Bear School Astartes

Chapter 809: Chapter 792: Morning Training

Fortunately, it’s already summer, so it gets dark very late in the evening.

After a meal, Ciri and Geralt came over to help Lann and Belengar tidy up a room in this long-abandoned castle.

That foul-mouthed guy Lambert went off to be lazy, while Vesemir, on the other hand, got a bit drowsy after dinner.

Although Vesemir’s body was much stronger than an average young man’s, his lifestyle habits were already like those of a bona fide old man.

”If you had let me know in advance, I might’ve been able to get Lambert to help with cleaning. But now it’s too late.”

Geralt said as he waved away the dust in front of his nose.

The castle has been abandoned for too long, and there aren’t enough Demon Hunters to maintain the entire place. So, the Wolf School folks barely kept the places they used clean, such as the hall, their rooms, the basement...

The rest was beyond their care.

Ciri and Rong Buqiu carried out the clutter while chatting and laughing, surprisingly doing quite a decent job.

”Please, let’s not talk about it.” Lann shook his head helplessly, ”I’m here to lay low. If I were to send a letter, there wouldn’t just be wild wolves outside of Ker Morhan.”

There would also be spies, scouts, ’lost merchants’...

Finally, in the dim light of freshly lit candles, the room was more or less tidied up.

They moved in two big beds and a small one, for the two Demon Hunters and Rong Buqiu respectively.

Luckily, they weren’t picky individuals, so they made do with it for now without any complaint.

As darkness deepened, there weren’t many activities to while away the evening.

This place was at the edge of the civilized world, an abandoned castle inhabited by just a few Demon Hunters.

Even in this era, it was considered an incredibly boring place.

No wonder most Demon Hunters didn’t stick around Ker Morhan except for the winter months.

-----------------

The next morning, the fresh yet cold air on Blue Mountain woke up the two people and one cat in the room.

”Oh... damn it, I forgot to seal the window last night!”

Belengar sat up, clutching his head.

The room had a window with a view of the outside of the castle, but the wooden shutters had long decayed and fallen off.

The wind from the night made Belengar feel dizzy and nauseous now.

However, Lann didn’t feel much of anything.

He scratched his head, tidied his slightly messy hair, and stood by the window sill.

Looking out from the height of Ker Morhan, the Blue Mountain ranges were lush with vegetation.

The weather was clear, and the sky was as blue as the sea.

Yet there were still patches of cold mist scattered over the forested mountain ranges.

Combined with the majestic contours of the mountains, it exuded a sense of antiquity, mystery, and grandeur.

This feeling, coupled with the cool mountain air, made Lann feel an expansive openness in his heart.

”Well, first soothe your head.”

Lann casually dismissed Belengar, who was holding his head in discomfort, and started to take out his casual clothes from his Alchemy Pouch.

A silk shirt with lace and breeches.

This outfit was enough to cope with the current temperature of Ker Morhan.

He strapped the Alchemy Pouch to his back and kept Aron Dite hanging on his left side, marking his usual daily attire.

Meanwhile, on the other small bed, Rong Buqiu picked up its little cat pickaxe, stretched, and prepared to start its morning exercise.

Its self-discipline was something Lann forever teased Qilin about.

”Huh?” The Three-Floral Kitten licked its little paw and smoothed the fur on its head as it looked at Lann.

”Is Lann joining the morning exercise today, meow?”

Rong Buqiu was a bit surprised.

Previously at Airetusa, it didn’t live with Lann, so their morning exercises were essentially done separately.

On the journey, it didn’t have much to worry about, so it continued its morning exercises as usual.

But Lann, working with Belengar, would use that time to discuss and plan the daily itinerary during the journey, thus having no time for morning exercises.

”I said I would guide you, and now is just the right time.”

Lann bent over and petted the cat’s head, and Rong Buqiu’s eyes squinted in satisfaction.

”Then let’s go, meow!”

Ker Morhan was a castle built with military intentions.

This kind of medieval castle would have an outer courtyard before the main structure, which was used to extend the enemy’s line by convoluted narrow paths once they were inside the castle.

It provided more opportunities for the defending soldiers on the castle walls to attack and weaken enemy forces.

Thus, the outer courtyard was often constructed with many twists and turns, occupying a considerable area.

During the last mob attack involving Warlocks, Ker Morhan’s outer courtyard was almost entirely destroyed.

However, only the convoluted structures and obstacles were destroyed, leaving the land intact.

Hence, with the sparse number of people in the Wolf School, they decided to repurpose it into a training ground.

Lann followed the excitedly bouncing and occasionally quadruped-running Rong Buqiu towards the courtyard training ground.

On the way, he picked some white bryony and dandelions from the overgrown grass of Ker Morhan.

These looked like they had sprouted from seeds dropped during the Demon Hunters’ alchemy activities within the castle.

During the castle’s peak times, such wild greenery would have surely been cleared away.

But now, with not enough hands to even clean the rooms, they let these herbs grow wild instead.

It was actually convenient for their alchemy purposes anyway.

Upon arriving at the courtyard training ground, Lann and Rong Buqiu found others already training there.

In a sheltered corner of the courtyard, Ciri was undergoing training under Lambert’s guidance.

She was skillfully maintaining her balance on a long plank suspended by chains while using a toy-like wooden sword to attack a leather bag that was tied with leather straps to mimic a human torso.

”Wrong!” Lambert shouted, ”You got too close! Don’t just hack wildly! I’ve told you, use the sword tip to pierce the carotid artery! Where’s the carotid artery in humanoid creatures? At the top of the head? What’s wrong with you? Focus, little princess!”

”Don’t call me ’little princess’!”

Ciri yelled back angrily, but she objected only to the title, not the guidance.

She kept herself focused on meeting Lambert’s requirements, committing the lesson to muscle memory.

The mouse-grey-haired girl moved nimbly on the wooden plank, turning her body sideways and lightly thrusting out the wooden short sword in her hand before quickly leaping away. The dummy swayed from the hit.

”Oh, finally!” Lambert exclaimed, ”You’ve finally got it! Step back and do it again. I need to be sure you haven’t just fluked it!”

But the little girl on the plank had already spotted Lann and Rong Buqiu walking over.

She suddenly felt a small burst of happiness.

That tiny joy disrupted her breath and rhythm, causing her to lose her footing and fall from the swaying plank.

With a ’thud,’ she landed in the straw pile that had been prepared beforehand.