Sergeant Kru spat to a side and glared at his recruits.
"Do you fools even know how lucky you are?"
He gestured around him grandly, "This training stable - the Morpok lane Watch house - none of this existed ten years ago!"
Kru shook his head ruefully, "Back then, the Kalaghutta city watch was barely more than a sad ramshackle building by the west gate! Back then the watch was a handful of glorified guardsmen, standing post at the city gates"
Some of the recruits tried to look attentive
Sergeant Kru grimaced, looking down, "Back then, law and order in the city was a cruel joke. You went to talk to the guard if you had a pressing need to be shaken down for loose change!"
"For anything else, you went to the city smiths and got yourself a blade. 'least that's they used to say about us in the city back then", he shook his head
"Some days", You could have sworn Sergeant Kru's eyes had tears in them, "Some days, we didn't have the money to pay the watchmen that week"
When Sergeant Kru raised his head, there was the quaver of pride in his voice, "That.. All of that.. was before Lord Colvin Vimara - Duke of Vimara, General of the Imperial Army - decided to grace us!"
The dimwit audience listened to the impromptu history lesson in various states of boredom and interest.
Kru shook his head in disbelief, "Imagine that - the hero of the southern campaign, retiring to this pisspot of a city - to take over the city watch!"
Kru was in full form now.
The recruits were starting to look they wanted to get away. But none of them dared to move.
"Thanks to Lord Vimara - no, now Lord Commander Vimara - the Kalaghutta city watch has a dozen new watch houses - with working plumbing - can you imagine!
We have equipment with that's barely rusting - and new recruits!"
"We even have the money to pay you lot with - not that any of you deserve it! The city watch even have an elite Vigiles division now - just like the one over in the capital!"
There was some perking up at the mention of pay.
Kru laughed, half to himself, "No, no, no - the Watch won't simply be bullied by the guardsmen of any passing noble - not any more! No sir!"
"Err.. Allright - you lot go on in - Corporal Elrik here is going to show you how its done!"
...
He could feel their eyes watching him, nervously, anxiously, some of them even eagerly. Still, he took his time.
Elrik carefully and methodically put away the armor he was working on, locking it away in the communal lockers. Then, he walked over to the training pit.
Corporal Elrik of the city watch picked up a pair wooden training swords from the corner and turned with a wicked smile to face the leery recruits watching him.
"Come on up", Elrik gestured, "Who wants to be first?"
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
…
Lord Colvin was a man of whimsical passions - when he wasn't waging war in some far of sandy desert.
Like with everything he did, Vimara went into his city watch project with a great deal of energy, a lot of new ideas and a complete lack of interest in hearing the word 'no'.
Ten years in, Vimara seemed to have lost neither steam nor interest in his little retirement project - still making changes to the watch every day.
The training stable was one of these new additions - just build last year. It wasn't much more than a noble's old horse stable, with a large sandy pit in the middle and space for a small armory - but it was better than the watch had seen in many a year.
Elrik stood in the middle of that pit now, wooden sword held ready, waiting.
He had made a few changes to how his.. brain worked? How his powers worked? and he was curious if they'd do what he hoped.
Engage training mode - avoid fatalities. Reduce effective speed and strength by twenty five percent
[Done. Training mode engaged. Power and speed at 75%]
The first recruit to bravely step into the ring, Elrik decided to be generous with.
He let the tall lanky man, who clearly had never held a sword before, dance back and forth as long as he liked. That was about thirty seconds - when the lanky recruit tried to attack Elrik with a sweeping swing from the right.
Elrik parried the swing, before reaching out to poke him sharply in the midriff.
And.. the man was down, doubled over, clutching at his stomach, groaning.
"Next!"
Maybe that was still a bit too much. Lower to half
[power and speed lowered to 50%]
Elrik tried to be more patient with the next one. It was a man with comically large potbelly who was approaching Elrik with the utmost caution, his training held up like a rapier before him.
Elrik waited. The potbellied recruit watched him. Elrik waited.
Until, suddenly, with a sudden "Ha!" the man leapt forward with a thrust. Elrik parried the thrust, knocking down the training sword and swept up his own sword to ding the man on the chin.
He went down like a sack of potatoes.
I mean.. not that bad. But terrible follow through
The next recruit decided to use the power of surprise. Without warning she came running into the pit, sword above her head, yelling,
"Aaaaaaaaa!"
Elrik stepped out of the way, leaving only his foot to trip the recruit.
She landed facedown in the sand and didn't move.
Elrik's heart skipped a beat.
He didn't kill her did he?
[Probability of fatality: 3% Probability of minor concussion: 67%]
Phew
“Next!”
Elrik couldn’t tell if he was just getting better at the sword.. or if this bunch of recruits was just that bad.
For the hundredth time in the last few months Elrik felt with a pang, how much he missed Sakka.
“Next please!”
Elrik stepped lazily aside and smacked the next one on the side of the head.
“Next”
As the next one came shakily in, Elrik cast a glance at old reliable Sergeant Kru, but the Sergeant was suddenly examining the paneling on the old stable with great interest and refusing to make eye contact.
Good god.. where was the old man getting these recruits from…
“Next!”
“Next!”
“Next one!”
“Next!”
…
“NEXT!”
"If the Corporal is out of opponents, perhaps I might oblige"
With a start Elrik realized he’d stopped paying attention a dozen recruits ago. He’d just let mind wander and his reflexes take over.
He looked around
The recruits stood one the other end of the stable, in awash in various shades of black and blue.
The dirty looks they were casting his way made Elrik feel like perhaps it would take some time and distance before they felt grateful for the sparring lesson.
At the other end of the training stable, a tall leonine man with a lieutenant's pips on his shoulder leaned carelessly against the stable door. His hair, a shade of dirty gold, was tied back in a ponytail.
He tilted his head and continued, “if you don’t mind”
At first glance he seemed to be leaning casually.. but something about the way he held himself made you feel like you were watching a crouched jungle cat - a kind of tightly coiled lethal grace.
“Lord Lieutenant Akela Sir!”
Sergeant Kru stood straight at attention, in a sharp salute, before speaking out the side of his mouth to the new recruits who were watching agape, “Salute! You morons! That’s a Vigiles officer! And a lord of the imperium besides!”
Elrik saluted as well, as sharply as he could manage from the training room floor, “I wouldn’t dare to take up your time Lord Lieutenant Akela”
“Lieutenant is sufficient, please”,
Leonine young man smiled and started relaxedly walking into the pit.
As he walked he grabbed a training sword from the rack, holding it easily by his side, “And I insist Corporal. It’s been a while since I’ve seen someone so with such an interesting talent with the sword. Or one so poorly challenged”
“Please, ready yourself”