After my bath I tried to get my mind off of the situation. I focused on reciting all of the magical essences I knew about, as well as all of the ingredients I knew to contain those essences. By the time I was finished it was time for breakfast so I went downstairs. I sat down and a minute later Marya sat my plate in front of me, bending over in just the right way to give me a look at two delicious looking lemons.
‘No,” I chided myself. ‘You can’t think about that. She is your sister. That would be wrong.’ Still, the knowledge I had gained yesterday hadn’t yet set in, so I had to distract myself two more times before I was finished eating.
I thanked her for breakfast, and she bowed, once again giving me a view that I knew I shouldn’t like, but for some reason did. Why did all of the maids switch to that outfit when they grew up? I assume it was for the very reason that it showed things that the masters generally wanted to see.
I would need a much more serious distraction if I was to maintain my sanity. Maybe some sort of physical exercise to work off the excess energy. I knew exactly where to find someone to help with that. I went to Reginald’s office and knocked. When he let me in I noticed that he looked tired. “I’m sorry if I woke you up.” I said.
“Oh, it’s fine. I was just up until four doing paperwork. Can I help you, sir?”
“Yes, actually. I want you to teach me swordsmanship.”
Reginald looked surprised. “I didn’t know you had any interest in learning physical combat. Besides, I’m not the best teacher for that.”
“I thought about it, and now that I’m growing up I think I should learn how to defend myself with a blade, even if it’s just the basics. I know you are a good teacher, and have intermediate swordsmanship certification, so you should be good enough to teach me up to a basic certification level.”
He thought about it for a few seconds, then nodded. “Very well, Sir. I shall get ready and begin your training.” he said tiredly.
“No need to rush. I’ll meet you in the training field at noon.”
Reginald bowed. “Thank you, sir. Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to get a few more hours of sleep.”
Four hours later, as noon rolled around, I stood in the training field, having already put on the leather armor and a wooden sword that the guard trainees wore. Just as the bells in town started to ring, Reginald walked up, looking properly rested and bathed.
“Thank you again, Reginald.” I said.
“My pleasure, sir.” he said with a smile. He must have lost some confidence as I no longer needed him to instruct me. Giving him this job probably returned some of that.
He instructed me in the basic forms until the sun started to set, and even though I had brought stamina recovery potions just in case, my arms were burning and felt like wet noodles. “That should be enough for today, sir.” he said, barely looking tired for all of the swinging he had to do.
“Thank you,” I said, then tried to remove my soaked armor. Even the few kilograms of leather was too much for me. Reginald saw that and helped me remove the vest and other parts. “Thank you again,” I said as he picked up my dropped sword and returned it to the wrack.
“Just remember, sir, that if you let the sweat dry on your armor, it could ruin it. So make sure you clean it before going to sleep.” I moaned, and nodded, then walked off, leaving it on the ground.
I considered ordering Persy to clean it for me, but realized that the point of making me do it was so that I would learn to properly care for my own armor. I wouldn’t learn anything if I made a slave do it, so I would have to do it myself. Just not now.
I went back to my room and collapsed on the floor, not wanting to get my bed sweaty. Persy came in a minute later and, without asking, drew me a bath. I was too tired to even undress myself, so she helped me. I knew that this morning I would be too distracted by the fact that a girl was undressing me to think straight, but now the thought only crossed my mind because I realized the absence of that thought.
I had a nice long soak to which she added medicinal herbs, and after an hour I could get out of the bath on my own. I was still sore, but now the soreness was mostly gone and I had enough energy to finish my training. I got dressed and went back down to the training field to get my armor. There, I sat down at one of the tables with a jar of armor cleaning solution and started scrubbing every square centimeter of the leather.
While I was working I briefly wondered why people used leather armor here while it was rare in my last world. It only took me a few seconds to figure out why. Once I did, I sent a detection thread into the leather and used my Essence Detection. Toughness 3. Just as I suspected. This leather was made of monster hides, and was as good at protecting you as bronze armor while being far lighter and more flexible. Some knights preferred metal armor, as it still protected better, but this armor was adequate for the majority of city guards, as you were less likely to face serious attacks inside a city.
For the next week I met Reginald at the field every day at noon and we practiced until sunset. By the end of the week he had started to spar with me, having drilled the basic forms into me successfully, but my moves were far too clumsy still for him to need to put in much effort. When we were finished, however, he informed me of something. In three days the city guard would be sending a new batch of trainees here to train, and Sir Philip would be training them. I was to join them in the morning for their morning calisthenics and strength training, then, at noon, I would split off from them for private swordsmanship training, as many of them already knew the basics.
The next day I arrived at the field and noticed over two dozen people standing there. There was a thirteen year old and a fourteen year old, both children of knights, no doubt hoping to earn both their Guardsman occupational certification and Swordsmanship Combat certification, but I was the youngest one there, and the three of us appeared to be the only nobles. Sir Philip started us off with a jog out the main gate and around the city wall three times. I, of course, fell far behind, and was forced to cast Reinvigorate on myself to not collapse several times, as it was difficult to drink potions while running. After the run we did situps and pushups, requiring two more applications of the spell to keep up. Then we started squats, and he had us don our armor for the extra weight. Over the next month we would slowly be adding more weight to that exercise in order to build muscle mass.
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By noon I was already exhausted, both physically and magically, but Reginald was there to get me. He did, at least, let me eat a proper meal and soak in the bath for a few minutes before we began.
Over the next few weeks I continued that routine, always wanting to collapse and relying on potions and medicinal baths to survive. Eventually, though, Reginald said I had enough of the basics down that I could join the other trainees for sparing, as he wasn’t a good match for me. I spent the next two weeks with the group, with Reginald acting as a secondary teacher for the group after lunch. I even attended lectures on proper procedure and the law which Sir Philip gave. We even sparred against Pancho in group battles meant to teach us how to deal with monsters and monster tamers.
By the end of the month, I could beat just over half of them in a swordfight a little over half the time. So, I was only an average swordsman, but at least I knew how to properly fight. We all went to the Adventurers guild the day after the last day of training, and all of us passed both the guardsman and swordmanship certifications. I earned yet another ID card, this time with a combat and an occupational certification.
We went to a local tavern to celebrate, and after we were done I returned home. As I and the two knight’s sons weren’t yet adults they refused to serve us more than one drink, but I was still a bit tipsy when I returned home.
The next morning, Father called Sir Philip and I into his office. There he offered us a seat. Was I in trouble for drinking last night? I was pretty sure he hadn’t said he was against it, even though I rarely saw him drink, and I was pretty sure this country was more like England with its drinking laws, allowing minors to consume small amounts. Weird that I remembered that about Earth.
“Thank you two for coming on such short notice. I know that you just finished training, and deserve a day off, but this couldn’t wait. The family’s reserves of mithril are completely empty. We have been buying Worm Cores from adventurers to refine more and make more star mithril, but the supply was unable to keep up with the demand. Without the ability to refill our stores our family will default on multiple contracts, costing us over a million gold, and could go into bankruptcy. For that reason I have no choice but to reopen the mithril mine.”
“But father, wasn’t that shut down five years ago due to monsters moving into the area and killing most of the miners?”
“Yes, it was. Which is why I need the two of you to lead a squadron of guards to the mine to clear it of monsters, so that we can reopen it. I waited until now to do this, so that the new batch of recruits could fill in for those that you are taking with you, but we can’t wait much longer if we want to get the next shipment ready on time to deliver it at the end of the month.”
“Yes sir.” said Sir Philip. “I must ask, though, which of us will be in charge of the mission?”
“I admit, I did consider giving Cameron command of this mission, but he has no command experience. I want you to make him your second in command for this mission, and train him in how to do the job.” Father then addressed me. “I know I haven’t talked much about it, but as my firstborn, and with my only other heir not yet born, you will one day inherit this county and my title. I need to make sure that you can handle the job, so I am going to have Sir Philip teach you how to lead troops in combat. This may be your first mission, but I know you can do it.”
“But father, don’t you have a brother that has a prior claim?” I had never seen my uncle but I had heard him mentioned several times.
“Jon was never interested in politics, which is why he left to become an Adventurer. If he inherited the title, I don’t know that he could properly lead the family or the people.”
I nodded, “Very well, then. I shall try to learn as much as I can so I may one day become a proper Count and head of house.”
Sir Philip motioned for us to stand. We both bowed, and left Father’s office. Once outside, Sir Philip looked at me. “I will put you in charge of securing our supplies for this mission. You, I, and twelve guards, two of whom will be mages, will be going up to the mines. It will take us a day to get there, so we will need camping supplies and at least three days of provisions. Better make it five in case the battle in the cave lasts longer than we thought.”
“In that case, sir, do you mind if I bring Persy along as well? The men will probably want properly cooked food and clean clothing, and she is a certified healer, though not a combat healer. She would make good support staff.”
Sir Philip thought about it for a few seconds, then nodded. “If you think she can keep up, you can bring her. Just make sure that she doesn’t become a distraction.”
“Yes, sir.” I said, saluting him.
He chuckled and returned the salute. “Strange getting saluted by a noble that outranks me, but I guess I am your superior officer for this mission. Still, I won’t hold it against you if you don’t want to do that.”
“Thank you, sir.” I said. “In that case, when do we leave?”
“We leave in three days.” he said. “I will notify the men to bring their equipment and changes of clothing. You just get the travel gear ready.”
I met the quartermaster for the guards and spent the next several hours discussing what we would need and filling out requisition forms. I wasn’t happy with the number of potions he was willing to part with, as we were going into danger, but didn’t want to pull rank on him, so I would just make more of them myself. I got full kit for fifteen people, as well as five days of rations each, and packed the bags myself, making sure that I inventoried every backpack before packing them. These backpacks proved how cheap the military was, as they were made by apprentice enchanters and only had level one space and weight enchantments. For every level these properties would become twice as good, so the backpacks had twice the space and weighed half as much as the backpack alone would weigh. Still, it required little magical energy from it’s user, and was actually able to run entirely on the ambient mana if not carried, thanks to the mana compression of the mana gathering circle. Such a circle was even cheaper than a small Core for the amount of mana the enchantment required.
After I was done, I carried the bags down to the guard house and put them in the armory, so that no one would be able to steal from them or tamper with them. When I was returning on one of the many trips between the quartermaster’s office and the armory, I saw Persy hanging up laundry.
“Persy, can I talk to you for a moment?” I asked, and she came over.
“Yes master?” she asked, tail waging slightly.
“In three days I and Sir Philip will be taking a group of guards on a mission and I would like you to come along as cook, cleaner, and healer.”
“Are you sure about that, sir? I haven’t left the town since you ‘bought’ me.” she knew that I hadn’t actually done so, but had to keep up appearances.
“I’m sure. In fact...” I pulled two gold coins from my pocket. “I want you to go to the Adventurer’s Guild and by two sets of travel clothes, including decent armor for a healer, and all of the supplies you’ll need to do your job for a five day mission. That should only cost a gold or so. The rest is for you to buy the best magic backpack you can find. Don’t be afraid to use my name to get a discount. When you are done, bring it all back to my room so I can go over everything with you.”
Her tail was wagging quickly now. Wasn’t she a fox, not a dog? “Thank you master. I won’t disappoint you.” She left Marya hanging up the rest of the laundry and ran to town.
“Sorry about that, Marya.” I said. “Any way I can make stealing your help up to you?”
“Do you want to teach me magic too?”
I laughed. “Tell you what, I will go to the Healer’s Union at the end of the month to get my Healer’s certification, and will probably register for the test shortly after I get back from this mission. I’ll buy you a Healer’s Guide the next time I go and have Persy instruct you, since she’s a much better healer than me. Will that work?”
She nodded. “Sure, but I want to learn combat magic too.”
“Sure,” I said. “Do well enough with that, and I’ll buy you a Combat Mage Handbook from the Mage’s guild too.”
She had a huge smile on her face as she bowed and continued with the laundry. Great, now I was going to spoil my little sister. Technically, she was a month younger than me, so it still counted.
Three days later, we lined up in front of the palace gate. I had given all of the men a backpack, as well as Sir Philip. All of us wore leather armor made of monster leather for the flexibility, though I had spent seven gold on a suit made of Salamander leather, and therefore had level five protection as well as fire resistance.
Persy stood at the rear of the formation with the other two mages. She had managed to buy a used healer’s staff with the money I gave her, but from the poor cut of the large rose quartz at the top of it you could tell it wasn’t the best performing one they had available. Still, it should give her enough of a boost to save a bit of mana. She also wore a different backpack than the others. She had found a used backpack at the Adventurer’s guild that was retrieved from a dead adventurer. She had to clean the blood out of the leather, but at only nineteen silvers it was a steal for rating four space and rating five weight enchantments. It even had a rating one preservation enchantment, though we wouldn’t need it to keep our rations safes on this trip.
“Alright, everyone,” Sir Philip said, addressing the men as I stood beside him. “You’ve already received your mission briefing. If all goes well, we should return in three days. Now, move out.” He motioned with his sword and we all set out for the western gate, the nearest one to the mithril mine. I realized as we left the city that this was my first time outside the city. Maybe it would be interesting.