"Pay attention to my movents,"
"Hold the sword with your pinkies, keep the other fingers relaxed, and make sure your wrist is straight because if it isn’t, your sword strokes won’t accurately hit the target, and you might even injure yourself."
"...Maintain a stable center of gravity, especially when changing moves, and don’t expose your weaknesses."
"...Rember to use the strength of your body, not just your arms, when you strike..."
It was still dark when Abus got up to practice his swordsmanship. By the ti Orwell arrived at the training ground, the boy was already drenched in sweat.
The Wandering Knight finished his warm-up and then picked up a wooden sword from the rack to spar with Abus for a while, correcting his posture and movents.
Afterward, Orwell began his own training, and when he felt tired, he wiped the sweat from his forehead, put away his sword, and looked over at Abus, who was still thodically practicing.
Orwell called out to Abus, "Hey, kid, you need to take a break now."
"I’m not tired yet!" Abus gritted his teeth. "The Wing Tribe is about to attack, and I need to get stronger to help Lady Ireya."
The Wandering Knight smiled, "Sir Ireya has Prophet rlin’s help, and now that so many Nobles have gathered at Green Field, they won’t miss one more."
"That’s why I want to prove myself," Abus responded. "Of course, I can’t compare to Prophet, but apart from Prophet, I won’t lose to anyone else!"
"Maybe in ten years," Orwell shrugged. "I know you want to beco a Knight, but everyone must go through long and strict training before becoming a Knight, especially soone like you, who cos from a commoner background with no family ties. It’s already quite good if you can beco a Knight before thirty."
"That’s too long," Abus frowned.
Orwell said, "It’s not long at all. I only beca a Knight when I was just over thirty, and even then, I had no lands."
"Your Lord, has he passed away?"
"No, as far as I know, that fellow is still alive and well."
"Then why did you leave him to co here to Green Field?"
Orwell patted the boy’s shoulder, "When you get to my age, you’ll understand that so people aren’t worth serving."
"But doesn’t that violate the Knight’s code of loyalty?" Abus asked in surprise.
)
"I guess that’s life; you always have to lose sothing. But you’re in luck, Sir Ireya is a good person, a ruler that all Knights dream of serving."
"So, I have to push even harder!" Abus clenched his fists.
"It’s good to have spirit, but don’t overdo it. The human body has its limits," Orwell said. "That’s enough training for today. Co with ."
"Where are we going?" Abus gasped.
"A eting is about to start. Don’t you want to check out the excitent?"
Abus’s eyes lit up at this; he knew today was the appointed day. Many Noble Families had sent their representatives to Green Field to discuss with the Lady ways to resist the Wing Tribe.
Abus certainly wanted to attend the eting, to fight for the Aliases Family and the Double Rest Sect. However, he was too young, even though many of the castle guards recognized the lad Ireya had picked up from Lake City.
But at such tis, they wouldn’t let Abus in.
However, if Orwell decided to take him along, that would be a different matter altogether. The two faced no obstruction along the way and quickly arrived in the hall where the nobles were gathering.
Abus saw Ireya seated at the highest position in the hall. The Lady today was not dressed in a gown but clad in armor, a getup that signaled her resolve.
Besides her, there were nearly a hundred nobles in the hall, either sitting or standing, gathering in groups of three or five, many shouting loudly about sothing, making the scene sowhat chaotic.
A man with a large beard shouted the loudest, "We should attack imdiately, taking advantage of the fact that the Wing Tribe hasn’t attacked us yet.
"In my opinion, the families that did not send representatives here today have either already allied with the Wing Tribe or are planning to do so.
"We must strike first, crush their armies, seize their lands, capture their lords, otherwise once the war begins, those fellows will surely attack us, and they might even stab us in the back!"
His words received the agreent of many, but there were also disagreents, "Are you suggesting that we declare war on the Figrola family right now?"
"Is there a problem with that?" the bearded man countered.
"Of course, the Figrola family is the ruler of the Western Territory, and we are all their vassals, having sworn oaths. We cannot just break those sacred oaths."
"How can this be considered breaking an oath? It’s the Figrola family who first abandoned the Western Territory. They accepted a deal with the Wing Tribe in exchange for their previous territories in the Northern Territory. They abandoned us first," another man argued.
"Even if we set aside the issue of breaking oaths, rashly declaring war would an pushing the other families straight into the arms of the Wing Tribe... and before the Wing Tribe even arrives, we would have started fighting among ourselves. How can that be acceptable?"
The crowd was at sixes and sevens, each sticking to their own argunt.
The most heated debaters even blew in each other’s faces and glared as if they were about to co to blows at any mont.
They started calling each other nas, accusing those who refused to deploy troops imdiately as spies sent by the Wing Tribe, pretending to join the resisters to buy ti.
The others retorted by calling those clamoring for imdiate war the lackeys of the Wing Tribe, since the Wing Tribe would relish seeing the Western Territory descend into chaos now.
So still harbored a sliver of hope, believing that the Wing Tribe’s large army wouldn’t reach the Western Territory so soon.
They argued that if this was the case, Allister of the Northern Territory could take advantage of this opportunity to recapture Lion Heart Castle; the Wing Tribe should first secure the Northern Territory before setting their sights on the Western Territory.
This would still give everyone so ti to prepare, seek more allies, and so even proposed establishing contact with the Monteverde family of the Northern Territory now.
They could swear loyalty to Allister in exchange for an alliance. Allister, being the younger brother of the last Emperor Gars of the Empire, was perfectly suited to lead the Resistance Army.
So thought it wise to speak once more with the Figrola family, to persuade Clovis to reconsider, so that the Figrola family could continue to lead them.
Abus initially listened with great interest, but as the discussion wore on, he beca increasingly impatient.
Especially when he heard so still planned to persuade the Figrola family, he could no longer hold back and burst out.
"The Figrola family allowed the Wing Tribe to strike their own loyal vassals. Do you really still want to serve such lords?"
"Then whom should we serve?" soone countered, "Allister is not bad but the Northern Territory is just too far from us."
"What is there to hesitate about? Have you all forgotten who has saved the Western Territory ti and again, and who was the first to stand up against the Wing Tribe, warning everyone?" Abus shouted.
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