"Square up those shoulders young Lord, your stance is all wrong too" Secrust yelled at me, knowing fully well I was too busy trying not to get beaten up to a pulp in a duel.
It had been two weeks since I started training with the knights, the patriarch surprisingly did not disallow me when I brought it up with him.
"Maybe you'd be better off as a swordsman, rather than a mage". He said, patting his horse as he prepared to leave for town.
"Young Lord, you're spacing out" Mark warned, dashing at me with his blade pointed at my chest, i quickly deflected the attack but he still managed to leave a cut on my sleeve.
Mark had become my sparring partner ever since I succeeded in incapacitating two other knights the previous week and since then, I haven't been able to graze him even once.
"Your attacks are just too swift!" I protested, panting from overexertion. He smiled at me, taking a step back and urging me to get back up.
"One last time" he said, taking a stance, hiding his right hand behind his back and putting his left leg ahead of him.
According to the ranks of our current knights, he was just barely adept rank and the two I defeated the previous day, were beginners like I was.
I felt the pressure that built up in my lungs, free up as i exhaled. My right eye that had already made a full recovery was itching me constantly, but I simply just shook my head to ease it.
"Here I come, young Lord!"
His first strike was directed to my side as usual, so I easily dodged using the pacing to my advantage to gain more momentum on my impending strike, then with one swift attack, my blade reached his face but before I could make any contact, he had already gained his balance and pushed me away with a kick.
His attacks were primitive and immediately predictable, his agility though was a different case as he always responded faster than I could even move, even his sword style was lackluster as he only used swiping and piercing attacks.
In terms of overall capabilities, he was mediocre just like me, but then how.....
'How can't I still beat this guy! '
I misstepped while trying to dodge an attack and slipped, crashing on the ground instantly and before I could raise my blade, Mark had pointed his at my face, signaling the end of the spar.
I raised both hands, acknowledging my defeat as I dusted my trousers and hung my blade.
It was vividly clear that it would take a longer time for my body to catch up to my mind.
Currently, this body's stamina, strength and speed were relatively low, since Milo did nothing but sit at home with his sister all day.
It didn't matter regardless, I had already started building my muscles with calisthenics and balanced diets.
"Shouldn't take more than a year now, right?" I murmured to myself, pouring a bowl of water over my head and wiping my hair with a small towel.
Secrust walked up to me, hoping to elevate my mood by telling me something I already knew.
Still, I entertained his efforts.
"Don't overwork yourself, young Lord. You clearly have the talent for the sword, you just need to give your body time to catch up to it." He ended, scratching his head as he stared at the rest of the squadron training.
I dropped the towel and stood there with him, watching the trainees sweat and swing repeatedly.
He was both right and wrong in his advice.
Right that my body needed time to catch up, but wrong that it was talent it needed to catch up with.
I wasn't quite sure if you could call Milo talented, but I did know one thing for sure and that was, if indeed he had talent, then his body naturally would have found a way to match up with it.
The things I could do in swordplay were purely from experience, since I took fencing classes back in middle and high school.
But if he did have a talent for the sword, I would draw it out of this body before the end of the month.
"Young Lord it's time" Natasha reminded, walking up to me as she stopped to bow slightly and greet Secrust.
"Ah, Natasha...ho-how are you today" Secrust enquired moving towards her, blushing as he clutched the hilt of his sword shyly.
Even though I had seen this scene play out repeatedly the past week, it still remained funny each time as Secrust failed to impress time and time again.
I walked towards Natasha, then patted Secrust on his back, giving him a thumbs up as I smiled wryly.
"You'll get there old man" I whispered, walking away towards the door.
I couldn't blame him though, Natasha was overly beautiful for her status, and I even sometimes doubted the legitimacy of her origin.
She came to the county from Monorox, the neighbouring town in our continent at age twelve, spending most of her first three years, working in a tavern until she was saved by the patriarch from bandits one day. She then pledged her allegiance to him and begged for work in order to compensate him.
Romelis took her in without a fuss, and she became the caretaker for Milo who was just barely five years old at the time.
"Then I'll be heading back now" Natasha offered, ending their conversation as she hurried towards me.
"Sorry for keeping you waiting young Lord" she apologized, handing my coat over to me.
"It's alright, I'm not in a hurry" I responded, looking at her as her cheeks darkened with the cherry colour of a tomato.
"Your face, you should get a coat too before we leave" I said pointing to the main hall.
She strode back to the main house, barely wasting any time as she reappeared just minutes after.
We then boarded the carriage, heading straight to the main market.
*****
"Spare us some change young Lord" A voice cried out from the roadside, suspicious eyes peering into our cabin from the outside as we reached the market.
"Step back please" The guard accompanying us, pushed at the beggars, trying fervently to create a path for the carriage.
I walked up to them, tapping the guard's hand as I stood in front of them.
"It's fine" I said, pulling out a leather pouch from my back pocket. They were twelve, each about a year apart from four to fifteen.
I picked a silver coin and handed it to the first, then continued that way till they each had a silver con in their hands.
"Go home for today and buy yourself a nice meal" I concluded, beaming with a smile as I returned the empty pouch to my pocket once more.
They thanked me in chorus and ran away towards the market, laughing and jumping along the way.
According to Earth's currency, I just spent a hundred and twenty dollars on them, a steep amount to spend on beggars, even for a nobleman in this world but it was worth the gamble.
Natasha walked towards me and whispered into my ears.
"They just left"
I peered closely at the bushes in front of me, catching the glimpse of a shadow rescinding deeper into the foliage.
Because of what I did today, my evaluation of our situation was almost complete and I had made valid progress in deducing our situation.
'There's definitely a power struggle going on here'
Ever since I had decided to start tagging along with Natasha to buy groceries a week ago, beggars had always been present at the entrance every single time, the same children, dressed in the same rags three times in a row.
At first I thought it was a coincidence, but decided to withhold myself from giving and by the third occurrence, it became clear that someone was manipulating the children.
Since it was a political attack aimed at the youngest son of the patriarch, I could already tell the endgame.
"Make a laughing stock out of the already taunted young lord in order to drive him to commiting suicide, again"
Their ploy was to let the young Lord reject the children for the third time, then make them mock him and if possible cause bodily harm to some extent.
Since they would be seen as children with no sense of responsibility, the patriarch would not react openly but rather reprimand his son to stay indoors.
Meaning whoever was manipulating this scenario wanted to back Milo up to a corner, and then slowly execute him without interfering and risking their exposure; hence suicide being the only viable option.
It was clear that they didn't know about his first failed suicide attempt which meant they might've had some involvement whatsoever in it and truthfully speaking I too, couldn't access those memories, since they were closely tied in trauma.
"Young master would you like to get something" Natasha asked, troubled by how deep in thought I was.
I turned to her, pulled out both empty pockets and smiled.
I had exhausted everything with me on those children.
She sighed wrapping up the rest of her shopping in silence, before handing me an apple.
'Never knew apples could come in blue' I thought, munching down the juicy fruit till there was nothing left.
"Ok, back to my thoughts" I said, stretching myself as I got back in the carriage.
Officially, the patriarch hadn't announced me as his heir, something that according to the cherished tradition of this land was eminent, especially since I had already reached the age criterion.
If he had done that, the land would have definitely faced a more fierce power struggle, inevitably robbing the Brithuels household of their claim, due to the fact that Milo, was a feeble minded individual lacking self esteem.
But that was exactly what they knew the patriarch would try to avoid at all cost, hence making it easy for him to play along with their plot.
Naming the first son heir seemed like a valid option at face value, but the complications it came with were so massive, it was almost unreasonable.
First off, that would be going up against over 400 years of tradition which the people of this county cherished so much.
And then again, it would also mean that the patriarch had failed to raise a true Brithuel, meaning eventually, the people would not feel safe under their rule.
'Politics is such a dark game, but the people make it darker'
Humans were just that insatiable; they despised death but complained about living, sought riches but are lazy too work.
That is why the only way to satisfy them, is by taming them completely, for they revere dominance, no matter the type.
"Natasha, the patriarch got sick right after Jem's ascension ritual right. And it lasted for a year." I asked, staring at Natasha who was trying to sort through the goods in her lap.
"Yes young Lord, any thing the problem" she added, stopping what she was doing.
I shook my head and just stared out the window.
Although there was no correlation of the patriarch's illness with Jem's ascension ritual, if the patriarch had indeed died, that would've been the end of everything.
For now, I knew the motive of two parties in the struggle for power. The only piece that needed filling, was the most important one yet- who were the perpetrators?.
Luckily for me, the patriarch had decided to hold a joint meeting with all his vassals to discuss the food shortage issue, amongst other things.
"That's when we'll find out our wolves in sheep's clothing!"