Ah, I am too old for this. You have pushed me too hard!”

“Just wait until tomorrow morning.” Rosario said. She cracked a smile when Cricket groaned. “Come on, we need to find these predators. Do you have any skills for spotting those?”

“Not a one,” Cricket said. “But the mayor mentioned some homes on the outskirts, yes? Thou must have a grand perceptive ability, can thou not hear the foe?”

Rosario tilted her head, ears twitching slightly, but her hearing wasn’t at that kind of level. She could certainly hear a lot; people in their homes, the wind in trees and the general bustle of a small town nearing the end of the day, but there wasn’t anything too obvious. No one was out there screaming ‘oh god, a horde of monsters!’ at the top of their lungs.

“Nothing, sorry,” she replied.

“Then we search most valiantly!” Cricket said. 

They started by circling south, away from the river and towards a row of farms, each one set a good ways apart from each other with some open fields around them. It wasn’t every house that was occupied, however. She saw signs of that sickness the mayor had mentioned in a few homes that looked recently abandoned. There were no animals grazing in their fields and the homes had collected dust and some minor damage, the sort that came from no one maintaining them for a season or two.

Cricket straightened at some point, the antennae atop her head twitching. “I think... there’s something?”

Rosario paused, then listened, and yes, she could hear something. Someone off in the forest, across from one of the unoccupied pastures. They were panting, moving quickly through the brush, and... maybe they were followed? “Good catch,” she said.

“My antennae are tuned to find trouble!” Cricket said. “Which is quite unfortunate, I wish they worked for finding interesting single ladies in need of a laugh.”

Rosario snorted, then she vaulted over the fence into the field. Cricket followed a moment later, and soon they were making their way across at a decent pace. “I’m leaving this fight to you,” Rosario said.

“What? But why?”

“You’re the one in need of grinding. Don’t worry, I’m here. Nothing will hurt you.”

Cricket tried to puff her cheeks out in a pout, but that was hard to do while jogging through knee-high grass. So, instead, she pulled out two long knives with colourful ribbons around their pommels from her inventory and then flipped them over, holding them by the blade. “Ready~”

Rosario nodded, then she squinted. The person running was slowing down, stumbling... “Hey!” she called out, a hand going to her mouth to help her voice carry. “Over here! It’s safer here!” 

They moved up a little closer to the forest. By the time they were nearly halfway there, someone burst out of the woods.

A young woman? She was stumbling over the uneven ground, face flushed and clothing clinging to her because of all the sweat. She was dressed rather simply. Patched-over pants, a loose blouse, and a sort of leathery underbust corset, the sort that Rosario had noted many women in town wore.

She shook her head and stopped focusing on fashion for just a moment. The woman was being followed by three... no, five [Forest Raptors] and all she had to defend herself was the bladed length of a broken scythe. 

“Take the three on the right,” Rosario said as she snap-inspected the monsters. All of them were [Forest Raptors] around levels 20-30. So, some were a little weaker than Cricket, others just a hair stronger. She believed in the [Jester] however.

The woman... didn’t stand as much of a chance. She was a level 21 [Farmhand] and she looked like she was seconds away from being grabbed even if she was slowly speeding up on the more even terrain.

Rosario could practically see what was going to happen. The young woman must have sensed it too, because she was spinning around, swinging that weapon of hers with all of her might. 

“Stay,” she said to Cricket.

Then Rosario blasted forwards, a hard shove off the ground allowing her to fly forward so quickly that the grass around her trajectory was shifted back.

Her thumb flicked the guard of her sword, flinging it out of its scabbard. Then her hand caught the hilt, wrist already moving into the first motions of a swing.

She [Cut] past the woman, spun, kicked the upper torso of a second [Forest Raptor] apart, then kicked apart a tree to bounce back. On the return trip she swung her sword twice, decapitating and bisecting a third [Forest Raptor] before sliding her sword away.

She scooped the young woman up, an arm under her knees, another around her back.

They came to a sliding stop next to Cricket, who was just reeling back to throw a knife.

Back where the young woman had been, the grass ripped apart by her sword strikes was still flying upwards.

“Are you well?” Rosario asked as she set the woman down.

She landed on both feet, but wavered for a moment, clearly a little dizzy. The movement may have been a little fast for a low-levelled NPC... no, for a low-leveled person.

Rosario paid half of her attention to Cricket, who laughed and bounced ahead while summoning more knives that she flicked out with surprising speed. They’d occasionally bounce off the toughened skin of the [Forest Raptors] but some of them dug in deep, leaving bleeding wounds behind and limiting their motion. A good thing, because the two remaining monsters focused on Cricket and were trying to snap her out of the air or disembowel her with their talons.

“You... you saved me. Thank you,” the young woman said.

Rosario nodded and stood up straighter, hands almost going to a default maidly stance before she remembered that she was a [Swordmaster] at the moment, not a maid. “It’s nothing,” she replied before finally properly [Inspect]ing the woman.

Lucile Smith

[Farmhand] - level 21

Lucile looked over to where she’d come from just in time for that tree that Rosario had used as a stepping stone to come crashing down. The raptors there were quite dead.

Cricket cackled in glee as she managed to take out one of the monsters chasing after her. The other was in a story state as well, with three knives poking out of its fur-covered sides. It was faster than Cricket on a straight run, but Cricket’s fighting style... and life style, involved very few straight anythings. 

“Are you well?” rosario asked. She touched the woman on the shoulder and turned her slightly, then winced. The girl’s pants were ripped, and the skin beneath showed several small cuts. She’d likely run through some bushes and the branches whipped at her hard enough to break skin. Reaching into her inventory, she pulled out the weakest of her potions and undid the cork. “Drink this, it will--”

The young woman took a step back, then against Rosario’s expectations, she bowed low at the waist. “Take me as your apprentice!” she shouted.

“Um.”

***

This was it! Her luck had finally turned!

A [Swordmaster]. And honest to goodness [Swoordmaster], and one on the cusp of becoming Titled. 

“Please, take me on as your apprentice,” Lucile said, still bowed. She had forgotten the pains and aches. They weren’t as important as this moment. The woman had moved so quickly that she had been little more than a blur to Lucile, and those monsters... she was strong. Properly strong. “I... I will do whatever I must.”

“I’m not looking for an apprentice,” the woman said.

Her companion, the woman in the brightly coloured garb that Lucile hadn’t had time to inspect yet, finished off the other [Forest Raptor] then cheered. “Level up! Woo! Cricket is the most powerful! Most strongest! Most prettiest! Bow before me world, and tremble as thine eyes feast upon my mighty form!”

Lucile glanced up and...

Cricket

[Jester] - Level 28

Well, she supposed that was impressive, but it was no [Swordmaster]

“Don’t cheer so much,” the [Swordmaster] said. “I saw many moments in that fight that could use some improvement. You have great movement abilities and yet you don’t use them enough in combat. Ah, young miss, I don’t need or want an apprentice, I’m afraid. Are you... Lucky? The mayor mentioned you.”

He had? No, of course he had, the meddlesome old man... though she supposed he was only looking out for her, and if he sent these two, then she owed him. Still.

Lucile crashed onto her knees on the ground and bowed even lower. “Please!” she shouted. She focused on the grass before her face. “Please! With all due respect, you don’t know me. I ask only for a chance! I... I will grow stronger.”

“No thank you?”

Lucile bounced to her feet, then reached towards the [Swordmaster] before stopping herself. She took a deep breath. No. “I’m not giving you the choice!” she shouted. “My name is Lucky Smith, and I’m going to be the world’s next [Sword Saint]!”

***