Rising Shadows: The Fight for Freedom I

Chapter 5: Punishment

With three resounding thuds, Darn staggered back several steps, gripping a knight's sword that measured a full meter in length, angled downward to his right. Before him, Knight Gurian held a similar sword, raised high above his head.

"Master Darn, prepare to face my blade!" Gurian bellowed, charging forward with a fierce determination, his sword poised to strike downwards with great force.

The knight's sword sliced through the air, emitting a menacing whistle as it descended with ferocity. Yet, instead of retreating, Darn advanced, channeling strength from his waist and wrists, swiftly swinging his sword upward from below.

The clash of steel rang out with a resounding echo as the two swords met, sending sparks flying and intensifying the ferocity of their encounter.

After a brief moment, Gurian, sword still raised, observed Darn retreating once more before charging forward again.

"Come on, this isn't how we should train! We're not fighting for our lives here!" Darn thought, frustration boiling within him as he glared at the relentless Gurian. Suddenly, he loosened his grip and let the sword clatter to the ground-he was done!

Since leaving the governor's office, Darn had been escorted by two loyal knights to the training grounds, where, under the governor's orders, he was compelled to practice his combat skills.

"Fine, fine! Since it's my father's command, I suppose I have no choice but to endure! These two stubborn fools won't let me off the hook if I don't complete my training!" With that thought in mind, Darn donned the heavy plate armor, affixed a helmet that obscured his entire face save for a narrow slit for his eyes, and hefted the cumbersome knight's sword to begin his training.

What Darn had not anticipated was the sheer difficulty of training alongside Gurian and Marcelis, which felt more like a life-and-death struggle than mere practice.

"Now I understand why they insisted I wear this cumbersome armor! These two imbeciles! How foolish! Are they really this serious? Have they forgotten I am the son of the governor?"

Under the merciless onslaught of Gurian and Marcelis, Darn found himself repeatedly lamenting in his mind, often reminiscing about the other knight he had so desperately tried to avoid-the old steward Antonello Stolfi, who had once taught him the art of combat.

Compared to Antonello's humane approach to teaching, the methods of the two knights, accustomed to the heat of battle, seemed brutishly reckless. Gurian and Marcelis, lacking any understanding of gradual progression or tailored instruction, launched into fierce attacks from the outset, offering no guidance or preliminary explanations.

What was worse, the two knights, already mid-tier warriors, seemed entirely oblivious to the fact that they were sparring with a mere boy not yet sixteen, a fledgling warrior who had just shed his apprentice status to become a lowly fourth-tier novice.

"My fighting spirit has barely begun to manifest! You two can channel yours into your weapons! Is it amusing to bully the weak?" Darn glared furiously at the astonished Gurian, momentarily forgetting that he too had once taken pleasure in tormenting those less skilled than himself, including the utterly clueless Eolia...

"Master Darn, why have you discarded your weapon?" Gurian asked, perplexed, as he watched Darn remove his helmet.

"Isn't it obvious? I can't possibly defeat you! I have no taste for being humiliated!"

"But we are engaged in combat! On the battlefield, the enemy won't spare you just because you throw down your weapon; it will only hasten your demise!" Gurian frowned, offering his first piece of life advice as he observed Darn struggling to remove his armor.