4 A master.
"Hey, wake up. The young lady is calling you." A man's voice could be heard from outside Ares's room while he banged on the door.
Ares was already awake, in fact, he hadn't slept because he was planning everything up all night. He then got up and approached the door. "I'm awake..." Ares replied as he put his shirt on.
The door was opened by the knight and he looked at Ares and then scoffed. "I heard you want to be a knight, do you really think you can be one?" The knight mockingly said as he crossed his arms.
"I know for sure that I will be better than you who only guard the dungeon," Ares replied as he stared at the knight.
The knight was furious when he heard that and he clenched his fist.
When he was about to punch Ares in the face, Ares smiled at him. "I wonder what's young lady's reaction when she sees a bruise on my face that belongs to her and tells her that a knight punched my face," Ares said and the knight immediately pulled his fist from Ares's face before it hit his face.
The knight scoffed and turned around. "Act like a brat but immediately got scared and threatened me with that. What a coward." The knight said as he walked away.
Ares leaned on the door. "That's not being a coward, but being smart. I can win without even using my strength." Ares said as he smirked and stared at the knight.
The knight scoffed in annoyance. "I can't wait to see you laying on the ground with blood covering your face." The knight said as he turned his head a bit and glared at Ares from the corner of his eyes.
Ares left the room and walked behind the knight to meet Alexandria.
"Why are you taking so long to come here?" Alexandria said as she crossed her arms with her two ladies-in-waiting behind her.
"My apology, my lady, there was a bit of quarrel between me and one of the knights," Ares said as he glanced at the knight in front of him.
"Who?!" Alexandria asked as she raised her voice.
The knight was just standing there and didn't move a muscle.
"It's nothing, my lady, I took care of it." Ares smiled as he stared at the knight in front of him.
"Hey, you!" Alexandria pointed her finger at the knight. "Remind all the knights that guard the dungeon to never touch or give any trouble to him because he's my toy! If I see him with bruises on his face or body, I will punish every single one of you, because I'm the only one who can do whatever I want to him, do you understand?" Alexandria continued as she threatened the knight.
"Yes, my lady!" The knight said as he bowed his head.
"Commoner! Let's go to the training ground." Alexandria said and stared at Ares.
Ares just bowed his head and followed Alexandria from behind.
Ares stared at both of the ladies-in-waiting, one with blonde hair and the other one is black hair. He thought to himself that they both need to be replaced as soon as possible. The reason he thought about that was that the blonde hair was poisonous since she was the one who fed her the poisons in his previous loops, she had killed Alexandria so many times in different ways but it was all always feeding Alexandria poison. The black-haired one was venomous because she was the one who corrupted Alexandria by giving her suggestion and fuming her hatred toward the commoner or making up some rumors about her, making her reputation bad in the society and in the eyes of the commoner.
They arrived at the training ground near the knight's barracks, Alexandria approached one of the knights and told him that she wanted to meet Hidar. Ares slightly smiled as he hid his expression because he knew that something like this would happen.
"Hey, commoner, go over there and wait!" Alexandria said as she pointed at the field.
"Yes, my lady," Ares replied as he walked to the middle of the training ground.
Ares's eyes were pointing at the field while the knights who were training and resting on the side were staring at him. They started to murmur about him because they had heard about him wanting to become a knight. All of them were mocking and making fun of him but Ares ignored them and stood in the middle of the field.
Ares looked up at the bright sky then he heard Hidar talking with Alexandria, he looked at them and squinted his eyes. Hidar looked at him and he could tell that Hidar didn't take it seriously but then Alexandria insisted on taking it seriously. Hidar rested his hands on his waist as he nodded with understanding and then he walked toward Ares.
"So you want to become a knight?" Hidar asked.
"Yes, Sir," Ares replied.
Hidar clicked his tongue and sighed as he looked at Alexandria. "You can't become a knight, and this is moronic that I have to obey her order," Hidar said as he looked at Ares. "Just tell her that you changed your mind so we can be done with this joke or whatever you guys doing here." Hidar continued as he rested his hands on his waist.
"I don't think of this as a joke, Sir, but it would be a joke if you lose to me, Sir," Ares said as he smiled mockingly at Hidar.
Hidar scoffed as he shook his head. "Kid, don't be a fool, I don't have time for this," Hidar said.
"Then accept my request if you think you can beat me quick enough," Ares replied as he taunted Hidar.
Hidar smirked and then looked at one of the knights. "Bring me two wooden swords," Hidar said.
The knight hurriedly ran to the side and grabbed two wooden swords, he gave both of the wooden swords to Hidar.
Hidar threw the wooden sword on the ground in front of Ares. "Hurry, grab it," Hidar said.
Ares grabbed the wooden sword and swung it around so firmly then he swung it to test the weight of the wooden sword. Hidar could see how clean Ares's swings were and how strong his grip was, he was amazed for someone who never held a sword before could perfectly do those things.
"I'm impressed, kid. I'm not sure how you could do those things, but I will show you the real deal." Hidar said as he readied his stance.
Ares used a one-handed stance and Hidar could see how his stance was so perfect. He started to doubt and took this duel seriously because as a man who had been in a war for a decade could see if a person was capable of killing him or not, and this time, he could see that Ares was capable of doing so.
Hidar took the first move and dashed toward Ares with his sword above his head. He slashed the sword downward but Ares dodged it easily and took the opportunity to thrust his sword from a lower angle toward Hidar's chest. Hidar parried Ares's sword but he was shocked that Ares's right arm was so firm and sturdy that his sword barely moved Ares's sword but luckily it was enough to make Ares miss his shot.
Ares pulled his hand because he knew that Hidar would slash his sword diagonally at him. He waited for the right moment and immediately used both of his hands to hold the sword and hurled Hidar's sword with his sword. Hidar was being parried by a 15 years old kid as his hand was being pushed up by Ares, and Ares used the opportunity to get closer to him and pointed his eyes and sword at Hidar's chest.
Before Ares's wooden sword could touch Hidar's chest, Hidar used his right elbow to hit the top of Ares's head but Ares tilted his head to the left and allowed him to take the hit on his neck and right shoulder. Ares lost his balance and he could hear a crack on his collarbone, he might have broken his bone from Hidar's elbow, but before losing the strength in his right arm, he flung the sword onto his left hand.
Hidar grabbed Ares's right arm and noticed that the sword wasn't in Ares's right hand anymore. He looked to his right and saw Ares's left hand holding the wooden sword and immediately thrust his sword toward Hidar's neck. Hidar backed away and his nose barely touched the sword, he was so lucky because Ares wasn't holding back and if Ares hit his neck he might die or be badly injured from that.
Ares pulled his left arm and readied to thrust Hidar again but then Hidar dropped his sword and raised both of his arms, Ares stopped before his sword touched Hidar's neck.
"It's my loss, you have talent kid and I take back my words," Hidar said as he looked down at Ares who was glaring at him.
Everyone's mouths were open as they saw the commander of the Valtris Knight lose a duel, not only that but lose to a 15 years old kid who was a slave and had no knowledge of sword fighting.
Ares smiled but he immediately groaned as his right arm started to feel the pain and the sting.
Hidar patted Ares's left shoulder and looked at all the knights. "I approve of this kid to be a knight! I can see that he has the talent, and you all must have seen it as well!" Hidar said and then he looked at Alexandria who was in disbelief. "My lady! This kid has talent!" Hidar said with a big smile on his face.
"Impossible!" Alexandria yelled and tried to deny it.
Hidar smirked and looked at Ares. "If he becomes a knight, he could become the best knight in the empire! He could become a master swordsman!" Hidar said as he shook Ares gently. "My lady, you said that if he won, you would recommend him to be a knight to his grace, correct? Let me do that for you and I will do it now!" Hidar continued.
Alexandria was so confused while Hidar walked hurriedly toward the mansion where Khazad was to tell him about what just happened.
Ares approached Alexandria with a smile on his face. "I have proved myself, my lady," Ares said as he held his shoulder.
"No!" Alexandria said as she shook her head. "I can't believe it and I don't want to believe!" Alexandria continued as she stormed out from the training ground and then the ladies-in-waiting followed her while Ares just smiled and followed them from behind.
