Chapter 133: Just Another Day in the Draven Mansion [Part-2]

His gaze suddenly fell on some maids who had stopped their work and fixed their eyes on a window, looking out at the duel occurring outside. A slight flush on their faces was clearly visible, as if they were watching the battle of their crush.

Neo overlooked their figures and walked past them without saying anything, as he didn’t want to disturb them. How could he say anything to someone for having those feelings for their favourite person? It would be wrong for him to speak in such matters, so he did not say anything.

The maids noticed his passing figure and, startled, turned their gaze away from the window, bowing at a ninety-degree angle.

"Young Master Neo, good morning!"

Neo waved his hand without turning back. "It’s okay. By the way, it’s good afternoon."

Their faces flushed more as the redness climbed up, and they bowed lower to hide their faces, while Neo shook his head with a smile and walked on to go on a new adventure around his own house.

He turned the corner at the end of the corridor and descended the stairs to the lower floor, where the sounds of the duel grew louder with every step. The door leading to the knights’ training ground was wide open, and a warm wind carried in the smell of sweat, iron, and dust, along with the sharp ringing of steel against steel. Neo leaned against the doorframe and crossed his arms, watching the scene outside with mild curiosity.

In the middle of the field, two knights in plain training armour were circling each other with wooden swords, while a crowd of around fifty knights stood in a loose ring around them, cheering and shouting at the top of their voices. One of the knights was a broad-shouldered man with a scar across his chin, swinging his sword in heavy, direct strokes, and the other was a lean young man with sharp eyes, who dodged every blow with small, precise steps and struck back at the gaps with quick, stinging thrusts.

"Come on, Garen! Don’t let a rookie dance around you like that!"

"Don’t just dodge, Leon! Hit back harder!"

Neo watched the lean knight slip beneath a heavy overhead strike and tap his opponent lightly on the chest with the tip of his sword, and the crowd erupted in roars of laughter and applause. The scarred knight scratched his head with an embarrassed grin and bowed, and the two of them shook hands as the other knights slapped their backs.

’It’s a good atmosphere... They are really close to each other.’

Neo smiled faintly. He had seen the knights of the household many times since childhood, but only after returning from the Desolate Land did he realise how rare such an atmosphere actually was. In Veldra, he had seen what happened when people had no strength to protect what they loved, and every time he looked at the knights standing here, laughing, training, and cheering for one another, he felt a quiet gratitude towards his father for building such a place.

"Young Master!"

One of the knights at the edge of the ring had noticed him and called out, and in an instant, all the knights turned their heads and straightened their backs, placing their fists against their chests and bowing in unison.

"Greetings, Young Master!"

Neo hurriedly waved his hand. "Please, continue. I only came to watch. Don’t mind me."

But of course, they did not simply go back to what they were doing. A tall knight with grey streaks in his hair, who seemed to be the one in charge of the training, stepped forward with a broad smile and bowed slightly.

"It’s an honour to see you here, Young Master. We heard that you fought the Duke himself yesterday, and that you even made him use his Swordsmanship seriously. The whole mansion has been talking about nothing else since then."

Neo’s smile stiffened slightly. ’So everyone knows already... Of course they do. This mansion can’t keep a secret for even a day.’

"It was only a test, Commander. Father held back a lot."

"Even so, to stand against the Duke for that long is no small feat," the knight said with sincere admiration, and several knights behind him nodded in agreement. "Young Master, if you are not busy, would you care to give us a little guidance? We would be glad to learn from the one who made the ’Demon of the Battlefield’ laugh like that."

Neo opened his mouth to refuse, but then he glanced at the rows of eager faces looking at him, and he closed his mouth again with a small sigh. He had nothing else to do anyway, and after his lessons with his father, he found that he was curious as well, since fighting with knights who trained every day in swordsmanship would be a good way to test his instinct training.

"Very well, but only a little. And please don’t hold back."

A cheer went up from the knights, and Neo walked into the ring with a faint smile, picking up a wooden sword from the rack and testing its weight lightly, as he thought that this afternoon would not be as boring as he had expected.

Neo stepped into the ring with the wooden sword in his hand, and the knights quickly cleared a wide space around him, whispering excitedly to each other. After weighing the sword once more, he looked at it for a moment, and then he walked back to the rack and placed it where it had been.

"Young Master? Is something wrong with the sword?"

"No, the sword is fine. It’s just that I am not suited for it, as Father told me yesterday. So I will fight with my fists only. You may use whatever weapon you like, and you can come at me one by one, or all at once if you want."

A ripple of surprise passed through the ring. A few knights exchanged glances, and some of them frowned slightly, as if they felt insulted at being told that they could be fought with bare hands, though none of them dared to say it aloud. The tall commander let out a small, helpless laugh and shook his head.

"Then, with your permission, Young Master, I will send the first one. Garen, you are up."