Chapter 12
The outpost’s exercise field was positioned in the clearing along the south side of its palisade. This supposedly ant that the n going through their drills were that many more eyes in a sort of sentry duty; their activities a deterrent to any approaches from the untad wilderness.
Accompanied by her bodyguard, Lady Zahradnik found a yawning Captain standing near the eastern side of the field just outside of the outpost’s wooden gate. Upon noticing her approach, he straightened and combed his blonde hair back with the fingers of his right hand.
“Lady Zahradnik,” he offered a salute. “Captain Kyle Hawke of the Eleventh Company, Third Division…well, I guess it’s the Third Company of Ray’s Raiders for now.”
“Ray’s Raiders?”
“We’re all sorts of unofficial,” the Captain said, “but we at least wanted sothing to call ourselves. Raidin’s what we’ve been doing all this ti, so can’t say it doesn’t fit.”
Joachim let out a silent sigh at the ‘unofficial na’. Being the ones that defended against raiders all the ti, Imperial Knights wouldn’t usually refer to themselves as such.
“I see…” Lady Zahradnik said. “Weren’t you out with your company on yesterday’s sweep, Captain Hawke?”
“Yes, my lady,” the Captain nodded. “The General whistled up, so here I am.”
“I’m sorry to be a bother,” Lady Zahradnik said. “You should be getting your rest…”
Captain Hawke leaned forward at her apology, hands raised in front of him in an apologetic gesture of his own.
“I-it’s alright, my lady,” he hurriedly said. “I’ll just crawl into my tent later. A nap after lunch is nice once in a while, too.”
Several of the n lined up behind Lady Zahradnik sent the Captain knowing leers, which he did his best to ignore. Joachim hoped that the Baroness wouldn’t turn around right then. Fortunately, she instead turned her attention to the field.
Joachim squinted against the sunlight peeking out from between the peaks, trying to figure out what she was looking at. He wasn’t sure of it, but light conditions didn’t seem to affect the Baroness. There were magic items that compensated for the absence or abundance of light and clear vision was especially important to a Ranger, so, with as many magic items as she carried around, he figured she had sothing along those lines equipped. Her clothing and accessories appeared to all be masterwork items and it could have been any one of them.
“Is there a Faucet of Spring Water here, Captain Hawke?” She asked.
“The n usually go into the camp if they need a drink, my lady.”
“Then…”
Lady Zahradnik made her way over to a row of large boulders lined up along the southeastern wall. The n stared as she sohow pulled a pick and a shovel out of one of the pouches at her hip.
“Let’s make a pit and get a fire going,” she said, then indicated a group of her n. “You four, get so wood from inside.”
More items ca out of her magic bags. A small folding table, stools, a Pouch of Infinite Water and a row of cups. She had the table placed behind the row of boulders facing the field. The various items were laid over the desk; then a stack of blank paper was weighed down by one of her food containers. Lady Zahradnik placed her hand on the to she had brought with her.
“Are you familiar with this, Captain?”
“That’s one of our manuals?” Captain Hawke replied, “If so, yes. Our Sergeants drill their squads with instructions from out of that monster.”
“The Captains don’t?”
“Well, yeah, they can,” the Captain said. “All of the Captains were Sergeants once – even the Nobles from the Academy. But most of the stuff in there is beyond almost everyone in the Legion. I know it sounds strange for a fighting man, but what’s in there only makes sense to those who are maybe a bit too crazy about fighting and vets with a lot of years in the army. Even then, it only makes so sense.”
To say that the manual made sense or not didn’t do what was going on in the thing any justice. Joachim had read through the manual for useful information about shield and warhamr techniques but he couldn’t understand most of what was contained within its pages.
Each ‘school’ of combat – which not only involved weapons but movent, horsemanship and fighting as anything from squad-sized groups to the ranks of a full army – had a rudintary ‘layman’ section containing drills described and illustrated in step-by-step details. These layman sections could be understood by anyone and they were referred to by the Sergeants to drill their n.
Even the slightly more advanced sections, however, had Joachim going from understanding what was going on to not understanding at all. Reading was simply not enough to make it work and he was certain that what was written was written just as plainly as the basic parts of the manual. Those sections involved taking what was drilled into the n and transforming those drills into Martial Arts.
It was an absolute threshold; there wasn’t anything gradual about it. Soldiers went from wielding their weapons normally to wielding them with supernatural force and one either could or couldn’t.
Most soldiers who achieved the use of Martial Arts couldn’t even explain what they were doing. They could only attempt to describe it in ‘feelings’ with the accompanying sound effects. The only people who seed to be able to make any sense out of it were Weapon Masters and they all spoke like they were in their own little world when discussing Martial Arts between themselves.
For Joachim and anyone who wasn’t a warrior, Martial Arts were utterly incomprehensible: a thing where warriors swung their weapons so much that they just spontaneously gained the ability to swing them harder. He supposed they were called a ‘warrior’s magic’ for good reason – Martial Arts was just as esoteric to Joachim as the arcane formulas of Wizards.
“So you just drill the n until it sticks?” Lady Zahradnik asked.
“Pretty much,” the Captain answered with a nod. “Formations, manoeuvres, Martial Arts…we got sothing for everything – you just have to follow the pictures.”
The way Captain Hawke put it made the discipline of the Imperial Army sound like it stemd from sothing stupid. It was said that practice made perfect…why couldn’t he just say that?
“Many mbers of the Sixth Legion went through a training regin that differs from a regular imperial army group,” Lady Zahradnik said. “How do they compare to fresh recruits in the other Legions?”
“That’s where the new Sixth Legion stands out, I think,” the Captain replied. “I started out in the Eighth Legion five years ago and the new recruits – including – were just weak little pukes for the first two or so years. Most of us didn’t start picking up Martial Arts until three or four years in. Here in the Sixth Legion, they trained for half a year non-stop so even the fresh recruits have basic Martial Arts. Those that ca in from the Seventh and Eighth Legion toughened up a fair bit too.”
“But the recruits aren’t trained for policing duties,” the Baroness noted, “nor do they have experience working around civilians. I also witnessed so…interesting conduct from off-duty Sixth Legion soldiers.”
“They can run a basic patrol, at best,” Captain Hawke admitted. “As for the rest…the Sixth Legion’s not ant for that. Part of it’s just from being fresh out of basic training, too – I know I strutted around town for the first half-year or so after joining the army.”
Maybe a bit of excitent and pride couldn’t be helped, but the n of the Sixth Legion were on the edge of running wild in the urban areas of the Wyvernmark. They even ca around looking to impress village girls, going so far as to treat them as stand-ins for brothel workers. The senior officers of the Legion did their best to keep them reined in, but there was only so much they could do about it.
Lady Zahradnik drew a clipboard from one of her magical containers, pulling a sheet of paper from the desk to attach to it. She then produced the fancy-looking pen Joachim had seen her use on many occasions and continued questioning Captain Hawke.
“Based on what you’ve said, am I correct in assuming that each of the warriors in the Sixth Legion ets the army’s minimum qualifications for basic Martial Arts?”
“Yes, my lady,” the Captain said. “They already got Fortress, Focus Battle Aura and a basic Strike Art for their weapon of choice. A few of the new recruits might have more; those of us that’ve transferred in from elsewhere definitely do. There’s no standard for that, though.”
“That’s still very good,” Lady Zahradnik said. “Assuming they survive, the average Adventurer in the Empire and Re-Estize takes upwards to two years to begin grasping Martial Arts. I feel that standardised, professional training is essential for any institution and I’ve seen many things in the Empire that definitively prove this. How does this training continue past the point of basic Martial Arts, Captain Hawke?”
“…it would depend on the person. Everyone can learn more basic Martial Arts once they pick up their first one, so I guess the best way to put it is that they learn things that help them do whatever they’re doing. Heavy infantry learn Martial Arts that keep enemies stuck to them and help ‘em survive it, the cavalry usually learn ones for mounted combat and Rangers learn, uh, Ranger things. It’s a slow process, though: a new drill for every new Martial Art.”
As Captain Hawke spoke, Lady Zahradnik’s pen flowed over the paper on her clipboard. She appeared to be writing far more than he was saying, however. After several monts, she seed satisfied with her work, reaching out for a new piece of paper before continuing.
“Is there a rule of thumb for the number of Martial Arts an Imperial Knight learns over their career?”
“Hmm…used to be that it’d be roughly around the number of years of service,” the Captain replied. “Even if they’re using basic Martial Arts, veterans beco pretty versatile since they eventually end up with Skills and Martial Arts to use for whatever situation they find themselves in. With the Sixth Legion, though, that number might go up. We’ve been training like crazy and, by the looks of it, we’ll be fightin’ a lot and learnin’ more compared to the other army groups.”
“If considered from that angle,” Lady Zahradnik said, “that sounds plausible. What about advanced Martial Arts?”
“You an like Dragon Fang Thrust? That’s uh…it’s a gamble, I guess.”
The Baroness looked up from her notes with a furrow on her brow.
“A gamble?”
“Yeah,” Captain Hawke replied. “I don’t know how much of that manual you’ve looked through, but there’s drills for the fancy stuff in there too. Knights that wanna sink their ti in it’ll try, but there’s no guarantee that they’ll succeed.”
Lady Zahradnik’s pen resud its scratching.
“Who usually succeeds in grasping advanced Martial Arts??”
“Most of the martial Nobles do, eventually. Then there are those really talented guys that make everything seem easy. Aside from that, learning Dragon Fang Thrust is rare.”
Lady Zahradnik looked back up from her clipboard again after he finished speaking. The Captain shifted slightly under her gaze as she seed to examine him intently, tapping her pen lightly against her cheek.
“Are you able to use two Martial Arts at once, Captain? Say, a Strike Art while holding a Boost Art.”
“I can. Figured it out shortly before I made Captain.”
“What weapon do you favour?”
“Just a spear, m’lady.”
“Have you tried learning anything ‘fancy’?”
“No,” the Captain shook his head. “Maybe one day, but I have a lot of simpler things on my list to learn.”
“Well, if you’d like to learn an advanced Strike Art, the one that you’re the closest to learning is Twin Thrust.”
“How do you figure?”
“I’ve assisted with training warriors back in the Sorcerous Kingdom,” the Baroness said. “Determining one’s capacity for Martial Arts is straightforward – the difference tends to lie in thods of training and what it ans for how far one is from grasping any given Martial Art. Now, shall we get our exercises underway?”
The n spaced themselves out on the field and Captain Hawke went up and down the two rows as they started to practise. Lady Zahradnik stopped at each soldier, having them demonstrate their ability to perform the Martial Arts that the Sixth Legion’s ‘basic training’ required of them. While one might be able to get away with not knowing Martial Arts for a few years in the army’s traditional role of dostic security, not knowing in the expeditionary army was not an option.
With nothing but a heavy branch used as an improvised club, the average Ogre or Troll could break bones through plate armour, which ant they could also shatter arms through shields. Successful parries still resulted in damage and deflecting powerful attacks required exceptional skill and luck. Dodging was easier said than done and one couldn’t dodge when fighting in formation. Thus, Fortress was required to campaign in a wilderness filled with monstrously strong enemies.
To neutralise their opponents, Humans warriors required the extra power of basic Strike Arts. Trying to outlast their generally stronger enemies extended the risk of sustaining casualties and many races were far tougher than they were. Magic weapons were expensive and the Empire could not afford to equip thousands of n with them, so Focus Battle Aura was necessary to fight enemies that required magical weapons to harm. Without these three Martial Arts, a warrior of the Sixth Legion could not be relied upon to fight effectively.
“How co we’re the only ones out here?”
Joachim’s attention shifted from the n of the bodyguard to Lady Zahradnik.
“I think most feel that it’s more satisfying to sleep in than to turn in early, my lady,” he said. “Recuperating squads usually practise in the afternoons.”
“Oh,” Lady Zahradnik said. “I wasn’t aware of that. With the Second Legion, I worked with the squads on duty and, during the battle of The Blister, the company I was attached to only rested for as long as it took for them to be ready to sortie again. I should have considered how scheduling would work in an extended campaign like this one.”
“Well, they were expecting to ride out with General Ray again, so they were all ready to go anyway.”
Once Lady Zahradnik completed her basic assessnt, they moved on to sparring, which was the part where Joachim suspected that he and Redwyn would lose most of their mana. Regular officers were content to see the n through their drills, but martial Nobles pushed their subordinates the hardest. If the Clerics had mana, that ant more opportunities for the n to beat each other silly for their own good.
The two heavy infantry in the squad took the brunt of the punishnt, though it may have been because the Baroness appeared to be paying special attention to them.
“I’m not sure if it’s the sa as what I’ve seen employed, but is that taunt you two are using effective on any target?”
Frank – the heavy infantryman being questioned – shared a glance with Igvel, the other heavy infantryman in the squad, before answering.
“That’s, uh, I think so, m’lady?”
“What is the strongest opponent you’ve used it on?”
“An Ogre during the ti we were poking around on the border,” Frank replied. “The instructors in the training camp told us to learn it after the basic three, saying it’d be handy out here.”
“They sure weren’t wrong,” Igvel added. “I didn’t like that they were still trying to tell us what to do after we just worked our asses off doing what they told us to do, but now I can’t think of anything more useful I might’ve learned. We use it dozens of tis a day…well, at least when we get into fights.”
Lady Zahradnik stepped out in front of Frank, whose uncertain gaze wavered as she faced him.
“If you had to draw the attention of an opponent too powerful to defend against, what options do you have at your personal disposal?”
“Aside from taking a stab at ‘em, not much, my lady.”
The Baroness – who seed to have been looking for a demonstration – frowned in disappointnt.
“Did your drill instructors make any recomndations?” She asked.
“Was all most of us could do to learn the basics,” Frank answered. “We deployed right after that.”
“I see,” the Baroness nodded. “In that case, I recomnd that you start working on alternatives to vocally-delivered taunts. You will inevitably encounter adversaries that you absolutely do not want taking a swing at you, but it is still your job to keep them from attacking your squadmates. You may also encounter opponents who are resistant to your taunt attempts or entirely immune. So variant of Called Shot or a binding technique where the condition for success is not overcoming resistance but landing a strike is ideal. Your manual contains the drills required to grasp many of these Martial Arts.”
The two heavy infantry and Captain Hawke nodded in response to Lady Zahradnik’s words. She turned her attention to the rest of the squad.
“It’s unfortunate that you don’t have these Martial Arts yet, but I’d still like to have you conduct a certain exercise. I haven’t seen it conducted anywhere in the Empire so far, so it’s probably one that you’re unfamiliar with.”
“What exercise is that, m’lady?” Captain Hawke asked.
“A ga,” Lady Zahradnik smiled in a way that made Joachim frown. “One that I played as a little girl. We’ll be adding so adult flavour to make it more interesting.”
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