Hopscotch and Athletics, Play Equipment Turned into Training Gear!
At first, there were injuries everywhere, but now it seemed like hardly anyone got hit anymore. Everyone’s abilities were seriously high, just what you’d expect from the Margrave’s Knights Order.
I wasn’t quite at that level yet, but I’d started to be able to dodge lightly thrown stones. Still, it was frustrating that, in order to dodge them, about one or two times out of ten I couldn’t properly step on the circles. I’m gonna keep working on that too.
Then there was the balance walking. I’d suggested it to train balance, placing a log across two wooden chairs and walking across it, and that turned into training as well.
The logs had been made thin enough that they’d bend when an adult took a step, and the distance had gotten pretty long too. And yeah, they were throwing stones there as well. Walk across the log, keep your balance while it bends, dodge the incoming stones, and make it all the way across without falling off, that kind of thing.
Oh yeah, and this happened too. The other day, I saw a sheet that had been hung out to dry get blown by the wind and almost fall to the ground, so I ran over and jumped underneath it, but I couldn’t catch it properly.
While I was struggling to get out from inside the sheet, Commander Luke saw me and said, “Using sheets to capture enemies might not be a bad idea.” And just like that, it got added to the training.
When I said, “Isn’t it a waste to use sheets? Why not use nets instead?” Commander Luke gave this wicked grin, and the very next day, the sheets had been replaced with nets.
But just throwing them didn’t spread them out nicely, and they didn’t fly very far. So, with my suggestion, we tied several stones to the edges of the nets as weights, which let them spread out properly when thrown. Problem solved.
And then there was this too. Since we had logs, we tried assembling all sorts of things. We stacked them high so that, viewed from the side, they formed a triangle, then climbed up and down them.
We also lined up several logs side by side to make a wall-like structure, set it upright, then placed another similar log wall a short distance away, but at a different height. We made several of these, and the idea was to climb up and down one, then run to the next, climb up and down again, and keep going for about 100 meters.
We even made a setup where two thick logs were standing upright, with another pair just like them on the other side, and a ladder placed between them. You’d cross using pull-ups, but of course, that wasn’t all. From the sides, stones tied to ropes would come flying at you one after another. You had to twist your body while doing pull-ups to dodge stones coming from all directions.
There was also crawling. A net was stretched about 30 to 50 centimeters above the ground, and you had to crawl underneath it while hugging the ground, basically low crawling.
All of this was stuff I originally came up with because I wanted it to be fun and like a game, but before I knew it, everything had been cranked up in difficulty and turned into knight training. And at some point, a whole “athletic gym” had been built in one corner of the knights’ training grounds.
I used to call Commander Luke a demon commander, but apparently, the knights have been calling me the “Solitary Little Devil.” Why?!
Thinking about all that while doing hopscotch, bam! A small stone hit my shin directly.
“Ow!”
My eyes teared up a little, and I crouched down without thinking.
“Are you alright?”
Commander Luke came over, worried, and peered down at me.
“Yeah, I’m fine. It hurts, but I’ll endure it.”
He patted my head at my brave front. He’s gentle today.
“You endured it well. Not crying, very admirable. As expected of you.
You worked hard today, so let’s call it here for today’s training.”
“Yes, Commander Luke, thank you very much. Please take care of me again tomorrow.”
What do you think about this chapter?
