After the unrest caused by Leo and Siel, the next day we just trained because there was no time to lose in the preparations for the second assignment. On this first official day of training, a course in sword fighting was given. The instructor, a man in his forties, was named Abraham. He was an ex-monster hunter and spent his last years as a knight and guard in the royal guard. Because of his experience, many saw him as one of the best swordsmen in the country. Whether that was the case was the question. His body was covered in scars and burns he had suffered in combat, which made his claim even more credible. Despite the fact that there had been no war in Yths for years, the country was very restless. In addition to the wild animals that roamed the trade routes, there were also robbers, often from Amargo, who sat in the woods waiting to rob some rich stinker.
Knight Abraham began his training as usual with a short speech. "The training won't be easy, but if you're too weak for this training, you're definitely not ready for the real monsters that will no doubt cross your path in the second king's quest. Pick an opponent to train with."
The candidates formed pairs and they took the wooden practice swords. Alex Tikker was allowed to practice with Abraham himself. For the sake of convenience, Slander and Vlander faced each other because they were the same size. Abraham had replaced their practice swords with wooden skewers. Arian faced Jack Bulton and Robert faced Leo. The three piglets spent the whole morning shouting strange swear words such as 'Wienerschnitsel, Schmetterling and Krankenwagen' at each other to fight out which of the three would stand aside for a while. By the end of the day, Robert finally figured out how to dodge the tip of a sword. Alex Tikker had managed to time his sword blows so that they all lasted exactly the same amount of time. In the meantime, Leo was able to switch hands flawlessly and thus strike both left and right handed. Slander and Vlander ended the day with all kinds of small holes in their leather pants due to the sharp skewers and Arian and Bulton continued until after sunset because neither of them wanted to show that they were getting exhausted. Robert, on the other hand, flopped into his bed exhausted after his first day of training. He knew he had to get up early again tomorrow and with those thoughts he fell asleep very quickly.
The second day seemed to be identical to the previous one. The piglets had finally found a change system in which Hörk first practiced with Pörk for half an hour, then Pörk with Gnörk for half an hour and finally Hörk with Gnörk. But all three of them had a hard time. Not only were the swords very impractical with their short legs, but they were constantly distracted by the incredible hunger they always had.
'Ich habe zo hunger, ich kan nicht meer!' complained Hörk. 'Help us bitte, help us!', they kept wailing.
Abraham began to get tired of it. He was just about to give them a good lesson when a little man came rushing into the square. Robert recognized the little man at once, as he had seen him many times before during King Louis' speeches and was particularly struck by the lack of his haircut. It was Hector Bokduclingstorminshoven, the head of the Royal Order of Science, a branch of the Courtly Functional Bourgeoisie.
"I'm making an important announcement," Hector began.
He had a high-pitched, almost screeching voice. He was a strange creature, a kind of gnome with huge round red glasses, a pointy moustache and a very peculiar hairstyle. Hector was bald, except for two huge horn-like blades. These were the only strands of hair that had survived Siel's onslaught of riot fire, and his scalp most closely resembled a moonscape. "Could his brain be a little cooked?" whispered Leo in Robert's ear at the sight of Hector's strange appearance.
Hector didn't seem to mind. He clapped his hands happily. 'Recently, I, Bokduclingstorminshoven, invented something fantastic. The plan was to add this invention to the army's equipment, but for security reasons, councillor Siel Eggers, Madam Haclaire, the courtly pacemaker and minister Dirrek Waldeman believe that they should first be tested by a test audience. And because you are now willing to risk your life, you become our guinea pigs." Hector looked around enthusiastically. "I present to you the Bow Gripping Knife Glove!"
Apart from the fact that the thing had an incredibly bad name, it seemed like something ingenious, Robert thought when he saw it up close. It was a mix between a crossbow, a knife and a grappling hook, which could also be used for quick movement, and all wrapped up in a kind of strange, large glove.
"This object is now the most important part of today's training, and tomorrow we will train on the swing," Abraham added. 'If this turns out to be a success, you can use this for all future trials.'
With renewed energy, all candidates continue the training.
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After two days of swinging between trees, one-on-one training and aiming for a bull's-eye, everyone had miraculously made it. The piglets had gone through a real change and had gone from complaining, hungry faint-hearted to a super-strong three-man team, strong enough to knock Jack to the ground, using their now infamous surprise tactic 'if we don't know what we're doing, you certainly don't'. Slander and Vlander had also become lightning fast. Their light weight was ideal for swinging and they could fly through the trees almost silently. Robert was incredibly intimidated by their progress, and it didn't help that Arian was the quickest of all to switch between the crossbow, grappling hook, and knife. Only Jack Bulton felt that the Bow Grappling Knife Glove offered little added value and still opted for the tactic of brute fistpower.
In this trial, a jury of several members of the Courtly Functional Bourgeoisie was also selected who watched from a distance and judged the participants. It had also dawned on the members that this test was going to be much more dangerous than the previous one and that things could go wrong. Two members of the jury had called in sick at the last minute on the morning of the test, one with a light green diarrhea, the other with an eye infection due to bat poop in the eye during a visit to the church tower of Azucar. The jury consisted of the king's right-hand man, Siel Eggers, Madam Haclaire and Dirrek Waldeman. Abraham the swordsman had joined in to assess their technical defensive skills. Robert had given up his spot to Lilian who had never touched a sword before but provided a knapsack for each participant with freshly made sandwiches, some fruit, a piece of cheese and a drinking bottle of cold cherry tea. The pace-faster had joined the jury at the last minute, although at first he doubted whether he ever wanted to be in the same room as Siel Eggers again. To boost himself, he had transformed twelve hourglasses into a new time-measuring instrument, replacing his broken pace time device. He diligently divided a page of his notebook into a number of columns, one for each candidate so that he could accurately record start and finish time. The butlers Edgard and Eugène were asked to prepare horses with covered wagons to transport the jury to the foot of the Arendsbergen.
It was still dark when the group gathered at the large gate that separated the city center from the surrounding neighborhoods. There was still dew on the blades of grass on the verge along the city roads. Many were still tired after a night of worrying and doubting about this dangerous assignment. It wasn't long before they would leave for the trek to the top of the highest mountain. The Arendsberg in the north were quite a bit away from Azucar, the main department, and the jury had left some time ago with a large caravan. They wanted to be able to experience and assess this assignment up close. Pepijn de Tierlantijn was asked to follow the candidates from a distance and to report regularly.
Not many people or creatures survived near the mountains, but there was a tribe of dwarves who lived and worked in and around the mines. Some dwarves lived a little further away in the nearest groves where they gathered their own food and wood supply. In the meantime, it was the middle of winter in Yths, the season that was much colder in the northern mountains than in other parts of the country. The great plains turned into almost endless icy deserts, which looked empty and dead. Getting lost on such a plain for a night could be fatal. In the surrounding forests it was life-threatening, especially in winter. Stories of huge creatures such as mammoths spread like wildfire among the dwarves in a dry summer. Despite this, the trade routes remained open. The dwarven tribe provided a very large part of the quarrying, and iron, gold and other valuable minerals were often extracted in the mines and sold to the merchants of Salado. Dwarves were hard workers by nature, and the mountain dwellers often worked much harder than other tribes and groups. They didn't tire easily and were very strong. In addition, as was commonly known in Yths, they were the masters of the forge.
Jack Bulton, the half-giant, was born and raised among the dwarves. He had been lost in the woods as a child and was rescued by one of the dwarves, a certain Visgaroff Zoltanev. The dwarf, who had previously lived alone in his mountain house, took him into his house and brought him up as best he could. Visgaroff worked even harder than usual to provide the young half-giant with enough food. Half a wild boar for dinner or three rabbits were the rule rather than the exception. When Jack turned 12, Visgaroff had to build a bigger house because Jack was getting too big for the dwarv-sized houses. In the end, Jack left the Eagle Mountains because he didn't want to spend his whole life mining rock and minerals. The half-giant set out, travelling through the various departments of Yths and through the many neighbouring countries. Eventually, he ended up with a local circus troupe that mainly entertained the rich and courtly population of Azucar and Agriar at the weekly open-air parties. After a lot of practice and perseverance, he broke the world record for standing still. Although Jack was an adventurer at heart, he was looking forward to seeing the silly old Visgaroff again.
The group, now consisting of Leo and Robert, Slander and Vlander, the three piglets, Alex Tikker, Arian and Jack Bulton left together from Azucar to the foot of the highest Eagle Mountainswith Pepijn barely a trot away from them and dressed entirely in white fur to disguise his colored skin. Robert, however, thought he looked a bit like a polar bear from afar. They were barely 100 yards away when they were stopped by a panting Hector Bokduclingstorminshoven, the royal scientist. He insisted on joining the group so that he could admire his invention in real life. Since Siel thought Hector was just as useless a brush as Robert, he was happy to let Hector join the trip to the Arendsbergen. Arian held the map in his hand and Vlander bent over the compass. The second assignment had officially begun.