Chapter 7 – Childhood (2)
Childhood (2)
“One two three four! One two three four! One more turn!!!”
“Heo, heo, heo, heo… Yes! Your Highness!!”
Yuno was running on the parade ground with knight trainees aged around 18 to 19. Although they were only trainees who had recently joined, they were trainees of the Imperial Guard Knights who boasted physical strength greater than that of a knight as they had gathered only the best talent from all over the Balkan Empire through a rigorous examination process. However, they could not keep up with the running speed of Prince Yuno, who was only 11 years old.
Moreover, Yuno was running a lap first, pushing the trainees who were lagging behind, and the knight trainees gritted their teeth and followed Yuno because it was clear that if they fell behind while His Highness was running together, they would be scolded to death by the knights after the physical training.
However, some trainees who lacked stamina began to fall behind, and each time Yuno increased his speed, the number of trainees who fell behind increased.
Watching the physical training of Juno and his trainees from the podium, Count Richtenauer, leader of the Imperial Guard Knights, and Viscount Speyer, deputy leader, were smiling brightly as they watched the training of the prince and trainees.
“Huh~ Your Majesty the Third Prince is really amazing. You already have such good stamina, strength, agility, and all other physical abilities. Hehe. I know you’re turning 12 next month, so I’m sure you’re already looking forward to it. Captain Liechtenauer.”〈 Br〉
Haha, that’s right. Aren’t you able to overwhelm trainees who are 7 years older than you in bare-handed sparring? If you learn swordsmanship at the age of 12 and even manage mana, I think you will be able to surpass me in no time.”
“No matter what, is it really necessary to surpass the leader, the strongest sword master in the empire, so quickly? Well, I won’t know when the third prince comes of age.”
“Huh~ This person? Haha,”
Count Liechtenauer and Viscount Speyer were so excited about Prince Juno’s further development in the future that they began discussing whether future swordsmanship classes should be conducted separately from regular trainees.
“Anyway, vice-captain. Can I keep doing this? I heard that the princess sent by the Kingdom of Leon as her hostage will soon arrive through the capital space magic circle in the afternoon. The person in charge of security is the vice-captain, right?”
“We have already completed all preparations. It will be enough to leave in about 15 minutes, so I would like to see more of His Highness’s training until then. If you continue to grow as you are, wouldn’t you be the same person who will take charge of our knights and military affairs department in the future? “
“That’s right. I have high expectations too. Haha,”
While the two were talking like that, Yuno finished running on the parade ground and started doing strength training that he was doing personally. Of course, he invited the trainees to do the same as him, but more than half of them failed in the race, and the trainees who had exhausted all their stamina trying to keep up with Yuno’s speed on the training ground just fell to the ground and wriggled.
Viscount Speyer’s eyebrows twitched as he saw this, and on his way out of the training center for guard duty, he saw Jude, the leader of the 8 Horsemen, who was currently in charge of the basic training of trainees, and called him over.
“Sir Jude!!”
“Yep! Vice-captain! Did you call me?”
When the respected vice-captain called him, Jude ran over to give a military salute and waited for orders with a pounding heart.
‘Ho… Could it be that he wants to put me in charge of guarding the princess of the Kingdom of Leon today?’
Jude did not yet have enough experience to carry out such an important mission, but the title of captain meant he was the most talented horseman in the class, and in fact, Jude’s skills were comparable to those of quite high-ranking horsemen, so he was secretly looking forward to it. However, the words that came out of Viscount Speyer’s mouth hit him on the back of the head.
“Wasn’t it wonderful to be in charge of overseeing the training of the 12 Horsemen’s trainees?”
“Yes, that’s right… Did something happen?”
“It’s not a problem, but… Hehe, training seems to have become quite comfortable these days? I see trainees falling behind, unable to keep up with the 11-year-old prince walking around the parade ground.”
“Ah… That is…”
“Ah, of course, it’s not Sir Jude’s fault. Physically, His Highness is already worthy of being called a knight. It’s just that in my time, if my physical strength wasn’t strong enough, I could get by with my mental strength… But these days, things are… Tsk tsk.”
“Ah… I’m sorry!! I’m the one who put their minds at ease!!”
“It’s not that Sir Jude’s education was bad. It’s just that I don’t like the trainees’ attitude. Hmm… Sir Jude!! Let’s do our best! The leader saw this and was very concerned!”
After saying that, Viscount Speyer patted Sir Jude on the shoulder and left the parade ground to go on his guard duty.
Much to the disappointment of the respectable Count Liechtenauer and Viscount Speyer, veins appeared on Jude’s forehead, and his complexion turned completely red. And that anger went all the way back to the 12 Horsemen trainees.
“A gathering of 8 horsemen!!!”
Jude called all his classmates together and shouted, pointing to the 12th class students lying down on the parade ground.
“The leader says those bastards are a mess and needs them to reform their minds first!”
“Huh? What happened?”
“In front of the leader, we were unable to keep up with His Highness’s training and fell behind. He also told us that we were responsible for training those bastards mentally, so we should take responsibility for them and develop their grit.”
“If you tell me to develop grit…”
“The main duty of our Guard Knights is to protect the royal family, but these guys are the kind of guys who would give up their mission and run away if things got difficult. Do we deserve that kind of dishonor?”
“No!!”
“Then screw it!! If these guys get beaten up, their mental strength will grow!”
Jude took the initiative and jumped into the 12 horsemen and began to attack the captain trainee himself. Then the remaining 8 horsemen also jumped in and harassed them.
Puck puck
“You bastards!! You’ve lost your mind!! What have you been doing all this time? You think the empire is feeding you so much that you can stay away from training!! Huh?”
Kwasik Kwasik Kwasik Kwasik
“What are you doing!! Aren’t you guys trying to become imperial knights!! What are you going to do if you end up weaker than the Prince you are supposed to protect!! Rather than going after him then, go after him now!!”
“Whoa, whoa… Seniors!! The Prince is a very gifted person… So we… Whoa!!”
The leader of the 12 Horsemen tried to make excuses, but since he was the leader of the horsemen, Jude was controlling him himself, so it was of no help.
“There’s no need for excuses like that! Just get hit!!”
After some time had passed, Jude stopped the beating under the pretense of mental education and gathered the 12 riders. The 12 riders had their whole bodies in tatters, but they felt like they would continue to be beaten if they didn’t move, so they gathered in the center of the training ground, dragging their unmoving legs.
“I know that His Highness has better physical strength than you. But!! Even if you can’t keep up, you shouldn’t fall behind! The education leader believes that this is all a problem caused by your lack of tenacity. Therefore, from today onwards, you will have dinner every day. After finishing, we run three times around the outskirts of the palace fully armed.”
The faces of the 12 Horsemen trainees turned pale at Jude’s words. The length of the imperial city walls was approximately 7 km. Going around it three times wasn’t that hard of a training for those who aspired to be knights, but going around while fully armed was something completely different from a regular canter, so their complexions turned pale.
“Sir Jude, is that enough? I’d like to help you.”
“Yes, Your Majesty! Please say so!”
The voice of the devil-like prince who gave the cause was heard in the ears of the trainees who were undergoing hellish training that was not even in the Eight Characters.
‘No! What else is that devil-like bastard going to do?’
‘Your Majesty, please keep your mouth shut and you will be helping us. Your Majesty~ Please~’
Unaware of the true intentions of the trainees who were cursing him, Yuno left behind these words that seemed like a lightning strike.
“First come, first served!”
“Your Highness. What if you say it’s first-come, first-served?”
“There are a total of 100 12 jockey trainees, right? After a week of training like that, exclude 1st to 5th place from the next day’s training. Then, from then on, they will run like crazy. And on the last day, out of the 20 people who were eliminated, After that, turn the 10 people into a situation where only the first place is excluded for the next 10 days. I guarantee that if you repeat this for several months, they will not cause any trouble to Lord Jude with their physical strength.”
Jude was secretly impressed by Prince Yuno’s methods and vowed to completely destroy the 12 Horsemen in the prince’s way.
The already harsh training became even more harsh thanks to the prince’s suggestion, and the eyes of the 12 Horsemen trainees were full of resentment toward the prince, but it was clear that if they showed up, they would be punished even more by their seniors for disrespect, so they gave up everything. I prayed for rain every day in the sky.
“Okay! Did you hear? After dinner tonight, everyone will gather in front of the back gate of the imperial palace by 19:00. We will be fully armed except for swords. Do you understand?”
“Yes, I understand!!”
“Now that everyone seems to have had some rest, let’s move on to the next training!!”
The 12 Horsemen trainees complained that being beaten was a break, but they could not say a word to their heavenly seniors and were taken to the sword training range.
Yuno thought it would be fun to participate in the evening and tried to resume his strength training, but was stopped for a moment by a voice coming from behind.
“Yuno oppa~~~”
“Yuno, take a break.”
Her older sister Isabella and her younger sister Marie were running towards the place where she heard her voice, carrying snacks and drinks. Of course, the maids were restlessly following behind the princesses, but they didn’t care about that and hugged Yuno with a bright face.
*2The princess and Yuno’s older sister. Isabella Erica Windrage von Balkan childhood illustration
