Chapter 108
"Oh my, my waist!"
"Kaaah! My shoulders are so sore that I can't even lift my arm."
"I cracked my ribs, ah!"
Knights were all in the hospital.
As many as 100 patients had been admitted.
They were the knights and the apprentices who got beaten up by Luke.
All of them were injured, either small or big.
The ones who had fewer injuries were moved from the rooms quickly, but the ones who were hurt bad had to undergo intensive care for several days.
Among such people was Anna.
She who had tumbled over was lying on the bed and stared at the ceiling.
"Luke de Rakan…"
Descendant of the famous Sword Emperor Rakan, who was known as the Warrior.
She didn't know how great the Warrior was 500 years ago, but the skills of Luke were enough to shake Anna's heart.
‘He is really amazing! A whole new different dimension than a Rune Knight who can use both sword and magic!' Thought Anna.
The first was the punishment given to Darren, Luke's act didn't seem unusual.
However, even if there were apprentices, he defeated 100 knights! With overwhelming force!
And from then, he went onto the fight with Gigants.
A knight from the mercenary who recently moved in and introduced himself as Bison showed his hidden skills, yet Luke overcame that.
That too with just one strike, he took down the whole Gigant.
‘He is that strong and handsome…'
Think about Luke's appearance, her cheeks tainted red, remembering how strong he was, made her eyes s.h.i.+ne.
"Ah, ah, he is viscount?!" Said Anna.
A soldier who approached Anna, for the first time confirmed it was her and said,
"Sir Anna, the commander is looking for you."
"Eht! Me, me?" She asked.
Fl.u.s.tered, she jumped up from her bed.
"Yes, he had asked me to let you know that, he wants you in the office right away."
Anna smiled and left the hospital room.
She didn't understand why the new commander wanted her in his office.
‘Well, I'll know once I go there.' Thought Anna.
She wanted to see him, and it seemed nice that he called for her.
On the way to the fortress headquarters, she adjusted her hair and clothes.
No matter how urgently she had been called, she didn't want to go in front of the new commander with an ugly appearance.
"Salute! Commander, you wanted to see me…?"
Opening the door to the commander's room, her eyes went shocked.
There were familiar faces in the commander's room.
There were 3 knights who were considered good in the 7th division knights of the Northern Army, Alex, and Kaper.
There was the Vice-Captain Kaper, 1st division head Alex, and 3rd division head Hobart.
"Came? Since you have come, have a seat." Said Philip.
Philip pointed to a vacant seat, Anna folded her hands and sat down.
Luke opened his mouth as she took a seat.
"How are all your bodies?" Asked Luke.
"Thanks to your consideration, we have no inconvenience moving around!"
Anna was the one who responded coldly, the rest of them didn't speak and had a blunt expression.
Luke smiled and continued,
"You guys are wondering why I called for you, right?" Asked Luke.
"Yes."
Alex replied on behalf of Kaper who was nodding
"Three days before, on the day of the match, you promised. If I win, you will obey my words." Asked Luke.
The words from Luke immediately changed the expression of the four seated people. It was because they just remembered their promise.
"So, have you called us to receive an oath of allegiance?"
As Kaper asked, Alex held himself back, but Kaper didn't care for it.
"The oath of allegiance… the reason I called you was to make a suggestion regarding it."
"Suggestion?" Asked Kaper.
"You don't have to hate it so much. I am hoping that this offer would be of help to you since, in the end, no one should lose."
And so the lucky Luke got the attention of the people.
"Will you trust me and come under me?" Asked Luke.
‘What kind of dragon stories are you feeding us!?' Thought the others.
The other knights except for Anna were swearing at Luke.
It was because everybody was going to return to their families once discharged.
And Luke was literally asking them to be the retainer of another family?
That would never happen unless someone shot an arrow to their head.
However, their thoughts were shaken at the next words from Luke.
"Once you come under me, I will teach you the Gold Sword."
There was no one from the four people there who didn't know about the legend of the hero Rakan.
The Rakan was a Sword Emperor and the Gold Sword was his own.
In other words, if one learns the skill of Gold Sword, even if the person can't be a Sword Emperor, he is likely to become the Sword Master.
In fact, the Sword Master was born from the knights of Rakan itself.
"That, you really mean that?" Asked Anna.
"Yes. Why would I call you over to lie to you?"
The ones Luke had called for the meeting were the ones with great fencing skills, but their development had been stagnant because of the limitations they faced in the fortress.
Luke was able to understand their skills from the fight three days ago, and their personal records.
‘They are all n.o.bles. However, not all n.o.bles can learn Gold Sword.' Thought Luke.
If a n.o.ble family's fencing was insignificant or was incapable of inviting a good teacher, no matter how much of a n.o.ble he was, he would never improve.
In that sense, in the fortress, they were all learning fencing as a common axis.
However, at such a young age, they were standing out with their swordsmans.h.i.+p and they were also at the level to become an Expert.
And among the four, Kaper had already gone to the Intermediate level. It was inevitable, and they had talent.
‘Surely they aren't like Philip who had graduated from the Royal Military Academy as a senior talent, but he is still outstanding when it comes to talent.'
One of the reasons why Luke had come to the military was to recruit the talented ones.
It was known that young people from all over the empire would come to fulfill their services, and it was likely to find talent.
At the suggestion from Luke, the four of them were facing conflict.
The first person to accept it.
Anna.
"I will do it."
"You made the right decision." Said Luke.
Anna's face went red as Luke spoke to her with a smile, and asked,
"But would it be possible to learn swordsmans.h.i.+p from the commander?"
Luke noticed what she was trying to do, and pointed to Philip.
"It is a bit unfortunate since I am busy with the fortress. Sir Philip will be teaching you the Gold Sword."
"You, you won't be teaching us directly?" Asked Anna.
"He may look daunting, but Sir Philip has graduated from the Royal Military Academy with flying colors. An Expert in fencing. Aren't those qualifications enough to teach the Gold Sword?"
At the words from Luke, Anna's eyes changed along with the others and looked at Philip.
Until recently he looked like a normal man, but now they were all looking at Philip on a whole new level.
That too, a win-win.
Philip who wasn't much older or younger than them.
"I too will do it."
"Me too…"
"Phew, it is an attractive offer that is hard to refuse."
Eventually, they hesitated but soon decided to become the retainers for Luke.
In fact, they weren't the first in line or the fittest in the family, so even after being discharged, they would inherit nothing from their families.
At best, they would be turned into retainers to support their own elder siblings, or they will have to come out of the family and pave their own way.
Therefore, they didn't miss the chance to become stronger and better.
"Thank you. The decision that you have taken today, I will make sure that you'll never regret it."
After those words, Luke added something more meaningful,
"Well, you might regret the process though."
"…!"
The bunch looked over at Philip, who had a wicked look.
They had unknowingly got themselves into the trap of the most vicious teaching a.s.sistant by accepting to train below him. And they took the fall without even knowing anything about him.