New Students' Brawl

"Baron, stab him low on the left!"

"Solin, come on! Take that guy down!"

Two young men clashed with wooden swords in the training ground, their bout fierce. The other students watched from ten yards away, some cheering them on.

The area was open, and numerous blunted weapons hung on wooden racks along its edge. This was Viscount Xuefeng's Training Ground, located inside the castle in the northern district.

Because Scholar Heide and Viscount Xuefeng were close, the viscount had let the students use this Knight training ground for free. Stables and several warhorses were visible not far away.

From the high viewing stand, Viscount Xuefeng and Scholar Heide sat beneath a wooden canopy, discussing the two trainees.

"Baron Quade's son, Baron, is quite good. He's got some fine moves," Viscount Xuefeng remarked of one of them.

"That commoner youth named Solin is new to me."

"Solin? His father was a soldier who returned from the frontier. He's living in seclusion in Scorched Stone City now." Scholar Heide recalled the student's background.

"Oh, so he's a soldier. How strong is he?" Viscount Xuefeng asked with interest, rubbing his short mustache.

"He should be mid-range in the second tier of the Blood Law, but he says he won't go back to the battlefield." Scholar Heide shook his head.

"Apparently, he witnessed too many deaths on the battlefield, and his wife died young as well. So now, his only hope is to raise his child to adulthood in good health."

"That's a shame. But someone with so much battlefield experience would make an excellent training instructor here, if he were willing." Viscount Xuefeng made the suggestion.

"I'll ask him on your behalf, my lord." Scholar Heide nodded slightly.

"Crack!"

With a powerful strike, Baron's wooden sword snapped in his hands. Splinters flew, and jagged wood fibers jutted from the break. While Baron was disarmed, Solin kicked him to the ground and planted his sword in the dirt beside his neck.

Baron was stunned by the move. It took him several seconds to recover, and when he did, his face was livid.

"You filthy commoner!" He felt the act had humiliated him.

"You're the filthy one!" Solin shot back without backing down.

"How dare you insult a noble!"

"Lord Heide said that we're all students here. There's no distinction between nobles and commoners!" Solin quoted what their teacher had told them on the first day.

"You!"

Unable to contain his anger, Baron clenched his fist and swung at Solin. Solin dodged, and Baron took a punch instead.

Seeing Baron get hit, his two noble friends rushed to help him. A few of the braver commoner students came over to back Solin up.

The three noble friends threw punches and kicks without restraint. Solin was the only one on his side who wasn't afraid to hit back; the others didn't dare use much force and only tried to separate the two sides.

The girls on both sides remained relatively calm as the boys brawled in the training ground.

"Bunch of idiots." Iona folded her arms across her chest, unwilling to watch such a crude, boring spectacle.

"Lady Iona is right." Valenie had become Iona's constant shadow over the past two days.

Elsewhere, Karen watched the fight with some concern. "Should we stop them? The teacher said fighting was wrong."

Comia shook her head vigorously. "No, no. Let them fight, but let's not get dragged into it."

"We can't afford to offend the nobles, and Solin's no pushover either," Comia analyzed in a low voice.

"And Tia's frail. It wouldn't be good for her to go over there." Using her friend as an excuse, Comia stopped Karen from stepping in.

"Okay, we'll protect Tia." Karen glanced at the delicate girl with long hair beside her and decided not to get involved in the fight.

Viscount Xuefeng and Scholar Heide had watched nearly the entire brawl unfold in the training ground below.

"Heh, what a lively bunch of kids," Viscount Xuefeng said with a laugh.

"That's young people for you." Scholar Heide shook his head slightly.

Since the Regas Kingdom had been founded on martial prowess, it actually encouraged fights that didn't threaten anyone's life. That was why the young men had been so quick to come to blows; they were all familiar with that kind of behavior.

"Let them fight. Go break it up in a little while," Viscount Xuefeng instructed the attendant beside him.

"Yes, my lord." The attendant answered respectfully.

Half an hour later, the brawl was over. Several injured students leaned against the wooden railing at the edge of the training ground as their classmates applied medicine to their wounds.

"Easy—ow!" The big student Ray shielded himself from the finger applying medicine. His eye was bruised, and he was grimacing in pain.

"Stop that. There's still a lot that hasn't been treated," Comia complained, then continued rubbing medicine on the wound with her finger.

Across from them, Baron and the others sat on a wooden bench while Valenie applied medicine to two of them. Iona, meanwhile, had left them to talk with Viscount Xuefeng. Seeing her smiling brightly, one would hardly imagine how haughty she usually was around her classmates.

Elsewhere, Sylutia held a bottle of medicine and treated the unruly youth in front of her.

"You have quite a few old injuries."

After applying the medicine with a cloth swab, the girl put it back in the bottle. She studied the youth, whose name was Mick. He seemed like a wild animal, fierce and covered in scars.

"None of your business," Mick replied irritably.

"Okay." Sylutia didn't argue. She quietly stepped aside.

Her obedient response seemed to surprise Mick. He turned and studied Sylutia for a few moments. Though the black-haired girl was pretty, her large robes made her look rather thin.

She's pretty. Not quite as pretty as Iona, though. If she had a little more meat on her, she might be about as pretty as Iona, he thought.

Perhaps because Sylutia seemed so obedient, Mick's attitude softened a little.

"Thanks."

"No problem." The girl shook her head, then went to check on the other injured students.

She cleaned wounds and applied medicine with practiced ease, surprising several of the students.

"Have you done this often before, Tia?" Comia asked curiously. The others wanted to know too.

"Quite a few people from my village were injured some time ago. I helped take care of them, so I learned a little," the girl replied.

"That's impressive," Comia said, giving her a thumbs-up.

Once the students seemed to have recovered enough for the time being, an instructor came over. He was well-built, dressed in leather trousers and a white shirt, with a little stubble on his chin.

"Scholar Heide asked me to train you and see how solid your fundamentals are."

"Luckily, I was here for your fight from beginning to end, so I got to see a bit of what you can do." He paced back and forth in front of them, hands behind his back.

"The boys are all pretty good. Every one of them knows the Breathing Technique." If they didn't even know the Breathing Technique, they probably wouldn't have been able to study under Scholar Heide.

"Now pick up your swords and challenge me one by one. I'll point out the flaws in your swordsmanship and footwork."

The instructor barked, gathering the students around him. The afternoon's lesson then began.