Chương 37: Chapter 36 - Sword Forms

Lord Grivalt scooted his chair slightly closer to Dustin's, almost conspiratorially. Dustin responded by leaning in. Although the room was magically protected from eavesdroppers, Lord Grivalt lowered his voice, "As I mentioned in my letter, we have a lead on a new merchant, importing the most exotic materials and artifacts from Antalon. With the war, the quantity of Antalonian imports have decreased drastically, driving the prices up.

This merchant has a clear path for importing them in bulk, we stand to make a fortune. With our budding business relationship, I wanted to cut your house in on the deal." Dustin still wasn't sure why Lord Grivalt wanted House Yountal in on the deal, but he would bet all of the scraps from his next haircut that it wasn't out of the goodness of Lord Grivalt's heart.

"How large of an investment is he looking for?" he asked.

"Anywhere from 500 to 1, 000 gold," Lord Grivalt replied, leaning back.

"I considered covering the entire investment myself, but unfortunately most of my money is tied up in other areas right now. The merchant is waiting to gather enough funds before he starts his journey." Ah, now it made sense. Lord Grivalt was antsy to get this merchant on his way, hoping to make a quick turnaround, but he didn't have the funds to finance the entire venture himself. He was hoping House Yountal would make up the difference. Lord Grivalt continued, trying to sell him on the idea.

"He can scale it up even larger once he has the profits from the first shipment, but he'll only allow investors to participate that have been with him from the initial investment. I wanted to make sure you were in on this from the start! I considered keeping this info completely to myself, but it didn't feel right leaving you out, what with our current business partnership that we've already been building." The entire situation was ridiculous.

Here Lord Grivalt was, practically begging them to help finance this venture, and he was still trying to paint himself as the hero, lending a helping hand. Little did he know, House Yountal wanted nothing more than for this entrepreneur to get his investment money, as it would almost certainly help speed along Lord Grivalt's financial demise.

"How much would House Yountal need to cover in order for the venture to get started?" Dustin asked. Lord Grivalt's eyes were swimming with visions of diamond coins, he was practically drooling.

"I can put in around 200 gold coins myself, leaving the other 800 to House Yountal." Trevon had gone pale at the price, and was looking at Dustin earnestly for his response. Eight hundred gold coins was a lot of money. For anyone else. Dustin glanced at Shian, who was sipping her water. She shifted uncomfortably in her chair, but more from the general atmosphere than from what was being discussed. She didn't seem to be paying much attention to the conversation at this point.

"You trust this merchant of yours?" Dustin asked, locking eyes with Lord Grivalt. He didn't want to come across as too eager. Lord Grivalt nodded enthusiastically, "He wants to expand to half the continent. He thinks each shipment could triple or quadruple what we put into it, if not more." The fact that Lord Grivalt's 'trust' was based completely on theoretical future profits said more about his business sense than anything else Dustin could have heard from the man.

Outwardly, Dustin stared at the table while he pretended to mull it over. Inwardly, he smiled. Here they were, trying to think of the best ways to drive Lord Grivalt out of business, to speed up the possibility of rescuing Shian's family, and Lord Grivalt brought something like this right to their laps. For the low price of 800 gold coins, they could help drain Lord Grivalt's own finances by 200 gold coins. Like Shian had said, House Yountal could afford those kinds of losses, but House Grivalt could not.

There was always the slim possibility that the business venture would work out, but it didn't seem likely. At least not fast enough to help Lord Grivalt dig himself out of the hole he had put himself in. Dustin finally nodded.

"The profit margins on this would be good, if it works out. Exotic imports from Antalon are notoriously rare and expensive. When does he need the money by?"

"He's hoping to leave by the end of this week," Lord Grivalt replied, his eyes full of hope. Dustin put his chin on one hand, tapping the table with the other while he thought.

"How long until he thinks the first shipment will arrive and begin turning a profit?"

"A wise question," Lord Grivalt said sagely, hoping to stroke Dustin's ego.

"He anticipates returning within three or four weeks. He will send us a weekly update by courier while he is away." Dustin almost snorted out a laugh, but barely caught himself. Three or four weeks was a completely unrealistic timeframe. Antalon was a continent and a half away. Even if he sourced the goods second-hand from Chestara, it would likely take months to establish a new trade route. Outwardly, he just nodded, appearing convinced, then slapped the table.

"Okay! I'm in. Arrange for me to meet this entrepreneur with you, and I'll provide the 800 gold coins for our portion of the investment." Lord Grivalt's next question showed that the promise of untold wealth had sunk its claws deep. He asked, "I may only be able to finance around twenty percent of the venture this first time around, but once we have these initial profits, would you be good enough to let me do a larger percent on round two?" Dustin pretended to consider the question for a moment before nodding.

"I'm okay with that," he said simply. He knew there would be no second round. Lord Grivalt bowed his head enthusiastically.

"Thank you, Lady Yountal and Mister Savage, your generosity knows no bounds." Shian gave him a thin smile, and a shallow bow of her own. Dustin bowed more deeply, as was appropriate given his own social standing. Just then, as if fate itself was on their side, the small bell by the curtain rang, announcing that their food was ready to be delivered. It was the perfect time to end the business talks and dig into a delicious meal. Dustin rose and opened the curtain to let the waiter in.

The waiter entered, pulling a cart behind him. He expertly placed each plate in front of the person who had ordered it, and got all eight plates correct on the first try. It was impressive, and Dustin briefly considered offering the man a job. The night flowed smoothly after that. The food was delicious, as could be expected at a place such as The Evening Star.

Dustin kept the mood lively and the conversation flowing easily, focusing mainly on ensuring everyone had a good time, rather than indulging himself too much in the food and drink. Shian kept quiet through most of the dinner, which Dustin was honestly thankful for. He wasn't sure how well she could mask her emotions if she was forced to interact too heavily with Lord Grivalt or Trevon. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

After they had eaten, and an acceptable amount of time had passed, Dustin politely excused himself and Shian from the room, letting Lord Grivalt know that the room was paid for through the night, and he could stay as long as he wished. * Kiara was relieved when Dustin excused them both for the evening. She had done her best to stay polite and civil throughout the night, but was ready to be as far away from Lord Grivalt as possible. His banter throughout the night had been crass and irritating.

It was as if once the talk of money was over, he had nothing of value to offer to any given situation, and instead filled his portion of the conversation with whatever thing first came to his mind. He spoke demeaningly of the waiter for no apparent reason at least three times that she counted. The waiter had been the perfect picture of professionalism and charm all night long, Lord Grivalt's comments were simply spoken because they popped into his head.

One of the times, the waiter had even been present for the remark, and had simply bowed apologetically in response. Kiara had probably felt more upset than the waiter had. Lord Grivalt badmouthed the staff at his estate, his guard unit, even his second cousin, Baron Norshod, who ruled over the very city of Easton they were dining in! If one could only judge the world by the words spoken by Lord Grivalt, one would think the world was a sour heap of garbage, rotten inside and out, with no redeeming value whatsoever.

He was critical of the food, which Kiara had found delicious, to the point that he refused to eat one of the dishes 'on principle'. Once he had a little bit of wine, he promptly forgot his previous declaration, and ate most of what was on the plate, lauding it as a delicacy. That specific moment had Kiara wondering if even he himself believed what he was saying, and was truly delusional, or if he just said whatever came to mind to try and fill the silence, to avoid feeling awkward or something.

Whatever the reason, she was glad to be removed from the situation once they left. Dustin praised her for her stoicism throughout the night, claiming the entire evening had gone off as well as possible. Having a lot of pent up energy from the night, due to unreleased anger and tension, Kiara found herself practicing sword forms in the courtyard well into the night. She had spent hours practicing each day, and her three main forms, Fire, Mountain, and Earth Form were becoming more and more intuitive for her.

She was able to flow through them while counting out loud, reciting poetry, or even while holding a loose conversation with Dustin. She hoped her improvements with her forms would help improve her standings in the class by an equal measure. The previous week, she had lost her first three spars, then squeaked out a win on Thursday, followed by another loss on Friday. She had ended the week with seven points, and was currently at the bottom of the class.

The other students had mostly been able to secure two or three teaching spots each in the beginner's class, so even the few that hadn't won a spar yet had ended the week with either seven or eight points. Unsurprisingly, Olga and Seltzer had won all five of their spars, leaving them near the top of the class. Neither of them had taken any of the teaching spots, and were sitting at fifteen points each.

Henry, who had also won all of his spars, and had somehow secured five teaching spots as well, had ended the week with twenty points, at the top of the leaderboard. Ron had won two of his spars, and taught two classes as well, leaving him at eleven points. Kiara hadn't checked the standings today or the day before, deciding to only check them at the end of each week. She had, however, been able to sign up for teaching slots for the remaining three days this week.

Remembering this, she ended her practice and headed to her room. Before going to sleep, she wanted to write down what she knew about each of the sword forms so she could share it with the beginner students tomorrow in class.

Offensive Forms (Lean more towards attacking and causing damage): Wind Form: favors swinging attacks far from the body, and fast footwork to reposition side to side and maintain distance Strong against Fire, Stone Weak against River, Mountain, Earth, Forest Goes even with Air, Earth, Lake Fire Form: favors sword movements close to the body, and footwork that leads to forward movement and aggression.

Strong against River, Mountain, Earth, Lake Weak against Wind, Air Goes even with Stone, Forest River Form: favors flowing swings to try and disarm your opponent while staying safe, and footwork that repositions you slowly to the side of the opponent Strong against Wind, Air, Forest Weak against Fire, Stone Goes even with Mountain, Lake, Earth Defensive Forms (Lean more toward defending and avoiding damage): Stone Form: favors blocks and parries close to your body, but footwork that moves around Strong against River, Mountain, Earth Weak against Wind, Forest, Goes even with Fire, Air, Lake Mountain Form: favors powerful blocks and parries to throw the opponent off balance, and footwork to maintain your current position Strong against Wind, Air, Forest Weak against Fire, Stone Goes even with River, Lake, Earth Air Form: favors blocks and parries far from the body, and fast footwork to maintain distance.

Strong against Fire, Forest Weak against River, Mountain, Earth Goes even with Wind, Stone, Lake Neutral Forms (Balanced approach, not overly focused on attacking or defending): Lake Form: favors flowing attacks and parries, and fluid footwork to reposition as needed Strong against Earth Weak against Fire, Forest Goes even with River, Wind, Stone, Mountain, Air Earth Form: favors powerful attacks and parries, and footwork to maintain your current position Strong against Wind, Forest, Air Weak against Fire, Lake, Stone Goes even with River, Mountain Forest Form: favors rapid attacks and parries, and footwork to rapidly advance or retreat based on the situation Strong against Wind, Lake, Stone Weak against River, Earth, Mountain, Air Goes even with Fire She knew there were other, lesser known forms, but these were the nine that Handel taught in his sword academy.

He claimed this was a wide enough knowledge base for anyone to master the sword, and Kiara had no reason to doubt him. Although, she had yet to see him use the sword himself. She wondered if she could get him to spar with her, and decided it was worth a try.