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Chapter 32

Pulse Reading (2)

"Phew..." Lorist let out a long sigh and raised his head to look towards the large sandglass hanging from the roof of the hall. This intricate and complicated contraption is the staple product of the Teribo Kingdom and it is said that not more than 100 units are produced each year with each one selling for up to 1000 gold Fordes. The sandglass operates quite niftily by exploiting gravity and magnetism with the it automatically tipping over when all the sand on the upper compartment has completely flowed to the lower compartment.

Beside the sandglass were two glass tubes of unequal sizes with the larger one filled with a distinct red liquid and having twelve markings on the outside. Every time the sandglass tips over, the liquid fills up in the larger tube by 1 marking's worth to indicate the passing of an hour and resets once the sandglass tips over when the liquid indicator is at the 12-hour mark. The smaller glass tube has 6 segments with each one representing 10 minutes.

The sandglass hanging high up in the hall was originally a present from all the students and staff of the Yellow Ribbon Academy to their academy head for his 60th birthday. Having been installed in the great hall, it has now been bought over by the Dawn Academy along with the rest of the school's property.

Lorist secretly laughed in his heart every time he saw the timekeeping sandglass that was given to the academy head at his 60th birthday. In Chinese culture, it is considered a taboo to give a timekeeping device of any kind to an elderly person as it could represent sending a person off to his or her afterlife. Coincidentally, the academy head who had received this sandglass had passed away half a year after receiving that gift. Maybe I should give Academy Head Levins something similar for his birthday as well?

The female Iron ranked instructor by Lorist's side placed a name list on the table and said, "We're finally done assigning the students to their respective groups."

Lorist stopped daydreaming and nodded, "It's already four in the afternoon. Everyone should take a short break and regroup half an hour later for a meeting to discuss the regimens and activities for the students. Instructor Anfya, arrange and organize the student name lists and give one to each student of every group. Just like the last time, leave some space after their names for remarks."

Anfya nodded and instructed two other female instructors to start copying the name lists by hand.

"Hey, Yuriy, get me something to drink. I really don't feel like getting up…" Lorist had asked his good friend Yuriy to help him out for this year's Battle Force awakening course as well.

Just as Lorist was filling up his cup and preparing to have a chat with his friend, a middle-aged man who was dressed quite extravagantly entered the hall and approached Lorist before politely asking, "Is this the instructor team of the Battle Force awakening course?"

Instructor Hughes replied, "Yes, is there anything you need?"

The middle-aged went outside the hall and shouted, "Master, it is indeed this place. You can come off the carriage now."

What's going on? Lorist and the other instructors looked towards the door and saw the middle-aged man walk back, followed behind by a fat, stocky fellow. That fellow wasn't just big-boned, he was truly filled with fat all over his body; his arm itself was as thick as Lorist's upper thigh. The stocky man walked so slowly and breathed heavily every few steps, making Lorist sincerely fear for his condition as he looked like he was about to collapse at any moment.

That middle-aged man returned to Instructor Hughes and took out a student identification document before saying, "Excuse me, my young master here is a new student for the Battle Force awakening course. As it is a little convenient for him given his body, he has arrived a little late. I hope you will understand."

Wait, what? Isn't the total amount of students for the awakening course only 879 people? Why has another one appeared out of nowhere? How did he even pass the academy entrance test with a figure like that?

Instructor Hughes looked at the documents and gave Lorist a bitter smile. Lorist took the documents over and thought, Sol, this really is a genuine identification document and it even came with a letter addressed to me. The letter forthrightly stated that the fat youth was called Dorsedaus and he was the sole heir of one of the highest authorities in the Forde Trade Union, the Peterson family. Aged 18 this year, his father was also an alumnus of the Dawn Academy. The Peterson house was one of the academy's largest sponsors who contributed up to 10000 gold Fordes every year.

Given that Dorsedaus was the eldest son of the President of the Peterson Merchant Group, he had been spoiled by his parents and ended up in the state he was today. Having felt that being in that condition wouldn't be good for his son in the long run, President Peterson started worrying about how his son would be able to inherit the family business one day.

However, he started worrying too late. When he decided that his son should start cutting down his weight and instructed his family butler to only give him 3 meals a day as opposed to 5 meals he normally had as well as decrease the serving of each meal by half, within but a day, his son threw a huge tantrum and caused the president's several wives to complain to him and added a few more dishes to his son's meals.

Not knowing what to do, he hired a Blademaster and hoped that he would help his son awaken his Battle Force. President Peterson thought that if his son managed to awaken his Battle Force, he would be able to slim down naturally as he continued training in it. While the plan itself was rather sound, within but a month, the Blademaster he hired had come up to him and told him that it was quite impossible for his son to be able to awaken his Battle Force given his physique. He spoke quite candidly and even said that what flowed in his son's veins wasn't blood but pure fat and oil! In the end, he warned the president that his son would not have more than 3 years left to live should he continue to eat away with abandon and refuse to slim down.

The president was frantic and started racking his brains for a solution for his son's problem. It was at that time when he heard about Lorist's reputation as a Gold ranked Battle Force instructor as well as the success he had with his Battle Force awakening courses. The president was convinced that this would be the method to help his son slim down. Elated, he hurriedly got into contact with the academy head and got his son signed up for the course right away.

In the letter, Academy Head Levins described the condition Dorsedaus was in and requested Lorist to help the president out with this issue. For his son, the president was even willing to add 5000 gold Fordes to the yearly sponsorship he has been providing to the academy! The academy head stressed that no matter what, Lorist had to find a way to help the president out. He even promised that as long as President Peterson's request was fulfilled, he would even award the instructor team as much as 1000 gold Fordes.

Sol, this old bastard is giving me even more trouble… Sheesh, this is a Battle Force awakening course, not a weight loss class! Without first shedding all his fat, how would that fatty even be able to awaken his Battle Force? Sigh, I guess I can't be too harsh on that old bastard since the Peterson family is indeed a large benefactor of the academy and it would be quite difficult for him to turn down their earnest request.

Lorist kept the letter and said to the middle-aged man, "Let him come over here and place his hand on the pillow. I'll examine his body condition."

The fatty approached and curled up his sleeve as instructed and placed his hand on the pillow with his wrist facing upwards. Whoa, this is no hand! It's a pig's feet! Look at it, it's even glistening with a layer of oil on top! Lorist sighed and stretched out his hand with three fingers extended and started reading the fatty's pulse.

Huh? Where is his artery? Lorist lightly pressed downward but he couldn't feel a thing. Does he have too much fat? Lorist furrowed his brows and pressed down even harder and finally felt a very slight and weak pulse.

After a moment, Lorist retracted his hand and gave a long sigh as he shook his head. The middle-aged man asked anxiously, "Mister Instructor, how's the condition of my young master's body?"

Lorist mulled about with a gloomy expression before asking, "Are you the family butler?"

"Ah, yes. I am the second butler of the Peterson house who's in charge of all the young master's personal needs," replied the man.

"I believe you are not the right person to make this decision. It's better if you ask the president to come over himself. Your young master first needs to lose all that fat before he can attempt to awaken his Battle Force. His body's condition is already bad enough. If he doesn't start losing weight, he'll only have a few years to live at most," Lorist said as he looked at the fatty. However, that fat kid was practically unfazed by Lorist's conclusion and thought that Lorist was purposely exaggerating his condition and trying to scare him.

The middle-aged man however was genuinely shocked as Lorist wasn't the first to have said something like that. While the Blademaster they hired had come to the same verdict, it was a confidential matter and hadn't been leaked anywhere outside the house. The fact that Lorist came to the same conclusion signified how serious the matter was. "The head of the house is presently having some tea, I'll go invite him over immediately."

The middle-aged man quickly ran out of the hall and left in the carriage.

Without much delay, President Peterson was brought there and he looked at Lorist with an eagle-like expression. "So, you are Norton Lorist, the famed dual Gold ranked instructor of the academy, Instructor Locke?"

Lorist took a deep breath as he didn't expect President Peterson, one of the most influential people in the Forde Trade Union, was a Gold ranked expert. Even though he dressed simply and had a pleasant face and looked no different from the usual kind old man and didn't wear a Battle Force badge, Lorist could feel a faint pressuring aura emanating from that man's body. Lorist had only felt this aura from another Gold ranked instructor, Instructor Claude before.

Looking at President Peterson, Lorist calmly said, "Good afternoon, President Peterson. I'm indeed Instructor Locke. I have invited you over to discuss the matter of your son. He has to start losing fat no matter what, not because he has to do that in order to awaken his Battle Force, but also for the sake of his life and it doesn't look like he has much time to do it. I'd like to know your opinion on this matter. Are you going to have him lose weight before having him enroll here, or do you want him to join the class straight away and do that before he awakens his Battle Force?"

President Peterson was surprised at what Lorist had just said and asked agitatedly, "Do you have a way for my son to lose weight and awaken his Battle Force?"

"Well, I do, but the young master will have to suffer quite a bit for a long time, at least half a year," nodded Lorist.

"Ah..." President Peterson thought to himself whether Lorist was lying to him. Last time, I brought my son to the most famous herbalist in Morante City and he said that it would take at least three years for my son to slim down… Half a year sounds rather short in comparison.

"What do you mean by suffering? Will he have any danger to his life?" asked the President.

"To others, things like restricting caloric intake and doing physical training might be normal. But for the young master, it will be nothing short of torture. And, to ensure that the young master completes the training regimen set for him every day, I might have to resort to some rather unpleasant, maybe even humiliating measures and some minor injuries or wounds will be inflicted. But I can assure you that there is absolutely no risk to his life whatsoever," explained Lorist.

"If President Peterson can trust us with it, I'll need you to sign an agreement that states that the family members of the young master would not be allowed to interfere with the training process at all. While you can have someone oversee the whole thing, you are not allowed to have any objections or opinions to how we treat the young master. Once the agreement is breached, please take full responsibility for your son as we will no longer continue with his training program and send him back to you," Lorist stressed.

"This…" President Peterson started hesitating. After all, that was his flesh and blood that he had so meticulously spoiled ever since his birth who had not weathered any sort of hardship. He felt that the moment he agreed to Lorist's conditions, his son would form some kind of enmity towards him.

"I see that you love your son a lot. Maybe you should have him lose weight before letting him enroll in the Battle Force awakening course," said Lorist relaxedly. This was the most convenient solution as the instructor team did not have to be troubled with Dorsedaus's matters.

"No, I'll put him in your care. I hope you don't disappoint me," President Peterson said, having made his decision.

"Um, are you sure you don't want to think this over?" Lorist asked, dejected.

"There's no need. Let's handle it your way," said the president resolutely as he waved his hand.

"Well, alright. Please come over to sign the agreement as well as settle some other matters relating to the young master's enrollment. Given his unique condition, we might have to ask for additional fees," Lorist said. It looks like the following days will be troubling.

"I only have to sign the agreement, right? Have him arrange everything else. He will make sure you have what you need," said the president as he pointed to the middle-aged butler and beckoned him to come over. "Bill, from this day onward, you will be stationed here and help Instructor Locke here with anything he needs. Also, you are only allowed to monitor the young master and cannot interact with him whatsoever without first consulting the instructor, understood?"

"Yes, master," replied the man respectfully.

Having signed the agreement, the president let out a breath of relief. "Instructor Locke, my precious son has never left his home before nor experienced any sort of hardship. Now, I'm handing him to you. I hope you can try to ease him into the process and not be too harsh on him right away..."

Lorist paused for a while before saying, "Sometimes, the love of the parents can be harmful to the child..."

After a while, President Peterson finally said, "Since I've agreed to let you decide whatever's best for him, I guess I shouldn't worry too much. If you really can help him awaken his Battle Force within a year, I will personally reward you with 1000 gold Fordes."

The instructors watching by the side all gasped.

Lorist merely shook his head and said, "I can't guarantee anything at the moment. That will come after we have him slim down."

"Two thousand!"

The breathing of the instructors nearby intensified.

"President Peterson, please trust our work ethic. Since we've accepted the task of training your son, we will definitely do the best in our power…"

"As long as his Battle Force gets awakened, I will give all of you 3000 gold Fordes!" interrupted the president, unwilling to back down until he hears some kind of promise.

Lorist could feel all the instructors behind shaking in their feet, including even Instructors Hughes and Anfya. Only Instructor Marlin still retained his calm.

"Alright, I'll do my best. Please rest assured," said Lorist, finally nodding his head.

———

Currently, all the instructors were having a meeting.

"Group 1 has a total of 352 students and their conditions are mostly fine. Most of them are healthy and have great circulation. With the usual training method and some boosts from herbal medicines, they will definitely be able to awaken their Battle Force within a month. Instructor Marlin, I'm sure you're more familiar with large scale group training sessions like this given your experience in training new recruits in the city garrison. I'll be handing the group to you. Pick four instructors to help you out as well, is that okay?"

"No problem Instructor Locke," replied Marlin with a smile.

"Group 2 has 175 students who don't have any problems with their bodies either, but they are still undergoing puberty, so their circulation won't be at their best for the moment. Monitor these students for the time being and make sure they receive sufficient nutrition and training to boost their condition. I need someone patient to handle this class for the next three to four months to come before they attempt to awaken their Battle Force. Everyone, who do you think is the most suited for this group?" Lorist said.

Quickly, a Silver ranked instructor called Thorheim was nominated by the rest of the instructors and he picked two other instructors as well as two assistant instructors to be in charge of Group 2.

Lorist looked at the name list again and said, "Group 3 has 236 commoner students whose main problem is their lack of nutrition. Instructor Yuriy, you've done the same thing before the last time so I believe you know how to handle this class. I'll be assigning this group to you."

Yuriy nodded and picked two instructors and assistant instructors respectively to manage the group.

"Group 4 has 116 noble students. Apart from 5 who have incurred injuries that have harmed their condition, the rest of them have experienced intercourse while they were still too young and has harmed their internal energy greatly and will require a long time to train and nourish their bodies to heal the damage. This group will be handled by Instructor Hughes with Instructor Anfya assisting him, is that alright?" Lorist looked towards the two instructors who nodded their heads in agreement.

"Instructor Anfya, I'll leave the collaboration effort with the herbalists to you. Make sure each student consumes the internal energy recovery medicine every day without fail," Lorist instructed.

"I understand, Instructor Locke. I'll make sure to chase them to the ends of hell if that's what I need to do," promised Instructor Anfya.

"The last class only consists of one student who has absolutely no problems with nutrition given his excessive eating. Before awakening his Battle Force, he has to lose at least two-thirds of his body weight. This student will be handled by me and the rest of the instructors and assistants. That's all. We'll be starting tomorrow so feel free to discuss among yourselves about your student groups."

Lorist then waved towards the middle-aged man who was sitting in a corner. "Butler Bill, please come over here. I'm afraid i have to trouble you with something..."

Journal Entries and The Duels

Bill's journal:

Year 1767, 19th day of the 2nd month, Trade Union Calendar Weather: Sunny

Just this afternoon, I have sent the young master to enroll into the academy. Instructor Locke had said that the young master wouldn't have more than a couple of years to live if he doesn't start losing weight and continues his old eating habits, just like the Blademaster the master has hired just two months ago. I have brought the master to the academy and he has decided to let Instructor Locke conduct his fat loss course and even signed an agreement. The master has tasked me to remain at the academy and assist Instructor Locke wherever possible, but I am not allowed to interfere with the training course nor interact with the young master in any way and can only observe the situation from afar. Even though I agreed to comply, I can't help but feel that things won't go that well for the young master in the times to come.

As expected, after Instructor Locke finished briefing the other instructors, he asked me to go get a cart full of lettuce, carrots as well as celery. After that, he brought the young master away. When I returned with the things I bought, Instructor Locke brought me to a small building made out of bluestone and had me place the vegetables on the floor. The small room felt like a sword training room to me. Just as that impression entered my head, I saw the young master crouching in a corner crying. I couldn't ask him personally what had happened nor could I talk to him, so I asked the instructor what was going on.

Instructor Locke gave a savage smile before replying, and said that this would be the place that the young master will be living at from this day onward. Good lord, that room doesn't have a bed nor a furnace. How will the young master be able to sleep like that?

But Instructor Locke didn't seem to think that was a problem and said that the straw mat and a woolen blanket would be sufficient. "If the young master feels cold at night," he said, "then he should get up to exercise and warm himself up." He also mentioned that the main feature of this room was that it was soundproof and no matter how the young master screamed, nobody would be able to hear a thing.

I then asked him what the young master would be having for dinner. He merely pointed towards the vegetables I have brought and said that the young master would be feeding on only those vegetables for the coming three days. I was greatly surprised; was he treating the young master like a pet rabbit? I tried to subtly tell him that the young master didn't like to eat vegetables, especially raw ones. He merely laughed it off and tapped on my shoulders before saying that there wasn't anything to worry about. He said that when humans were hungry, they would even eat the rotting corpse of another if they had to, not to say much about vegetables.

Instructor Locke is really disgusting, cold-blooded and iron-hearted. It is not an overstatement to say that he is the incarnation of evil himself. The young master really is unfortunate to have fallen into his hands. I have to record all of this down and report it to the master so that he doesn't get away with this.

Bill's journal:

Year 1767, 20th day of the 2nd month, Trade Union Calendar Weather: Sunny

Yesterday, the young master threw a huge racket and cried for the whole night, but nobody gave him any heed. I wanted to go there to calm him down, but the assistant instructors who were on night guard wouldn't let me and warned me that I couldn't go near the room without permission. I could only listen to the cries of the young master from afar and couldn't do anything about it.

After the cries had subsided, I heard a crunchy sound of vegetables being chewed that originated from within the room. The young master bawled and cried as he bit down on the vegetables until finally, he fell asleep just before dawn.

In the afternoon, Instructor Locke came over with a few others to help clean up the room, help the young master bathe and gave him a set of garments made out of rough hemp. The instructor then took hold of the young master's wrist and said that he was helping him read his pulse. The young master cursed and cried at Instructor Locke throughout the whole process but the instructor didn't give it any heed and even said that he intends to have a cane made that wouldn't be able to hurt one's bones but still manage to inflict a lot of pain! Oh lord! Is he treating the young master like a slave now?

After that, he asked me to go over and gave me a drawing parchment which had some building designs on it. He said that he wanted a vast bathroom built in the academy that would be part of the necessary facilities the young master would have to use during his weight loss training. I heavily suspected that he was just trying to weasel additional benefit for the academy as I have never ever seen a bathroom that had a room within that was built entirely out of wood, which he called a 'sauna'. Who does he think he's tricking?!

Bill's journal:

Year 1767, 21st day of the 2nd month, Trade Union Calendar Weather: Sunny

The young master had another vegetable-only meal yesterday, but he didn't make as much of a racket like he did yesterday.

Instructor Locke came over again today afternoon. As usual, he had somebody bathe the young master before taking his pulse and cleaned up the room like he did yesterday. He also instructed me to go buy more vegetables this time around, during which I secretly sneaked in a few tomatoes inside the pile. I believe the master would be happy with that.

The bathroom design that Instructor Locke brought to me yesterday is estimated to cost more than 100 gold coins to be built. After I showed it to the master at the mansion, he instantly approved of it and sent people to the academy to work on it right away.

Bill's journal:

Year 1767, 22nd day of the 2nd month, Trade Union Calendar Weather: Sunny

The young master had eaten nothing but carrots yesterday. It seems that I have bought a little too much of that last time around.

After bathing the young master and taking his pulse, Instructor Locke gave me a list of medicines that he wanted me to purchase for the young master.

Bill's journal:

Year 1767, 23rd day of the 2nd month, Trade Union Calendar Weather: Cloudy

The young master only had celery to eat yesterday night as the carrots had already run out.

Instructor Locke had a few other assistants hold on to the young master and forced him to drink a medicinal liquid from a test tube. It must have been really bitter as the young master looked like he was about to cry.

It didn't take long for the young master to start experiencing diarrhea.

...

Bill's journal:

Year 1767, 31st day of the 2nd month, Trade Union Calendar Weather: Sunny

The young master had slept rather soundly without snoring or sleep talking throughout the whole night.

For the past few days, the young master has been fed a laxative medicine. Though, the frequency at which the young master had to go to the lavatory had decreased gradually. He also looked far more energetic than before, unlike the past few days when his face was pale from releasing all that waste from his body.

In the afternoon, the young master had his body weighed and the result was he had lost up to 8.5 kilograms within only just a few days! It seems that the young master really did have some hope losing weight after all. However, Instructor Locke remarked that the young master would have to lose at least 85 more kilograms to be at normal body weight. Will that really be possible? It's really hard to imagine the young master having the same body weight as me at about 80 kilograms approximately.

This time, the instructor gave me another list of medicines to be purchased while mentioning that the young master no longer had to take the laxatives. Now that the young master had expelled all the waste he could from his body, Instructor Locke said that he could start doing physical training from tomorrow onwards and take a whole new type of medicine as a supplement.

Bill's journal:

Year 1767, 32nd day of the 2nd month, Trade Union Calendar Weather: Sunny

The young master had a good night's sleep the night before.

Instructor Locke came over early in the morning and had the young master run three laps around the field. Initially, the young master refused. But the instructor took out two buns about the size of fists and said that if the young master would run the laps, he would be allowed to eat the buns. Having eaten nothing but raw vegetables for the past few days, the young master instantly lost it and leaped towards the instructor in an attempt to take the buns for himself but was struck down to the floor as a result. Instructor Locke then said that he would toss the buns into the lavatory if the young master didn't run and let him eat vegetables for another week.

For this crudely baked black bread, the young master ran around the field three times and collapsed in the middle of the last lap and had to climb the rest of the way to the finish line. Instructor Locke had a few assistants hold the young master up and walk half a round on the field for him to catch his breath before allowing him to come back to us. I was literally at the brink of tears when I saw the scene of the young master stuffing the bread into his mouth.

From today onwards, the young master's menu had changed. In the morning, he was fed a bowl of porridge with two pieces of bread. For lunch and dinner, he only had raw vegetables. Additionally, the young master started working out every day. During the morning and the night, he had to run around the field for three laps as usual while he did other exercises in the afternoon. After every training session, the young master had to drink a large bowl of salt water to replenish the salt content in his body. Every night before sleep, he will have to consume another serving of a special medicine.

During today afternoon, the young master refused to exercise because the instructor had wanted him to jump like a rabbit and push up from the ground. Without hesitation, Instructor Locke took out a cane and sent a lash towards the young master. A loud sound rang out as the cane stroke the young master's back, leaving behind a red mark on his skin. The young master had never been beaten all his life! I wanted to go stop him, only to be severely warned by the assistant instructors beside me that this would be indirect violation of the agreement the master had signed. I didn't dare to bear the responsibility for voiding agreement and could only witness the young master suffer the lashings until the training was completed.

Bill's journal:

Year 1767, 33rd day of the 2nd month, Trade Union Calendar Weather: Sunny

Having been caned all day the day before, the young master groaned for the whole night as he tried to sleep. Even though Instructor Locke had someone apply some medicine onto his wounds, he didn't sleep well and was even dragged out of bed for training today.

The good news, on the other hand, was that the bath has just been completed not long ago. After having his daily dose of medicine, the young master was brought into the sauna and I was allowed to follow them inside.

The sauna was a small wooden hut with a cauldron of cobblestones that were heated up and then sprinkled with water for the steam to evaporate. The room quickly filled with steam the moment the water was splashed onto the hot cobblestones and I found it a little difficult to breathe due to the sudden influx of hot air. Everyone had to strip naked before entering the sauna. Instructor Locke had a magnificent physique while nothing but fatty meat could be seen on the young master's body. Having been put in charge of putting the heated cobblestones into the cauldron and sprinkling water over it, I was sweating all over. The young master on the other hand sat at a corner unmoving as glistening oily sweat oozed out of the pores of his skin. After about 20 minutes, the young master lost consciousness. Instructor Locke said that it wasn't anything to worry about and that he would slowly wake up upon being brought to somewhere with normal air circulation. The young master woke up after being sprinkled with some cold water. He was bathed and put to sleep soon after.

...

Bill's journal:

Year 1767, 1st day of the 3rd month, Trade Union Calendar Weather: Sunny

Yesterday, the young master had yet another night of sound slumber. These few days, he has been training under the threat of the cane from Instructor Locke the whole time whenever he tries to slack off. Before going to sleep, he goes to the sauna every night. These days the young master seems much more revigorated than before: his strength has increased and he no longer starts gasping for breath after walking a few steps. When I was at the sauna with him just now at night, the young master suddenly grabbed on my hand and to my surprise, it hurt. The young master said that he wanted to eat meat so much that he's going to go crazy over it and wanted me to sneak some smoked meat for him.

But I don't dare do such a thing as Instructor Locke, who was standing behind the young master unnoticed by him, was glaring at me with a savage gaze in an attempt to warn me.

Instructor Locke wasn't present this afternoon for the training as he had to prepare for the duels tomorrow. I really don't understand what kind of person would attempt this kind of crazy feat and take on all the Silver ranked instructors from 27 different academies. I've heard that they number up to 1600 or more people and I don't believe that a sole Iron ranked instructor like Locke can defeat all of them without losing. A tavern near the academy called 'Sword and Beauty' has a betting pool for the duels that are to come. I shall go bet 1 gold coin on Instructor Locke's loss as I've heard that the payout for 1 small silver is 1 gold coin. If I win, I'll instantly gain 100 gold Fordes! I really hope that Instructor Locke would lose tomorrow.

—————————————————————–

The 2nd day of the 3rd month finally arrived and the weather on that day was clear and bright. Lorist walked casually in the academy as if he didn't mind the oncoming duels one bit.

He has already received the list of challengers a day before for the inter-academy duels. The open matches would start on the 3rd day of the 3rd month, which was tomorrow. However, he did not have a list of competitors for that as Charade had forgotten to give him one, or maybe he didn't, as he believed that Lorist would defeat all of the challengers without exception anyway. On the other hand, Charade has provided Els with the list of all the challengers, both the instructors and non-instructors, with excruciating detail so that Els would spread rumors about the challengers' abilities to easily defeat Lorist.

"It can't be helped, if we don't do that, we won't be able to attract any customers for the betting pool. We must give the betters information as detailed as possible to make them think that the challengers have a chance against Lorist," said Charade as he shrugged his shoulders.

Lorist didn't really want to bother with the name lists anyway. The instructors today were from the Hoary Stock Academy that was ranked at the 21st place and didn't have any famous Silver ranked instructors among their ranks, resulting in Lorist feeling no enthusiasm whatsoever for the duels to come.

The members of the Enforcement Division as well as the elites of the Swordsmanship Society could be seen receiving instructions from the fatty nearby. Seeing Lorist, who was looking around aimlessly, Charade said, "Don't walk away just yet, there's a good show that you should see."

Without much delay, the 'show' that Charade had predicted was slowly unraveling. A group of people dressed in black entered from the academy entrance with the Silver ranked instructors who were wearing the instructor badge of the Hoary Stock Academy leading the other non-challengers from other academies who were here to witness the duels into the premises.

Academy Head Levins who was holding his walking stick was standing by the training hall which had just been completed recently after a month of rushed renovations. With a wide smile, he received the academy heads and brought them to the dueling hall, but he didn't let the other people following behind enter.

"Rotten old man, what is the meaning of this?" asked the head of the Saint Marceau Academy with a grim expression.

Academy Head Levins was struck by a rather serious disease that had left his legs only partly functional for the rest of his life.

Smiling, Levins said calmly, "Old bastard, the Hoary Stock Academy is here to participate in the duels. Given that you academy heads have come to witness the spectacle, it's only natural for me to receive you. The rest who were left outside can enter from the other door if they want to."

As he said that, Levins pointed towards the other direction where a large sign could be seen hanging with the words 'Ticket Counter' on it. It seemed that the audience had to pay a fee to be able to view the oncoming duels.

"The price isn't expensive, only one small silver per person," said the academy head.

"Rotten old man, you've really been blinded by money to the point where you wouldn't even let some small change like this go uncollected. Can't you be more generous in your ways? I'll pay for the tickets of the audience today, just tell me how much I need to pay in total," said the Weston Academy Head magnanimously as he took out an intricate pouch and tossed it towards a Silver ranked instructor from the Saint Marceau Academy.

"The Weston Academy Head is so generous…" "Thank you, academy head…" Such cries and cheers could be heard coming from the audience.

Pretending not to see the Weston Academy Head's gleeful expression, he stretched out his hands and motioned towards the inside of the halls and said, "Over here, my fellow guests."

—————————————————————–

The newly-renovated training hall had changed a lot after the process. In the center of the hall was a 7m x 5m elevated platform with up to eight terraces of audience seats surrounding it which could seat up to 2000 people.

Lazily standing on the dueling platform, Lorist looked casually at the uniform-clad Dawn Academy schoolgirls who were walking around the audience seats and saying in a clear voice, "Get your betting tickets here! Is there anyone who wants to make a bet? The payout for Instructor Locke's victory is 1 small silver for every large silver and the payout for his loss is 1 large silver for every small silver!"

The Weston Academy and the Hoary Stock Academy heads were infuriated at the scene on the seats. "Rotten old man, what's the meaning of this?"

Academy Head Levins merely said, "What's so weird about a few girls working so hard to run a betting pool to earn some cash for a living? Maybe they're just very confident in Instructor Locke's abilities and set the betting payouts to be so skewed. If you two are unhappy with that, why not buy some tickets for your victory and teach them a lesson?"

Only an idiot would believe that you wasn't involved in it! The two academy heads glared at Levins furiously. The Weston Academy head said, "I have more than 10 gold Fordes in this pouch and I bet on the victory of the Hoary Stock Academy! I'll make sure you go bankrupt from the payout!"

The Hoary Stock Academy head also said to the instructors and students of his academy, "Everyone, put some money in the pool and bet on our victory. It isn't like that Iron ranked kid on the platform there has three heads or six arms, I doubt that not even one out of the twenty Silver ranked instructors can take care of him! With enough people, no matter how strong he is, he'll definitely tire out near the end!"

The female students accepted the bets without hesitation even though almost nobody bet for Lorist's victory aside from a few other Dawn Academy students.

The Hoary Stock Academy head held a handful of betting tickets and whispered to the Weston Academy head, "Even though Instructor Worbas is only a Two Star Silver, his swordsmanship is not something to be underestimated. I'm sending him out first to test out that kid Locke's abilities. Even if his swordsmanship is superb, there's no doubt that he'd fall after several tiring matches. Look, Instructor Worbas is already on the platform. With his rich experience and 17 wins out of all 18 duels he has had… Huh?"

Charade quickly walked up the dueling platform and announced after examining Worbas, who was lying flat on the ground, "The challenger was knocked out from blunt force trauma to the chin and is unable to continue battling. Next one."

Within half an hour, all twenty of the Hoary Stock Academy instructors had been wholly defeated by Lorist, who still had the 'energy' to yawn lazily on the stage.

The beauties who were running the betting pool as well as the patrolling Enforcement Division members, who held their swords up high, let out cheers of joy and chanted, "Instructor Locke, Silver Undefeated!" over and over again.

The Weston Academy head was stunned speechless and ruthlessly tore up all the betting tickets that he had bought. Without even saying his farewells to Academy Head Levins, he turned towards the exit and left right away. The people from the other academies who came to cheer for the Hoary Stock instructors left disappointed as well.

The Hoary Stock Academy head's expression was dark as the dirt on the ground. He didn't even notice the tickets falling out from his grip. How could it be… The instructors from my academy were mostly defeated within one exchange… Even the best only lasted three bouts…

Lorist called Charade over and said, "How many challengers are there for tomorrow?"

"Twenty, just like today," replied Charade.

Lorist said, "That's way too less. Next time, increase the amount to 50 a day. It's better if I can settle this sooner."

.....

Bill's journal:

Year 1767, 2nd day of the 3rd month, Trade Union Calendar Weather: Sunny

I lost a gold coin in the betting pool today. Who would've expected that all the 20 Silver ranked instructors sent by the Hoary Stock Academy to be so useless and got defeated by Instructor Locke… However, I believe it will be different tomorrow, as the duels are open to all the famous combatants who are not representing any academy. They should be too much for an instructor who always spends his time in the academy teaching without much combat experience. It's fortunate that the payout for the betting pool still stayed the same. It seems that I still have a chance to get the gold coin that I lost back.

The young master was in pretty good shape today as well. He bathed and went to sleep after training as usual.

Dueling Period

Seeing the Silver ranked mercenary rush at him with a sword, Lorist instantly visualized more than ten ways to defeat the opponent, but he wasn't allowed to use any one those. That was because Charade said this to him the day before, "Oh Lord Locke, why don't you just let me call you that? You should always give them a fighting chance! Don't just take them out in an instant, alright?! At least pretend to fend away a few of their strikes and maybe even try for a close victory and make people think that you were just on the edge of losing and merely lucked out. This way, people will continue to bet against you! Otherwise, everyone will no longer bet on your loss and the betting operation Els is running would no longer earn as much, surely you understand that much?"

Fine, I'll just dance around and act out the fight the whole time. Though, I can't say I'm pretty good at it... This Silver ranked mercenary may be pretty ferocious, but he has lots of openings to strike at, thought Lorist as he tried to match the opponent's ragged movements and try to dodge in a manner that seemed difficult for him. This... this really is too hard...

The seven years he served in the military in his previous life had left too deep an impression on Lorist. He had been enlisted as an assault trooper and not a support troop, so he had witnessed all kinds of blood, violence and death that was not too uncommon on the battlefield. While the world as a whole was relatively peaceful during those seven years in his life, shootouts were still a common occurrence during anti-terrorism or drug busting operations. In those bloody fights, a single bullet would equal death to the soldiers and taking the least effort to eliminate the enemy was the most efficient and best way to protect oneself and one's comrades on the battlefield. They even had to make sure their enemies were not playing dead by shooting the corpse of the enemy in the head. That was why Lorist was finding it so hard to purposely not take the finishing move and end the duel there and then.

However, to the audience witnessing the battle from the seats, it seemed like the Silver ranked mercenary was slowly pushing Lorist into a corner as Lorist flailed around desperately trying to parry blow after blow. It really was rather rare for an opponent to not be instantly taken out by Lorist. Perhaps Instructor Locke is weak against rapid attackers, thought some of the people in the audience as they quickly made a mental note of this perceived weakness and determined to verify this fact in the future duels.

At that moment, the mercenary had exposed his chin and Lorist really couldn't resist it anymore. He planted his right foot firmly on the ground in front of him as his left foot instantly kept up and made a big step forward in a swift and agile manner, much like that of a fish swimming in water. Within but a moment, Lorist appeared before the mercenary and swung the sword in his right arm and lightly grazed the chin of the opponent. The Silver ranked mercenary reacted as if he had been struck by lightning and took a few unstable steps forward before falling flat on his face entirely.

Charade rushed up to the platform and checked the condition of the defeated mercenary before announcing, "The contestant has passed out from an injury to his chin. The next contender, please prepare for your turn on the stage."

After signalling for the medical team to take the mercenary away, Charade said to Lorist in a low voice, "That was great, just keep this up for the rest of the battles and let the audience think that the challengers have some hope in winning. However, please pay attention to not always hit their chins to end the duel so that they won't discover that you're holding back."

With 20 challengers in a day and each taking up about five minutes, it all totals up to 1 hour and 40 minutes. Add in another rough 20 minutes for things like announcements and medical checks, the duels would take around 2 hours per day. That should be enough for the audience to feel fulfilled from paying the ticket price of one small silver. Sigh... It seemed that Lorist still had to continue putting up an act for quite a while.

When the first dueling day with the Hoary Stock Academy ended, Lorist had asked Charade to increase the number of challengers per day from 20 to 50 so that he would be able to settle the duels within half the amount of time. However, it was rejected as the revenue generated from the tickets and other miscellaneous sales during each open dueling day easily reached 40 gold Fordes and more. That prompted the finances department of the academy to make sure that duels during those days were dragged on for as long as possible and shoot down Lorist's request without even considering it.

As expected, the next few challengers all employed the same tactic of attacking rapidly. However, with his dynamic vision ability, the sword strikes which seemed swift as the wind, clustered as rain and powerful as lightning could all clearly be identified by Lorist down to every single detail. If the duels were life-and-death battles, Lorist could break the momentum of the enemy with only one stroke and pierce their hearts instantly. Though, he had no choice but to hold back during these duels.

Many of the challengers attempted to use their superiority as Silver ranks to try to trump Lorist, who was only an Iron ranked fighter, and attempted to break Lorist's sword with the blade glows emanating from their weapons to render Lorist helpless. No matter how tough Lorist's sword was, with his Battle Force at the Iron rank, he wasn't able to manifest a blade glow to counteract that of the challengers' and his sword would break within a few exchanges.

But Lorist wasn't going to go along with their intentions either. Every time he crossed weapons with his opponent, Lorist aimed for the crossguards of the swords and cleverly put his blade out of the way of the blade glows, much to his opponents' annoyance.

The audience started gasping in anxiety as they witnessed Lorist win by a hair's breadth against one opponent after another. Most of those victories seemed to have been a result of Lorist taking advantage of the challengers' mistakes. Had they been more careful and lucky, it would be hard to say who would take the victory for each match. The audience seemed convinced that Lorist's weakness was indeed a crazed flurry of attacks.

That was until a One Star Silver mercenary started taking Lorist on with the standard rapid attack tactic. Sheesh, your Battle Force is of the earth attribute which makes you more suited for using a sword and a shield in battle, as a semi aggressive guardian. How in the world did you think you would win with rapid attacks while hiding behind your shield? Can you even see where I'm standing at?

Lorist merely took a few steps forward, sidestepped, and gave a low sweep to his opponent with his leg, tripping the whole guy over. Lorist then proceeded to step on the fellow and tapped his shoulder with his sword twice. Hearing the laughter coming from the audience, the Silver ranked mercenary's face reddened as he picked up his equipment and dashed for the exit.

Clang, clang... Clang! Sharp resounding sounds of metal clashing rang out from within the hall.

It was currently the final duel scheduled for today and the opponent was a Three Star Silver mercenary who looked in his forties. The main difference between him and the rest of Lorist's previous challengers was how he didn't bother to rain attacks on Lorist and instead took on a defensive stance while awaiting Lorist's move.

This was the most impressive challenger up to date as he had managed to perfectly hold his defenses against three of Lorist's aggressive assaults. With his curiosity piqued, Lorist circled around the defending challenger and started to observe him carefully.

The middle-aged man had an unfazed expression and calm and cool breathing. With one leg in front and the other behind, he seemed pretty relaxed and unconcerned. Every time Lorist made a dash to his side, he merely swiped his front leg to point it in Lorist's direction, not once exposing his back to him.

This person was a real expert who had the potential to break through to the Gold rank in the near future and must have experienced his own fair share of life-and-death battles given his calm and reactive disposition and the solid swordplay that he has displayed. During the last three bouts of savage attacks by Lorist, there were quite a number of strikes that would've been lethal to that mercenary but all of them were successfully deflected by him by relying on his great reflexes. It was as Lorist had said before, this person has mastered all the eight basic moves of swordsmanship to the point when every move was as natural as breathing which allowed him to emerged unscathed from the flurry of strikes.

Standing there, Lorist said respectfully to that middle-aged mercenary, "Nice to meet you, I'm Norton Lorist. It is an honor to be able to face you in this duel."

It was the first time Lorist had introduced himself on the stage as this middle-aged mercenary was definitely worth this respect. No matter who it was, as long as one managed to practice the eight basic swordsmanship moves to this level, one would deserve this kind of respect.

The middle-aged man was slightly surprised as a warm light flashed past his eyes. He slightly nodded his head and replied, "My name is Grei Potterfang. It's my pleasure to be able to fight you as well."

Lorist waved the sword in his hand and said, "Please watch out, I'm about to attack."

This time, Lorist didn't simply unleash all his force like he did the past three times but rather approached Potterfang gradually and planned to use a steady and firm approach against him. From his dynamic vision, he could see that almost all of the middle-aged man's moves had a small window of opportunity that he could exploit. As long as he suddenly changed his move mid-trajectory, there was a chance that the middle-aged man wouldn't be able to respond in time and create the decisive opening for Lorist's victory.

The experienced mercenary Grei Potterfang was retreating step by step and neutralized Lorist's blows one after another without leaving much of an opening. It was then when Lorist's move suddenly changed from a round of quick attacks to a leap towards him in an attempt to launch a close quarters move.

Potterfang's expression changed instantly as he let out a low groan, expanded the blade glow from his sword and quickly slashed downwards. Lorist's forward movement didn't slow down at all as the sword in his right hand came up and parried the downward moving sword. The middle-aged man quickly tried to move a few steps back only to hear a sound of a blade unsheathing. A light flashed out before his eyes and a short blade could be seen dangerously pressed on the side of his neck. It appeared that Lorist had pulled his sidearm; an action that was far beyond the mercenary's expectations.

Potterfang's body froze as he placed the longsword in his hand down before saying, "It's my loss. I've forgotten about that other blade you were carrying on your hip..."

Lorist kept the short blade and said, "You're pretty skilled. Nobody else has managed to force me to draw my other blade until now."

"Nevertheless, a loss is still a loss, I have no excuses," replied Potterfang with a bitter laugh. "Thank you for showing mercy. I have indeed learned much from this duel. I'll be taking my leave now."

Potterfang turned around and left the dueling platform right away as the audience let out jeers and sighs and tore their betting tickets to pieces. This has been a common sight for the whole of the month.

In actuality, had Lorist utilized the explosive power of the Inch Stage of the Aquametal Technique, he could have easily broken through the middle-aged mercenary's defenses but it would be difficult for him to control the amount of power he used and might end up injure the mercenary badly. Given that he had already reached the Dark Stage, that kind of power was easily way beyond what a Silver rank could handle. If he could, Lorist didn't want to hurt his opponent too badly and just try to knock the opponent out. That was why he liked to go for his opponents' necks.

Charade looked at Lorist's thoughtful expression asked, "What's going on? Are you thinking of something?"

Lorist replied, "That middle-aged mercenary just now was a true expert. If it were you or Els instead of me fighting here, I'm sure it wouldn't turn out good. He's far stronger than many of the Silver ranked instructors of our academy.

Charade repled, "You didn't have to tell me that. I could feel the tension when I was watching from the seats and was truly concerned about whether you have finally met the one who would defeat you. This match was really exciting. It's the first time I've seen someone who managed to hold out in so many moves against you."

"Well, I still think that I wouldn't lose either way, that much I'm confident in. I just dragged it on to make it seem more tense for the audience. The 20 duels today have really worn me out. I really shouldn't have listened to what you guys said about faking the duels," complained Lorist.

"Come on, just shrug it off. It's all for the golden bright future[1] that awaits us. Please bear with it for our sakes, would you? Oh, today's the academy payday. You haven't collected your salary from the finance department yet, right? We're having a party at the Red Grace Inn tonight," said Charade.

Thinking back at the day he covered for their bills, Lorist said in an annoyed tone, "Don't think that I'll pay for the bills this time. You even took so much food with you back home... You're really shameless you know!"

[1] This actually a pun between money (钱, qian) and future (前途, qian tu). Golden bright future (钱途, qian tu) reads the same as future (前途, qian tu) in Chinese.

President Peterson's Thanks

Lorist held a small, heavy pouch filled with 30 gold Fordes within it after returning from the finances department. He still has to go to the Swordsmanship Society next as the acting vice chairman Terman has been pandering Lorist to sign the document to finally be able to distribute the bonuses for the members. The situation was the same with the instructor team of the Battle Force awakening course as well.

Lorist had 3 gold Fordes incoming as allowance for running the Swordsmanship Society and another 5 gold Fordes for running the Battle Force awakening course. In total, his income for the month was 38 gold coins. He was very much satisfied with his current lifestyle, as he had made an interesting estimation of the price for the property and living cost in Morante City. If 1 copper coin was equal to 1 Chinese Yuan in his previous life, a small silver would be worth 20 Yuan, a large silver would be worth 100 and a gold Forde was equal to 2000. The salary he got for the month would consequently amount to about 76000 Yuan in his previous life! Including the extra cash he earned from mercenary missions, his annual income would be worth no less than a million Chinese Yuan. I'm kinda loaded now, ain't I, thought Lorist as he thought about the fact that he was living the life of a millionaire.

Lorist was the highest-paid employee of the Dawn Academy mainly due to his status as a dual Gold ranked instructor. It's no wonder Charlando cursed when he had heard about Lorist's salary given the annual income of the inn only amounting to 200 gold coins including the referral fee he collected from the private requests handled by the inn. Lorist, on the other hand, easily earned up to 360 gold coins a year.

The assistant instructors in the academy only earned 1 gold coin per month and could be appointed as a probationary official instructor for 3 months if they showed good performance, elevating their salary up to 2 gold coins. After the probationary period, Iron ranked instructors earned a salary of 3 gold coins. If an instructor had Silver ranked Battle Force, he would have to serve as an Iron ranked instructor for one semester before he can officially take on the position of a Silver ranked instructor with 5 gold Fordes as his salary.

There were several different pay grades among Silver ranked instructors as well. For the first 3 years of service, it was 5 gold coins. The next 3 years after that was 6 gold coins per month. When that period is over, the salary would rise to 7 gold coins for another three years. For any Silver ranked instructor that has served for more than 10 years, their salary would be fixed at 8 gold coins per month.

The Gold ranked instructors on the other hand had their salaries decided based on their star rank. One Star Gold ranked instructors earned 10 gold coins a month, Two Star Gold ranked instructors earned 15 gold coins whereas Three Star Gold ranked instructors like Instructor Claude got 20 gold coins every month. If Instructor Claude manages to break through to the Blademaster level, his salary would be no less than 50 gold coins each month.

When Lorist first obtained the Incador Medal, he was eligible to receive the same treatment as Gold ranked instructors do. However, the finances department of the academy was very divided on the matter of the salary. Some said that he deserved to be paid as much as the One Star Gold ranked instructors while some others questioned whether he should receive his salary as an Iron ranked instructor on top of the benefits of having the Incador Medal. In the end, the decision was passed on to Academy Head Levins and he decided that Lorist would be paid the salary equivalent to a Two Star Gold instructors without any other benefits. It was at that moment when Lorist's income became 15 gold coins a month. After acquiring the Gold Battle Force Instructor Badge, his salary doubled yet again.

This was the main reason why Charade and Lorist's other friends loved to take advantage of him as they were quite envious of the large salary he got. Every month after payday, they would find some sort of excuse to make him treat them to something. Charade had even said something like this before, "I have toiled so hard upon entering the Enforcement Division as a normal member to finally become the head of it for almost ten years now and my monthly salary is only a measly 12 gold coins, not even half of yours! If I don't at least get something at your expense, I would find it hard to sleep at night!"

Exiting the Swordsmanship Society building, Lorist came to the office of the instructor team of the Battle Force awakening course. As the one put in charge to manage the distribution of the bonus allowance for the instruction team, Lorist was approached by Instructor Anfya to sign the relevant documents. After signing the distribution authorization documents, he signed under his own name in the list as well and collected his 5 gold coins. As he was just about to leave, he was called out to by Instructor Marlin.

Instructor Marlin stretched his hand out and said, "Lend me some money, I'll return it tomorrow."

"Alright, how much do you need?"

"As much as possible, all of it if you don't mind. I'll definitely return it tomorrow," replied Instructor Marlin.

"Huh?" Lorist threw the whole pouch to Marlin and asked curiously, "Brother Marlin, what do you need the money for? And you say you're returning it tomorrow? Is there anything that urgent?"

Instructor Anfya who was standing nearby them overheard and tried hard to suppress her laughter. "He also asked some of us to lend him money and said that he would return it tomorrow. Every time he collects his salary, he has to pass it all to his wife and he wouldn't be left with any to go get drinks. That's why he just came out with a way to save some personal cash for himself so that he won't have to worry about drinking anymore."

"How would he make that kind of money in just a day? Can he really get enough to let him drink away without any worries? Even loan interests wouldn't get you that much!" exclaimed Lorist, still unable to figure out what Instructor Marlin was planning.

"Actually, that method has something to do with you," replied Anfya, smiling.

"Huh? How so?"

"Aren't you gonna go fight against the instructors of the 17th ranked Clearwater Academy tomorrow? Marlin plans to gather 100 gold coins to bet on your victory. Even though the payout rate is 1 small silver for 1 large silver, with 100 gold coins, he can easily get 20 more if he wins the bet. That would be enough for Marlin to drink as he wants for years," explained Instructor Anfya.

Lorist looked at Instructor Marlin with a complicated expression. That's the best idea you've managed to come up with? I believe that the academy head would go completely nuts over this. "Brother Marlin, you're really pushing your luck here. Have you ever considered what would happen if I were to lose somehow? If you really want to drink, why don't I just treat you to some tonight at the Red Grace Inn?"

Instructor Marlin laughed and replied, "If you lose, then I only have myself to blame. I'd rather take that risk and enjoy all the alcohol I can buy myself. Additionally, if you were treating once or twice, I wouldn't mind. But even I wouldn't have the face to ask you to treat me to drinks every single day."

"What about the academy head? You're practically making the academy betting pool incur a huge loss at this rate."

"I'll do it nevertheless for the booze! Even so, a few other instructors and I can still say that we're supporting you as fellow instructors from the Battle Force awakening course by placing a large bet on your victory. The academy can't do anything to us if that's the case."

"Alright, since you've already decided on it, I wouldn't convince you otherwise. You guys better not sleep tonight to pray for my victory instead," said Lorist as he headed out of the door, before suddenly stopping again when he remembered something. "Um, Brother Marlin, I seem to remember that you were unfazed at President Peterson's offer of the 3000-gold-Forde reward. Can you tell me why?"

"Oh, that was because I've seen things like this many times when I still served in the city garrison. Every time a certain group of soldiers was about to be sent out as cannon fodder, the commander would always shout that the first one ahead would get 100 gold coins to raise their morale. In time, I got used to it and no large sum of money can ever move me," explained Instructor Marlin nonchalantly.

"Ugh..." Lorist was truly speechless at that.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Lorist then went over to see how the young master of the Peterson family's training was going. The young master, training hard under the threat of the cane for more than 50 days, has successfully lost more than 35 kilograms of his body weight, but he still weighed around 150 kilograms. After giving the fatty's pulse a read, Lorist received the report from the cane-wielding instructor who said that the young master's training was progressing really successfully, apart from the fact that he desperately craved for meat to the point where he actually tried to bite some off from the instructor's hand himself. Had it not been for his quick Battle Force activation, he would have lost at least half a kilogram of muscle from his arm. After that, he gave the young master a stern beating and finally snapped him out of his crazed trance.

No wonder the young master's so obedient when I tried to read his pulse... It's because he just got punished heavily, thought Lorist as he decided to once again revise the young master's meals. "How about this, from tomorrow onwards, his breakfast will stay the same, add about half a kilogram of steamed chicken for him during lunch and some steamed fish for dinner. These new dishes should not contain a trace of oil in it. Just season it with some salt. However, double the intensity of his training from now on as well. He'll have enough energy for that given his increased servings."

Seeing the young master doing sit-ups beside him like a flopping dead fish, Lorist felt that it was about time for him to leave for the great hall. Today was the day when the first 152 students in Group 1 of the Battle Force awakening course awakened their Battle Force. As the head instructor, he was obligated to attend the event.

He arrived at the great hall just in time. The 152 students were already gathered there and formed neat rows of people. Instructor Marlin invited Lorist to go on the podium to give a final debriefing to the students present.

Standing on the stage, Lorist pointed towards the gigantic pentagram diagram and said, "All this time you have been taught to memorize this diagram firmly in your heart. This is the basic major circulation path that you will have to master. When you enter the meditation room later, relax your bodies, focus your attention and imagine the blood flowing through the circulation points listed in the diagram in your own bodies. Sooner or later, you'll start to feel some kind of energy manifesting in your bodies. That is the sign of a successful Battle Force awakening. Right now, just relax and don't feel anxious. None of you here will fail as you have all reached the peak condition in terms of your essence, vitality and consciousness,[1] and I know that because I have personally read your pulses during the past two days and I feel really confident in all of you. That's why, relax, have more confidence and face your awakening with a tranquil smile."

Lorist's speech incited a round of light laughter from the students. After that, one by one the students were guided to the nearby meditation room by the assistant instructors where they will reside for one to two hours before emerging with their Battle Force awakened.

Actually, the awakening process of Battle Force itself wasn't that complicated apart from the fact that person with a body in bad condition couldn't feel the flow of internal energy no matter how much meditation is undertaken. After awakening their Battle Force, the students will be trained and familiarized with how to use it as the body adapts to the new circulation of energy in it until they reach the benchmark required of the One Star Bronze rank. After that, they will train individually like any other normal person and try to break through further ranks.

Having checked out on the other groups as well, Lorist prepared to head home himself until he was stopped by Bill the Butler who was running towards him hurriedly to inform him that President Peterson was at the academy and would like to meet up with him.

Lorist was led by the butler who took a roundabout route and only answered his questions grumpily. He couldn't help but feel that something was off. What is going on? I know that Butler Bill has something against my methods in training the young master, which should look like pointless torturing to him, but he was still a loyal man who responsibility carried out anything he was tasked with and probably wouldn't let his personal feelings get in the way of his job.

Little did Lorist know that Bill had lost more than 20 gold coins from betting against him. Had he not decided to stop betting altogether, he could've easily lost another 10. Having to meet the person that had caused him to lose more than 20 gold coins, it was no wonder that the butler behaved a little cold towards him. It was already quite an achievement for him to not lash out at Lorist there and then.

Having been led into the small tree-filled area beside the school field, Lorist discovered that President Peterson was hiding behind a tree and spying on his fat son who was exercising under the threat of the cane. Every time the cane snapped, the president would flinch for a bit as if he himself had been hit by it.

Lorist had a complicated expression on his face as he thought, President, I can understand why you don't want your son seeing you here, but why have you dragged me, his instructor, here to spy on him as well? It really feels like we're up to something no good here...

It appeared that President Peterson was pretty satisfied with his son's weight loss progress, which was quite evident to anyone who had observed the young master before he started. Seeing his son running and jumping around with so much vigor, the president couldn't be more delighted. When his son was at home, he was primarily known for his sloth as he would rather sit or lie around rather than stand up and walk. Every step he took seemed so tiring for him to the point he would start panting after walking a short distance. Even though the president wanted to be stricter on his son, his wife and mistresses couldn't bear to see the young master tire himself out and stopped him from doing so.

This time, even though he wasn't too pleased to see his son being caned by the instructor in charge, it was still better than having him lying about at home not doing anything at all. Naturally, the president also brought up some opinions about how the cane was too thick or how it was used all too often.

Lorist merely smiled and explained that the cane was made so that it wouldn't leave any lasting injuries on the young master's body and while it definitely hurt to be hit by it, it would only leave a slight bruise that would disappear after medicine has been applied after the training session. As for the caning frequency, that was entirely due to the fact that the young master would slack off whenever he could if he was not observed. If he was not supervised and punished the whole time, the training would never take effect at that rate. That's why the instructors can do nothing but steel their hearts and continue the caning.

Lorist let out a long sigh and said, "It would be better for him to suffer now than later. We're not only helping the young master to lose weight. In fact, we're also instilling within him the proper outlook on life. When the young master returns home with his Battle Force awakened, he will not return to his life of debauchery and lazing around anymore."

President Peterson gave those word some thought before saying, "Actually, I have another matter when I decided to come visit you today. It's about that sauna of yours that Bill told me about. I've been wanting to try it out since Bill said it was a rather refreshing and revigorating experience and I've come over to do just that as well as check out on my son. Having seen his progress, I really have to thank you for your efforts. I believe that you will successfully complete this task I have left to you."

Lorist nodded in agreement as well. The duel 'performances' throughout the morning had left him sweating all over and itching for a bath. Having spoken a little rudely when commenting on the methods he used on the young master, he quickly offered, "Why don't you come experience the sauna for yourself right now? Do I have the pleasure to invite you to come with me?"

President Peterson laughed out and said, "Of course you do."

...

"Ah, this is truly pleasant," said the president as he sat on the wooden seats with his whole body filled with sweat and a small towel covering his lower body.

As Lorist sprinkled even more water on the red-hot cobblestones in the cauldron, a rush of steam instantly arose and made the surrounding air a little difficult to breathe in.

"After sweating it out in the sauna, go wash yourself once before entering again. Repeat this for three times and you'll instantly feel more refreshed. The sauna really has many benefits to one's health and skin, but one shouldn't stay in it for too long a time. Ten minutes each time would be ideal," explained Lorist as his voice slightly echoed off from the walls of the compact sauna room.

"I think I'll have one built back at my home too. It would be a pretty good idea to host sauna parties once in a while where everyone will engage in naked communion, hehe," said the president as he came out with a rather fancy idea.

"That wouldn't be wise as you'll never know if any of your guests have any kind of contagious disease. It's best if the family sauna is not be open to anyone else. If you really want to have sauna parties, it's better if you start a high class sauna facility where you can also provide services like massages or other sorts of body care. It should be a pretty good business," said Lorist.

"That's actually a revolutionary concept! Why didn't I think of it myself?" said the president as he stood up in excitement with his eyes gleaming.

...

Before he boarded his carriage, President Peterson took out three palm-sized pieces of parchment and put them into Lorist's hand and said, "The first one is to thank you for coming out with a few great ideas for several businesses. I'll feel bad if I capitalize on those without somehow reimbursing you, so this represents my sincere thanks for you. The second one is my appreciation for the whole of the instructor team. The third one is for you personally for taking care of my son's training. I'll be leaving him entirely up to you."

The three pieces of parchment were gold coin tickets which was valued at 100 gold coins each. As long as it was brought to the shrine of the Goddess of Wealth, Zejin, Lorist would be able to exchange them for 300 gold Fordes. As expected of the man in charge of the Peterson Group, one of the largest merchant groups in the trade union. He was indeed generous with his rewards.

Lorist bowed down his head to say his thanks. "Thank you, president. Please rest assured, we'll definitely handle the matter of your son perfectly."

[1] This is a reference to the practice of traditional Chinese medicine where the Three Treasures are known as Jing (精), Qi (气) and Shen (神). See this link: Wikipedia

Attendant and Carriage

It was nighttime and the Red Grace Inn was merry as usual. Instructor Marlin, having drunk a little too much, was telling Charade all about the plan for him to make tons of gold coins. The fatty's eyes instantly gleamed as he gave Marlin another jug of ale to shut him up, after which he dragged Yuriy and Terman to a corner and started whispering away.

Just as Lorist pushed open the door and greeted Charlando, who was manning the counter, he sat beside Instructor Marlin. Having spent the afternoon with President Peterson in the sauna, he felt a little worn out and decided to take a nap in his room, only to wake up when the sky was already dark and rushed over right away.

Instructor Marlin looked at Lorist with his drunken eyes and said, "Brother Locke… Yo-you're late… Here, have a cup of booze…"

"Brother Marlin, how much did you drink? You're totally wasted!"

It's over… I'll definitely be nagged at by his wife when I send him back… Lorist tried to dismiss that thought and called the serving girl Molly over to take his order as he had yet to have dinner. As she took his order, Molly also complained to Lorist about how he hasn't been coming over to the inn to spend the night with her and asked if he would want to do just that tonight.

Lorist was definitely moved after seeing Molly's splendid figure. It has been almost a month since he last had any nighttime action as he really has been too busy in the recent days. He wouldn't have come over to the inn either if it wasn't payday. He also recalled that Charlando and Louise would be getting married within a month and he still hasn't prepared a gift for them yet.

However, looking at how wasted Instructor Marlin was, Lorist turned down Molly's offer. "I'm sorry, Molly. I've really been too busy recently. I have to send this guy over here back to his home later so I wouldn't be able to stay the night. Maybe in another few days…"

Molly humphed with a tone of dissatisfaction. "Just you wait," said Molly coldly, before she turned and left.

Even so, Molly didn't forget her place as a serving girl and quickly sent the food Lorist had ordered to him. After getting a few bites, Charade sat in front of Lorist and swiped a piece of roast goose from his plate and started chewing away.

"Sol, did you wash your hands? Don't dirty my food like that," scolded Lorist.

"If you're not going to finish it, let me help," said Yuriy as he came over. He was even worse and took the whole plate of roast goose away from Lorist.

"I bet you guys are just here to make me pay for you again. I'm telling you beforehand that all of you aside from Marlin will have to settle your own bills."

"That's no issue," said the fatty as he spit out the bones of the goose before waving at the serving girls and pointing at Instructor Marlin, who was lying flat on the table. "Brother Marlin here still wants… one, two, three… six, six more cups of blackcurrant fruit wine and another two barrels of blackcurrant ale. Oh, and let chef McDuffin make him a few more delicious dishes to go with all the alcohol."

Upon hearing his name mentioned, Instructor Marlin who was lying flat on the table raised his cup and said, "Alright, let's drink…" before falling flat onto the surface once again.

"Sol, I never knew that would work… It's your win, fatty…" said Lorist with his mouth agape with the half-chewed food nearly falling out.

"Yeah!" Having successfully taking advantage of Lorist once again, Charade, Yuriy and gang clapped their hands in celebration.

In the midst of all the merrymaking, a person suddenly rushed over in front of Lorist and kneeled down. Very much stunned at this sight, Lorist asked, "What's going on?"

That person said loudly, "I want to be your disciple! Please let me learn the way of the sword from you!"

...

Charade and gang were totally flabbergasted. What was this situation about?

"Having seen all your battles within the past month, I really want to learn swordsmanship from you. Before, it was totally my fault for saying that you didn't qualify to teach me for just being an Iron rank. I am deeply sorry for that!"

"Brother Locke, that is the kid I was talking about. He's regretting his decision terribly right now," said Els, who suddenly appeared beside Lorist and swiped a bottle of fruit wine from one of the serving girls' trays. "Get us another bottle."

"I'm not paying for that, alright?" clarified Lorist. It was troublesome enough for Charade to have managed to order six more bottles of fruit wine which cost one large silver each under the name of Marlin.

"He's just joking. Put the bill on his tab," said Els to the serving girl before patting Lorist on the shoulder as he pointed at the kneeling youth. "Sit down, old friend. Let's first talk about whether you will accept him as your student."

Sigh, I really can't do anything about the bills, Lorist thought, before turning his attention to the youth on the ground. Hmmm, Els was right about him having a rather nice physique. He's only 16 and yet he looks so well-built and tall. I would have thought that he was 20 if I wasn't told of his age beforehand… Blonde hair, straight nose and clear eyes, he actually looks pretty decent. At this moment, the youth on the ground had a perplexed expression as he clenched his lips and awaited Lorist's decision.

"What's your name?" asked Lorist.

"I… I'm called Reidy Gezeizidorf," said the youth nervously.

"Hmm, then I'll call you Reidy. Reidy, having watched my battles, then you should know that I'm both a swordsmanship and Battle Force instructor at the Dawn Academy. As long as you enroll over there, I'll naturally be able to teach you swordsmanship without you having to kneel here like that. Also, I'm only eight years older than you, you know. I don't plan on accepting a personal disciple just yet. I think it's better if you and attend an elementary academy before applying to the Dawn Academy the next year," said Lorist.

Reidy was disappointed at the response, but he remained kneeling. "No, I don't want to attend school. All the people there laugh at me for being a country bumpkin and look down on me. I only want to learn swordsmanship from you…"

Having had vast economical development over the last twenty years of peace, Morante City has become one of the most advanced merchant cities on the Grindia Continent. Gradually, its citizens began to develop arrogance and pride for being born in the city. Just like how people in Lorist's past life would look down on foreign laborers, many citizens of Morante City would berate outsiders for being country bumpkins and assume that all of them fit under the stereotype of thieves and robbers. It could be seen that the attitude of the trade union's people has become intolerant and materialistic.

This kind of discrimination wasn't too uncommon at the Dawn Academy either and it was usually the main cause for disputes between local and non-local students in the academy. Lorist was surprised at how Reidy has already experienced such a thing at an elementary academy. It's no wonder Els said he had beaten up all the students in the whole class in one of the academies he had attended before.

"Brother Locke, just take him it. He's just that stubborn and wouldn't get up if you don't accept him as a disciple. Well, it's not like you have to actually teach him. Just treat him as your personal attendant and give him pointers from time to time. Since you're still a person with a noble status, nobody would say anything if you had a retainer or two following you around," encouraged Els as he sipped the wine from the bottle in his hand.

"This…" Lorist sometimes actually forgot that he came from a noble family. Even though he had been exiled from the family, he still bore the family name and had the right to use the Norton family insignia as proof of his noble status. If he were to mingle in high society, he would receive the treatment and service of a nobleman. It's just that Lorist had never paid much attention to matters such as these.

"Oh," Els sounded like he just remembered something. "Didn't you just move into a new place? I've been thinking quite hard about what to give you as a housewarming gift. It so happens that a guy who owed me money went bankrupt and is auctioning his possessions away to pay back the debt. Jindoz already went and collected his horses and carriage as collateral. Since you don't have a carriage yourself, I thought that I'd give that to you since I won't be using it anyway. That's why I think you should accept Reidy as he can help you take care of the carriage and the Zeno Horses."

Lorist gave a bitter laugh. Since Els is going out of his way just to make him take Reidy in, he said to the youth kneeling in front of him, "Reidy, I'm sure you've heard what Els had just said. Would you be willing to be my attendant for now? If not, you had better get up as I won't be taking in a disciple in the near future."

Reidy instantly got up and said, "Of course I'm willing. I'll make sure the horses and carriage receive the best of my care! I'll be bringing my stuff over now."

Seeing Reidy run off to pack his belongings, Els nodded and said, "This fellow will make a good attendant given his hardworking attitude and abundant energy. He's also a pretty good coachman as well. I'll be leaving him in your care, Brother Locke."

Charade looked at them with an expression of envy. "Els, why did you gift Lorist a horse carriage but nothing to me? I was even your classmate at that time! Was our relationship that shallow?"

"Hey, Brother Locke has given me a couple of great ideas for businesses that's worth thousands of gold coins. Jindoz said that if I didn't give him anything, I would lose all my face. As for you, what have you done for me other than taking advantage of me? You still dare to demand gifts? Dream on," said Els.

Still not convinced, Charade said, "I refuse to believe that Locke can come up with any ideas for a business that's worth that much."

Els told the whole thing about repackaging and selling the Terrence-donkey whip to the group since it wasn't that much of a secret to begin with and managed to convince Charade.

Yuriy nodded and said, "This business really is quite profitable."

When Els had heard about the idea from Lorist, he had someone sent to purchase all the Terrence-donkey whips available from the Relic Islands right away. The shipment will be arriving in another month and the medicinal wine and glass bottles were all prepared. Without the power and connections Els's syndicate has, no normal businessman would be able to prepare all that within a short period of time.

Charade said bitterly, "This bastard really has a brain that's much more wtty than most…"

Seeing Lorist about to finish his meal, Els placed the wine bottle back on the table and said, "Come, Brother Locke. Let's go check the carriage out. I've parked it in the back alley."

The group then went as a group to go see the horse cart. Its design wasn't like that of the normal coaches that one could rent on the streets. It was a four-wheeled cart that boasted a complete dark brown-colored carriage which was suited for long distance travel with four green glass windows that helped the interior of the carriage to gain some illumination during the day. The roof and back of the carriage was fitted with bronze racks on which luggage could be placed. At the front of it was a seat that could fit two coachmen.

Els kicked on the cartwheel for a bit before he gleefully said, "This wheel, axle and bearing were all made in the dwarven kingdom from fairy steel and are incomparably tough and long-lasting. The metal bracket that's securing the carriage is also fitted with a large shock absorber that will minimize the shakiness of the ride. With this carriage, you will no longer have to worry about transportation or shelter when you go on mercenary missions in the future."

"Sol, who would use this kind of carriage to mercenary missions? Only nobles use carriages like this," Charade interjected.

Ignoring Charade's comment, Els said to Lorist, "Come, let's check the interior out too."

The carriage itself was fitted with two grey leather seats on the front and the back which faced each other. The back seat can also be folded downwards into a makeshift bed. Below the seats were four small drawers that could be used to store small items. The walls of the carriage were fitted with a light purple velvet cloth with two lamps on either side to help light up the interior at night.

Els knocked on the walls and said," There's a thin steel plate within these walls and over here…"

Els pointed towards the roof and continued, "Above are six pieces of light metal plates that are fastened by a velvet string that can be released to cover the parts where there are windows and provide some temporary defense towards any potential threat from the outside. There is also a trapdoor which is hidden under the carpet. You can use it for an emergency escape if the situation is dire."

Terman was full of praise for the carriage. "The designer of the carriage has clearly considered most of the scenarios that one would encounter during long distance travel and has outfitted it adequately with certain necessary precautions. It must have been a pretty expensive one."

Charade looked at it full of envy. "It should cost no less than 100 gold coins. Including the price of those two Zeno Horses, I believe the actual price is even higher."

Zeno Horses were the most famous kind of mount on the Grindia Continent which were quite well known for their endurance, making them suited for long distance traveling even though their maximum speed was slightly slower than other kinds of horses.

Yuriy asked sheepishly, "Els, how much did you say that bankrupt merchant owe you?"

Els scratched his head in thought and said, "Should be about 30 gold coins, if not 40."

"Ugh…" Everybody was speechless.

Lorist didn't really mind whether the horses and carriage were taken by force since that was what the syndicates usually did anyway given their forceful management approach. Patting on the horse cart, he said satisfiedly, "Thanks, Els. I'll take care of it well."

Seeing Reidy carrying a rucksack on his back as he came over, Lorist called out to him and said, "Reidy, put the stuff into the carriage and prepare the horses. Fatty, come with me to get Instructor Marlin. I need to send him back."

Charade asked, "Will you be coming back to drink?"

Lorist shook his head and said, "Nope, I won't be. I still have to duel tomorrow and it's getting rather late. Oh, and, are you leaving as well?"

Charade said, "No, we'll be staying here for a bit more. The food still isn't served yet."

Lorist just remembered something and said, "Oh, I better go settle the bills lest you put your orders under my tab."

"Sol, you're so stingy, Locke. Didn't Els just gift you a horse cart worth 100 gold coins? Surely you wouldn't mind treating us something to commemorate that!"

"No way," replied Lorist.