What'd I do now? I mean, why challenge me teh a duel out of nowhere? Usually yeh at least know the guy yer challengin first, right? I mean, did I like call somebody yeh know something bad or stop yeh from doing something without knowin? Or is this just 'let's find some way teh beat up the street urchin when he's stronger than we are'? | ||
The best way to show how good you are is to duel a creature which would be more or less of a worthy opponent. To duel a new & a very kind creature with totally no strength or skills does not speaks good about the challenger. | ||
Alder spent about five minutes reading and rereading the letter with an expression of passive curiosity before a frown slowly crossed his face. The fact that somebody could blame him for what he had done in that duel to him meant that the people of Widu were still just as low as ever in how they treated him. This was just when he was beginning to think that they might be starting to see that he was a person too, but apparently they still couldn't put their old hatred of Alder, the supposed changeling and street urchin who had lived off of the work of others for most of his life behind them.
Well, either that or this person was very very stupid. All the more reason for the boy to be annoyed. People who acted before thinking created the majority of the world's problems as far as he was concerned, and this person was clearly either just looking for an excuse to beat up the boy, which meant that they still were incapable of thought, or worse, had not even tried to get the story behind the duel before trying to get revenge. Hell, he hadn't even spoken to the person who Alder had apparently 'wronged', when, not only were duels a common place way to get stronger, but also, she had accepted it. That meant that she too was willing for the duel to go ahead. Even an idiot could make that conclusion, but apparently this challenger wasn't thinking. Well, this was almost certainly about his duel with the fairy or pixie or whatever they were called now.
Alder cursed softly, then went to the training ground as was his custom. He had long since passed the point where hacking at a wooden training dummy would do any good, but he still had to keep in practice. That was not his real reason for being here today though. He would spend three hours every day here, which was more than long enough to observe the comings and goings of other creatures. Now, the new guy with the sword... looked mostly like a human, but you could never be sure around here.
Once he turned up, Alder made his excuses and left, just to come back moments later from another direction and wearing a different form. He usually preferred not to use his abilities, but this was a special case. With this form, he sat down for five minutes and observed the entire training ground. The new guy was nothing special as far as Alder was concerned. Yes, he had some potential perhaps, but if Alder could be taught to fight, then everybody in the world could become masters with enough training. The man's stances were off in subtle ways that Alder was sure he could take advantage of, and his swings were slow and lacked power compared to what Alder knew he could do. In other words, he was not a threat.
With that in mind, Alder went and accepted his duel. It might have been easier to write him a letter explaining the situation, but he had tried that approach with many people, many times before, and it rarely worked. That meant that he might as well try an experiment now while he couldn't lose. The experiment was this: if somebody won't listen to reason, is it possible to beat reason into them? If so, what is the best way to do it?
The boy arrived at the arena an hour before the prearranged time, just as the sun was starting to go down. He was equipped with nothing but a dagger that was barely longer than two fingers placed end to end. The only remarkable thing about this dagger was that although it was nicked in many places, it was polished until it shone, with not a speck of rust on it. It was the weapon the boy had first used when coming to this arena, and while he had better equipment now, this was what he had brought with him today, and he had brought it for one reason only. As his opponent approached, he placed the dagger purposefully on the ground and opened his fists, falling back into a defensive stance. When his opponent attacked, he would slap the flat of his sword away or step aside if he could and then... wow, that man did look angry. Whatever, that would just make the experiment more conclusive.
Alder's hope was that if he could beat the man with no weapons, he'd be taken seriously. He had to beat the man first, make him realise how totally outclassed he was, and then maybe he'd listen once his rage had been replaced with whatever was left of his reason.
It was worth a try. Now Alder just waited for the arena master to give the signal to begin the duel.