Byran immediately lunged at Duke with his quick speed.
Duke knew he couldn't evade the swift strike and so he decided to let the wooden sword hit his body as he countered attack Byran's lunge.
[I knew it!] Byran confirmed as he saw Duke's eyes watch the wooden sword hit him on the stomach.
*Pang!* [What?!] Byran felt Duke's body had suddenly become harder than usual.
[It this the result of his daily training? But his changes are just so sudden!] Byran began to think of a reason for Duke's sudden physical change.
But he suddenly returned to reality as he blocked Duke's sword, but to his surprise, Duke didn't actually lunge at him but instead poked at his feet.
Byran quickly used all his speed to parry Duke's blade.
"""...""" Every Knight was silent as they all knew Duke's sword made Byran use his full power!
"This is enough for now" Byran ended training.
"D-Did I do ok?" Duke asked as he looked at Byran's stern eyes.
But then he was suddenly charged at by Byran who gave him a great hug as he was held up in the air.
"That was Amazing Duke! Simply Amazing!" Byran shouted.
"""Woooo!""" The Knights cheered as they held Duke up in the air like a Hero.
"R-Really? That was amazing???... Well, I guess it is Gahaha!" Duke laughed greatly as he felt elated by the Knight's genuine praise.
The moment the Knights put him back down, Byran patted his shoulder as he said to him: "You've greatly improved Duke! I'm amazed at how fast you grow! Even during the Bandit Subjugation... You did well" Byran's genuine words touched Duke.
"You've even gained some muscle too! Gehehe, I felt your stomach through my sword!" Byran added with a joke.
"Yeah, it felt as if your skin turned hard as wood!" Bardis chimed in.
"I don't know, my body suddenly felt heavier last night, but I feel livelier too" Duke explained.
"Hahaha. Maybe the Gods have blessed You!" Dan excitedly hypothesized.
"The Gods?? What would the Gods want with somebody like me?" Duke felt it was impossible that he was blessed. Only heroes of Myth and Legend were ever noticed by the Gods!
[Only Heroes get blessed by the Gods. I'm probably closer to the Heroine's gay sidekick!] Duke thought.
"Yeah, it's just impossible" Duke replied to Dan.
"Hey, you never know! Even you're grandfather Gwaine never knew he was blessed by Ifrit the Spirit of Fire until he visited Seer Malden you know. So don't cross out the possibility of a blessing yet!" Byran explained to Duke.
"What?! Doesn't that mean the improvements I got weren't because of my own efforts?! What a bummer!" Duke felt disappointed...
[Guh- Duke never ceases to amaze me...] Byran couldn't believe Duke's reaction... This was the first time he saw a person was disappointed that they were blessed by the Gods...
"No no no... Shouldn't you be celebrating instead?!" Bardis couldn't hide his disbelief.
"But doesn't that mean I just got stronger because I relied on somebody else?" Duke sighed.
"Getting blessed doesn't mean you're getting help from the Gods! Gahahaha" Byran couldn't help but laugh at Duke's misunderstanding.
"It just means that God has taken out your latent potential" Byran added to his explanation.
"M-Me??? I have potential???" Duke couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"Huh... I don't know what you heard from those snobbish Boarding School instructors, but you're extremely talented, Duke!" Byran sighed as he thought of all the bullying Duke must've experienced to have this low self-worth.
"You're a Dragon, Duke! Just like your Grandfather, and his father before him! No Pendragon's a loser!"
"H-how bout' my father? Didn't they call him "The Bum"?"
"E-eh... Wael was probably uhmmm... Misunderstood! Yes yes, just misunderstood!" Byran tried to rationalize Wael's incompetence... On this day the underworld's great Ileidraig (Thief Dragon) was lessened to nothing but a misunderstood lad.
"I-I see..." Duke staggered to accept Byran's reasoning as he was too young when his father died...
"You were forced to walk back then Duke. But a Dragon does not walk!"
"He soars"
"And much like the Dragons, you were never suited to learning through forms and theory, NO. Like a Dragon, what you needed was to be like Gwaine. You think Gwaine grew up in some dusty and rotting boarding school?! Of course not! The Great Dragon was born through sharpening his fangs through every life and death battle we undertook in the battlefield! Brune wasn't so peaceful during my childhood, and it was always Gwaine who was on the frontlines in every battle!"
"That was how he became a Dragon!... The Boarding School might've called you talentless or stupid, but in truth, it was they who took that talent from you! Now it's your turn to show them who's who!" Byran shouted with passion.
"Y-YES! I WILL SHOW THEM!" Duke got swept by Byran's emotional speech.
"Yes! They might try to bury you, but they didn't know you were a seed!"
"I-I'M A SEED! I will work harder from now on!" Duke responded to Byran's rant.
"Yes! You'll work harder!" Byran passionately cried.
"Wooo! That's one of Captain's speeches for ya! Gahahaha" Dan cheered as he laughed.
"Truly never fails to inspire" Bardis pretended to wipe tears from his eyes as the other Knights chimed in.
Byran finally realized he got too emotionally passionate as he turned red from remembering all the cringy things he had just said...
Luckily for him, the conversation went to a different direction when Duke asked:
"Byran! Can we end the practice early today... I have somewhere to go" Duke asked Byran.
*Bang* The Knights stumbled as they heard Duke's words [What ever happened to working harder?!] The Knights thoughts.
"Y-You sure you're not just escaping like last yesterday?" Byran asked while he was still red from embarrassment from his overly emotional speech.
"I need to talk with Vivian about something! It's very important!" Duke tried to convince Byran.
"Well ok then" Byran agreed as he set Duke off.
"Now, let's go do our own training..." Byran sweated as he tried to change the topic from his speeches.
"Aweee, I still wanted to hear more of Captain's speeches gahahaha"
Unfortunately for Byran, Dan and the other Knights couldn't just let go of a potential topic to tease him with, now could they...
"Hey, Vivian!"
Vivian looked at Duke who was smiling at her and she brightly smiled back.
*Ba-dub Ba-dub* Duke's heart trembled as he saw her precious and genuine smile again...
"Y-You look busy" Duke asked as he saw her buried in a mountain of Paperwork.
"I'm not that busy, I'm just trying to find some documents"
"Oh, let me help"
"Sure"
Duke and Vivian searched for an hour without any progress...
After a while of waiting, Duke finally felt the courage to ask:
"Uhmm, Vivian?... W-What were we finding in the first place?" Duke twiddled his fingers
"Y-You mean you don't know?..." Vivian looked at Duke as veins popped on her head.
"hehe... yes, sorry ma'am" Duke shrunk at Vivian's anger.
"Huh... It's a letter of debt, we might find someone who still owes the Pendragons some money..." Vivian explained.
"Y-you mean this?" Duke showed her a letter he found an hour ago.
"You already found it! When?!"
"An... an hour ago" Duke answered honestly.
"Guhhhh!" Vivian charged at Duke as she pinched the fats on his sides.
"Ow ow, Vivian! I'm sorry, hahaha, I'm sorry!" Duke felt both ticklish and pain from Vivian's pinching as he fell on the floor because of the tickles.
""Ow!"" Both Vivian and Duke fell on the floor like little kids playing with each other.
Duke looked at Vivian whose hair was now slightly messy due to falling, and Vivian stared back, as the two started to giggle at the stupid situation they were in.
"Duke hand me the letter" Vivian asked as it wasn't the time to be playing.
"Here you go" Duke obediently handed the letter.
As Vivian read the letter her face turned dark.
"What is it, Vivian?" Noticing Vivian's worried face, Duke asked.
"I found a family who still owes the Pendragons a debt, but..."
"But what?" Duke urged Vivian to continue.
"It was already forgiven... and... it's Darius' family" Vivian spoke gravely.
"D-Darius?"