The guild armory smelled like oil, old leather, and people who preferred their mornings tidy. Racks of loaner gear stood in obedient rows. A chalkboard listed sizes, fees, and a single sentence in big letters: RETURN WHAT YOU BORROW CLEAN.
The quartermaster was a narrow woman with a plumb line for a spine. She looked Trixie up and down, then lifted a short arming sword and a round buckler from pegs as if she already knew what would fit.
"Rental," she said. "Sword sixty centimeters, buckler thirty. Fee three silver. Deposit ten. You get the deposit back if it doesn't bite me when I inspect it."
Trixie bowed her head just enough to be polite. The sword settled into her palm like an honest handshake. The quartermaster adjusted the buckler grip, nudged Trixie's knuckle clearance, and rotated the strap a thumb's width.
"So it won't chew your wrist," she said. "Raise on his exhale." A nod toward Taro. "Not before. Not after. The breath is the metronome in a fight."
Outside, they took ten minutes in the courtyard. Taro set cadence, six in / eight out, and Trixie matched a buckler raise to his exhale, three reps each side. Taro gave her glove taps—one high, one low—as whispers, not tests. The buckler met them like a door that knew how to open and close without drama.
"We're not here to impress the test," he said, settling the mitts. "We match rhythm and walk out steady."
Trixie's tail did the small metronome once and was still. "Understood."
A pane rolled up in clean guild script as a clerk shouted names:
Irontooth Subjugation — Qualification Test (Required Stations)
Stamina & Load Carry
Formation & Shield Line
Hazard Recall & Trap Lane
Field Triage
Discipline Under Bait
Kelda called the orientation from a dais with the merciless kindness of a drill bell. "No heroics. Test officers outrank your pride. Fail any station and you do remedial until you wish you'd listened." Her eyes slid over the assembled and paused a beat on Taro and Trixie. "Boring is victory."
They were placed into a five-person cell: Rusk (shield, a wall of a man), Ade (healer with sleeves tied back), Niya (bow, today an evaluator), Taro (striker), and Trixie (support/porter, buckler-qualified). Niya wore the exact amount of expression required by rules: none.
"Formation is a promise you make with breath," she said, voice flat. To Taro she gave a ghost of eye-smile. Then business.
Stamina & Load Carry
Sandbags. Stairs. A ladder descent you weren't allowed to clang. A controlled return while breathing like a person, not a bellows.
Taro let Load-Bearing Breath do the quiet work—hips stacked, ribs closing without his shoulders trying to be heroes. The weight became something to escort instead of fight.
Trixie clipped on the porter harness, tucked the buckler to her ribs, and set a calm count: "In—two—three—four; out—two—three—four—five—six." She kept a half-step behind Rusk's shield, feet neat, no strap chatter. At the ladder she waited for Ade's heels to clear and stepped down as if descending into her own pantry.
They hit the markers without fanfare. A tester with a slate looked up, looked down, ticked a box.
Team Passive — Call-and-Breath I (active): cadence under load granted minor Ki steadiness to the file.
Formation & Shield Line
The lane was narrow. Plywood "goblins" wore padded helms and long blunted spears. One padded "hobgoblin" at the rear held a shield like it resented being props.
"Pin the line, open the seam, strike through. Do not chase. Reset on call," Niya said. "Begin."
Rusk set the wall with a low "Hup." Taro stepped to his shoulder and felt the seam where shields met. He let one long exhale do two things: a flick-flick on the same shield seam—Guard Melt I—and then a Snap Step that arrived because his breath already had. Centerline Surge traveled out of ribs and into knuckles with quiet focus. A goblin pad's head rocked back. They pressed, then reset clean on Niya's "Back."
A flanker popped shallow on Trixie's side, spear tip dipping toward the soft spot that isn't as soft with a buckler in it. She raised on Taro's exhale and gave a small shoulder bump—not to punish, to redirect—keeping her hips behind the line, feet tight. The spear kissed buckler rim and skidded; the flanker's point died on the angle and the script.
The padded hob tried a shove that would have made some men argue with gravity. Taro exhaled and let Rooted Frame sink him to the floor through the cuirass. He didn't shove back; he flowed sideways and put a short right through the softened seam only when Rusk's angle gave it to him.
"Reset," Niya snapped. They did. She wrote something on her slate that sounded like approval because it didn't sound like anything.
Trixie — Buckler Guard (Novice): basic high/low blocks; minor stagger resistance when braced.Trixie — Shield Shoulder (Novice): short shoulder bump to redirect light targets while staying in formation.Taro — Formation Breach (Concept): small bonus when striking through ally-made openings.
Hazard Recall & Trap Lane
A table with trap cards: twine colors, caltrop dust, false leaf shadow, counterweight notch, wire sheen, scent mark. Taro named them without reaching for pride. Trixie pointed out the knee-height placement that favored goblins' reach.
The lane itself was live but safed—lines would snap flags, not bones. Taro led with Rope-Cut Step (Novice), feet on micro-angles, exhale smoothed into motion. He let his eyes soften so the wrongness in dust showed itself. Trixie mirrored, buckler tucked, calling quiet "Line clear" as if she were reading recipes to a child: steady, certain, no drama.
A tester watched the wire. It didn't whisper. He ticked the box.
Field Triage Under Time
The dummy bled convincingly; the foam "gash" did its best to be upsetting.
Trixie went to work like a clerk checking a ledger: strap-and-splint, wrap and wedge, palm on the "patient's" sternum to set a breath count the way she had with Taro in the dungeon—"In two… out six." Ade watched her fingers and nodded once.
"A porter who knows hands saves me spells," the healer said.
Taro held the limb, tension measured. He didn't take over. When you're the striker, part of the job is not turning every room into your room.
Trixie — Porter Brace I: reduced stagger while carrying/guarding an ally; minor bonus to keeping packs stable under jostle.
Discipline Under Bait
The drillmaster strutted like a rooster who had discovered insult as an art. He dropped a pouch with a loud jingle. He sent a staged "runner" bolting for a gap. He carved false openings between padded spears.
The cell held line. Taro said "No chase." Trixie echoed "Line!" with a buckler nudge that said stay smart. Rusk didn't look at the coin. Ade didn't look at the insult. They let bait rot unbitten.
Niya's slate made a quiet final scratch. "Textbook," she said, like she hated the word but had to use it.
They stood in the shade while a clerk copied and stamped.
"Passed," Kelda said, not giving them the satisfaction of a smile. "Assignments: Strike Team Beta. Rusk, Ade, Archer cell attached. Support Unit Two for Beta: porter, triage, buckler-qualified." A glance at Trixie. "That's you."
A runner posted a map on the far wall—red chalk arrows, circles like bites taken out of the forest line.
"Assault in twenty-four hours," Kelda continued. "Expected mix: sappers, two hobs, and possibly a hob captain. There is a thirty silver bounty on the captain. Don't die for it."
They returned to the armory. The quartermaster weighed the buckler, eyed the sword, and sniffed like metal could lie. "Fine," she said. She dropped the ten-silver deposit into Trixie's palm. "You used the gear like someone who wanted to use it again."
Combat Adaptation Registered — Formation Discipline.Martial God's Champion — Blessed Growth:+2 to all stats.Taro — Formation Breach (Concept → Novice): small accuracy/power bump when striking through allied shield gaps.Team Passive — Cover Call I: when Trixie calls "Cover," Taro gains a brief AGI uptick for the follow-up step.
The warmth arrived like a carpenter tapping a joint home. Not bright. True.
They spent the afternoon on maintenance and quiet. Taro oiled the hidden stitch on his mitts until leather sighed. Trixie re-tied her porter straps, then wrote a supply list in neat block letters: oil, thread, chalk, dried meat, extra wraps, spare socks. She held it out like a small flag of competence.
"Eat," she added, ladling stew she'd convinced the inn to let her finish. "Rule four."
He obeyed. "My favorite rule," he said through bread.
She smothered a smile with the flat of her spoon. "You said that about the last one."
"I contain multitudes," he said, deadpan.
Outside, the town gathered itself for evening—banners lifted and fell; shutters argued with hinges; a child ran past holding nothing and making engine noises for it anyway. Niya slid in from the street with the wind still holding her cloak.
"Chalk triangles at the palisade," she said, low. "Knee-height. Irontooth is curious."
Kelda posted the final muster time below the map with a thump of the stamp. "Boring is victory," she said again, for anyone who had tried to forget.
In a quiet corner of the hall, Taro and Trixie stood facing each other. Two breaths only: buckler raise on his exhale, then stillness. Again. The second time, the motion was small enough it belonged to them and not to anyone watching.
The bell tolled once, low and sure. The sound settled in their bones like a plan.
Status — Taro
Class: Junior FistfighterTitle: Martial God's Champion (SSS)HP:320 base (10× END 32) → 820 effective (during combat/training; END 82)Ki:25
Base Stats(end of Ch.6 → post-qualification)
STR: 32 → 34
END: 30 → 32
AGI: 28 → 30
SPIRIT: 29 → 31
MIND: 26 → 28
LUCK: 25 → 27
Effective Physicals(in combat/training; SSS +50)
STR:84END:82AGI:80
Skills & Techniques
Martial God's Champion (SSS): accelerated growth; Blessed Growth (+2 all on meaningful training/adaptation); +50 to STR/END/AGI in combat/training.
Ki Breathing (Novice) • Rooted Frame (Novice)
Guard Melt I • Centerline Surge (Novice) • Weave Engine I • Snap Step (Novice)
Counter-Tempo II • Load-Bearing Breath I • Rope-Cut Step (Novice)
Formation Breach (Novice): small accuracy/power bump when striking through allied shield gaps.
Team Passives:Call-and-Breath I (porter cadence steadies Ki), Cover Call I (brief AGI uptick on Trixie's cover call).
Trixie (Highlights)
Buckler Guard (Novice) • Shield Shoulder (Novice) • Porter Brace I
Duties: porter line discipline, basic triage, buckler coverage; consent-first companionship per contract.
Gear & Ledger
Purse (start): ~52s
Rentals: −3s fee; −10s deposit → +10s returned (net −3s)
Supplies restock: −5s (thread, oil, chalk)
Purse (dusk): ~44s
House: hold deposit in place (10 days).
Assault:T–24h — Strike Team Beta assigned; hob captain bounty 30s.