Chapter 9 – 43rd Day of Training [Part 1]
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Just like every day since I got to this world a knock on the door woke me up. I opened my eyes to the usual room, dimly lit by the first rays of the sun; small snowflakes were dancing outside the window against the now white capital.
“Come in.” I said, as usual, as I started to get up while stretching.
The door started opening but, unlike every other morning, it wasn’t Lucilla the one on the other side but the king.
The king looked at me and immediately stopped, the door still half closed, then shut it while saying “I’m sorry.”
I looked down at the sitting me and realized that I was stark naked, with the sheets covering only up to my hips. I then [looked] out of the room and Lucilla was nowhere to be seen, only the king was standing there, with his hand still on the doorknob, I [looked] further down the circular hallway and saw that a maid I didn’t know was bringing the usual food tray to my room.
“I thought that Lucilla had told you yesterday that I would have accompanied you today to see how the training is going.” Said the king on the other side of the door.
(That bitch! It must be a revenge for pinching her ass last week.)
“Yes, sorry, I just forgot about it because of the drowsiness. Feel free to come in.”
The king opened the door again and entered the room.
“Are you not going to dress?” Said the king while looking at me who had not moved an inch.
“I am sorry Your Majesty but I think that it will be more fun this way.”
“May I at least know what will be more fun?” Said the king with a tired look.
“I will tell you in just a moment. If I may ask, could you tell me the reasons why Your Majesty has decided to come to my training today in the meantime?”
“I wanted to see if the reports I am receiving about your training are true.”
“Do you not trust your subjects?”
“I do generally trust them but those reports are a little hard to believe without seeing it first person.”
“May I ask you to close the door? I’m going to put something on.” I said, while getting out of the bed.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to go out?” Asked me the king as he was closing the door.
“There is no need; after all you already saw everything there is to see.”
The king looked at me with a glowering expression.
“I never said it was your fault, do not worry.” I said smiling as I passed him to reach the wardrobe.
I opened a drawer and reached for a pair of small underpants, but as I was going to tie the strings the door opened and the maid with the food tray saw the king next to me, who was putting my underwear on. She immediately slammed the door shut while shouting “I’m sorry.”
“I wi-will not tell a-anyone. I-I swear.” Cried the maid on the other side of the door.
I started laughing then got near the king and whispered him “I told you it was going to be funnier this way.”
“That was a new hire!” he whispered back at me, visibly angry.
“It was just a little prank. I’m surprised that Your Majesty knows about all the workers in the castle though.” I said while finishing tying the strings.
“Don’t change the subject here. You didn’t sleep naked just for this prank, did you?”
“No, I really forgot about your visit (well, I actually didn’t know about it). I’ve been sleeping naked since they turned on that fire magic tool when nott started.” I said while putting on a linen cloth around my chest and tying it on my back.
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“You could have asked to turn down the power!” He said, trying to keep his voice as low as he could.
We heard a knock on the door
“E-ehm, c-can I come in?” Said the maid on the other side of the door with a wobbly voice.
“Yes, of course” I answered.
The king looked at me who was still wearing only underwear with a look of disbelief and mouthed me “what are you doing?”
The maid opened the door and entered with the food tray, only to stop again the moment she saw me.
“I-is it really fine?”
“Yes, don’t worry. I was just starting to get hungry after all.” I said, smiling at her.
She bowed at me and the king then brought the food tray near the table. The king and I sat on two of the chairs around the table and the king said to me: “Hero Fortuna, this girl is Caethy; she is new here and will substitute Lucilla for the next few days.”
The king then turned to face Caethy and, while pointing at me, told her “And Caethy, this shameless woman who will throw away everything you thought about both the hero and Archdemon Leliah out of the window is Hero Fortuna.”
“I am not shameless!” I shouted to the king, ignoring Caethy’s bow.
The king looked at me from head to toe and then stared at me with peeved eyes.
“I’m only proud of my body!” I said while puffing out my chest.
“Can you stop joking? You should already be late for training.” Said the king visibly fed up.
“Fine. Caethy, could you give me some of that fried meat, some bread and those cookies?” I said while pointing to the various foods.
“Yes sure.” She said and started serving me breakfast.
Like that I had breakfast with the king at my table.
When I fished breakfast I dressed in the usual clothes, put a cloak on and started walking, alongside the king, towards the training grounds.
We soon arrived at the training grounds, now muddy because of the snow. When the king entered the grounds all the soldiers kneeled before him, except Gabriel who only offered a bow before walking towards us.
“Good morning Your Majesty.” Said Gabriel to the king bowing a bit again.
“Good morning Lord Gabriel. As I have told you yesterday, today I am going to observe our hero’s progresses.”
“Yes, of course. We have prepared a dais for you, if you please.”
Gabriel guided the king to an elevated platform with a small fire on the other side of the training grounds then, after exchanging a few words with the king, returned to me.
“You’re late, go get your armor and start with fifty laps.”
“Yes sir.”
I went to the usual warehouse and put on a gambeson that weighted at least twice the one I used the first time and a heavy iron plate armor. As soon as I got out of the warehouse I started running at a speed that I couldn’t even think of reaching on the first day.
While I was running many times arrows rained over me when I least expected them but I managed to dodge them all. During the various exercises a lot of people tried to stab, slash or shoot at me but I managed to block, counterattack or dodge every attack that came at me.
After a couple of hours of training it was time for the usual sparring session with Gabriel. He walked towards me and gave me a large, plain heater shield and a longsword; he himself was equipped in a similar way, wearing iron armor and using cheap equipment instead of the golden armor and decorated sword he used to wear during his guard duty. We stepped away from each other, Gabriel looked at the king, who answered with a nod and the sparring started.
We circled around each other for a couple of seconds, then I feinted at Gabriel’s lower torso with my sword, before using the shield, that was protecting the hand during the feint, to bash against his head but he saw through my feint and blocked the attack of my shield with his. Seeing a chance in his blocking I tried to go for his throat but with just a little movement of his shield he parried my sword that went over his head, leaving a line on his helmet. He then tried to go for my eyes but I threw myself at him shield first, deviating his sword and at the same time hitting his head with the crossguard of my sword which was still going over his shield. The momentum of my bash and the hit from the crossguard made him lose balance so I hooked his foot with mine and used even more strength in pushing him, finally managing to make him fall in the mud. He was still holding to his shield that ended up next to him on the ground while his sword left his hand.
Sure it was my win I sat on his torso, trying again to make the point of my sword pass through the gaps of the armor and get to his throat but he hit my head with his shield so hard he threw me in the mud next to him. He got over me the same way I was doing just a moment before and started throwing punches at my still fuzzy head. After an interminable series of punches he took his shield and prepared to hit me with the edge but I kicked the back of his head in a moment of clarity and used the momentum from the kick to slide away from him.
I got up and took some distance. My heavy and fuzzy head made it difficult to think. My eyes were wet and dirty and made it difficult to see. The cold winter air felt like needles while entering my lungs that where gasping for it, making it painful to even breathe. My sword and shield were now under Gabriel who fell face first.
I saw Gabriel’s sword next to me, I picked it up. Gabriel was starting to get up but, before he managed to do so, I held the longsword by the blade and, with all my strength, hit the back of his head with the pommel.
He fell to the ground again.
A few seconds passed without him moving, then he raised his right hand. It was the signal that he was alive but needed a healer, the signal that he surrendered.
I won.
For the first time since I got to this world I won against Gabriel.
The healers rushed towards me and Gabriel, made me sit and started removing my armor and checking my wounds.
After the healers finished healing me and Gabriel he came to me, offered his hand and said “Congratulations.”
“Thank you” I said accepting his hand while smiling.
“You can rest for the rest of the morning; tomorrow we’ll start training with polearms.”
“Yes sir. I’ll see you tomorrow then.”
I went to the dais where the king, who was in complete disbelief, was watching the sparring from and, after getting his compliments, I accompanied him to lunch.