Chapter 14: A Hero Arises (Part 2)

5.15 am, 4009AD, Day 26 of the Month of May. The Day of the Parade of the Champions

After a simple stretch, I went down to the guest house’s courtyard for my daily morning practices. I have not done this for more or less a week, so the morning wind and the cold breeze that I felt on my skin as soon as I held my sword sent shivers throughout my body. But that wouldn’t stop me at the very least.

I found it comforting to be able to practice very early in the morning while it was still dark.

For once, I didn’t have dark shadows following my every detail, so I had devoided of unwanted attention from random passersby and even prying eyes. But most importantly, however, practising very early in the morning set my mood going for the rest of the day. A little sweat to start off the day would always be a good thing.

As I held my sword in my hand, I closed my eyes. I imagined the First movement of the Sun up to the Fifth movement. In total, there was nine movements of the Sun, with increasing difficulty as the rank ascended. I’m already at 17 years of age, yet I only managed to complete up to the First movement and barely to the middle of the second one. I had no idea why this happened to me and only me. Even my battle masters back in the Brotherhood were all perplexed by my weird conditions. 10 years in the Brotherhood, even the average student could master all the 8 movements. But if what Blizzard Hawk claimed were true, then there would not be any average students at all since the Brotherhood only initiated the most prodigious of talents to be amongst their ranks. I wondered what talents did I had back then?

The Movement of the Sun Sword was the most basic sword skills after all. We had other skills for other weapons, but if I couldn’t master even a single weapon which happened to be used by nearly all fighters, what hope was there for me to even think to try on other weapons? I did try once though using other weapons, but the result was a disaster.

Ahh well, if shit was going to happen, it would happen, sooner or later. No point dwelling on it. Moping around feeling depressed won’t help either. A second could make a difference. This was the choice I’ve made back then. And I’m more determined than ever to make it a reality.

Perhaps I could become a master of one weapon first rather than dabbled in any other types. Mastering one would be better than becoming jacks of all trades, but master of none. So, with the weapon of my choice in my hand; the sword that was given to me from the old geezer as a reward for saving the princess; I started my practice. All of the Movement of the Sun could be divided into five stages.

First was the breathing. One must be in complete control of own breathing. Wielding a weapon especially was always a tiresome endeavour. The heavier the weapon was, the harder it would be for the breathing. Thus, breathing correctly was the first stage. To put it simply, lousy breathing would create lousy movements. A master of any weapon must first be able to wield their weapons for any amount of time he so desires.

Next was the stance. Each movement had different stances. Nothing complicated about the stance. It’s simple to do but to master a stance and perfect the art would take years. A small degree of changes mattered a whole lot.

However, what differentiates the rest of the Movement of the Sun Sword would be the stage 3 & 4 respectively. Stage 3 was the strike while stage 4 was the flow. These 2 stages were considered the most important stages of the sword skills I’m using. And these were the 2 stages where I failed the most. I could barely enter the Stage 3 of Second Movement. And the final stage would be the accumulation of power unleashed in a single strike, which I called ‘impute’.

By using the breathing, the stance, the strike and the flow, one would gain momentum and power needed to unleash an impute strike. For the First Movement, the impute strike would normally render a tree in half easily with a single slash. For the Second Movement, it would create an X cross shape slash that could even cut a rock in a quarter. And I have seen the master of the Ninth Movement of the Sun Sword rendered hundreds of trees in half or level a small hill with a single strike. This sword skill was extremely deadly and only taught to the disciple of the Brotherhood. I could consider myself to be lucky to even learn these sword techniques, given how I suck at mastering them. As I have said before, the Movement of the Sun Sword was the most basic sword skills. Master all the movements, and one would learn more sword skills upon reaching certain ranks in the Brotherhood.

Ahh well… It’s not the time for me to mope around. I got training to do. Perhaps one day I could unleash devastating power from what I have learned instead of thinking what could I do if I could learn all the movements. Perfecting the First Movement was all I could this at this time.

As I sweat myself profusely in this cold morning, I have finally completed 15 sets of the First Movement. The Second movement was still a bane to me, but I’m starting to feel it already. I could feel the essence of the Second movement coming to me, albeit slowly. Very slowly.

I wiped my forehead with my left hand as my right hand, which was holding the sword, was trembling. I could say the training was intense but reinvigorating. The trembling did not stop for a while.

“Master Claude. Here’s your towel”

The sudden interruption of my thought made me looked towards the front of the door. Reena, the cat-like maid was standing between the doorway as she proceeded towards me, bringing me a clean towel to wipe myself off from the sweat.

I have taken off my shirt prior to the training, so it would not be a surprise if my sweat was making me looks like I’m wet from my bath, instead of sweating. The stinking smell of my youthful sweat on my body would give away though.

“Master, you smell. Here, take the towel and please wipe yourself off!”

I was wiping my chest off the sweat with my palm when she came over to my side and handed the towel.

“Ah! Thanks, Reena.”

“A-A-And Master, please cover yourself up! I know you are training, but going shirtless during a cold morning is not good for your health. You might catch a cold, Master.”

“Ohh really now? Well, if I ever caught any cold, I’ll look for you to nurse me back to health then.”

I teased her. Seeing her blush in the morning sure made me feel good. I patted her head as I walked towards the door.

“Master, I have prepared your hot bath. Please take a bath first before having your breakfast. Don’t let it be like the other day!”

The other day? Ohh… I see.

Reena still remembered that first day where I was training like this. However, I took breakfast without taking a bath first. Perhaps that had turned her off. Feigning on ignorance won’t help my cause this time.

“Master, you had promised to me that day that you’ll clean up after yourself before eating!”

And she kept on insisting. Was she my maid or my wife, huh?

“Sure. Sure. Now please stop nagging already. I’ll take a bath. But, Reena…”

I left out a wide grin as she looked at me curiously.

“Better make sure your breakfast is good or else I’m going to throw a tantrum.”

“Yes, Master! As you wish!!”

She answered enthusiastically. Perhaps next time instead of asking for breakfast, I could have her wash my back. I gave out an evil laugh that even surprised the calm Reena.

“Something wrong, Master?”

“Hahahaha… All is good. All is good.”

I laughed all the way inside the house leaving Reena alone to her thoughts.

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6.20am, 4009AD, Day 26 of the Month of May. The Day of the Parade of the Champions

The hot bath was good. Reena had prepared it perfectly. Not only that, she even added some refreshing herbs of some kind into the water. The moment I soaked myself in the tub, I could feel that all my tiredness and fatigues body disappeared. I wondered what the herbs were as the effect was immediate and so pleasant that I spent much longer time than usual in a hot tub. Perhaps in this way, I could do with more morning hot bath after rigorous training.

After coming out of the bath, I went out, with a towel hanging from my waist, towards the object of my next desire. My new Elite uniform. More specifically, my new Blitz Elite uniform.

My very own first uniform of the Royal Elite Knights. The feeling I get from receiving this uniform was the same as I received my first Brotherhood uniform back then. It was an Initiate uniform when I was about 5-6 years old, but I still could remember that feeling vividly until today.

The same feeling; both warm, full of joy and happiness that it could even bring tears to my eyes. Those were good feelings to have indeed.

“Master! Your breakfast is ready. Please come down.”

Reena shouted from outside the door.

Ahh… I better get ready soon, or else I would be late.

As I finished wearing my uniform, I stepped down the stairs to the kitchen. True to her words, she has prepared me a sumptuous but simple breakfast. The Wild Mushroom soup with freshly baked toast and Elsiberry juice. She sure knew what my tastes were even though this was her second time serving me breakfast.

“Master, please take a seat.”

She then pulled the chair out for me. I nodded to her as a form of thanks for her consideration. As I looked at her, I beckoned her to sit next to me. However, to my pleasant surprise this time around, she did not refuse me. Immediately, she took a seat next to mine.

“Master, is that your new uniform?”

I nodded as I took the first sip of the soup she made for me. It still tasted the same too. Perfect!

“You look very good in it. So elegant and knightly.” Reena praised me as she looked at me intently.

“What do you expect, Reena? I’m your Master anyway. That’s the very least how I should look so I don’t embarrass you. Besides, you are the first one to officially see me in my full uniform.”

“I’m deeply honoured, Master!”

I rubbed her hair. However, something else caught my immediate attention. I was surprised that Reena did not take her breakfast with me though she was just sitting next to me. How could she even take any as there were no plates or bowls in front of her?

I stared at her quite a bit. Immediately she understood my displeasure.

“Reena, I thought I told you already the first time around that you shall take your food together with me, be it for breakfast, lunch or dinner or anything in between.”

She looked down, avoiding my gaze while fiddling her fingers..

“Here, have some.” I offered to feed her as I extend the spoon full with soup. She looked at me, surprised.

“B-But Master… This is your…”

She tried to reject me, but she did not push the spoon away.

“No buts. Here take a sip. I insist.”

Reena drank the soup from the spoon albeit reluctantly as I smiled happily at her. She seemed to be very self-conscious which I believe had to do with her being a Beast people. When she finished, I gave a pat on her head. If others were to see this, they might think that the father just fed his daughter breakfast. But I don’t look like a father, and neither Reena was my daughter. And I fed her again, a couple of times more.

“Ain’t that good? You are a good cook and I really enjoy eating your soup. So, if you don’t eat with me, I’ll feed you instead. Like what I’m doing now. By the way, I wanted this to ask you since last night. Do you sleep in this house or somewhere else?”

Reena was surprised to hear my sudden question, but she did answer nonetheless.

“I-I-I’m staying outside.”

“So, you have to come here early every morning, like today and then when the day is dark, you are off back to your home?”

She nodded in response.

“Ain’t that dangerous for a girl, especially a maid like you, to be travelling at night all alone?”

And this time, she just kept quiet.

“Alright. Starting from today, you will stay here, as the in housemaid.”

Reena was shocked upon hearing my words.

“Master?!! I can’t do that!”

“Why not? Look at it this way. This house is way too big for me to live alone. Last time I was here, I even got lost. How many rooms was it again in this house? 15? 20?”

“18 rooms, Master.”

“Yah… 18 rooms. And I’m taking only the master bedroom, which leaves another 17 rooms empty. I can’t have you cleaning the whole house for just one person even though I might be the Master of the house here. I’m not too obsessive about being compulsively clean.”

“B-But Master. As a lowly maid, I can’t intrude upon your privacy Master. Besides, I can’t leave my-my…”

“What’s this nonsense again? Did I not tell you about my house rules? And who is that person that you can’t leave?”

“I-It’s my brother, Master Claude. He is staying at the same place as I do. If I stay here, he will be all alone. He is still very young.”

“I see. Then let him stay with you, here in this house then. I have no problems with another extra person in this house. Besides, I have enough gold to take care both of you here. Being an Elite pays quite well anyway.”

“I-I…”

“And Reena, I would be extremely displeased if you say no.”

I looked at her intensely as I try to portray my tough Master attitude. I have no choice but to do that since Reena has some self-image or self-esteem issue. I needed to break that shell of hers. I could feel her fidgeting next to me.

“Alright, since it’s decided that you and your brother will stay here, it’s time for me to make my move now.”

As I finished up breakfast, I stood up and patted her on her head.

“I’ll be looking forward seeing you and your brother staying here, starting from today onwards. You have my permission to go and bring him here after I left the house. Besides, the more people in this house, the merrier.”

Reena soon saw me out of the door. As she held the door opened for me, she bowed down her head and wave me goodbye.

“Master Claude, please take care of yourself and enjoy your parade.” And as I walked past her, I patted her head like how I always did. I love patting her head for the sole reason of watching her ears twitched. It looks cute and funny at the same time.

“Alright, Reena. I’ll be looking forward to it, and you do what I have told you earlier, alright. Be a good girl now.”

She smiled and nodded. As she continued to wave at me, I walked towards the main street as the first ray of the sunlight descends upon us. The sudden light blinded me for a second before I could cover my face.

It looks like it’s about time for people to get busy. I better hurry along now.