Waking up in what seems like quite the dark tent, the darkness makes my hands barely visible. I feel around, spilling a drink and a plate of what seemed like fruits. As I regain some of my senses, I look through the dark, seeing silhouettes of objects I couldn't name.
Hurk! Hurk! Cling!
I hear some grunting and the sound of blades clashing. As I open the tent to see what the commotion was, a ray of light hits my eyes, blinding me. Raising my hands to block out the blinding sunlight, slowly getting out of the tent, I saw the knights from before, wielding their swords against their own comrades.
"Ah! It seems you have awoken!" I hear from my side.
Galahad, wielding a large sword, decorated with gold and gems, was standing there watching over the soldiers. He gives the commands and the soldiers execute it with accuracy.
"What happened?" I ask Galahad with curiosity.
He had a blank face for a bit before answering, "You seemed to have depleted your mana using those fireballs back then, once a mage runs out of their mana they seem to collapse, you also seemed to be lacking the necessary rest"
For a mage, mana seems to be like their energy, if it is depleted they are unable to function, eventually collapsing where they stand. I sense the mana within my own body, it had recovered quite a bit from when I collapsed.
"How long was I unconscious?" I ask him
"Only a day and a half" Galahad answers after giving some more commands to his soldiers.
Seems like I was in quite the bad shape, If I wanted to use more spells in the future, I will have to increase my mana pool. Galahad interrupts my thought with a small question.
"Your belt is decorated with a sword, are you skilled with the sword too or did you just learn to use it?" He asks as he chuckles a little. I chuckle a little too with him before answering
"Yes, I just learned how to swing the sword a tad bit." I say as I stare onto the soldier's training.
"You can go and join them If you'de like" He adds
"I'll have to pass on that, your soldiers seem to know what they are doing" I say with a chuckle, before getting up to swing my sword at a wooden dummy that had been mounted up for training.
With each swing, I try to imagine my blade smoothly slicing through the wooden dummy. With each swing, I cut through the air, eventually landing my blade onto the dummy, yet doing no damage.
Fwoosh!
The sound of my blade slicing the air caught the attention of some of the soldiers, some still swing their swords but most of them had gathered around putting some pressure onto me. I could hear them murmuring something between themselves before one steps forward.
"Hello, I am Durm Harld, would you care to spar with me?" He asks with confidence radiating from his body.
"Sure" I say hesitantly as I stop swinging my sword.
Durm had light brown hair that fell down to his shoulders, and some scars that covered his face. A dark brown beard that was trimmed decorated his masculine face. His body showed the dedication he put into his training, as he had a muscular build. He was a human that towered above, his height had to be around 5'10. With his size, he had to be one of the stronger soldiers here.
We move to a clearing where the soldiers surround us, all shouting and getting riled up for this match. Galahad was in the crowd, I could tell by his shining armor that was decorated in gold.
"Why did you want to spar me? I don't even know how to swing the sword properly" I tell him as we both unsheathe our swords, pointing it towards each other.
"You may have not noticed, but you were releasing what we call the sword aura, It wasn't a lot, but that is a difficult task to accomplish for a beginner." He tells me before rushing towards me with his sword well above his head, ready to swing down.
Sword aura? What does he mean? I question myself. My arms bring my sword up, blocking Durms swing like it was muscle memory. Our swords clash, each sending shockwaves down to my bones.
How many more swings can I even withstand? Durm doesn't let me finish my thought as he starts to increase his speed, he had reached speeds where I could barely keep up with my slim body. His sword had started to hit harder, and much more rapidly at that too.
Each time our swords clashed, I could feel my arms giving up. It was a matter of seconds before I would completely collapse under his raw strength. As Durm rushes towards me, I kick up the dirt, trying to use my environment to my advantage, yet that had no effect, since Durm just cleared the dust away with a swing of his sword, cutting through the dust and stopping right before it had the chance to slice my head clean off my shoulders.
"I give up!" I shout while raising my hands before collapsing to the ground.
"Hahaha!" Durm lets out a laugh. "That was quite the move you pulled at the end, it really was a good attempt to block my vision" He tells me as he gives me a hand to lift myself up off of the ground.
"You're quite the resourceful traveler, Lex!" Galahad shouts from the crowd as he steps forward.
What is this, I had lost this battle, yet everyone seems to be happy and supporting, each had been cheering me on through the stands, all praising me for my resourcefulness.
"My knights seem to have gotten a liking to you, how about you join us?" Galahad proposes an offer to join his soldiers.
I think of this opportunity to increase my knowledge of this world and to improve my skills with these soldiers. I dwell on this thought for a minute before answering.
"I will happily accept this offer, Galahad" I tell him with a smile brimming from my face.
"That's great! You could be part of both the mages and knights troops" He says as he walks off towards his tent.
After a few minutes, he comes back out with a sword in his hand, it had an emblem of a sword on its sheath. He walks towards me and hands the sword over to me. As I examine the sword, I notice that it was heavier than my own sword, but it also had a sharper edge with a much greater length to it as well.
"Your sword seemed to be in a bad shape, so I just wanted to lend you this one for the time being for your training" Galahad says as he points at my sword.
"It's not the best sword out there, but for now it should do the trick" He says with a smile.
"Thanks for that" I tell him as I put the sword back into its sheath.
I look at my previous sword and curse the being of light for such a crappy weapon. As I walk towards the training grounds to practice my swordsmanship, I'm stopped by Durm again, yet this time he offers to help me practice my swordsmanship and footwork, which I happily accept.
.......
Two Months Pass
I had developed a liking to this group of soldiers I have become a part of. Each had their own stories for why they joined, and had stories of their adventures as part of this group. As I listened to their stories, I realized that they were one of the king's personal knights. All coming from the Kingdom of Schiet, which was a kingdom located in the central plains of the continent of Evathius. The Kingdom of Schiets military power was unrivaled throughout centuries.
Many swordmasters came from this Kingdom, giving it the nickname of The Land of The Sword.
"Everyone! Hear me, We will be returning to the Kingdom tomorrow, so make sure to get enough rest!" Galahad shouts for everyone to hear.
After a bit of complaining, the knights get up with a sigh and return to their tents. They seemed annoyed, yet they didn't dare to challenge Galahads authority. Entering my own tent, I blow out the candle that provided me the little amount of light.
The next morning, I could hear rattling and a bunch of feet stomping around in a rush. As I open the tent in order to get out, I see the knights packing up their gear and tents, before loading it onto the carriage that would be pulled by a few horses.
After a couple of minutes, the camping grounds that were covered with campfires and tents had been cleared, leaving only the bare earth. Galahad tells the knights to prepare to leave, and as he does, he hops aboard the carriage preparing to take off. The knights had their own horses, which they had cared for.
"Hey Lex! Get up onto the carriage" Galahad tells me waving his hands.
This was the first time I had gotten onto a carriage, being made of just wood, It seemed quite sturdy, not the most comfortable ride, but it was better than having to walk the whole distance. I thank Galahad, before we start to move towards the Kingdom.