5. Draco's Objective

"When the first city falls, the rest of the empire will not be far behind."

Kyríchos - Elven King

After the emperor's death at the hands of 5 mysterious elves, the power and control of the empire passed to the Empress. Until her eldest son reached adulthood, this caused doubts among the nobles and lords about the empire's situation. The other two human empires, which had feared the power of the Megnum Empire for years, now saw this as an opportunity to conspire against it.

Two years passed; the empress had managed to keep the empire united, despite the doubts generated by her rule. Initially, Gramorg would remain neutral, but thanks to Leonor's influence on her father, Lord Fender, the city of Gramorg announced its full support for the empress, calming the storm for the moment.

In the end, her eldest son, Prince David, reached adulthood and prepared for his coronation. It seemed like a bright future awaited the empire despite everything.

But they didn't count on the Bucullatus, accompanied by the army of the Poski Empire, marching with the intention of dissolving the empire and taking its territory as their own, or at least that's what the mages had promised. To do this, they would have to eliminate its most powerful city without it even being able to respond: Gramorg. This pleased the interests of the Bucullatus, who sought the deaths of Lord Fender and Draco Marcos.

Lodtrack was training with Draco as usual, engaging in a fiercely contested combat using wooden weapons. Jill and other apprentices watched the fight, attentive to their every move.

“Do you think Lodtrack will finally manage to defeat him?” Virtof asked. This was a dark-skinned and quite burly man. Next to him was Chub, a short and slightly chubby youth, who raised an eyebrow at Virtof's question.

“Don't ask stupid questions,” Silo scolded him, a half-blood elf, tall and very thin, sitting next to Jill. “Lodtrack, in these ten years of training, has never come close to knocking down Sir Draco.”

“How pessimistic you are, beanpole,” Virtof replied. Silo ignored how he called him and continued to pay attention to the combat. Lodtrack was starting to tire and lose ground against Draco, “although maybe you're right,” Virfot snorted.

Jill looked at Lodtrack, noticed a smile forming on his face, and said:

“I think you shouldn't underestimate Lodtrack.” Everyone looked at her strangely “since the emperor died, he has trained like crazy to live up to expectations. He won't fall so easily.”

“You only say that because they're dating,” Chub teased. Virtof and Silo chuckled.

“I-it's not like that,” Jill blushed slightly and looked back at the battle.

Lodtrack regained the lost advantage, unleashing a series of rapid slashes with the wooden sword until he managed to hit Draco's wrist, causing him to drop his lance. The apprentices gasped. Lodtrack thrust for the opening he created, confident he would win the fight, but Draco blocked his attack with the shield in the blink of an eye. He quickly redirected Lodtrack's sword and struck him forcefully in the solar plexus, causing him to fall to the ground, giving Draco enough time to pick up his sword and place the tip at Lodtrack's throat.

“What were you saying about not underestimating him?” Silo joked. Virtof and Chub tried to hold back their laughter with all their might.

“Damn! I almost had him,” Lodtrack complained, exhausted. He looked at Draco, who wasn't even sweating or panting “at least pretend it was hard, old man,” he said irritably. Draco gave Lodtrack a smile, irritating him even more.

“Very well! I hope you were paying attention. What were Lodtrack's mistakes?” Draco asked his apprentices.

“Well... his defense still has blind spots,” Jill observed.

“His thrust lacks power and decisiveness,” Silo added, “and he's too slow.”

“Want to test my speed?” Lodtrack challenged him.

“Silence!” Draco shouted. “Chub? Anything to add?”

“No, they've already said what I had in mind,” Chub grumbled. Draco nodded and turned his gaze to Virtof.

“If he hadn't thought he had won before time, maybe it would have turned out differently,” he replied. Draco smiled pleased. Lodtrack lowered his head.

“Exactly... although everyone has a point, he could have won the fight if he hadn't assumed it was over. He could have tried to knock me down and gain the advantage, but he chose to attack me carelessly,” he looked at Lodtrack, “you are very strong and skilled, but your unwarranted extreme confidence is what always causes you to end up on the ground... isn't that how you almost got killed after fighting some simple assassins?”

Lodtrack gritted his teeth and nodded. He knew that flaw in his personality well, but he always ended up falling anyway. Jill smiled condescendingly at him, and the others avoided making eye contact.

“Well, but everyone has their weaknesses and strengths; my job is to push your strengths to their limit and reduce your weaknesses to a minimum,” he helped Lodtrack up and told him to sit down, “Silo, you're next. I hope that speed you boast about lives up to expectations.” Silo swallowed hard and approached.

Draco continued conducting the same combat simulation with everyone, something he did every month to gauge his apprentices' strength and identify areas to focus their training. Afterward, he asked the apprentices about the weak points to test their analytical skills for anticipating battles. Once the practices were over, he concluded the training.

“Rest well, for tomorrow I'll make your lives a living hell and push you to your limits until your muscles scream, and I'll do it every day for the rest of the year until you become the best warriors in the entire empire,” declared Draco with a malicious smile.

The apprentices felt a chill run down their spines and withdrew.