"We are going to train in acrobatics?" - I asked.

"Yes. It is relatively low-stress training, and you won't be too tired from training in it. We already used the training draught three times today, and you still need to train after breakfast, so it is perfect." - Faevyre explained.

"Also, I noticed that you have a bad foundation in acrobatics. As a rogue, not being good at acrobatics is the same as a day-laborer with a limp leg. It is important to lay the foundation now while you are still young since it is harder later on, even if you have the talent for it."

"Makes sense." - I thought.

"Trainee Livia, go and take off the chainmail and practice by yourself. You know the drill. I will teach Mog the basics today. Next time, I will focus on you." - She said while taking off her weights.

"Yes, Ma'am." - Livia complied and went to the side to train alone.

"Alright, Trainee Mog, I will be teaching you from scratch now, so pay close attention..."

 

 

 

For the next hour, Faevyre taught me the basics of Acrobatics while Livia practiced alone. Although I knew how to roll forward, vault, climb a wall, and slide, those were my only acrobatic skills. I was sorely lacking in my foundation, so I readily learned from her.

What she taught me was called "Low acrobatics."¹Search it up yourself.. It was a safe beginner's training in the art of acrobatics. It focused on the basics, training specific muscles of the body and mind alike.

After that hell I experienced before, this was like heaven. I even enjoyed this training and wouldn't mind continuing for another hour. By the end of it, I wasn't even that tired. Only a few unused muscles ached a bit.

"Alright, that's it for today. Let's go for breakfast." - Faevyre motioned.

Gurgle* - My stomach voiced its agreement. 

I blushed in embarrassment as Faevyre laughed, "Hahaha! Well, you are a growing boy. Let's get that taken care of."

I could only lower my head and follow Faevyre with Livia back to the mansion. As we went back, I couldn't help but glance at Livia. During the entire training, we didn't exchange a single sentence. Or even a good morning at that. Because it was dark before, I didn't notice, but Livia's scars now appear to be a bit more faded than they were yesterday.

Although it intrigued me, I didn't ask her about it. I knew better than asking her about it directly. I secretly decided to ask Cispia later when I had the chance.

Throwing away those thoughts to the back of my mind, I greeted her, "Good morning, Livia."

Livia cast me a sidelong glance and lightly nodded, "Good morning, Mog."

"How was your training today?" - I asked.

"Fine, I guess.  At least it's better than dueling training." - She replied.

"Dueling training?" - I asked, intrigued.

"Yeah, dueling training. Once every week²10 days, miss Faevyre trains me in dueling. We fight each other with a real sword and dagger. Every time I make a mistake in the duel, she will slice at me, creating a small gash. These gashes form scars after healing, and I need to use special scar removal cream provided by the mistress to deal with them. Before I can heal my previous scars completely, new scars add up, so some scars look new, and some look faded." - She showed her scarred hand to me and pointed at different scars.

"Well, that solves the mystery, but..."

I looked at Faevyre at the front and tentatively asked, "Miss Faevyre, is it necessary to injure during dueling training?"

"Yes." - Faevyre gave a short and definite answer as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

"But why?"

"Because you're a mortal. Every mistake can be your last. I'm just driving the point into your head. Be thankful that you get off with only a few healable scars to learn this valuable lesson. Most lose a limb or a life first." - As she said that, she touched her scarred left eye.

I didn't ask further. Everyone had stories, some more painful than others.

 "There are many advantages to this method compared to regular sparring. I will tell you about it when the time comes. However, you will need to reach 12 years old before I start training you that." - Faevyre added.

"Fair enough."

Although getting slashed sounds both painful and brutal, I should be able to handle it. At the very least, Livia is doing pretty well. If it was beneficial beyond some psychological nonsense, then I didn't have room to object.

We washed our hands and faces at the entrance and then entered the dining room.

"Looks like we are first today." - Faevyre remarked, looking at the servants still preparing the table and the empty seats.

"Yeah, looks like it." - I nodded and looked at the food placed on the table with hunger.

"Go ahead and sit down and grab something to eat first. I can tell from the drool dribbling from the side of your mouth that you are starving." - Faevyre said and pointed at my chin.

"Hah? I'm drooling?" - I swiped my hand on the sides of my mouth, but I found it as dry as the dessert.

I could hear Livia chuckling next to me.

"Dork." - She said between chuckles before sitting down in her regular spot.

"Hey! You tricked me!" - I finally realized.

"Hahaha! Your too green, kid. You need to learn how to avoid getting read and manipulated by small tricks like that, or you will suffer big-time later on in life."

She then sat down, took an apple, and bit on it nonchalantly.

I could only bitterly smile and sit down and eat some freshly-baked bread while waiting. After a few minutes, the others arrived.

Mazoga arrived first, followed by a soot-covered Borso. Next, Erno came, busy with his thoughts as always. Lastly, Cispia arrived and sat down next to me.

"Good morning, Cispia." - I greeted.

"Good morning, Mog. I see you trained hard this morning."

"Yeah. Endurance training and then acrobatics."

"Endruance training, hah? Yeah, we do that every other day. I don't do acrobatics, though."

"Oh, so what do you do?" - I asked, intrigued.

"Boxing, wrestling, sword and shield training, javelin throwing, stone slinging, horseback riding, climbing... Oh, and swimming." - She named while counting with her fingers.

"Hah? Arent projectile weapons banned in the city? And where can you swim?"

"Outside the city walls next to the river, there is a training camp for training soldiers and guards. We get to practice over there."

"Oh, right, now I remember."

I forgot about it due to me never leaving the city perimeters.

"Livia, do we also get to train outside?"

"Num* Num* Gulp*, yeah. We train there in archery, stone slinging, knife throwing, climbing, and swimming. Once a month, we also go for tracking lessons in the woods for the entire day. I even got to hunt a stray goblin once."

"Awesome!" - my eyes lit up.

What child aspiring to be an adventurer doesn't want to fight monsters? At least, I was excited at the prospect.

 

 

 

After finishing breakfast, I went with Cispia to the training grounds again. When we arrived, I saw that a few soldiers were setting up the place for training again. Aside from the few soldiers, including Agrippa, I've noticed that the majority of the people here are human children and teenagers, ranging from 7 to 17 years old, with most of them being male. Drusus and Lars weren't here, though.

Both Cispia and I went up to sir Agrippa and said in unplanned unison, "Good morning, Sir Agrippa."

Sir Agrippa turned to us and nodded, "Good morning, kids. Mog, I see that Faevyre already taught you in the morning. I take it you did endurance training?"

"Yes, sir."

Agrippa nodded, "I talked with Faevyre and reached an agreement with her that you will do the endurance training with her every other day. You will train full-time under me."

"Thank you, sir!"

Agrippa nodded and told Cispia, "Cispia, you are to train with the sword and shield together with the girls today. You know the drill."

"Yes, sir!" - Cispia bowed slightly and left to the training weapon rack.

I could only stare at her in envy. I also wanted to practice the sword.

Agrippa then turned to me.

"As for you... hm..." - He made a pondering expression.

"Well, by tradition, since your just a young kid below 11 years old, I can't let you wield the sword yet. We are not like the barbaric tribes in the north who start at 7. Besides, you lack the necessary strength and stamina."

"Aww..." - I groaned.

I couldn't help it. I truly wanted to practice the sword.

"Ah, cheer up, kid. You will get your turn. First, however, we will train you in wrestling and boxing."

"Wrestling and boxing?" - I asked doubtfully.

"Yeah, wrestling and boxing in the sand arena. All kids your age that can afford it practice it first before taking up a melee weapon. At most, they train with the stone sling or arrow and bow."

"Well, that is news to me."

"So, who is going to train me?" - I asked while looking at the few grown soldiers around.

Agrippa is an honorable B-ranked warrior. I can't expect him to teach me the basics when he has capable subordinates to do it for him. Even having Faevyre teach me was stretching it.

Agrippa didn't respond. Instead, he shouted towards the sand arena.

"Cnaeus! Come over here!"

"Yes, Sir!" - A gruff, deep voice sounded.

Soon, a large middle-aged man stood in front of us. He had a shaven body and head. His body was fleshy and thick. He would have had a surprisingly pleasant-looking face if it wasn't for a nasty scar that looked like an ax wound that ran across his right eye, and it was white and blinded.

"Reporting, sir!" - The man, Cnaeus, saluted to Agrippa.

Agrippa nodded and pointed at me, "Cnaeus, meet Mog, the mistress's new servant and prospective mage guard."

Cnaeus looked at me and gave a surprisingly pleasant smile, "Hello, little fellow. I'm Cnaeus."

"I'm Mog. Nice to meet you, sir." - I nodded and smiled back.

Cnaeus nodded and said, "'Heard a lot about you from the captain. Advanced talent and C-rank willpower. Your future achievements should be high."

"Thank you, sir." - I nodded at him.

Agrippa smiled and explained, "Cnaeus here is a professional pugilist, as well as one of my assistant instructors. You will be under his tutelage for the next few years regarding wrestling and boxing."

My eyes immediately lit up, and I bowed slightly to Cnaeus, "Thank you for teaching me sir Cnaeus."

"Ah, don't mention it, kid. I don't just teach you, so it isn't a problem. Cmon, follow me to meet your fellow students." - Cnaeus motioned and walked to the sand arena.

I immediately followed him and asked, "Fellow students?"

"Yes, fellow students. Like Cispia, they are children of the subordinate families of the Fidelis family situated in the city. They come to train with us between breakfast and lunch. You didn't see them before?"

"No, I went to the training ground after lunch."

"Ah, figures. Between lunch and dinner is the soldier's training time here. They usually train in the training field outside the city before and after breakfast."

"Well, that explains things a bit."

By this time, we arrived at the sand arena. There were eight children here, and they were all male. Two of them were around my age, Two more were around 12-13, and another four were 14-years-old teenagers. All of them looked at me strangely, as if seeing an exotic animal. I was used to it, so I didn't care. Much.

One of the younger kids couldn't control his mouth and asked while pointing at me, "Hey, why is there a dirt-blood slave here?"

Thwack* - Immediately, one of the older teenagers slapped the back of his head.

"Ouch! What was that for, Gav?" - The young boy held the back of his head.

"Shut your mouth, Lurcal, or do you want the cane?!" - Reprimanded the teenager.

At his words, the young boy immediately paled and shut up, and for good reason, too. When faced with the potential of being caned, I would also become pale. Caning was very painful, even more than the damage it caused. That was why it was a notorious punishment for children. Father canned me once when I did something stupidly dangerous. I couldn't sit for a week after that one.

Cnaeus looked unamused at them. However, instead of reprimanding them, he instead introduced me.

"Kids, there is someone new I would like you guys to meet. This is Mog, the young mistress's new personal slave and seeded mage-guard candidate. I don't need to say anything else, right?"

The kids looked at me in surprise. That surprise quickly turned to a mixture of feelings. A part of it was envy or jealousy, some of it was hatred or loathing, but it was mostly a feeling of fear. Yes, fear. With a smidgen of respect.

As for the kid who pointed at me, he was shaking like a leaf, turning even paler. He looked like he was about to cry.

"They are afraid of me? Why?" - I couldn't immediately process what was happening.

As if to answer my bewilderment, Cnaeus turned to me and said, "They are children of the subordinate families of the Fidelis family. They were selected to become the future personal entourage of the mistress. As the mistress's future mage-guard, you will command them. You are their boss, effective immediately. You can command and punish them at will. You can punish Insubordination or disrespect with any corporal punishment. You can even execute them if you will. For speaking ill of your commander, the punishment can vary from 10 canes to beheading."³The ancient military had hardcore punishments for insubordination. Don't get on the wrong side of your centurion. Ever.

As he said that, he meaningfully glanced at the rude kid who pointed at me and said, "Well, Lurcal? Aren't you going to say something? Although we won't execute you due to your young age, Mog can still cane you ten times."

To my shock, the kid immediately snapped and took a knee and bowed heavily to me while clasping his hands in a begging position, "This subordinate was wrong! Please punish me, sir!"

I just stared at the kid, speechless. The development of all this was too sudden for me to process.

Perhaps the kid took my long silence as anger, so he started shaking uncontrollably out of fear.

"Kid, what are you going to do now?" -  Cnaeus asked beside me, snapping me awake.

I also noticed that all the kids and soldiers around me were looking at me with interest. They were likely interested in what I will do.

I stared at the frightened boy my age on the ground and sighed internally.

"If it was a few days ago, this kid could have beaten me up on the streets and I wouldn't be able to resist or object. Now, I can beat him up without any repercussions. I don't know how I should respond to this irony. I don't want to punish him, either."

My eyes then narrowed, "Still, what he said was rather hurtful, though. I should show leniency, but not too much. Otherwise, they won't respect me in the future."

After I concluded that, I pointed to the teenager, Gav.

"Gav, right?"

Gav appeared to be surprised to be suddenly addressed but still answered, "Yes, sir!"

"For disrespecting his future commander, I would have normally canned Lurcal ten times. However, because it is the first offense, I will let him off with five spankings. Gav, administer the punishment." - As I said that, I almost bit my tongue due to my nervousness, but I still managed to say it in the end.

The young boy, Lurcal, immediately sighed in relief and thanked, "Thank you for your leniency, sir!"

All the childrens' eyes showed an additional hint of respect, especially Gav. He was likely a close relative to Lurcal.

I also noticed that the children and soldiers around me, including Agrippa and Cnaeus, were nodding in approval, agreeing with my punishment.

As I watched Gav spanking Lurcal, I felt a large hand patting my shoulder.

"You passed." - Cnaeus softly said.

It was then that I understood that this was a secret test.

They tested my judgemental skills and impartiality.