"Arrogance."

"Not to be confused with confidence is a taboo in any kind of engagement, whether it is a war or a duel."

"Confidence requires you to remain cautious."

"While arrogance has you rush in recklessly."

"Far too many fools have fallen to arrogance."

"King, lords, princes, merchants."

"None have been exempt from the folly of arrogance."

"It is why we who win must never get carried away with victory."

"Lest we become one of the fools we despise so."

Reginald Coulan, creator and head of House Aurellion in Dynasties Online.

....

The fight began again with all three attacking him at the same time, and Railius had to at least give them credit for their attempt to coordinate to ensure that one of them hit him as one swung low, another swung high, and the final man, equipped with a sword, stabbed at him.

They were trying to lower the space he used to manoeuvre.

But Railius did not panic; instead, he charged at the first man whom he had struck earlier.

He parried the man’s mace with one sword with what appeared to be godlike precision while the other sword smashed into his rib as Railius glided past him, a backswing hitting the same part of his back that had been bruised earlier, easily managing to escape their clumsy formation.

Their formation was actually quite good, it was simple and easy to execute, and if all three were of a similar skill level, then it would likely have worked even if seen through, as a formation is more than just the stats it increases, it represents an advantage of numbers used effectively and at times the simpler the formation the harder it is to destroy as long as all who are part of it does what they are supposed too.

Unfortunately, despite Lucas and his friends being the same rank on paper as Railius, their practical experience and teachers were no different from an ant trying to crush an elephant; even if they only took into account the training and experience both had since entering the game, this difference remained as stark as before.

Since entering the game, Railius had either been training under a grandmaster or a quasi-grandmaster in Leon and Aldorus. If he were being honest, Railius would not be surprised that if Aldorus was stimulated enough in the upcoming war, then there was a good chance of him becoming a grandmaster himself, so in effect, Railius, for the past nearly three years in the game, had been trained by a grandmaster.

Compared to Lucan and the other Nathian soldiers he had befriended, who had only at best been trained by a sergeant at the expert level and perhaps once or twice by one of the Nathian vice generals if they were lucky, the difference between the two in their trainers and training was no different from that of heaven and earth.

And it was this difference that mattered the most.

Railius had learnt from the best and faced the best constantly; all his opponents were typically a level higher than him, and as a result, he was used to clawing back victory from the edge of defeat as he never had an easy bout when fighting against his Pelican Guard.

He also faced men who used the Pelican Guards’ unique fighting style, which was based on Leon Mantalons’ unique fighting style, allowing him to become both a master and eventually a grandmaster. This fighting style was a grade above that taught in armies around the world. Only other unique units would have the capabilities and a fighting style of a similar level, and this is the main reason why soldiers belonging to a unique unit are far superior to an average professional soldier you might find in the army of one of the many nations of Dynasties Online.

This difference, alongside having a specialised swordsmanship, something that only high-level experts or master fighters tend to have, has allowed Railius to dominate his current opponents despite them outnumbering him.

If the five of them had decided to work together at the start, they might have had a chance; unfortunately, their arrogance had prevented that, and now they would pay the price.

As the man Railius struck, once again howled in pain, Railius back-kicked him, making him stumble straight into his friends, getting a blunted mace to the head and a blunted sword stab in the gut, knocking him out, and if it were not for his helmet, then that blow to the head may have been much more lethal.

"And then there were two."

Railius said with a smirk that sent chills down the spine of both his opponents, neither of whom had expected him to be so skilled, as all their matches seemed so close that they thought many of their defeats were due to luck.

Unfortunately, in reality, this was not the case, as Railius had never been one to show off his martial prowess too much, his mental and strategical prowess, yes, but never his martial prowess, and this was mainly because while he had almost always done well and won when it came to strategy and the art of war when it came to his personal martial prowess he was always a step behind his peers.

Always the last to advance, always the one who lost in a spar.

It would be a miracle if someone in this environment were ever to be proud of their achievements in marital matters.

In fact, Railius learnt more by being as precise as he could be in his fights, using only the minimum amount of effort, than he ever did letting himself loose and going all out.

Not only does he learn control, but he also learns how to kill someone with the least amount of effort, which will only help him in a battle.

No matter how skilled someone was, they could not fight on forever, for even gods get tired, let alone mortals.

So learning how to kill people in the most efficient manner possible would only help Railius, as it would allow him to kill more people, though this was only achievable because Calculated Swordsmanship is more about prediction and calculation than other fighting styles.

This means that if he put enough effort into it, Railius would be able to see where a sword would end the moment an enemy attempted to strike him, allowing the young lord to take appropriate measures to dodge and parry.

As a result, he can calculate exactly how many moves and how much effort it would take to kill someone.

To put it simply, as soon as Railius gained enough experience, he would become a killing machine, almost unmatched in the world, who could kill with the least amount of effort.

He would become a demon of the battlefield.

The fate of Lucan and his remaining friend could be summed up in two sentences.

Most unfortunate.

And most painful.

The rest of the fight was nothing more than a one-sided slaughter, and despite Lucan and his companions’ best efforts, within 30 seconds, both had joined the rest of their friends, moaning and groaning on the floor of the castle courtyard in pain.

The difference between the training of Railius and this group of five arrogant Nathian soldiers was just that big.

After Railius finished off Lucan with a sword strike to the chest, a familiar blue system notification appeared before the young player, making him smile and feel excitement in addition to relief.

[Congratulations to player Rising Pelican Of Loyalty for upgrading your specialised swordsmanship, Calculated Swordsmanship, to the expert rank.]

After that, there were no further system notifications or rewards, but Railius was not surprised, as he was far from the first to upgrade a fighting-based skill to the expert rank, as he had never been the best swordman, merely having slightly higher talent for the blade than average and able to use his innate high mental faculties to create a unique swordsmanship.

But thoughts about further rewards were the last thing on Railius’ mind right now.

Because he had done it!

He had actually done it!

He had finally managed to raise his swordsmanship, the skill that affects his main weapon, to the expert rank!

Just as he was about to open up and look at his new skill, he felt two gazes falling on him like a hammer.

It took Railius but a moment to find the source of these two gazes up on the balcony attached to the Nartook Fortresses’ commander’s room, a place where one could look over the entire northern part of the Fortress, which guarded the only mountain pass between the Kingdom of Nathia and the Chavarian Empire.

Of course, it would be him.

Nothing would be able to get past his eagle eye.

While others would ignore Railius, who was just chilling in the corner, waiting for everyone to finish attacking each other, that man would not.

Ranier Lantier, the great general of Nathia, its only grandmaster strategist and known throughout the world as ’The King’s Sword.....

Was not a man who would let Railius go unnoticed.

But it did make Railius wonder who the man he was conversing with was.

.....

Nartook Fortress balcony.

Ranier Lantier and Duke Eridun Muthrad were watching the final bout of the first round of the grand melee, a vicious, unrelenting gauntlet, which would let only the survivor of each bout progress to the next round.

Their silvery beards, grey from their many years living in the world, fluttered slightly in the evening wind as the orange sun began to set.

"Thank god we will manage to get the first round done by the end of the day."

Duke Muthrad grumbled as the excitement of seeing men fight had long gotten boring, for 100 bouts had happened since midday when the Grand Melee started, and it was an event that was likely to continue for the next two days, with one round each day to allow the participants to rest and recuperate from exhaustion and any wounds they may have picked up.

Even with blunted weapons, a spectacle like the Grand Melee would lead to injuries, as mortal flesh is far from the most durable thing in the world, even when protected by a thick padded gambeson.

But 100 bouts in half a day required them to even set up makeshift arenas outside the gigantic fortress to make sure they were all finished by sunset, not that it would have been a problem to continue them into the night.

"It is a necessity because within a week, the Chavarians will be outside our walls."

"Maybe even sooner."

Ranier said cooly

"Yo, that young lad who defeated that group 5 and is just relaxing in the corner is quite good."

"Far too good to be just a common soldier.

"Who is he?"

Duke Eridun asked, his gaze fixed on Railius, who was yawning and relaxing in a corner surrounded by wounded, groaning men.

"Harmon Hestime, the third son of some household knight I can’t remember, he is a weapon, a tool that I am not at liberty to comment on."

Ranier Lantier replied to his old friend’s question ambiguously, which made the Duke of Croxx raise an eyebrow in interest.

As it was not every day that there was a man who even the world-renowned King’s Sword was not allowed to comment on.

Ranier knew that the secret identity he gave Railius would not fool his old friend, so he made no effort to hide the fact that the young fallen noble was suspicious.

Over the last few months, Ranier was pleasantly surprised at how well Railius managed to suppress his own abilities, making sure that until now, when for some reason he went all out, no one even batted an eye or suspected anything wrong about his identity as he managed to almost perfectly imitate the fighting techniques of the Nathian army.

That was until now.

"Ho...."

Duke Eridun exclaimed, taking a breath before saying.

"Seems a new, very interesting piece has appeared on the board."

"There are many new interesting pieces on the board."

Ranier replied coolly.

"True, but unlike the rest, this one has your eye, and even lowborn prodigies don’t fight like that."

"That fighting style has hints of the Chavarian Army in it, but better, improved, and only a grandmaster would be able to improve the combat techniques passed down in the Chavarian Army for generations, just like it would take a grandmaster to improve our own."

"And you need to have quite a background to be trained since childhood by a grandmaster, as even some landed nobles do not get that privilege."

Duke Eridun commented, making it clear that he was interested in Railius.

Which is not good when considering that Ranier did not want anyone to be particularly interested in the young lord of House Aurellion lest Nathia’s enemies get any suspicions about his Hail Mary, which Railius had emphasised could only work if the Chavarians did not know that he was present on the battlefield.

Compared to other nobles in Nathia, Duke Eridun Muthrad was one of the most competent, and it was because of this competence, along with his personality and conduct, that allowed him to strike up such a close friendship with Ranier.

For Ranier was not a man to suffer fools unless forced to.

So it was not surprising that it was not his own vassals or even the talented descendants of other noble families who had come to the battlefield hoping to gain a lordship that caught the old warrior’s attention, as they were known variables; instead, it was Railius, a man with potential that would generally be overlooked when put in such venerable company.

An outlier who had somehow gained the trust of Ranier Lantier, which is by no means an easy feat.

"There are others who shine more brightly than he does, like that talented viscount of yours."

"I don’t think that anyone of the same level would be his match, and apparently, he even has a decent head on his shoulders."

Ranier said putting the spotlight on the man with arguably the most potential amongst the nearly 200,000 men present at the fortress.

"For now."

Duke Eridun said just as the final bout of the first round was coming to an end, and as there were only 5 men remaining on the field, with others being dragged off shortly after they fell, it would not take long for a winner to emerge.

And emerge it did, as the young man who had spent a large portion of the melee leaning casually in the corner, looking bored, and who had beaten down 5 men alone, disarmed his final opponent, and held his blunted sword to the man’s neck, prompting him to quickly yield.

"The winner of the final bout, Harmon Hestime!"

The announcer shouted to thunderous applause from the spectators, who were a mix of soldiers and inhabitants of the fortress and its surrounding villages.