William Tarrister was already quite old and lived in proud solitude but was in good standing with Baron Manfred, the local lord.
Aside from his military background he was quite skilled at blacksmithing and even passed on his skills to one of lord Manfred's men.
For this reason, William usually lived in peace and quiet, owning a small house and his own vegetable garden.
Usually Tarrister was not disturbed by any of the locals, knowing of his not very friendly nature.
It seemed like the old man was always dissatisfied with something.
There were rumors that he lost relatives during the war and wanted to live out his days in peace and quiet.
That day Tarrister discovered the body of a child in his field.
At first he thought that it was one of the locals but looking closely at the bare feet beaten to the blood and hematomas of varying severity on the face and not only, he concluded that the kid had escaped from somewhere else.
The local baron was not too despotic and usually people in the surrounding villages at least did not die of hunger which means that the child most likely came running from Rent.
Although William tried to always look angry and impatient he was not the kind of person who would leave others to their deaths if he could easily help.
Besides, the lonely lifestyle didn't really please him much, although he would never admit it.
Sighing, he decided to help the child and went towards him.
I came to my senses from some noise. Judging by the surroundings the sun will soon set. Looking around I noticed an old man nearby.
The gray hair on the old man's head was rather short. A beard covered the lower part of his face but there was an ugly scar on his cheek. He held a scythe in his hands and looked at me intently.
Startled, I got to my feet and grabbed a branch that I found along the way in self-defense.
- You little bastard was you digging in my garden and stealing my food? - the old man asked narrowing his eyes.
Without waiting for an answer he began to approach. I got nervous and shouted.
- Stop! Don't come any closer!
However, the old man did not even raise an eyebrow. When he was already a meter away I rushed at him with my makeshift weapon aiming at his neck.
The old man calmly shifted his head a little and intercepted the branch as he walked, tearing it out of my hands.
I again felt despair the old man towered over me like a rock. His sharp gaze put enormous pressure on me and I did not dare to move.
- Answer. - he said.
- Sorry. I was hungry but I can work everything out - I answered instinctively.
After a pause, he finally spoke.
- Good.
Then he turned around and left.
I stood there for a while. Seeing that he had left I decided to run away. But remembering the look of the old man for some reason it seemed to me that running away was not the best idea. And where do I actually run? I had no idea.
After some thought I decided to follow him. At least the old man didn't beat me up and let me make a choice, that meant something to me.
Since then I have lived along with this old man.
At first I was rather reserved and diligently did all the work that the old man assigned me. But gradually I realized that the old man was not so scary. He just liked to grumble.
As a result I began to bombard him with questions and bicker more and more often. He never told me his name so I just called him Gray.
It turned out that the old man was a former soldier. Besides he was good at blacksmithing. Therefore I gradually learned to read and write and blacksmithing. But most of all I wanted to take over the combat experience of the old man who at times gave me a thrashing.
He used not a banal beating but real fighting techniques.
Although Gray almost did not inflict actual injuries on me, however I often flew in the air from his jolts or helplessly walked where he needed me to with my arm twisted and things like that.
But the main demonstration for me was the fight between the old man and two bandits from Rent. Shortly after my escape, they somehow managed to find out exactly where I hid and found me and the old man in the yard.
One of them recognized me as I recognized him. They got off their horses and headed towards me at the same time warning the old man not to interfere if he wants to live.
I was about to rush to the forge for weapons not wanting to die without a fight, but the old man took out both of them in moments.
He broke the arm of one in the shoulder area and made him writhe on the ground screaming in pain.
The second was even less fortunate. Gray intercepted his blow and easily dislocated his wrist.
Bandit was screaming in pain but still tried to get the old man with his foot. Old man shifted with a slight movement and, making a sweep, threw the bandit to the ground. Then he used a piece of wood and deprived bandit of both eyes. It all happened really fast.
I was shocked by what was happening, but what shocked me even more were the words that Gray said afterwards.
- Kill them. If you are able to kill your enemy then I will teach you martial arts.
He didn't have to persuade me. A minute ago I thought that I was finished and now there was not only the opportunity to kill these bastards, one of whom I knew, but also to finally become a real old man's student.
I grabbed an ax and brutally killed them both.
Since then I have diligently studied both hand-to-hand combat and combat with different types of weapons.
Seeing that I showed a certain talent in this area Gray took up my training seriously. Then I first heard from him about the Knights. As a child I also heard rumors about both Knights and Mages but I never got to see any of them in action.
I was already 11 years old and after another training session, for the first time Gray told a little about himself.
"At one time I enlisted in the army of the kingdom. For me it was the only chance to learn the techniques of the Knights.
Nobles usually don't share the secrets of their Knight technique with anyone other than their own family members.
However at that time there were times of unrest and wars. Therefore in such a difficult time, an exception was made in the army of the kingdom. Of course they only passed on the most basic Knight technique but to me even that was a priceless treasure. Unfortunately I could not even become a Knight's Apprentice.
Although due to bloodlines nobles have a higher chance of having the Knight talent, unlike the Mage talent the Knight talent is more common.
Thus if the technique of the Knights is widely spread among the commoners then despite all the difficulties of mastering it and many years of training on the verge of possibility, many Knight Apprentices will appear among the commoners. Naturally nobles who are a symbol of power are not interested in such a development of events.
For this reason officially with rare exceptions in the military, passing on Knight's techniques to commoners is a heinous crime and punishable by death.
For the same reason if a commoner still manages to become a Knight's Apprentice he is officially given the title of knight.
This is the lowest title among the nobles however it implies that a commoner turns into a noble in an instant. This is rarely talked about openly but the truth is that among the current Knight's Disciples there are quite a few who were originally commoners.
The gray-haired frowned and there was longing in his eyes, but he quickly came to his senses and looking at me, continued.
- You are still quite young compared to me at that time so with proper training you may have a chance to become a Knight's Apprentice someday. Albeit a tiny one but a chance. Are you ready to make every effort for this? - asked Gray with a stern expression on his face.
From time to time I let out sarcastic remarks about the old man but after hearing about the Knights and seeing how he was staring at me I decided to answer seriously.
- I'm ready teacher!
Gray chuckled and said.
- I hope so, if you start whining I'll beat you to death. - making a dramatic pause he continued - Remember this. I am strictly forbidden to share the technique with anyone. If this becomes known then I will be executed as a traitor and you of course too. Do you understand what that means?
I frowned and thought about it, then answered.
- Can I train only if I am sure that no one can watch me?
- Right. - the old man answered and added - But not only that. Until you become a Knight's Apprentice I advise you not to draw too much attention to yourself. I'm already an old man and I don't have much time left but you still have everything ahead. If you start demonstrating your skills without extreme necessity, expect trouble.
On the other hand if you can still become a Knight's Apprentice someday then this problem will disappear by itself. Even the Knight Apprentice is already a serious power in the kingdom so the question of where you got the technique will become irrelevant and few will dare to ask it. - said the old man.
On that day Gray first began to teach me the technique of the Knights. It consisted of a set of movements combined with a certain breathing technique.
As Gray said, the purpose of this technique was an attempt to awaken vital energy in the body.
At first I focused for a couple of months on learning and repeating the technique according to the old man's instructions. We thought it had no effect on me because I make mistakes.
But even after two years of exhausting training despite my daily efforts the Knight technique had no effect. The old man and I already thought that I had no talent.
But over these two years my body has seriously strengthened and soon during the next training of the Knights technique I finally felt something.
All of a sudden it became incredibly difficult to execute the technique. The body was quickly heated and covered with sweat. The heart was beating wildly and the muscles were torn from pain. The first time I didn't even last a minute. I was able to complete the entire set of movements only after another half a year of incredible efforts.
It was strictly forbidden to perform this workout more than once a day otherwise you could become crippled.
The old man did not have the necessary medicine to cure me if something went wrong so he tirelessly reminded me of this and always stopped me from hurting myself.
In addition to the Knight technique I trained to the point of falling all my free time, even while doing work in the field, anvil or around the house, trying to load my body as much as possible until my knees were weak.
The memories of Rotten and the two bandits who came after remained alive in my memory and constantly spurred me on. The next time someone tries to attack me, I will take his life by my own efforts.
Of course I asked the old man about the Mages but the old man knew almost nothing about Mages.