22 – Preparing for the Leap (2)

“The basis of all weapons is the spear. So, today we will start with how to handle windows. Hold the farthest part of the spear from the blade with your right hand, and hold the part that is about as wide as your torso from there with your left hand!”

Hearing this, the serfs held the spears in front of them in a hesitant manner.

At first, I thought the serfs would miss the spear or find it difficult because the spear was heavy, but it’s surprising that not a single person is tired of holding the spear.

After confirming that the serfs had all their spears, Helmut pointed to the mercenary in front of him and said,

“Okay, now you guys follow Mark over there. Don’t hold it flat like now, hold it tilted like that guy. Then, if you do one, stab it, and if you do two, pull out the spear. And be careful not to stab him in the front!”

The serfs who held the spear heard this and held it at an angle of about 15 degrees.

A mercenary named Mark, who saw this, turned his waist to the right while holding his spear.

Then, he swung to the left and threw out his right arm.

Then, the long spear, which was over 4 meters long, moved quickly with a hook, like a bird flying away.

Some of the serfs, who were making unmotivated faces, seemed to think this was cool, and some of them exclaimed ‘Ohh’ in admiration.

“Let’s try it now. Sleep one!”

When the serfs heard that, they turned their backs just like Mark, who handled the spear nicely.

Then now I have to turn my arm to the right to get ready, but…

Some of them fell over because they turned their backs too much, and the rest of the soldiers were scrambling to keep from falling.

I almost laughed at that moment because it was so ridiculous, but I barely restrained myself from laughing.

Helmut looked at the soldiers who showed such an erratic appearance and said again with a solemn expression.

“Back, back to normal!”

Upon hearing this, the serfs returned to their original holding positions.

“I love the zeal to be like Mark, but you guys are still chickens! don’t try to fly Just slowly, even if it’s a little big, match the movements. Take a good look at what I do!”

Helmut then snatched the long spear of one of the serfs in the forefront and stood ready.

Then, while slowly pulling his right arm outward, he turned his back at the same time and stabbed him slowly.

Keeping exactly 15 degrees, and moving assuming there was an enemy, was cool even for me who knew nothing about spears.

After completing the stabbing action, Helmut then planted the tip of the spear handle on the ground and said:

“Try to slow down at this rate. Come on, one!”

In line with those words, the serfs twisted their backs and took a posture to stab them. This time the serfs did not stumble, and all aimed their spears at the imaginary enemy.

“two! Stab!”

The serfs, who thought they were now aiming their spears at the enemy, thrust their spears at the invisible enemy.

Although there was no sound of cutting the wind, and the trajectory of the spear was very messy, everyone succeeded in stabbing the spear safely.

The serfs who succeeded in stabbing the enemy safely with their spears, albeit sloppily, looked a little proud.

“Balt, how are you? Do you think this is good enough?”

“Yeah, it’s pretty good. It’s nice to see him stabbing quickly at the beginning, then slowly practicing. If you show that you can do this when you get good at it, it’s a little easier to figure out where you went wrong while stabbing yourself.”

“I see. So, how much do I have to do to get it to a point where it can be used in war?”

Balt heard that and said with a troubled expression.

“To be like the mercenaries over there, you will have to do it every day for at least 1-2 years, and to make it worth the price of bread on the battlefield, you have to do it once a week for about 4 months. Otherwise, even if you put on good equipment, you won’t be able to use it.”

After hearing that, I had a question.

No matter how unskilled the soldiers are, if you look at the history books of the Three Kingdoms or Joseon Dynasty, I heard that it is much better than not having weapons and armor roughly.

In particular, in battles like the Imjin War, righteous soldiers who did not even receive any training defeated the Japanese army.

However, Balt, who also had experience in war, would know much better than me.

So I asked Balt to find out about the other side of the war that I didn’t know about.

“Why is that? If the number of soldiers is large, wouldn’t it be more advantageous? No matter how elite soldiers are, if you fight 10 serfs, you will lose.”

“As you said, if you fight 10 serfs against an elite soldier, the serfs usually win. But… I’d better show you this in person.”

Balt then went to find Helmut and talked, and Helmut stopped the soldiers from training and said:

“All rest!”

After wielding their spears for only a few tens of minutes, or even an hour, the serfs sat down, putting their spears down, with faces as if they were about to die from exhaustion.

“Ugh, I’m going to die.”

“Yeah… Oh… what the heck is this, they say they have to do it for a few more hours.”

“Still, on the day you do this, rice is given to you. Didn’t the young master say he’d make you something delicious…?”

“Then what will come out, bread?”

“Isn’t it coming out of meat? If you do what the Bocchan tells you to do, he always gave you something to eat.”

After giving the soldiers time to chat and rest for about 10 minutes, Helmut ordered them to assemble again.

The serfs did not want to be scolded, so they rushed to the place Helmut called at a very high speed and lined up.

As the serfs lined up, Helmut ordered again.

“Attention, hold the spear again and prepare for training!”

As the serfs held their spears with an annoyed expression and took a posture, Helmut suddenly grinned and said:

“I was going to, but I changed my mind! Therefore, this week’s training ends with mock battles!”

At the end of the training, the faces of the serfs brightened.

“You must hate training, good! If you fight me, 2 mercenaries and 30 of you and win, today’s training will end here! Instead, if I lose here, I will train for another two hours, what will I do?”

“I’ll do it!!”

Hearing that, Helmut said with a meaningful smile.

“Okay, from the front to the third row forward!!”

**

After a while, a contest was prepared between 30 serfs and 2 mercenaries including Helmut.

Two mercenaries and Helmut carried short wooden swords and shields, and 20 serfs carried long spears and 10 wooden swords and shields.

How much will I lose to the other? There was a hint of self-confidence.

As soon as the two sides formed a formation, Balt next to me raised the flag holding up to announce the start.

A brief stand-off ensued, and then the serfs slowly moved forward with their spears, as if they were going to push on their own.

Only 30 people were advancing sloppily, but from a distance it gave the illusion that a wall made of windows was advancing.

Then, Helmut and the mercenaries stuck together as much as possible and pushed their shields forward.

“Mark, Smith!! Lower your shield slightly, walk from the spears and strike them with your wooden sword!! You don’t need all of them, just beat the 3 guys first! Don’t hit me in the face!!”

“Yes, Captain!”

“I told you to call me Sir Helmut!”

Then, as the distance got closer to a certain point, the serfs gradually closed the distance.

10 steps, 5 steps, 3 steps from the tip of the spear… As we got closer and closer, Helmut covered himself with a shield, struck the spear point, and charged.

The serfs were embarrassed to see the mercenaries who had suddenly entered the window, and the serfs with swords and shields were confused as to what to do.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Helmut struck a serf clad in cloth armor with a wooden sword.

Then, the mercenaries next to them started beating the bewildered serfs with hands, feet, swords, and even shields.

After 5 minutes of educating the serfs so that they could not come to their senses, before they knew it, 30 serfs completely lost their will to compete and surrendered.

After watching the scene, the other serfs just blankly watched Helmut and the other mercenaries.

Even though it is a battle between a trained person and an ordinary serf, I never thought that I would be able to win so easily with a difference of more than 10 times…

As he was immersed in such doubts, Helmut suddenly looked at the other serfs and said with a solemn expression:

“How is it?”

No matter how much the mercenaries who dealt with them were pros in war, no one answered as if they were resentful of losing even though there was a difference of more than 10 times.

Then Helmut laughed and said.

“It will be nothing. However, if this place were a battlefield, you would all die here. Wouldn’t it be?”

When the serfs heard that, they nodded reluctantly.

“So, you guys have to be trained. otherwise you will die Then you can ask me No, you can also ask the master. Why do I have to train like this?”

Helmut asked himself, and he himself answered.

“It is to protect this territory, your family. You are already eating better than the citizens of the city and enjoying a prosperous life. The word barley pass has already disappeared from the memories of young children. And everyone around you covets and wants to plunder this abundance. So it is. Even so, let those who are dissatisfied come forward.”

And after a while, no one complained.

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Just as Helmut was about to continue his story, this time I interrupted and continued the story.

“Helmud told the disgruntled guy to come forward, but honestly, who would come out after hearing that? isn’t it? Even if I have dissatisfaction when His Excellency Count of Nantes asks me this, I can’t say that I do. Aren’t you like that too?”

After he finished speaking, everyone nodded their heads in agreement.

“But, be patient. If you want to protect your property and your family and return even one person from the battlefield alive, you must be well trained and able to withstand the war. If you do not survive the war, your wives and children will be plundered.”

Those words softened the mood, and in the eyes of the serfs there was a little bit of will again.

When I confirmed that I had elicited the desired reaction, I said to the serfs with a smile.

“It’s nice to see you trying to protect your property like this. This is also loyalty towards me, so I prepared something delicious for today’s meal as a token of my gratitude. And when I train in the future, at least I will take care of the food, so I hope you follow me diligently even if you have complaints.”

And I passed where the serfs stood, and went back to where Balt stood.

Then, shortly thereafter, a cart full of dinner for the serfs arrived.

Inside the cart was cheap beer that the serfs would drink as an accompaniment to their rice.

The serfs complained about the training while enjoying food and beer, but fortunately my persuasion worked, so they didn’t complain about ‘me’.

It is fortunate that persuading the serfs to go to war went better than expected.

**

And the next day, shocking news came from Baron Creutel.