Chapter 59: Self Defense
The next morning William decided that he had to learn how to defend himself; that it had become a necessity.
So after breakfast, he headed for the training grounds to meet up with Oswin.
"Good morning Oswin!" He greeted him after getting to their meeting place. To which Oswin simply nodded and said.
"Ready?"
"Yup, though I want to do something different today."
Oswin slightly raised one of his eyebrows before he asked.
"Such as?"
"I want to learn how to defend myself, I can't always rely on guards to save me."
After getting looked at for a few moments by Oswin, he finally got a response.
"About time. Let's go." Oswin stated before he turned around and left.
William looked on at his leaving figure and sighed as he thought.
'What's wrong with the two or four-word answers? Will it kill him if he talked normally?' Before he followed him.
They made their way to the sparring section of the training grounds, next to which was a table filled with a variety of wooden and blunt weapons, from short and long swords to spears to daggers and much more, all having one thing in common; being that they were all short to medium-range weapons.
Ranged weapons had their own specialized training area.
After they reached the place, Oswin turned towards William and asked.
"What did you have in mind?"
William thought about it for a few moments before he replied.
"I want something relatively light, easy to use and carry around."
Hearing this, Oswin took a moment to think before he moved to the table holding the training weapons and picked up a wooden dagger.
"A dagger is the lightest weapon there is, easy to carry and conceal and makes for a good last defense; Though it requires extensive training to be proficient in its use."
It did not take long for William to shake his head as he spoke.
"Though the dagger is tempting, its extremely short range will mean that I have to get very close to my enemy to use it which will put me in extreme danger."
Oswin simply put the wooden dagger down and moved to a wooden short sword, which he picked up as well.
"The short sword I believe is a good candidate considering your criteria. Considering your current physical condition I believe that with some training you could use it without hurting yourself."
This time William thought about it for much longer before he nodded.
"This could work, it has an adequate reach and is not too heavy. I think I will give it a shot and see what happens."
Oswin nodded and gave the wooden short sword to William.
"I will not be the one to train you in handling the weapon, I have many duties to attend to and you are required to learn the basics first which any competent guard can teach you."
William nodded, he understood that all the training he had until now with Oswin could have been done by anyone else; the only reason this happened was that he was the son of the marquis.
Oswin's personal tutelage would only be valuable once William learned all the basics and moved on to more advanced stages of handling his weapon of choice with some proficiency, something that would require a very long time to come to fruition.
"I will stay with you for this training session, but starting tomorrow someone else will be instructed to meet you here for further training." Oswin stated before he started his "Lecture".
"A weapon is nothing more than a tool, it could be used for anything, from taking someone's life all the way to peeling fruit. The difference is made by the user of said weapon and what they wish to accomplish with it."
William just listened and nodded.
"The good news is that training your swordsmanship will also train your physic, so for the first stage you will have to learn the stances, this will include how to hold your weapon, how to swing it, and how to position your body while doing it."
Oswin, went ahead and picked another wooden short sword identical to the one given to William, and stood near him.
"Now, watch carefully and try to emulate my movements," Oswin said as he positioned himself in a stance. He started by putting his right leg forwards while thrusting his sword-wielding hand forward at a parallel line with the ground staying as straight as he could.
"This is a thrust, the point of which is to close the distance between your weapon and your opponent to either inflict damage, prevent them from attacking, or to force them to move away."
William observed Oswin's movements and tried to replicate them as best as he could.
'Alright, right leg forward, thrust with the sword and keep my hand as straight as I can.' He thought as he executed the movement.
Oswin came near William and patted his back, "Back straight!"
Then he held his shoulders, "Just because this is training does not mean you don't have to use your strength, now tense your shoulders a bit a use the power they provide you."
"Now try again!"
William did just that and tried again, this time with more power behind his thrust of the wooden sword.
"Bend your knee a bit more and don't space your legs so much that you compromise your balance. Again!"
William once more tried again, attempting to keep in mind all the things he had been told so far.
"You forgot your back, it's slightly bent forward, I said straight. Again!"
And so it went on for hours, as William was reminded once more as to why he disliked, and probably will forever will, physical training.
Around eleven in the morning, William had finished his morning exercise and was lying on the ground; his legs hurt, his arms hurt; his back was in so much pain, overall he had a very bad time.
Oswin had just left the training grounds, leaving him in his current state with not even a "good training session" or "Do you need some help", the guy just turned around and left.
'What the hell? This guy taught me nothing but to thrust over and over again for the whole session. What is this, the karate kids movies?" William thought.
He waited for a while until he had bought some of his breath, then struggled back on his feet, something that took an embarrassingly long time.
After this, he slowly made his way back to the castle, then headed for his bed chambers.
On the way back he thankfully met Laura, who upon seeing him in his current state, quickly offered to help him back.
"My lord, what happened to you?" She asked as she let him put his arm around her shoulder for some support.
"Nothing Laura just a particularly rough morning. Just help me with the stairs then tell someone to fetch some hot water, I needed a hot bath ASAP"
Laura nodded in confirmation; even though she had no idea what ASAP meant.
About half an hour later, William was sitting in his hot water bath, a scented piece of soap in his hand as he relaxed and scrubbed himself clean of the dirt and exhaustion.
"My first creation in this world and your already pulling your weight around, I wonder how much benefits will you bring me, little fellow." He said as he looked at the soap in his hand with a slight smile plastered on his face.
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