Sean was the first to regain his composure, "Are you sure you want to do this?" He asked, still a bit surprised.
"Yeah, after all I feel like I'm the most prepared to do this." Noah responded.
"How so?" Owen asked, being the second to regain his composure and the rest of the people there quickly followed suit.
"Well, in the trading week I found and bought a book on dragon anatomy." Noah said with a nervous sigh.
"What?!" Both Owen and Sean exclaimed, shocked.
"I didn't tell anyone because, as you all know, we're being taxed by a dragon and I value my life." Noah continued, "With that and me being a guard apprentice I feel like I have a decent chance to do this."
"Alright," Owen said, sighing and putting his hand to his head, "We'll send you."
"Wait a moment before you make your decision sir." Philip said, "Noah is just a boy and, as he said, he is only a guard apprentice. We could just take the book and give it to a guard."
"We can also do that." Owen responded, his brow furrowing in thought.
"Hold on before you do that, the last time that Nightmare came, when he was leaving he seemed angry."Noah responded calmly.
"He seemed angry, so what, why is that important?" Philip asked, challenging Noah.
"It's important because that means he has emotions and that means that he is not invincible." Noah said.
"That is true." Sean said, backing Noah up, "Many fights have been won when the other person has lost their temper." Noah turned his head to his father and nodded his thanks.
"That is a good point." Owen said, "However that doesn't really help your case much."
"What person is going to be able to mentally fight something that they see as invincible." Noah said. "Even if you say that Nightmare does have emotions, what person that hasn't seen it themselves is going to believe you."
"That's a really good point, I'll think about my decision, it will come by tomorrow night at the latest." Owen said, turning around.
"Thank you sir." Noah responded, lowering his head respectfully.
"I won't keep you all here any longer." Owen said, addressing the group. "You all may leave." At that everyone then began to head out and to the feast and Noah breathed a sigh of relief.
There were multiple tables set up in the town square. A few of the tables had labels on them that designated that they were for the guards, government officials and the traders. Each table had three chairs on their long side and two chairs on the other two, and had a lot of steaming food on them, making Noah's mouth water just by looking at it. He approached one of the tables labeled for the guards which already had a few people seated at it. As Noah came closer the fragrant smell of perfectly cooked food hit him, making his mouth water even more. He sat down and looked at all the food in front of him, there were mashed potatoes, carrots, apples, corn, and three chickens on it. Noah's stomach started growling, and he looked down in embarrassment but when he looked back up it didn't seem that anyone had noticed. He looked longingly at the food in front of him but waited for his father to eat first. He looked around to see where his father was and saw him coming towards him.
"You could've started to eat without me." Sean said to Noah as he took the chair to Noah's left.
"I'm fine." Noah responded and his stomach growled again.
"You sure?" Sean responded, raising one of his eyebrows and grabbing the bowl of mashed potatoes.
"I guess not." Noah responded a bit embarrassed. He looked back up and grabbed a piece of the chicken in front of him and began to wolf it down.
"Slow down there bud, get some more things on your plate." Sean said, smiling a bit.
"Sorry." Noah responded with half his mouth full of chicken and grabbed the corn and put it on his plate.
"Sure you are." Sean said jokingly, grabbing a piece of chicken for himself. Noah rolled his eyes and grabbed a few carrots.
After they were done eating and people were beginning to leave, Noah and his father got up and headed out. After they got out of the majority of people Sean said, "We're going to the training field, alright."
"Alright, but may I ask why?" Sean asked.
"You said that you were going to fight the dragon, well in order for you to have a chance you need to improve a lot." Sean responded. Noah nodded in agreement.
The training field was south west outside the town. It is fifty meters long and wide and separated into four different sections. The north west side being weapon training, the north east side being strength training, the south west side being endurance training, and the south east side being speed training.
"Where do you think we should start?" Sean asked.
"Why are you asking me?" Noah responded confused.
"Well you're the one with the book on dragons." Sean answered.
"That's fair, I think we should have weapon training first because in these fights precision is more important than strength." Noah said. Sean nodded and they headed over to that section.
There were a few racks set up in the weapon section holding spears, bows, swords, axes and shields. Multiple stands with armor were set up and a circle made of string for sparring was set up.
Noah went over to the rack and grabbed two practice spears. He went over to his father, who was in the center of the sparring circle. Noah handed one to his father and went to face him.
"I want to start with a sparring match so that I know what you need to work on." Sean said. They both went two steps away from the center. They both took a ready stance and Sean nodded to signal to begin to match. They both started moving counterclockwise, not wanting to be the first one to make a move. After a small while, Noah lunged forward and stabbed with his spear. Sean jumped back and slammed his spear down on Noah's spear, trapping it. Noah tried pulling it back and Sean ran forward, bashing Noah with his shoulder causing him to stumble backwards and almost falling. Just as he regained his balance, Sean lunged forward with a stab of his own, catching him in his chest. Noah stumbled back again, nearing the edge of the circle. As soon as he regained his balance he lunged forward, trying to bash Sean with a spear in an attempt to gain more space. Sean blocked and started to push him outside the circle. Noah pushed back and started moving towards the right to try and reverse the situation, knowing that his father is stronger than him. However Sean moved with him keeping his advantage. Noah started to panic and with one last attempt to push his father away, leaping at him putting all the force he could muster into it along with his weight. Sean took a few steps back and then pushed back, throwing Noah out of the circle and onto his back. Noah gasped because of the impact of the landing. He laid there shocked for a moment and then sat back up. Sean was standing next to him with his hand extended, Noah grabbed it and pulled himself back up.
"You did well, but there are plenty of things that you can work on." Sean said.
"Yeah I can agree with that." Noah said, laughing for a moment.
"Well, for a start, you are good at gauging the situation, however your execution is subpar." Sean said.
"Alright." Noah responded, "Shall we continue?"
"Yes we will." Sean answered, nodding.
The next few weeks for Noah were filled with rough training in all fields. Strength training being filled with lifting weights and other various exercises. Speed training being a lot of running and leg exercise which tired Noah out the most. Endurance training was the most excruciating however, being a combination of both strength and speed training. And weapon training, which Noah spent the most time practicing.
"Well I think you're ready to set out on your adventure now, Noah." Sean said, cleaning up the training area after they were done.
"Are you sure?" Noah asked, a bit shocked.
"I wouldn't have said it if I wasn't sure about it." Sean answered and then added with a laugh, "I'm your father I know you best out of everyone, well except for maybe your mother."
"Well alright then, I can't argue with that." Noah said, smiling. He then walked over to his father and began to help him.
"Why don't you go home." Sean said, placing a hand on and stopping Noah, "You worked extremely hard these past weeks, you need to rest to be prepared for your adventure"
"Alright then, I'll head home." Noah responded, nodding and began to leave. As he was walking away, the effects of his training hit him like a brick. All of his muscles were exhausted and sore, making what would be a relatively short walk to his home seem like it went on for hours. Once he got home, he immediately went up to his room and collapsed onto his bed and went to sleep soon after.
Soon after Noah went to sleep, Sean arrived and Lucia came out of the kitchen to greet him, "I take it Noah's done with his training?" Sean nodded in response. They had tried to keep it a secret from Lucia but she eventually found out like she always does.
"I'm still concerned about him." Sean said grimly.
"Then shouldn't you keep training him?" Lucia responded confused.
"It's not as simple as that. His skills match those of a veteran guard, but he's never been on a mission before. And with the mission he's going on, even champions would be terrified." He answered.
"All we can do is trust in him and hope." Lucia said and Sean's only response was a sigh and then he headed up the stairs.
* * *
Noah woke up the next day and suddenly realized the weight of his mission. Doubt quickly entered his mind and took hold. He began to question if he could kill Nightmare, the invincible dragon that ruled over the Spearhead region for four years. He just barely got out of bed with these thoughts circling around in his head. He walked over to his bookshelf and saw the dragon book and he placed his hand onto it. Even if I cannot do this, it's something I still have to do, so that if I fail more people will start trying to free this land. He thought, taking a deep breath and gathering his courage. He then began to get prepared for the day, getting dressed and heading downstairs to eat breakfast.
Lucia and Sean were already eating breakfast when Noah got downstairs. Lucia was first to notice him and quickly waved him over to the table saying, "Come quickly, you don't want to eat cold food, do you?" To which Noah responded by quickly heading over to the table. Once he sat down he began slowly eating his and picking at it at times.
"You alright?" Sean asked Noah, concerned.
"I'm nervous about my mission." Noah responded.
"I see, anything for preparations you want to do?" Sean asked.
"No, this is just something I need to do myself." Noah said, to which Sean responded. There was a moment of awkward silence that was only broken when Noah said, "I'm full." Getting up out of his seat, he began to head outside.
"Hold up," Sean said, getting out of his seat, "I'm going with you." Noah nodded and waited patiently by the door for his father to get his things.
Once his father got his things and joined Noah by the door. Noah waited for his father to open the door and followed him outside.
"I take it you're going to get supplies for your mission?" Sean asked, beginning to walk towards the town square.
"Yes I am." Noah replied, following him.
"Good, I have my own things I need to get so I might as well go with you." Sean responded.
"Alright, When we're done I would like to take one last walk around the town." Noah said, looking at his feet.
"That's alright, you can just drop the supplies off with me and then get going okay." Sean responded.
"Okay." Noah said as they arrived at the town square.
They stared off by head to the food stands where they got salted meat and dried vegetables. They then went to the blacksmith to get a recent shipment of weapons that had just arrived the previous day.
"Ah Sean, welcome, I see you brought your son with you, how can I help you this time?" The blacksmith, Karl Hammer, said over the sounds of a furnace running.
"It's good to see you again." Sean responded to Karl's greeting, "All I need today is the new shipment of supplies."
"Okay, they're in the back." Karl said, pointing to a door behind him. Sean nodded his thanks and went to the back with Noah. As they came back out, each with a box in their arms Karl said, "The next shipment is being delayed, Nightmare's been a lot more active lately."
"That's concerning." Sean responded, looking at Noah, and then added, "Well these should do us good for a while. With his activity rising bandits are going to be few and far between." Karl nodded in agreement and then Sean and Noah headed out and began to go to the barracks.
Once they got to the barracks Sean had Noah put his box down saying, "I'll have someone take it in and check it, you can go now." Noah nodded and began his walk around town, knowing very well that it could be his last.