It was a sweltering day, and it had been a sweltering week to the surprise of absolutely no one. The couple of weeks at the height of summer were always a time of heat waves throughout the kingdom. Every year, there were an optimistic few who hoped that this would be the year they were granted reprieve, and every single year, they were left sweaty and disappointed.

  Leon did not mind too much though. Back at his family estate, the temperatures had been higher due to its position so far inland away from the mountains and ocean. Torid thankfully had Lake Titan cooling the city, but it was still in Vanoth, and it was still hot.

  Blocking the greatsword swinging towards his face, he watched droplets of sweat fly off his being, and realized he had grown soft living through the milder Torid summers. Currently, he was sparring against two of his first students, and getting basted in the heat while at it. Both students used greatswords similar to himself, and they had come to him as a duo for his tutelage.

  Ten years back, this weather would have had him outdoors dawn to dusk without bother. These days, though, he was forced to spar entirely topless in the training field, and yet still he was sweating like a pig. Time was a fickle foe indeed.

  As he directed his attacker into his other student, he prepared for their next pass. Vaguely, he was aware of the extra eyes on him, quite a few adventurers were observing his training. It was pleasing to see his reputation having increased since working with Rayne and Syra. Rarely adventuring with unknown companions meant that weeks had gone by since anyone had accused Leon of impropriety.

  Curiously, there was a strange skew in the gender ratio watching him; there were around twice as many women as men for reasons he did not entirely understand. Really, it did not matter, he supposed, he did not care if his future students were male or female. His mother had been a better fighter than his father after all. Doing his best to pay his onlookers no mind, he continued his spar versus his two students.

  Samara and Demetrius were currently discussing their next plan of attack, or perhaps just taking a second to catch a breath in the damnable heat. Demetrius was likewise devoid of a shirt, his darker complexion similarly coated in sweat. Samara was less fortunate, modesty demanding she maintain her clothes, regardless of how sweat-laden they became. Both of them were heaving in gulps of air, the heat exhausting them far faster than his training might.

  Samara said something, and Demetrius replied off-handedly, the both of them laughing and likely wasting another minute on recovery.

  Typically, he would punish them for such an indulgence, if not for the cooling respite he currently found by simply standing still and enjoying the barest breeze. They were two of his finer students, and easier to teach with the similarity in weapons. Both had strong drives to improve and worked well together, even if they could be a tad childish. If he had to tell them one more time to stop making jokes as they flanked him, his sword was going to be breaking some teeth to shut their mouths.

  Looking back to them, he noticed that they had stopped talking. Instead, they rested upon their training swords and watched him with amused expressions.

  A voice rang out behind him and answered the reason for why they had paused. “Such a shame.”

  Turning, he spotted a vaguely familiar girl from the guild approaching him. He was pretty sure he had seen her speaking to Rayne on occasion. The name eluded him, however.

  “What is a shame?” he asked, already preparing himself for a new spar.

  Her eyes roved over him before settling onto his own. “That it’s you connected to that body.” The way she spoke and her expression seemed to hold genuine sorrow over the fact.

  He was not sure how to feel about that. What he could make out was that she had come intending to train. There was a heavy mace held loosely in her grip, a shield at her hip, and her clothing was loose and breathable.

  Deciding the best action would be to ignore the comment, he pressed on. “May I help you with something?” he asked, although he suspected he knew the answer.

  Now that he had decided to take on any and all regardless of talent, new students were almost always welcome, the one exception being those who looked like they might slack off, which she did not. To say he was completely over his aversion to new students was false, but he had been pleasantly surprised by the progress of those who he had begrudgingly accepted.

  “I’m here for lessons. Won’t lie, wasn’t too interested till I saw Rayne’s progress. Can’t be letting Rayne of all people surpass me,” she explained with a smile.

  Her tone underneath may have been jovial, but there was also just the slightest hint of truth. Frankly, it had been the most respectable answer he had received so far. Not wanting Rayne to be stronger than you was something Leon understood very well.

  Turning his head, he looked to the two students he was currently sparring. Demetrius gave him a small nod with an amused grin, while Samara had two thumbs up and a goofy smile on her face. Scanning the field, he tried to see if any other of his students were around. Quite a few of his onlookers awkwardly looked away when their eyes met, but he did not recognize any of them.

  Returning his attention back to his newest student, he accepted. “Very well, it’s a silver per lesson.” While originally he had planned charging on a weekly basis, he had found that few students were willing to train so rigorously so regularly, and Rayne had suggested he switch to a per session model of payment. Technically, he made less than if he charged for a whole week, but it also allowed him far more flexibility for missions.

  The girl before him produced three silver and dropped it into his hand. At his curious expression, she jabbed a thumb over her shoulder towards two meek looking men who were nervously pacing around one another.

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  “The training’s mostly for them,” she explained. Turning back, she yelled at the men. “Benji, Bob, get over here!”

  Quickly, the two boys jogged over; one was quite a bit taller than Leon and lanky, while the other was shorter than the girl and more square shaped. It was a strange contrast.

  The tall one spoke first. “We really gotta do this, Lili? You were the one who wanted the training.”

  The woman—Lili, he supposed her name was—scowled at the tall man. A small pink hue dusted her cheeks. “And how long do you two wanna keep me in bronze-tier, huh? If I’m getting stronger, then you bet your asses you two are as well.”

  The boys groaned, but stood up straighter. It was clear that they respected Lili, which meant that hopefully they would give it their all in training. It was an encouraging start.

  “Right, normally we start with a duel so that I can gauge your weaknesses.” Leon readied himself into his stance while the other three looked to each other in confusion.

  It was the short one who eventually asked the question. “Who’s first?”

  Leon smiled at the question. Behind him, he could hear Samara laughing, and just the tiniest laughter from Demetrius.

  “It is fine, just come at me altogether.”

  Lili adapted immediately and got into stance, while the boys seemed more hesitant, but did shift their feet and bring up their weapons to match their leader.

  That first glance at their stance and how they held their weapons was all Leon really needed to see to gauge them. The boys, Benji and Bob, were fairly typical among those he had taught so far. An obviously self-taught style built off whatever they had first tried, probably during initiation, tempered by a touch of militia training. They held their weapons clumsily, and had death grips on their shields which quivered slightly as they watched warily overtop them, their eyes lacking confidence.

  Lili was a different story; her stance was an actual standard stance for guards. She held her weapon and shield with firm grips, and her eyes shone with intent. It was clear she had had previous lessons under someone.

  Leon would still go through with the fight though. He had found it was better to show his students their weakness early and establish his credentials. Sometimes, those with wounded egos would back out of the training, but then he did not want those who could not handle loss, those ones would never learn. He himself had never beaten any of his instructors after all, and the memories brought a nostalgic smile to his face.

  Evidently, Lili was not a fan of his reminiscing, and she charged forward first while the other two circled around him. “Don’t complain when that smug smirk is wiped off your face, knight boy.”

  Leon easily dodged back from the mace swinging towards his face.

  Why does everyone here insist on talking mid-fight? He pondered as he lightly slashed at the tall one circling his right side. The man gave ground without any struggle as Lili continued to push Leon. Without the encirclement though, her attacks were easily evaded.

  Presumably, this was their team formation. Lili would charge in to engage the foe while the other two encircled them and kept them in place. It was a fine tactic, but it was ruined by the cowardice of the two men. Perhaps against lesser foes, they could keep up the shield, against a stronger foe, however, it seemed they folded easily.

  Returning his attention to the fight, he chose to block the next swing of Lili’s mace. The mace smashed into his greatsword with an impressive amount of force, so much in fact that he was forced to use his left hand to brace the sword against her attack as he realized she had used the Strong Arm skill. Why had Rayne kept such a student from him for so long?

  Choosing not to activate his own Strong Arm skill, he allowed her to keep him pinned. So long as she was only using one hand to attack, he could easily hold it off with both hands even without the skill. He was pleased when she jabbed at him with her shield and kicked at his shins. Few people realized that their entire person was a weapon to be used.

  Allowing himself to bear the brunt of the minor attacks, he remained pinned until the short man finished circling around and stabbed towards Leon’s back. Dropping his sword entirely, he stepped to the side, allowing the sudden lack of resistance to bowl Lili forwards right into the lunge of her companion.

  To their credit, they managed to avoid accidentally skewering each other through the collision, but it still knocked them out of the fight for a few seconds. Leon used this time to rush towards their tall teammate.

  The man raised his shield to his chest, and brought their sword to the fore and ready to slash at Leon. It was surprisingly good form, which meant Lili had likely drilled it into them. If this was their formation, then it made sense she had prepared them for if a monster charged after them. Leon was no monster, though.

  He dodged the sword swing towards his torso by ducking low. Grabbing the underside of the man’s shield, he slammed it up into the man’s chin. In his moment of daze, Leon quickly jabbed a fist into the man’s stomach, forcing him to drop his sword before Leon stole the shield for himself.

  Footsteps coming from behind had him quickly turning around and bringing his shield up with both hands to block the overhead mace swing coming for his head, he made sure to give the disarmed man behind him a strong donkey kick. The shield strained under the pressure of the mace, but held. Hopefully, he would not be held responsible for replacing it should it break.

  Rather than entertain Lili again, Leon threw his arms to the side and directed her attack to the ground. When Lili stumbled forward, he brought the shield back up, and slammed its rim into the base of her neck, crumpling her onto the ground.

  Throwing the shield to the side, Leon stalked towards the last standing member. The short man watched him with wide eyes, before dropping his sword and shield, and holding his hands high.

  “I surrender,” he exclaimed.

  Leon did not stop approaching. “Are you Bob or Benji?” he asked.

  The man quailed under the question. “Benji,” he answered.

  Leon placed a hand on Benji’s shoulder. “Apologies, Benji, you will not learn if I go easy on you.”

  Throwing a punch into Benji’s stomach had the rotund man keeling over. As Leon walked over and picked up his greatsword, he watched as the three-person team slowly collected themselves off the ground.

  They were not the most useless adventurers who had come to him, Lili was actually quite good all things considered. The fact they worked cohesively as a team was also well above what some of the other teams had shown him. There were improvements needed, though, improvements that might very well save their lives one day.

  “Today we shall work on your formation. We will keep sparing until you can successfully ensnare me. Any objections?”

  Having barely just recovered their equipment, the two men both raised their hands. Lili, however, was already in stance and ready to start.

  “Good, let’s begin then.” Leon lunged forward as Benji and Bob hurriedly got into stance.