Chapter 185 - Swordsmanship - Part 1

"I really want to see her...", was what Rex said.

"Haha, when you see her, don't forget to thank her..."

"After all, we could say that she was the one who raised us.", was what Alex said.

Rex smiled too because it seemed like Alex and Elina were remembering some pleasant memories and were sharing with him.

"..."

And when he was smiling, he observed the sudden change in Alex's expression.

Alex looked at Rex with pitiful eyes as if he was genuinely sad about Rex for something.

"Dad...?", Rex broke the unusual silence by calling out his name.

"Yes...?", Alex answered politely.

"Why are you sad?", Rex asked.

Elina turned her head towards Alex and really found him sad.

"Dear is everything alright...?", was what Elina asked.

"Yes, I'm fine, I just remembered some work...", while saying this Alex got down of the bed on which all three of them were sitting.

Right after that, he started to walk slowly towards the door when he suddenly paused and said, "Listen, Rex, no matter what happens to you, we will always love you, I will always love you!"

"Yes Dad...", Rex nodded his head.

Elina observed that something was indeed wrong, therefore she too got own of the bed and followed Alex.

"I will be back later honey, rest for now.", she said to Rex.

"Yes mom...", Rex nodded his head again, well, that's what he could do for now.

Alex and Elina, both left the room. Rex walked behind them to lock the door because he was going to train his mana again when he heard his parents talking on the other side of the door.

"Dear, tell me the truth, you were actually worried about Rex weren't you?", Elina asked.

"Yes...", Alex replied with a sad voice.

'Huh? Worried about me?'

"We did talk about granny, but then, would he even pass to enter the academy and meet her?", was what Alex asked.

"..."

Elina didn't answer, she was unsure that was why.

they then started to walk and it seemed like the talk was over. Rex too was about to go back to bed when he heard Elina's voice.

"Believe in our son, dear."

"What if he is strong but is hiding his power from us?"

"Maybe that's why we can't detect any mana from him?"

"Who knows, he might shock us someday?", was what she said.

When Rex heard this, he smiled.

'Mother's intuition is it?', he asked himself.

"If it were like that, then I would be the happiest father ever.", and that was the last thing Rex heard.

After that they conversed or not, Rex had no idea about it since they walked away, however, he kept smiling because of what Elina said.

He resumed his training and continued increasing the capacity of the power that he could use at a time. The flow of mana had increased and had become smooth.

In any case, the day passed too and soon, after three weeks, the letter finally arrived at Rhone. It was a letter that allowed Rex to take the test, of course, Alex had requested it three weeks earlier!

'King Alexander Suoll, your recommendation has been accepted and the following candidate Rex Suoll would be allowed to take the 'Special Test' that would happen in a month from now.' 

'NOTE: A month's time is given for preparation and arrival at the venue - Victor Valley.'

'Vice-Dean: Signature'

The letter was sealed and was signed and approved by the Vice-Dean.

It was the short but important letter that Alex received, of course, he let Rex and Elina know about it. 

The news was spread to the soldiers of the empire who heard this from Alex directly because he wanted them to teach him some swordsmanship.

Of course, he wanted to give some training to Rex personally, he believed in Bandis and Zor, however, he wouldn't have been satisfied unless and until Rex would train under their own training method!

That was how news spread, of course, they couldn't contain themselves from chatting about it while havig booze. It was heard by others in the bar and town and soon enough, in a week's time, the entire Kingdom of Rhone knew about it!

Though most of them laughed when they heard that, some were happy to see Rex going to the test, not everyone would receive the privilege of taking part in the test after all!

Well, the school functioned in a unique way, first of all, any and all applicants were allowed however they were to take tests and only the best would pass.

Second, the prince and princesses or nobility would be given first priority.

Third, the test was quite hard so only the best were chosen. If anyone failed, they could come and take another test called as 'Special Test' that was five times harder than earlier, of course, via this, only the geniuses who missed the earlier exams would pass while the ones who failed would have no chance to pass!

So the reason why people laughed was that they were sure that Rex would fail even in the normal test which was harder than when compared to any other academy. So there was no chance that he would be able to pass the Special test, at least that's what they thought.

After the arrival of the letter, Rex started to get training under the knights, needles to say, one of the best knights of the continent.

'Uh, should I go easy on him...?', said one of the vice-captains of the knights.

Rex was standing in front of him with a wooden sword and was holding it in a weird way, even his stance was off.

All the knights could see that, they could tell that he had no experience in fights or any swords.

'Let's see how strong the knights are in reality.', was what Rex had in his mind.

The Vice-Captain thought about teaching the basics, and Rex learned them patiently.

Instead of learning, it would be better to say imitating. He already knew how to stand and hold the sword.

He imitated exactly how the Vice-captain Steve showed, however, he added a bit of modification.

He viewed it as a mistake and continuously tried to correct it.

There was something called habit, Rex was also making some movement due to his habit however that was also seen as a mistake.

There was a swordsman who taught the knights how to train, however, he was quite old now.

He used to visit them often and see them pratice while giving them pointers. 

Ah, a fact to note, he was the second strongest swordsman in the entire continent! Of course, in his generation that is!

"Master Rakis, welcome.", said Daryun on seeing that his master arrived.

Although Daryun was a spear wielder, he was taught swordsmanship by Rakis.

"What's going on Dary, why are the knights gathered around that area?', was what Rakis asked in a shaky voice.

He had become a bit skinny probably because he was already eighty. It was normal and one couldn't probably do anything with this.

"They are training prince Rex.", was what Daryun said.

Rakis used to call his pupils with funny names or with short names like he called Daryun as Dary.

"Oh, let me see.", while saying this he walked slowly with the long stick in his hand.

The wooden stick was balancing his body while he walked.

"Master..."

"Master..."

While referring to Rakis as master, the ones who were watching Rex train moved a but aside as if they were giving him the way.

He then arrived near the scene and took a look at what was going on.

"So he is prince Rex?", Rakis said in a low voice.

"Yes, master...", Dayun nodded and replied humbly.

"No, not like this!", Steve seemed to tell the correct posture again and again.

Rex was only getting bruises because of constant hitting in his hand. Well, one had to be strict while teaching, Alex gave full permission to hit and do whatever other than killing and injuring him seriously!

The wooden sword fell on the ground because of the hit in his right hand.

"Pick it up.", Steve said in a loud voice.

All the soldiers were either having fun seeing Rex getting beaten or were just ridiculing Rex, of course, in a low voice.

Rex then picked up the sword and took the stance that Steve had asked to take. It was the stance of the type of Swordsmanship called 'Full Moon', swordsmanship that was passed down by the predecessors because of the curse.

This was the only swordsmanship that the ones cursed because of the full moon could use!

'Huh...?'

'Wait a second...'

Rakis was surprised when he took a look at the stance which Rex took, while others saw it as a failure, Rakis saw something unimaginable.

"No way..."

"..."

To be continued...