"A Valuable Lesson"

It is now the early morning day, the sun peeking into the horizon with an orangy-yellow hue. The birds are singing while the forest leaves surround the Spring Castle are dancing with a light blow of the wind. Inside the Spring castle, a maid and her young master are seen walking side by side.

The maid guided her young master to the courtyard of her master, Leon accompanies the maid as they walk silently. After some moment they arrive at their destination as they can see Leon's father waving at them with a bright smile on his face.

"I'll be going now, young master" The maid politely bow before leaving as she had other tasks to do in the castle.

"Thanks" Leon politely nods at the maid before approaching his father.

"Are you feeling alright my son?" said his father as he pats his right shoulder to check if his fine.

"I'm fine, father" as he jumps lightly to show his body is alright to his father.

"HAHA! strong just like me I see! Ehem!, shall we start on your training?" his father laughs in amusement.

"I'm ready"

"Good, did you bring your wooden sword with you?" Leon shows the wooden sword in his right hand.

"Good! now that you have awakened your anima, your mother will teach you how to use it while I going to teach you the sword." his father also grabs a wooden sword that is store by the side of the courtyard used by the soldiers in the castle.

"Father, aren't you curious what my anima is?" Leon tilted in his confusion why his father never asks this question.

"Ehem!, of course, I am son it just that your mother insisted she wants to learn it first after your training with me" replied his father as he scratches his head and shiver at the taught learning it first.

'So that's why father must have been threatened by mother not to learn it first. So much for the title 'Lion' baron, I guess' Leon mentally shrugged his shoulder, as he stares at his father who is avoiding his gaze.

"Ehem!, Anyway, We shall begin your training" His father straight up his posture and lightly cough as he positions himself in front of the training dummy in the courtyard.

"Son, how much do you know about the sword?" as he heard the question, Leon shakes his head to shows his lack of knowledge of sword fighting.

His father nods his head since it's understandable that he lacks the basic fundamentals of sword fighting as he has seen his son for the past six years playing and mindlessly smacking the training dummy. Esteban begins to teach his son the fundamentals of the sword.

"Son, before you learn the Hearth sword technique you must learn how to properly wield a sword. Here, let me show you" his father faces the training dummy as he wields his wooden sword in front of him.

"When attacking son there is 8 main variation of attacks you can do; A vertical slash, A horizontal slash, and a diagonal slash, this all can be performed left or right, upward or downward" as he said those words Esteban attacks the training dummy with a downward slash and follow up by a right horizontal strike.

"And lastly there is a thrusting strike" Esteban extended his arms forward as he thrust the wooden sword into the dummy. "Now you try hitting it"

Leon nods his head and walks up into the training dummy with a wooden sword in hand as he positions himself in front of it. Leon wields his sword in front of him, he raised the sword over his head as he attacks the dummy with a downward slash followed by a right horizontal strike. He performed the same moves his father did.

"haa...haa..." Leon lightly gasp for air

"not bad, but they're a lot of error in your moves did you feel it?" Leon thought up for a moment the move he performed before shaking his head.

"Your posture is not right when performing those moves and there is a lot of gap in it your opponent can take advantage of that, You must not show weakness to your opponent! Don't let your opponent take advantage of it! Do not let your weakness be a disadvantage! Use this information to fool your opponent because deception is one of the keys to winning a sword fight! Remember this lesson well Leon" With a serious tone in his father's voice, Leon will surely remember this lesson well.

"Now let me shows you the right posture, perform the moves again" With a stern voice, Leon obediently follows his father's instruction as he performs the same move set again while his father gives instruction to correct his posture.

"Haa!...Haa!... Haa!"

"No! put more your back when swinging your sword, Not Right! step your right foot a bit further.. yes just like that! you're spreading your legs a bit wide! Good! Good! that's it"

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.

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And with that time passed by as the father and son duo continue their training swordsmanship in the courtyard with the sun already hung up in the sky with its heat already felt in the skin of the duo.

The soldiers of the castle had wakened up at the sound of a shout heard in their barracks, as they passed by the courtyard only to see that their lord is training the young master to be a knight in the future. The soldiers feel ashamed to see the young master were hardworking in his training than they were. Esteban seeing this formed a smirk in his face, this must be planed by him so he shows the soldier a role model and a motivation for them at the same time he teaches his son in sword fighting. Killing two birds with one stone.

"Son, That's all for now, take a bath and go prepare to greet your mother, if I keep you here any longer your mother will scold me." said his father as he stores the sword into the side. Leon who was lying on the floor due to exhaustion replied to his father.

"Yes, Father" Leon drags his tired body as he proceeds to go inside the castle, the maids who were waiting for him give him a dry towel to wipe his sweat.

"Young Master, the bath is ready for you" Leon thanking the maid, goes into the bathroom, he takes off his stinking clothes as he dips his tired body into the bath.

"Haaaa..." Leon exhaled in a relaxed voice as he relaxes his tired body.

'I can finally properly wield a sword!' This was Leon's dream when he came into this world when his mother mentioned the story of his father on why he became to be the 'Lion' Baron. He wants to be a knight just like his father, battling the strong and protecting the weak.

Time passed by, he exited the bath as he dries his wet body with a towel, he grabs the neatly folded clothing on the side, and wears the proper clothing prepare by the maids of the castle. He exited the room as he walks into his mother's room.

*knocks*

"Mother, it's me Leon" he gently knocks outside of the door and a voice of his loving mother follow suit.

"You can come in, My child, the door is open"