Wonderful lily park (3)

"Guy, a Roman legion's main strength lies in being a comprehensive unit that functions as one and has no gaps. One guy holding a shield in his other hand can create disarray in the entire unit. If there was someone left-handed, he would be forced to train like everyone else. Then, with a non dominant offensive hand he would have a much higher mortality rate and the rest would be natural selection."

In short, the weak die and the strong live. Suddenly the Romans don't seem like such a great culture anymore. That's probably also the cause of Quinn's slightly distressed face. Guess no one likes to be reminded of the dark side of their interests.

"Moving on, I'm sure dear Quinn already knows the significance and historical presence of the scutum and gladius so we'll directly move to training with them."

Titus thankfully doesn't launch into a lecture but instead proceeds to show us how to assume the correct and how to attack.

Unlike regular shields that are held horizontally, the scutum is held vertically. Due to is slightly curved surface, it allows rotational movements without much difficulty. The gladius is short enough be held in a position to strike even while hiding behind the shield. Then, when an opening presents itself, the right side of the scutum is rotated inwards. to create a gap in the shield wall. This gap is only there for a moment as the gladius is used to deliver a quick close range stab before retreating back into hiding behind the shield.

The method is cowardly but I can believe that using it, a well-trained unit can decimate an opposing unit that isn't equipped to deal with these shields.

The movement is simple enough and I can imitate Titus pretty easily. The difficulty of the motions themselves is low but I can tell that Titus' every move is much more practiced than mine. His speed, precision and strength in every thrust far surpass mine.

Quinn's stats are low and she's not accustomed to wielding weapons. She somewhat clumsily imitates the movements as Titus demonstrated them. The shield and sword together are probably to heavy for her so her movements are slow and lack any precision.

We proceed to the training dummies and things get more difficult. Quinn just gets to hit a helpless target but my training dummy fight back. Well, it counterattacks to be accurate. After every strike of mine that connects to the training dummy, a fierce but padded lance attack strikes at my right leg.

If my shield has already returned to its original position, no harm is done to me and the blow slides off the shield. However, if my shield is still rotated inwards when the lance strikes, it slips past my shield and strikes my leg.

There is little room for error and no time for hesitation. All movements have to be perfectly chained together.

I'm a bit sad that Cassidy isn't here. She would love this game, at a lower setting of course.

Still, this is good practice for me and I quickly lose track of time. Titus is focusing more on guiding Quinn but soon her stamina prompts him to suggest moving on. Next up is javelin tossing. However, Roman javelins are a bit special as Titus makes a point to tell me.

"You see, Guy, these javelins are called pilum. They can also be used in melee combat as a spear so perhaps javelin isn't an accurate description. This is the heavy kind but both types function in the same way. You throw it and when it hits an enemy shield, where it remains stuck due to its shape. The metal spear shaft is purposely made weak enough to bend upon impact. That way it becomes impossible to throw back if you did get it out of the shield and the angle turns it into a diagonal stake that makes charging almost impossible."

So the javelin is a real pain in the ass if you have a shield and get hit, got it. Next comes throwing practice.

We use special pila that are made to specially not bend since that's a waste when practicing. At the beginning, we just throw the pila into the ground at a throwing range. It really throws like any javelin with a slight adjustment in the distribution of weight.

Since my throwing skill is at level seven I get the hang of it quite quickly. Once again, I am sent of to the side where I can practice hitting a dummy's shield by myself. Quinn who is struggling with the javelin due to her lower stats and lack of training, gets personally tutored by Titus.

Honestly, she'd probably learn way faster if I taught her with my instructing skill. But Titus is my employer and he is keeping a respectful distance and seems to have no intentions of getting handsy. I'll just let him enjoy teaching a fellow enthusiast… under my careful observation.

{Ah yes, ever the overprotective parent. Don't turn into a helicopter parent.}

No need to worry, I have no problem giving them room to do their own things. But when it comes to dungeon masters in disguise, I'd like to avoid having my boss try to date my daughter.

{True, that might lead to some problems down the line. Well, no danger with Vespasian. I can assure you his interest in her is solely intellectual and based on a shared hobby.}

I would believe you but he's your boss too so you might be saying that because you have to.

{I am not but he could indeed order ne to say something against my will and I would end up saying it. Though I would tell you if I was required to say such a thing.}

Even if he explicitly tells you not to?

{Yes, I cannot be forced to speak another's words as my own against my will. However, I can be convinced so…}

So you could purposely hide it from me if you wanted.

{Sorry?}

It's fine, I'll just continue playing a Roman legionary.