At nightfall, the militia would go to the Overlord’s cave to receive rewards. Every ten people would share a cigar, lined up around the corners of the cave, each taking turns to collect their share of rice.
"Feeling good about your victory, Little hoof?" asked Liu Zhenhan, seemingly repeating the same topic every day. Upon seeing the exercises between the militia and the swans, the astute old Liu began to have his own scheme. Discover more novels at N()velFire.net
"Her martial arts skills are decent, but we’ve been holding back afraid of injuring her. If we hadn’t, we’d have beaten her long ago!" Bellamy had another thought in mind, wondering when it became a norm for us, the Mastiff People, to fight one on one.
"Although we were holding back, the spear technique she taught is pretty good. In certain respects, her knightly skills do offer us some learning points." Gude had a different opinion. The panda has always been outspoken. Gortani tossed him out of the cave the last time, not because Gude intentionally wanted to harm her, but he genuinely admired Gortani’s martial arts skills.
"She truly has expertise in knight’s charge techniques! I’m impressed with her!" Korina nodded, echoing General Pan’s statement.
With the title of "Spur Knight" to his name since he found out he was the only one in the militia to be awarded such, Korina became extremely confident and had since been looking for a warhorse. He insists, how could someone be considered a knight if they don’t have a warhorse?
Yet, with her utmost poverty, even a rat couldn’t survive in his home. How could she afford to provide a warhorse for this ambitious "Spur Knight"?
In the end, Korina reluctantly chose the mammoth elephants of his clan as his mount. Deep within, he was envious of Gortani’s Iron Cross Beast mount.
"You all must be humble and ready to learn! Learn whatever she teaches! It would be best if you could learn that Dou Qi of hers! In terms of martial arts, remember, magnificence is our nemesis. Whatever she teaches should be improved by us. Add poison miss it, make it sneaky! Regarding her sword technique, it’s bullshit. Why aim for the chest? Which wealthy lord’s armor isn’t the strongest at the chest? Aiming for the crotch would be much better! Remember this! Every part of the body is a weapon, don’t leave any unused. We have no equipment, we can only use our advantages. Only by honing your joints into steel, can we beat those who look down on you, make them toothless!" Liu Zhenhan issued the highest directive to his militia.
Ever since, Liu Zhenhan, who had abandoned learning the war songs, started to take over the training of the militia. Regarding Gortani’s teachings, he was always sarcastically belittling them.
Liu Zhenhan’s warped theories infuriated Gortani, who was observing from the side.
The Swan Knight at first just wanted to cause some trouble for Piegel, the Overlord whom she didn’t like, and thus undermine his authority.
However, motivated by Liu Zhenhan’s speech, Gortani, who initially had no intention of teaching martial arts to the militia, started to train them diligently whenever Piegel was away in his so-called "Evolutionary Barrier".
Meanwhile, Liu Zhenhan was snickering in his cave on the Red Earth Highland. It is always better to provoke than to advise. It saves time and effort.
A Holy Temple Knight with such outstanding martial skills, much more knowledgeable than Liu Zhenhan, makes the best free coach.
The militia was learning, and so was Liu Zhenhan.
Every night, he would carefully review everything with the militia members. How to adjust their steps when confronting knights with such martial skills, and how to unexpectedly knock them down, then apply these techniques strategically against the knights, adding countless sinister tactics to the otherwise good knightly skills.
Gortani taught diligently, thinking she could undermine the dominion of the overlord whom she had found unpleasant. However, she soon noticed some oddities about these militiamen.
During a class teaching the Mammoth Clan warriors to charge on mammoth mounts, because knight’s lances were too expensive for her to purchase, each Mammoth warrior was equipped with a spruce tree with its top sharpened as a substitute.
While the outstanding performances of the Mammoth warriors won Gortani’s own hearty smile, she quickly noticed something odd. During their column charge, the mounts of the Elephant Knight all performed the same move, in unison, of tumbling down and swinging their trunks.
She knew for sure that she didn’t teach this unconventional move, and it certainly wasn’t a coincidence. The simultaneous performance of this move by twelve mammoths could only mean that it was a result of deliberate training.
Moreover, she saw plenty of poison from the Witch Doctor, Nochadamas. In the territory of the Bimon Kingdom, there was strict control and prohibition on poison.
Initially, she didn’t want to meddle in their affairs but eventually she couldn’t help but ask.
The witch doctor couldn’t afford not to answer the inquiry of a noblewoman.
The answer was shocking, these poisons were all researched under the directive of the overlord for the purpose of coating weapons.
Gortani remembered a detail, every day before the Mammoth warriors went into battle, they would habitually smear some soil symbolically onto the tips of their lances made of spruce trees. The other militiamen had a similar habit.
Initially, Gortani thought this was just a belief or a unique custom. It was only now that she understood what was really going on.
As soon as she thought about the bubbling poison that the witch doctor Nochadamas made from toads and bats, a cold sweat broke out on her back.
After being vigilant for a while, Gortani, the Swan Knight, soon noticed that the militia was secretly modifying the martial arts she was teaching. The honorable knightly combat skills were subtly mixed with countless despicable tactics by these rural militiamen; tactics that completely went against the spirit and standards of the knights. Unless one was meticulously observant, these despicable tactics were almost undetectable. This discovery made Gortani, who came from a formal knight background, visibly displeased.
After the militia finished clearing the small bandits around the territory, conversations about their experiences reached Gortani’s ears. Their discussions on martial arts, completely void of knightly virtues, filled the Swan Knight with suspicion.
Even though she wasn’t sure if this was the Overlord’s intent, Gortani decided to stop teaching martial arts to the militia.
Soon, the Swan Knight realized what kind of butchers she, a dignified knight, had trained.
There was a silent undercurrent surging on the seemingly serene Donau Wasteland.
Dark clouds loomed over Pigeon.
My father’s birthday is coming up and I’m a bit busy. I squeezed in some time to post.
Apologies to you all!