Chương 32: Chapter 31 - Sword Academy

Since any hit reset the fighters, proper defense was paramount in a spar. If you could parry your opponent's attack then land a hit of any kind, you earned points without risking your own position too much. Proper footwork helped maintain the optimal distance and position for strikes and parries. Their instructors repeatedly emphasized that footwork was the foundation for everything else. If you could get your opponent off balance, it opened ample opportunities to strike.

Ron was good, and always focused on his footwork. He operated mostly on defense, waiting for Kiara to make a mistake, then slipping in a counterstrike when possible. He rarely went on the offensive. Kiara thought this was probably holding Ron back. While his defense was good, he never took any risks, never tried to improve his offensive strikes. She was sure that would get in the way of his progress eventually. She preferred a more well-rounded approach herself.

When she first joined the sword academy, she had been better than maybe half of the people in the beginner class. Now, she considered herself one of the best. Ron would probably still beat her seven times out of ten, but she had the upper hand against most of the other students in the class. She closed the distance to Ron and flicked her wrist, throwing out a few feints. He responded properly to each one, stepping back slightly and parrying the would-be attack.

He circled as he stepped back, keeping himself from being backed into a wall. She had seen enough of his spars to know that he wouldn't advance to attack unless she tripped or something. Otherwise, he would let her close the distance over and over until he spotted an opening. She didn't plan on giving him an opening today. She stepped hard to the left, causing Ron to parry that direction, then lunged to the right instead, aiming for his leg. He moved his leg just in time, and she barely missed.

She failed to pull her sword back in time, and Ron swung at her face. She blocked the blow with her left arm.

"Reset!" Shouted the moderator.

"One point to Ron." She wondered if that attack had been worth it. If she had landed the hit, she would have earned two points before Ron could retaliate. In a real sword fight, she would have hobbled her opponent, had the hit landed. Risking only a wound on her arm seemed like it might be worth it, but she wasn't sure. Facing each other, the next round of the spar began. Kiara closed the distance again, and Ron started circling. She noticed that as he retreated he favored circling to his right.

She altered her trajectory to cut him off, forcing him to circle to the left instead. As he did, his footwork failed. He fell out of his base stance, opting instead for shuffling backwards. Kiara could use that. She waited a moment, then repeated the move. As he shuffled backwards to his left, she slashed across her body. He blocked with his own sword, and once their swords were locked, she rushed him. His awkward footing put him off balance, and when she stopped rushing forward their swords separated.

She slashed towards his stomach. He blocked with his blade again, but it pushed her sword down onto his right leg.

"Reset!" Shouted the instructor.

"Two points to Shian." She tried the same maneuver the next round, but instead of aiming for his stomach when their swords separated, she feinted for his head. As he went to parry, she pulled her blade back and made a stab for his heart. He was able to parry in time, then leaned into the block, shoving her with his shoulder. As she stumbled backwards, he slashed at her abdomen. Her own failed footwork left her open to the attack, and it landed.

"Reset! Three points to Ron." She scratched the back of her head as she returned to the starting position. She replayed the scene in her mind, trying to see where she had gone wrong. Before she could properly analyze it, the moderator announced the start of the next round. She played defense this time, staying where she was. Eventually, Ron closed the distance. He stabbed toward her chest, but she pushed the attack to the side. She swung for his face but he blocked.

A series of quick jabs and parries followed, neither one willing to commit to anything that left them too open for a counter strike. After Ron went for another stab, she blocked then launched a quick flurry of her own attacks, pressing forward energetically. She repeatedly aimed for his chest and face. Ron backpedalled well, keeping his sword close to his body for defensive parries. This left his lower legs exposed, and after another feint at his face, she swung low and landed a hit on his shin.

"Reset! Two points to Shian." Ron grabbed his shin and hopped on one foot momentarily, cursing under his breath.

"Ah, that stings! Good hit though," He nodded good-naturedly to Kiara. She smiled.

"Thanks!" They reset for the final round of the spar. The score was four to four. They both executed safe strikes and parries at first, trying not to leave any openings in their defense. Eventually, Kiara wanted to try something. As Ron stabbed toward her, she blocked momentarily with her blade, then leaned in and grabbed his wrist. She kept ahold of it while swinging for his head. He instinctively blocked it with his arm, but she earned a point as her blade hit his arm.

"Match!" the moderator called out.

"Shian wins five to four."

"Nice one," Ron said with a smile. They bowed politely to each other to end the match. From the sidelines, someone materialized out of the shadows of one of the pillars. She hadn't seen this man before. He was tall, broad-shouldered, and walked with the self-assured grace of an alpha predator. There wasn't much wildlife in Eshela, and Kiara had never actually met an alpha predator, but she was pretty sure that if she did, they would walk like this guy.

"Very good, both of you," the man said as he walked forward. He had black hair with streaks of gray, and a short, well-maintained beard. A beautiful sword hung on his waist. Ron bowed politely to the man.

"Instructor Handel, I didn't know you were watching!" Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings. Kiara followed suit and bowed. She had never met Instructor Handel before, but he owned and ran this sword academy. She had been bummed to find out he didn't teach the beginner class, but it made sense. That's what he would hire these less skilled instructors for.

She had actually been surprised to find out that the instructors for the beginner class were members of the intermediate class. She wasn't sure if skill always translated to teaching ability, and that certainly showed through with some of the instructors, but it did kind of make sense in a way. Anyone worth their salt at sword fighting in Easton probably learned at Handel's academy, so he was almost forced to hire instructors from his own classes.

"I watch more often than you think," Handel said mysteriously, without explaining what he meant.

"Starting next week, you both should start attending the intermediate class. You've both mastered the concepts that we teach in the beginner's class, and it's time to progress to the next phase in your learning."

"Do you teach the intermediate class?" Kiara asked. Handel gave a short laugh. His laugh was deep and rich.

"Not usually, no. I will stop in from time to time and give pointers, but your primary instructors will be students from my advanced class, which I do teach personally." Kiara nodded. She had expected as much. Handel turned to Ron.

"Your defense is strong, but we'll want to work on some proper offensive engagements as well." Ron bowed.

"Yes, master Handel." Handel turned to Kiara and studied her for a minute.

"You have a true fighter's instincts. You have been in a life or death fight before." It wasn't really a question; he stated it as a fact. Kiara just nodded.

"In the intermediate class, we'll teach you how to hone those instincts. Some of your improv attempts are respectable, but others are too easy for an opponent to exploit. We'll help you train your mind to understand which risks are worth taking, and which ones are not. We'll make a fine swordswoman out of you yet." That felt a lot like praise to Kiara, and she beamed at him with her best smile.

"Thank you master Handel!" She bowed energetically. He chuckled softly and nodded to them both, then left. He moved into the shadows of another pillar, watching another of the sparring sessions that was still ongoing, then he just… disappeared. Huh. That was odd. Kiara activated her [Magical Sense 2] ability, which had a 30 foot radius, and walked towards the pillar. As she got within range, the readings on her ability came up empty. Handel was nowhere that she could sense. Where had he gone?

She looked around the training grounds, but couldn't spot him anywhere. * Over the next few days, Dustin worked out the details of the business relationship with Lord Grivalt via letter. Business contracts were signed, and merchandise started to move. Dustin had already pre-emptively ordered a large quantity of fine wines from Portish, which had been delivered the week prior, and was being kept in the cellar of the Yountal estate for just this moment. Kiara still worked on her sword forms each night.

She honestly practiced any time she could, she enjoyed it so much. One night, after her practice, one of the estate servants came to find her. They let her know that Dustin had an urgent matter to discuss with her in his study, the room they usually talked in at night. When she got there, he handed her a new letter from Lord Grivalt. She read it quickly once she saw what it was. Dustin had been handling all of the business correspondence, and he wouldn't have brought it to her unless it was important.

Lady Shian Yountal, Your incredibly talented estate manager, Mr Savage, has been a wonderful help establishing a working business model that benefits both of our houses considerably. We thank you for the efforts of your house in this endeavor, and hope the future holds many more such business ventures between our two houses. With such a successful first step in the alliance between our two houses, I have indeed considered your request to purchase some of the indentured servants from my estate.

I feel it is my duty to once again declare that the servants at my estate are far inferior to your own. However, as you expressed an interest in such a transaction, I have happily provided a list of such servants that I would be willing to let go.

Jesper Hemley, age 52 Zane Hemley, age 16 Mickey Hansen, age 29 Ronald Dunsun, age 38 Jeffrey Thrawn, age 41 Jace Thrawn, age 19 Rose Hemley, age 31 Petal Hemley, age 27 Gentry Dunsun, age 36 (and male child age 3, Gabriel) Elisa Hansen, age 25 Nancy Snow, age 56 Beth Forner, age 49 Selena Thrawn, age 59 If it pleases your ladyship to purchase any of the listed servants, do let me know and we can discuss the details.

Lord Grivalt Kiara's heart skipped a beat when she saw some of her family members' names on the list! She didn't see Ava's name on there though. She read it once more to be certain. Maybe it was an oversight? That wouldn't do.

"Any of those names catch your eye?" Dustin asked with a raised eyebrow. He clearly wanted to know if her family members were on the list. Kiara nodded, but knew the World Engine wouldn't let her give any specific details.

"This is a good start," she said, "but not all of the people I care about are listed here."

"Should we rescue the ones we can?" he asked. She shook her head.

"I don't want to separate them. I think they would prefer to stay together, even if that means staying at Grivalt's place for now." Dustin nodded with a thoughtful look.

"I see."

"Do you think we can modify the list of people whose debts we'd like to pay off and send him a reply?" she asked hopefully. Dustin shook his head.

"I doubt it. Having seen the state of affairs at Grivalt's place, I'm sure that most or all of his servants are indentured servants, I doubt he pays a single one a fair wage. He mentioned that he had thirty or so servants on his estate, and he only listed less than half, so the others must be more important to him for some reason." Kiara's heart sank Dustin inhaled deeply, then continued, "But even this initial list is promising.

I didn't expect this so soon, and certainly not without us first breaching the subject again. Lord Grivalt must be in worse shape financially that I realized. With some time, I think his list will grow, now that he knows we're interested. With some luck, all of your family members will be on the next one he sends us." Kiara thought for a moment, her mood souring.

"I don't want to rely on luck. We need to push the issue." Dustin opened his mouth to reply, but Kiara held up a finger.

"Push it, but not with direct pressure," she explained. She knew what he would have said. If they pushed the issue directly, Lord Grivalt would be more resistant to it, more suspicious of why they wanted to buy out the debts of some servants so badly. He would think it was some kind of trap, or maybe a bargain that he was missing out on. But Kiara knew they didn't need to push for this directly. She had been considering this problem for a few days now, ever since her outburst at Lord Grivalt's estate.

She had a plan.