Lord: I can see loyalty.

Beside the bushes outside the village.

On one side of the desert are some oases, with unnamed bushes growing haphazardly, and several figures are among them.

"Very good, keep it up."

Vio stood beside Gina, teaching her step by step. Both of them were drenched in sweat, but Vio showed no sign of stopping his instruction.

"Sir, it's time to rest. You've been teaching Miss Gina all morning."

Jimmy, who was keeping watch nearby, saw Vio pause slightly and quickly stepped forward to take out two water bags from his hand.

Vio nodded slightly in response, took the water bag and drank heartily. Gina also took the water bag and thanked him softly.

Jimmy looked at the two of them with a sense of surprise in his heart.

When he first heard that the lord was going to personally train the maids to become his personal guards, he thought it was just a nobleman's perverse hobby. It wasn't until Vio actually started instructing them that he realized the lord seemed to be serious.

Jimmy couldn't help but feel a mocking sneer in his heart. How long has it been since the lord practiced swordsmanship? Can't he even tell who is suited for swordsmanship?

But after spending the morning at the scene, Jimmy's eyes were opened.

This is progressing way too fast!

As a child raised to be a knight, Jimmy knew all too well how difficult it was to learn to fight.

Let alone reaching the level of a knight, no matter how high your talent is, it's impossible to surpass those knights who have been training since childhood in just a few days.

Even if they are cannon fodder on the battlefield or militia members temporarily deployed, they need more than six months of training to truly make a difference.

But it only lasted for one morning!

This maid, whom he considered utterly talentless and incredibly weak, had already quickly mastered most of the basic sword techniques.

Was it because the lord's teaching level was too high? Jimmy admitted that he couldn't see anything in this lesson, so there was probably only one possibility.

This girl is truly a swordsmanship prodigy!

Jimmy suddenly nodded to himself as if he had just had a sudden realization, but soon a question arose in his mind: How did the lord discover her talent...?

"Alright, we've rested enough, let's continue."

Vio put down the water bag, picked up the wooden sword from the ground, and looked at the girl in front of him.

The girl's face was flushed from the heat and training, but it was clear that she was also interested in swordsmanship, and her resistance from the previous night was completely gone.

An almost imperceptible excitement shone through her grey-blue eyes.

As expected of someone with top-tier swordsmanship talent, coupled with her monstrous strength, perhaps Bordeaux Village will give birth to the first Grand Knight in the southern territory of the Kingdom of Rovia!

Vio had already begun testing her superhuman strength before training even started, and the results were as expected—she truly lived up to her reputation for superhuman strength.

She was able to easily lift a rock the size of a person without any training, which was probably because she rarely used her strength. Even she herself did not expect it.

Just as the two had picked up their weapons and were ready to test their skills in a real battle, a hurried footstep came from not far away.

"Sir, it's Cohen, your servant." Jimmy squinted and glanced at him, seemingly worried that Vio might not know his identity, so he mentioned it.

Vio gestured for Gina to pause the match, then turned to look at Cohen approaching them from a distance.

"Hoo... Sir... something's up."

Cohen, panting, approached and was about to say Luke's name when he saw Jimmy and quickly skipped over him.

He knew that Jimmy and Luke were both guards and close friends.

Vio thought for a moment and then waved his hand, saying, "Just tell me what's going on."

"Huh?" Cohen was taken aback, but since Vio had said that, he no longer hid it and told him everything.

"Didn't you have the old man take people to inventory and 'transfer' the property this morning, and Luke was watching the whole time?"

The old gentleman he was referring to was none other than the old servant, Vio said after pretending to think for a moment.

"That's true, but it's not a big deal that he was watching over things. It's nothing unusual for a guard to help keep watch."

After saying that, Vio glanced at Jimmy, whose eyes were wide open. Jimmy's mouth was moving as if he had something to say, but before he could speak, Cohen continued.

"What the lord says is quite true, but that's not the case. Luke didn't see the whole thing; instead, he went up and asked the old man why he was transferring his assets, and then hurriedly left..."

"What did he ask?" Vio asked casually.

The old man told him, "We need to move to the fortress."

Vio didn't react to this answer; it was the reply he gave to his old servant, and of course, he would only answer Luke.

"Then I secretly followed him. He didn't notice me, and after thinking no one was around, he took out a short sword from his sleeve! He was saying, 'The plan needs to be moved up...'"

"Plan? Dagger? Wait, Cohen, what's going on? What did Luke do?" Jimmy was flustered and looked pale, vaguely guessing what was going on.

Vio glanced at Jimmy, and then the panel appeared.

Loyalty: 40%

Perhaps due to the recent training, Jimmy's loyalty not only did not decrease, but instead reached 40%.

If he were on Luke's side, his value should have dropped to zero quickly, but he's still on my side.

Of course, it cannot be ruled out that he might join after confirming Luke's betrayal.

It seems we can't delay any longer; we have to resolve this today, at least to prevent them from having the opportunity to exchange information in secret.

Vio thought to himself, then waved his hand and said.

"I understand, Cohen. You can go back now."

Cohen didn't say much, swallowed his doubts, and quickly left.

Vio turned around only after watching the other person leave.

"Just as Cohen said, I'm planning to move to the fortress. After all, it's too dangerous here, and nobody knows when those bandits will come and attack."

"There's no time to lose. If we set off now, we should be able to enter the fortress before sunset. Gina, go and inform the other guards and servants about this. I'll be waiting for you on the way to the west gate of the fortress."

Gina bowed respectfully and left. Vio, while talking, packed up the things he had brought, and finally turned to Jimmy and said.

"Jimmy, you'll stay with me and protect me."

"Um……"

Jimmy snapped out of his daze, his expression odd.

After crossing the scorching desert under the midday sun, Vio and his companion returned to the village. On their way to the west gate of the fortress, which is to the east, Vio pondered his next move.

The claim of transferring the troops to the fortress was clearly just a smokescreen.

Not to mention that he didn't want to be a coward, even if he wanted to, he would have to be able to get into the fortress first.

The village of Bordeaux has sent a distress call to the fortress, but there has been no response, let alone any response to accept them. Who knows if the fortress has been breached by bandits?

He wanted to give Luke a chance to confront him directly and let him slip up.

Before they knew it, the two had arrived in front of an empty house that had been temporarily built with sand and stones.