"We'll have to visit the domains of the vassal houses near the Grimhall Mountains and work out countermeasures. You should feel grateful that you get to serve as a squire in the embrace of House Rosrad. I hope you'll be diligent in your life as a squire, with a mind to repay the lord's kindness. Learn courtesy toward the knights, and how to maintain and repair the equipment the knights use, such as armor, arms, and barding, from the senior squire, Rewad, and learn the rest about life at Barad Castle from him as well."
Gerhardt spoke while looking at Rafin with a powerful gaze that seemed to see right through him. Rafin was not cowed by that gaze and did not look away.
Rafin noticed a deep cut scar on Gerhardt's left arm. To rise from common birth all the way to the post of Knight Commander, he must have given everything he had, body and soul.
"I'll learn well, as you've told me, and serve you faithfully, Knight Commander."
Rafin finished his meeting with Gerhardt and went down to the 1st floor. Rewad was talking with someone who looked like a knight.
When Rewad saw Rafin, he came over to him with quick steps, as if he had been waiting.
"Rafin, pay your respects. This is the Vice Commander of the knights."
Rafin stood in front of the man. He was a middle-aged man with short, coarse silver hair like a hedgehog's spines. There was a deep scar at the corner of his left eye.
"I'm Rafin Valone, newly taken in as a squire. I'm in your hands."
"This is the first time I've seen the tournament winner this close. I'm the Vice Commander of the knights, Artin Tiregel."
Artin offered his hand. Without flinching before Artin, Rafin gripped his hand firmly and shook it.
Artin was quietly studying Rafin's eyes.
"I'll work hard."
"Working hard is the bare minimum. You have to do well. If you're from House Valone, I suppose your house isn't much different in standing from House Tiregel."
"......."
For an instant, Rafin's hand tightened. But he soon regained his composure and kept his mouth shut. Rafin thought he understood what Artin meant. He was saying Rafin should be grateful just to eat House Rosrad's bread and work as a squire.
"You've proven you can handle a lance well, so we'll find out at the training ground how well you can handle a sword. Everyone, get back to work."
Artin finished speaking and climbed the stairs.
When Artin was out of sight, Rewad opened his mouth.
"You probably felt it too, but the Vice Commander is a bit of a stickler."
"Seems that way. If I slip up in front of him, I'll get my head bitten off."
Rewad cleared the mending tools strewn over the table to one side and went to the entrance of the keep.
"He's someone who takes discipline very seriously. Today's equipment check is done. Come on out, we need to go to the quarters."
Near the keep were the quarters where the squires stayed. The building, made of red sandstone, was 2 stories tall and about the size of an ordinary inn. A stable was attached to the side of the quarters.
"This is the quarters where the squires stay. People in all sorts of jobs at the castle live here.
Caring for the horses is mainly the stablehands' job, but when we go far afield, it's on us. The stablehands can't always come along.
At times like that, you have to keep an eye on the horses' condition, feed them oats, hay, and water, and let them rest if they look tired."
"Right. If a horse collapses, you can't go any farther."
"You're good at horsemanship, so you'll be good at judging a horse's condition."
"If I listen to a horse's breathing, I can tell whether it's tired, thirsty, or hungry."
"As expected of the tournament winner, you've got the basics down. Did you bring all your things from the inn?"
Rewad lightly touched the pack on Rafin's back.
"I only brought what I really need. I gave the rest to my teacher."
"I see. Let's go in. Our bedroom is on the 2nd floor."
On the 2nd floor of the quarters, rooms lined both sides of the corridor.
"This is the bedroom where the squires stay. There's an empty bed over there. That's yours. Unpack."
Rafin set his pack on the floor and sat on the edge of the bed. The bedroom wasn't messy; it was clean and well kept.
"You must clean regularly."
"If we let the bedroom get dirty, the Vice Commander will come down on us like thunder. He comes by without warning to check how clean it is."
"He really is a stickler. Ah, I'm hungry. When do we eat?"
"It's just about lunchtime now. The dining hall is on the 1st floor of this building."
"Dining hall on the 1st floor, bedrooms on the 2nd, so it's laid out like an inn. But no one will say anything if I eat a lot, right?"
"No one's going to say anything about how much you eat. There's plenty of food, so don't worry about that. But you must have a bigger appetite than you look?"
"I don't look like I eat much, but there must always be a beggar squatting in my stomach. It's always making a fuss that it's hungry."
"Haha. It's better to eat well and show you work hard and diligently than to eat poorly and be a weakling."
The two went down to the 1st floor and sat across from each other at a table, eating. The menu was mutton stew, bread, and cheese. The stew was full of mutton.
"Do squires train too, like in swordsmanship?"
Rafin asked just that, then dunked his bread deep in the stew and bit off a big mouthful.
"Of course. We do sword training too. We can't stay squires forever. Same as you, I'll become a knight someday. That's the goal that gets us through the hard life of a squire. There's a knight who gives us sword training. It's Sir Anies."
"What sort of man is he?"
Rewad chewed and swallowed a bite of the mutton in his stew, then spoke.
"He was originally a mercenary who rose all the way to knighthood."
"If he was a mercenary who became a knight and now teaches swordsmanship, his swordsmanship must be amazing. He must have plenty of real combat experience too."
"As it happens, this afternoon is sword training. You'll see Sir Anies then. I bet Sir Anies is curious what kind of swordsmanship you, the tournament winner, will show."
"I've only been handling a lance getting ready for the tournament. I'll get to hold a sword again after a long while."
Rafin smiled confidently.
After their meal, the two were heading to the sword training ground. The training ground was a wide clearing some distance east of the squires' quarters.
"First we have to get dressed for it, so we have to put on leather armor from the equipment storehouse. We'd better hurry."
On one side of the clearing was a storehouse with training equipment. The squires other than Rafin and Rewad were already dressed and standing on the training ground.
Rafin and Rewad got dressed and headed for the training ground. Rewad introduced Rafin to the squires, and they exchanged brief greetings.
A moment later, a man appeared at the entrance of the training ground. Black hair, blue eyes, and a commanding presence that radiated from the way he walked. It was Sir Anies.
As Anies came closer, the squires stood at attention in neat rows and files. Anies slowly looked the squires over and spoke.
"Everyone here?"
"Yes. Everyone's here."
The squires answered in unison.
"There's one more of you. You've all greeted each other?"
"Yes. We have."
"Too quiet."
"Yes—. We have—"
"When you train, you don't relax. You have to keep your wits about you. That's how you avoid getting hurt. Pair off and practice your attack and defense forms with each other. Begin."
Since this was his first sword training here, Rafin didn't know the squires' attack and defense forms. Sir Anies gave Rafin no separate instructions, so he decided to try the forms with Rewad for now.
Rafin and Rewad stood facing each other.
"You won't know them, so first I'll show you the moves slowly. Watch and memorize them."
Rafin watched Rewad's attack patterns closely and committed them to memory. Rafin got used to the attack patterns, and Rewad showed him the defense patterns that went with them.
Rafin soon managed to learn the defense patterns too. It wasn't hard for Rafin.
The pace of Rafin and Rewad's attack-and-defense forms grew faster and faster.
Before long, Rewad was struggling to keep up with the speed of Rafin's attacks and defenses. Rewad raised his hand to Rafin and halted the training for a moment.
"Rafin, you don't have to go any faster now. This is enough."
"Was I going too fast? Got it."
Anies was watching closely to see how skillfully Rafin, the tournament winner, could handle a sword.
As expected, Rafin must have learned the attack and defense patterns for the first time today, yet he quickly looked at ease with them.
Anies wanted to see another side of Rafin as well.
"Enough. Take a break."
At Anies's shout, the squires stopped moving and rested. Rewad handed Rafin a leather pouch filled with water.
"You drink first."
Rafin drank a mouthful or two of water and handed it to Rewad.
"It's fun holding a sword after so long. A lance is too long; you can't feel your opponent's breathing up close."
Anies sat in a chair while the squires rested. They had warmed up by running through the forms; now he had to have them spar with swords.
"This time is sparring practice. Begin sparring with the partner you ran the forms with. If you go all out, you'll get hurt, so spar using only 70 percent of your strength. Understood?"
"Yes—"
"Hm. Good voices. Begin."
Sir Anies had said 70 percent, but Rafin thought that if he did that, it might be too much for Rewad. He decided to hold back his strength enough that Rewad wouldn't get hurt.
After crossing blades with Rafin for a moment, Rewad could feel that Rafin's skill was far above his own. He had needed all his concentration just to run the attack and defense forms with Rafin, but Rafin's face showed ease.
"Rafin, come at me. Don't go too easy on me."
Rafin grinned at Rewad's words.
Rafin made a vertical sword strike. It was at a speed that could easily be blocked. Rewad blocked Rafin's attack.
Rafin had taken the force out of his attacks, but he followed up immediately with a string of them. He kept the speed of each attack slow, but since he attacked continuously without pause, defending became harder and harder for Rewad.
Sensing that Rewad was struggling against his attacks, Rafin stopped attacking. Then he beckoned Rewad to come at him this time.
Rewad attacked with 70 percent of his strength, as Sir Anies had said. Rafin blocked Rewad's attacks with ease. Rewad had spent a lot of strength defending against Rafin's attacks a moment ago, so the speed of his attacks was steadily dropping.
"Rewad, you all right?"
Rewad was worn out and panting for breath.
Anies was watching how tired Rewad looked.
"Rewad, Rafin is too much for you."
"No, he isn't—"
Rewad shouted loudly.
"What do you mean, no? Anyone can see it at a glance. I'd better move around a little myself. Rewad, switch with me."