"Huh, what was that?" The old butler awoke from his sleep, quickly glancing around the room.
Upon seeing he was still in the castle study room, the old butler remembered he fell asleep whilst he was sleeping. The old butler rubbed his eyes with his wrinkly hand and thought: 'I need to take care of my health.'
Sebastian glanced at the few remaining letters unopened on his desk. He pinched his nose and braced himself for more work. But just when he was about to open the letters. He heard numerous shouts outside the castle.
"Who is causing such a ruckus?"
The old butler was annoyed, how could he complete his paperwork when it was so noisy. He walked to the study window and glanced at the front courtyard, trying to identify what was the cause of the commotion.
But to his surprise, it was not one individual that was causing the noise, but the Hestanar City knights.
In the courtyard, Kent observed the knights that were doing the exercises. The Knights were all panting and drenched in a heavy sweat. Some knights even collapsed on the ground due to exhaustion, but to those knights that gave up midway, Kent only told them one thing: "10 laps around the courtyard. NOW!"
By the time all the knights finished 100 push-ups, 100 star-jumps, 100 burpees, and 100 squats. All the castle maids, servants, cooks and alike were watching the knights do their training. They even cheered the knights on to encourage them.
"Ninety-eight."
"ninety-nine."
"One hundred."
"You may all take a rest now," Kent told the knights.
When the knights heard this, they all slumped on the ground and dropped dead. Panting heavily to catch their breath. Even Deryk, commander of the knights sat on the ground to catch his breath.
Kent gestured to one of the nearby maids that were watching the spectacle come over. He whispers something to the maid, to which she nodded before hurrying into the castle.
The lord waited up for the knights to rest up before addressing them. "Knights, you have completed the morning training, the castle chefs have already prepared breakfast everyone. The meal is free of charge. You may all go to the Great Hall and eat your fill now."
The knights one by one made their way to the Great Hall for their meals. Inside, each chef lined up behind a table, ready to hand out servings of bread, meat, and vegetables to the hungry knights.
The knights ate like lions. All chomping down their food to fill their empty bellies. But even though they were eating hurriedly, the knights all paid careful vigilance around Kent. No one wants to be punished after all.
The knights talked in low voices:
"Ahh my legs, they are still shaking from all the squats." A knight whispered.
"You think that's bad? My arms turned into minced meat." Another knight grunted.
Kent only laughed at their complaints.
As a person from modern-day society, his experiences serving in his country's military gave him unique insights into how modern training methods were structured and organised to be as efficient as possible.
He went through these exercises every day, even he felt pain from the training. But he knew the effects of these training routines better than anyone else. Not only do these exercises aim to train their brute strength, but it is also targeted at endurance and a resistant mindset.
Kent's purpose was simple. Eventually, he would bring forth new weaponry that will revolutionise the world. Even modern-day machines guns and sniper rifles are not impossible with his futuristic knowledge. Thus, it was obvious he needed to train the knight's discipline, time management, teamwork, perseverance, and leadership skills for them to effectively utilise guns or any other military weapons.
Even if guns won't be invented just yet. It was better to get this settled early to reap the benefits later down the line.
Kent sat next to Deryk, who was busy consuming his meal. "How did you find the training?" Kent asked.
Deryk looked at his aching muscles and said: "I never seen such effective training methods. How did you come up with this… Sir?"
Kent chuckled. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
There was no way for Kent to just blatantly admit to coming from another world, right? Plus, who knows how these people might react to the news.
Instead, Kent changed the topic. "Let's not talk about it. You think you understand the general gist of the exercise?"
"Well... if it's only copying what you did earlier, I think I can follow." The commander answered.
Kent nodded at this.
After a while, all the knights finished their food and had time to rest. The lord stood at the front of the Great Hall, looking over the knights sitting in long rows of the dining table.
Counting all the knights that were crammed into this area. Hestanar enlisted exactly 200 personals to serve as knights, 100 personals as archers.
Kent raised his arms and gestured the knights to quiet down.
He waited until all the voices were silenced before speaking. "You have all gone through your first day of training. This is to be done every day from today onwards. After this, you are to work at your allocated post."
He continued, "I will now elaborate on the test that would happen 2 weeks from now."
All the knights moved closer to better hear their Lord. "As mentioned before, all who performed exceptionally in the test would also be promoted. Commander Deryk had fulfilled his duty well to guide you all, but there's only so much one man can achieve alone. Thus, I need those who have outstanding qualities to step up and guide others around them."
"The chosen few will be promoted to squadron leader, and each of them would be leaders of their own squad of knights. These squadron leaders would report directly to Commander Deryk and will receive a monthly pay of 3000 copper."
"That is an extra 1000 copper coins on top of your original salary. I pay my knights according to their worth, so I hope you all would live up to my high expectations."
The staggering amount of salary offered by Kent was humongous, even unheard of. 2000 copper coins were already considered a very high paying salary, and to offer an additional 1000 copper coins could be called extremely generous.
The knights all felt excited at the possibility of becoming one of those chosen few. Some knights even gave hostile looks to their comrade in arms.
"Do you all understand?" Kent's voice echoed in the vast dining hall.
At this moment, all the knights raised from their seats.
Gazing at Kent with awe and respect, they each rested their right hand on their left shoulder.
And together, the knights stated proudly in a roaring voice: "YES SIR!"