Chapter 15: Elven Knights
In the morning, after leaving the castle,I made my way through the camp of the elven knights. I wanted to take a look at the streets outside the castle.
Mother rarely allowed me to leave the castle until I turned ten years old, and after that, I had no time to leave the castle myself since I started my ranger training.
I looked at the clean streets filled with elves, beautiful houses, and craftsmen working in their shops, while lively elf children played around.
But those houses and shops looked too ordinary to be this close to the castle, and the clothes elves wore were cheap because the last war had nearly wiped out the elven race. We lost not only our soldiers but also our craftsmen.
Some of the elves who recognized me offered me some souvenirs, even though they were poor and only had enough to feed themselves.
"My prince, have an apple."
"Thank you," I smiled at the kind elven woman as I took the apple.
"My prince, here is some freshly baked bread with honey." I accepted her kindness.
"Prince, prince, come and play with us! We are playing tag." Elven children invited me to play with them.
"No."
"Huh...""Wha...""who..."
After passing dozens of streets, what welcomed me wasn't the elves that lived in this part of the city, but complete silence.
There were no elves living here, not because this part of the city was cursed or there was disease, but because there were not enough elves to live in those houses or work in the shops.
The elven city was built to house up to a million elves, but over the years, our numbers dwindled to just one hundred thousand because all the other races were hunting elves or waging war against them just because they wanted to.
Our numbers dwindled further three centuries ago, when humans attacked us directly, crippling us and leaving only about ten thousand elves.
But they will pay for it, each and every one of them. I will build an eternal elven empire on their bones and flesh.
[Arben Echad] (Knight Camp)
After entering the camp, I made my way to the training grounds. As I stood before the doors of the training grounds, I nodded in greeting to the elven guards as they opened the doors for me.
The elven knights wore black and red full-plate armor with a helmet that completely covered their heads. The helmet had a long piece of armor that reached from the cheeks to over the head, which was intended to protect the ears. They also wore a red cloak.
[IMAGE]
"MOVE, SOLDIER! YOU ARE NOT HERE TO LAZE AROUND, YOU'RE HERE TO TRAIN TO PROTECT YOUR BRETHREN!
Right after the doors opened, a loud shout reached my ears. I looked ahead and saw a bunch of elves sparring with each other, while a tall woman stood on the sidelines, yelling at them.
I stood against the wall of the training ground, not wanting to disturb the apprentice knights training, and observed them in silence.
Knight General Naesala is a tall, muscular woman with golden-red armor that matches her beautiful red hair and bright golden eyes. Her body is covered in battle scars. She also has scars on her face, but instead of making her ugly, these scars add charm to her, especially the long scar on her left eye, from which she is blind.
[IMAGE]
"SWING YOUR SWORD TO KILL YOUR ENEMY, NOT TO GIVE THEM A LOVE TAP," she yelled at the apprentice knights, as one of them approached her side and whispered in her ear.
"General, the prince is here he is requesting an audience with you."
Thanks to my extraordinary hearing, I could hear what the knight was whispering to her.
"IF I SEE ANY OF YOU SLACKING OFF, YOU WILL BE MY NEXT SPARRING PARTNER. MAY THE GODDESS HAVE MERCY ON YOU, BECAUSE YOU WON'T BE GETTING ANY MERCY FROM ME."
She waved her hand at the knight and turned to walk towards me as she shouted at the apprentice knights one last time.
"Well, well, if it isn't the little prince. What are you doing here,'my prince'? Did you come here to play with swords?"
She said it with a mocking smile on her lips as she looked down at me. But I didn't let her words and actions offend me because, to her, I'm just a child abusing my authority to waste her time while she is a knight general with a hundred battles under her belt and she is also the commander of the kingdom's largest army.
She also hasn't heard about my first hunt and now that she's not shouting, her voice sounds like a beautiful melody.
"I'm here to learn swordsmanship from you, General, for you are the most powerful knight in the kingdom."
"Listen, mommy's boy, being a knight is nothing like sitting on your mother's lap. I can't have you interrupting my knight's training. Elven knights hold the most important position in the kingdom. Every single soldier here trains to protect the kingdom with their lives," she said with a serious tone.
She disrespected me with the way she addressed me, but there is nothing I can do other than punish her using my authority as prince. But that will make her less loyal to me.
I will bend her to my will with my own power so that she will be loyal to me first and then to the kingdom.
"I'm well aware of what knights mean to the kingdom, General. I'm not here to delay or interfere with their training, but to prepare for the future. I'm not here to train because I want to, but because I must train."
"You are a stubborn one," she said as she stood behind me and put her hands on my shoulders.
"Knights train every day when the sun first shines on the realm until the moon takes its place. They train in scorching heat, heavy rain and freezing cold. Being a knight requires discipline, patience, willpower and an unbreakable body. You must be prepared to be killed or kill without hesitation to save the lives of our brethren. Do you have what it takes to be a knight, young prince? Can you give your life for one of ours without hesitation?"
she said as she increased the pressure of her hands on my shoulder, probably to intimidate and discourage me.
"Test me, General. See for yourself if I'm fit to be a knight."
"But I am already testing you, young prince. You have passed the test of willpower by not giving up after I told you what it takes to be a knight, and you have passed the test of an unbreakable body by not moving under the pressure I put on you. Follow me," she said as she took her hand away from my shoulders and walked towards the apprentice knights who were sparring with each other.
"YOU CAME HERE."
After watching them for a moment, she called out to one of the apprentice knights.
"GENERAL, PRINCE"
Shouted the apprentice knight as he called out our titles. Naesala glanced at me to see my reaction as the apprentice knight called her title first and not mine. This clearly showed that the knights were loyal to her first and then to the royal family.
But it didn't matter if they were loyal to her first, because sooner or later she would be mine. While they obeyed her, she would obey me, or I would make them obey me.
"This one has been training for about two decades. He is our youngest knight. Defeat him and you can take your place among them, Prince."
I nodded and made my way to one of the mini-arenas, which was large enough to hold only three or four elves. I picked up a wooden sword that was twice my size, right next to the arena.
The arenas were built in a corner of the knights' camp so that the knights could spar without disturbing other knights training.
When I entered one of the arenas, the other knights stopped their training and circled the arena to watch me spar.
"'Sigh' He hasn't even been here a day and he's already disrupting my knight's training," Naesala said with a sigh, shaking her head when she saw that all the knights had stopped their sparring.
"Don't hold back just because he's the prince, or I'll take his place in the arena and I won't hold back," she warned the knight I was sparring with, grabbing him by the back of the neck.
"'Gulp', Y... Yes, General," he said, stuttering and with pain on his face.
"BEGIN!"
Naesala shouted, signaling us to begin training after he entered the arena.
But before I could jump, Knight swung his wooden sword at my head. I held up my forearm to block it. It looks like he used all his strength because when his wooden sword hit my forearm, it shattered, giving me the opportunity to grab his wrist and pull him towards me. After pulling him towards me, I headbutted him in the forehead, knocking him out and sending him flying out of the arena.
I left the arena and walked towards Naesala while the knights watching were still trying to process what had happened.
"You've earned the right to train with me alone, prince. Don't be happy too soon, for I will try to break you every day so that you can be reborn stronger than ever. Or you can just give up. Come, I'll show you to your quarters."
She said and walked towards the barracks, where the knights are usually staying.
"I will be sleeping with you, General," I said and went to the Tower of the Knights, where she lived alone as a Knight General, just like Sylvanas, who is also a General and has her own tower.
"You won't stay with me, let alone sleep with me, prince you-"
I ignored her when she started to protest and entered the general's tower to see where I would be staying from now until the end of my training.
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{A/N:1.7k words cola and fortnite YIPPE}
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