Ayla finished stabling both horses. As she left she noticed the nightly Patrol leaving. She watched them from afar. There were six Knights and ten soldiers. It struck her as unusual from the start that so many Knights would be assigned to a basic patrol, even at night. It meant the Duke really cared about his personnel. More Knights meant the cost to the estate must be massive, but it also meant that the safety of a patrol was more or less assured. Then there were also many more in reserve that could be drawn upon in case of an emergency. The Duke himself was someone that she already saw would leave the manor if he needed to, on top of all the other factors. She smiled. It was the first time she really felt pride for being a subordinate to someone. In her past life the previous Knight-Commander was a well-meaning obstacle to her and nothing more. Ayla needed the power to do what she wanted to do. There was pride in being a part of the Holy Knights and a subordinate of the Crown Prince, but it felt different. It was something warmer than pride related solely to rank and title.
“Dame Ayla.” She heard a familiar gravely voice calling out to her.
She turned and saluted Rast. “Yes, Captain!”
He offered a weary grunt and waved his hand dismissively. “Enough of that.” She released her salute.
“You're observing the nighttime patrol so thoughtfully. What're you thinking?” He asked curiously.
The truth was not something she needed to hide so she shared it openly. “I was thinking that I feel proud of being part of Castezin. It seems like His Grace cares about his people since there are so many on patrol.”
A smile almost crossed Rast's lips. “Is that unusual to you?”
Ayla nodded. “Patrols tend to be done by a single Knight who overse-”
He interrupted her. “I don’t care about that. Pride.”
“I've never felt that type of thing before. So it is new to me, yes." Ayla admitted. She realised after the fact that this could be considered an unsubtle dig at the prince, but she did not mind that interpretation too much.
“Speaks to the quality of your past company.” He did not miss a chance to launch an open dig at the Crown Prince. He continued:.
“It's good to have pride. Feel proud that you chose this place. This is your home now. Look down on anyone outside and punish anyone that mocks its name.”
She looked at him seriously, showing that she took everything he said at face value. “Yes Captain.”
“Haah...” He let out a sigh and scratched his head. He quickly tried to clear the air.
“That's dangerous. So you'll just do whatever I tell you, huh? You shouldn't look down on the people outside the territory. They can't help that they aren't Castezinian.” Ayla's demeanour cracked slightly. Rast noticed and tried to break the tension.
“Go ahead and punish anyone that insults His Grace or Castezin, though. That one is a real order.” Rast bared his yellowing teeth as he grinned at her.
“Yes Captain.” She thought of something she could ask.
“Where on the grounds can I pull water to wash up?”
“The training grounds have a walled drain room for washing. The water from the well is freezing, though and it takes a while to heat up on the stove at the quarters so don't worry about it on your first day. Nobody cares if you stink, Dame.”
“I understand. Thank you.”
“As you were.” Rast returned in the direction of the manor, since he had already seen off the patrol.
Ayla began walking to the training grounds to find the well and the drain rooms. On her way she inspected the training grounds themselves since she would be using it fairly consistently. Walking around the yard, she saw it bordered the manor directly. Skirting Around the manor adjacent to the training grounds was a covered, stone-pillar walkway that could be used for shaded observation. She found the equipment on the side near the pillars. Barrels with wooden swords. She touched a few of them, gripping and testing them with a swing. Ayla felt a sense of satisfaction holding it.
`It’s good. Better than the Academy, even. Is it the local wood?` As she held the sword, something at the back of the yard caught her eye. She stepped further onto the dusty, moonlit training ground to inspect a large training dummy. She covered her mouth and gasped excitedly as she realised what it was. The dummy was a cylindrical pillar covered in metal plates with telescoping arms poking out at odd angles. It was like a wooden porcupine.
`This is an Auto-rotating dummy. It uses Aura to move and track the person using it. The insides are like a clockwork of carved designs to hold the Aura’s directions. These were just invented recently but they have one here? I never got to use one for training but if I remember correctly…` She glanced around to make sure there was not a soul out to see her. The windows of the manor were dark, as well. She could not hear a sound or sense anyone.
Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.
`It was really fun.` Ayla stretched a few times before readying her wooden sword with her most familiar form. There was a circle surrounding the dummy that acted as an area-of-attack. If one stepped outside of it, it was considered a loss. Naturally, it was a loss for anyone eventually as the dummy would just keep rotating and extending arms to hit the trainee and it would speed up with each target hit. The point was not to beat it but to steadily increase one's reaction over time. There was also a game attached to it. If someone could hit a target it was considered a point.
`To my knowledge the maximum number of points achieved in my time was around one-hundred. There was another Nerve Aligned Knight somewhere that seemed to make it their mission to keep the highest score for some reason.` She could barely contain her glee at being able to try one of the dummies out so early. It always struck her that the thing would be perfect for practising her form in particular.
`I’ll keep my plate on because that’ll better simulate an actual fight. If my memory is correct, the way to activate this thing is…` She tapped the centre target lightly with her wooden sword.
Ayla exhaled sharply as she narrowly dodged a swinging arm. `Fast!` She grinned, slapping three targets in the interval before another arm swung towards her midsection. She blocked while leaning to avoid another arm striking towards her head. Once the arms were blocked they moved back into position, so she was able to easily swipe and hit four more open targets with ease.
`Seven.` She kept track. Three arms closed in on her at once. She parried one with her sword to make a gap to dodge around inside the circle, stabbing another target before the attacks followed her.
`Down, up, down, guard... It’s getting so much faster already. This is excellent!` She thought, unleashing a flurry of blows while dodging and weaving to hit seven more targets in a sprint before she had to use her sword to guard.
`Fifteen! Make it to twenty, Ayla.` She decided, jabbing a target on the move, then slashing another before she had to dodge while guarding. She was left with no opening for at least a full minute as it felt like endless strikes from every direction. It was impossible for anyone that was not Nerve Aligned to handle such an onslaught of blows. In a sense, the machine was made for people like Ayla. She saw an opening and hit two targets before being forced to bounce backwards. She landed and caught her balance with one foot inside the line then ducked down low, transitioned into a dive and a roll over another arm. She recovered and ran around the whole dummy while being forced to only defend.
`Come on…` She spotted the opening and went for the target only to have one of the telescoping arms jab her stomach and force her out while a lower arm tripped her onto her back, panting.
“Nineteen.” Ayla sighed happily, sprawling out in the dirt. She did not reach her decided goal, but she felt incredibly satisfied with what she could do considering how early in her life it was, and how overtuned the dummy was. Most importantly, it scratched an itch.
Ayla was sweating a lot after challenging the dummy. She returned to the well she had found before with a bucket and ladle, then pulled up some extremely cold water. She ladled some into her mouth, drinking it in big gulps; it cooled her stomach down significantly. She filled the bucket back to the top before carrying it over to the drain room Rast mentioned. She untied her hair, letting it fall loose. Carefully she removed her plate, placing it in one of the holes for equipment and clothing. Ayla removed and folded her uniform by first taking off the jacket and pants, then the undershirt and socks. She placed everything neatly on the plate cuirass and entered the drain room in just her underwear. Once she was sealed in the drain room she removed her undergarments and sat on a stool in the centre.
Ayla stared hesitantly at the cold water before just inhaling and ladling the liquid over her body. Before she even touched the water, the room was freezing. The water paradoxically felt like fire pouring over her skin. Her muscles tensed and her body shivered but she was able to endure it just fine mentally. It was cold and it was painful, but she could ignore those feelings easily. She ladled water to wash all of her worst offending areas then finally just took the whole bucket of cold water and dumped it over her head in one go. She let it wash through her hair, then took some time to ring it out.
“Hoo...” She breathed, her body shaking. Ayla stood up and shook off. As she was moving to leave the sealed room she stopped.
“Hello?” It sounded like there was someone outside the door.
Without saying anything, the person outside threw a towel over the door. Ayla took it gratefully. She closed her eyes and tried to listen. The delicate tapping of heeled shoes suggested it was a woman. She could hear the swishing and rubbing of loose clothes with many layers. She reasoned that it was a maid. The point was, they helped her.
“Thank you!” She shouted.
`Why would a maid come out to help me?` She dried herself off then left the room to redress. Ayla returned to her dorm, trying to think about what it could have been.
`I tend to get a lot of attention from women for some reason.` She decided. Once that was figured out, she contemplated the practice session she just had.
`My body at this time isn’t able to catch up to my experience, and my senses are worse. Right now I’m very beatable. If I run into one of the later Werewolves here I’ll have a hard time.` She remembered Hans and for the first time in a long, long time she closed her eyes and prayed.
`Please be okay.`