Chapter 16

It was now the 16th of April, year 1660. Two months had passed since the Klarwasser Mercenary Company had returned home to Bickenstadt. The men were enjoying their time off, but the Baron and his inner circle, with the exception of Jean who was on assignment repairing and building infrastructure around Bickenstadt, were incredibly bored. Since the Baron’s son was such a good administrator, he and his lieutenants had nothing to do. They were lounging around the reception hall, either napping or reading in their respective places. The Baron recently put in an order for some new books, but so far all the ones he had received had been a bust, mostly extremely boring academic books about topics that were only marginally interesting. Udo slammed his book shut and threw it over his shoulder.

“Guys, I want to fight something. Where can I fight something?”

“Be careful with that. Leather-bound books are very expensive!”

The Baron said without looking up from his book. Hans put down his book and smirked.

“Baron, aren’t you the richest man in the Empire?”

“Just because I have unimaginable riches doesn’t mean I can just throw money down the drain?”

“You just bought a library’s worth of books without checking what they were.”

Helmut dryly commented without looking up from his book. Udo stood up and looked over exasperatedly at Fergus.

“Fergus! Wouldn’t you rather fight something than just sit there reading?!”

Fergus looked up from the book he and Ludwin were sharing.

“Aye wouldnae mind a good fight! But aye’m enjoyin’ this book too!”

Ludwin smiled brightly and looked up.

“It has pictures!”

Fergus crossed his arms and nodded sagely.

“Aye, it has pictures.”

“Ooooooh it has pictures!”

The Baron walked over and sat next to Ludwin and Fergus.

“I DON’T CARE IF IT HAS PICTURES! I WANT TO FIGHT SOMETHING!”

Udo was beginning to get frantic. Hans looked up at him smugly.

“How are you more battle happy than the Berzerkeri? Isn’t fighting his religion or something?”

“Maybe you would be happier if you had a picture book.”

The Baron added even more smugly. Udo sat back down in a huff and downed his glass of wine.

“Why don’t we have a tournament?”

Helmut commented, again without looking up from his book. The Baron perked up.

“Hey, that’s not a bad idea. We could have a friendly tournament where we fight each other. The winner will earn bragging rights. How does that sound to you guys?”

Udo jumped up from his seat and violently nodded his head.

“Great, then that’s what we’re doing.”

“The rest of us haven’t given our opinions yet.”

“Hans, can you honestly tell me you all would rather sit here in dead silence skimming through academic textbooks?”

Hans opened his mouth to respond, but after holding it open for a moment he sat back in his seat and smiled.

“Fair enough.”

Wolfgang stuck a sign made of wood in the ground and began drawing lines with white paint.

“We are going to use a tournament bracket system. We will end with the two ultimate winners fighting each other. The rules are simple, you fight until one of you gives up or until the referee decides you would have died. We will be using wooden weapons for this, so fight as hard as you can. Just try not to kill each other. The first match will be Hans against Ludwin. I will referee.”

Ludwin and Hans took up arms facing each other. They were both wearing their full armor, Ludwin wearing armor similar to what the Baron wears, a plate cuirass with the floofy sleeves and pants of landsknecht, and Hans wearing the standard issue armor of the Grand Imperial Army, a blue gambeson with jackchains and a kettle helm. Ludwin was using a wooden longsword and Hans was using a wooden estoc, about the same length of a longsword, but the blade was much more cylindrical that was made for stabbing over slashing. Ludwin took up his stance, sword held out at an angle in front of him and leaned hard on his back leg. Hans lifted his sword and let it rest on his bicep, tip pointed at Ludwin’s neck. Wolfgang raised his arm and looked to both contestants.

“Are you ready?”

Both fighters wordlessly confirmed and Wolfgang dropped his arm.

“FIGHT!”

Hans began to slowly creep forward as Ludwin stood dead still. Hans took a step forward and stabbed at Ludwin’s neck. As soon as the tip was beginning to move Ludwin stepped forward and ground his sword against Hans’s blade, redirecting his stab to make way for his own. Hans stopped his momentum and cocked his head to the side, barely avoiding the tip of Ludwin’s wooden sword. Hans pulled his sword back and punched Ludwin in the stomach. Ludwin’s armor protected him from the actual impact of the strike, but he was driven back nonetheless. Hans jabbed at the openings in Ludwins armor, which Ludwin deflected with ease.

Ludwin readied himself and struck Han’s blade away with as much force as he could manage, forcing an opening large enough to land a solid kick to his stomach. Hans fell to the ground and immediately rolled back onto his feet, desperately deflecting the flurry of strikes attempting to take advantage of his poor footing. Hans was on the backfoot and Ludwin wanted to end the fight as quickly as he could manage, his stamina reserves were never as vast as his fellow lieutenants and they all knew it. Ludwin could already feel himself slowing down. Hans was very fast, and deflecting his attacks may have been easy individually, but he could throw out so many attacks that it would tire the average person quickly.

Ludwin’s attacks started to become more frantic, but still very calculated. Large, powerful strikes attempting to break through Hans’s guard followed by a flurry of quick controlled strikes where Hans’s guard was weakest. Hans decided to play along, to look like Ludwin was tiring him so he would create an opening in his haste to end their match. As soon as Hans could sense weakness he struck. Ludwin raised his longsword above his head, in his haste to perform a powerstroke he had raised it too high, leaving himself open. Hans lunged at Ludwin, spearing him with his shoulder and tackling him to the ground, straddling him and putting the blade of his wooden sword to Ludwin’s neck.

“Winner is Hans!”

Hans got off Ludwin and offered him his hand, which Ludwin took happily.

“I may not have won, but I did fairly well I think! I was never much of a fighter anyways.”

Helmut patted Ludwin on the shoulder and formed what looked like his first smile ever.

“You did well for yourself. Hans is a bad matchup for you, your fighting styles are similar but he has much more stamina than any of us. However, your performance shows that you have improved greatly since I first met you.”

Ludwin smiled warmly and embraced Helmut.

“Thank you! I’ll continue to work as hard as I can! Soon enough I’ll be able to beat at least one of you!”

Hans put his sword back onto the sword rack and grimaced. He was more tired than he was appeared.

“I’ll be looking forward to it, you’ll probably be able to sooner than you’d think.”

Wolfgang wrote down the winner for the bracket and called out the next match.

“Next up is Helmut vs Fergus!”

Both of them took up their wooden weapons and stood opposed to each other. Helmut stood straight up, his left hand clutching a small parry dagger behind his back and his right hand was holding a rapier in front of his face, the flat of the blade was facing his face. Fergus had his hatchet over his shoulder and was holding his knife just below his pecs in a reverse grip, point facing Helmut.

“When did I commission a wooden trench knife?”

The Baron muttered to himself quietly.

“A what?”

Ludwin asked without taking his eyes off the two opponents.

“Uh, I mean a knuckle knife.”

“Who knows.” Ludwin commented dryly, obviously not even hearing the Baron’s clarification.

Wolfgang raised his arm.

“Are both combatants ready?”

“Aye!”

“Of course.”

“Well then, three...two...one...FIGHT!”

As soon as the first syllable of fight was being said aloud Fergus shot at Helmut like a cannonball, digging out chunks of dirt with each step. Fergus jumped in the air and slammed his hatchet down almost faster than the eye could follow. Helmut cooly flicked his wrist and allowed the hatchet to slide down his blade, parrying and raising his fist for a pommel strike in one smooth motion. Fergus blocked the pommel strike with the knuckles of his knife and balanced on a single leg during his crouch, kicking Helmut in the ankle.

Helmut raised his foot and allowed Fergus’s kick to move his leg back, Fergus’s legs were too short and he was in too much of an awkward stance to do much more than that. Helmut hopped forward and kneed Fergus in the face. Fergus was knocked back and immediately rolled back to his feet, again launching himself at Helmut as soon as he was back up. Helmut dodged Fergus’s swipe at his face and returned with three stabs perfected aimed for his left and right bicep and heart, all of which Fergus blocked with ease. Fergus tried to stay in Helmut’s face as much as possible, not giving him enough room for any fancy rapier techniques.

Their arms were a blur, frantically striking and parrying at each other, finally slowing down as they got tangled in each other’s arms, becoming so entangled in each other's weapons that neither of them could move properly. Fergus jumped up and kicked Helmut with both his legs to separate them. Helmut stumbled back and desperately tried to regain his footing, but eventually fell on his back most ungracefully. Fergus recovered much faster than Helmut could, rolling forward and jumping after Helmut, landing directly on top of him and slamming his axe down next to his head. After a couple of moments Wolfgang raised his voice.

“Uh...Fergus wins by instantkill! Helmut wins by bleedout. Helmut would die first, making Fergus the ultimate winner!”

“Hvað?”

Fergus looked down and saw a dagger pressed against his sternum.

“Helmut pierced your heart when you landed, but you split his skull, so you win.”

Fergus stared at the dagger for a moment and smiled brightly at Helmut, rolling off of him and extending his hand to him.

“Good thinkin’ there! Ya really got meh!”

Helmut grimaced and took his hand

“I suppose in the battle of brawn vs finesse, it is a draw.”

Fergus frowned and started juggling his weapons.

“Aye got plenty finesse! Ludwin look a’ mah finesse!”

As soon as Fergus turned to Ludwin his axe landed directly on his head, eliciting a panicked yowl as he desperately tried to catch his axe again.

“Yes Fergus...very good...finesse...yes.” Ludwin tried in vain to not laugh at Fergus’s gaff, barely getting words out inbetween covering his mouth to hide his smile. Fergus smiled twice as brightly at this and chucked his weapons at the rack, somehow perfectly banking off of the wall to land the weapons in their place, following it up with a loud howl of victory. Whether this was complete luck or skill only the gods would know.

“Aye! Finesse!”

Helmut cooly walked over to Fergus with a smarmy grin.

“Watch this.”

Helmut held his sword up in front of him and took a deep breath, letting go of the sword and spinkicking it, the sword flying to the sword rack and landing snugly in its place.

“Try it with the knife too.”

Ludwin said smugly. Helmut looked to his knife and back at Ludwin.

“I’ll certainly try. If I make this you owe me 10 Reiksgeld.”

“Deal.”

Helmut stared at his knife for a moment and took another deep breath, throwing it up in the air and kicking it at the rack. The knife flew through the air and struck the sword rack with a deafening THWACK! Causing all of the weapons to fall off the rack in a cacophony of sound, ending with his rapier slowly tilting over and falling on top of the pile of practice weapons..

“Oh my, that went about as poorly as it could have.”

Helmut commented as he walked over to clean his mess.

“Ok, the next match is me vs my father. Helmut, toss me a halberd and an arming sword. And a saber for dad.”

Helmut did as asked and went back to returning the weapons to their proper places.

“Ludwin, can you referee for this match?”

Ludwin looked up lazily, leaning slightly on Fergus as they sat on a bench.

“Yeah, sure.”

He got up and brushed the hair out of his eyes.

The Baron assumed his stance, sword arm outstretched and saber pointing to the sky. His off hand in a fist on his hip. Wolfgang put the arming sword into his belt and lifted his halberd above his head, pointing the head of his halberd at the ground. The Baron tilted his head as he studied Wolfgang’s stance, slowly changing styles to something that allowed him to parry the halberd and strike with the saber easier, sword horizontal above his head, his off hand in front of him and perpendicular to his sword.

“Are you both ready?

“Of course.”

“Never better.”

“Alright then. FIGHT!”

Both the Baron and Wolfgang began to inch towards each other. Wolfgang started with a few probing jabs, which the Baron easily batted away with his hand. Wolfgang stabbed at the Baron’s feet and swung his halberd up when he dodged back, hoping to catch him while his torso was slightly forward. The Baron shot straight up and parried with his saber, dodging to the side as Wolfgang brought the head down as soon as he had lifted it enough to do damage as it dropped. The Baron stepped on the shaft to keep it on the ground, but Wolfgang simply jumped forward and kicked the Baron in the chest, putting distance between them. Wolfgang raised his grip on the halberd and started attacking the Baron with quick and wide sweeps, staying just out of range of the Baron's saber. The Baron could sense Wolfgang’s next attack, a horizontal sweep aimed at his chest, and prepared to counter it. Wolfgang chambered his next strike and the Baron crouched down slightly in preparation.

As soon as Wolfgang started to swing the Baron tucked and rolled under the strike, coming up in Wolfgang’s face, grabbing the shaft with one arm and elbowing Wolfgang in the neck with the other, causing him to stumble back and let go of his halberd. The Baron raised his saber to slash at Wolfgang, but as he slashed Wolfgang shot up and grabbed the Baron’s wrist, punching him in the stomach a couple of times before kicking him away and drawing his own sword. Both of them took a moment to assume a fighting stance, both using the classic Imperial dueler’s pose, off hand resting on the hip behind them with their sword vertical in front of them.

The two traded slashes at each other, parrying each with ease and immediately responding with their own. The Baron started to sneak in some quick strikes in between the larger slashes they were exchanging, quickly thrusting and flicking his wrist to tap Wolfgang’s shoulder with the tip. Wolfgang dodged each strike with ease, backing away for a moment and smiling.

“You taught me swordsmanship from a young age, I know all your tricks.”

“Old masters never teach their students everything they know.”

The Baron countered, grinning happily as he dashed forward, stabbing at Wolfgang’s chest with as much power as he could manage. Wolfgang flicked his wrist to parry the Baron’s thrust, but as soon as their swords touched the Baron wrenched his sword around Wolfgang's blade, batting it to the side and slashing his chest in the same motion.

“Superficial wound! Keep fighting.”

Wolfgang cursed and both fighters took a second to catch their breath, falling back into their dueling stances. The Baron could feel Wolfgang’s next move, he was going to hop forward and kick the Baron in the knee, following up with a slash to the exact spot the Baron slashed him. Wolfgang started to execute his plan and the Baron hopped forward at the same time, stomping on the front of Wolfgang’s ankle causing him to fall forwards, right into the Baron’s sword, his neck colliding with the blade of the Baron’s saber. It took everyone a second to process what happened.

“The Baron wins! That was awesome!”

The Baron chucked his saber to Helmut and walked over to the bench Fergus was sitting at.

“It was nothing, just an old man and his tricks. Who is up next?”

Wolfgang took up his chalk and filled out the results of the previous round.

“It looks like it’s Udo against Ludwin, giving Udo his first match and Ludwin a second chance.”

“Do we truly need to go through this song and dance? We all know that Udo is far more skilled than I.”

“It never ‘urts ta get some practice in!”

“I suppose that’s true, maybe you can teach me something, huh Udo?”

Everyone looked around and waited for Udo’s witty response, of which none came.

“Where in god’s name is Udo? This whole tournament was his idea!”

“Well...without Udo we will just have to move on to the final fight, Fergus vs Baron. Is that alright with everyone?”

Everyone shook their heads in unison.

“Good, then Baron, Fergus, grab your weapons and take up your stances.”

Both men took up their weapons and stances.

“Are you sure I can’t catch a quick break? I am getting rather old.”

“If you want to rest then I suggest you end this quickly, father.”

“Aye, stop complainin’, ya big baby! We all know folks leik us age slower than normal! Ya may be in tha tail end a’ yer prime, but that’s still yer prime!”

“50 is nowhere near my prime, but whatever. Alright then, I’ll see what I can do.”

Wolfgang raised his arm and looked to both contestants.

“Are you both ready?”

“Aye.”

“Let’s just get this over with.”

“Alright then...FIGHT!”

Fergus exploded at the Baron, covering the couple of feet in between them in mere seconds. The Baron felt the attack coming, Fergus would strike at his side with the axe and stab him in the neck with his knife.

Hmmm, they said end this quickly, right?

The Baron allowed Fergus’s axe to strike his side, if it was a real axe it would hurt a lot, but if treated quickly he could recover from the wound. Theoretically. The Baron struck out with his saber, striking Fergus’s inner elbow and sliding the saber to his neck. Were the truly fighting such a move would cut off his arm and open his throat. Everyone stood still for a couple of seconds, attempting to understand what just happened.

“Um...the Baron win’s by instant kill. Fergus’s inflicted wound is fixable, the Baron severed an arm and opened his neck...”

Everyone just stared at the Baron, not really knowing what to say.

“What? You said to end it quickly, didn’t you?”

After their quick tournament, the wooden weapons needed to be fixed. Gifted Ones such as the Baron’s inner circle, minus Ludwin, are supernaturally strong, so even when they have friendly games, their weapons are left chipped, weakened, or completely broken. As the Gifted Ones themselves are generally constantly practicing warfare, they often entrust the fixing of their weapons to others. Unfortunately, this can often leave the artisans and blacksmiths overworked as they struggle to keep up with daily practice.

“You know, I wish they would just break their weapons more often, getting weakened weapons back up to working order is harder than you would think.”

Commented a master artisan, Elias Handimanner, to his apprentice and adoptive son, Karl Handimanner.

“They expect you to take weapons near broken, and make them not. It is very difficult work, but it can be done. Though, just between us, sometimes it is extremely hard to fix certain practice weapons, so I just break them. The Baron has deep pockets and he does not hesitate to pay top dollar for good products, and I make excellent products And, in time, gods willing, so will you.”

Karl responded with a beaming smile and opened the door to their workshop.

“Oh, um...occupied?”

The artisans stared in disbelief at what they were seeing. An extremely well built and attractive blond man was lying naked on their workbench. On top of him, a very beautiful maid in a similar state of undress.

“Oh my...do we let them...finish?”

Elias angrily ripped off his apron and threw it at the two nymphomaniacs dirtying his workplace.

“GET YOURSELVES COVERED UP AND GET YOUR ASS OFF MY DESK!”

The blond man quickly grabbed the apron and covered his unmentionables while the maid quickly pulled her dress back up over her breasts.

“UDO! WE’VE TALKED ABOUT THIS!”

“Yeah yeah, if I did this again you would break my weapons and ruin my armor.”

“AND YET!!!!!”

Udo nonchalantly tied the apron around him and walked out of the workshop, his clothes were nowhere to be found.

“And yet I’m still getting laid and you still aren’t, sorry.”

The maid ran out of the room as quickly as she could as Elias started grabbing tools and throwing them at Udo.

“YOU’RE LUCKY THE BARON NEEDS YOU! WRETCH! CRETIN! MANIAC! DEBAUCHED LUNATIC!”

Udo caught a hammer flying at his head and dropped it to the floor, lazily walking out of the workshop as tools flew by him.

"Yeah yeah, that's what they called me in Grossenburg too."

Elias pushed Udo out of his workshop and slammed the door.

"BECAUSE IT'S TRUE!"