Chapter 2: The Trash of House Montfort
Translated by XianPiete
Guy de Montfort stumbled out of the tavern laughing, his two servants quickly came over to help him walk to the carriage. A third servant paid a few gold coins to the tavern's owner while the tavern owner's wife comforted a serving girl with a torn dress who cried in her arms. The servant who paid the gold coins had a dark look on his face as he watched the carriage leave without him. It was the fourth time in a week he had been left behind by the young lord. He sighed and walked towards the town stables where he left a spare horse. As he came around the corner he found the carriage empty and the two servants killed.
Duke Montfort came into the city with his full troop, the city guard responded in force, but the seasoned warriors of the Duke's house were beyond the city guard's ability to handle they could only step aside as the Duke's men searched from house to house around the area the carriage was attacked. A short time after the Duke entered the city, one of the Duke's men reported that the young lord had been found. The Duke's oldest son, Guy de Montfort was tied to the flag pole in front of the city hall with a signboard that listed his offenses against the women of the city. It was a long list. The Duke was furious because the city square quickly filled with people who hurled rotten fruit and vegetables at his idiot son. The rumors would be impossible to contain, arranging a proper political marriage for his son would be impossible now.
Once they returned to the Duke's mansion, Duke Montfort brought his captain of the guard into his study. He sat down heavily and then asked, "Jean-Paul, be honest with me, is it possible to get that idiot trained with the sword enough to pass the Academy de L'échec standard?"
The big knight puffed out his chest, his curled mustache twitched before he answered, "Your grace, I would say that I have not met the man I can't change but the young lord..."
The Duke frowned and then said, "If I said you could treat him as if he were a regular soldier, a regular man with no background during the duration of the training?"
The big knight smiled and said, "With your Grace's permission, I'll whip the smug smile off his face and return a proper man to you."
"Make it so." The Duke then raised a hand and said, "Jean-Paul, he'll need to learn the required academic portion as well, leave two hours a day for a tutor to come to the barracks to teach him, the same rules apply."
The big knight nodded and clicked his heels together, "It will be as you command your grace."
The next morning Guy de Montfort was dragged out of his bed in the mansion, stripped of his clothing and given the rough wool outfit of the House Montfort soldiers. The soldiers frog marched him through their drills, each time he tried to escape his training he'd receive heavy blows from one of the instructors. A few times he tried to use his father's power to threaten the soldiers or the trainers only to meet with the heavy hands of the House Montfort knight in charge. During his first sword training, he took a blow to the head that knocked him unconscious.
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Ito Aoi had his headphones on as he left his father's kendo dojo to get some Yakitori before heading home for the day. He was lamenting the homework he still had to do once he got home. He knew his father would be late getting home, so he had to fend for himself for dinner. Lately, his father had been busy with the dojo because after Aoi's mother passed away, he buried his grief with training more students. Even Aoi felt like his father was growing more distant at home with him and took the opportunity to train harder with kendo just to be around his father more often. As Aoi was crossing the road he noticed an attractive woman bending over in front of the Yakitori stall and smiled as the music was blaring in his ears, that's why he couldn't hear the sound of the truck's horn as it smashed into him.
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Ito Aoi woke up as a bucket of water was thrown over his head. He tried to focus but his whole body ached, he heard a constant ringing in his ears and his vision was doubled. All around him he could only smell the horrible stench of unwashed bodies and hear men speaking in a foreign language. Once his vision cleared he thought he must be at a LARP as the foreign men around him were all dressed like medieval soldiers and the nearby buildings looked like something from old Europe.
Another wave of dizziness caused him to nearly faint and then a number of strange memories started to spin around in his head. The language the men were speaking started to sound familiar and understandable. Even names that went with faces slowly filled his head. A big man squatted down and gave him a couple of soft slaps on the cheek and said, "Oi, yer lordship, ye plannin' t' get back up fer another round?"
Another soldier squatted down and asked, "Hey, do you remember your name?"
Ito looked around and then pointed at his chest, he answered in Japanese, "My name is Ito Aoi." He shook his head, wait that isn't my voice, he looked at his hands which seemed wrong and searched his new memories.
One of the soldiers laughed, "I think ya wreck'd 'is thinker, Fran! 'e ain't speakin' like a lord no more!"
Ito frowned and then answered in the language they were speaking, "My name is Guy de Montfort?"
The big man laughed and reached out his hand to pull him up. Once Ito was on his feet he remembered from Guy's memories that he was sent here to be a soldier by his father for his crimes. Another one of the soldiers put a heavy wooden practice sword in his hand and guided him over to a spot in the training ground surrounded by soldiers who were loudly making bets or hooting and hollering. Standing opposite of Ito was a large soldier who had a wooden practice sword sitting on his shoulder, smirking. "Show me that fancy lord's swordsmanship again, yer lordship. I don't think the boys here saw enough the first time." He said in a mocking tone.
Ito frowned and then gave the wooden sword a few practice swings, he noted that it was much too heavy for his current body. He could only stick to the basics of kendo and not try to be fancy. He squared himself up and locked on to his opponent's movements. The big man in front of him swung the sword much faster than he expected, the blow would be too heavy if he took it directly on the blade, so Ito, shifted his feet and attacked from a different angle smashing his wooden blade into the big man's ribs while narrowly avoiding the big man's own cut.
For the next two hours, Ito left bruises on every soldier that faced him with a wooden sword until he finally ran out of strength and stamina. The soldiers were unhappy with the results, but the knight who watched was very pleased as he wasn't aware the young lord had been secretly practicing the sword. He was also curious about the unorthodox style he used, it appeared that he had learned from someone who used a saber and not a sword. The big knight smiled at the thought of teaching him how to really use the sword.
That night, a young scholar entered the barracks with a stack of books, ink, and quill. Ito was given a course of study that covered economics, history, geography, and literature. Ito asked if it would be possible to keep the books and do further study on his own after the two hours were up. The scholar nodded and left the books behind. Ito carefully read the books until lights out. The next morning Ito woke up early and started his normal martial arts training regimen. He felt the new body was a liability since it couldn't move the way he wanted.
When the soldiers woke up the next morning, they saw the young lord doing strange exercises in the training ground. None of them understood what he was doing as the movements were something never seen before. That day the young lord seemed to lag behind in most of the training but he never complained. None of the soldiers could goad him into reckless action. When the tutor came, the young lord studied as fast as the tutor allowed.
In just a few short months, the young lord began to improve physically keeping up with the experienced soldiers. Six months later he was keeping up with the knights. A year later he was too advanced for all but the elite captain of the guard. A year and a half later and even the Duke himself couldn't match him with a sword. The thing that impressed the Duke the most was that Guy had learned to be courteous, calm and cool. He no longer spoke out emotionally when things didn't go his way, instead, he calmly listened to explanations without complaint. When he had questions, they were always important, and when he asked to do a task, he would complete it beyond expectations.
Duke Montfort sighed, "If only my son could have been like this his whole life, I should never have spoiled him the way I did. He wouldn't need to go to that damned Academy looking for leftover scraps and could have a proper political marriage to a good house."
The Duchess smiled at the Duke and then sipped her tea and said, "Mm, well there might be some good news on that front. The rumor has it that the second prince ended his engagement with Duke Aumont's daughter. The Duke had her trained and is sending her to the Academy this year too."
Duke Montfort looked at his wife and rubbed his chin in thought, "Should we just send an engagement offer now, before some baron's son wins her heart?"
The Duchess shook her head and said, "I don't think they would accept with Guy's past. I think Guy will need to prove himself through the Academy before we can make the offer. Let Guy know to look out for the girl at the Academy, perhaps they will bond without interference."