Getting some Training

The next morning William was woken up by Laura shortly after dawn, just like he asked her to the day before.

There were no clocks in this world, at least as far as William knew, so people used animals such as roosters as an alarm and the sun to tell the time. The servants are woken up by the roosters at dawn and they, in turn, wake the others. That is how Laura was able to wake William so early.

William had become tired of eating alone in his room so he washed up, put his clothes on and headed to the dining room that was reserved for the marquess and his family members. He decided to change locales and socialize a bit more by eating with his family members.

Upon arriving there William found his father already waiting for him, while the servants were placing an assortment of simple but varied dishes on the long rectangular table such as milk, wine, bread, butter, eggs and more, all fresh and ready to be consumed.

"William my boy, I see that you are awake, come and sit" Uric said with a smile while sitting at the head of the table as soon as William walked in.

William did as he was told and sat at the right side of the marquess in the chair that was closest to him.

"I assume that Oswin has set the time for your training quite early, otherwise you wouldn't have gotten out of bed at this time" added Ulric.

"Indeed, he had asked me to be ready at sunrise; with his strict personality I know that today will be exhausting". William responded.

Ulric smiled at his son's slight grumbling.

"Oswin is a good man William, don't judge him so quickly, yes he can be a bit uncompromising and cold, but his skill is unquestioned, his family has always been loyal to our house and he is no different. If you wish for him to treat you better you will have to earn his respect first."

William thought about it for a bit and asked. "How can I possibly earn the respect of our captain of the guard?"

Ulric thought for a bit and answered.

" Well, it might be quite the challenge for you. Oswin is a soldier and the captain of the guards at that, to earn his respect you must show that you are guard material as well. Discipline, strength, skill, courage, as well as morals, are all things that you must have to be considered for the position of personal guard. Many of these are beyond you son, I suggest you focus on discipline for now, trust me you never want to be late when Oswin is involved, EVER".

The marquess added at the end with a serious expression.

William swallowed at this foreboding warning, he had the feeling that if he ever were to be late, whatever the punishment Oswin came up with, Ulric would not interfere.

But the marquess's words were true, the "old" William never had any interest in fighting or even hunting, he would always spend his days reading or going around the city to explore and have fun though that was very rare.

He quickly wolfed down his food and ran towards the stables, whatever the punishment for being late was; he was not planning on finding out.

When William reached the stables he found Oswin waiting for him there, which was not a good sign. "damn it how did this guy get here so quickly, I was up at not long after dawn and did not spend much time eating either".

As soon as William finished his grumbling Oswin spotted him. "I see that you can at least be on time, good; I hope that you will keep it up throughout the duration of your training. Now go fetch your horse and follow me."

William did as he was told and followed Oswin to an open field next to the guard's training grounds that was full of obstacles and targets.

"This is where your training will take place, I will start by teaching you the basics of mounting and controlling Lucky before moving to more demanding tasked."

The training took about 3 hours from William's estimates and by the end of it, he felt exhausted. Though it was simple and repetitive by only focusing on the basics, the fact that Owing was never content with anything but perfection made the simplest of tasks daunting.

As soon as he finished; William went back to his room, took a shower and went to lie on his bed. "By the bouncing tits of Aphrodite either this body is weak as hell or horse riding is way harder than it looks, I am exhausted."

Even though William had a lot of free time at the moment, since it was still early for launch after which he was planning on exploring the city, he found himself exhausted and a bit sleepy.

" I should probably take a quick nap to regain some energy for this afternoon. though I really should use this time to read, ultimately I think a nap is the better choice" William thought.

He soon allowed himself to drift away to the land of dreams, but not before he called Laura and told her to wake him up at lunch.

William was woken up a few hours later by his maid feeling refreshed and fully energized, he freshened up and once more headed for the dining room to get his lunch.

He only had to wait a few minutes for his father to join him at the table. As soon as Ulric sat down and while the servants started placing the dishes on the table he asked William. "How was your morning training son? I trust that it wasn't too challenging."

"It was surprisingly exhausting, though it was not challenging per se since this is the first day and I am simply learning the basics, the fact the Oswin is such a perfectionist made the whole ordeal quite taxing, especially since I have little endurance" William replied.

The marquess looked at his son with a smile and said.

"There is no easy way or shortcut to solving your problem; endurance is gained through constant physical exercise, something that you rarely do. I suggest you start your day with some physical training before you move on to the horse riding lessons, I am sure that Oswin would not mind it if you ask him."

William thought about it for some time and found that it wasn't a bad idea after all, though it will be genuine hell for the first week or so, he was sure he will quickly adapt.

"That is certainly a good idea father, I will ask him later on" he replied.

" I am planning to go out to the city this afternoon and I was wondering if it would be possible to do so with as few guards as possible, ideally two."

William asked Uric while crossing his fingers. He knew he was asking much of the marquess since a city is never completely safe, though no one in their right mind would harm a noble and a marquess"s son at that, few would want to take that chance since all it took is an unfortunate mishap and it would be game over.

Ulric immediately furrowed his brows.

"Absolutely not, first of all, you barely recovered from your accident and you're still learning how to properly ride, because of that, if something were to happen to you you'll be stuck on foot. Secondly, two guards are not enough; take at least ten and I will think about it, safety is no laughing matter, young man".

William knew that he needed to negotiate with the marquess to get what he wanted so he made a counteroffer.

"I will take three and stick to the main roads, I don't want to parade with a whole squad of guards around me, It will merely make the people uncomfortable".

Ulric thought about it for a few seconds. "Not going to happen young man, take at least eight otherwise it's too dangerous" Ulric replied remaining adamant.

"How about five and we will all wear disguises; that way no one will recognize us". William made his 'final' offer hoping that he can close the deal.

The marquess thought about it for a while. From the expression on his face, it looked like he was having an internal battle weighing the pros and cons of this whole ordeal until he finally relented.

"Fine, you may do as such, but you better keep your word otherwise you're never going to hear the end of it, young man".

William finally let a sigh of relief escape his mouth. He knew that what he was doing was a little risky yet he did so anyway.

He wanted to experience the atmosphere of the city like a native without disrupting every street and alley he passed through with a whole procession of guards announcing his identity.

After lunch William went to the training grounds and picked his guards, afterwards they disguised themselves as average citizens and headed for the castle gate.

"Landow!!! HERE I COME". William thought before going through the gate towards the city.