Chapter 4: Master-at-Arms

Dinner was served at 8:00 PM, by that time all the candles and torches of the castle were lit to illuminate the rooms and corridors without any problem. To tell the truth, they had nothing to envy to the electric light of my old world.

At the big table full of chairs and silver goblets, only me, mom, Alda and nobody else were seated. Gonzalo ate with the rest of the intellectuals in a separate room and Sora could only eat when the family members left the picnic area.

Such were the rules of etiquette and as much as I wanted to eat next to Sora, things could not change.

"I guess the other chairs are for honored guests?"

Today's menu consisted of wild boar meat hunted during yesterday afternoon, pieces of freshly baked bread and white rice grown in the paddy fields located just outside the castle. Everything was locally produced and of the highest quality, with no preservatives or anything modern.

Even so, it took me a while to get used to the dry and hard taste that food had in these parts.

Going from thin cuts to old-fashioned cooked pieces of meat was a cultural shock that I will probably never get used to. Oh, how I missed my carnitas asadas.

“Family, may I have your attention please. “I tapped my spoon on the silver cup that for obvious reasons I couldn't use yet.

“Yes? “Both Mom and Alda stopped eating their food and immediately turned their faces in my direction.

“Now that I have mastered the basics of reading I would like to spend my time doing something productive. Mother, could you get me a master-at-arms, please, I don't want to depend on my men to save my life and at the same time, a king needs to be a master of combat. “As in my past life I refused to be an easy target to kill; after all this new body needed to be trained from scratch.

Losing to my sister in the game was definitely not the reason for this request.

Really, it wasn't...

Well, maybe it did help a little.

“Are you serious, son?! “Mom stood up and almost knocked over the glass of wine that accompanied her food. Alda did the same, but with less effusiveness.

“Are you serious, brother, you're finally going to train with me?”

“Excuse me?”

”Thank heavens, you don't know how happy this news makes me.”

“Is it strange that I want to train? “I questioned, I turned to look at Sora but she just smiled kindly and then I turned my gaze back to mom.

“On the contrary, it was strange that you didn't want to train. You always said that a king should have no need to stain his hands with human blood. I won't lie to you, my son, I seriously feared for your future... We are a martial society and whether we like it or not, the fact that a king or queen of the day is a warrior is an almost indispensable requirement to win the support of the people. After all, who would support a ruler who doesn't fight alongside his own men?”

My mother's explanation brought me a new vision of this society.

That's how things were then, martiality was an important trait to gain the respect of the vassals and to be able to count on them at the time of war.

“I understand, mother, that's why I changed my mind. “I didn't really understand much, but it was better to give mother peace of mind to take that weight off my shoulders.

“Besides, I'm afraid we will be at war in a short time. Our kingdom is a protectorate with few freedoms and the current monarch of Apollo is a very warlike man. By contract our men are obliged to march to war whenever he commands it. “That last I also knew.

Fifty years ago our country lost the Etrica/Apollo Conquest War and as a result we became a puppet state that had to give him almost seventy percent of the feudal production.

And to top it off, we were forced to fight his wars with our own soldiers.

A very disadvantageous position.

“I understand, mother, that's why I need to become a skilled warrior to lead this country when I turn sixteen. “

“My brother will be my partner! “Alda exclaimed, oblivious to the conversation we were having. “I've been training for a whole year now, and since I can't inherit anything I want to become a marshal of the army to bring peace to the people of this kingdom. I'll get it! “

Alda used her fork as if it were a sword, but Mom just gave it a quick glance and returned it to her plate.

“To be a great warrior you must eat the whole plate. Less talk and more food.”

“Oh, whatever you say, Mrs. Girasol.”

“As for you, son. You will have the same teacher as Alda, the legendary Sir Marte Hogan, champion of the last great tournament we held 6 years ago and also the last of the knights who had the full confidence of my late husband. Report at 10:00 AM to the parade ground for your lessons.”

“All Right”

Sir Marte Hogan, was his name related to some warrior god?

In my world, Mars was the Roman God of war, but here I wasn't very well versed in religion and mythology. Bah, I'll check it out later.

We finished dinner after a curious chat with mom, where Alda told her about how we played in the garden and the yummy lemonade Sora made for us. I wanted to chat with her, seeing her standing there silently and not uttering even an approving gesture was making me nervous.

“That's it, I'm going back to my room to read a bit and then go to sleep. “

Becoming a warrior would not be easy at all, especially with a slim and small body like mine.

Before going to sleep I fixed my face in the huge dressing table mirror: red hair was still very strange to me, I used to have it black and this big change was still hard to accept.

“I'll see what to do.”

The next day I showed up after breakfast at the parade ground. I came in a light doublet, black tights and brown boots, the ideal clothes for sports. I would have liked to have tennis shoes and sport shirts, but here I had to make do with this.

The courtyard was an esplanade larger than our garden, around it was a huge warehouse where the reserve armament was kept in case of siege. Further to the back I could locate a new corridor that led to the royal stables, a place where all the horses of the castle were maintained.

The floor was flat, without rocks or obstacles, right in the center lay a small dueling arena without bleachers, but delimited with a wooden fence to emulate the distance in an official tournament.

According to my mother, the wooden bars used during the jousts were kept in the armory and were only placed for cavalry training in the front barracks or here, when the nobility trained in the use of the lance.

“You arrived first, brother, how determined! “Alda arrived in the same clothes as yesterday, except for a little black cloth cap that decorated her tousled head.

“And that cap?”

“I wear it for training, because my head gets very sweaty.”

“It makes sense, wouldn't it be easier to put your hair up?”

“No, I hate to braid my hair, it hurts....”

“Oh, you're one of those who hates braids. “I guess in this world women could hate braiding their hair too; some things never change no matter what dimension you're in.

“Good morning, guys.” Finally our master-at-arms arrived.

“H-H-He's huge," I whispered.

And how could I not react like that?

The guy who was going to train us was 2 meters tall, had short brown hair and a brown skin that reminded me a lot of mine when I was Mexican. This guy's musculature looked like that of a high-performance athlete.

He wore a red tabard over a gambeson without any heraldry, also hanging from his leather belt was a sheathed sword that reached just below his ankle. A heavy weapon for such a human gorilla.

God, I wouldn't want to fight this man, or even cross swords with him. The mere thought of angering this giant gave me chills.

“Sir Marte, good morning! “And as if he were a favorite uncle, Alda quickly ran up to the titan with a big friendly smile. Today will you teach me your best sword techniques?

“You are still very green, little one, today I will teach you how to improve your sword stance. Greetings, your highness, I am glad to have you finally in this parade ground. I will be your teacher in this long, but comforting path of the warrior. “

“Of course, it will be a pleasure to be under your care, Sir Marte Hogan.”

“Just tell me Sir Marte, your highness, it is shorter and besides a King like you should not show so much cordiality to a simple knight like me.”

“Nonsense," I answered seriously. “I may be the King of these lands, but within the parade ground you are the law. If I want to become really strong, I will have to pass the tests without special treatment. I don't want to pretend power, I want to be powerful. “My speech threw him off balance, the giant's smile disappeared for a few moments and then he smiled at me again, but much more naturally than before.

“I see, I don't recognize you, your highness... They said that you would only train for a while so as not to embarrass yourself. I guess the rumors were wrong. Very well, I swear by my title of Master-at-Arms and Royal Guard that both of you will be formidable warriors.”

“I am at your command, mentor. “When I said that last word, the bodyguard's chest swelled with pride.

To receive words of respect from a King must have been a great honor for a knight like him. For speaking of ranks, mine exceeded his by a wide margin.

“Isn't that great, Sir Marte, my brother seems like a really different person.”

Ugh.

There's no way Alda would know about this change, no one in this world seems to have any idea what happened to me when I reincarnated. And to be honest, I had no idea either.

“Let's train! “I exclaimed, while raising my right arm full of energy.