Erratic sounds of clashing made me scrunch my brows. A group of soldiers were dancing across the deck in pairs without much real coordination. It looked like I was witnessing a ballet of toddlers with stubby legs and uncoordinated feet. I once heard that the soldiers that typically could be used around the Queen descendants were of real talent and skill. Yet, just walking down the bottom half of the stairs, I caught no more than forty mistakes in each sparring couple. It, honestly, was disgraceful to allow these clowns to continue to clash.

“Is this the typical battle style?” I glanced at Knight Bowers and she shrugged.

“I haven’t seen them trained before,” she said.

“What do you think of this?”

“A little disorderly,” she spoke a little hesitantly.

I merely nodded to acknowledge her words but my eyes locked onto the three knights with their sashes dangling from their belts. It was a disgrace if these were their men. I would not have allowed them to fight like that. Just mindlessly swinging their blades with full force to the point that you could see their arms tensing with every strike. They literally held their ground instead of being prepared for the next strike, the next dodge. It made all this look like a rehearsed play instead of them preparing to engage an enemy.

Embarrassing!

Tabitha walked to a section of the deck that wasn’t occupied. She pulled her sword and gripped the handle with both hands. Her scabbard slapped against her thigh when she hunched a little. Her blade angles upward from her stomach. The sunlight blended in with her blonde hair and if she didn’t have the scar or the devilish look of concentration, she would have been absolutely stunning.

At this moment, I noticed a great deal of differences between the monastery and how the outside world reacted. Or maybe, it was just the fact that the standard of knight training for Nobles is less than the systematic training of us. Even with her standing with her back to the sun, her posture was full of holes. Her legs were parted to accept the strength of an incoming attack which meant she, in some way, feared that I was a stronger opponent.

It took me only three steps and I was right within her strike zone. My sword was still sheath and my grip was still in the middle of the sheath sword. I wasn’t in any position to draw the blade. Yet, I caught her body tensing, her sword rising, and she began to go through the motions of swinging her sword down at me.

Reactive display and slow.

I turned my body with a slight in-step and twist on my heels and toes. The hilt in my hand jumped up to kiss her stomach. A blow only hard enough to shock her but that shock sent her stumbling back two steps. Her thin lips parted and her brows conjoined. Her breath sprayed a thin line of spit to the side and she brought her sword to the front.

This time when I came forward, she took steps to the side. When I moved my hand she would tense up in preparation for the block. Her eyes were fully focused on trying to read my motions but one of us practiced minute subtlety while the other could not help but illustrate her actions. It wasn’t that she was a bad knight. It was the difference of what we trained to fight against.

Knight Bowers noticed I wasn’t going to make a move and decided to do a feint. It was easy to tell, her grip on the hilt wasn’t as tight nor did she put as much effort into the jab, muscle wise. Yet, I just needed to turn my body and the blade swept past me. Her eyes widened and she pulled back but I rocked her side with my fist.

She hissed and released one of her hands from her sword. Her face made this funny scrunching up motion where she bared her fangs while trying to backhand me.

I duck under it and punch that same spot. The way her eyes popped out made me chuckle but I allowed her to stagger backwards without any further retaliation.

Regret is a slow thing.

“Back off, Knight Bowers.” A deep voice interrupted the fight. “You aren’t his match.”

A bearded giant walked from the bowels of the ship. He wore just his armor and nothing underneath. His hairy-arms were three times mine and the broadsword on his back wasn’t standard. Yet, he wore a black slash of a standardized knight, yet the symbol was of three stars over a sword and shield, a Grandmaster Knight.

Tabitha sheaths her sword and salutes the new guy. “Commander.”

The soldiers stopped flailing and gathered around. Definitely the three knights that were overseeing training, they made sure they had a line of sight.

“Did my knight do something wrong,” the bearded-man asked while walking to stand three steps in front of me, towering over me. “If she did, you should have informed me and I would have taken steps to remedy the situation.”

I looked down at my robe which was decorated with lions down to the sash which had the words ‘Holy Knight’ above an image of a three-prong shield with a lion. Below was one star signifying that I was an entry-level Holy Knight but at the same stage as a regular Grandmaster Knight. If push comes to shove, the techniques I have are at a higher level than a regular Grandmaster. He had to prove his loyalty to get just mid-grade techniques. My loyalty has been down since I was born in a family of Priests.

The giant followed my gaze and sneered. “Do you think I will be scared of a Holy Knight that just graduated?” He looked around and shook his head. “I have been a Grandmaster for fourteen years now. Do you think you can beat me, boy?”

Trash talk isn’t something I was good at and I already warned him.

A golden-red fist the size of a grown-man torso slammed into the Grandmaster. His eyes widened and his own aura consolidated into a shield that covered his cross arms. Yet, his body still slid across the deck, only stopping when he bumped into the railing that came up to his waist. A trail of spit landed on the deck only after he came to a stop and shook out his arms.

It was at this point that a normal person would have noticed the distances between us. But–fools? When did they use rational minds to make decisions?

The fool charged at me, pulling his sword from his back and swinging it down in diagonal slash. A white glow covered the blade and the way this guy's nose pulled up like a wild mutt. I was almost ready to give him credit.

Yet, I blocked his attack by slapping it with my palm covered in a golden aura. I spun in a circle and lashed out with my foot. Yet, unlike knight Bowers, he blocked it with a raised forearm. He stabbed his sword forward with his other hand with the intent to skewer me.

When you performed the same dodge twice, maybe, the watcher should have been prepared for this. Yet, I dodge with a slight twist of my torso which led right into a side punch that lifted the brute off his toes and made his tiny eyes pop out of his forehead. His hair even froze mid-air before realizing gravity was still here.

A kind of calm swept over his features and his next set of attacks didn’t give me any chance to counterattack successfully. It got to the point that I had to use my sword to block a few of his attacks but it was still sheathed. However, the fact that he could make me go to this extent said a lot of about those fourteen years of experience.

“Who is this guy that can toy with our Commander like this?” Someone from the crowd said.

“Can’t you see the sash and ring? He’s a Holy Knight from the Church. Those guys are always this arrogant towards us regular people.”

“They have the right to be if this is their standard.”

“Bah! If I had the same resources and teachers, I’ll be able to reach such levels too!”

“Don’t be stupid. You can’t even make it to the top of our cohort but you want to say you could make it as a Knight trained since birth in the most grueling ways?”

“Of course, if at the same starting line, then of course, I could make it.”

“You will end up as a servant who will wash Squires undergarments.”

“You’re right, my lord!”

“Of course I am. I’m a knight and even I wouldn’t disgrace myself to say I could make it as a Church knight. It's a different level of training and education. And we all know, you don’t like to read or write.”

I chuckled at the commentary. While the Commander tried hard to wipe at the sweat pouring down his forehead. He was already breathing hard and his white aura was almost translucent. If he continued then I would win by virtue of better control and endurance.

A sea breeze swept in and we parted. The Grandmaster put his sword back on his back and cupped his fist to his chest.

“It is an honor to spar with you, your grace.” His change of tune made me laugh.

“Same,” I replied, also saluting him.

The sun was reaching mid journey and my stomach definitely reached the realm of starvation. Yet, I could smell the cooking of those downstairs. My body would not allow me to die like this.

“Can I ask a question, your grace?” The bearded man embodied the phrase humble with how he stood back enough that I didn’t need to lift my head to stare at him.

I waved for him to speak while stepping up to the railing. I handed my sword to Tabitha and pulled my bow off my shoulder. I notched an arrow and sent my Knight sense into the ocean’s body. Quite a few large creatures were trailing the ship or right underneath. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that they were curious about the runes etched into the framework of the ship that made it sturdier.

A glow surrounded the tip of the arrow and the end, then it disappeared into the sea bowels. I felt the impact more than I saw it from the thread of aura I attached to the arrow. I braced my feet and leaned back. I didn’t know if I outright killed the beast but I was preparing for it.

Yet, the string still had some slack in it and was moving backwards instead of downwards. I slipped the bow over my shoulder, both my hands gripped the string, and I began dragging it in. A dark shadow enlarged inch by inch, sending up waves that made the water bugle.

“How are you controlling your aura so finely? I felt that you used less of it than I did in each strike but it had a greater impact than my own.” The bearded man looked over the side of the ship while speaking.

“Practice for long battles,” I grunted out.

The damn creature finally broke the surface of the sea and I hauled it the rest of the way up. The Commander latched onto the gray fins of the creature while I snatched up my sword, unsheathed it in one swift move, and let the blade sing for ten seconds. The Commander staggered back with large fins the size of a sail in his hand. Yet, the rest of the creature's meat and bones landed upon the deck of the ship in neat piles.

“Is practice all it takes to reach that level,” the commander sounded doubtful.

As If I had the time to lie to him about such a small matter. Plenty of people before me and the Church foundation utilize the same means to acquire perfect control over their aura, practice.

I jumped off the railing while sheathing my sword. I made a grill out of the bones and layer the top with perfect portion pieces of the fish flesh. A small golden-red fire jumped from my hands and enlarged into a bonfire under the bones. One of Alaine maids came down with a bag, she held it up to me with those green eyes that look entirely too innocent. I glanced inside and saw a few smaller bags of different herbs.

My eyes landed on a piece of bone that almost looked like a piece from my feet. I snatched it up and ran my hand over it like I was using sandpaper, churning it down into a smooth bowl. I poured a few different spices into them, mixed it up a little, then rubbed it into the fish steaks. With the golden-red flame, it did not take long before the aroma made the crowd's stomachs sound like war-drums. I just smiled at them while turning a few more bones into plates, bowls, and utensils.

Alaine came down with her friend and the rest of the servant cast. It was about as much as I expected but to get my meal, ha. Needed more than looks.

I packed up the uncook meat in my spatial ring along with the bones and fish scales. The scales alone were good enough to be made into armor or used for arrowheads.

“Thanks for answering my questions.” The Grandmaster turned and motioned for his people to scatter. All but the knights who then began sparring. It wasn’t as terrible as the performance the soldiers put on but it wasn’t all that impressive either. Maybe, I underestimated the Monastery training.

“This smells amazing but is this all you are going to eat with it,” Alaine asked while trying not to drool. Her eyes couldn’t leave the golden brown fish steak.

“Do you have something more to go with it?” I flipped the fish steaks while not trying too hard to admire her in that white dress with a slit up the side of her leg and the open back that swept down just above the curve of her backside. It was a little too delicious and I wasn’t the only one admiring through side glances.

One of the maids held out a bag of rice grains. Sighing, I felt like I was turned into a cook instead of them cooking for her. I cooked the damn rice and then portioned out two plates, hers being super small.

She took her plate and gave me a look like I was joking.

“The meat isn’t normal meat. You can’t just eat what you think you can.” I used the fork to break off a piece of the fish and scoop up some rice.

“Okay, I can understand that but what about my friend?”

“It’s a waste to give her a bite. That’s not me being disrespectful but being kind to them.” I continued eating while watching the knights gulp at the smell alone.

Alaine's eyes narrowed and she took a bite and swallowed. Her brows shot together like magnets. Her body trembled and I laughed, while placing my hand on her lower back. Using my aura to help her calm down the raging energies of the exotic fish creature. It took her a bit to digest it and when she did, the look she gave that small slice of fish steak was like she just realized she messed up.

I finished off my plate during her hesitancy to take another bite.

“Eat up,” I said and made my presence known by dropping an inch lower to squeeze a slice of her buttcheek. “I’ll help you control your energy. All you have to do is process it and then we will spar like how you used it.”

The memory that must have conjured must have been seen in a negative light because her lips puckered and her brows wiggled through her different expressions.

Lady Allison looked between us but stayed quiet. She was only one of the many daughters Earl Bentley had and even then. Her power and status was as a trade commodity due to her lack of value overall. While her position was pitiful to those of us that could see her eye to eye. Compared to everybody else, she was still fortuitous.

“Is it really that hard to digest,” Knight Bowers asked.

Alaine raised her head and tossed aside the inner turmoil. She used her fork to cut off a piece and motioned for her two knights to try it. They grabbed the thin piece and ate it like it was some holy artifact. It made my stomach curl with laughter that couldn’t be exposed.

The Grandmaster walked right over before the energy that the pieces held could fully ravish the knight's bodies. Even with such a small piece the amount of energy it held could be counted as two months of aura strengthening. On top of that, the damn energy held its owner resentment at dying. It was not something the unprepared or untrained could handle. Something they gradually had to learn to overcome through repetition actions.

“May I buy a fish steak?” The grandmaster removed his hands from the two female knights who started to relax and stare with astonishment at the last bit of fish steak. “I only have twenty gold coins on me but when we arrive, I can pay more.”

“Just spar with me for the next three days and I’ll count it as pay owed.” I tossed him a fish steak.

He caught it with his bear paw and bowed at the waist. “Thank you, your grace.” He fled downstairs, probably to the kitchen to get the Chefs to cook it.

I nodded and motioned to Alaine to finish her half. She snorted but cut it into small bites and ate oh, so slowly. After she finished processing all the food, she fled upstairs with her servants. Leaving her friend behind to stand awkwardly at the side.

“So,” she said. “How did you know which creature had the kind of energy you wanted? I have traveled quite extensively and none of my Knights ever seem to come across this issue.”

I shrugged. “Most regular knights don’t need to worry about having energy to temper their bodies with. It’s only when they reach Grandmaster realm that the aura truly comes into play for them. That their own aura transforms into a gaseous state which can be controlled and utilized.”

“Is this the difference between Holy Knights and Regular Knights?”

“Well, the difference is that we believe in the Goddess and they don’t.” I started packing up my hand-made grill.

“Is religion really the big factor or how the training actually happens,” her brows tucked up in a way that spelled skepticism.

“Religion does play an important part. Without it, you wouldn’t have the strength to continue through a lot of the training not to mention the transformation into a Holy Knight.” I tensed up at the memory of the flame but then the memory of that warm embrace relaxed my body even quicker.

I waved away her next on-slaught of questions and moved to the space unoccupied by the training knights. I began moving my hands and body through a set of dances that engaged all the muscle groups one after another. Not giving them a chance to settle down