The Law of the Silent Gentleman

"I remember you mentioned that you know swordsmanship?"

The morning sun shines on the green courtyard of Ambrand Manor. The birds chirped and sang heartbreakingly. The flowers in the season of Muyue are in full bloom on the branches, and it is hard not to have the idea of ​​breaking off a few branches and putting them in a vase.

However, the temporary owner of the manor did not have the leisure to enjoy the flowers. Enzo wore a mask, a light, sturdy shirt and breeches, and carried two unsharp swords under his arm. He threw one of them to his student, Giuliano, who was also dressed. The young apprentice caught the saber, weighed it, held the sword in one hand, and put the other behind his back. His legs were crossed, and he posed a basic sword fighting posture.

"Swordsmanship is a compulsory course for noble children." His voice came from behind the mask, sounding muffled.

"Then let me see how your sword skills are."

On the second day after the two arrived at Ambrand Manor, Enzo started teaching the Reticent without stopping. He packed his classes so full that his students could barely breathe. Physical training in the morning, followed by an hour's reading of the poetry of the ancient sage Erice Iniesta (whom Enzo admiringly called "the forerunner of the silent lady") after breakfast, followed by fencing lessons.

Giuliano's body hadn't recovered from the passion last night, and his physical strength couldn't keep up, but he quickly recovered the feeling he had when practicing sword. Enzo didn't want to compete with him, but just to test his level. Their swords faced each other, and they moved to each other's left with steady steps. The assassin took a sudden step forward, and the point of the sword pierced Giuliano's chest. But he didn't use all his strength. The young opponent easily swayed away from his offensive, and then set up a defensive posture.

After a few rounds of stabbing, Enzo smiled behind his mask. Although invisible, Giuliano could hear the smile in his voice.

"Yes, your family found you a very good swordsmanship instructor."

"My parents have always been willing to spend money on education." Giuliano responded with an aggressive attack.

"What you have learned is typical army sword fighting." They repeated the attack and defense of you coming and going. The crisp clash of swords echoed in the courtyard, startling the birds in the trees. "The foundation is very solid, and the moves are beautiful. Although many swordsmen who have become monks have sharp moves, their foundation is not half as good as yours. As long as they encounter a strong enemy, they can easily show their flaws. But the army sword fighting technique is not like this. It takes It takes several years to practice the basic skills, steadily and steadily, and then slowly improve. The progress is very slow. Only soldiers who serve in the army and noble children who have money and leisure and do not need to really do it have the opportunity to learn this kind of swordsmanship. Many people I can't wait, so I went to learn those quick sword skills, they can become very powerful in a short time, but most of them died in the end because of their own quick success."

"It sounds... what kind of swordsmanship is this... Only idlers learn it?" Giuliano was a little out of breath.

"It's almost the same! After the foundation of army sword fighting is firmly established, it becomes a sword technique suitable for duels between nobles. It can change all kinds of fancy moves. It is useless in actual combat, but it looks gorgeous and beautiful. Nobles The children have to rely on these to win the hearts of ladies and gentlemen."

"Oh my god... what kind of coach did my dad find me..."

"I guess it's a retired soldier. But don't worry, it's a good thing you didn't learn the fancy part, otherwise it would be difficult to change. You have a solid foundation, and it's easy to learn anything in the future. Just master the sword I taught you If you do this, you will find that suddenly there are few people in the world who are your opponents."

"Really? Is it that powerful?"

"In a formal sword duel—yes. But the art of the assassin is more than just straight sword fighting."

Enzo swung away Giuliano's point, then put away his saber.

"Stop practicing?" The young apprentice asked doubtfully.

Enzo looked at him from head to toe, "Your pace is completely messed up. Let's practice here today. I will bring the afternoon class to the morning, so that you can have a good rest in the evening."

Giuliano blushed silently. His back holes are still so uncomfortable that walking is awkward, not to mention the steady steps required for swordfighting. Fortunately, Enzo let him wear the mask of the Reticent, otherwise the blush on his face could not be hidden.

The so-called "afternoon class" is similar to the morning reading in the morning, but it is not just about reading poetry. Enzo specially set aside a room as a classroom, and asked the housekeeper to fetch a large pile of books from the study and pile them up in the room as textbooks. Giuliano must study literature, history, geography, folklore of various places, foreign languages, native dialects, court elegance and street gang slang, in addition to knowing the medicinal properties of various medicinal materials and the functions of alchemy potions . He simply suspected that Enzo planned to train him to be a philosopher who knew astronomy and geography, not a killer in the dark.

"Don't think that stabbing a knife in the back can solve a person."

The two of them sat on the carpet, surrounded by the hill version of books. Enzo said: "Fatal assassination is often done in an inadvertent moment. You may want to mix into a well-dressed dance party, or you may secretly poison someone's cup, or you don't have to do it yourself, you just need to use words to provoke the two to kill each other." A duel with someone who has long disliked you can achieve your goal. And all this requires knowledge. Some reticents don't even know how to hold a sword, but they are dangerous assassins, perhaps the most dangerous Kind of. When you see them, you think they are safe, as ordinary ladies, crones, beggars, or urchins, and when you think so, your life is in their hands."

Giuliano looked a little discouraged at the surrounding mountains of books. Enzo picked one at random from it. "The Expedition of Emperor Omaran." He read out the title of the book, "Hmph, this book was not written until hundreds of years after the death of Emperor Omaran, and it is full of incomprehensible battle scenes and groundless Data, it would be a fool to believe it. But the description of historical events is objective."

Giuliano beamed: "Oh! I've read this book!"

"yes?"

"This is history, and it is a must for every nobleman..."

Enzo tossed aside the Expeditions of the noble First Dynasty's founding emperor: "Thank God you came from a noble family, I don't have to read this bad book again. What else have you learned?"

Giuliano wrenched his fingers: "The history of the Dragon Emperor Era, the geography of the empire, the language of the empire, the natural philosophy of the Akton School..."

"Then you don't need to learn any more." Enzo pushed down a mountain of books next to him, "Let's continue reading Alice Iniesta today. How much do you know about her?"

"My governess said she was an exiled madwoman."

"Nonsense! Your teacher is a ignorant old rascal!"

Giuliano murmured, "She's a young lady."

"A ignorant female hooligan!" Enzo changed his words, "Alice Iniesta is not a silent one, but she is the forerunner of the silent lady and the founder of assassin art! In her era, culture and art were still Women's privileges. At that time, the group of "silent ones" had not yet been born, and the city-state of Yoder only had killers who roamed the streets and alleys. It was she who put forward the theory of "the assassin is the weapon". If a person kills with a knife, he should It is the knife bearer who is punished rather than the knife itself. Similarly, the hired assassin is only the weapon of the employer, and the employer should be punished, not the assassin. It is based on her theory that the silent can walk the streets of the city-state of Yoder openly superior."

He respectfully pressed Erice Iniesta's collection of poems to his chest, with a devout expression. "She is still a follower of the ancient god. She lived in the middle of the second dynasty. In her time, the ancient **** had not yet returned, and everyone believed in the dragon god. She preached that the dragon **** was just a giant dragon deified by man. The **** is the many opposing twin gods worshiped by the elves in ancient times. She was exiled because of 'religious heresy' and finally died on an island in the south of Dorothenia. But time has proved that she is right. In the late Second Dynasty, the refugees fleeing the war inadvertently awakened the sleeping elven priests, and brought back from them the lost beliefs, including the God of Truth and Pretense."

"God of truth and pretense?"

"Our God," said Enzo, "because death is the only reality, the eternal silence. Therefore the God of truth is also the **** of death and silence. His twin is the myriad illusion and ever-changing lies , always wearing a gorgeous mask. And this is the real life, because everyone in the world wears a mask to disguise themselves, and only when death comes, will they show their only truth. The silent people worship this pair God."

As he spoke, Enzo put down the collection of poems, and pulled out a gold chain from his clothes, with a luxurious holy emblem hanging on the end. He took Giuliano's left hand, placed the holy emblem flat on his palm, and covered it with his own hand.

"Listen well, now I'm going to teach you the Four Laws of the Reticent. This is the only law you need to abide by. Under it, any other laws, regulations or guidelines have nothing to do with you."

Giuliano nodded. The icy holy emblem became warmer with the body temperature of the two of them.

"First, don't betray your employer. Second, don't betray your companions. Third, don't tell lies."

Enzo suddenly grabbed Giuliano's wrist, nails digging into the young man's skin.

The temperature of the holy emblem suddenly rose, and Giuliano screamed, feeling like he was holding a burning coal. He wanted to let go, but Enzo grabbed his hand so tightly that he couldn't get rid of it!

"Rather than violate, I would rather be silent! Repeat!"

The holy emblem was getting hotter and hotter, and Giuliano suspected that his palm had been burned. Gritting his teeth, he repeated: "Don't betray your employer! Don't betray your companions! Don't lie! Rather than...in violation, I would rather remain silent!"

The strength on the wrist suddenly disappeared. Giuliano screamed and dropped the holy emblem. With a sound of "dang", the holy emblem fell to the ground. The young man clenched his left hand into a fist, and then slowly released it. He was surprised to find that there was no burn mark on the palm. He picked up the holy symbol. The metal is cold, without a trace of warmth.

Enzo picked up the holy emblem and put it back around his neck.

"You've been approved," he said. "The holy symbol will burn your hand if you don't mean what you say. But no. There's nothing false about your desire to be the Reticent."

Giuliano rubbed the thumb of his right hand against the palm of his left. "I'm a member of the Reticents now?"

"Not yet. You are just an apprentice, a trainee just getting started. You still have a long way to go."

He stood up. "That's the end of today's class."

With that, he left the room, leaving Giuliano sitting on the floor speechless. The young man looked around, feeling bored, so he picked up the poetry collection of Erice Iniesta and read it with relish.