4 – A Knight’s Surging Qi
Early the next morning.
Marcus had arrived at the castle early in the morning. He did not enter, and instead waited outside the castle. Seeing the short and bleak castle, he felt cold inside, perhaps thinking that his future prospects were as bleak as this castle.
The castle was built on a slope southwest of the small town.
It did not had tall defensive walls, towering guard towers, lodged battlements, a wide moat, or a huge portcullis.
It was just a a bit bigger than a large two-story house.
There were faint cracks of the stone walls and a few tiles were missing on the roof, it was unknown whether there where any leaks on rainy days.
Reportedly, this crude and small castle had a century long history. Before Coral Island became the territory of the count, it had belonged to another aristocrat who had ultimately fallen into ruin. After the count was granted Coral Island, he had yet to renovate the small castle and to inspect Flower Town.
So far, Baron Liszt had been staying in the small castle.
And he, formerly part of Coral Island’s knights, an Earth Knight, a man with the aspiration of rendering meritorious services on the battlefield, had become a regular of the small castle.
Together with Baron Liszt, he kept watch over Flower Town, which did not even have cobblestone roads.
“Teacher Marcus, good morning.” The servingman Tom was carrying an empty bucket, about to go to fetch water from the town’s well. He deferentially greeted Marcus.
Marcus responded plainly: “Good morning.”
He did not remember Tom’s name, but he remembered his family name, which seemed to be ‘Pigsty’, a very typical family name for commoners. On account that his grandfather was a coachman who had spent his days on the wheels, his own family name, ‘Wheeler’, was also not elegant like those of aristocrats.
That was how the commoners were and how they got their family names.
He envied the aristocrats’ family names, envied the count’s family name, Tulip – what a grand family name! How much effort would it take for him to change his family name to a similar one? Grand family names could not be used by the commoners! Family names related to flowers, precious stones, metals… aristocrats would never allow the commoners to drag them through mud!
After a while, four tall men wearing leather armor arrived behind Marcus.
“Teacher Marcus.” The four people greeted him one after another.
“Karl, Röhm, Grey, Oden, you’re here.” Marcus acknowledged them one by one. The four people were Liszt’s retainer knights.
Retainer knights were not knights, they were merely retainers to knights, a type of servant who were in charge of attending to knights on the battle field; including, but not limited to, carrying weapons, leading horses, laundry, cooking.
In essence, Marcus was also a kind of retainer knight, just that he was a free person and retainer knights were servants who had sold themselves into servitude.
After a moment, the still sleepy Liszt came out of the castle’s drafty gate. In the morning, Liszt had changed into a simple set of workout clothing. The simple yet elegant white matched with the jealousy-inducing face as well as the tall figure and outstanding temperament, they painted an exquisite image.
“Good morning, Teacher Marcus, Karl Eisenhammer, Röhm Weinfa.s.s, Gray Sickle, Oden Insole, and Messrs. and Mesdames.”
Mesdames, regardless of their marital status, that was how aristocrats addressed their maids.
A housekeeper would be called Mrs., regardless oh her marital status. The aristocratic rigid system had been ingrained into Liszt’s bones for sixteen years, turning into the so-called instinct.
“Sir Baron, let us start the knight cultivation lesson.”
“Okay.”
On the mound in front of the castle, Liszt started practicing cultivation. His four retainer knights had not learn qi, they were just tempering their bodies to the side.
Qi stressed ones bloodline; therefore, very few commoners could learn it.
In fact, Liszt felt that qi was related to nourishment; how could commoners who could not eat their fill refine the power inside them and turn it into qi?
Aristocrats, could learn qi as long as they were a bit diligent.
The origin of the aristocrats’ firm rule lied in their wealth, them eating their fill, cultivating qi, grasping power, suppressing the commoners; thus becoming wealthier, eating more, cultivating qi to a greater realm, grasping greater power, and becoming capable of suppressing the commoners even more.
The cow milk along with bread continuously provided Liszt with nutrients.
Under Marcus’ guidance, starting when Liszt was six years old, he had been practicing cultivation according to the [Fundamental Qi] secret manual. Unfortunately, the yield was scant. Although his qi made him stronger than the commoners, however, when compared to Earth Knights, Apprentice Knights seemed puny. Marcus could defeat him with a single hand.
“This mysterious qi, I had never experienced it before. Cultivation… after completing the mission and obtaining the advancement in qi reward, will it allow me to become an Earth Knight?”
Feeling the qi inside him, Liszt practiced diligently.
The morning lesson had concluded an hour later.
“Teacher Marcus, drink some water and rest for ten minutes. We will be setting off afterwards.” Liszt wiped the sweat off his forehead; the morning lesson was quite tiring.
The old butler Carter had already led over a servant with milk tea for Liszt to replenish nutrients.
The four retainer knights were given a cup of milk tea with minced meat, cow milk, and eggs. They sipped the milk tea contentedly, forgetting the hour long hardship.
Marcus and Liszt had also some dessert – cheese and biscuits.
When they finished eating, and changed their clothes, the gentleman’s valet, Thomas, had brought over Liszt"s horse – an adult nearly maneless date-red steed. When it was a little foal, it had been gifted to Liszt by the Count of Coral Island for his twelfth anniversary. Now, it looked particularly majestic.
Snort.
The date-red horse snorted, then intimately rubbed against Liszt’s arm.
“Fierydragon, old friend, you’re sick of staying in the castle, right?” After comforting his steed, Liszt nimbly mounted it.
Marcus and the four retainer knights also mounted their horses. Marcus’ mount was a majestic yellow-grayish horse, it belonged to him. The mounts of the four retainer knights were ordinary yellow horses, they were Liszt’s property a.s.signed to the retainer knights to groom.
“My Lord, may you have a safe trip.” Carter expressed his benediction.
“Thank you for the kind words.” Following the sharp noise from the horsewhip, Fierydragon gave a long neigh and broke into a gallop, “Set out!”
Liszt rod at the very front. As an aristocrat, he was wearing a light and well ventilated magic beast’s leather armor; its defense was even better than that of common armor.
A black magic beast’s leather armor, a one-handed sword slanted at his waist, and a black magic beast’s leather helm with tail pheasant feathers on top, he looked quite imposing.
Apart from a one-handed sword and a one-handed shield as their weapons, his retainer knights still carried lances, longswords, hammers, flails, and other backup weapons for Liszt to fight with, along with lunch and water.
Apart from his favorite short spear, Marcus still had a bow and arrows. He was an outstanding archer. Compared to the status of an Earth Knight, the status of a divine archer exhibited his worth even more. His aspiration had been to distinguish himself among Coral Island’s knights, hoping to earn the t.i.tle of chevalier.
Tabdak tabdak tabdak!
Hoofs stamped on the st.u.r.dy ground, giving rise to crisp sounds. They reached the small town a short while later. Liszt had to inspect his territory; the small town was his first priority.