One week in Redmere had settled into a rhythm.
Morning contracts. Forest sector. Return. Eat. Check the board. Repeat.
Marcus and Liz walked the main thoroughfare in the mid afternoon when the city was at its busiest, the particular energy of a settlement that had found its pace and stayed in it. Stalls busy, guild members moving between buildings, the usual mix of players and natives occupying the same space with the practiced tolerance of people who had stopped finding each other surprising.
"You've been faring well without using Malachar."
Liz walked beside him with her hands loose at her sides, the observation coming out casually like something she had been sitting on for a few days.
"I've almost forgotten you even have him."
"Can't always rely on him." Marcus kept his eyes on the street ahead. "I needed to know what I was without him first."
"And?" She replied in a low soft tone.
"Getting there."
He pulled up his stats mentally while they walked.
[STR: 30 / 100]
[SPD: 32 / 100]
He looked at the numbers for a moment.
No wonder everything feels lighter. Both figures had moved steadily through a week of consistent work and solo roaming, killing strays between contracts, never fully stopping. This is what refusing to sit still amounts to.
He checked Liz's stats through the party system out of habit.
[LIZ — LEVEL: 30 / 100]
Up from twenty three after the Sentinel fight. Seven levels in a week of consistent engagement. He looked at the number and felt something that wasn't quite pride but was in the same direction.
Atleast she's keeping pace.
Then he checked his currency.
[CURRENCY: 463 COINS]
Thirty seven short of the five hundred coin . He looked at the number with the flat patience of someone who had been watching it climb for a week and was tired of watching it climb.
""You're doing the thing again," Liz said.
"What thing?."
"Staring at nothing with that face, you looked spaced out."
"It's an habit nothing to worry about."
They walked in silence for a moment, the city moving around them, before Liz spoke again.
"Since you said you were a swordsman before."
She glanced at him sideways. "What about a friendly bout. Just you and me."
Marcus looked at her.
He smiled "Why not." The corner of his mouth moved slightly.
Although he was a swordsman he's techniques didn't pass to this body.
"Go easy on me." She held up a hand. "No skills. No soul reading. No system nonsense. Pure swordsmanship."
"Pure swordsmanship," he agreed.
*******
They found an open space near the western quarter, a wide cobbled area between two buildings that gave them room to move without obstruction.
A few people drifted close when they saw two armed people taking stances, the particular magnetism of a public spar drawing the idle curious.
An old woman near the edge of the gathering shook her head at Marcus.
"No shame on this young man. Going at it with a girl."
If only she knew, Marcus thought. And between female warriors were known in this city was this misandry ?.
He raised his sword and looked at Liz.
"Ready. Where you ar…."
She was already moving.
She came in fast, footwork clean, the first strike angled at his left shoulder with the precise placement of someone who had mapped the opening before she committed to it.
He stepped aside. She redirected mid strike, the second coming from a different angle before the first finished. He moved under it. The third came low, she was already repositioning as it landed, eyes forward, completely focused.
"Not fighting back?" She circled, breathing easy.
Marcus kept moving. Kept not swinging. Each of her strikes came clean and well placed and he let them pass through the space he had already left.
She went faster.
A combination, four strikes in quick succession, each one flowing into the next with the fluid precision of someone whose body had internalized the technique past the point of conscious thought. The small luminescence at the edge of her blade pulsed faintly with the effort.
He moved around all four.
Then she tried the summersault.
She came up rotating, blade swinging in a wide descending arc with the full momentum of the movement behind it, committed and fast and genuinely impressive.
Marcus stepped inside the arc.
His hand caught her at the waist as she came down, pulling her rotation to a stop, and for one moment they were face to face, his arm around her, close enough that he could see the exact shade of her eyes and the way her expression shifted from focused to something it hadn't been a second ago.
He looked at her.
"Sometimes I forget how beautiful you are." A quiet observation. Honest the way he was honest about everything. "My guide." He said with a brief smile.
Her expression did something complicated. Then she smiled, genuine and warm, and pushed him back with both palms flat against his chest.
"You've proven your point." She stepped back and sheathed her blade. "I'll train harder and next time I would be the one complimenting."
Hahaha!
Marcus let out a small minute laugh
The small crowd that had gathered dispersed with the mild disappointment of people who had expected something more dramatic.
Marcus looked at the street around them, the afternoon light sitting easy on the cobblestones, the city moving at its comfortable pace.
"This place feels peaceful," Liz said.
"We're far from the drama." He looked around briefly.
"Seems we arrived at a quiet time."
"Enjoy it while it lasts."
"Speaking of which." She turned toward the main street. "Hungry?"
"Let's Move then."
They heard it before they reached the eatery.
"Thief! Somebody help!"
An old woman near the corner, one hand pressed to her chest, pointing at a figure already twenty meters away and moving fast through the afternoon crowd.
Marcus looked at Liz.
"Go ahead. I'll meet you at our usual spot."
"Don't do anything rash," she said.
He patted the top of her hat and took off.
VROOM!
The distance closed in under three seconds. The SPD increase was beyond noticeable to Marcus. The thief heard the footsteps closing, looked back, and had just enough time to register that the gap had disappeared before Marcus put a hand on his collar.
"Bad habit." He locked eyes with the thief. "Carrying things that aren't yours."
The thief opened his mouth."Pl…."
Marcus knocked him out cleanly and retrieved the purse and walked back to the old woman who was still standing exactly where she had been, looking slightly stunned.
"Thank you." She clutched the purse to her chest. "If you hadn't come I would have lost everything." She opened it immediately. "Take this. Please."
She pressed coins into his hand before he could decline."This is the list I can give you as appreciation ".
Marcus looked at them.
[CURRENCY: 463 → 508 COINS]
"Lady luck", he thought. He stored the coins and
the balance notification settled in the corner of his vision like something that had been waiting to happen.
"Take care". He waved back at the woman and walked toward the eatery.
Liz was already inside at their usual table. Sable sat across from her with a cup of wine and the relaxed posture of someone who had been here long enough to feel at home.
"Oh." Sable looked up as Marcus walked in. "The gentleman arrives."
"Fancy meeting you here," Marcus said and sat down.
"I met her on the way," Liz said. "Then decided to bring her along." She leaned forward slightly. "Also she informed me of an assessment exam coming up tomorrow. Guild ranking. We could fast track out of Tier F and access higher contracts." She looked at him. "Better pay. Better targets. More of everything we need."