บท 53: My Pupil
Austria, August 30th 1796
4:12 PM
Johan looked at Lukas with a curious expression after asking his name.
Lukas smiled. "My name is Lukas Von Neumann Hügel," he replied.
Johan raised his brow. '"Von Neumann"? Where have I heard that name before?' he wondered.
"Nice to meet you," the blonde boy said with a smile.
Johan looked taken aback by Lukas's statement and then nodded his head. "Yeah... nice to meet you," he said as looked down on the ground.
"My eyes are up here, Johan," Lukas said, trying to make him used to looking at people into the eyes.
Johan widened his eyes and slowly raised his head to look into Lukas's eyeballs. "Oh, huh... sorry," he said.
Lukas smiled. "Very good," he said.
Johan then blushed slightly. It was obvious that he wasn't very used to being complimented, at least not by a stranger.
Lukas looked at Johan's injuries, it was mostly minor scratches, nothing too serious. "Are you hurt? Did those guys overdo it?" the blonde boy asked, anyway.
Johan shook his head. "N-No! To be honest, I think you hit them harder than they hit me," he said.
Lukas chuckled. "That's the way to make sure they aren't coming back," he said.
Johan nodded his head. "You are right," he then looked at Lukas with a curious expression.
The blonde boy then just raised his brow, waiting for Johan to speak. "Y-You are very strong. You are even stronger than the older kids. How can it be?" he asked.
"...I trained," Lukas answered. 'Now that I think about it, I had it a bit too easy when I defeated that Elias dude, was he just unfocused? No, he was deeply concentrated on the duel, but... how, then?' he wondered.
Lukas put his thumb on his lip. '...No, it's not that weird! I have been training restlessly for almost 5 years, whereas this dude has been training only for 3, if he didn't train before the academy. Besides, I had a particular instructor, which made it much easier for me to learn, since the instructors here are not focusing on just one, but on tons of pupils, so it's obvious that they'll take longer to learn. ...And also, I started very young, which would always give me a huge advantage,' he thought.
Lukas then glanced at a group of boys playing a fighting game. 'There a lot more reasons for me to be stronger than most boys here, like Herman being a stupidly demanding instructor,' he concluded.
Soon, Lukas noticed that Johan was a bit hesitant to speak, so the blonde boy just waited for him to muster up the courage to do it.
"Huh... huh... can you help me with the training?!" Johan asked.
Lukas was truly surprised by Johan's request. He didn't expect he was someone who was in the academy because he wanted to.
Lukas raised his brow. "Do you really want to get stronger? I thought it was your father who had forcefully enrolled you here, on the academy," he said.
Johan looked confused at Lukas as he tilted his head. "Huh? What? My father? Of course not, he is too kind for that," he said.
Lukas raised his brow even more. 'That's a surprise, I never imagined Mikel would be so kind and worried about his children,' he thought.
Lukas then crossed his arms. "Why did you want to come to the academy?" he asked.
Johan was struggling to keep looking into Lukas's eyes, but he still answered the blonde boy's question. "W-Well, I always felt like I was a bit worse in everything than the rest of my family. I am not as smart as my brother, and not as outgoing as my father. Besides, I took a lot of time to learn to read and write, and also my mothe..." he stopped himself from talking even more and just clenched his fist as he bit his lower lip.
Lukas, meanwhile, just listened to Johan attentively. 'I see. I remember this. Mikel said that Johan's mother died during his childbirth. Even though it doesn't make sense, he probably feels guilty for that. Besides, motivated by all the defects he thinks he has, he decided to enroll on the academy in order to try to prove his value.
Actually, I don't remember having read about military record in the Tonsburg house. They are a mere house of barons with commoner roots, focusing particularly on literature and being mostly sustained by their own fishing microbusiness,' he concluded.
Lukas sighed. "Fine," he said.
Johan looked incredulously at Lukas. "Huh?"
Lukas stood up. "I'll help you. I even have a suggestion for you to improve even more," he said.
Johan looked hopefully at Lukas as he quickly stood up. "W-What is it?" he asked.
"I will train you myself," Lukas proudly said as he strongly patted his own chest with a smug smile.
On the other hand, Johan looked rather disappointed with Lukas's suggestion.
Lukas noticed and showed a weirded out expression. "H-Hey! What is it?" he asked.
"Huh... sorry, but... I mean, you are very strong and all, but I don't think you would be a very good instructor," Johan said.
Lukas raised his brow as he crossed his arms. "What makes you think that?
"...Well, I-I guess that not having experience is a good enough reason," Johan countered.
'Fair, but I won't just let this opportunity slip,' Lukas thought. "I have another suggestion, then," the blonde boy said.
Johan looked at Lukas as he waited for the blonde boy to keep speaking. "Since we don't have training in the weekend, drop by my place on Saturday, around 3 PM," he said. "If the training doesn't help you in anything, I'll discard the idea, okay?" the blonde boy asked.
Johan gave it some thought, but he finally nodded his head. "Ok, I accept," he said.
Lukas smiled. "I'll be helping you here too, but I think you should learn to get by by yourself here. You know, those dudes will only stop picking on you once you give them quite the beating," he said.
Johan nodded his head. "Yes, I guess you are right," he answered.
Lukas smiled widely and then strongly put his hands on Johan's shoulders. "Fine, then! My place, Saturday, 3 PM! Don't you forget it!" he said.
Johan just smiled shyly as he scratched his cheek. "Y-Yes, I won't!" he replied.
----
Austria, August 31st 1796
11:34 AM
Lukas was walking down the hallways of the mansion. He had just finished taking a bath, and now, he was thoroughly refreshed.
Lukas casually turned at the corner of the hallway in order to enter his room, however, he was interrupted by Olivia with a mad expression.
Lukas raised his brow. "...Hello?" he said.
Olivia clenched her fist. ""Hello"?! "Hello"?! Lukas, why did I receive a letter from Mr. Tonsburg saying that his second son is going to have an extra training session with you as an instructor?" she asked.
Lukas raised his brow. "Funny name he gave it," he said.
"Lukas, I'm not joking!" Olivia said.
Lukas frowned. "What's with that overreaction? It's no big deal, really," he said. "Besides, we do have a good relationship with the Tonsburg house. See it as a way to deepen our bonds even more," he said.
Olivia sighed. "What I don't understand is why you thought you were able to be his instructor. What if he doesn't perform as expected in the academy? The blame will fall on you!" she said.
Lukas raised his brow. "What? I highly doubt that is going to happen, Olivia. You are overthinking it. Besides, first my pupil will see if it'll be worthwhile for him this "extra training," and then, we make a final decision," she said.
Olivia raised her brow. "...Who exactly is going to decide it?" she asked.
"Me and him. Mainly him," Lukas replied.
"...What? How old is he?" Olivia asked.
"Eight years old, but I still think it's just fair for him to decide it himself. After all, he decided to enroll in the academy himself," Lukas said.
"Do you really think he can decide whether the training is paying off or not?" Olivia asked.
Lukas sighed. "Olivia, even if it helps him to build up his confidence, it'll be worth it for him. And that's something only he can decide," he said.
Olivia sighed. "Fine. I can't believe you can always make me rethink everything," she said.
Lukas smirked. "That's because I'm always right," he proudly said, but soon, the blonde boy realized something. "Oh, by the way, why was it you who received the letter and not father?" he asked.
"Do you really think that your father cares about any of this? Besides, I don't think he has as much power in this household as it looks like," Olivia said.
Lukas nodded his head. "You noticed that too, didn't you? The fact that he never makes very big decisions, at most gives some extra activities to his child, is at least suspicious," he said.
Olivia just showed a bored face. She couldn't care less about Elias.
-----
Austria, September 3rd 1796
3:00 PM
Lukas was outside of the mansion, waiting for Johan to arrive.
Soon, a carriage arrived. From there, Mikel, Josef, and finally, Johan left.
Lukas smiled and walked closer to them. "It's a pleasure to meet you," he said as he approached the trio.
Mikel chuckled. "The pleasure is mine! I'm so happy and surprised that you decided to be Johan's instructor one day a week, and all that for free!" he said.
'I'm even more surprised that you accepted it so easily. He probably thinks we are just going to play around,' Lukas thought.
Mikel chuckled a bit more. "I suppose you still don't know my elder son." he said. "Josef!" the noble called.
'Yep, I actually know him, but it's normal to think I don't,' Lukas thought. The blonde boy smiled. "I don't. It's nice to meet you, Josef. I'm Lukas," he said as he shook Josef's hand.
Josef smiled back at Lukas. "It's a pleasure to meet you too," he replied.
Josef was now around thirteen years old and he looked much less shy as he was back then when he first met him.
'Aaaah, good times!' Lukas thought.
Finally, Lukas shook Johan's hand. "Hello, Johan," he said.
"H-Hello," Johan replied.
Mikel chuckled. "Well, I guess we'd better leave you alone," he said.
Lukas nodded his head with a smile. "Thank you," he said.
"Where's your father? I don't know him yet, I'd love to talk to him!" Mikel said.
"Hmmm, at this time, he must be locked in his room," Lukas said.
Josef raised his brow. "But you didn't even check a clock to know what time it is," he said.
"I don't need to," Lukas said with a bit of sarcasm in his speech, but that apparently was not noticed by anyone there.
Soon, Josef and Mikel entered the mansion, leaving both Lukas and Johan alone.
Lukas cleared his throat and grabbed two wooden swords beside him. 'I bought these in a market recently. They were not cheap, I hope it's worth it,' he thought.
"Soon, you'll be training with these, but first, I want to know your skills in hand-to-hand battle," Lukas said.
Johan looked impressed. "Huh... so... should we fight?" he asked.
Lukas casually nodded his head. "Yes. Don't worry, I'll go easy on you," he said.
"...The last time you said you went on easy on someone that guy ended up knocked out," Johan countered.
"... I'll just defend your blows," Lukas said.
And so, Lukas decided to do all the assessment methods that Herman had done to him, to Johan. They were effective and gave him a good understanding of his skills.
Johan did position himself well and was kinda fast and strong, however, at hand-to-hand combat and swordsmanship, he was awful.
At bow and arrow, he actually turned out to be quite good for a rookie, he seemed to have a bit of talent for that.
Lukas quickly noticed why Johan was so bad at direct combat, and that was just for one reason: he was afraid. Yes, he was afraid, not just of getting hurt, but also of hurting Lukas.
As Lukas and Johan dueled once again, the blonde boy easily blocked all the tackles coming from his pupil.
Soon, Lukas got tired and knocked the sword off Johan's hands and landed a punch right on his face, making him fall on the ground.
Johan confusingly sat up with his right cheek red from the blow. "W-Why did you that?!" he asked.
Lukas sighed. "You are afraid," he said.
"Huh?!" Johan quickly stood up. "I-I'm not!" he said.
Lukas then tossed his sword to Johan and pocketed his hands. "Then go ahead and hit me. I will not move," he said.
Johan quickly glanced at his sword. He then ran towards Lukas and raised his sword, however, it stopped right in front Lukas's face.
"I told you. You are afraid of hurting me and of getting hurt. That can't be," Lukas said.
Johan raised his sword once again and screamed as he tried to hit Lukas, however, he still stopped halfway through, making the blonde boy sigh.
'There's no other way,' Lukas thought.
Lukas quickly tripped Johan, making him fall, however, before he could reach the ground, the blonde boy kicked him, sending him flying a few feet away.
Johan struggled to stand up and charged at Lukas once again, however, the blonde boy kept easily kicking his ass.
Not long after that, Johan was kneeling on the ground with a lot of injuries as he panted.
"Y-You don't even let me try to hit you anymore," Johan said.
"I can see in your eyes that you are not going to hit me anyway," Lukas countered.
Johan gritted his teeth, however, instead of charging at Lukas again, he started crying.
Lukas just stood there for a few seconds as he watched Johan. "Johan, I'm not the gentle type of instructor, as you can see," he started. "However, I guarantee you that if you are able to surpass that fear of yours of hurting someone, you will be able to become a great warrior," he said.
'I am impressed that his fear of hurting someone else even overlaps his fear of getting hurt! Is that because of the guilt he's still bearing due to his mother's death?' Lukas wondered.
Johan then stood up as tears flowed down his face. After that, he looked at Lukas with resolve.
Johan then picked his sword and ran towards Lukas at high speed. Finally, he landed a very strong hit on Lukas's head, knocking him out right away.
After a few seconds, Lukas woke up to Johan crying. When Lukas sat up, Johan gasped.
"Lukas! Are you okay?!" Johan asked.
Lukas smiled. "Yes," he replied. 'My head fucking hurts! I didn't think he was going to hit me that hard!' he thought.
Johan sighed in relief. "Oh, I'm glad to hear that!" he said, with a smile.
Lukas carefully stood up and then looked at Johan. "And congratulations, Johan. You have surpassed my first test. If you want, you can stay here and train with me," he said.
Johan went silent for a while, but then, he quickly stood up with a wide smile and two eyes full of resolve. "Of course I will! I will show to everyone in the academy that I can hurt them already! And then, I will become a great warrior and bring glory to the Tonsburg house," he said.
Even though Johan's speech was very basic, it still made Lukas widen his eyes. After that, he smiled. "Welcome to my classes then, my pupil," he said.
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