Sheze invited me over to his estate again. I thought he meant for training, so I came over and dressed as a man to avoid accidentally being as a woman. Even though I wanted to train myself, I wanted my parents to at least not hear rumors that their daughter had been going around and playing with dangerous weaponry.

"Lilian, I invited you over to come and play as yourself," Sheze said with a sigh.

"I thought we would be training again. Does it not suit me?" I asked.

This time I even tied my hair high up into a high ponytail.

"You are so charming either way, but I prefer seeing you in women's clothing...I get to see various things jiggle," Sheze answered seriously.

This pervert...

"Can I at least see how your Knights practice?" I asked.

"Of course," Sheze answered me.

He soon took me to the training grounds. There was a large open field with both men and women with long swords. The Knights had paired off and had begun training with one another. I was quite surprised by how fierce their training sessions were. It really looked as if they were aiming for each other's necks.

"Greetings, Duke," a somewhat elderly Knight said as he greeted Sheze. "I see that you have brought a guest. It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Hertil Bengal."

"His name is Lil," Sheze said as he introduced me. "Our fathers were acquainted back in the day."

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Sir Hertil. I am Lil," I said politely. "I am here for a learning experience."

Sir Hertil smiled reassuringly at me.

"A learning experience like this is best done with hands on experience. How about you practice with a sparring partner?" Sir Hertil suggested.

"Yes, if you would please," I said as I lowered my head politely.

Sir Hertil suddenly clapped his hands and gathered the Knights.

"Let's all rest for a few minutes," Sir Hertil told the others.

He then brought a large muscular man to me who was drenched in sweat and had a bright smile.

"Who is this?" the man asked.

"This is Sir Lil. The Duke brought him to witness some of our training methods. Sir Lil, this man is our exercise genius Sir Phil. I hope that he will be of use to you, Sir Lil," Sir Hertil said as he left us alone.

Sir Phil examines me deeply with his eyes and then suddenly took my hand and pulled my sleeves down.

"What are you..." I tried asking as he suddenly began massaging my upper arms.

"I am looking at your muscles. Your skin is quite elastic and incredibly soft like a newborn baby's skin," Sir Phil said as he squatted in front of me. He soon began curiously feeling up my thighs. "I have never seen a person so soft before. Do you even have muscles?"

I was trembling slightly as he continued touching me in odd places and tried resisting accidentally kicking him.

"...Are you done yet?" I asked him.

"I am done," Sir Phil said as he released me. "I get a clear understanding of how your muscles are now...If I did not know you were a man, I would have thought you were a woman."

I am a woman...

"I would like to learn about how to better my muscles," I said.

"Mostly eating well and exercising regularly, but it does not seem like you will grow much taller...With your height, I think it would be difficult for you to overtake your opponent in a battle if they are much bigger than you," Sir Phil said.

"How can I overtake my opponent?" I asked.

"I think it would be suitable to learn some self defense moves that are taught to women. Public Safety teaches young women to aim for the most vulnerable parts of a man which are the eyes, nose, throat, and groin," Sir Phil explained.

That sounds incredibly painful...

"In a fight, all is fair, yes?" I asked.

"Knights typically do not use those moves, but I was quite the underground fighter back in my day...I was taught that nearly anything could be made into a weapon as well. If you do not have a weapon, you could always make one out of a rock and some string or cloth. Sling it and thrust downwards at your target," Sir Phil said.

"Should you be teaching me such things?" I asked worriedly.

"Your body is too soft. I fear that one hit is enough to take you down. The most important part of a fight is avoiding one. The second is staying alive. How about practicing some groin kicks?" Sir Phil suggested suddenly.

"Groin kicks?!" I asked.

"If someone comes at you from the front, you can paralyze them immediately. Stabilize yourself as best as you can, lift your dominant leg off of the ground and drive your knee upwards," Sir Phil said as he showed me the motions with his body. "Extend your dominant leg, drive hips forward, slightly lean back, and kick forcefully, making contact between your lower shin or ball of your foot and the attacker's groin area. If you are too close, thrust your knee toward their groin, but make sure you're stabilized to not risk falling over."

Was he planning on making me a killing machine?

"I get the motions...Is this really what is taught in self defense classes?" I asked.

Sir Phil took a defensive position in front of me.

"Come aim at me!" Sir Phil said enthusiastically.

I shook my head violently.

"No, no...What if I accidentally hurt you?" I asked.

"I will be fine! I have trained my body well," Sir Phil said with a bright smile.

I took a few steps back and stabilized myself before executing the motions.

Sir Phil caught my leg just a little ways before I hit him in his groin area. Even though he was laughing, his expression was a bit pale almost as if his life flashed before his eyes.

"Sir Lil has quite the fast learner...I do not think you need anymore tips on that. You can use heel palm strikes to cause damage to your opponent. It literally consists of using the palm of dominant hand to aim for the nose, underneath the chin, and jabbing upward at the throat," Sir Phil said as he got me to go through the motions myself. "That's it...Make sure to recoil your strike. Pulling your arm back quickly will help thrust the opponent's head up and back."

"I think I get it now," I said.

"Depending on how you are standing, you can use a variation of elbow strikes. Lift your elbow to shoulder height," Sir Phil said as he fixed my posture. "Pivot on same-side foot and allow your hips to rotate, creating more momentum into the front part of your elbow when you strike from the front. If you do it from the side, make sure you see the target first. Bring your elbow up and pivot your opposite foot, rotating your hips and turning into the target, making contact with the back part of your elbow."

Sir Phil soon have me a bear hug from the back.

"Sir Phil?" I said embarrassedly.

"I wanted to give you further information on how you can escape from someone who holds you from the back. You should lean forward and then turn into attacker with your elbow when this happens," Sir Phil explained with a bright smile. "It was a demonstration at first...but you are really comfortable to hug. It's almost like hugging a stuffed animal!"

"Pl-Please release me if this is no longer part of the lesson," I said as I tried to break free.

I was too embarrassed to continue in this position.

"Now, that isn't how I taught you to break free," Sir Phil said as he trapped my arms. "You have given me the chance to trap your arms. What will you do now?"

"I...I am not sure," I said nervously.

"You are giving me the chance to take advantage of you as you are thinking," Sir Phil said as he suddenly placed his head over my shoulders and took a deep sniff of my neck. "Your sweat smells oddly sweet for a man."

My body seemed to freeze over when he began sniffing me.

"S-Sir Phil..."

Sir Phil suddenly released me after seeing a dagger fly by his cheek. The one who threw the dagger was Sheze himself. Although Sheze was smiling, he seemed to be seething with anger.

"Lilian, come here," Sheze ordered.

"Y-Yes," I said as I quickly went to his side.

Sheze suddenly lifted me up into his arms.

"You have been practicing a bit too much...You are covered in sweat now," Sheze said.

My sweat was permeating through my clothes. The bindings could now be seen through my clothes. I tried to cover myself with my arms.

"It's soaking through," I said with tears coming out of my eyes.

"All of you bastards should turn around and avoid looking at my Lilian!" Sheze shouted scarily.

The Knights turned their backs towards us.

That is one way to avoid getting looked at...