Counterpart

Chapter Nine

The three fighters all looked up at Rin as he approached. Two were men, both towering over Rin. The third was a girl, about the same size and age as himself. She had smooth brown hair, held back by an intricate hair tie.

"Hey." Rin slowly walked up to the group.

"Evening." One of the men said, leaning on the hilt of his wooden longsword. "Here for practice or something?"

"Well," How should Rin put this? "I think I'm going to be joining Karlysia. My mentor wanted me to introduce myself before I started."

The group just gave him a confused stare in return. "You're joining...at the tail end of winter?"

Rin shrugged. "I think I count as a special case."

"I'm Klyson." One of the men reached out to shake his hand. He was the tallest of the three, with golden hair of medium length. He looked Rin up and down before focusing on his forearms. "I don't mean to be rude, but you don't strike me as a very seasoned mage."

"I'm Rin, and I'm getting there. My mentor thinks I have a lot of potential." The other three had streaks of light trailing down to their wrists, with a glow even stronger than what Avelyn had. "But now that you mention it, I guess it's not guaranteed I'll be joining."

The other man spoke up. "This place is only meant for cadets and Karlysia students, but we don't have anything going on at the moment." He nodded to the small arena. "Name's Jonathan. You should probably stay sharp on sword fighting before heading to school." Karlysia isn't an ordinary school for mages. It has strong ties with the military and government-those who join are expected to serve a crucial role as soldiers. Physical fitness and combat techniques are taught as often as labia is.

"I'm...not great at that, either."

"Better get practicing, then." Klyson opened the gate. "Why don't you hop in with Cara? She'll go easy on you. Jon and I are about ready to head out, anyways."

Rin stood on the opposite side of the small court, his new opponent directly across from him. He lifted the wooden replica of his saber in the best stance he could manage, which didn't seem to phase Cara at all. She lifted her own as the two slowly approached one another.

Maybe I should have just told them I didn't have any practice at all...Even now, it looked like she was taking the fight far more seriously than she needed to.

If I'm fast...maybe I can get a lucky shot at her leg. That was always the key to winning back at his hometown. Just before their blades touched, Rin swung low with all his strength. Cara swept her foot back just in time before bringing her blade down straight on Rin's head.

His vision flashed white as he fell into the dirt with a thud. Cara already had her sword stashed away before he was back on his feet. "Next time," She strode out of the arena. "Don't lie about going to Karlysia. That's pretty disrespectful to those who did put in the effort to get there." She walked back into the streets, leaving him alone in the training grounds.

Rin was sitting next to his horse as Magnus rode back. "Hey. Did you get to know the others before they left?"

"More or less." Rin stood. "Are we in?"

"...You could say that. But we may need to show your ability to more than just the monarch, if we want to reach her."

Rin untied his horse. "There isn't a problem with that, right?" The entire kingdom will know before too long.

"Believe me, it's a concern. The paranoia towards corrupted mages has only been growing for the past couple months." Magnus shook his head. "We'll be walking up to the duke and showing him you wield aibal. He could very well try to cut you down on the spot." Oh. Rin's heart sank. "But if we're careful, I'm confident we can prove you're on our side. Just don't go flinging around aibal at every turn, and we should be alright."