Time travel || Wonhyuk

3: Knight duties

"O' knight Hoseok, please halt your activities."

One of the King's advisors had came over to the cleaning crew at the royal physician's clinic in search of Wonho. When somethinng like this happens, there would be big news to expect. Watching as the other palace servants immdiately kneeling down and bowing in the direction of the advisor, Wonho followed suit, awkwardly mimicking the action. The advisor cleared his throat before speaking.

"The knight by the name of Shin Hoseok is expected to return to his duties by tomorrow. Any discompliance will be reported to the King and following punishments will be assigned and carried out."

Oh okay. Well, Wonho wasn't sure how to feel about changing sections now that he got comfortable with the servants. They were a nice bunch with plenty of stories to share. To say the least, he had learnt much about the life of commoners in this era. Despite not having much interest in History, he found it amusing to be listening to these kind of thing first hand, and surprisingly, he enjoyed it. Moreover, he fit in well. He made plenty of friends. He had a feeling that the higher ranking knight section might not be for him. Just then, someone on his left elbowed him, breaking his train of thoughts. Right, he had to reply. How was it supposed to be done?

"N-noted."

The advisor shot him a weird look. Crap. Was that not what he was supposed to say? Regardless, the advisor  continued.

"Please rise."

Once the advisor left, Taepoong immediately jumped over to Wonho and patted his head.

"Aigo Hoseok-ssi, congrats! Now I'm going to miss you! Oh and, do you want to check your head again for any signs of a concussion? We're at the royal physician's anyway."

"Was that not how you answer?"

"No of course not! You're supposed to say 'Yes Your Majesty". Oh no, are you sick?"

"Huh? But the King isn't even here...?"

Taepoong looked down at the floor and pretended to pray as she walked away from Wonho.

*****

"Right foot forward. Mid slash. Left foot kick forward. Whirl your blade..."

Wonho was on the verge of dying. He was made to wear the full metal armor for the training under the blazing sun and holy heck, he didn't expect the training sword to be this heavy. It was made of the wood, 'one of the lightest', the general had said, and god, it was a good three to four kilograms in weight. Holding it wouldn't be a problem for Wonho, but we're talking about swinging it back and forth for an entire morning. Even with his bulging gym-trained muscles, the weight of the armor and momentum of the sword is starting to wear him out. His actions were becoming less coordinated and clumsy. They had been training all morning without even having breakfast beforehand. It was now around afternoon, perhaps, and no breaks have been given. This was the exact definition of hell. A few snickers came from behind him but as soon as he turned around, it stopped. Yep, he knew it, this place wasn't for him.

Finally, it was lunch time. He had dogged his last hour or so, pushing himself to his limits. The obnoxious laughters of the other soldiers behind him kept taunting him. Now, the entire army had dispersed in little squads and filed back to the quarters like giant lumps of walking meat. Wonho followed suit.

"Yah, Hoseok."

A tall, bulky man came up to him and slung an arm over his shoulder. The mixture of sweat added with the amount of body heat radiating from the other male was unbearable but Wonho knew better than to piss of one of his supposed friend.

"Hmm?"

"You haven't acted like yourself this training. You alright?"

"Yeah pretty much. It was just tiring."

"Tiring? I guess you really weakened a lot after that accident."

Weakened? Was he serious? He tried his best, mind this unknown person. Whatever.

"Uh, I think I should be fine after a few trainings. By the way, I uh... I may have forgotten your name."

The unknown knight patted Wonho's right cheek and stopped walking, eyes boring into Wonho's with concern.

"Memory loss is serious. Have you told anyone yet?"

Wonho shook his head. Technically speaking, he didn't suffer any memory loss. He just got transported into a different dimension. The unknown knight continued towards the knight quarters while dragging Wonho behind him.

With much luck, he had managed to persuade the soldier to not speak of his 'memory loss' with anyone. He had in turn shared information about the palace and the way the knight section works. Some knights are dispatched alongside officials and merchants so as to protect them when they venture to foreign lands for trade. A total of 85 knights have been dispatched with 7 ships sent around the globe to different places. Other than that, the rest of the knights stay within the palace as guards. The other also mentioned about the tough competition among the knights for a promotion which explains their attitude towards others.

Hyunwoo was the knight's name and according to him, they were recruited at the same time, and gradually they formed a mutual friendship. It was good to know that Wonho had at least a friend in this harsh environment that he could depend on.