Tale Of A Knight

Master Mekros got it into his head that he must train me hard in order for me to be able to survive. Apparently, many squires in the city have been perishing due to the outbreaks of monsters. It was spring, so many monsters that used to be dormant during the winter were attacking people at random times. Unfortunately, the jobs of squires entails having to face adversities, but the dangers were everywhere. Aside from the elementals that frequently attacked humans, there were werewolves that sacked the cities on a seasonal basis, leaving devastation on their wake. Then there were demons, who hated humanity to the point that any encounter resulted in ma.s.s slaughter before a demon would be killed. Then there were many encounters with people called Divine Warriors, army that marched against the troops of Tazak kingdom.

Due to the fact that non-human toleration was non-existent, any encounters with non-human species spelled out some bloodshed. It didn"t matter who died, humans or non-humans, but there always was some blood spilled. The non-humans usually are stronger than humans, so humans with their fragile bodies often fell victims to non-human onslaught. Combined with the fact that monster rampages were not an irregular occurrence made surviving in the kingdom to be rather hard.

Which is why Mekros decided to train me to get stronger, but he couldn"t have chosen a worse method.

He told me I needed to make my arms stronger and build my endurance, which is why I was tasked with chopping wood with an ax. Well, the problem is….

I can"t wield an ax. The handle was designed to be held by both hands, and currently I am missing one. And the crude metal replacement is no subst.i.tute for the real thing. I hid the fact that I am maimed from Mekros, he still thinks I am uninjured. If I come back without any wood chopped then I would raise suspicion.

I had to improvise. I may have lost my right wrist, but I still had the elbow and my forearm. I used my left hand in front, with the long handle nested in the inside of the region between bicep and forearm, which I squeezed to stabilize the ax with.

To tell the truth, the progress was very slow. It took me about an hour to cut down a tree of average size, and then an hour more to get it into right size. By then end I gave up on using what remained of my right hand, instead chopping with my left hand alone, but wielding an ax like that I lost my of my control, my arm ended up severely exhausted and my cuts were anything but even.

Mekros asked me to cut down at least ten trees for the day, I am not sure whether I can even manage two.

He said "Do it anyway you want, don"t you dare come back without chopping at least ten of them!" Yep, that"s what he said, so I am not really sure how I am supposed to accomplish that but it seems that I have got myself stuck. Literally, my ax is now stuck within the wood and I am struggling to get it out of there. Maybe I should come clean before Mekros and tell him about my hand, but maybe it is not such a good idea. I can imagine Aurelia"s menacing face as she says "Oh, so you are missing a hand now? You are useless now, I can just kill you!" I shuddered from imagining her taking out a gigantic ax, swinging it down upon me….

Wait, that is it! The way Aurelia swings her ax, she swings it diagonally, not just vertically, but horizontally as well, and when she does that she used the motion of her legs and upper body. I have been so focused on using the ax the traditional way (swing up and land down), that I forgot that I could improvise to suit my needs.

I took the stance that Mekros drilled into my mind, then with a fine controlled movement proceeded to move my back leg in front, moving my shoulder muscles simultaneously as I delivered a swing with an ax.

Yes, it was much easier to use the ax with the full power of my body, having the lower body"s motion compensate for the power loss of the upper body. Granted, I could have done a better job if I had both hands, but we can"t be choosers, can we?

By the time the night had set, I managed to fell six trees. Not good. Mekros told me to cut down ten or not to come back.

But I was so exhausted that I pa.s.sed out on top of the pile of wood.

I did a lot of hard work today; I deserve at least a little nap.

* * *

"What is taking him so long?" Mekros asked himself. His apprentice did not come back yet, the task of cutting down ten trees seemed easy enough. But on the second thought, with the size of the trees in that location, it might take much longer. "Well, I did not give him a set time limit so I guess it is fine." Mekros muttered.

* * *

"I see, so he is still alive." Sala said with annoyance.

"Indeed. He came back a day after Mekros paid you a visit. Apparently, Bakit was not involved in the disastrous trip organized by lord Venlander." Aurelia stated her report.

"I was secretly hoping he perished so that you wouldn"t have to watch over him again, but I am sorry for troubling you with this Aurelia."

"It is no trouble at all, your majesty. My life is for yours to use." Aurelia made a slight bow.

"That aside, are there anything else worth reporting?"

"The Aristan family"s heiress came back after a travel through the kingdom. Apparently she managed to slay many demi humans plaguing the other cities, and even managed to defeat the centaur chieftain, making their hordes retreat." Centaurs were one of the demi-human species that frequently attacked humans within the kingdom. Their tribes usually had one leader, their chieftain, the strongest one among them. Even for a knight, centaurs, who had the power of human and a beast, were not an opponent a knight could hope to defeat. Not to mention the fact that the Centaur chieftain is usually at least ten times stronger than an ordinary centaur, who is at least twice as strong as a well-trained human. If the centaur tribes lose their chieftain, then they would be disorganized, making them unable to conduct their raids against human occupied lands, because the chieftain is the one that leads them, without one, they cannot move forward. It will take them some time before a new chieftain is chosen, so the Aristan heiress had bought them a few months of being centaur-free. The centaurs usually attack at least five times every year, each rampage takes long time to rebuild. And the problem was, they were too strong to deal with.

The monsters that plagued the human kingdom, and in order to counter them the knights were present. The strongest ones of them all were the order of Holy Swords, consisting of the ten strongest knights in the entire Tazak kingdom.

The Aristan family heiress, at nineteen years of age, was the fifth seat of the Holy Swords, such a talent at such a young age; she was by far the youngest member of Holy Swords and the youngest member ever selected.

"It would be expected of you to greet her and her companions with an appropriate reception, your majesty. It is expected of you as the prince, with your father"s state of health…" the king has been ailing for some time, leaving Sala with lots of work to take care of as his most likely heir. There was also the fact that Sala"s father was in the other city called Jauin, in the care of the healers and priests who have been trying to keep his health in check before the next king is selected. The official reason for the king"s absence in the capital of Aina was him paying a visit to the other cities to keep them stable. Not many were aware that the king was ailing, his health deteriorating at a rapid pace.

None knew why, but the king had been ailing ever since the failed demon invasion. A black mark appeared on his body, sometime after the war, which slowly proceeded to spread throughout his body, draining the king of life, with the final years being especially painful. The king"s healers have informed him that it was a death curse of demonic origin, and it was irreversible at that stage. King had very little time left to live, that was the truth.

The king needs to be alive for the country to prosper. The current king, Sala"s father, Sarius Rondeleia, he needed to be alive before the crown is pa.s.sed to the next ruler. Only then, a peaceful transition of power can occur. Of the enemy kingdoms or the non-humans knew of the king"s deteriorating health, then a disaster was bound to occur. Tazak kingdom was not the only kingdom on the continent. There were five others, each with their own ruler and they were not on truly peaceful terms with any of them. The three of the five kingdoms bordered the Tazak kingdom, making them have frequent interactions which in worst case resulted in battles between them. There were total of six power holding kingdoms on the continent, there were others minor ones, but they were simply a nuisance, they did not possess any land or power to back them up.

"Understood." Sala remarked.

"She is a very strong. A rather admirable person." Aurelia said in awe.

"Yes, but I truly hope she does not try to ask me to challenge her to a duel. Her father once tried to ask me to duel his daughter to get her hand in marriage, but doing that is a suicide! She is way too strong! Even if it was just a political marriage just for appearance, it is still impossible. Not to mention…" I am a woman. Sala said the last part in his head.

"Indeed, if I recall correctly there was a time when lady Aristan Jansulu was looking for you to challenge you for a duel, but you were nowhere in sight."

"I was hiding underneath anything I could find. I tried my hardest to avoid her."

"Eventually she gave up searching for you. Although she is of the same age as you, she has fought so many people. I heard that none of the countless suitors she has had were ever able to beat her in a single combat, many suffered a horrible defeat, often with broken bones and severe injuries…" Aurelia said the last part with a cringe.

"Now you see why I refused to take part in that madness? Oh, I hope she doesn"t challenge me again when we meet, you said I will have to meet her, when is that precisely?"

"In a week, your majesty. A traditional, royal reception shall be held. She is a hero of the kingdom, so an appropriate meeting has to take place."

"Of course, I will make sure to arrange that." Sala muttered, secretly fearing that Jansulu might challenge him. It was true, she was his childhood friend (their parents were allies), but it didn"t change the fact that she terrified the h.e.l.l out of him.