Aliester sweated as he tried to listen to his surroundings. Calming his erratic heart beats and his whole body, he tried to sense the presence nearby. Though he knew that someone is going to attack, still he could not predict when it will strike.
“From the right.” He thought to himself as he heard the light footsteps that were approaching. Then he felt the gentle breeze from the incoming slash.
With his reflexes, he sidestepped and avoided the blade that was coming down to cut his arm.
“Left...” Drawing his own katana, he deflected another slash aimed towards his left. “He is about to use those strikes…” he mused as he braced himself.
Though blindfolded, the duke was able to parry the slashes when the opponent raised its katana to attempt to deliver a series of strikes.
“Well done Alietser!” Kuroe complimented after the duke managed to complete the drill without getting cut.
Turning to the wizard, she said. “Blaze, you should learn from the others. You need to use your other senses to avoid getting attacked.”
“yes, sensei!” the wizard bowed. Taking the blindfold and putting it on, he took over Aliester’s position.
Muttering to himself, the wizard tried to relax his stance. “Sense the opponent from behind, listen to the rustling of clothes, the sound of metal when the blade is drawn and the vibrations from the floor. I got this!”
They watched as Blaze undergoes the same process the duke had. But unlike Aliester, Blaze had a hard time predicting the attacks. He did manage to avoid the slashes but he was clumsy when he tried countering the strikes.
“If you could not counter, then roll your way out of the opponents strike.” Kuroe tipped but Blaze was not able to follow her advice. Their mentor sighed as she watched the wizard’s struggles. “There is still a lot of room for improvement.”
Then, the bell rang signalling for them to take a short break.
“Finally. Break time! This is the only time I really appreciate the word respite.” Taking off his blindfold, Blaze sighed in relief.
The others chuckled at his sentiment.
“I thought I would get cut again.” He muttered as he examined his arms. Some of his minor cuts had already healed but scars were left as reminders of his poor fighting skills.
“You managed to improve as compared from the last time.” Innocia commented as they took their snacks. “you already have developed muscle mass that had not been there before.”
Being a caster, Blaze was not as well built as the other men. His specialty was spell casting so he did not find a need to train in physical combat.
“I really cannot find any reason why I should be doing this.” Blaze said to the girl. “I am a caster, you know. I really do not need to learn self-defense since I got spells and curses to cast on the enemies.”
“Blaze, although you are a caster, it won’t hurt if you learn other skills to defend yourself. You might not be able to tell… Maybe in the near future, you will get into a situation that you will have to use those fighting skills.”
“Are you speaking from experience?” he asked.
“Well... I was born as a princess but I was not raised in the castle nor was I pampered as a princess. I have to learn the art of ninjutsu and other mundane tasks to survive. So, yes! It is based on my experiences.”
While the two of them were talking, the others joined them outside to enjoy their much needed break.
“I cannot believe that this place exists. It is much nicer here than in the downtown dojo.” Daxton commented.
“I like it here in the mountains.” The king stretched and inhaled a lungful of fresh air. “so refreshing and it reminds me of home.” He said with a nostalgic look on his face.
“If we are only here for a vacation and not for training I would have enjoyed it more.” The wizard sullenly mumbled.
“Don’t be such a party pooper Blaze.“ Innocia bumped his shoulder. “I assure you this training is fun! Most especially if you get to fall on the water during the obstacles.” The girl gave them a devious smirk.
“Water?” the wizard paled a bit. Water is opposite to his favourite element, fire. He was getting a bit uncomfortable at the disadvantage. Aside from that, he never likes swimming in deep bodies of water. “How deep is the lake?”
“About seven fathoms.” The girl grinned while patting the wizard’s back reassuringly. “There are no sharks in there. Don’t worry.”
“That is not really the issue…” The wizard trailed.
“You are not thinking of another prank, are you?” Daxton incised as he narrowed his eyes at the princess. To which the girl only gave a shrug and an innocent smile.
After their break, Kuroe summoned them to the lake.
“Long ago, Ninjas used to train with these obstacle courses in the mountains to hone their stealth, balance and skills in battle.” Kuroe explained as she motioned her hand towards the obstacles set up on the lake. “Although times have change and we do not need to undergo such feats. However, from time to time, we need to train in these obstacles to remember our roots.”
They began the training by tiptoeing on narrow bamboo ledges.
“Lower your hips.” Kuroe snapped. “you need to be fast but maintain your balance and stealth.”
The students complied. After navigating the narrow bridge, they had to scale steep nets made of ropes.
“why do we need to do this? Where are we going to apply this type of skills?” Daxton asked. “I do not remember having this training as a knight.” He grumbled as he climbed the rope net.
“Ninjas train with this as preparation for scaling walls.” Innocia explained.
“Innocia, after this training, are we going to be like the shinobis from Naruto and Boruto?” Conrad questioned referring to the two anime series that the princess made them watch. “It will be cool to actually walk on water.”
“Unfortunately, it would be impossible, your majesty. I tried doing some of those jutsu in this realm but it doesn’t work. But I think if we get back to our realm, we might be able to do those ninja moves.”
Hearing those words, Aliester smiled. Innocia mentioned going back to their realm. It meant that they have hope. The princess will help them in their endeavour to free the Enclave from the clutches of the old hag.
Most of them had scaled the rope net wall.
“That’s good.” Kuroe complimented as she watched her students. “Try to flip over so that your enemies won’t see your silhouette on top.” She instructed. “The next obstacle will be the swinging logs of the rope bridge. Do not make noise.”
“This is hard!” Daxton complained. “how are we going to cross without noise? The logs are bumping against each other once we swing them.”
“allow me.” Innocia volunteered to go first and demonstrated how to cross the rope bridge without making noises.
The boys observed carefully and tried their best to mimic the girl. The knight, the king and the duke were able to cross the bridge without much trouble but the wizard had a hard time with the obstacle.
The fact that Blaze needed to watch his feet and see the large body of water did not help.
“Why does it have to be water?!” he complained as he tried to swing the logs and cross the bridge.
“Don’t be such a sissy!” barked Kuroe. “grow some backbone, Blaze!”
Sweating profusely, the wizard gulped and tried to man up. However he failed miserably when he missed a step and fell on the water.
“One down!” Innocia laughed at their fallen comrade. “He is really bad in outdoor activities.”
Turning to the others who had been watching Blaze, Kuroe snapped. “Shows over! The rest of you proceed to the next obstacle.” She instructed before diving in the water.
She had to help the poor caster was taking quite a bit of time resurfacing.
Although they wanted to help Blaze, they could not do so. They will be reprimanded and punish if they disobey orders. So, Innocia and the rest decided to do the next task which was to practise on mini rafts to cross the lake.
“these are rafts that ninjas used to cross moats.” Innocia explained. “But if ever we get back to Verbana, I will try crossing the moat by coating my feet with mana. I think it will be like the shinobis from Naruto and Boruto.”
“So instead of Chakra, we will have to use mana.” Her cousin added.
“That is right. But right now, we have to settle with these.” Innocia took off. She had to run fast as to prevent herself from sinking with the raft. The others followed her example and managed to complete the whole obstacle course.
On the other hand, Kuroe had retrieved Blaze and managed to get him on the rope bridge.
“Relax your upper body.” She gave him some tips. “The more relax you are, the smoother you move and the more balance you have.”
Though wet from his plunge, Blaze decided to go on with the training. With shaking hands from the cold water, Blaze tried his best to navigate through the suspension bridge.
“My fingers are numb.” He muttered as he grabbed the rope .
When he finally completed the obstacle, Blaze flopped down the grassy bank while the others complimented him for not giving up.
Just then a cellphone rang. Aliester was quick to get the phone from the table and answered the call.
“Who is he talking to?” Innocia asked the others. She noticed that her cousin had been taking her phone lately and had been in contact with someone.
Daxton observed the young duke who was smiling while talking to someone on the phone. “If I bet all the treasures in Verbana, the duke is talking to Kira.”
Innocia’s forehead wrinkled. “Kira? I did not know that those two had grown close.”
“You are really dense with these kinds of things.” The king commented with a hint of frustration in his tone.
“I already warned him not to get attached to the girl. After all we belonged to different realms but he did not take heed.” The wizard joined in. “It will be bad if they fall for each other.”
“This love story is bond for a tragic end.” Daxton sighed. “Such a pity. It had been the first time I have seen Aliester gets smitten by a lady.”
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