Chapter 50 – Dixon’s Struggles and the Knight Trainees
For Dixon, Cedric, Thom, Theo, and the rest of the knight trainees, life had become a living hell.
From the moment they boarded the ship, they'd been getting beaten up daily under the pretext of sparring. They were split into groups based on their academies, each academy fielding anywhere from 100 to 200 members. It was total chaos.
"Alright! Spar three times a day if you want to eat!" barked the instructors. And they weren't joking. Each trainee had to go through three sparring sessions per day, and on top of that, grueling physical training that pushed their bodies past the breaking point.
Each match lasted three minutes, but it felt like an eternity. They learned quickly to focus on defense—just survive. But even so, by the time they hit the fifth opponent, they were barely standing. It didn't matter. No one was allowed to stop until they'd fought at least ten people.
"Why do they always go for the ribs?" Cedric muttered as he collapsed on a bench, clutching his side.
"Because they're monsters," Dixon replied, wiping blood from his nose. "I think one of them cracked my jaw today."
Their meals were brutal too. Breakfast and lunch were served in complete silence, only interrupted by the occasional grunt of pain or clatter of a fork dropped from trembling fingers. Sometimes they'd talk quietly between bites, remembering the past.
"You remember how we used to talk big back at the academy?" Theo chuckled weakly. "I used to say I'd become the strongest knight in the kingdom."
"Yeah," Dixon nodded with a grim smile. "And we told William to stay out of trouble..."
There was a pause.
"I wish he was here," Thom said. "He'd help us. I know he would."