Chapter 32 – Hand-to-Hand Combat

Chapter 32 – Hand-to-Hand Combat

After finishing lunch, Emily quickly drops off her notebook in her room and makes her way to the training hall. Finding the door to the hall already open, she walks in and sees a wide-open space with racks of weapons on the walls and packed dirt on the floor. In the centre of the room, she sees a dozen students standing together in a group, looking at the most intimidating woman Emily has ever seen.

She is tall, at least a head taller than Emily, with short spikey brown hair, shaved at the sides. She’s wearing tight brown leather trousers with boots coming up to her knees. Over her white linen shirt is a leather harness holding a large greatsword to her back, and underneath Emily notices a set of large, barely concealed muscles.

As she turns to look at her, Emily sees a rough scar across the woman’s closed right eye. Her remaining eye is a fierce green, the intense light in it matched only by her manic grin.

“Ah, our new recruit!” she calls out in a rich booming voice.

“Sorry, am I late?” Emily asks, certain she arrived on time.

“Not really, I just like everyone to be here slightly early so we can start on time. Now come over here. What’s your name?”

“I’m Emily Coldstone,” she answers while approaching the large woman.

“Nice to meet you, Emily. I’m Agnes Olea, third circle. Just call me Agnes though, I don’t like formality in my class,” Agnes says while offering Emily her hand.

Emily gives a firm handshake, which only seems to make Agnes’ smile grow.

“Have you received any martial training before?”

“No, but I have a little experience fighting with my fists and knives.”

“I see.” Agnes turns to face the rest of the class she was ignoring, and Emily notices Jeremy and Kyle standing amongst the group glaring at her with excited grins on their faces.

I guess they think this will be a chance to beat me up.

A malevolent smile forms on Emily’s face.

Well, they can try.

“I want all of you to warm up then pair off and practice the grappling drills I was teaching you last week. Remember, this is a test of technique, not strength. I don’t care how much stronger than your opponent you may be, control yourselves so everyone gets adequate practice!”

“Yes, Miss!” the whole class calls out at once, before dispersing and following her instructions.

“Now as for you, I’d like to test your starting level, so I know what to teach you. Get rid of your robes and warm up, then we’ll spar a little.”

Emily nods and drops her robes on the floor behind her, then she starts moving around to get warmed up. As she does, she looks around the room and sees the students have moved a fair distance away to give her and Agnes space.

I wonder if they’re being considerate, or if they’re scared of her.

Once warmed up, Emily looks over to Agnes and sees her standing with her arms crossed, watching her expectantly.

“Ready? I want you to try and land a hit on me. It doesn’t matter how. just try with everything you have to strike me. Understood?”

Emily nods and raises her fist before her while spreading her feet into an even stance.

“Good, begin!”

The moment she hears the signal, Emily springs forward, quickly closing the gap between her and Agnes. Stepping into arm's reach, she plants her front foot and lowers her body as she pivots forward and throws a twisting punch towards Agnes’ gut. As her right fist stretches forward, Emily feels a small burst of strength and speed from her melee combat skill activating, accelerating her punch slightly.

As Emily rolls her eyes at his long explanation, he suddenly springs forward, releasing a right jab towards her face. Reacting quickly, Emily steps forward and to the left, narrowly sliding past his incoming fist as she lowers her body. Hooking her right arm up and around his chest, she sweeps his front leg out from under him and slams him down into the dirt. Following him down to the ground, Emily quickly pulls his arm back and wraps her legs across his front, holding him fast in a solid armbar.

“I don’t know, I think I’d probably do something like that,” Emily responds smugly as Oscar struggles to escape.

After a few moments of failing to release himself, Oscar taps Emily in surrender. However, failing to understand his intent, Emily holds fast until she feels him starting to go limp. The moment she releases him, he scrambles away and gasps for breath. Standing up while massaging his red throat, Oscar looks at Emily sheepishly, his smug grin replaced by a look of acknowledgement and a hint of caution.

“Sorry for that. Anges told me to try attacking you the moment we began when I asked if I really needed to be the one to teach you,” he quickly apologises, before muttering under his breath: “Though, I would prefer if you accepted my surrender sooner.”

Wait, that’s what the tapping meant?

Emily laughs at his embarrassed response and to cover up her own blunder.

“Well, am I worth teaching now?”

“Yes, that was a great takedown. Have you really not had any training?” Oscar asks while rubbing his right shoulder, clearly still slightly in pain.

“Nope, I have fought quite a lot though, and submissions are a great way of getting someone to give up something they’ve taken.”

“I see, that should make this easy then. In our last lesson, we went over...”

Oscar proceeds to explain all the content the class covered in their previous lesson, with short breaks in between to test the moves as both the aggressor and defender. By the time Agnes asks everyone to switch partners, Emily has a solid grasp of what to do and says goodbye to Oscar on amicable terms, forgiving him for his earlier aggression.

After a few partner switches between students Emily has never met before, Agnes calls everyone back to gather in the centre of the room.

“Good work today everyone, most of you are showing great improvement. Next week’s lesson will be on daggers so remember to wear clothes you don’t care about. Dismissed!”

As she’s leaving the classroom with the rest of the students, Oscar approaches Emily.

“Hey Emily, if you ever want to spar, give me a shout. I’m in dorm A19 so just come knock on my door, and if I’m not in, leave a note or something on the door.”

Glancing at his chest, Emily sees a tall gold-stemmed purple flower on his crest.

So that’s what he meant by the heir of the Salvia household.

“Sure, I’m in dorm B53, come knock on my door whenever you want your ass kicked.”

“Haha, will do,” Oscar chuckles as he walks off towards the private training rooms.

Wow, he’s diligent. I want a shower after that lesson, not more training.

Praising Oscar internally, Emily heads back to her room. After a nice long shower to soothe her aching muscles, she leaves her room with her notebook and knocks on Juliana’s door. Juliana quickly opens it and greets Emily with surprise.

“Hey!” she says, throwing her arms around Emily and pulling her into a hug. “What are you doing here, it’s not like you to come see me before dinner.”

Wincing slightly and tapping Juliana’s shoulder to ask to be released, Emily responds:

“I just got done with my hand-to-hand combat class and didn’t want to sit alone again. Can I come do my work in here?”

“Sure, you’re welcome in my room whenever!” Juliana says happily while stepping aside to let Emily in.