Eiden came to the training ground. Looking around from afar he could see men in armor sparing with wooden spears, hammers, axes, and swords. He could tell that their fighting skills were pretty impressive, to say the least.
''Luciana, can you gauge the strength of these men tell me who among them is the weakest.''
''Nope, I mean I could but what would be the fun in that? Not to mention, don't you want to earn your reward and not just beat on some poor fella?''
''No, I think I choose to be the bully in this case if that gets me the free reward, also for none of these knights should a term like poor fella be used. Anyway, let's just choose the smallest skinniest guy here, since when it comes to unarmed combat the strongest man usually wins.
Eiden waited for the men to stop training, then he slowly started approaching them.
The captain of the guard noticed the duke's son's approach so he ordered his men to drop the things they were holding and form a line while uttering the greeting to their young lord.
Eiden gave them a small nod while addressing the captain with a smile: ''Beautifull day for a spar ain't it, Arin?
''Yes my lord, answered captain Arin with surprise written on his face. That was done to the fact that the young lord was never seen around the training ground, as a matter of fact, he usually wasn't spotted outside of his study room, so him standing her in front of him asking him about fighting was a surprise if not downright a miracle. ''What brings you so all the way here my lord? Do you need any help from the company?
Eiden looked over the faces of the men and said: ''well first of all this is not an official visit or anything of that kind so, at ease men,'' after saying that the men relaxed, '' and secondly I am here to spar with the men.''
''To spar? Said Arin with shock written all over his face.
''Eiden dropped the smile: ''is there anything wrong with that?''
''Of course not it's just...Arin was trying to come up with a retort to convince the young lord to give up on such a silly notion when he saw Eiden point his finger at a young soldier named Gary. ''He will do nicely. Come here private.'' After hearing his lord's command the young soldier quickly approached him and gave him a solute.
Arin pleaded: ''please wait, lord Eiden, I don't think sword fighting is such a good idea, all the safety gear is in the barracks.''
''Oh, no worries I won't hurt the boy too badly, besides we are not gonna fight with swords''.
Arin felt relief wash his body when he heard the Eiden say the most dreaded sentence in his lifetime: ''We will fight with our fists only''
Dread filled the young captain: ''wait, what?'' Everybody knows sparing with swords is dangerous but the fight is much more controlled because naturally, nobody wants to get smashed with a heavy wooden stick. Normally combatants do a lot of circles around each other and probe opponents' defenses. With unarmed combat, there are much fewer reserves for a spar turning into literal bloody chaos.
''I'm not repeating myself, captain Arin, now let's begin. What's your name soldier?''
Gary felt very nervous, not only is he meeting the young lord for the first time but now he is going to have to fight him and if he hurt him in any shape or form his life might be on the line. ''My name is Gary, my lord.''
''Gary, very well, get in the position to fight.''
''Wait just let me have a word with Gary, he is really bad at fighting you see and I just want to him some last-minute advice so that he wouldn't be such a disappointment to you when you fight him.''
''Gary was momentarily shocked by what his captain has said since he was one of the better fighters in his unit, but he quickly understood his captain wanted to tell him something else than just a piece of mere fighting advice.
Eiden thought: does this bitch think I'm stupid, but said with a smile ''By all means captain be my guest''
Gary ran to his superior who whispered into his ear while still carrying a smile for appearances: ''If you hurt this pampered brat in any fucking way, it's not just gonna be your ass that will be hanged by sunrise but also my ass, heck if lady Alice is in bad mood she might just decimate the whole fucking unit. So I suggest you for all of our sake, dance around the brat for a bit and then drop. Just don't be fucking obvious, he might be weak, but he is not a fucking idiot. Also, he probably understands that this is all a fucking ruse for me to convince you not to fight for real. So no matter what he tells you don't fucking fight for real, ok? Do you understand what I'm saying to you, you fucking maggot?
''Yes sir, I promise as soon as a chance presents to me I will fall.''
Arin patted the boy on his shoulder and said ''good man, now just remember what I told you.''
Eiden and Gary stood opposite each other, seizing each other up. Eiden didn't really give a single fuck if Gary was intending to fold with the first or the second punch of his. All he cared about is winning and getting the items reward.
''Ahem, '' sounded Luciana ''you know if he just drops like a sack of potatoes, without you two even having a bruise, you get nothing.''
Eiden tried feigning innocence while saying, ''What are you talking about Luciana, dear?''
If she could roll her eyes, she would do just that, I'm not in the mood for games Eiden, you either beat him fairly and get a reward or you can play the part of a foolish nobleman satisfying his pride by beating his self-defeating subject and get nothing.
''Ok, I get it, Luciana, jeez'' He looked at Gary seriously and whispered to him. '' Gary listen here, I know that Arin told you to take a dive, but if you do that then I will feel offended, and remember Gary you never want to be the one who offends his superior's pride, especially if your superior is a nobleman. So let's make a deal you fight with all you got and I will make you my personal knight, with triple the pay you get now. But if you make a fool out of me, well let's just say you won't be a knight for long.
Gary was feeling trapped on one hand if he hurt him, Eiden's overprotective sister will have his head, but if he doesn't Eiden will still hire someone to do the job for her. Eiden smiled to himself while thinking, ''in my previous life we had a saying, trapped between Scylla and Charybdis, and in your case my friend I'm the Scilla and you are the Odysseus.'' After seeing Gary still hadn't made a choice he continued: Look you either get promoted or you meet an unfortunate accident. I can protect you from my sister, she doesn't care enough about you to protect you from me.
The young private finally made a choice: ''Very well but please remember our deal, my lord.''
Eiden nodded to him and followed with a right hook. Gary hardly had time to dodge, when Eiden followed with a right kick to the stomach. Gary deflected and jumped back to get out of the pressure. ''Your reflexes aren't bad boy, but let's see how you dodge this'' Eiden followed up his words with a right jab that was a faint and a left jab that hit Gary in the chin stumbling him for a second, which allowed Eiden to give him another right jab on the right cheek, and the uppercut that dropped Gary on the ground. Eiden jumped on Gary and started to smash his face in but just as he was about to give him a final punch, Gary hit Eiden on his chin, making him fall on his back and proceeding to now be the one who does the bashing.
Arin was absolutely stunned, so much so that he couldn't even move. ''What the fuck is the bastard doing, I fucking told him that if he touches him we are all dead but....he is fucking bashing his face in....hahaha that stupid bitch is actually bashing the brat's face in.
''Sir, shouldn't we stop the fight,'' he heard one of his men putting him out of the daze. He looked at the man and then at the fight. There he could see Eiden waking up from his momentary shock and blocking most of Gary's punches. Suddenly when Gary got too close, Eiden headbutted him in the nose, effectively breaking it. It was too much to bare and Gary unintentionally grabbed at his nose, at that moment, Eiden grabbed Garry and locked his legs and arms with his body, and started to choke him out. Not even 10 seconds in he could hear gasping Gary frantically taping on his shoulder.
Both of the men were lying on the ground panting for air when Eiden heard a notification. ''Congratulation, you completed all three missions.''