Chapter 13: (IN) Chapter 012 - Duke's Helmet, Vivian's Favorite Pot
*Clang* *Clang* *Clang*
Vivian woke up to the clattering of metal early in the morning, which made her mood visibly sour.
"Ughhh... What is that noise?" Vivian woke up as she rubbed her eyes.
Vivian went down the stairs and into the mansion's training grounds where she saw Duke hammering one of her most used cooking pots.
"Duke... What... What are you doing with my cooking pot?!" Vivian held in her anger.
"Oh, Vivian! There you are. So, what do think?" Duke smiled at Vivian as he tried to majestically pose, only serving to make himself look more like an idiot, completely oblivious to Vivian's anger.
As Vivian looked at the oblivious man in front of her she couldn't even stay angry anymore at his current pathetic state.
Duke's body was completely covered in armor. Sadly it wasn't even a single uniformed set of armor as it was a combination of different pieces made from different metals.
Vivian remembered the events last night as she held in her giggle.
"Not long now! Just, just a little more!" Duke kept huffing as he tried to shove his chubby self into the thin-set of black armor his grandfather left him.
Vivian was amazed that he actually managed to fit half his body in there! It was the 14th Miracle Vivian thought.
The 13 Miracles were a set of blessings the pantheon of Gods Brune believed in bestowed upon the mortal plane of Myrth (Myrth is what the people of Brune call their planet/plane of existence), that saved humanity from the 4 Tortures - Disease, Famine, Murder, and Enslavement.
In the end, Duke decided to only use the pieces of armor that could fit him. Hence, Duke currently looked like a weird golem whose creator forgot to use the same material throughout the whole body.
He wore the black gauntlets and black greaves his grandfather's armor had but his body, head, and legs were too fat to fit inside the fit black plate armor his grandfather had.
For his pants, Duke wore scale armor he found lying around in the attic. For body armor, he used a roughly battered iron plate armor that looked quite heavy, even if Duke was quite the chunky man. And for his helmet... Duke asked the local blacksmith:
"Do you have any helmets also lying about?" Duke asked after getting the rough battered iron plate armor from the blacksmith.
"Well, nothing your size sonny. Coz... you're fat" The old blacksmith tried "gently" and "sensitively" tell Duke the reason.
"Awe, come on old man, are you sure this won't fit me?" Duke tried to put on a helmet he saw lying around.
*Sigh* The old blacksmith shook his head in disappointment.
"Stop that! You might break it... Coz you fat" The old man with his "kind" and "sensitive" rhetoric persuaded Duke to stop the impossible task of trying to fit his head in the armor as the flabs of his cheeks stopped his head from fitting the helmet.
And so, left with no other choice other than listening to the blacksmith harassing him about his obesity, Duke took it into his own hand to forge his future!
By making his own helmet!
[I'm a GENIUS!] Duke thought. Instead of listening to old man blacksmith's harsh and painful comments that hurt his fragile heart he just needed to make his own helmet!
And so the fate of Vivian's cooking pot was decided.
Vivian looked at the sad state of the pot helmet as two eye holes were drilled into them
[You did well, good pot... you did well] Vivian bid farewell to the pitiful pot.
Then she looked at the even sadder state that Duke was in next.
Wearing different and incompatible armor, Vivian was genuinely worried as she asked:
"Huh... are you sure that would protect you?"
"Don't worry, this is just for armor training! And besides, after we get the loan I'd buy better armor that would at least fit me"
"Alright... Just don't buy any armor too expensive, our expenses still can't handle anything too costly" Vivian warned as she computed the cost of armor in her head.
"Ok!" Duke gave Vivian a thumbs-up.
After the talk with Vivian Duke immediately headed over to the Knight's training grounds to train with armor on, a common training method Knights had, to prepare themselves for a real battle.
"..." Some of the Knights were speechless when they saw Duke, while other Knights including Byran was holding their laughter.
Seeing their struggling faces (From holding their laughter). Duke misunderstood their expressions as he thought they had finally seen him, with his threatening (hilarious) armor, as a threat and so with confidence, he gestured at the old Knights "Come at me"
And thus Duke's daily training (beating) once again started.
"HOo, the armor compliments ya" Dan, one of the old Knights said.
"It's harder to hit you now" Bardis, another Knight continued.
*Huf* *Huf* "Yeah, but it's heavy" *Huf* "Arghh!"
Duke still did his crazy attacks as he tried to attack everywhere and anywhere he could. Sadly, the rare attacks he had either missed or were too weak as the Knights just ignored them as the hits met their robust bodies.
*Sigh* "Use your weight, Duke! What use is that belly fat if you can't use it for a hard swing!" Byran, like always, was shouting advice at the fat Count.
[Use my weight, use my weight] Duke tried to memorize.
Duke wasn't very fast at learning, but he worked extremely hard, especially when he's motivated, and once he got the hang of it, he never forgets anything he had already been taught.
This was the reason why no matter how many times Byran taught and failed to tutor the fat boy he never gave up on Duke...
Yes, for Byran saw a sliver of potential in the Fat Count. And like a coal miner, he wanted to dig out that small piece of coal.
Unlike the past teacher's Duke had, or heck even the other Knights who didn't see Duke's potential, Byran saw the hidden potential Duke had.
And he saw it with great clarity and determination to realize the hidden talents within the weak boy in front of him.
Duke's past teachers all mocked and belittled Duke as he was "too slow" and "too dumb" to understand.
Sadly for these snobbish incompetent blokes that society considered as "teachers", they were all wrong.
For even though Duke was slow at learning, his tenacious will to learn and to keep the knowledge he had retained was unbeatable.
But Byran immediately saw through this.
When Byran's past talented student invited Byran to go to the capital and teach there, the student wasn't being merely courteous at his beloved teacher.
No, the student knew of Byran's great capacity at seeing potential.
Sadly Byran's loyalty stayed at Maine where potential was quite lacking.
But now with Duke, Byran could exert his all in making sure Duke unlocked that small sliver of potential.
"Use your weight!" Byran shouted again.
"ARGHHHHHH!!!" Duke positioned his feet at just the right angle as he leaped towards a Knight with his full body's weight.
*Whoosh*
At that moment Byran's eyes sparkled. Byran felt like a coal miner digging that small piece of coal hidden inside a mountain only to be bombarded by a great stream of oil that gushed towards the sky.
[Truly a dragon] Byran thought as he saw Duke's leaping attack.
With a *Pak* Duke's sword actually managed to make another Knight block him with his blade.
All this time the Knight only kept on dodging Duke's weak attacks.
But his leaping attack was different. Even Ranson one of the Knights actually had to use his sword to block.
*Clap!* Byran started to slowly clap.
*Clap!* *Clap!* "WHOOO!" Everyone around Duke suddenly started cheering around him.
"Eh?" Duke woke up from his extremely concentrated state as he thought:
[Was what I did really that good?] Duke thought what he did was amateurish.
Well... of course, it was amateurish, but the Knights had extremely low standards for Duke, and so they couldn't help but cheer when they saw him push through their prejudicial standards.
It was like seeing the Carp jump fighting gravity and the harsh currents of a waterfall to jump over the Dragon's Gate in Chinese mythology.
Perseverance, determination, and hard work.
A whole week of continuous beating and militaristic training had finally borne fruit.
The Knights felt that if this speed continued Duke might actually be on the level of an ordinary Knight when he reaches 50!
Sadly... once again Duke misunderstood their cheers...
[Eh? Was jumping during battle really a hard feat to accomplish? Kukuku, aren't I really amazing then?!] And so Duke's weird and distinct habit of Jumping before a fight was born.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
JPJaphet
JPJaphet Hello~! To anyone still reading out there...
It's a me Japhet... Yes, I did a Mario reference just then, but enough about me!
I know the past few chapters have been quite slow but don't worry as they were my building blocks to wham! you guys next chapter.
The true struggles Duke and Vivian would face next chapter would be the semi-start? of the story.
So please do be warned that the next few chapters won't be having the fuzzy comedy the novel had till this point. I hope it doesn't turn off you guys and I once again sincerely thank you for reading up to this point and giving this novel a chance to grow.
P.S. PLEASEEE PLEASEEE PLEASEEE Rate it XD and give reviews. I'd even give ya a lung or liver XD.
JK JK please don't take my liver... I still need them!
And this is the part I'm gonna give shameless advertising now XD
Please also read my other novel "Space Janitor Bop" if you like my comedy? If you could call my sad excuse for jokes as comedy. But anyway, I think you'd like my other book if you like this one.
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