SWNOVELS Chapter Eugene's Training
Eugéne is sweeping an empty hallway in the Snyvolon castle. Well, the hall is empty until the squires come marching through.
“Hey page! Good work on the floor! Sorry, we just made a mess!” one squire calls out.
“Thanks, I guess...” Eugéne says.
“You’ll like being a squire...that is, if the king chooses you... We sword fight!” the squire says.
“Cool! I want to try!” Eugéne says.
“Sorry! Squires only! Maybe you can stop by later to polish our equipment?” the squire asks.
The others laugh and they continue on their way.
“One day! One day I will be a squire! I will train and I will fight for my king!” Eugéne says.
The king hears of this and rewards Eugéne with points towards becoming a squire. Eugéne, however, just can’t wait to be old enough and runs to catch up with the squires.
“Hey guys! I’ll give you my weeks wage if you train me early!” Eugéne says.
“Really...?” one squire asks.
“Yeah! I want to be ready!” Eugéne says.
“Part of practicing sword fighting is willing to take damage. You could easily die,” the squire says.
“I want to take that risk! Anything to help the king!” Eugéne says.
“Okay, go get a sword. There are some unclaimed ones by the wall,” the squire says.
Eugéne goes to the wall and looks at the different swords. However, they are all much too large for him and he struggles to even pull one out of the stand.
“Sorry, page... Looks like you aren’t strong enough to be a squire!” the squire says.
“Then I’ll need to train to be strong enough to lift a sword!” Eugéne says.
“Wow, he’s persistent,” another squire says.
“Okay, so you can start by lifting weights, using the punching bags, and running laps,” the first squire says.
“What’s your name?” Eugéne asks.
“I am Morgan,” the squire says.
“I’m Eugéne,” Eugéne says.
“Get started right away, but don’t let training prevent you from doing your page chores,” Morgan says.
“Right, thank you, teacher,” Eugéne says.
He wanders over to the rack of weights made from various stones. Etched into each stone weight is approximately how much each weighs.
“Start small, small fry,” an older squire says as he puts back a 100 pound weight.
“I don’t think I’d even be able to pick up a weight that heavy anyways!” Eugéne says.
He picks up the one pound weights first. The squires watch and giggle as none of them had ever used the one pound weights. All of them started with at least ten pounds.
“Look! I can lift this!” Eugéne says, holding the one pound weights above his head.
“I...wouldn’t advise holding those above your head... They may not weigh much, but a kid your size could be knocked out for a while with that much weight landing on your head,” Morgan says.
Morgan puts down what he was holding and goes to help Eugéne. He instructs Eugéne on the proper way to hold the weights and how to lift them in a productive way.
“You’ll be on 5 pounds in no time...” Morgan says, though he is doubtful of this, he wants to encourage the little boy.
“This is fun!” Eugéne says.
“For now. You will struggle as you go along. And if you have the determination, you will succeed,” Morgan says.
“Okay!” Eugéne says.
King Rosen is unaware of Eugéne’s training. If he knew, he would stop him. There is no way he’d let a young boy hold a sword after what he did to his father. There is no stopping Eugéne, however.
Eugéne works on lifting the one pound weights for a while before looking for something else to do.
“Hey Morgan, can I try punching bags now?” Eugéne says.
“Heh... Maybe? Just be warned, they might swing back and hit you...” Morgan says.
“I won’t let that stop me!” Eugéne says.
He runs off to try punching a punching bag and the squires all gather around to watch. Eugéne finds the lightest weight punching bag and gives it a big punch. As Morgan predicted, it swings really far and then swings back to hit him. Eugéne goes flying through the crowd of cheering squires and hits the back wall.
“Oof!” Eugéne cries out.
“I warned you!” Morgan says.
“That hurt...” Eugéne says.