Chapter 2.3 Trainning

Wolfgang was sweating the ground. Summer was already in full swing, and although it wasn't really hot, there were moderate temperatures. Between 10 and 20 degrees was the norm, usually closer to 10 than 20.

The sweating, of course, was not from the heat, but from training. Wolfgang had a wooden sword in his hand, with quite a few cracks and splinters. In front of him, stood Beron, also with sweat on his forehead, but much less than Wolfgang, for obvious reasons.

"Can you follow?" asked House Sergeant Dustin.

"Of course, I can go on all day" smiled Wolfgang, and stood up with some difficulty.

Wolfgang Von Papen was a martial arts expert in his past life; it was what it took to be the new Reich of Germany, which amounted to being the leader of the world, and in his spare time he often competed in fencing.

Certainly, taking up a medieval sword, whether wooden or steel, was very different from martial arts and fencing, extremely different, but there were things in common that would help him in any fight.

"I'm still amazed at your footwork, it's very good, even if you still fail in sword movement technique."

"Well, I have my strengths."

"Your instincts are also very good, I feel like you always know what I'm going to do" added Beron.

'Well, I'm still getting used to how the muscles move when using this kind of sword, but the essence is the same' thought young Dustin, then said, "But it's still not enough to beat you".

"If I were to be beaten by a 9 year old, no matter how good I am, the truth is I would have to resign my position" smiled Beron.

"Well, I may have to find a... replacement soon!" the young man shouted, and before his shout he swiftly lunged towards Beron, dragging his sword across the ground, and using it to raise a layer of dust in the sergeant's eyes, however... that wasn't enough.

Beron, noticing the situation, backed up quickly, while his eyes were bothering him; but he was able to recover quickly, and even with dirt, he forced his eyelids and located Wolfgang, who, because of his short legs, was not fast enough to close the distance.

They exchanged a few attacks, but Beron's adult strength made each exchange extremely tiring for Wolfgang, who felt his arms less and less. He tried to deflect the attacks, using inertia to deflect the enemy's strength, but, still, Beron's attacks felt like hammer blows to him.

"Do you surrender?" the Sergeant asked, as his sword pointed at Wolfgang's neck, to which the reincarnated could only nod, with a smile.

"Your teachings are good, I will soon be able to surpass you."

"It is clear to me Milord, I give you about 5 years. No... even in 3 you could already defeat me. You are incredibly talented, and I am quite a good teacher" smiled the man.

"How are Amon and... Reek doing?" asked Wolfgang, and upon hearing the second name Beron grimaced.

"Amon is pretty good, although he has an overly aggressive style that leads him to be a bit impulsive. Reek on the other hand... his stench makes him unpleasant to train, but he's not bad, though he's nothing special. He tends to excel at the tricks and gimmicks he prepares before each fight."

"Well, fighting smart is also a talent."

"How's the creation of the spy network coming along?".

"I'm afraid it's impossible, my lord. I've been doing the calculations along with Ander, and it doesn't seem at all feasible with our current income, we'd have to stop building houses for the new people coming in, and I doubt I'd want to give that up."

"No, you're right, those houses are more important. There will be time later to set up a network, or, better yet, a counter-espionage network. It's not like we're too interested in what people south of the Cailin Pit are doing, and, in the North, it should be easy enough to infiltrate people into most of the houses, once you have the money in hand."

"That's right, except for two or three houses."

"Of course, the Manderlys and the Boltons. Their lords are the only truly competent ones. The Ryswells too, but with them it is not necessary to establish spies, the risk of breaking our relations if they have suspicions that we have people about them is too great."

"I was thinking the same thing."