Epic Of The Demonic Sage

Lucius heard Kiana's words and was intrigued.

"Just what is it that they talked about?" He questioned.

"I couldn't really hear, but now they are sparring with the guards at the barracks." Kiana said with a sigh.

"Ah, no wonder… Donald did say something about lacking some good sparring partners lately since John has been busy with the brewery," Lucius said.

"Donald has always been enthusiastic about sparring and improving his skills, ever since I've known him. That's one of the reasons why I made him the captain of the guards." Gabriel added.

"Well, I best get to them. At least I'll get to see Gellor and his team's skills first hand." Lucius said before standing up.

"Yeah, get to know them. If they are decent, perhaps we may get them to train the guards further." Gabriel spoke.

Lucius nodded his head and found it to be a reasonable venture. When the mercenaries were not on any missions or jobs given to them by Lucius, it would be good to let them train the guards.

Lucius then left the mansion and went to the back of the mansion grounds where the guard barracks were located. The last time he had come here was when he was still paralyzed and was in the wheelchair.

But now he finally got to go there on his own two feet. He got to see the different parts of the mansion along with this and increased his understanding of them. Lucius already found a few places that could be enhanced and improved later on.

In five minutes, Lucius reached the guard barracks, or more accurately the training platform that was located outside of it. 

"Hah!"

"Take this!"

The sound of people fighting could be heard even from the distance and Lucius saw one of the guards fighting the mercenaries. He recognized the guard to be none other than the guard that had accompanied him to the bandit extermination before.

This was the guard that had the rare ranked gift Flame Impact named Jay. And on the other side, the fighting was Gellor's teammate Albus. The man was wielding an axe while Jay was using his standard issue sword.

The two of them were not using their gifts and were simply fighting using their weapons skills. 

Strike after strike, was exchanged as neither of them came out on top.

"You can do it, Jay! Show these mercenaries what the guards of the Inanis family can do!" The other guards cheered Jay on.

"Show them your skills that were learned in the face of true danger, Albus!" The companions of Albus did the same.

Lucius silently approached them from the side and since they were all focused on the spar, no one noticed him. 

'This is a bit disappointing, they lose their sense of surroundings too easily.' Lucius noted. 

But when he got right at the side of the stage, behind the crowd, Gellor's neck snapped back.

"Young Lord Asher?" Gellor said in a surprised tone.

'Seems like these guards will definitely need to learn a bit from them. Although Gellor was slow, he still reacted the first.' Lucius thought.

Gellor's words were heard by the nearby people as well, and they turned to look at Lucius. 

"Ah, are you done with your breakfast, Young Lord Asher?" Donald asked upon seeing Lucius.

"Yes. I was informed that you guys were having a sparring session and thus I came to see it myself." Lucius replied.

"Oh, forgive us, Young Lord Asher. Perhaps we should have waited for you at the entrance." Gellor said, feeling a bit nervous.

"No, no, it's fine. At least this way I get to see your skills." Lucius replied and looked at the stage.

The battle between Jay and Albus was getting tense and a couple of injuries could be seen on their bodies. Despite the armors they were wearing, their weapons had managed to make a few minor scratches and cuts.

"You're decent…. But not good as me," Jay said as he side stepped an attack and spun around to attack the handle of the Axe Albus was using.

Albus gave a short grin as he flicked his axe to the side from where Jay's sword was coming from. Jay had not expected this and his sword was knocked out of his hand by the flying axe. 

"Ah!" Jay grunted in pain as his wrist was impacted.

Albus took this opportunity to rush forward. 

He directly tackled the stunned Jay and pushed him to the ground. 

"Damn YOU!" Jay uttered as he recovered from the pain and started to punch Albus with his fists.

Albus did the same, and soon the spar devolved into an exchange of fisticuffs. No more was there any elegance to it, and only pure unadulterated physical strength was used.

Lucius sighed and shook his head at seeing this. 

'Albus's tactic was good, but he should have ended the fight with a decisive blow after tackling down Jay.' Lucius thought.

Gellor noticed Lucius' little reaction and didn't know what to think of it. The fight continued for about two more minutes, after which both of the fighters were exhausted.

They split apart and collapsed to the ground.

"ENOUGH!" Donald said out loud.

The two men took tired breaths as they tried to get hold of their breaths. They laid on the ground for about two more minutes, after which they finally stood up.

"Good fight," Jay said to the mercenary Albus.

"Indeed. While I get to fight enemies and beasts quite often, I don't get to have scuffles like this. I enjoyed it." Albus replied genially.

A short round of applause ensued as the two fighters parted. 

"Oh? Young Lord Asher is here!" Jay said upon seeing Lucius standing at the side of Donald.

He then felt embarrassed and spoke, "I fear I've made a mess of myself in front of the young lord." 

"No, no, it's fine. The spar was a good one, and improvements can always be made." Lucius replied, sparing the man any more words.