Standing in front of the ten slaves, Adam put his hand on his chin and looked at each of them.
He was most interested in the brown-haired young man whose mother had given him the remains of his dead sister, who had an excellent talent for fencing, and the silver-haired one mentioned by Asterin.
Adam put his thoughts aside and looked at them again; their hands were tense, their shoulders hunched, and their eyes avoided his.
I see...
His expression softened considerably, and he breathed slowly. Then he said:
"You don't have to be so tense; I don't bite."
He noticed how some of them looked at him with surprise.
"I'm not going to yell at you like I did when you were in the slave house either."
The smallest member of the group flinched several times as he clung tightly to his arm.
Adam's tone softened even more.
"So don't worry. Some of you believe that your situation hasn't changed... that you've just gone from one owner to another."
No one denied it because it was essentially true. And Adam didn't bother with that either.
"I'm not going to lie to you. Legally, you are still slaves. But I didn't buy you to punish you or to work you to death."
He stopped in front of a girl with short hair who was barely trembling.
"I bought them because I need people I can trust in the future."
Of course, he confused them.
One of the boys spoke in an uncertain voice.
"Trust... us?"
Adam nodded with a smile.
"Yes."
He stepped back a little so that everyone could see him clearly.
"Right now, they don't know how to fight. They don't know how to use mana. They don't even know how to read. They've lived their whole lives as slaves."
He looked at them all, rough diamonds waiting to be polished. They would also be the first men to accompany him in multiple wars, in dungeons, and even across seas and beyond.
Heh~, I'm already thinking about such a distant future, when I almost died at the hands of a rank IV monster.
Adam refocused on the slaves and continued:
"But you can change; I will train you, but I won't turn you into soldiers tomorrow. Or the day after tomorrow. I don't expect that."
His voice became firmer, but without harshness.
"But if you are willing to work hard... I will make sure you grow."
"What if we fail?"
Adam looked directly at them.
"Then we'll try again."
That threw them off more than any warning.
Adam walked slowly in front of them.
"I don't expect perfection. I expect effort."
He paused.
"And something else."
He looked at them one by one.
"Loyalty."
This time the word was clear.
"If anyone wants to run away, they can try. I won't send anyone after them."
That caused a slight murmur.
"But if you stay... I want you to do so because you choose to."
...
The next day, after completing his daily mission, Adam remained at the training camp, where he had fencing lessons with Asteria.
Right now, he was in some rather unique positions. His legs were burning. His arms were starting to go numb. Sweat was slowly trickling down his forehead, but he didn't dare move a muscle. The wooden sword was barely trembling, betraying the fatigue that was building up in his body.
Asterin watched him silently.
When Adam felt he was about to give in, she spoke.
"Stop."
Adam dropped his arms immediately, gasping for breath. His hands hurt as if he had been holding real iron for hours.
"Good," said Asterin. "That's enough."
Adam looked up, surprised.
"Was that... all?"
Asterin looked at him as if he had asked an absurd question.
"If you can't hold your stance, you don't deserve to wield the sword."
Adam frowned slightly but didn't respond. His legs were still shaking.
Asterin floated in front of him and held out her hand.
"Today you will make your first cut."
"A cut...?"
"The first and most important one. The one every knight must master before going into battle."
Asterin created a sword of mana and descended until its tip touched the ground.
"In the tradition of my kingdom, we do not begin with embellishments or flourishes. We begin with the true downward cut."
She took up her guard.
Left foot forward. Right foot back. Knees relaxed—the tip aimed at Adam's face.
"Watch carefully."
Asterin did not make a sweeping or spectacular move.
Her hand moved first.
Then her body.
Finally, her foot followed with barely half a step.
The sword descended in a clean, direct line from her right shoulder downwards, cutting through the air with a perfect diagonal trajectory.
The sound of the air being cut was sharp.
"This is cut number one," she said. "From right to left, descending. In my day, they called it a forehand blow. A true, natural, strong cut."
Adam felt something strange; it didn't seem complicated... But it didn't seem like something he could imitate either.
"The strength isn't in the arms,"
Asterin continued.
"It's in the alignment. Shoulder, elbow, wrist... all connected. If you break that line, the cut loses power."
She moved closer.
"Try it."
Adam returned to his guard stance. He remembered: hand first. He raised his sword toward his right shoulder.
He breathed.
And he cut.
The movement was clumsy. He lowered his shoulder too much. His foot moved too soon.
Asterin deflected the blade with a sharp blow.
"Bad."
Adam gritted his teeth.
"You lean too far. Your center is forward. If you miss, you're open."
Asterin placed her hand on Adam's chest.
"Here is your center. Don't give it away."
He stepped back.
"Again."
Adam breathed more slowly.
Hand.
Body.
Foot.
He raised his sword.
This time, he kept his back straight. The movement originated in his shoulder, descended through his arm, and ended at the tip with a cleaner trajectory.
The blade sliced through the air.
The sword whistled.
Asterin didn't stop it.
The wooden blade ended up pointing downwards, slightly to the left.
Adam felt how the blow had traveled through his entire body. It wasn't just his arm. He had used his torso. His legs. His entire structure.
"That..." Asterin finally said. "It's coming."
Adam looked up.
"It's Asterin's Royal Fencing."
She continued in a more solemn voice.
"It was fencing that I practiced before becoming queen."
She floated higher.
"Watch the three basic movements of my fencing carefully."
Asterin began to show him the basic movements of her fencing: Half Moon, Eclipse, and the most normal of all, King's Cut.
Adam paid close attention to these movements, then tried to replicate them while Asterin corrected him.