Lowlife, Scoundrel, Bandit Queen

Chapter 163 - 163 - Another kind of lesson

As the squire retreats I bow, first to Lady Izolda's charge, then to the lady herself, before I greet Justyna with a quick nod as well. My approximation at courtly behavior seems good enough to earn my [Etiquette] skill a little progress. Not enough for a level up notification, but I'll take what I can get. Finally I speak up in greeting too.

"Lord Szymon, Lady Izolda, I'm at your service once again."

The young lord who almost certainly is a lady flashes me an insecure little smile. They don't get to say anything in turn though. The head maid ushers us into the fencing hall, looking as serious as ever.

"Let's not waste any time. Justyna, you help our young Lord with his armor. I'll aid our assistant this time around."

The process is familiar enough. First my own gear, buckler, sword and pack go on a sidetable. Afterwards the head maid helps me into the brigantine vest, the plate greaves and the plate gauntlets.

It's much heavier armor than I usually wear, but it's not entirely unfamiliar anymore by now either. Especially the brigantine armor is to my liking. Overlapping steel plates, protective yet flexible at the same time, hidden under cloth and soft leather. Maybe I should get myself one of those? It certainly wouldn't be the worst possible way to spend some coin.

The head maid tugs at the outfit some more then she briefly turns her attention to her ward to make sure their armor properly fits as well. Finally satisfied, she gets us a set of training weapons and bucklers each.

We don't need much further prompting and pick up the by now familiar armaments and assume ready stances at the center of the room, facing each other, without delay.

I flash my opponent a little grin over the tip of our practice rapiers. I really like those weapons. Not enough to replace my trusty long sword that isn't all that different except for the lack of basket hilt, but still.

Before we can get started though the head maid speaks up again, her authoritative tone quickly capturing our attention and allowing no argument.

"We will begin with the usual warm up. A basic exchange of blows. Start slow and pick up speed as you go. Do not try for any fancy attacks yet. We will get to that afterwards. Begin."

Start with something familiar, plain and simple. It's a good start for a prolonged training regime that is supposed to eventually cover new territory. There is a little surprise waiting for me though. For a change it's my sparring partner who actually takes the first step, seizing initiative. It's a curious change, but not an unwelcome one. It sets the rhythm for our exchange of blows for sure.

We start with simple attacks and equally simple parries and blocks, using both our weapons and our bucklers respectively. It's a serious enough workout to earn me a little progress for my [Block] and [Parry] skills as well as my [Melee Weapons], [Blades], [Long Blades] and [Shields] skills each. It's a pretty good start. Some of those skills are pretty close to the next level up too. Who knows, I might just be able to unlock a dedicated combat class before long if I keep going like this.

I can only hope that it's at least as good for my training partner. I have no real reason to assume anything else though. Even better, since we are wearing pretty good gear and neither of us is yet aiming for any blows that actually land, we aren't suffering damage yet either. Since the blows are all cleanly deflected or blocked with blade or buckler we don't even receive any hit notifications, which is just as well everything considered.

We even escalate into a brief flurries of blows driving each other across the fencing hall forward and back. That's as fancy as it gets though before our instructor calls out to us.

"Very good. That's enough of that for now. We will move onward to something a little more challenging now. Young Lord, if you would step back and watch closely for a moment. I'll demonstrate with Viviona."

Even as we comply she picks up one of the dull training blades and a buckler herself to take up a position opposite of me.

It's only now that she raises her own rapier that I realize that the weapons she picked for us today are slightly different from the ones we used previously. Not only are they not sharpened, they don't have the prominent tip you'd expect of a weapon like this either. This is enough to give me a decent idea about the content of this new lesson she is about to teach. Instead of the usual exchange of blows this will be about thrusting.

The head maid is quick to dispel any confusion and uncertainty too.

"Viviona, please attack me. I'll demonstrate the purpose of this lesson as I counter."

I do as she commands and commit to a simple straightforward thrust myself. I'm not even aiming at any vulnerable spot. It might still be a decent attack in any duel, as it could quickly draw first blood and thus end a simple duel in the blink of an eye. Except, this time around it doesn't even come close to drawing blood or even just connecting in general.

Lady Izolda deftly sidesteps my thrust and counters with one of her own. And what a thrust that is! It comes in high, aiming for my armpit and the artery that runs close to the surface there. Even more, it comes in lightning fast! I have no time to raise my buckler or get my weapon back into a guard position. I barely can pull my shoulder back a little to lessen the force of impact even if just a little. Then I stumble back as the notification about the hit I just took brushes my mind.

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[*Ding!* You have been critically hit! Health reduced by 57!]

My eyes widen in shock. She bypassed most of my defenses and my armor as well. That was with a dull practice weapon and she pulled back at the very last moment, greatly reducing the force of the impact! If she hadn't I'd probably be on the ground bleeding out or outright dead already now. As it is my arm goes numb as circulation is seriously disturbed after a hit, even a non penetrating one, to the vulnerably artery.

Both Szymon and Justyna let out shocked gasps too. The head maid continues her lesson without missing a beat though. Thankfully her follow up is only verbal though.

"As you probably noticed I didn't slash but thrust this time around. It's the preferred mode of attack with this kind of weapon, although short, quick slashes should neither be neglected nor ignored either. More importantly though I went directly for a weak spot in the armor as well as an especially vulnerable spot. There is good reason for that. In most fights you should not give your opponent the chance to be the first to strike back."

I can barely muster the presence of mind necessary to nod along with her words. They are not wrong after all. Mostly though I'm busy processing the additional gains provided by surviving the brutal attack. My [Clothes] skill improved a little. Of greater importance though is the trio of notifications that follows.

[*Ding!* Your skill Dodge has leveled up to level 7!]

[*Ding!* Your skill Shields has leveled up to level 6!]

[*Ding!* Your skill Heavy Armor has leveled up to level 4!]

This trio of level up notifications means progress for all three of my classes. More importantly though my vitality attribute and thus my defense and health improve indirectly as well, improving my ability to survive more hits like that at least a little. I still decide to ask for a little break before Lady Izolda can deliver another brutal pointer like that.

"Please excuse the interruption Lady Izolda, but could I have a moment? I need to recover a little first before we keep going."

She doesn't seem surprised by my request. In fact she might have been expecting it. She simply nods.

I take that as permission and put by weapon down on one of the side tables for a moment. Then I put my now free hand on the spot where she struck my other arm which is still feeling a little numb. I think about obfuscating my prayer for a moment, but decide against it in the end. Lady Izolda probably would see through any such attempt anyway and more importantly she probably wouldn't appreciate it.

"Fox, divine guardian of many masks. God of making mischief and Goddess of having fun. I beg you, heal this servant injured in your service and ease her pain."

A little of my sparse Karma dissipates first. Then the prayer takes effect and my health recovers a little as both my [Prayer] skill and my [Healing Touch] skill improve some. Most importantly the numb feeling fades too, which is a great relief.

Curiously enough it's Szymon who speaks up as I move to pick up the buckler I dropped before.

"Are … are you alright? Should we really continue?"

I let out a weak chuckle as I get in position again.

"I should be able to keep going. I should be able to take at least one more hit like that if I'm not mistaken. And, please take no offense Lord Szymon, but in all likelihood you won't hit quite as hard as Lady Izolda."

What happens next leaves me speechless for a moment. The mentioned lady chuckles as she resumes her position across from me.

"One demonstration at full speed should be enough. I think we can deliver the rest of the necessary pointers at an easier to follow pace."

She places the thankfully not so pointy tip of her weapon where she struck me a moment ago before she continues.

"This is where the axillary artery runs close to the surface. A penetrating hit will see the victim bleed out almost inevitably in short order. It's an especially vulnerable spot as joints like the axle are notoriously hard to protect."

She lifts the tip of her weapon away and places it against a very specific spot of my shoulder.

"Over here the artery would be called the subclavian artery. Hitting it would be just as lethal if not even more so, but as you can see this spot is well protected by the overlapping plates of the brigantine vest. It's near impossible to slip the tip of a blade this size in between them."

I can see what she means. Hitting the artery in the shoulder on a properly armored opponent would be harder, but stemming the blood flow, especially the internal blood flow, there would be near impossible without magic or miracles.

The lethal maid is not yet done with her lesson yet though. Once again the tip of her rapier wanders. This time it comes to rest against the inside of my elbow, slipping across the top of the plate gauntlets I'm wearing in the process.

"Another joint. Another vulnerable spot. Down here we call what is essentially the same major blood vessel the brachial artery. Piercing it here will result in bleeding just as bad, but if the blood flow is tied off further up the arm it's actually survivable even without healing magic. A hit here is still likely to disable your opponent anyway, as tendons and nerves run in close proximity to the artery here."

I blink in surprise but soak up all the information anyway. I'm aware of vulnerable spots in general, but this is still a valuable lesson and it's still not over as I realize when the tip of the blade wanders once more. In the end the tip of the practice weapon comes to rest against the side of my neck and I can't help but swallow hard as our teacher continues her lesson on vulnerable spots.

"Up here we have the carotid artery, especially vulnerable if no gorget is worn with the rest of the armor. Aiming at the face of your enemy in general can buy you valuable time if you are uncertain about how to proceed, as it essentially forces your opponent to keep their guard up instead of attacking themselves."

Afterwards she lowers her weapon, but not because she is done. No, instead the blunted tip comes to rest against the inside of my thigh as she provides another deadly pointer.

"Most armor, brigantine, breastplate or others end well above the groin to preserve mobility. Some, but not all, come with faulds and tassets. In our case here the femoral artery is open to attack."

That seems to conclude the immediate lesson, if not the exercise, as Lady Izolda makes room for her young ward to rejoin me. That's not all though. Imagine my surprise as another level up notification whispered in the voice of Fox brushes my mind.

[*Ding!* Your skill Thread the steel has leveled up to level 3!]

This one is unexpected which of course does not mean that it's unwelcome. Especially as it comes with some indirect benefits too. It nudges my scoundrel class a little closer to the next level up and, even better, it improves both my agility and my attack power as well. How very convenient! Now I just need to survive the rest of this martial workout!