Topher and Bart stayed in the inn for a few months, and Will was able to learn invaluable lessons and training from them. As soon as his thumb healed, Topher had him training before his duties before dawn, sparing by punching his two leather hardened hands for an hour to build Will's endurance. Topher also had an eye to Will's light-footedness and trained him to ambush him from as many different angels as he could in their training sessions in the maze; sometimes Topher would catch him, and other times not, but over time it become more and more difficult for Topher to detect Will because of his speed and him taking maximum advantage of his environment. Sometimes Will would pounce on him through the trees, sometimes he would crawl in between Topher's legs taking cover in the fallen foliage of the garden. Once he tore a piece of his garment and left it on a hedge branch to get Topher's attention, and then ambushed him from another location. Eventually Topher believed him to be ready.

It took Bart a little while to have him overcome his fears of using words to coax and threaten in order to get his way.

"Listen Will, when it comes to women or really anyone for that matter, you need to appear confident even if you're not feeling it. When people are nice to you, be agreeable and talk about them and their interests before asking them for information or favors, that is what we call: to charm. If they are disagreeable or disrespectful ignore them, and if they persist, be firm, but never shout or lose your cool, we call that: to stand proud. It's all a game you see, eventually you'll find a way to navigate around them given enough time, but only if you use your head, which I've seen you use." Bart instructed.

Will decided to try these gems of advice on the Inn-Greeter, the one who disrespected him and made him do the extra dirty work. It was business as usual, Will was at his desk, doing administrative work, all was quiet, until...

"Willy!" came a shrill voice "Oi Willy, where on Earth are you wanker?!"

Will went stiff, then composed himself, and made his face stoic and blank, he said nothing.

In barged the Inn-Greeter "Willy! Didn't you hear me? We have a ton of chamber pots to clean"

Will remained silent for a few moments and then spoke "I heard you Samantha, and I'll gladly clean it, the only caveat is that I'll be laying you off" Will spoke with a quiet deadness in his eyes and voice.

Samantha the Inn-Greeter felt a chill down her spine and started to change her tune

"Willy.."

"William. My name is William" Will said firmly.

"William. It's not fair, we're always short of staff, and I'm only supposed to greet the guests and show them to their rooms and offer room service" she pleaded.

"You are correct, but I took umbrage at how you addressed me. You forget, I may be mild, but I am still your boss. And don't worry I'll make sure we're not short from here on out, because I'll be systematically removing and hiring people who won't call off. Why can't the girls do their work?"

"They recently had their nails done, and some have taken off early" she said, intimidated by his newfound sternness.

"Pity, their nails will have to get ruined. If I have to get down to the pots, this will be their last day here. And those that took off, well they must not want this job. Shame." Will said humorlessly.

"Right, well sorry for disturbing you, I'll let them know" she said as she quickly left his desk.

William retained his composure for a few moments, then let out a huge sigh, and put his head on the desk "God, that was hard. I didn't know if it would actually work." Then he smiled a quiet smile. "God bless Bart, he showed me how to turn my life around, I owe him and Topher one for this"

A few hours later Bart met Will at his desk in pride and jubilation. "Will! My dude, you did it! Our training worked"

"Haha, yeah man, it did, thanks" Will said as he hugged Bart, who was tearing up a bit for having for once made a positive impact on the world.

Will and Bart spent several other lessons where Bart taught him that, while the Standing Proud technique is useful, it is draining, and should only be used where compliments and polite conversations fail. For shits and giggles, Bart also taught him some really bad pick up lines that he should not use, unless he knows the person really well. Here are some of the pick up lines at the audience's discretion:

BART'S PICK UP LINES:

Hey girl, your eyes match my bed-sheets, wanna come check them out?

Giiirl, I'm a professional Bard, I can totally pull your G-string if you're interested.

Girl, I'm clever and take an interest in languages, you could say I'm totally a cunning linguist.

Like a blacksmith I can totally hammer your anvil.

I'm low-key a knight, they call me Sir Lance-in-Twat.

Over the course of the lessons and the time they spent, the trio became bonded and grew closer together. Bart and Topher believed it was time to tell Will about the extent of their mission. They told him about their backstories, Bobo the goblin, and finding and defeating Mozgus the dark wizard. They asked him if he knew anything about Mozgus.

"Hmm, I take an interest in magical creatures and arts, and that does seem like a name I might have heard before. I think we can get more information from the next town over, the town of 'Forest's Edge', where the church has a secret archive of magical manuscripts. All I need to do is go to this town's cleric and talk to him, telling him that I'm interested in pursuing studies in becoming an Inquisitor and would like a referral from him, so that I can access the archives.

Also the 'Forest's Edge' is near to the enchanted forest, where we could possibly meet magical creatures who may know a thing or two about this guy, considering that their extinction is one of his priorities." Will mused.

"'Forest's Edge? That's where my brother lives! It'd be so nice to meet him after God knows how long!" exclaimed Topher.

Our trio decided this was a solid plan. Will got his referral from the cleric, Father Benignus, the same person who taught him to read. He was happy Will was finally doing something worth his salt and gave him his referral willingly.

"Ah yes, the archives at Forest's Edge. Queer town that town! Well, it would be, being so near to the enchanted forest. There's volumes and volumes of magical manuscripts from all the strange observations around that place. Go in peace Will, hopefully some good comes from your studies" Father Benignus said paternally, and Will was grateful.

Finally the day came when our trio would set off on their main journey. They climbed a small hill and gazed at the sunset towards the lands they would have to traverse.

"Hey Bart, since there's no turning back, why don't you give us a nice send off?" suggested Will.

"Hmm, I can do that!" agreed Bart

"As our journey converges onward

We'll make it far, because of the men I know we are!

Overcoming all our obstacles

Because we know, that's something we just want to do

Fingers in a bind, but it's ok

Because I'm going to prove that we won

Because we men are harder than titanium

Won't give up, Won't give up, Won't give up

Because our ties are closer than blood

Onward, Onward, Onwards

Until our journey is done

Victory, Victory, Victory

Will surely be ours

If we stick together and stand proud!"

Bart finished his song and the trio were motivated to continue the next leg of their journey. With the weight of the world hanging on their shoulders they moved onwards.

                                                                                  END OF VOL 1

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