Mordred's group of three returned to the capital to make it back before nightfall.
Soon after that day, Julius becoming Mordred's Guardian Knight had already shown its worth. Julius talked with the kingdom's Paymaster and negotiated an allowance for Mordred as one of the Princes and a Saint ranked genius Magician, which amounted to 20 gold coins per month.
20 gold coins might be pennies to many spoiled royal children, but for an average person it was a huge amount of money!
Some of Mordred's tutors might only earn up to half a gold coin per month and it was already considered a decent salary. A Saint-ranked knight might only earn up to 2 gold coins per month, while an Advanced rank would usually not even receive one.
If Mordred was not wrong, Ghislaine as a Sword King was only paid 4-5 gold coins per month while working for the Boreas family, training Eris and doubling as her bodyguard. Meanwhile, Rudeus sold his meticulously crafted Roxy doll for just 1 gold coin.
Because Mordred had little to no spendings and because the materials for his Magic Circle training were paid for by the crown, he racked up more and more gold in his storage pouch as the months passed by.
But before he gathered that gold, Mordred finally began his sword training.
It's normal for most noble and royal children to come join a school for nobles at 7 or 10 years old and begin attending swordsmanship lessons.
But that was it - a public school whose term began at a certain time and swordsmanship was one of the classes taught in a group. Mordred wasn't interested in that and wasn't interested in playing with a bunch of children. Even if a short 'school arc' would be interesting, it would be a waste of time.
Instead, he requested a private sword instructor. This was a bit of an arrogant request, but was still easily arranged soon after.
At the assigned time, Mordred came with Julius to an open field which was one of the training grounds used by the palace's knights.
The time was just after the knights ended their morning training, so the field was empty, save for a 40-year-old man who seemed to be waiting for him there.
"Are you the 16th Prince?" The man asked.
"Yes."
After hearing this, the man performed a knight's salute, touching his chest, and said, "Your Highness… I'm your assigned swordsmanship teacher. My name is Davi. Starting from today I'll train you in the Water God Style every day at 9 am."
"I understand." Mordred could see that the man wasn't entirely happy with having to kiss the ass of a little kid, but it would be breaking the military law otherwise, so he still had to treat him with a fitting level of respect.
Davi crossed his arms and added, "First we'll begin with conditioning your body. I want you to run 10 laps around this field."
Mordred glanced at the field. He's made to run laps?
He already expected this kind of situation, but training his stamina is something that he is already doing and has been doing for a while now by rapidly ascending the tower's stairs in a High Intensity Interval training fashion... Simply running would be a nice change of pace, even if it was not as time efficient, but it was something that he could do by himself.
Mordred said, "I understand, but strength and endurance training is what I'm already doing. I don't want to waste my training time on it during my swordsmanship lessons. Actually, I need to ask. Teacher, what is your level with the sword?"
Davi slightly frowned. He answered, "I'm Advanced rank in Water God Style and Intermediate rank in Sword God Style. I'm more than good enough to teach you the basics, if you have any doubts."
Mordred heard this. He had no swordsmanship training to speak of, so it was true that this man was more than qualified to teach him the basics.
But if he's going to train swordsmanship seriously, it would be better when from the beginning he was trained by a master! This kind of thing was even more important for swordsmanship than Magic because with a worse teacher he might develop bad habits and will have to take more detours in the future.
"I understand. I don't want to look down on you, Mr. Davi, but I want to learn from the best to not waste my time. If you say that you're more than good enough to teach me, then you could beat me if we fought, right?"
Davi was dumbfounded.
He blinked his eyes.
What kind of question was this? This kid doubted that he could beat him? He could effortlessly throw that little baby boy aside with one hand without using any Battle Aura! What was he, 20 kilograms?
Davi forcefully maintained his composure, replying, "Naturally."
Mordred faintly smiled. "Alright, then let's have a spar."
"... Eh?" Davi's first reaction was of shock. This kid actually wanted to fight him, and judging by what he said, he even thought he could win! This was truly the definition of the saying: they who know nothing fear nothing.
After that, he smiled. He didn't mind it and even found it amusing. He'll now have an excuse to teach this kid some humility, so he wouldn't look down on him as his instructor again.
In the meantime, Julius watched this from the side, being flabbergasted. He couldn't understand why the 16th Prince suddenly started being so unreasonable; it was not in his character. Did he really think he could beat that veteran knight because he was called a genius in other fields?
Julius staggered on his feet. He wanted to rush out and reprimand his sworn lord, but he hesitated. Is that really what he should do? It isn't like something bad would happen to Mordred here and as a result he would only be taught a valuable lesson.
Thinking this, Julius forced himself to stay down while being ready to rush in at a moment's notice if needed. If Mordred was hurt, he could use Healing Magic on him.
"Come and pick your sword," Davi said and walked over to a wall where tens of wooden training swords were hung.
Mordred followed him.
Davi casually picked up one of the wooden longswords, then watched Mordred take his pick.
Mordred picked a short arming sword. But although it was supposed to be a wooden one-handed shortsword, due to his 110 cm height, his tiny hands and no pommel, in his hands it was no different from a two-handed longsword.
"Are you sure you can lift it?" Davi knew that the training swords here, used by knights to train, have an iron core, being even heavier than normal swords. For their sword training he had especially prepared a pure wooden sword which was appropriate for a kid to use, but he wanted to show him what it's like trying to compare to adults.
"I'll manage," said Mordred.
The two faced each other on the field.
Davi saw Mordred's improvised random stance and could not help but find it funny. He said, "You have never held a sword before, did you?"
Mordred faintly smiled. "I didn't. But I think I might just be able to beat you, sir."
Hearing this, Davi chuckled. "Sure thing, kid."
He no longer thought that this delusional little prince was rude, he was simply hilarious! He truly believed he could win!
Mordred showed a contemplating look, then flipped his sword around, beginning to hold the blade instead.
"What are you doing?..." Davi was confused. After that he wanted to laugh. Hey, kid, that's not the end you point at your enemy!
Julius's expression was ugly. He couldn't bear his lord shaming himself in such a manner. 'Your Highness, just what are you doing?...'
Mordred then announced, "I'm attacking."
Davi chuckled. Okay. Go ahead and attack. Just don't stab yourself.
But after a moment he could no longer laugh. Mordred suddenly sprung out from his spot and began to dashed at him at a high speed like a leopard.
Davi's eyes widened. This kid was way too fast! He was like a charging Halfling Sword Saint or a ghost!
Within a single second Mordred had already arrived in front of the Advanced rank knight. Before the man had the chance to react, he swung his sword low in a circular manner, hooking the cross-guard behind the man's leg, and then pulled it with force.
Being suddenly flung forward and up by one of his legs with this much strength, Davi fell flat onto his back.
Bam!
He felt absolutely flabbergasted. What the hell just happened?!
In the meantime, Mordred flipped around his wooden sword and, as Davi landed, pointed the sword's tip at his face.
Davi's eyes were shot wide open as he blinked them, staring straight at the wooden blade pointed at him and the person behind it. It was not only this little kid's speed that was shocking but so was the amount of strength he used when pulling his leg!!!
Mordred said, "That's exactly what I mean, teacher. You see, my body is a bit stronger than normal. I think I have a good talent for the sword."
'He… He did it!' Watching the scene, Julius's mouth was wide open and his jaw nearly dropped. Mordred actually did it and beat an Advanced-rank senior knight! In this fight even Julius himself didn't have full confidence that he could win.
Following that incident, Davi shamefully admitted that he lacked the qualifications to be Mordred's sword instructor. After all, he had lost to this child in such a shameful manner, he had no rights to continue being his teacher; it would be too shameful.
Furthermore, such a talent should truly receive the attention of the best teachers of the palace! It had to be nurtured!
At such a young age the 16th Prince already had an early manifestation of a powerful Battle Aura. Normally this happened only after the age of 10 when children entered puberty, and usually at 12 and higher at the earliest, but Mordred officially reached Intermediate rank and unofficially had strength and speed that even surpasses typical Advanced rank warrior at a mere 5 years of age!!! What a good physique he had!
Davi said that he would talk with the senior instructors among the royal palace's knights to find him a suitable teacher.
In the meantime, that day he still taught Mordred the most fundamental sword guards and stances, and also taught him the most basic two-handed diagonal cut.
***
***
***
Name: Davi Flechin
Title: Knight of the Kingdragon Kingdom, Swordsmanship Instructor of Knight Squad 5
Age: 38
Strength: E
Endurance: E
Agility: E
Mana: F
<...>
Water God Style: Advanced rank
Sword God and North God Style: Intermediate rank
...............…
Name: Mordred Kingdragon
Titles/nicknames: 16th prince of Kingdragon, Magic prodigy, Miko
Age: 5
Strength: E
Endurance: D*
Agility: D* (E*)
Mana: C*
<...>
None.
[Instinct B-]
[Mana Burst D]
[Magic Resistance C-]
[Riding E-]