Faust spent half an hour calming himself, getting some breakfast, and dressed in his gambeson and some boots. He didn’t want to see anyone right now or talk about what happened. He only wanted to get some of that emotion out during practice.

He grabbed his training spear and shield before leaving for the Training Grounds where the Companion Cavalry was encamped.

By now the sun had risen and the castle was bustling with noise. So was the camp of Alexander’s elite cavalry. When Faust approached them he immediately saw Bronn. He was sparring with the bald man Faust initially saw when he arrived.

‘How can they all be so muscular, yet so nimble and fast?’ he wondered as he moved closer and watched the two. They were sparring using longswords. They only wore a gambeson.

It looked exciting to watch them. They were circling each other barely out of striking distance until one of them attacked with a thrust before getting countered, deflecting the counter, only to counter himself.

The dance of swords was fast and elegant. Fluid. It had a rhythm to it. Unlike what Faust previously learned during spear fighting, it looked like the two men were embroiled in a violent dance of some sort.

‘I have never seen footwork so brilliant…’ Faust was mesmerized by how the two elite soldiers moved. There was much more to it than simply swinging swords.

‘They are using rhythm, angles, footwork, twists and parries… I have never seen anything like this before.’ He got closer and had his eyes wide open, making sure not to miss anything of the fight.

Eventually, Bronn struck the older man on his arm, which ended their spar. Both of them laughed.

“Well done Bronn. I must be getting old…” Titus, the soldier whom Faust and his army initially saw, and Alexander’s deputy, laughed at the much younger Bronn who slightly bowed his head.

“I fear if our sparring had included strikes at the head the result might have looked very different.” Bronn smiled.

“Well, not that it matters.” Titus laughed.

Only now did Faust realize that the two hadn’t worn any helmets while training with blunt metal weapons. He shuddered.

‘They weren’t aiming for the head, but can they really be so sure they wouldn’t hurt each other?’ he asked himself. The answer was yes. They were certain. Both had excellent control over their bodies and long years of experience. The sparring might have looked intense to an outsider, but to the two elite soldiers, it was only a light practice.

After a brief chat with Titus, Bronn saw Faust watching them.

“Hey! Faust, come over!” he waved. Faust gulped and hurried over to the two men.

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Titus, the older man, leaned on his sword and eyed Faust curiously.

“So you are the magical boy.” He asked with a grin.

“I…” Faust snorted inwardly. “Yes… milord?” he said, unsure which way to address Titus.

The old man laughed heartily.

“Get that Milord out of my face. We are both knights. You can call me Commander or Titus for all I care.” The old man waved off and Faust was relieved. Still, he didn’t dare to use the man’s first name yet.

“Commander, I am Faust, one of the men coming with you to Antioch.” He introduced himself.

“That’s good… and you are here… why? We should’ve first met in 2 days at a meeting. Did someone send for you?” he asked with a cocked head.

Bronn came to Faust’s aid, but not without a hard slap on his back that forced the air out of Faust’s lungs.

“Chief, I met him in the morning today and invited him to come train… I figured it wouldn’t hurt you know?” he said with a grin.

Titus shrugged.

“It can’t hurt to see the boy’s prowess.” The old man nodded readily.

“Throw away that shield. I want to see you spar against Bronn with only a spear.” Titus grinned at Faust.

“We can chat later, for now, I want to see why you should be so special.” The old man sat down on a bench to watch.

Faust got nervous. He felt his heart rate speed up and he started sweating.

‘I… what do they expect of me? That I fly and defeat Bronn?’ he nervously laughed inwardly and took out his spear while Bronn grabbed one from one of the weapon stands.

The big man grinned at Faust, his spear in his hand, standing upright.

“You look a bit nervous, never sparred before?” Bronn smirked.

“Not with an elite guard of the Earl,” Faust replied as he assumed a combat stance.

Bronn cackled.

“Shut up and attack me.” Bronn grinned and the two started circling one another. Faust had not used a weapon ever since his body had changed. He hadn’t fought yet.

‘I feel much lighter… maybe I even have a slight edge on him with speed and agility…’ Faust thought and attacked. He nimbly stepped into range and thrust out his spear. Bronn only barely managed to deflect it, by twisting his spear in a weird way and moving aside.

“Woah! Kid, you got some speed!” he grinned and countered the thrust with one of his own.

Faust did not expect him to immediately counter a thrust like that, but Bronn stepped forward and thrust the back of his spear at Faust’s face.

Faust had never seen someone fight like this.

‘Why is he using it in reverse… I have to do something…’ Faust barely had the time to process this, but his body moved without putting too much thought into it. His muscles and tendons tingled like a predator waiting to pounce on its prey.

He stepped to the side in one clean motion, dodging the attack, and then thrust straight at Bronn, who was too slow to stop Faust. The tip of his spear clashed into Bronn’s chest, forcing him a step back.

Bronn was flabbergasted.

‘How did he manage to do that? How could he, an inexperienced brat move like that?’ he wondered as he looked at the spear tip on his chest. Then he looked at Faust.

“Kid. Those movements are crazy.” He commented.

‘How… how did I do that?’ Faust thought. He was as surprised by his action as Bronn and Titus.

‘My movements were so fluid and fast… it came so natural to me. It's as if… as if it was instinctual.’

When Faust looked to the side, he saw Titus clapping slowly and standing up from his bench.

“Wonderful kid. Truly commendable. Now tell us, how the hell did you do that? Was that… that magic of yours.”

“I think… something about me has changed. The movements just now… felt somehow instinctual… I’ve never felt this way before…” Faust muttered, still wondering about his own prowess.

“Well, then let us continue to practice, it will be good for Bronn to practice against a new fighting style and you will explore your new prowess…” Titus grinned and Bronn readied his spear again.

‘Then let us make some sense of it…’ Faust thought and tightly gripped his spear.