Rogue Razor

Peter must have not been kidding about being late, because he didn't stop a single time.

Hadwyn couldn't stretch, use the bathroom, or eat, it was just a one way trip to the northeast. Hadwyn could tell because of the way the sun set and rose. And it wasn’t like Hadwyn could have slept peacefully, due to the snow having transformed into rain.

They arrived at dawn. Hadwyn woke up to the unpleasant noise of metal scraping. Peter was moving a bunch of metal pipes from the back of the carriage. “No wonder we got here late!” He exclaimed. He looked at the half-awake Hadwyn and muttered to himself.

Peter ordered Hadwyn to take a shower at one of the stalls of the building they arrived at, which he gladly did. He hadn't had a shower in weeks.

The building was nearly identical to the one in Graunvilk, the only difference being that it was completely built.

Two flags flew overhead. The Aetlan flag, which Hadwyn recognized, and another flag. With the words AFHA on it.

“Welcome to Brelkon.” He said with a wry smile.

Hadwyn tensed. Here was supposed to be safer, but he didn't feel any safer, if anything, he felt more… unsafe. He turned to look at Peter to see if he felt the same way.

He did not.

There was a reason why the Aetlen empire was so feared, and respected. Their cutthroat military policies, their agreeable laws and universal political appeal was unmatched by any other government or organization. They were the embodiment of everything powerful, respectable, and fearsome. They didn't bow to anyone, not even Aldarians.

Brelkon was as close as you could get to the heart of the Aetlen imperial homeland. Hadwyn was so close, he could practically hear the beats of that heart.

He was jolted out of his day-mare by Peter, who put his hand on Hadwyn's shoulder. “Did you hear a word I said?”

Hadwyn snapped to attention. “What?”

Peter grimaced. “I will not tolerate any sort of incompetence from now on, do you understand?”

Hadwyn nodded.

There were many buildings near the main one. Some small tents in the field outside.

“Barracks” Peter said, “Those are for emergencies. You won’t be sleeping in those.”

He pointed to the main building. “Your dorms are in there. Go set up your room how you want.”

Hadwyn began to move, then hesitated. “What about our schedule?”

Peter smirked. “We got here early. Thanks to my effective navigation, We were able to get here a few hours ahead of the set time.

Hadwyn sighed. He was pretty sure the “effective navigation” consisted of going off road. He was pretty sure, now that he thought about it,, that there were too many bumps for one of the most traveled roads, one that should have been smoothed out.

“I suggest you pick your room before the others get here, since we’re the first ones.”

Others? Who are these others?

“Go before I make you do 100 pushups!” Peter shouted abruptly, “You think I have any time to relax? I have stuff to do. Go pick your room, you got five hours!” Peter glared at him. “When you’re done resting, meet me out on that field!”

So Hadwyn went towards the building, his footsteps echoed through the entire hallway, past the showers, past the restroom.

Soon, he entered the dorm sector. There were at least a dozen rooms in this area, maybe more.

There were pieces of paper describing each room handing on the knocker.

Room 291

Type: Student Dormitory

Optimization: Microgym

Size: Small

Physical characteristics/ features: No window.

Note: If there is any other furnishment, tool, or time you need, please make a request. If you don’t think we will provide you with one, you can furnish your room with personal items (Unless said otherwise).

Furnishings: Iron bed, nightstand, wardrobe.

Status: Vacant

Reserved, NAT - Teresa

Teresa? Teresa was here?

He looked at the other rooms. He settled on one that seemed like it had a lot of room, and had windows.

Room 295

Type: Student Dormitory

Optimization: All-around / N/A

Size: Medium

Physical characteristics/ features: Window, ceiling storage.

Furnishings: Bunk-iron bed. 2X nightstands 2X wardrobes.

Hadwyn looked down at the knob. A key hung in its slot, He looked at the other doors. All of them had keys hanging out except for room 291.

He twisted the key and entered the room. Inside was almost what he expected. The room was dim, illuminated only by the light of dawn and flashes of lightning in the distance. Rain pounded the windowsill, and Hadwyn lit the lamp.

Sure enough, there was a bunk bed with cotton sheets, two wardrobes, two nightstands, and when Hadwyn looked up, yup, ceiling storage.

He put the oil lamp down.

Five hours and thirty minutes.

He hadn’t noticed the clock right away, but it absorbed most of his attention.

Clocks were one of those things Hadwyn never needed. He could tell the time by casting a sun position spell. But Hadwyn had always been interested in these mechanical inventions. He often wondered how people could build such magnificent objects.

Hadwyn, having nothing else to do, dove into the bed.

The lightning flashed again, far closer this time, Hadwyn felt the vibrations. But the lighting itself Illuminated the yard outside the window.

Mud, and dirt coated the entire field, wood stakes and bars jutted out like hairs on a pigs skin.

An obstacle course.

Not just that. Cannons and metal fences gleamed in the flash.

In five hours… I’m going to be out there, he thought.

He turned to his other side, lightning struck again, casting his shadow on the wall he faced. The lightning grumbled like, don't give your back to me!”

Before he knew it, he was asleep.

Hadwyn awoke to a bell ringing, He leaped out of his seat.

The clanging was coming from out on the field. Hadwyn grumbled.

The mud smeared under his boots as he walked out to the field.

Peter was standing near one of the flagpoles. He grimaced as he saw Hadwyn approach.

“Where’s your equipment?” He asked.

Hadwyn stopped and began to walk back.

“No. Stay here.” He muttered. “Doesn’t really matter.”

Hadwyn looked around. “Where’s everybody else?”

Peter looked left and right, as if he were looking for an oncoming carriage, then he said;

“Listen, Hadwyn. I know that we talked before and we communicated before, but I am not your equal. I am your teacher now. You will obey my orders, and you will save your questions for later. There is only one difference between you and a soldier. And that is that you are far more valuable than a simple soldier. Now get down and do fifty push ups.”

Hadwyn got on his knees. The mud squelched. He put his hands forward and his fingertips immediately sunk into the sludge.

One… Two…

“If you fail to do fifty in a row, you will have to restart.”

Hadwyn managed to finish the pushups easily.

“Okay, what now?”

“Silence. Do two hundred now.”

Two hundred?

He started again. At seventy five, his hands slipped and his body plummeted into the mud.

This is weird. He thought. I never had to do this at any of the guilds.

Hadwyn started over the counting in his head. In the guilds, you were tested on level, mana, and strength.

They didn’t do push ups though.

As Hadwyn finished his 200th pushup, he was already beginning to feel tired.

“Four hundred now.” Peter ordered.

Hadwyn was fifty pushups in before he collapsed from exhaustion. He got back up and started over. He failed again at 190. He started over again. His last screw-up was at 372. He started over and managed to finish after his fourth try.

“Good.” Peter said. “Tell me Hadwyn, do you think you could do another thousand?”

Hadwyn didn’t say anything.

Peter smiled bigger, “I give you permission to speak.”

“Hell no!” Hadwyn exclaimed.

Peter chuckled. “You’re extremely weak, for an Aldarian.” He scratched his nose. “I suspect you might be a later bloomer.”

“A what?”

Peter stood from the flagpole. “Do you really think you don't have any abilities? You just haven’t trained properly.”

Hadwyn wanted to say that he did train. But he stayed quiet. He had a feeling that Peter would revoke his permission to speak if he did.

Peter looked up the flagpole. “I want you to unhook the flag, and I won't make you do another thousand push-ups.”

Hadwyn looked up the length of the flag. Peter narrowed his eyes.

“Don’t even think about removing that bolt.”

Hadwyn had discarded that possibility with someone like Peter. He firmly gripped the flagpole, it felt unstable.

“I don't think it can hold my weight.”

Peter sighed. “It's a repurposed ship beam. It doesn't look strong, but it is. Climb it.”

Hadwyn tried again. But the rain that coated it made it difficult to move his body up. He looped his legs around the cold pole, his skin felt like ice.

Hadwyn managed to get a few feet up, but slid back down. The liquid stuck to his skin.

Wait… That's oil!

“Did you put oil on the flagpole?” Hadwyn asked.

“Yup. If I didn’t, It would be too easy.”

Hadwyn muttered a curse to himself. He squirmed up the flagpole.

Finally, he managed to reach the top. He looped his fingers around the hooks and pulled the flag off. The heavy Aetlen flag whipped in his face. It’s fierce blue, black, gray, and white colors invoking many complicated emotions in Hadwyn.

The Aetlen Empire was the strongest government. Stronger than Ywvn. Stronger than Keywark. Even stronger than Paknov, the strongest nation in the west.

The Aetlen empire had universally accepted political ideals, with a conservative structure, yet progressive laws. Laws like the Anti-polygamy laws, which prevented a person from having more than one spouse.

But by far the most infamous thing the Aetlens were known for, especially among the Aldarian population, was how they treated Aldarians.

Aldarians were considered a threat at all times, by Aetlens. But not all of them. Since the Aetlan government was partially democratic-republican, they had many different voices and perspectives in their legislative council. Some are more extreme than others. One leak from their meetings by a newspaper, which Aetlans had also taken part in inventing by the way, claimed that an instructional pamphlet was being spoken of. The contents of the pamphlet were instructions on how to defend yourself from an Aldarian as an Anivor, and it was titled as such.

The man who had proposed the idea had already been voted out of the council, but that didn’t stop the biggest guilds from having a say about it. Needless to say, they were outraged by the contents of the pamphlet.

It stated that if you were ever threatened by an Aldarian, the first resort would be to call for help. This was more scaring them off then actually calling for backup. It was also said if you had proof of an Aldarian attacking or threatening you, regardless if you attacked them out of fear or defended yourself. You would win almost unanimously.

This was also one of the few times the Aetlens were seen backing down, even if they had already decided ahead of time they wouldn’t publish, and that it was 90% of the population that rejected the idea.

Anyways, the flag was synonymous with Fear, respect, and power.

Pulling the flag down from the pole made him feel a little big better about the imposing nature of what the flag represented. Even if It was just a piece of fabric.

Hadwyn slid down. The sun was piecing through the clouds now over the pine trees covered in dew.

Hadwyn offered the flag to Peter, who nodded and said, “Good, now put it back.”

The time was around noon when Hadwyn got done with his “warmups,” which consisted of him running a lap around the field fifteen times.

He almost collapsed on the last one. He caught his breath. Peter was leaning against the flagpole. Its chains clanged against the pole in the wind, making an awful sound, but for some reason, Peter didn’t seem to mind.

“Good, good.” He walked toward Hadwyn. Meet the others in the gymnasium.

“...”

“You have permission to speak.”

“What about that obstacle course?” Hadwyn pointed toward the wood planks jutting out of sand and dirt. “What about that?”

“I thought you were tired.” Peter replied.

“I am, but I'm just curious.”

Peter sighed. “You’ll be doing it later with the other trainees.” He scratched his nose. “Don't forget to bring your stuff, you’ll need it.”

Hadwyn returned to his room, where he was distraught to discover that someone else had moved into his dorm. Sure, he knew that eventually he would have a roommate, but this early?

Hadwyn’s things were moved to the corner of the room. His new bunkmate, who was nowhere to be found, had brought their things in. A weapons stand was placed smack-dab in the middle of the room. Hadwyn noticed that although it was supposed to hold five blades, far more had been crammed haphazardly. They jutted out like a porcupine. There were even more random weapons on the floor, which begged the question of why they would even try to fit some in the holder if they would end up on the floor.

After Hadwyn had carefully stepped around the pile of weapons, he inspected the closets. His was the only thing that hadn’t been changed by his new roommate, and it was, thankfully, normal. But the second closet, which had been previously empty that morning, was now looking like it was about to burst.

Hadwyn didn’t dare open it. But he saw small spots of items through the cracks. Glinting.

More swords, wonderful.

So his room was basically an armory now. He tried to imagine what the person looked like. Perhaps something like Baraq the Berserker, who was said to carry so many weapons at once, they acted as his armor.

Hadwyn had yet to meet this Baraq wannabe, but this individual had already gotten on his bad side.

Hadwyn grabbed his things. He thought about taking one, just one, weapon. But he was no thief, even if he noticed that there were at least 3 identifiable copies of the same sword. Maybe they were enchanted with different things. Or maybe this guy was an arms dealer, and he used any of these swords.

Hadwyn could find out by touching the handle of any of these weapons.

I’ll just touch one, just to see what it says.

He picked up the sword.

Info:

Blade type: Smooth

Length: 70 cm

Material: Steel, Iron, wood, cork.

Manufacturer: Keywark Steel, Puretree, Keywark Oak.

Serial number: !@#$%^&* (Corrupted or removed)

Aaaaaaand the serial number was wiped. Hadwyn thought. Now I really wanna meet this guy.

Raw power:

Durability: 989/1000

Sharpness: Perfect

Enhancements: None

Enchantments: (Slots 9/10)

Visual menu (Rudimentary)

Sharpness I

Durability II

Bane of Invertebrates III

Suddenly, the door flew open, causing Hadwyn to drop the sword, and a tan-skinned boy walked in. “What are you doing?” He asked, “Who are you?”