Knight and Wand

Chapter 102 Old Brian
After knocking down countless challengers in succession, the guard selection that lasted for two hours finally came to an end.

The cheers of excitement from the crowd gradually died down. Leon waited until there were no new candidates coming up in the team before him, then he turned around and looked at the five guards who had stood out from the nearly 150 people.

Except for Zabron who passed the test first, the other four were named Pavel, Boz, Brunan and Dardanelle, all of them were between 25 and 30 years old, with different backgrounds, including hunters, leatherworkers, herdsmen, and brewers. Each of them had long-term experience of enlisting and serving in the lord's army.

Unfortunately, all five were from Lonka and Pleaton.

Although Selva had more soldiers than the other two places, none of the local peasant soldiers could pass the test.

Turning his head to look at Olivia, Leon couldn't help but feel that perhaps the presence of this girl alone had drained all of Selva's martial virtue.

Just as he was about to end this gathering, he heard an unexpected stuttering voice among the crowd of villagers watching outside the venue.

"Lord Leleon! Please wait!"

Hearing the familiar voice, Leon turned and looked.

I saw the young man I hired to look after the horses at home rushing into the field in three or two steps.

He quickly ran over and knelt on one knee with an anxious look on his face.

"My lord, please, please, please! Can I get it?"

Already accustomed to his stuttering, Leon immediately understood what his groom meant, and took the initiative to ask, "Do you want to try it too?"

"Yes! I also want to be your bodyguard!"

Hawke stated the request with difficulty and nodded vigorously.

The stuttering young man was glad that he arrived in time.

He was originally taking care of the lord's warhorse in the stable. If the other servants had not pulled him over to watch the fun, he would have almost missed the opportunity.

Leon never expected that this honest young man who grew up eating at many houses could actually wield a sword.

But anyway, the first boiling state of magic in his body has not ended yet, so Leon doesn't mind testing one more person, especially since the other party is a servant hired by his own family.

"Go put on your armor."

Hawke, who received approval, felt as if he had been pardoned. He quickly ran to the remaining five sets of armor and chose a set of Uriah scale armor.

After putting it on, he picked up the sword and shield, turned around and stepped into the field nervously and excitedly.

Lion looked at Hawke, examining his clumsy sword and shield stance, and he was slightly disappointed.

The way this stuttering young man held the shield showed that he was obviously not good at using it.

But Leon would not go easy on him just because he was an acquaintance. An annual salary of twenty-four gold coins did not come out of thin air.

Just like testing others, Leon raised his sword and steadily set up the roof-style position. Without waiting for Hawk to approach actively, he walked straight forward.

He quickly stepped into attack range and slashed with force without any hesitation, with the front blade of his sword hitting the side of Hawk's shield. As expected, the slash broke the stuttering young man's unfamiliar defensive posture.

But when Leon's sword followed the flaw created by the chop and turned into a stab, intending to end the test, he found that while Hawke raised his sword sideways to block the sword, his body detoured to the attack path like a tumbler.

The stuttering young man moved his feet with his waist, took a spoon-shaped step sideways, and instantly widened the distance.

He abandoned his shield for defense, retreated to the side, shook his shoulders and arms, and raised his one-handed sword vertically to barely block Leon's changing horizontal swing.

The dancing front blade pressed down on the horizontal surface of Hawke's one-handed sword and hit the side of the young man's helmet, making a crisp clanging sound.

Although he was in a mess, Leon's third attack was finally blocked.

Seeing Hawk retreating in panic after being hit, Leon paused his attack for a moment.

This familiar rhythm of body movements
Cat spin?

Leon couldn't help but turn his head to look at the blonde girl outside the field.

Has Olivia ever taught Hawke martial arts before?
But Leon also saw surprise in the girl's expression.

Seeing the puzzled look behind her friend's visor, Olivia spread her hands, nodded, and shook her head.

She had indeed demonstrated her skills in front of Hawke and other villagers before, and she never deliberately avoided acquaintances when practicing martial arts.

But, she really didn't have the time to teach such a complicated technique as the cat spin to anyone other than Leon and his friends.

After all, this set of self-created footwork logic and force techniques were only summarized by the girl in recent years. Only when she made friends with three extraordinary people did she teach them the principles as a parting gift.

Olivia recalled and looked at Hawke on the field.

The only time when her skills intersected with hers was later in the yard when she was instructing Leon and the other two and Hawke was watching by the stable.

Leon put aside his guess and turned his attention back to Hawke.

Three swords.

Regardless of whether Olivia taught him or not, Leon noticed the other party's attentiveness and potential. This stuttering young man obviously practiced this skill a lot in private.

He carefully looked at Hawke who had raised his shield again.

Leon stepped forward.

With a trick, he shook off the opponent's immature shield. Intent on testing the opponent's physical skills, which had just been briefly improved, Leon thrust his sword straight forward without any more tricky blows.

Hawke turned around and took another spoon-shaped step. While he held down the sword with his right hand to block the thrust, he actually took the opportunity to move forward and launch a counterattack.

Leon understood now.

That is not the best application of the cat spin technique.

Facing a stab, the best solution would be a cat-spin combined with a diagonal side attack. A direct frontal counterattack would undoubtedly waste the opportunity.

It seems that the stuttering young man in front of him has only mastered the basic spoon-shaped step.

He stepped forward with his left foot, retracted his arm, raised his hand and turned the sword guard to block Hawk's blade. Leon immediately crossed his hands, and the long sword turned like a helicopter propeller, slashing diagonally towards Hawk's side.

The stuttering young man gritted his teeth and turned his body, which had stiffened in an instant. He finally lifted up his right leg and spun out in an extremely ugly posture. The shield on his left arm that was protecting him made a loud bang.

He managed to block his lord's quick step and side-swing, but Hawke, whose balance was unstable, stumbled and was tripped by his lord's overly powerful cat-spin step.

The young man lost his balance and fell forward, leaning on his sword and shield and lying on the ground.

After all, I managed to hold on for five moves.

"You passed." Leon retracted the sword and said to Hawk who got up from the ground.

Listening to the envious discussions in the crowd, the stuttering young man took off his helmet and grinned from ear to ear. He was so excited that he couldn't even speak a single word.

Leon pulled him up and made him stand among the guards.

Finally, a Selva man passed the election, and the stuttering young man managed to save some face for the young and strong people in the village.

However, I have to hire a new stable boy.

After the selected guards went back to pack their personal belongings, Leon took them to the big house of the former official of Selva Village to temporarily stay.

Even though we were not able to recruit ten full guards this time, with a total population of only a few hundred households in the three territories, we cannot ask for more talents.

After a short rest at noon, in the afternoon, under the arrangement of Azerien, the other young men took out the logging tools from the warehouse and went to the east side of Selva Village to clear the forest land in preparation for the future construction of the barracks.

Leon brought all the young and strong men who claimed to be able to shoot arrows to the field outside the village to set up targets.

Although the salary is not as high as that of the heavy infantry guards, a standard full-time archer salary is offered, just to recruit relatively skilled archers.

As the only citizen of Selva who knows how to shoot arrows, Old Brian was standing by the open space, absent-mindedly watching the young men from other places shooting at targets one by one in a competition of archery skills.

His eyes lingered on Leon, who was concentrating on selecting archers, and then looked at Olivia, who was chatting with him beside him.

The old blacksmith's expression gradually became complicated and hesitant.
As the sky gradually darkened, the young men from each village, who had been busy all day, followed their leader to rest. Finally, the day's affairs were finished. Leon said goodbye to Olivia and returned home with his friends.

Before dinner time, Leon, who was discussing with Azerien and others how to build a military camp, heard little Lina's report. Uncle Brian suddenly came to visit from next door.

Leon was not surprised when he saw the old blacksmith with a serious face.

"Excuse me, Lord Azerien, Lord Lohak, I hope to speak to Lord Leon alone." Old Brian saw the other young men in the room and requested solemnly.

Azerien and Lohak looked at Leon, and when they saw their companion nodded at them, they stood up and walked out with Corvis.

After the three companions left temporarily, Leon leaned back in his chair and looked at the old blacksmith: "You are more patient than I expected, Uncle Brian. I thought you would not be able to help but come to me a few days ago."

"I'm not calm at all, I just don't know what to do, Lord Leon."

Old Brian gave a bitter smile and said, "May I ask how much do you know?"

Leon waved his hand and said, “Not much, I just know that she has the blood of the royal family of Orland.”

Even though he had already learned from Olivia that his life experience had been discovered by outsiders, Brian's eyelids still twitched when he heard it.

Leon sighed and continued: “Although I still don’t know anything about her identity or your identity, I have already made some guesses.

But I hope you understand that no matter how much Olivia is involved, we are willing to risk our lives to protect her. Isn't the power of us much greater than yours alone?"

Thinking of the girl's willingness, Leon's tone became tougher, using his status as a lord: "Since Olivia has told me that she doesn't want to leave, you can't take her away from me. Even if you insist, I will reject your request for relocation. I don't trust you to take her away alone."

Hearing the straightforward words from the young man in front of him, Old Brian did not refute.

"You are right. I have thought about it carefully these days. Since you already know the special identity of Olivia and are still willing to protect her, then I am not here for my original plan."

"Then why are you here?" Leon asked puzzledly.

Thinking about the ominous spirits that frequently appeared around the village and the signs of war that were gradually gathering in Selva, Old Brian expressed his worries first: "Lord Leon, can I know what major events have occurred around Selva?"

Leon shook his head: “I’m sorry, Uncle Brian, I can’t trust you as much as I do with Olivia. This is still a secret that cannot be spread at the moment.”

The old blacksmith nodded after hearing this: "Then I can only speculate that they are in a hurry to buy so many supplies and weapons, collect food and grass, and recruit guards and archers.
Even the territorial laborers of the fortress were transferred back to start cutting down the forest land. You plan to build a barracks next to Selva? This is not something that ordinary fief knights can do.
Such a big move must have the support of Baron Elliver. In this case, I guess you and the others will obviously participate in a war operation of the Thorn Flower Family as a force in the future."

Could the old blacksmith see that he wanted to build a military camp instead of a manor fortress?
Leon looked noncommittal: "So what?"

There was no exact answer, but old Brian already knew it in his mind.

He straightened his face, and the humility he had always pretended to have seemed to fade away. Even his old voice seemed to have changed a little. Facing the young knight in front of him, Old Brian raised his hand and saluted with his hand on his chest.

"I have no other choice, Lord Leon. It is indeed an unrealistic fantasy to hope that Olivia can live a peaceful life as an ordinary girl.

I can no longer restrain her wings, and instead of choosing an unknown fate, it is better to prepare for the future early.

Although you cannot trust me yet, my observations over the years have enabled me to believe in your promises.

Now I want to join you and help you gain enough strength, so that I can better protect Olivia."

Leon raised his eyebrows: “You are the village official appointed by me personally.”

"No, sir, not as a village official," Old Brian shook his head.

"I have been a knight on the battlefield and have commanded an army. I know how to train soldiers and build fortresses for you.

I don't need any personal reward, nor any promise of status or reward. Just think of me as an old man boasting, but please give me a chance to prove myself."

The old blacksmith stared at the young man with burning eyes.

After hearing this, Leon couldn't help but sit up straight even though he was mentally prepared.

He looked at the other person more eagerly than the old blacksmith.

The sudden surprise in my heart is far greater than seeing a naked beauty.

An officer who had fought in wars and commanded soldiers. Or even a general?

Leon already had many bold and clear assumptions about Olivia's identity.

Taking into account some of the inferences, Leon intuitively did not think that the other party was bragging.

Moreover, whether it is building military camps now or facing wars in the future, they are in need of a military adviser who can help them.

"I don't know your past, Uncle Brian. If you don't mind the current makeshift team, then I can try to appoint you as my centurion to manage the conscripted soldiers in the territory."

“However, before that, I would like to ask a question first. Of course, if you don’t want to answer, I won’t force you.” Leon frowned and asked, “Are you Olivia’s biological father?”

(End of this chapter)