Gun Girl from Another World

Spear

Leuke leads me out and around to a side yard attached to the barracks by a large, three-sided fence. It's relatively noisy inside, with the sound of some guards shouting out and banging against metal targets that I expect to hear, but there's also something else making a racket, too.

"How many times do I have to tell you, old man?! I don't need to learn the spear! I'm a mage!"

Any concern I might have about walking in on someone's spat clearly isn't shared by Leuke.

"Oh, hey, perfect timing," he beams instead. "You'll get to meet Rune, too!"

"Rune?" I wrinkle my nose. "But she said she's a mage, didn't she?"

His expression becomes confused. "Yeah? What about it?"

"Isn't Rune a bit on the nose?"

He blinks back at me. "Is it? I don't really know anything about that. And it's not like parents know what class their children will get when they're born."

Okay, that's fair. Maybe I'm being too closed-minded. Leuke's right, this isn't like a story where names are assigned willy-nilly just because the writer can't come up with anything better. I shouldn't jump to conclusions about people like that, anyway.

Of course, then we round the corner, and there is very nearly the most stereotypical witch I've ever laid eyes on. Her black robes look more based on a cheongsam than on western robes, and I have to admit it looks very good on her, but she's got a staff in her hand and a big, pointy hat on her head.

I find myself glancing about for the inevitable cat, and am a little disappointed not to find one.

She's arguing with an older man with the body and posture of a drill sergeant. He's wearing the armor of the town guard, but has fancier insignia than the average guardsman. Though his armor looks old and beaten, it's otherwise very well taken care of, both clean and polished, and the shaft of the spear in his hands is well-oiled, its tip dull from age but sharp.

It's easy to guess he's Geold, which would make the witch Rune.

"There's no exception for mages," Geold replies back at a lower volume than the witch had used, though his voice still carries like a low roar. "If you want to join the Guard, you have to learn the spear!"

"I use magic," Rune continues to insist. "If I have to carry around a spear, you're going to insist that I wear the armor, too, and that's just going to completely mess up everything I do!"

"I don't see what the problem is," he counters. "You already carry around a polearm! You just have to learn how to use it!"

She thumps the base of her staff against the ground. "This isn't a polearm! It's a spell focus!"

"It's a rod longer than you are tall with a weight at the end! Learn how to use it, and it'll actually be worth something when you run out of mana!"

"If I run out of mana and I'm on the front line, something has gone horribly wrong!"

"Which is exactly the time you need to know what to do if you want to get out of it alive!"

Rune gives a dramatic huff just as we're approaching behind her. "You never were happy I became a mage! Just because the only job in this backwater is–"

"Leuke," Geold calls out, cutting the argument short as diplomatically as possible. "There you are, boy! What brings you out to the training yard this time of day?"

"Leuke?!" Rune repeats immediately, wheeling around on the spot, her cheeks burning red. "When did you get here?!"

"Ah, just now," Leuke answers the girl first, since she's right in front of him. "Hi, Rune."

"Hi, Rune," she mimics back at him. "You're always spending time with Anara, but all I get is a, Hi, Rune."

This clearly puts Leuke on the back foot, and he rubs the back of his neck. "Uh, what was I supposed to say?"

The girl crosses her arms with a huff, then finally takes a good look at me. She looks me over from head to toe and back up again before she speaks again. "And who's this? Are you seeing an adventurer now, too?"

"No, no," he's quick to insist, and motions to me with both arms. "This is Remmi Lee, a fellow Hero. We were summoned at the same time! She mentioned wanting to learn more about the spear, so I was going to introduce her to your dad!"

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Rune moves her hands to her hips, but her gaze is immediately less hostile. "Li, huh?" she mispronounces. "I wonder if we're distant relatives, then, or something."

"It would have to be very distant," I stress, deciding it's better not to try to explain that Li and Lee are spelled differently in an alphabet they wouldn't even comprehend. "I'm not from the Furinshao Empire at all." Or even Toleste, but if I can't explain the language barrier, there's no way to even approach multidimensional theory.

"Really?" Rune's eyes widen in surprise at that. "What kingdom do you come from, then?"

"It's not a kingdom," I clarify. "It's a constitutional republic, but it's far enough away that I've yet to find anyone that's heard of it."

"I've never heard of such a governing system, either," she admits. "But if it's so far away, how is it you speak Imperial Trade so well?"

"I don't," I answer honestly. "I don't speak it at all. I've never heard it a day in my life."

I let her give me a dumbstruck stare for several long moments.

"But how …?"

I let my restrained grin now spread across my face. "A perk of being a summoned Hero! The System translates for us! I don't hear Imperial Trade when you speak. I hear my own language. I answer in that language, and you hear Imperial Trade. I did learn how to write it, though, so I can do paperwork and such."

Rune is still trying to wrap her mind around that when Geold, her father apparently, steps forward to insert himself into the conversation.

"As infinitely fascinating as it is to hear about what it means to be a Hero," he breaches, "Leuke said you wished to learn the spear?" He, too, looks me up and down, and frowns. "You don't look the part of someone interested in such things. I'll have you know I won't waste my time with flights of fancy!"

That puts a pout on Rune's lips. "Why won't you let me off that easily?"

"Because she's not trying to join the town guard just to spend more time with her friends."

Oof, Geold doesn't hold back for sake of company, does he? At least he didn't come right out and accuse her of doing it to get closer to Leuke. But then, maybe neither Hero nor Mage is ready to face that kind of fact.

"Looks can be deceiving," I put in to head off another argument. "I am a Hero, after all. I'm stronger and tougher than I look."

"It's not your strength or toughness I question," he corrects me. "It's the dedication." Geold takes a step toward me and levels the tip of his spear at me. I can tell in a glance that his form is perfect, even though I've not got the proficiency, myself. "Tell me, how long do you intend to study the spear?"

"Under you?" I answer. "Just one day for now, though I'm open to more days of practice when I get back from the dungeon before I have to set out again."

He gives an annoyed growl. "One day. One day to teach you an entire weapon skillset. Guard hopefuls train for a month before they reach proficiency!"

"Oh, no, you misunderstand me," I correct him. "I can get the proficiency at any time. I'm not after the proficiency. In fact, let me take that off the table right now."

The only indication for them that I'm doing anything is that my eyes are glancing around at different things in the space between us that they can't see. I'd already found where the spear proficiency was located and confirmed I had plenty of points to spare on it. There's a polearm proficiency that would cost more, but for a single weapon, the cost is a bargain of just a few hundred points.

"There," I conclude after a handful of moments. "I am now proficient in the spear."

Geold looks more irritated than impressed. "Are you trying to mock me, child? Flaunting the power of a Hero in front of a man that has spent his life perfecting his skill with this weapon?"

I shake my head with sincerity. "No, sir. That wasn't my intention at all. I just wanted to make sure that you didn't have to baby me so that we could make the most of the time. The problem with buying a proficiency is that it's just the knowledge, not the practical experience. That's what I want from you, I want to learn how to apply that knowledge correctly."

He frowns a bit harder at me, glaring at me as if trying to decipher how genuine I really am. "Why do you want to learn the spear, girl? As far as I can tell, it has nothing to do with the way you fight."

"In my first battle as a Hero," I confess, "I was put up against an opponent far stronger than I was. I didn't have my weapon of choice, and the one I did have was destroyed in the exchange. The only thing I had to pick up and use was a short spear."

They're silent, rather than answering immediately, clearly still listening to my words.

"And?" Rune asks.

"And Leuke saved my life," I finish, turning to him with a gesture and a grateful nod. "If I had to fight with that spear, I may not have walked away with my life."

Leuke rubs his chin. "As I recall, you were hardly walking anywhere. We had to have Sei heal you up."

I nod in agreement. "I was terribly outclassed. I realize that there will be times when I can't just use whatever I want, where I won't have my ideal resources. It's why I learned martial arts, and it's why I want to make sure, if I'm ever in that spot again, I know what I'm doing with a spear."

At that, Geold finally gives a firm nod and makes his way back over to a rack of training weapons. He comes back with a wooden spear with a blunted point, walking between Leuke and Rune to get to me. "Get back, you two, get back, give the kid some room."

As they clear out and circle back behind him, Rune leaning against the barracks wall and Leuke standing beside her, Geold reaches me and hands me the weapon.

"Let's start with the basics, just to make sure that proficiency wasn't just wasted points. Show me how you hold a spear."

I do my best to imitate what I know, like I did back in the Imperial courtyard, though I do it a little more quickly now, my feet a little more sure, my grip loose in my front hand so that I'm prepared to use it to guide the weapon rather than choking it.

Geold nods and proceeds to step around me, examining me from different angles. "Not bad, not bad. Now show me a thrust."

I move both of my hands forward, but my grip remains loose in the front, and my back hand rams the shaft of the spear forward until my two hands meet, then retracts until I'm once more in my ready position.

He nods slowly in hesitant approval. "Good, good … If you'd choked it and swung with your hands, I'd have told you to pray to the System to refund your points. Now, let's teach you a few basic combinations …"