Will woke up like every morning before and got the wooden stick out his mouth he used not to bite his tongue while he was sleeping. His clothes had been washed and made ready for him by the maid who would make sure to always do so when he was not around. He got dressed and made sure every part of his body was covered except his face, which everyone made sure not to get near too. He had lived in this new world for almost sixteen years now and even though the difficulties he liked it here.

Just like his last life, he couldn’t feel any pain, he couldn’t be sure but maybe it had something to do with this mutated soul he had heard the dragon talking about. But it was not that big of a problem this time around, because of him remembering his last life he made sure not to do too much damage to his body.

He had broken his leg and his right arm once but that was nothing compared to the twenty-five broken bones in his last life, and that was only in fifteen years. Besides, the medicine here was way more sophisticated here than on earth, with the pills old granny made his injuries would heal in just a couple of days. The only problem was that the granny didn’t really like him, it had something to do with him almost killing her when he was born, at least that’s what people told him.

Will walked to the dinner table and saw his father waiting for him. His sisters had gotten married and left the home this meant that only him and his father were left. In two days he would turn sixteen and the elders would pick him a wife just like they had picked a husband for his sisters. Just like they had left to live with their husbands, he had to bring his bride home and live together with his father.

“Grimwold, these few days are really important in the life of a man. Today you will go to your uncle Oslac and join the others for your first-day training at the martial arts academy. Never forget that we are the only ones who can stand between these savage beasts and our families,” said Weidrek while eating a spoon full of rice.

“I understand,” Will said knowing his father was encouraging him to do his best. When he got older he told everyone to call him Will but his father was the only one who still called him by his birth name.

After eating Will got up and went to the training ground looking for his uncle. His uncle Oslac was once the strongest warrior in town until his father had become of age and shown the incredible strength that even until today nobody had matched.

Will greeted the people he encountered, and before long saw his friend who had graduated school at the same time as he did.

“How are you doing this fine morning Will?” said Eumer clearly excited to start training. This was every boy's dream, to become of age and fight with the warriors to protect the town from the beasts.

“Morning, I heard you got paired with Everild, seems like your luck is not that bad,” Will said with a smirk on his face. The wedding had not been announced, but with a town of only a hundred and fifty people, the town was just small enough for everyone to know everything about each other.

“How do you know; how much do we really know about the girls? For all I know she can be one of those ‘where were you until now, its midnight’ type,” Eumer said while his eyes focused on the warriors training.

Will laughed amused, he liked how Eumer would always find problems in even the best of situations, “And why would you need to be out after midnight? The only people awake at that time are the Wlfrun sisters working on making wedding dresses,” Will said with a big smile on his face.

Hearing him Eumer made eye contact for the first time and the grin on his face got even bigger as he said, “and what’s wrong with making dresses? Maybe I’m helping them make one for you to wear at your wedding.”

The two laughed and walked towards the training field while looking around, trying to find Oslac. Will made sure he kept his distance, the last thing he wanted was to hurt someone and be made to wear that mask the old granny had designed for him to wear.

They greeted Oslac and patiently waited to start their training. They had training in the basics for the last couple of years and were ready for the more advanced lessons. Oslac ordered them to stand in front of him and took our three wooden swords and give one to each of them.

“I expect that the two of you to have learned the basics of sword fighting, show me your progress,” he said as he moved with surprisingly low speed and attacked the two of them head-on.

Will saw the attack coming and stopped it easily with his wooden sword, he was good enough to stop the basic attacks but his skills were nowhere near that of Eumer. The two of them kept Oslac at bay but felt the pressure increase with every new attack, his speed had increased but not to the point the couldn’t keep up, the real problem was the unpredictability of the attacks.

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The two were able to keep up for another minute before Oslac completely overwhelmed the two of them with attack after attack. Will couldn’t believe he was able to use such complicated combos with just the basics, it was no wonder his uncle was once seen as the considered the most outstanding genius the town had ever seen, only the birth and rise of his father had overshadowed the genius that was Oslac.

Oslac looked disappointed, especially at Will and said, “what went wrong here? I was using the same speed and the same skills as you and I was able to defeat the two of you so easily”.

Eumer looked at the ground disappointed, he wasn’t so delusional to think he could win, but he wanted to at least put up a fight. He clenched his fist and said, “I was no match for your skills and combinations, you outsmarted me with every move elder”.

Oslac moved his head in agreement but didn’t react, he looked at Will and when he didn’t say anything shook his head again and continued, “That’s right, but that’s not all. You two have learned the basics and know the moved, especially you Eumer, you used the right moves on almost every attack. The problem was that you still need to think about the right move, this is why the academy’s main job is to learn you the basics so that the moves become a part of you and the sword becomes an extension of your body, always remember, the body moves faster when you fight using instinct instead of with your mind. Always be present in the now, only then can you fight with your full potential.”

He gave the two a couple of pointers and assignment them to keep practicing the basics for now. Eumer was a little disappointed that he had to keep working on the basics but could not deny the words Oslac had spoken. After finishing the lesson Oslac asked Eumer to give him some time alone with Will.

Oslac looked at Will for a couple of seconds like he was trying to figure out something, his ability to read people was the best in the town and it was the reason he was chosen as the one to train the new generation. After a while, Oslac shook his head and sighed before continuing, “Tell me boy, what are you afraid of?”.

------

Weidrek entered the towns headquarter and the three council members were waiting for him. He felt the awkward mood in the room as he entered, especially when he saw that none of the council members made eye contact, he knew something was wrong.

“Take a seat, my friend,” said the most senior elder Leofwynn Drage, he was part of the council even before the other three were born.

“We have some unpleasant news and we hope not to offend you by what we are about the discus. Everyone one of us knows that if it was not for you this town would have already been wiped out by the demons. But you know that the council is made to protect the town and sometimes we have to do something that is unpleasant,” old man Drage said while shaking his head and rubbing his hands together nervously.

“Please speak freely senior Leofwynn, we have been brothers in arms on the battlefield for more than twenty years now,” Weidrek said trying to reassure the elder but mostly trying to understand the situation.

Old man Drage hesitated for another second before he continued, “the council had decided that your son Grimwold will not be eligible for a wife. We are aware of his condition and we do not think he can have children, as you know increasing the population of the town is the most important priority of the council right now”.

Weidrek almost fell off his chair, this was the last thing he expected. This was the first time the council had denied someone a spouse, this was the biggest insult the council could make towards his, he who had saved the people of the town multiple times.

But he tried to keep calm, there was always a way to solve the situation, he looked at the council members and calmly said, “surely the council would not act so harshly again my family, maybe there is a way for my son to impregnate a wife without laying with her.”

The councilmen shook their head clearly not agreeing with him, they knew that the essence of a man was part of his body and that if a touch could make people go insane from the pain, impregnating a woman would have the same effect times ten.

-----

Will was thinking about his talk with Oslac while he was walking back home. The experiences of his old life had made him afraid of hurting his body, he could not feel pain so he could not tell if any serious damage was done, so he would always act cautiously when training, Oslac was the first teacher until now to notice this. In his last life he had been careless and at an age of sixteen, he had already damaged his right leg to the extent that he had a limp and could not run anymore and he didn't want that to happen again.

When he reached the house he saw his father moving from one room to the other. At first, he thought that he was preparing for one of his mission but a moment later he saw his father packing his clothes.

“What is the matter father, why are you packing our clothing?” Will said in a low voice, he knew his father and he was clearly not in a very good mood.

“We are leaving, I should have known that waiting and hoping was not going to solve anything,” Weidrek said while still moving quickly trying to find the necessary equipment for the journey.

“What do you mean leaving? We are surrounded by the white demon clan, if it was that easy to leave everyone would have done that by now,” Will said trying to comprehend the situation, but he quickly regretted it as his father stop and looked at him, because he knew, if anyone knew the reality of the outside world, it was his father.

“It’s true that I have four children, but you are my only son, when your sisters married they left my family and entered another, only you are my heir and can continue my bloodline. I tell you what my father told me when I was your age, a man’s first responsibility in life is to continue the families bloodline, so we have to try finding a cure.”