Clang!!
As the sun blazed down on the world, releasing waves of scorching heat, two men stood within a courtyard, weapons drawn.
One of them, covered in platemail, raised his sword, adopting a guard position, both hands on the hilt of the sword, body lowered and knees slightly bent.
With a roar, the figure stepped forward, cleaving downwards with a powerful stroke.
Drawing an arc, the sunlight flashed as it shone along the blade of the sword, heading for the neck of the unarmoured man.
Adrenaline coursing through his veins, the first figure leaned his bodyweight into the strike, feeling confident that his blade would successfully strike his opponent.
Just as he felt like victory had been assured, his opponent flashed a savage grin as his eyes lit up with a predator's gaze.
Shit!
Instantly, the first man felt a chill overtake him, as his opponent raised their spear, deflecting the incoming blow with ease.
Seeing the man casually deflect his full strength blow, accompanied with the feeling of numbness creeping up his arms, the man shuddered in fear at the display of inhuman strength.
Regaining his stance, the man evaluated his opponent with serious eyes, circling him as he searched for a moment of weakness that he could capitalise on. He knew that with a long weapon such as the spear, once he managed to break his opponent's posture, he could follow up with a volley of strikes that would keep him off balance and disoriented.
He saw it. His opponent shifted his guard by an inch, perhaps guarding against the circling movement, leaving his left flank slightly vulnerable.
"Hiii-yah!"
With an explosive bellow, the man lunged forward with a steady thrust, blade aiming straight for the gap between the spaulder and the besagew.
Just as the blade of the longsword was about to hit home, ending the fight, the opponent reacted. Faster than humanly possible, he swung his arm around, blocking the approaching threat with one smooth motion.
Twisting his wrist, the opponent circled their locked blades, causing the man to feel a spike of pain in his forearm as his weapon flew out of his grip, embedding itself in the courtyard bricks.
The moment he recovered from the pain, his opponent's spearhead was at his neck.
"Heh, well played."
"You fought well, my Lord."
Retracting his spear, Knight Commander Blake reached out his hand, helping Vincent to his feet as a maidservant ran to pick up Vincent's lost sword.
Ever since he and his advisors had decided to initiate a raid on the merchants of Greendale, Vincent had begun sparring with his Knight Commander, intending to raise his pitiful spiritforce rank.
Due to Blake's Low-Gold rank Spiritforce, he had almost gained perfect control over his body, making him the perfect sparring partner for Vincent, who only had Medium-Copper rank spiritforce. If anyone with a lower spiritforce rank had sparred with Vincent, they would not be able to perfectly control the situation.
As such, they would either have ended up injuring Vincent, or be unable to manipulate the duel such that it allowed Vincent to grow his swordsmanship in the most efficient way.
Under Blake, Vincent truly saw progress for the first time in years. Having squandered his years in Arthia's academy, he had reaffirmed his desire to grow his swordsmanship to its full potential.
In under a week of training, Vincent's spiritforce had progressed to the peak of the Copper level, allowing him to manipulate spiritforce within his body in order to 'buff' a certain limb or area.
Currently, he stood at the threshold of the Iron rank, bottlenecked.
To achieve his breakthrough, Vincent knew that he needed to experience a true, life and death battle, undergoing baptism through blood and the fires of war.
After much debate with Blake and Administrator Halcyon, he had managed to convince them that the best place for him to seek his breakthrough was during the Greendale raid.
As Vincent sheathed his sword, contemplating his strategy for the next spar, Blake approached him.
"Milord, are you sure that you want to participate in this raid? I believe you can breakthrough given a few more months of training and hard wo-"
"We don't have months, Blake. Besides, it's just a raid on some merchants with the rest of the house forces, I doubt I'll be in much, if any danger. Maybe the pressure from the raid will allow me to breakthrough without even fighting."
"But-"
"I don't want to hear about it, Blake."
Sigh… "Yes, Milord"
------
Later that day...
Vincent's room was huge. There was no other way to describe it.
Located in the centre of the estate, the Viscounts new room occupied as much space as a 5-room apartment on Earth, a massive upgrade compared to his previous room, just one floor below.
However, …
What a waste of space
Indeed. Although the room was spacious, the usage of said space was horrendous. Within the room, a large bed took up the northwest corner, accompanied by a dresser, along the right wall, a table and a chair beside the bed.
Everytime he saw the large amount of space that was left empty and unused, Vincent felt like swearing.
I struggled against tyrannical property prices my whole life, only to be reborn here where land is practically free…. Life sure is pretty ironic.
Having struggled to pay rent in his previous life, Vincent's mind went blank when presented with so much space. Other than knowing that he wanted to convert some of the room into an office, Vincent was at a loss when thinking of ways to utilise the remaining space.
However… hehe, it seems like Irene is waiting…
Irene was the maidservant that had barged into Vincent's room previously. After the funeral, Vincent had requested Niels to transfer her to his new room as well, even assigning her as his personal maidservant.
As to why, it was pretty straightforward.
"Milord, I've prepared the bath…"
Looking at the slight blush on her cheeks, Vincent felt desire rush through his body, anticipating the 'bath' he was about to take.
Damn, being Viscount sure has its perks!
------
Meanwhile, as Vincent was 'bathing', just 2 floors beneath his room.
"Send this letter to Sir Terry before dawn, he needs to see this. Inform him that the holdings of him and his compatriots are in danger."
"Yes Sir"
Cloaked in darkness, two mysterious figures conversed, the taller one passing a sealed letter to his companion. As the youthful looking shadow sprinted away under the cover of darkness, the remaining figure disappeared into the shadows, as if he never existed.