Near evening, an exhausted Rein bid farewell to Blacksmith Boris and returned to the Habsburg manor.
After hastily taking care of dinner, he fell asleep deeply in the dormitory.
The next morning, the young servants were gathered together, and they were greeted by a tall and burly man walking towards them.
This burly man had blond hair stiff like the bristles of a wild boar, thick brows over big eyes, a resolute face, and a bastard sword hanging at his waist which gave him a very steady presence when he walked.
“I am your swordsmanship instructor, Humbert. What you will be learning is the basic swordsmanship that all militia must master,”
“Has anyone among you learned swordsmanship before?”
Having said this, the burly man scanned the group with his large eyes.
Only George, somewhat excitedly, raised his right hand, saying, “Reporting to Instructor Humbert, I’ve learned!”
“What kind of swordsmanship? For how long?”
“Basic swordsmanship as well, for about… two years, I guess.” George seemed to recall his learning process, his intermittent practice amounting to about two years in total.
He had intended to understate the amount of practice to highlight his natural talent for swordsmanship, but under Humbert’s piercing gaze, he ended up revealing the truth.
Humbert nodded and said, “Anyone else?”
No one responded.
“If no one else will, then you, come up here and demonstrate the basic swordsmanship you’ve learned.”
“Ah? Me… demonstrate?… Alright!” Clearly, George was a bit nervous facing the robust Instructor Humbert.
After taking the iron-wooden sword that Humbert handed him, George took up a swordsmanship starting pose and began to hack and chop vigorously.
The servants, having never learned basic swordsmanship, watched with great interest, thinking that George executed the basic swordsmanship quite well.
“Stop! Not bad! You may step down,” Humbert said with a slight frown, waving his hand.
“Oh… oh, okay, Instructor.” George, having received praise from the instructor, was visibly elated.
However, Rein could see that Humbert did not seem satisfied with George’s demonstration of basic swordsmanship.
Rein, however, thought to himself that George was quite good, both in terms of strength and proficiency with the techniques, at least far better than himself.
Because he hadn’t learned basic swordsmanship.
George returned to the group with a smile, seemingly very delighted that he had received the instructor’s praise on the first day of swordsmanship training.
The group of servants, led by Humbert, headed to the training ground in the middle of the outer courtyard.
The real second-generation kids did not come today.
This was the servants’ first time at the training ground, and they couldn’t help looking around curiously.
Under the awning, there were blunt two-handed swords, one-handed swords, shields, Riding Spears, and all sorts of training gear like training armor and thick padded jackets.
But all these had nothing to do with the servants.
The instructor led them to a place with only wooden shortswords hanging, pointed and said:
“There! Each of you take a shortsword and after you’ve got it, line up!”
Suddenly, the group noisily went up and each person took a sword.
“What’s this? Wooden swords, a child’s toy? My five-year-old brother plays with this kind of thing,” Freckles said disdainfully, looking at the wooden sword.
“George, the swordsmanship you just did was quite something! I feel like you’re much better than me!”
“Eh, Freckles, have you also learned basic swordsmanship before?” George asked, surprised.
“Of course, my uncle is a mercenary. I learned a bit from him since I was young, but I’ve nearly forgotten it all,” Freckles boasted with pride.
After all, in his opinion, when it came to swordsmanship among all the young servants, he was the second strongest after George.
“Not bad, George and Freckles, it looks like you two are going to shine!” the Baker’s son exclaimed admiringly.
“Yeah, now a certain someone can’t attract attention by fixing hooves anymore, right? Men should be all about physical strength!” Freckles glanced sideways at Rein and said.
“You…” George was becoming impatient to hear more.
But Rein shook his head, dismissing George’s desire to argue with the others. After all, it was just idle talk, and he didn’t lose anything from it—arguing with a bunch of fake second-generations was pointless.
And who said that if you have a foundation in swordsmanship, I definitely couldn’t catch up?
Rein glanced at the two Skill Points reserved on his panel, his eyes flickering.
“Eh, this wooden sword isn’t quite what I expected!”, Rein exclaimed as he grasped the wooden sword, his eyes immediately lighting up.
This wooden sword seemed to be made of oil-soaked ironwood; not only was it tough and durable, but its weight was also nearly the same as a real iron sword, making it the best possible training sword.
Indeed, as the group of pretentious nobles got hold of the swords, they too realized the truth.
“I knew it, how could the Earl’s family use ordinary wooden swords? So they are made of ironwood after all.”
“….”
Once all the pages had an ironwood sword in hand, the swordsmanship instructor Humbert began to shout loudly:
“Now, I will demonstrate the basic sword techniques you need to master!”
“Basic sword technique number one, striding thrust!”
“Basic sword technique number two, striding downward slash!”
“Basic sword technique number three, striding upward sweep!”
The basic sword techniques consisted of these three moves, but Humbert’s actions were much quicker and more powerful than those of the thick-browed boy!
The same set of movements had a world of difference when executed by the two of them.
The pages watched Humbert’s demonstration attentively and, following his teachings, soon began to swing their ironwood swords, trying to imitate him.
Without trying, one would never know; once they tried, they were shocked!
Although the three movements of basic swordsmanship seemed simple, they were still quite difficult for most pages, including Rein, who had never practiced swordsmanship in either of his lives.
They needed to not only swing the sword properly but also coordinate their steps, syncing hands and feet together.
Such bodily coordination couldn’t be achieved without a lot of practice and wouldn’t come together in a short time.
And so, under the scorching sun, a group of young lads sweated profusely, roaring as they tirelessly swung their ironwood swords, practicing the basic sword techniques.
“Do you want to be able to survive when facing danger!”, Humbert corrected each person’s movements while shouting words of encouragement with his robust voice.
It seemed he was quite accustomed to this method of training.
“Yes!!”, a group of boys who had never been sweet-talked couldn’t help but respond passionately and in unison.
“Good! According to the key points of the movements I just mentioned, practice repeatedly! Keep practicing! Turn it into a natural instinct of the body!”
Humbert continued to encourage the group of pages while also starting to explain the key points of the basic sword techniques.
“The striding thrust emphasizes the use of leg strength to transmit the power from the lower half of the body through the waist to the arm wielding the sword, so it’s essential to master the linkage of the muscles throughout the body!”
“…..”
[You have practiced the basic swordsmanship, and your comprehension has improved!]
[You have grasped a new skill—Basic Swordsmanship]
[Your skill Basic Swordsmanship has improved, Experience +1]
[Congratulations, you have triggered the career panel—Militia]
“Shouldn’t it be Swordsman or Guard? The fact that I’ve triggered just the Militia career panel?” Rein felt both joy and disappointment at this moment.
The joy was because he had finally triggered a combat career panel, no longer having to rely solely on the Blacksmith’s Apprentice lifestyle career panel, signifying a pleasing first step on the path of martial strength.
The disappointment was because this combat profession seemed weak just from the sound of it!
From the name, it was apparent that Militia implied it wasn’t any serious military force, and the strength limit must be very low.
“However…”
“For someone with zero foundation like me, triggering the Militia panel might not be a bad thing.”
“Because it may also mean that it wouldn’t be so difficult to raise my Profession Level.”
Having come to terms with it, Rein couldn’t help but laugh, his disappointment vanishing!