Defeat

The third day of training to become future knights. Kane, getting up in the morning, felt something wet under his hands, After opening his eyes, he saw a whole wet quilt in front of him, and drops of cold water on his face.

Yesterday, before going to bed, they left the window open, through which it rained into their room all night. The windowsill, the floor, and the sheets—everything was wet.

Daren, who also slept next to the window, exceptionally got up first when he was awakened by the rain falling on his face. Grumpy closed the window and started dressing nervously to go out to the training yard.

"Kane, are you coming with me? I won't sleep any more anyway, I'm all wet because of this rain."

"Okay, just wait a minute, I'll just get dressed."

"Then I'll wake up the rest."

Daren made space for Kane to get dressed and started waking up the brothers.

"Get up, get up! To the training!"

Daren began to shout across the room, taking satisfaction in the displeasure of his friends, who began to wake up prematurely.

"Eeeee! There was no bell! Why are you waking us up, dumbass?!"

An angry Collin began to wake up, rubbing his eyes.

"If I'm already going to have a ruined day from the morning, the rest of you too."

Daren laughed at his friend's displeasure.

Kane, dressing on the side, looked at the whole situation without understanding why Daren was acting like this, making the rest of the day miserable for everyone.

"Shall we go?"

Asked Kane after getting dressed

"Yes, they will join later."

Daren left the room.

Despite yesterday's training, Kane's body was still slightly tired, but he had no soreness, so he felt better in the morning than yesterday.

After going to the training ground, Kane realized that thanks to the cold weather and rain, today's training would be lighter for them, as it would cool down during the run and exercise.

The recruits lined up in front of their tutors and waited impatiently for the announcement of who could start learning the second stance, as the rain began to drench the hair and clothes of everyone in the training yard.

Tutor Nilon lined up in front of his group.

"As tutor Lorenz said yesterday, I will announce who can move on to learning the second stance. The new group will be led by tutor Horen Zinre. The recruits who have been given permission to learn the second stance from this group are: Rin Serdo and Kane Gawter. Train hard, and you will join them too. That's it, you can start your morning run."

Most people were disappointed and surprised that they were not selected, including Collin, who barely restrained himself from protesting out of jealousy.

During the training plan that the recruits had, both during the morning run and the backpack run, Kane noticed that he was able to withstand the exercises longer. Admittedly, it wasn't a drastic change, but compared to the first day, when during the backpack run he was already pouring sweat streams out of him after 10 minutes, now after the same time he was still able to run despite his fatigue. The boy felt that his effort was beginning to have a slightly noticeable effect.

The day in Byrock went on as usual.

A morning run, breakfast, strength training, another run, lunch, and the best part of the day for probably all recruits, swordsmanship training and sparring.

After lunch, Kane, curious about who he would be in a group with, walked out to the training area, where he saw Landis waving in his direction.

"Kane! Here!"

He shouted gleefully in his direction.

"Did you get into the new group, too?"

Kane asked him, not knowing who he would be training with.

"Yes, you could have guessed from yesterday's sparring, from what I heard, your tutor decided to give us this place when he saw our duels."

They were interrupted in their conversation by a large, muscular man, much larger than Nilon, with a shield on his back. Kane felt like he had seen a bear when he first met tutor Horen.

"Welcome to all of you, and congratulations on being the first to get into the second stance training group. My name is Horen Zinre rank of Defense General, and from today I will train you until I decide that you are ready to move on to the third stance.

To begin with, the second stance is a defensive stance that can also be used in an attack, but I wouldn't recommend it because you will endanger yourself more than your opponent. It will require more time and a lot of sparring with different opponents to learn it, but you will immediately understand why."

Keeper Horen drew his sword and called out.

"Oi, Nilon! Come here for a moment!"

The whole group wondered why he needed a second tutor.

"Attention everyone. The second stance is based on the use of strength, speed, and proper reaction time to the opponent's attack. It will allow us to deflect the attack and move quickly to counterattack.

The problem with performing the second stance is that every swordsman makes his attacks at a different pace and with different force, so you need combat experience and quick reaction time to use it effectively.

To perform the second stance correctly, your dominant leg is moved forward, and you bend your knees slightly."

He began to demonstrate while explaining to his own body the correct positioning for the stance.

"You hold your sword slightly behind you and wait for the attack. When the opponent attacks, at the right moment you make a strong and quick swing with your sword, aiming at the opponent's sword.

Due to the force and speed with which the blades collide, the opponent will lose control of his own sword, so we can counterattack. Now with Tutor Nilon we will demonstrate the second stance."

Tutor Nilon drew his sword and took the first stance.

When Horen took the second stance, anticipating Nilon's attack, it was clear that Kane was not in the same group of recruits who treated the sword like a toy and didn't know what they were doing. They all watched the tutor in concentration, paying attention to every detail, from the angle of the knee bend to the distance and the way the sword was positioned. In silence, they watched every behavior and movement of the two tutors.

As soon as Nilon launched an overhead attack, Horen immediately reacted by making a quick swing with his sword, deflecting his opponent's weapon, and with the next, second swing, launching his counterattack, stopping his blade right in front of Nilon's neck.

"As you have seen, proper technique and strength are capable of deflecting your opponent's attack. During my training, you will spend the first half hour on the first stance to further polish it and warm up, then on wooden dummies, train the second stance. You will finish the entire training with sparring. All clear!"

"Yes sir!"

The group saluted when Kane realized that he had unconsciously used the second stance for the first time while sparring with Landis. Landis also noticed this and looked toward the boy from afar.

"Then we start with the first stance, begin!"

The whole group started performing repetitions. Kane thus had a chance to look at all the people who had been chosen along with him. The group was small, as there were only 14 people, of whom the boy knew only Landis.

He spent half an hour of repetition polishing his skills and looking at the other recruits to see what level they were at. They all looked older and physically stronger than Kane, but the boy didn't care and focused on himself.

Finally, the eagerly awaited second-stance training took place. All the recruits set up their wooden dummies and began training.

Kane tried to remember what he had done in yesterday's sparring, and make adjustments based on what the tutor had shown them. He slowly positioned himself in front of the dummy, carefully took his stance, and tried to recreate yesterday's fight.

Meanwhile, tutor Horen walked between the recruits and corrected them. Boys using the second stance for the first time saw no effect when striking, or had sore hands from clashing with the wooden dummies.

Tutor Horen walked past Kane and, seeing that he had initially taken a good stance, decided to observe in silence how his strike would come out without putting pressure on him. He remembered Nilon's words, mentioning his talent, which he wanted to see with his own eyes.

When Kane felt he was ready, he tried to remember the position he was in. He gripped the sword tightly, already knowing from his recent sparring that if he didn't, his hand would go numb again.

With all his strength, he made a quick swing, hitting the dummy hard enough that it managed to shift slightly from the force of the impact.

Horen was surprised by the strong hit despite the boy's weak body and understood why Nilon instructed him, the rest of the recruits who were unable to move the dummy and millimeter secretly looked in the boy's direction.

In the group where the most capable recruits get in, there is no room for friendship, only competition.

"You have performed the posture correctly, but from what I know from your age, you lack strength in your hands. If you want to make progress, then spend more time on strength training on your own."

Advised the tutor to the boy.

"Okay, I'll try."

Kane replied to him while getting ready to perform the second stance again.

The other groups of recruits who didn't get in glanced enviously in their direction, wanting to get in as well.

"Remember, everyone, the five stances you will learn here are the fundamentals of your swordsmanship. You must master them to the best of your capability, without a solid foundation, you will not build the rest. Repeat the two stances you already know to perfection."

"Yes sir!"

shouted at the recruits, repeating the second stance.

With concentration, they polished their skills until the bell signaling sparring sounded.

Tutor Lorenz stepped to the center to explain the rules of today's sparring.

"Attention everyone, because of the recruits who have started training the second stance, we will change the sparring format.

Those who didn't get into the new group will continue under the old rules. Recruits who have started training for the second stance will fight against each other.

Tutor Horen recruits during sparring, as an attacker can only use the first stance, and a defender can only use the second stance. In this way, you will improve your skills from both stances at the same time. A person who is not hit even once during three duels in a row as a defender can move to the third stance.

All of you to your tutors, who will draw you a pair for sparring."

Kane and the rest were divided into pairs, already thinking of how to get to the third stance.

Kane's opponent today turned out to be the boy Landis had been talking to. A tall brunette with short hair, despite being 12 years old, he was already well-built, which explained how he got here.

"Hi, I'm Jin".

"Kane"

"Landis told me about you, he said you were a good swordsman".

"He was quite good, too."

Jin looked at Kane with piercing eyes

"Someone trained you? You didn't get here so quickly for no reason, and from what I can see, you're not too muscular yet, so you didn't get through due to sheer physical strength."

"No one trained me, when I arrived, it was two days ago that I held a sword in my hand for the first time."

"hmmm...."

He looked at him with a slight smile, planning to test Kane's skills.

"And you were trained by someone?"

Kane asked, curious to see the boy's silhouette.

"Yes, my father has Master rank, so I inherited his talent, and he trained me as soon as I turned 8. I wanted him to continue teaching me individually, but he said the army would be good for me and sent me here, although I wanted to stay."

"So he can use the Ren?"

Kane began to inquire, still curious about what this power was.

"Yes, after all, if he couldn't, he wouldn't have become a master."

"Will you tell me more about it? Tutor Nilon couldn't tell us anything more."

"Well, I don't know..."

He started teasing Kane.

"If you win at least one duel with me, I'll tell you as much as I know."

"Okay, shall we start?"

"Yes, you attack first."

Both of them set up their positions. Kane in the first stance, Jin in the second stance. They both glared at each other, waiting for a reaction. Jin knew that the second stance mainly needed a quick reaction time to work, and that he must not lose vigilance even for a moment.

With his sword up, Kane knew that he was not facing just any kid with a blade and focused on it so much that he forgot about the surrounding place, the sounds, and the smells. All he felt was a racing heartbeat.

When he felt it was the right moment, he attacked.

Jin did not allow himself to lose his vigilance and reacted immediately. Kane's attack was slower than the opponent's swing, so Jin deflected the attack happily with the end of his sword. Because of the opponent's strength, Kane lost feeling in his hands, and the impact's was so strong that he had to move his leg back to keep from falling to the ground.

"Okay, now I understand what the tutor meant. Even if the stance is simple, you have to adjust the timing to match the opponent's attack. I made a quick enough swing to almost miss your sword."

Shy laughed at Jin's clumsiness.

Kane realized after the first blow what a gap there was in physical strength. If Jin had gotten his sword right, he knew it would have fallen out of his hands.

"You have four more strikes."

The situation repeated itself with every strike, no matter how fast or hard Kane attacked, Jin deflected all his attacks, on top of doing it better and better with each next strike.

After the first sparring loss, Kane let his frustration at not being able to do anything get the best of him. It was only after he calmed down that he remembered how Landis had handled his second stance.

He had a plan to use this against Jin at the next opportunity.

"1 to 0 for me, now you defend."

Kane positioned himself in the second stance, hoping that at least the defense would come out better.

He waited for Jin's attack, which slowly approached him.

As soon as his opponent's sword moved, Kane, after almost a second's delay, began his swing.

Jin's attack was so fast that Kane didn't have time to make a full swing and got hit in the collarbone with the sword, falling to the ground in pain.

"I guess I had too high expectations of you..."

Horen's tutor immediately ran over to the two boys after seeing the injured Kane.

"What happened?"

"He didn't manage to deflect the attack and got hit with a sword."

They both looked at Kane, who was reeling in pain

"Show me where he hit you."

Horen saw his collarbone all reddened and swollen. He looked at the wound more closely and found that there was no fracture, but to fight further would be impossible.

"Go to the doctor to get you treated, your training is over for today."

All the recruits in the group looked anxiously at Kane's condition, realizing that even if these were wooden swords, they could get hit hard with them.

Frustrated and sore, the boy went with his eyes on the ground to the doctor.

Kane, after years of suffering and not being willing to live, felt determination and a desire to learn, or interest, for the first time in his life after being sent to Byrock. The army gave the boy what he needed — a reason for life.

The boy realized this after losing, and the fact that he was completely unable to do anything only ignited a flame of determination to improve his technique and build muscle to gain the strength he needed to fight.

Kane made his way to the doctor, who treated his wounds, when, in the meantime, tutor Horen came over.

"How do you feel?"

"It hurts, but I'll be fine."

The tutor sighed, scratching the back of his neck.

"Listen, in the new group, you have two types of recruits. Those who got in through physical strength and those who got in through talent. You belong to the second group. Your body limits your talent, so I have a suggestion.

Starting tomorrow, you will get up at 7 a.m., and you will start your day with strength training, with which I will help you. At this hour, we put out equipment anyway, so I'm on the training ground. At sparring sessions, I'll temporarily give you someone who isn't far off in strength from you so that you'll be able to continue polishing stances and possibly getting into the third stance.

You will have these additional exercises as long as they are necessary. Do you understand?"

Kane appreciated Horen's efforts, knowing that the extra training would help him greatly.

"Thank you, from tomorrow on, I'll come at 7 a.m."

The boy left for supper with the knowledge that he would work even harder tomorrow.

Entering the dining hall, everyone stopped talking and looked at the boy with his hand wrapped in bandages.

Kane silently sat down next to Auren, starting his food without a word, as everyone looked at him and slowly began to continue their conversations.

"What happened to you?"

Asked Auren, surprised by Kane's condition

"I was sparring with one boy, and I didn't manage to block a strike,"

"Did it hurt badly to get hit with such wood?"

"Yes, my whole arm is swollen."

"Due to the fact that my strength stands out from the rest in the group, tutor Horen offered me additional exercises in the morning, so from tomorrow I will have to wake up earlier..."

He sighed in pain, knowing that he could forget about sleeping like he used to.

He stared at his plate, pondering it in his mind.

"Every step forward, no matter how small, will bring me closer to my goal."