Klad followed Cherry down another set of stairs to a yard behind the building, and as they did so, she spoke.
"Most of our guys are… not here right now. But Mers and Jika are training so it will be good for you to see them."
"What about Teles?"
"He's… special. We don't want to involve him much with our business."
"What? Why? Is he weak or something?"
"Yes, he is too bright for what we are doing, we don't want to involve him more than we must. Besides we need someone to keep the cover that we are actually a normal tavern and not a front keep my gang hidden."
"What about the rest? How many do we got?"
"After what happened? I don't know. Many of their friends, family got killed Klad, it was the worst tragedy we had in our gang since it was formed so I suppose the only ones we can count are Mers and Jika."
"Wait… So there's only four of us including you?"
"That we can be sure of? Yes. Or at least for now. I don't know how they will react if we take another hit like yesterday."
'The situation is worse than I thought, especially since this is mostly my fault as I was the one who sold the fake information to them.'
They reached the final steps in silence as she opened the door towards the inside yard, where Klad heard the sound of metal clashing against each other. The bright sun radiated the small yard covered in wooden walls while two figures struck against each other.
One of those was a petite woman with short green hair while the other was a tall man with blonde hair, similar to Klad.
They struck and clashed for some moments until the voice of Cherry telling them to stop made them freeze on the spots and make a military salute towards her.
After that, they finally noticed the figure of Klad standing behind her and the green-haired girl spoke first.
"Hey~! We have a new recruit chief?! Hey kid my name is Jika, nice meeting ya!"
"Stop it, goblin. Chief hasn't even introduced him yet."
Cherry coughed a bit and then proceeded to speak.
"Yes Jika, his name is Klad and he's our newest recruit. He doesn't have any particular skills, but he is currently our best shot at providing fake intel to Officer Bert."
"Woah! You are a spy?! How did you even manage to get in touch with that stern officer?"
'Well if you put it like that'
"Nice to meet you both. Yes I might be lacking but I share the same sentiment with you two. This city is rotten and even though I might be weak I will fight regardless."
"Don't worry kid." The tall blonde man spoke "We will protect you. This time we won't fail."
Cherry clapped her hands when the man Klad suspected to be named Mers finished speaking.
"Now, now. Seeing how you two are very eager to have a new recruit, you will need to teach him the basics of swordsmanship. We need him to be able to at least defend himself a bit. You probably won't be able to accomplish much in a few days though."
"A few days?" Klad said, he was surprised by the short amount of time until the next operation but not worried at all. He was the one who had been rushing all this time, so he was glad to see someone share the sentiment.
"Yes. I'm sorry that you just joined but we need to push towards our goal right now, we know from you that the guards already know about our situation so we must hurry. They will find us eventually and if they notice that I am Cursed then they will involve the Inquisitors."
"Yes, Cherry is right. Goblin, you will be teaching the basics to Klad. I have to do some research for our next operation. How many guys do we have left chief?"
"I don't know. Most of them wanted to quit, but the moment rumors start going around we are doomed. Mers, go and finish the reconnaissance, Jika you try to train Klad with what you can. We can only count on us four."
"Roger. I'll be on my way."
Mers sheathed his sword and left accompanied by Cherry while Klad was left with Jika.
"So Klad, we don't have much time so instead of teaching your swordsmanship from zero I'll help you a bit with whatever weapon you are using currently."
"Um, I don't use a weapon other than a knife."
"Have you killed someone before?"
"Yes. Not many people but I had my fair share of trouble before."
"Good. That will help us a bit." She crossed her arms. "You are going to use a dagger then, it will work like a knife only that is meant to pierce and not to cut."
"Understood. Should I call you teacher?"
"Hahaha! Feel free to call me what you want." Jika said as she went towards a chest that was resting near a wall, she shoved her hand and stirred the insides of the chest and after some moments raised her hand again while holding a small dagger and gave it to Klad.
When he held it in his left hand he noticed that it was very worn, most of the blade was filled with scars of battles while where the paint once was, now was filled with the cold silver of the metal that laid below.
"Well Klad, you already know how to kill so that's what we are going to learn today. Come, and kill me."