I Am A Weakling
1325 Words
"Eh...?! I feel much better already, Old Kayla. The solution that you spread over my body is rather warm, tingling, refreshing and invigorating...! I felt that I had not done any exercise yet...! Wow... I can feel and see some development on my biceps and triceps already... Very cool... Very cool indeed...!"
I thanked and praised old Kayla as she had aided me with her wonderful herb ointment that she had smeared me over from the earthen bowl.
"Both of you get down for lunch first. Rest your weary muscles first. You would be working on the next contraption right? There are 2 methods so you would perform just one set of the single method you choose. Don't overdo it since you are not used to doing such tedious work in your life before."
"But Old Kayla, I did tend to the vegetable garden and also the banana trees, cane sugar and mulberry plants as well...!"
"Hahaha... Do you call that hard work, childe? Hard work would be like your kind citizens. Toiling in the fields from morning to dusk.
Ploughing, hoeing, planting, sowing and literally breaking their backs just to ensure they have enough grains to last them for some months ahead and never be hungry again."
I gave her a crooked smile as I knew that even though I am the citizens' ruler, I am still young at heart and tends to be a bit mischievous.
"Sure, Old Kayla. We let Heather rest a bit before we head down for lunch. Thank you once again for the ointment and help."
Old Kayla waved her arms at me and told me that she would come again before dinner time as she would be applying the ointment on me herself. She was afraid that the faint smell of medicine might make Heather throw up and this would incur more work for the domain helper to clear up the mess...!
I was afraid that I would not be able to lift the spoon to my mouth at lunchtime but I was surprised that I was able to feed myself normally. The only thing was that my arms, neck and part of my back felt a bit tight... Not sore but a sense that the muscles had been slightly developed or awakened.
It seemed what Frank had mentioned earlier to me, by 7 days I would be able to pull a fully laden wagon like an ox...! Well... Its a time tested trial for me. Its only half-day has gone and I can't wait to finish up my lunch and rest a while bit to let the food go down before I begin the next exercise — the lateral pull on the chest expander.
=*=
After lunch, the conscripts were excited as well since the next training session would be the pikeman division. When they reached the training ground with the wooden swords still slapping against the sides of the waist, they were surprised to see a few strange contraptions waiting for them.
"Welcome conscripts... This is the third training ground where one trains to be a pikeman, no matter if you're a man or a woman. As you can see, there are 5 bamboo barricade structures without the sharpened end."
"3 logs were placed at the bottom of the bamboo barricade and the skids are still attached to them. Bales of hay are now placed at eye level where it would be used to strike the enemies, where it would land on their chest and throats."
"I will demonstrate to you on how to properly hold the pike at the ready position, on how to strike and on how to make a pike wall on how to push cavalrymen or knights away."
With that, Old Mann picked a long staff that depicts a pike and held it in his hands in a readied fashion. He turned sideways so that he could emphasise on his posture and stance.
After making a few stances, complete with forward thrusts and some exercises to make their legs and backs stronger, everyone then took a staff and stood on 3 staggered rows so they would not hit one another when they thrust their staff forward.
"PIKE FORMATION..."
When everyone heard Old Mann's roar, they held the staffs at a vertical position, close to their armpits as they held it and wait for the next instruction. They held their feet close, the end of the staffs to the ground and all were looking dead ahead.
"HAH...!" Old Mann gave the command and everyone remembered that it was similar to the one Old Mann demonstrated earlier. So upon hearing the command, everyone took a half step back, held the staffs at a 45° angle, and struck out simultaneously before pulling back close to them in a readied position.
"HAH...!"
"HAH...!!"
"HAH...!!!"
After some umpteen times Old Mann was repeating the command, his voice broke and became hoarse and someone thoughtfully gave him a whistle instead. After a drag of cool water to soothe his throat, he instructed that individual whistle blow would mean certain commands.
After a gruelling one hour of pike practice, it was time for the so-called 'scrum machine' or also known during that time as the pikeman machine. Since the bamboo barricade was weighted down, all the conscripts need to do was to hold their staff fast within the bales of hay and push with their might.
Behind the bales of hay were stacks of planks to prevent the staffs from piercing through. Of not how would the pikeman able to perform their task in the most effective manner...!
5 pikeman was assigned to each pikeman machine and with their staff, they need to exert their strength and push the pikeman machine across 30 yards before its position was resettled and the process was repeated by another batch.
It was truly a very crazy feat...!
If you use your shoulders to push the pikeman machine or scrum machine as in rugby, 5...no... 3 men would be able to accomplish it.
Since the point of pressure was only reduced to something like a 3-inch diameter of the staff, just imagine how much force the pikemen have to exert in order to even budge the pikeman machine...!
BOLLOCKS...! This author is going bonkers...!!!
But somehow, the 5 pikemen were able to exert enough force to push the pikeman machine across the 30 yards which were about 100 feet in distance. Just that simple exercise, the 5 pikemen were sweating buckets.
Since there was a mix of men and women, 3 men and 2 women were assigned to each machine. After that single exercise and sweating buckets, old Mann was able to differentiate who would be the front pikemen and so on and so forth.
Out of close to 200 conscripts, 72 were picked to make up 2 garrisons of pikemen regardless of their gender.
After careful evaluation, Michelle helped to mark initials 'P' beside the names of the conscripts that denote them to be confirmed pikemen.
Furthermore, today's training was just a part of the selection and there would be changes since they would be wielding a wooden aspis shield and also would be wearing a kind of pike belt where it would greatly enhance their grip when it was placed at a 45° angle while making a pike wall steady with a wooden aspis shield on the other hand.
Everyone got to bring back the wooden staffs as it would be turned into a spear or a pike when the time comes. Besides, the end product would be a pike head and a spearhead at the end of it.
The 72 pikemen of mixed gender were separated into 2 garrisons and the true training would begin once the wooden aspis shields had been prepared.
Besides, the pikeheads would be prepared by Old Jack as the minerals would be slowly consolidated and smelt into a single pikehead with Micheals help.
- Writer
