Quickly going about getting ready, Sett scrubbed the sleep from his eyes and went to the bathroom. Luckily, despite the place that he now called home being considerably rundown, it still contained the amenities that one would come to expect in one’s daily life, even if they were not maintained properly.
Naturally, the bathroom contained a mirror. Looking at the person that was reflected in front of him, Sett was startled. His appearance had changed greatly in only a few days' time.
The most apparent change was his face. That which had once been covered with a thin layer of fat was now incredibly streamlined. His facial features were sharp as swords and his cheekbones were pronounced. Even his eyes displayed a glint of intelligence that had hardly been there before.
His hair, too, had changed. Not in shape, but in colour. His hair had already been unnatural before this whole debacle. It had been crimson red, a beckon that brought great attention to him on the streets of Gliese Prime. Something that he was not overly fond of. Now, the hair had grown even stranger and attention-seeking. Black streeks had appeared, blending perfectly with the red.
Next was the muscles on his body. It had grown stronger, not much to his own surprise. He had felt himself getting stronger since the time he had fused with Selt, but that mostly came from the essence that coursed through his veins. His muscles were more pronounced, but that was mainly because he had burned vast amounts of fat during the fusing.
He had even grown a bit in height, bringing him above the one-meter and ninety-centimetre mark.
All in all, Sett looked greatly different, but he could still see himself beneath the new figure. Hell, his new looks were almost akin to those of a model, something he did not mind a single bit.
Throwing some water in his face and giving his teeth a quick brush, Sett was soon ready for the day ahead. The only thing that remained was the clothing.
With a dejected look, he threw his favourite hoodie and trousers in the trashcan that stood nearby. The crusaders of the 69th Crusader Company were not the only ones that had been bathed in blood when they returned from the raid on the vampire’s base. Considering that he had been stabbed in the chest twice, it was no wonder that his body had been drenched. The strange looks that he had gotten after his arrival yesterday were also suddenly easily explained.
Fortunately, he would not have to walk around naked. Adina had had enough foresight to leave behind a set of clothes. He was not surprised to find that it was uniformed clothes, much akin to what the ordinary crusader wore during their training, only with a little fewer decorations.
Sett could vaguely remember seeing some of the squires, that had been milling about on the other islands, wearing these exact articles of clothing. Not that he felt insulted for wearing what was basically servant’s clothes. If he had been told he could wear such high-quality clothes for simply working as a servant during his time in the orphanage, Sett would have gladly spent tens of hours for the privilege.
The material used was short, yet also incredibly durable. It did not feel at all like the synthetic stuff that made up 99% of the market, but rather felt like it was made out of authentic wool. Though, Sett had trouble figuring out which sheep could produce wool this tough and comfortable.
After adjusting the clothes for a few seconds, Sett excited the room and greeted Adina and Stella who had been waiting outside.
“Thirty seconds too late,” Adina remarked without much emotion showing, she was clearly in her work mode. “We will have to remedy that.”
Sett did not mind the harsh tone that Adina spoke with nor did he feel offended by her statement. After all, he had been living in an orphanage where punctuality was of utmost importance. He could only rejoice that there was no matron to punish him with physical abuse in this place.
“So, what was this about testing my combat capabilities?”
Sett yawned as he spoke, whipping a piece of errant sleep from his eyes.
“Sett.” Adina’s voice left nothing to chance. “Since you have decided to have me oversee you during your time in the order, you will have to give the proper respect. When I am on duty, you will address me either as Vice-captain Adina or simply Vice-captain. Are we clear?”
Adina spoke in the same tone she had when Stella had failed to address her properly. Thus, Sett knew that she did not mean any harm by her harsh words, but that it was merely part of her persona.
“Naturally, Vice-captain Adina.” Sett followed her instructions, not quite wanting to stoke the fires just yet. “You were speaking about testing my combat capabilities earlier.”
“I was, indeed, Squire Sett.”
Sett almost chuckled when he heard Adina address him as a squire. It was simply too archaic.
“Follow me.”
They left the building that the 69th Crusader Company quartered in and departed the island soon after. Since there were no training facilities on the small island, they could only go elsewhere to do the supposed combat capabilities testing.
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“As you surely know, you will be trained in the arts of the arcane by the teacher that Grandmaster Miles mentioned in your prior discussion. That being said, said teacher is supposedly a member of the sorcerer’s guild and thus does not advocate for the use of physical strength.”
Adina’s voice let a little disdain for the teacher slip in.
“This is where your future teacher and the order’s opinion differs. The order demands all their members, sorcerers and swordsmen alike, to train their bodies to perfection. With that in mind, I have been selected to train you. However, before we can do that, we must know just how strong your body is.”
Sett nodded subconsciously at Adina’s words. As he had seen earlier, the strength of the body did not improve all that much with the introduction of essence. Yes, its functions and efficiency were improved greatly, but it would still be limited by the muscles. If one trained both essence and body, surely, the two forces would work in tangent.
Soon, after a couple of minutes of walking, they arrived at the training field that they had visited the day before. Even during the early hours of the morning, there were still a couple of platoons already doing drills and a number of ascendants out doing physical training.
“Hmm?” Sett pondered why he had been brought here. Surely, the Grandmaster would have wanted them to exercise in a more discreet area if he wanted him to remain secret. “Vice-captain, are we training at the main training field?”
“Yes, Squire Sett.” Seeing the confusion evident in Sett’s eyes, Adina added an explanation. “You are technically an official and rather ordinary member of the order and the Grandmaster desires that you be seen as that by the other members.”
It made sense. If you wanted to hide something, it would sometimes be better to hide it in plain sight. Instead of attempting to be sneaky, the Grandmaster wanted him to blend in among the thousands of crusaders.
“Quartermaster Dahl!”
Adina approached an elderly-looking man who stood in a booth that was connected to the only building present on the island. The two of them made a quick salute towards each other, which Sett hastily replicated.
“I would like two standard wooden training swords.”
Adina made a request of the elder. He left the booth and returned soon after with two longswords.
“Vice-captain Adina, are you taking on a new charge?” The old man’s voice was rough from many years of speaking, but it was filled with joy. “It is quite a rare sight to see you take an interest in the trainees.”
“Yes, this squire joined the order yesterday and Captain Thomas decided to assign him to me because of the scarcity we face in our platoon.”
“Oho, I see.” The elder chuckled. “Young man, be careful of this female lioness. She might seem friendly enough on the surface, but once the claws are out you will wish you never approached her. Our order’s youngest Vice-captain has never gone easy on anyone, even her dearest sister has faced her wrath more than a couple of times.”
Sett gulped. He naturally knew that Adina was a force to be reckoned with, but the quartermaster’s words, it made his heartbeat in fright at the upcoming trial.
Before he could say anything in response, Adina showed one of the wooden swords that she held in her arms into his grasp. It was exactly the way Sett would have imagined the sword of a crusader to be, only that it was made of wood. It was a simple design. Almost a meter in length from tip to hilt, with two sharp edges. Even if it was only made out of wood, it would still make for a deadly weapon in the right hands.
“Come along.”
Adina’s cold words brought Sett back from his admiring of the sword. She was clearly wanting to escape from the quartermaster’s remarks.
They arrived at a corner of the enormous training field, relatively far away from any interference. Adina told Sett to stay put and walked around ten meters away from him. Stella, who had followed them to the training field for unknown reasons, went and sat on the grassy outline of the training field with a smirk on her face.
Sett played around with the wooden sword while he awaited Adina’s instructions. Frankly, he could not wait to begin training. He might never have actually held a sword in his hands before, but every child had a dream of travelling back in time and being a knight at least once. This was almost like a dream come true.
What would she teach him first? He had seen countless documentaries and films from past decades about knights and martial arts. Would she correct his stance first? Would she force him to make a thousand chops with the sword before allowing him to do anything else? Would she force him to do a workout regime of 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats, and a 10 km run? The possibilities were endless. For the first time in his life, he was excited to do a physical workout.
But why had she remained silent for so long?
Sett glanced at Adina and colour drained from his face. She had already taken a stance, her sword was poised and ready to strike.
Sett gulped. Surely, she was not about to do what he thought she would do, right?
“Squire Sett!” Adina yelled, causing all his uncertainty to retreat. “Defend yourself!”
Then she charged. She ran with great vigour, crossing the five-meter mark in only a second. Her sword was held pointed in Sett’s direction.
If he did not defend himself, he would be skewered!
With untrained and awkward hands, Sett brought his sword up in a half-arsed guard, attempting to block against the fast-approaching strike.
*Bang*
The two elongated pieces of wood collided. In that brief contact between the two weapons, Sett almost inadvertently let go of his weapon. The force that was contained in Adina’s strike was incredible, far above what he thought possible.
His fingers felt numb, and his arm ached after only a single strike!
Yet, he would not have time to rest and regain his wits. Another strike arrived soon after the first. The first strike had been diverted but Adina, being the adept warrior she was, had redirected the force of the attack and brought her sword back around to attack Sett once again.
This time he barely had time to guard himself. Where his first parry had been half-arsed, this one was simply wrong. His sword met hers on the tip of the sword, causing him to be twisted along with the force of the attack.
His stance, horrible as it was, was completely broken. He had no balance, and his sword was held hovering only a few centimetres above the ground.
Moments after, the third strike arrived. It need not be mentioned that Sett could not ready himself for the assault this time. Just before the sword would have struck his chest, it stopped in mid-air, before being lowered a moment after.
He had utterly lost, with no chance to fight back.
“Had this been a real battle, you would have died after the first strike.” Adina sounded disappointed, but not surprised. “We have much to do, it seems.”