Chapter 103
After the punishment execution of Darren, the Torlot Fortress seemed to stand upright.
The soldiers weren't doing any mistakes in executing their works, and the knights were practicing very hard.
However, after 10 days it all slowly began to change.
It was because of the mental state and the physical traits of the troops, it turned into a mess once again.
They thought that Luke would be burning with pa.s.sion and motivation.
However, after he would realize the harsh environment and the reality of the fortress working, the troops believed that he too would be quietly stuck in the commander's room like the former one.
Gradually, the att.i.tude of the troops regarding works changed, they were distracted and the matter soon went to Luke.
"Haa, once a trash always a trash."
Philip looked at the fortress in the morning light and sighed.
"Well, I am disappointed with this, but." Said Luke.
"The problem is with the knights. If only they decided to bend their bodies and work, the soldiers would surely follow." Said Philip.
In the Torlot Fortress, the 7th Knights Division had around 50 knights and around 70 apprentices.
Most of the knights were either n.o.bles or wealthy merchants and they were all liable to privilege treatment.
In addition, after the several breakdowns of the troops, they were busy keeping the body rather than working diligently.
As a result, the trainings were all behind the scenes, and the only thing that was going in their heads was how to be discharged safely or be transferred to another unit.
And it wasn't easy for the officers and the soldiers who were underneath the leaders.
And there were quite a number of wizards in the fortress.
However, their number was rather small when compared to the troops, and had no effect on the soldiers, and they were used only to repair the Gigants.
"But, Lord, what are doing?"
Philip asked Luke who was stroking the metal sh.e.l.l on the necklace.
It was the guardian pendant which had Reina's hair in it.
"Just, just looking to see what kind of power is in here." Responded Luke.
"Power?" Asked Philip.
"Yeah, there is something. It might be a little tough for you to understand."
Before meeting Erwin, Luke stared at the guardian pendant several times.
However, it was only on the day that he was leaving Reina, he could feel it, and later was the time when it responded to Erwin's mana, the special power that could be felt from that pendant.
He too tried to stimulate mana just like Erwin did, however, there was no response.
There was one thing Luke understood.
'The curse wave of the dark magic on the body has turned weak since the moment I put this guardian pendant on me.'
There was always that nasty curse that triggered in the most critical moment, putting the life of Luke's at risk.
But despite the fact that the battle with Erwin was quite daunting, the curse didn't activate.
'Was Reina born with the power that exists in here?'
It couldn't be known right away.
In any case, it was certain that there was something special about her.
Otherwise, there was no proper reason for the elves to go after her.
"What is Erwin up to these days?" Asked Luke.
"She is just meditating in her room or looking around the fortress. There is nothing special about what she is doing." Responded Philip.
"I'm glad she's keeping her promise.", said Luke.
She had promised not to cause any trouble while accompanying Luke.
And if she had something to do and her ident.i.ty got revealed, it would surely
"Well, let's go back to catching up, what do you say?" Asked Luke.
Luke took the guardian pendant into his hand.
In the past ten days he had been polis.h.i.+ng the administrative officers and made them bring all the doc.u.ments which were necessary to know the status of the fortress.
Among them were the personnel doc.u.ments of the troops.
After looking at the doc.u.ments, he had a rough feel on what had to be dome.
"Should I bring in another one for help?" Asked Luke.
"No, it is alright. This time too, I'm good enough alone." Responded Philip.
Most of the knights and the apprentices were listed, except for those who have gone patrolling or on the guard duty.
However, it was less than half the number who had practiced hard.
Nearly 20 of the knights looked old and were seated in comfortable positions in the shade of the trees.
"Everyone Halt! Gather here!"
At the order from Luke, everyone who was scattered in the parade ground gathered at once.
The figure was around 100 people.
"Do you guys hate to practice?" Asked Luke.
For the knights, fencing was a duty, not a choice.
As the individual's skills developed, the fighting power of the unit increased, so knights in the units were allocated their training time separately.
As Luke asked them the question, one knight raised his hand and asked,
"Why are you asking such a question?"
"You must be?"
"I am Kaper, the vice-captain."
Kaper was an intermediate Expert, he was the second son of the n.o.ble Malt, who were the Imperial bureaucrats.
He was one of the best person in the fortress, and one of the ten riders.
In some ways, he could be a worse headache than Darren.
Was he the kind of man who believed in the influence of the family and treated his superiors as dogs?
That wasn't the case.
It was because he was so arrogant about his skills, he tended to ignore the others as someone weaker than himself.
Which was why he had chosen that camp.
He was working hard in the camp along with his followers.
"It is you my friend who goes fis.h.i.+ng by the river." Said Luke
"Fis.h.i.+ng you say. I was watching the dynamics of the enemies across the river." Responded Kaper.
The faces of Kaper and his followers changed a little because of the confrontation of Luke.
However, what came next from Luke, made Kaper and his followers' faces had changed.
"Then my friend who was watching the dynamics of the enemy not understand why I asked the question? I guess you aren't that smart. You yourself don't even know what can be found by going to the river."
Kaper's face went hard at the remark from Luke.
No one had ever spoken to him like that.
"Take those words back!" Said Kaper.
"Why? Feeling bad? If so, then show me your skills."
"This, this, this!"
When he saw the sarcasm on Luke's face, his eyes turned red, a thin knight who was close to Kaper moved closer.
The knight who came forward opened his mouth looking at Luke.
"I am the leader of the 1st knights' division, Alex. If I show my skills, I don't have to practice?"
"Yes." Answered Luke.
"Then I will take the challenge. Let's see if you can move the sword as greatly as the whip."
As Alex Came forward, several more knights appeared. Everyone was confident in their skills or had the confidence to take down Luke.
Luke gazed at the number and said,
"It will be bothersome to deal with one after the other, can't you all just come in at once? I don't think that any of you can take me down by coming at me all alone."
'I don't get it, what is with him?' Thought Anna.
Looking at the knights and Luke, Anna just shook her head. It was because the new commander was hurting the pride of the knights.
Usually the commanders consider the knights as the greatest force of the units and the fortress.
And the acts of Luke could easy attract backlash from the knights.
Eventually, the knights couldn't hold onto themselves and burst out.
"Can we all come at you?"
"Yes. Why? You think I can't win?" Said Luke at the question from a knight.
"What kind of stupid words are you speaking!"
The Knights dismissed the words of Luke.
They didn't know how strong Luke was. They did hear about the rumors stating him as a Destroyer, however, how could an individual defeated 100 knights?
More than half of the 100 were apprentices, however, there were more than 20 knights who had reached Expert level.
"Nice. If you are confident about winning over me, and you guys end up losing, you need to swear that you would never disobey my orders." Said Luke.
"Huh, understood. Instead, if we win, you don't have to care whether we practice or not." Said the knight.
And thus, the battle between Luke and the knights had been established.
Rather than just confrontation, the wizards were called upon for the mana notarization contract.
'Huhuhu, I'll make you all cry tears of blood.'
Luke thought to himself upon accepting the contract terms.
Luke knew that establis.h.i.+ng the discipline of the knights could only be done by overpowering them with his skills.
Which was why he deliberately provoked the knights.
And even if it was Luke, it was surely difficult to deal with 100 knights all by himself.
Especially, it was because he couldn't carelessly use his dark magic.
However, he was confident.
There were the absorbed abilities of the demons, skills which didn't show any change in the appearance.
Luke was confident to win against over 100 of them.
"Then, let's start." Said Luke.