Once Upon The Life of The Wise King

The First Prince's Sword Training

ONCE UPON THE LIF OF THE WISE KING

Volume 1

The Birth of the Wise King

Chapter 6 - The First Prince's Sword Training

The people went back to their daily routine a few weeks after the feast. The excitement they felt during the short feast holiday also disappeared. Prince Colin never felt the said feast holiday except during the day of majika release since he focused on his lessons. After his morning classes, the First Prince immediately placed all his books under his table, rushed out of the study hall, and left his lady instructor behind. "Do not run in the hall!" she yelled at the back of the Prince, who ignored her. With a sigh, she said, "He always rushes to the training ground or the hunting ground."

Prince Colin went to his bed-chambers first. He opened his wardrobe and picked up his training clothes, which he then placed on his bed. Looking at his uniform, he shook his head as he said, "I don't understand why I still have to wear a uniform during class." He took off his uniform and changed into his training clothes. Once done, he walked to his right, grabbed his sword hanging on the wall, and went out of his room to the training ground.

On the training ground, a man in his early thirties wearing an armor suit with a sword hanging on his hips stood in the center, waiting for the First Prince to arrive. He had his arms crossed his chest, showing his immense biceps. Hearing the familiar rushing footsteps, he turned his attention to the right and saw Prince Colin running toward him. "First Prince." He briefly bowed his head.

"Hello, General Calver." The Prince stopped in front of the man named General Calver.

"Shall we begin?" the General asked.

"Yes!"

Prince Colin and General Calver bowed to each other and took a few steps back, at least two meters away from each other.

"I know that you are already well adept in hunting, something that you probably inherited from His Majesty. But hunting, regardless of its importance, is not enough to protect your people," the man said. "For our first swordsmanship lesson, I will first teach you the basics, and from there, we will work our way forward. Questions?"

"Uhm, what should I expect during the training?"

General Calver smirked. "You should ask that to yourself," he said. "What do you expect to learn in our training?"

"Well, I expect to learn sword fighting." The Prince shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.

"Okay, that's realistic. But, why do you want to learn?"

"Because I need to protect my people."

The man snorted. "Need."

"Why? Is there something wrong with my answer?" Prince Colin frowned, not liking the snort he heard from General Calver.

"I didn't say that your answer is wrong, but it is not enough."

"Not enough to start training me?" the Prince asked with a tilt of his head.

"No, no. On the contrary, your need to learn swordsmanship to protect your people is quite enough. But, I hope to hear a different answer from you."

"And...what kind of answer do you want to hear from me?"

"Won't tell you," General Calver said. "Now, let's start. What I'm going to teach you is the simple deception in sword fighting. Try to get close to me with your sword raised for an overhead strike. Like this." He slowly demonstrated to Prince Colin how to do an overhead strike. "Now, expect your opponent to either defend his head with his sword or avoid your attack. Take note that the overhead strike is not your actual attack but the kick to your opponent's mid-section. When your kick is successful, your opponent will stagger momentarily, and you can deliver a follow-up attack. But if it fails, with your sword still raised, you can intercept your opponent's attack." He straightened up and asked, "Do you understand?"

Prince Colin did not answer immediately. "I think so."

"Let me show you how to do it," the General said. "Try to avoid, defend, or attack me."

"Okay." The Prince held his sword in front of him tightly.

General Calver was used to attacking fast, but he deliberately slowed down to show the young Prince. He raised his sword and crossed the distance between them. What Prince Colin saw was the General going for his head. He subconsciously reacted, raising his sword to protect his head, but did not expect to be kicked hard on his abdomen. He fell back and slid a couple of meters away.

Prince Colin groaned. "Ouch...that hurts..."

The man placed his sword on his shoulder. "Did you not anticipate my kick?"

Leaning on his elbows, the Prince looked at the General and said, "I know you will kick me, but it's different when you attacked. I reacted subconsciously. It feels like you are going after my head!"

The General laughed. "Well, to make deceptions in an attack, you have to make it like it is real," he said as he helped the Prince up. "Do you think you understand how to do it now?"

"Yes," Prince Colin replied as he dusted himself. Looking up, he asked, "Can I try it against you?"

"Of course, you can," General Calver replied. "I won't do anything except intercept your sword. Try to kick me and do a follow-up kick. If it fails, try to intercept my sword."

The Prince nodded and prepared to attack while General Calver returned to his previous position.

Prince Colin rushed towards the General with his sword raised, trying to imitate the man's attack. Unfortunately, General Calver managed to intercept his sword, throwing him off balance.

"What are you doing? Trying to go after my head, aren't you?"

The young Prince stood up. "I'm trying to make my overhead strike realistic."

"Well, congratulations, you did make it realistic, but it's too much that you will have difficulties changing your attack in the middle. You make it easy for enemies to read your moves. Don't just think that your overhead strike is an attack but deceit. Try to convince yourself first that you are doing both the overhead strike and the kick. It will make you more flexible as you are not only restricted with one kind of attack at a time."

Prince Colin tried to do as instructed but found it hard to execute. He tried and failed the entire afternoon until he was worn down and beaten.

"Time is up, kid," General Calver said.

"But I'm not done yet." Prince Colin gasped.

"Even if your mind says you can do more, but your body obviously can't go on. Just go and rest. We will continue tomorrow." With that said, General Calver bowed his head and left the training ground first, leaving Prince Colin, who slumped down and laid on his back with his limbs spread out. "Yeah...I'm so tired..."