As they continued navigating through the forest, Crow listened to Penelope give her perspective on his performance during their sparring match. It pleased him to hear that she thought he wasn’t bad. Considering he didn’t have much experience, it gave him hope that he would improve quickly. He just hoped he would be able to keep a handle on his fear if he found himself in a position where he would need to draw blood in a fight. However, since he wasn’t about to willingly put himself in such a position, there was no way for him to know how he was going to react if or when that time came.

He nodded when she said he needed to work on his offense in battle. He knew this to be true as well, since previously, his goal in every fight had always been to escape, not win. He had only needed to know enough to defend himself long enough to find a point of exit and get away from his opponent. Since the Younisian palace was foreign ground, things would be different though. He would likely need to drop his enemies rather than try to find an escape route that could just lead him to a dead end hallway.

As she brought up the fact that he couldn’t rely on attacks without a weapon against large opponents, he winced, remembering the mercenary once again. He didn’t know what he would do if he ran into a knight as big as that man had been. His quick reflexes were his best advantage in a fight, but if he had to face off against another human wall, simply being fast wasn’t enough.

“Alright already,” Crow held up his hands when she lectured him on dropping his weapon again. “Forgive me for being the idiot that I am and thinking that was a good idea at the time.” He returned her nudge with a wry grin. “But that’s why you’re here to teach me. As you can see, I need all the help I can get before we reach the castle.”

At the mention of it, his eyes wandered back to the large, stone building in front of them. It seemed to grow ever bigger as they got closer to it, looming high over the tree tops. He stared up at it determinedly. [i]I’ve raided a palace before, and I can do it again. Just you wait, you royal despot. That staff is mine.[/i]