I Will Be the Greatest Knight

Back to the apprentices Irene went. They were the only ones she could spend time with lately and not feel like a fish out of water.

Luckily, that was just where Felix and the Commander wanted her, considering they were all needing to find ways to keep the knights and apprentices entertained. The city was still on lockdown, and no one was allowed to leave the magical barrier without good reason.

Mages from inside of the town would guide Irene and half the apprentices along the border each morning, and then she would take the other half around the border that evening. After a couple of days of this, the mage no longer needed to be with them since she had memorized the zone they couldn't cross.

All they were doing was making sure there were no monsters in the vicinity. If there were, they would send one of them to Josef's house, and the others would go to the Commander as they waited for the barrier to be brought back down. Then they would attack.

No such thing had happened yet. It almost felt pointless each day to even bother with the task, but Irene was certain that remaining on a schedule would be best for the apprentices who still needed more structure in their lives.

Time was almost idyllic as they went through each day. All they ever did was play with swords and eat. It was a surprising break in the middle of a season where they were normally on guard all the time.

Every now and then, a sword match would begin that those in the knighthood would eagerly watch. It was enough to get some of the quiet mages who lived inside that place to peek out their windows or look down from balconies above.

The knights were loud and drew attention in a place that had been otherwise quiet for too long.

Irene and Felix stood in the center of the square, devoid of armor but with wooden practice swords that had been carved and oiled since they arrived there.

The initial thought before Idona was that they would be slaying monsters, rather than what they were doing, which felt like they were constantly playing around. Practice swords were at the back of Irene's mind as she brought with them extra arrows, bandages, and herbal mixtures that staved off infection.

Luckily, many were eager to stay busy so by their first wake-up in Idona, practice swords were already being carved.

"Are you going to show me good sportsmanship?" Felix challenged the woman.

Just before, he had been bragging to the apprentices that when they were apprentices, Irene could never best him. Instead of allowing him to walk all over her, she challenged him to an unserious duel instead.

As unserious as she posed it, her heart was still racing because he had irritated her.

"Of course," she responded. "Why wouldn't I?"

Felix merely smirked at her before offering his sword.

She gently tapped it, even though she desired to smack it out of his hands as hard as she could. Then she retreated backward with the blade in front of her and kept her eyes fixed on the taller man.

It was subtle, but Irene caught his focus go to her right side. However, that in itself could have been a play on his true intentions. It wasn't wise to glance anywhere but your opponent's face, otherwise they would know your thoughts.

Almost predictably, Felix raised his sword on the left side where he had originally glanced, but it was only a feint before he could swing to the right with his true power. Only slapping Irene's sword as he did so.

"Wow, you predicted it," Felix commented. "That will be the last time this match."

Rather than a verbal response, Irene merely darted forward and sent her sword in a forward thrust that got past Felix's defenses. He had to swipe her sword away with brute strength, or she certainly would have hit him directly in the stomach.

"You're playing with fire," Irene warned.

"Are you talking about your hair?" he wondered.

That was enough to rile her up, and she sent him a diagonal slash.

They parried off of one another a few times after that before their swords were locked together as both of them refused to break down first.

However, in the direction they were moving, Felix placed a boot behind Irene's. If it weren't the two of them who were facing one another, someone might believe they were dancing or standing too closely, but his boot was meant to trip her so that he could overpower her and gain the upper hand.

The second Irene felt herself trip and begin falling, she gave a sideways slice that hit one of Felix's kneecaps, causing him to go down on one of his knees in pain.

Rather than allowing herself to fall directly on her backside, Irene rolled out of it so she could get back onto her feet quickly. This sort of maneuver wouldn't have been possible in armor. She was grateful they hadn't had to wear it in a few days, so she could show off at least a little bit to the apprentices who were beginning to take Felix's stories as truth.

Irene jumped forward and brought her sword down with a downward strike, but Felix anticipated it, even though he was lower, and blocked. She then kicked the leg supporting his weight, and he was on both of his knees before he had to physically push her away with the side of his sword so that she couldn't gain the upper hand while he got back onto his feet.

"You've slowed down with age," she realized.

"Speed versus strength," Felix retorted.

Irene darted forward and they parried off of one another a few more times, until Irene put a bit more strength in one of her slices, and they were soon in a bind of trying to overpower one another.

"I thought you said I was fast and not strong," she taunted through clenched teeth.

"Without speed, you wouldn't have been able to get to this point," Felix shot back. "All you were doing was dodging my strikes. Defensive moves are your forte, not much of anything else."

Irene balked and pressed her sword further downward and burdening Felix with more weight so he would hopefully soon have no choice but to break away and move on, or she was going to strike them again.

She was tempted to break free so she could try another forward thrust since it seemed he wasn't blocking his lower half all that much that day—

"What a great show of sword skills. I think the apprentices have seen enough to know why the two of you are in such positions."

A voice filled up the space towards the inn, and Felix and Irene broke away from one another, realizing instantly they were acting like petulant siblings out of boredom. They both bowed their heads at their Commander, unsure of how long he had been observing the match, but being able to read his two highest ranked enough to know that it was no longer an unserious match.

They lifted their heads to see their commander surprisingly amused at them. He was just as bored as they were.