For about five whole minutes, Theo tried attacking Rhys with all the things he knew about, but not once had he made the knight move.
His body might have already been tired, yet he still tried all he had.
After another few minutes, Rhys finally moved a hand forward, making Theo stop.
"That is enough, I know your level now."
"What is it?" Theo asked in curiosity, though he knew he was going to be belittled.
"Your stance was not half bad. It seems either soone taught you or you picked it up during those training sessions with the other knights and guards. You try to step back and spot openings in your opponent, which makes you slower. But it’s a good habit. Your try of using your brain while using a sword can give you a slight advantage in the long run."
When Rhys just kept speaking, Theo was kept dumbstruck, even Elias looked at him with surprise. Nobody had expected him to pick out the good aspects at all. In Theo’s eyes, there were no good aspects to begin with.
"Aside from all that, everything is trash."
’Ah, there it is,’ Theo nodded with a smile, and Elias just wanted to stop the guy from speaking harshly, which seed impossible.
Theo smiled wryly. That last part was expected; he would have been more worried if Rhys ended the sentence without saying anything harsh.
"But," Rhys continued while scratching the side of his head, "it’s not your fault. You’re not a knight. At least not yet."
Theo looked at him again, a little more seriously this ti.
Rhys went into thought and muttered again, "You fight like soone who’s always had soone... or sothing... do the fighting for you. You have a habit of being the bystander, the observer." Rhys added with a small yawn.
Theo didn’t know what to say anymore. Rhys was not wrong, it even made perfect sense for him. Clara, the Mantis, even the guard—Theo always had soone for protection.
"But that’s not a bad thing either," Rhys spoke again. "You just need to figure out what kind of fighter you want to be."
Theo listened intently now. He forgot about his early exhaustion for a mont.
"For the more normal and basic people, there are so who overpower their enemies head-on... so who wait for their mont and strike once and end it... and then there are fools who try doing both."
Rhys stretched his arms and stretched his body slowly, his joints cracking as he moved.
"You have the look of soone who thinks they can outlast their enemy... and that’s going to be the hardest path."
Theo blinked. He felt like an open book—not even his brother Lucien was able to detect so much about him in such a little ti.
"Why?" he asked in curiosity.
"Because it ans your brain and body both have to be good. Right now, neither are." Rhys said bluntly, making Theo’s eyes widen in surprise.
His expressions twitched, but he nodded. Elias also shook his head in dismay.
"But... I’ve seen worse," Rhys added as he reached for another training sword and tossed it toward Theo.
Theo caught it just barely and frowned. He already had a sword in his right hand.
"Now I will see what style suits you the best. If nothing does, then we will stick with the basic one." Rhys spoke and took another sword.
He showed so moves and basic footwork to Theo and told him to follow along.
At first, Theo was confused, but soon enough, he started catching up to it. There was a slight delay due to his muscles being a lot more sore than before. But he still did it as identical to Rhys, who had already realized it.
Ti passed, and Theo learned a lot of things in the sa day, but to his excitent, everything stuck clearly in his mind.The way Rhys taught was not only simple but also easy to follow till now.
By the evening, when they finally stopped, Theo was a ss. His body had taken a toll far worse than it ever had.
"Get used to getting tired more than this and still fight for your life, young master. That is the norm." Rhys spoke and placed the wooden swords back on the rack before another yawn ca out of his mouth.
"Do you think I will be able to continue this, Sir Rhys?" Theo asked while huffing in exhaustion, yet he didn’t break eye contact.
Rhys didn’t speak for a while—an old habit of his. "...To be honest, I still don’t know."
"Huh?"
Theo was not expecting an answer like that. There was a ’no’ and then a ’yes’ that he had expected—not ’I don’t know.’
"Everything we have done so far tells you’re capable enough. The only problem is your interests, young master." Rhys spoke. Theo did not say anything in between so that he could know the whole thing first.
"Being a knight is a difficult thing to achieve. There are people among the masses that solely focus on their knight training and give up before they can reach anything. They are as excited and concentrated as you are right now. So... only ti will tell what you can or cannot do, young master."
Theo looked at the man with a loss for words. Today, he had understood so many different perspectives to things, Theo just wanted to write it all down in his journal to never forget it again.
He nodded in determination and a confident smile, and that made Rhys take a sigh of relief.
"You’re done for the day. From tomorrow, I will be teaching you the sword in the morning, and you will practice the footwork in the evening on your own. And try not to slack off—I will know."
Theo nodded again. In his pursuit of knowledge and skills, why would he even slack off? That felt ridiculous in his mind.
’If this works, I might even bring Bram into it.’
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