"?" Alison gripped the wooden sword tighter.
"Put your left hand slightly higher, you need an even hold." Damien instructed her.
He already checked her physical capabilities and she was surprisingly well fit for a malnourished homeless child.
Normally he wouldn’t introduce any elements of swordfighting until she built up a solid understanding of her own body through regular training, but this was just a trial so he figured he would do a little bit of everything with her to give her a full overview of what she was signing up for.
Once he has shown her a few basic swings he would do something resembling a mock duel and then move on to the theoretical stuff.
If he was going to be her guardian he couldn’t just focus on physical stuff, he had to teach her history, how to read, do math – all kinds of things he wasn’t particularly good at himself.
Nowadays the Order’s training program was very comprehensive and covered all kinds of topics, but by the time it was properly established Damien was already a knight an unable to benefit from it.
Still, he managed to learn what he needed on his own and he would pass it down to this girl if she wishes so.
Alison clearly loved swinging her sword, but she loved the mock duel even more – it didn’t matter that Damien was constantly correcting her and she didn’t manage to land a single hit, she had a broad grin on her face the entire time.
She didn’t enjoy the theoretical subjects as much unfortunately – she could read a bit and understood the basics of math, but she was far from being decent at either.
History seemed to interest her the most, especially the invasion and the times before it – Damien should have been an expert since he lived through it, but to be frank he was just a scared teenager back then and didn’t witness that many important events first hand.
"Is it true that you have a dragon at the order?" Alison’s eyes sparkled.
"Only a statue of one I’m afraid."
"...But it is magical."
"The figure of the sleeping dragon in our keep provides us with food and protection in exchange for offerings." He explained.
"Offerings?" Alison cocked her head.
"From time to time we have to go out of the Fortress and hunt corrupted creatures, whatever we manage to kill becomes an offering for the statue."
He pushed with his finger against his chestplate and dislodged a flat and smooth stone.
"Some of the scales from the dragon can be detached which allows us to carry a part of its protection with us wherever we go."
Damien handed the scale to Alison who stared at the odd piece of stone in wonder. Then the girl looked at him with a frown.
"If your home needs help from the statue then how are we safe?"
"Your city is protected by Lady Sylara’s powers – they are much stronger than those of the statue."
"She’s stronger than a magic statue?"
"Much stronger." He nodded. "She’s one of the strongest people out there."
Alison continued to question him about various things she heard from Ginny and his own stories – they’ve spent so much time on this segment of the curriculum that it was getting dark by the time they were done.
"So, what do you think?" Damien asked her. "Do you want to be my student or not?"
"Yes." Alison nodded her head as fast as her thin neck allowed her to.
"Alright then." He turned around and looked at Leon. "Ready with your assessment?"
His friend somehow managed to stand in one corner for the entire day and not say a single thing – he wasn’t expecting that but he was pleasantly surprised.
"Sure." The other knight shrugged. "We can go straight to Nick if you want."
Damien considered his words but then looked at Alison who was yawning and rubbing her eyes.
"Let’s get her to the inn first, it was a very tiring day."
They made a good choice to leave Alison at the inn since Nickolas wasn’t done with his meeting with Sylara when they came back.
Patrick told them they were apparently discussing some long-term top-secret project that no one could know about until it was officially announced.
It took almost two hours vefor they were finally done.
"Sir Damien did a wonderful job Nickolas, you can trust me on that." Sylara patted Nickolas’ back and left them alone.
"Nothing escapes her gaze in Mountainfall, does it?" Damien chuckled.
"Apparently not." Their leader nodded as he watched the Guardian’s silhouette disappear. "I’d still like to hear Leon’s conclusions though, let’s find a more comfortable place to talk."
Once they were all seated in one of the many lounges present in the fortress Nickolas asked Leon to express his opinion.
"The girl is very eager to learn how to wield a sword and displays quite good aptitude for it. She’s not the most studious type, but neither is Damien-"
"Ey!" Damien frowned at him but Leon continued without batting an eye.
"-She also displayed quite the temper when she didn’t do well during the theoretical studies. I believe she wouldn’t do very well in the Order, but a private apprenticeship under Damien might be just what the girl needs for her talents to blossom."
Damien thought that it was a very positive assessment, despite the fact that Leon called him a dumbass mid-day through.
"Thank you Leon." Nickolas nodded. "I think that positive review from both you and Lady Sylara is more than enough for me to make the decision. Damien, I approve of your stay in Mountainfall as our ambassador."
"Patrick held the position for twenty years, but I doubt you’re going to need that much – let’s settle on a decade with a chance to extend that period if necessary."
That should be enough to properly train Alison – the full training program in the Order was seven years long and even then barely anyone got to experience the entire thing, as it was adjusted based on the age of the recruit.
Tomorrow Damien and Alison would start a new life.