WW Chapter 57: First Training (Patreon)

With no idea what exactly to expect once they got the opportunity to “practice,” Ezra spent the rest of the journey, about two more hours, focusing on making small experimentations with how he used his aura. Instead of trying to entirely copy what he’d seen other people do, he simply made small tweaks and adjustments to his movement.

Altogether, he thought he had improved his efficiency by about 15% by the time they got to the inn that Chloe had mentioned. He still, of course, wasn’t able to keep up with her in any meaningful fashion, but she continued to pace herself to his comfort. They had a few short conversations, but Chloe deflected most attempts to talk about what they were getting into with, “We’ll talk about that tonight.”

Night had truly fallen, and darkness surrounded them when Ezra could finally see the lights of the inn in the distance. From far off, it looked like any regular two-story building, and getting closer gave the same impression. However, Chloe seemed particularly excited to see it and strode right in.

As Ezra followed after her, he was greeted by the smell of fresh bread and a fire, as well as the gentle clamor of a busy night. A dozen people were sitting around various tables, each one with the look of rough travel on them. Their clothes were worn, and while most had clean faces, their boots were covered with dust and their shoulders hunched with the kind of exhaustion that only a hard day’s labor or travel could give to somebody.

Two of the four tables currently occupied were surrounded by people who were obviously the guards of the merchants at the other two tables. The guards’ meals were simpler, with a tankard of ale or beer at each person’s spot, while the merchants had apparently spent extra on their own meals, which had slightly fancier cutlery and dressings.

When the two strangers walked in, Ezra and Chloe were subjected to a dozen pairs of eyes scrutinizing them, and Ezra subconsciously squared his shoulders and walked forward with purpose after his commanding officer. Chloe, for her part, didn’t seem to care what the people around her might be thinking. Instead, she walked with a broad smile towards the bartender, a broad-shouldered woman with a bodice tied tight under her ample bosom. The bartender’s face spread in a smile, her red hair mostly tied back except for two fringes that hung along each side of her face.

“Hello!” Chloe greeted. “How have you been, Samantha?”

“About as busy as always,” the bartender replied with a surprisingly gentle voice. “So I can’t complain. You’ve been here a few times in the last couple months, haven’t you? But I didn’t see you go back towards Villy. Any news about the road I should know?”

As she spoke, Samantha pulled a tankard out for Chloe and started filling it with some beer on tap. Chloe took the offered drink happily, pulling a coin out of her pouch and laying it on the bar without haggling or conversation about price. Before the Pseudo-Knight answered, she took a long, deep drink, swallowing twice before she laid it down and smiled at Samantha.

“Damn, woman, but it’s a shame you’re married,” Chloe laughed. “Otherwise, I’d have half a mind to bring you back to Brayton and hire you on to run a distillery for my personal use.”

“We have this conversation every time you’re here,” Samantha smiled. “You know what my answer is. So, instead of having the same conversation for the umpteenth time, answer my question. What’s going on with the roads?”

“Nothing,” Chloe waved off the question. “I was in a hurry to pick this guy up, so I didn’t stop here when I could still get to town if I just stayed up a little longer. At least, there’s nothing new on the roads that’s any threat to me.”

“Then I suppose I will take that as no additional news,” Samantha nodded. “I’m assuming you’ll want a double serving of today’s special? And your companion? Will you want separate rooms? Separate beds? The same bed?”

The soft-voiced woman chuckled suggestively as she gave the last option, and, despite his intention to stand by Chloe’s advice to stay silent and listen, Ezra laughed and leaned forward. “If you want us to share a bed, you’ll probably want us to have a bath first. Unless that’s the kind of entertainment you’re interested in? The sweaty, dirty kind?”

“So you have someone who can hang with you,” Samantha laughed, her eyebrows rising as she looked at Chloe. Then she looked back at Ezra and warned, “Be careful, she’ll tire you out.”

“You have no idea how literal that warning is,” Chloe laughed even more heartily. “We’ll take a single room, two beds. And, even without the possibility of sex, we’d both appreciate a bath, both tonight and tomorrow morning.”

Samantha’s eyes narrowed at that, seeming to decide whether or not to make a dirty innuendo, or a very literally sexual statement, and decided against it. Instead, she nodded once and asked Ezra, “And how much will you want to eat tonight?”

“I’ll want a double serving, I’m sure,” Ezra ordered. “And if you have a mulled cider instead of beer, I do tend to prefer that.”

“A rough-and-tumble soldier like you doesn’t like beer?” Samantha asked, her eyebrows rising. “That’ll be the first time I’ve heard of such a thing.”

“I’ve never found being drunk to be an experience I want to repeat enough to deal with the hangover the next day,” Ezra shrugged. “So, if not a lighter cider, the less alcoholic the better.”

“We have a cider that you’re looking for,” Samantha said, her attention turning away from the two visitors. “We’ll have that food ready for you in about five minutes, if you want to go up to your room and drop off your things.”

The barkeeper, and apparently also the owner of the inn, gave them the number to their room, and the two travelers made their way up the stairs and down the hall to their room. Once they opened it, Ezra could see that it was a simple room, one window with two beds, one on each side of the room, and he, grateful, shrugged off his backpack and laid it on one of the beds.

He wanted to throw himself down on the bed, but the promise of a bath keeping him from stewing in his own stink all night, kept him from doing so. Instead, he sat down on the edge of the bed for just a moment and started to unlace his boots, even if he wasn’t going to remove them just yet. Then he smiled at Chloe and asked, “So you prefer women?”

“No,” Chloe shook her head, putting her own pack down and loosening many of the straps of her armor. “I just like beautiful people, regardless of what they’ve got between their legs. You’re not bad. Your face is still a little too young for me, though, so try me in a few years, if you’re interested.”

“Anyways,” she continued, changing the subject without dwelling on the question, “our meal will actually be your first additional training. We will sit at a table by ourselves, I’ll pay a little extra for Samantha to come serve us, and I will teach you proper etiquette in dining.”

“You’ve gotta be shitting me,” Ezra scoffed, allowing himself to be derailed. “I’m going to train to be a Knight, right? Not a butler?”

“I told you,” Chloe snapped, “this is not an opportunity that’s usually given to people from the slums. You take pride in calling yourself a slum rat, great. I don’t care. However, you’re going to be forced to associate with people who are nobles. If you actually become a Knight, there is a good chance that you’ll be involved in international politicking. If this happens, and you make a fool out of yourself, you’re weakening your standing, even if you’re the strongest person in the room. And, frankly, you’re a long way away from being the strongest person in any room.”

Ezra scowled for a second, then schooled his face and nodded.

“You’re right. I’ve already dealt with people who hate me because of where I’m from. That’s not gonna change, but might as well not give them more reasons to insult me.”

“Exactly. Then, after that, we’ll have a couple of additional pieces of information to talk about before we go to sleep. Then, in the morning, just as the sun rises, I’ll train you in dueling. You’ve been trained to be a soldier, that’s not what you’re going to be from here on, though. We’ll do fighting practice until breakfast, then eat, bathe, and get onto the road. While we travel, starting tomorrow, I will drill you on finer applications of your aura, finding additional ways that you can strengthen yourself, to make sure that you’re ready for what’s coming when we get to Brayton.”

“Why are you so determined to do all this training for me?” Ezra demanded. “It doesn’t make sense. I know that the Duke isn’t sending his Pseudo-Knights, however many of you there are, to recruit any random Adept and train them like this. So don’t just act like this is to be expected.”

“Good question,” Chloe said, relaxing a little bit and getting out of her apparent drill instructor mode. “The biggest reason, and the part that most concerns you, is that condition that I put on you for me going after the Blades. Do you remember what you promised?”

“To follow you. To listen to you when we get there,” Ezra shrugged. “Isn’t that it?”

“It exactly is.” Chloe said the words with a deadly seriousness, and when she saw that Ezra was truly paying attention, she continued, “Just know this: the Duke is a powerful man, and not everybody wants him to remain as influential as he has been, neither in the kingdom nor on the international stage, and his internal support system has weakened over the past years. Some of those who disagree with him are found within his own subordinates. I am not one of those people, and you have promised to follow my lead. I won’t have you weakening my own standing and that of my faction due to ignorance.”

Ezra nodded for a moment and then, unable to help himself, asked, “But what if I think that the Duke needs to be pushed down, the way that your enemies do?”

Chloe stared at him. Then, with a sigh, she answered, “Then I will have raised a dog for my enemies to hunt me with, I suppose. I certainly hope that I haven’t been such a poor judge of character, though.”

Not wanting to possibly cause Chloe to take back her support, Ezra stopped asking about that and instead said, “It’s probably been about long enough for us to get back down there, hasn’t it?”

“Yes, it has,” Chloe nodded. “Tonight, the dinner will be one in which you are not escorting a lady, but instead one where you are attending as an invited guest. As such, I will not be schooling you on the proper protocols for interactions with me and escorting me to the table, but I will ensure that you learn the basics of dining.”

Ezra didn’t even try to hide his groan as he stood up to begin this nauseating lesson.

***

Ezra wanted to fall into bed after his bath, but Chloe had gone first to ensure that she was prepared for the next stage of his lesson after the dinner, which had been full of Chloe flicking thumbnail-sized stones into Ezra’s chest whenever he made a wrong move. He hated the training, but hopefully the rest of the night’s duties would be less agonizing.

He was wrong.

The night lessons were focused on correct forms of address for different nobles, how to identify different houses and their family crests, when he was allowed to speak, when he had to hold his tongue, and a dozen other stupid pieces of information that meant nothing to him. Even so, he didn’t argue or fight against what she said, instead trying his best to learn. She’d given him this opportunity—he would try not to throw it away.

Finally, after what felt like hours, Chloe nodded. “Good enough. Now get some sleep, because I’ll be waking you up as early as I said.”

Sleep found Ezra nearly immediately, and he didn’t dream.