XIII

Percy looked at her, obviously startled by her sudden appearance, she just randomly jumped out of nowhere, claiming to be his mentor. Percy knew she was telling the truth when he spotted a badge that was meant for only generals, mentors were generals, they weren't trainees, or recruits, they had to have at least a three months in the crusade to be a mentor and be a general. To be a general though, you needed to prove yourself and go on multiple runs and patrols, and you needed to have at least three months of experience in the crusade to be a general.

Percy sighed a little, looking at her, his shock diminishing slowly. She had Amber eyes that seemed to glow in the sunlight, her hair a soft brown, her skin a fairly light complexion. She wore a simple purple shirt embroidered with crusader designs, Percy learned in the orientation that whenever out of battle, you could wear whatever you want, as long as it has decency. Percy turned towards her raising his eyebrows towards her.

"Come on, follow me, we'll go to the arena, it seems to be a bit crowded here." She said looking around, seeing multiple people training and working hard. Percy nodded, still silent, not speaking a single word, as if he could. Percy followed her inside the arena, walking up the stone stairs and opening the big double wooden doors, the doors themselves making creaking sounds.

Percy walked beside her, looking around the arena, the arena itself wasn't the traditional arena, there were wooden bleachers elevated at a certain level, encircling a square platform on the ground, the floor itself made of newly polished wood, Percy turned towards his trainer, looking at her with a confused face. She turned towards Percy having a bright smile, her face showing excitement.

"So, I haven't properly introduced myself." She said trying to catch a breath, as if overly excited.

"I'm Edeline, and as you know, I'm your mentor, there's no need for all the ma'am' and all that, I feel old when people call me that." She said, chuckling a little, turning towards Percy.

"And you are Percival, correct?" Edeline asked, turning to Percy. He nodded in return.

"That's a cool name, but I'm not going to touch on it too much." Edeline said.

"Now, how good are you with a sword?" Edeline asked. Percy though about it, deciding whether or not to go full on truth, to lie and start anew, or in the middle. Percy decided for the middle option, turning towards her and giving her a small pinching gesture, as if conveying that he had at least some combat experience.

"So, you know how to wield a sword, but not skilled at it?" She asked, Percy nodded.

"Alright then, we can kick this thing into high gear fast." She said, slowly grabbing a sword from one of the racks, it was a wood carved as a sword for practice beginners. Percy nodded, grabbing one of the swords and turning toward her, he wanted to know how they fight, Percy did that with the Celtic fighting style, and that became his go to fighting style.

"So, how about a friendly spar, after that, we can move on from there and improve on what you're missing." She said with a soft smile.

"You've got to excuse me, I'm quite bad at teaching, this is my first time actually." She said turning towards Percy, her Amber eyes locking onto his golden ones. That was one of thing Percy again noticed, he still retained his appearance from Camelot, the same brown hair, the pale complexion, and the golden eyes. Percy grew accustomed to it, other than that, nothing much has changed, except his build of course. Before it was a lean swimmer, now it was semi slim, Percy remembered Merlin telling him about his curse burning away any excess calories, in turn giving Percy a fairly slim build.

"Now, are you ready?" She asked, Percy nodded. She instantly charged, grabbing her wooden sword and making a slash towards Percy, Percy widened his eyes in surprise and raised his wooden sword in retaliation, the sound of wood hitting wood was heard, making a small thuck sound from the contact. She instantly reeled back, slowly walking around Percy as if observing his stance.

"For a beginner, that stance seems pretty hard to beat." She said clutching her sword and charging, making multiple blows towards Percy. Percy backed up, blocking each and every one, using his ability to his advantage. That was the one thing Percy was grateful for because of his curse. Due to Percy having a slim build, Percy had much more agility than before, which Percy preferred, he liked being agile and in his feet, hence the reason why he didn't want to wear armor, even if it was dangerous.

She charged, doing multiple slashes and thrusts, each of them Percy blocked. Percy clutched his sword and slashed, his wooden sword colliding with her sword, sending her tumbling back a little.

"Wow, you're good." She said, clutching her sword, looking at Percy with a small smile. She lunged, raising her sword to attack on a downward strike, Percy raised his sword in retaliation, ready to block. In an instant, right before her sword collided with Percy's, she ducked, going under Percy's guard and sweep kicking Percy. Sending Percy falling down, his back colliding with the wooden floorboards. She approached Percy, placing the wooden sword on his neck.

She slowly smiled, turning towards Percy, extending a hand. Percy smiled too, accepting it and hoisting himself up. Percy dusted his brown tunic, turning towards her, awaiting her response.

"I got to admit, you performed extremely well, you managed to hold out for five minutes and block all of my strikes, even managed to get in my guard once." She said whilst tying her hair in a small braid.

"Honestly, your stance is pretty good, you're not just decent, you're experienced." She said, Percy slowly felt himself go red for a few seconds until he scolded himself in his mind for doing so.

"Anyways, any particular reason why you're not speaking?" She asked, turning towards Percy. Percy sighed, knowing that he was bound to get asked that question, Percy simply pointed at his throat, trying to speak out words, only ending up looking like an idiot himself.

"Oh I see, I'm sorry for asking." She said, looking in the ground. Percy waved his hand dismissively, as if trying to say it was no big deal, she nodded turning towards Percy with a soft smile.

"Now, let's try to improve your offensive, you're good at defense, but you haven't made much offensive moves." She explained, Percy nodding along the way, even if he intentionally didn't attack, he still wanted to listen and experience it all as a beginner so to speak.

"Anyways, I'm going to teach you what we call the Crusader Fighting Style." She said, Percy nodded.

"Now, here's the thing, this requires you to hone your reaction time, to train your body to react as quickly as can be." She explained.

"For example, when we fought, when I was about to strike you down and you were about to block, I quickly changed tactics in just a few seconds?" She explained, Percy nodded.

"Well, that was one of the moves you could do, it performs extremely well both on offensive, and defensive." She added.

"And by your skills as a beginner, or a recruit, I'm certain that you could do it, you can catch up to me in no time, maybe even faster." She explained, making Percy go red once again.

"Now, in order to do that, well, that's a different story which I'll teach you over the course of the following weeks." She stated.

"For now, since its our first training day, we'll take it easy for now and go for the easier things, after that, well, I dunno, maybe we could explore the city, I haven't walked around it that much." She said with a small shrug, Percy couldn't help but chuckle a little.

"Now, let's take a step away from all of that reaction time reflexes and focus more on offensive moves." She started, teaching Percy how to do moves that he already knew, Percy just kept nodding, sometimes zoning out a little, but if it was a move Percy hasn't learned yet, Percy paid attention, much to his surprise.

A Few Hours Later

Percy wiped the sweat off his brow, looking at Edeline who was panting a little from the friendly spar they had, it lasted for about ten minutes with neither of them backing down, eventually Percy lost, Percy didn't want to continue the battle any longer, he learned what he could for now. Percy's back was on the ground, panting, Edeline was standing beside Percy, catching her breath from the spar.

"Anyways, since we're done here, what do you say? Want to explore the city?" She asked turning towards Percy with her Amber eyes, Percy nodded. Prodding himself up with his elbows and wiping the dust from his shirt. Percy turned towards Edeline who was placing the wooden swords onto the rack for the other recruits to use, she turned towards Percy giving a small smile.

"Shall we get going?" She asked, Percy nodded. Following her around, she knew more about the city than Percy did, hell he didn't even know what the name of the kingdom was. Percy looked around, admiring the architecture of the buildings, the design, it was far different than the ones he saw at Camelot, Percy's heart ached again from the reminder of what happened there. Percy shook his head from those thoughts and focused on the present, not the past.

Percy walked alongside Edeline, looking around the kingdom, seeing multiple villagers wandering around, buying food from the marketplace, simply going to the taverns, or getting ready to go to work. Percy walked along the stone pavement, admiring all of the buildings, Edeline though was accustomed to all of it,chalking around like it was no big deal.

"So, Percival." She said, turning towards Percy. Percy raised an eyebrow, looking at his mentor who was around his age.

"This might seem rude, but I'm calling your bluff." She said, Percy raised an eyebrow, looking at her confused.

"You're sword training." She stated, Percy raised his eyebrows again, trying to act innocent.

"You're not inexperienced are you, the way you wield your sword, it's not just the type of thing a beginner does." She added, Percy was getting more nervous every second.

"Also not to mention that you sometimes have a glazed look on your eyes when I teach a few basic moves, only the complicated ones are the actual things you listen to." She explained, approaching Percy. Percy began to get more nervous, feeling his palms slowly shake, it wasn't that visible, but if you paid attention, you could see it.

"When I taught you some of the more complex moves, you did it with ease, not to mention on the first try." She explained, Percy shrugged, trying to pass it off as nothing.

"I know I may not know you much, and as you me, but you've had sword trainings before, you know how to wield a sword, I'm not an idiot." She said, getting dangerously close to Percy, feeling her breath in Percy's face. Percy turned red a little, feeling extremely uncomfortable, the space between them was almost nonexistent. She looked at Percy straight in the eye as if asking a silent question.

"So, tell me Percival." She said, Percy feeling her stare. "Are you hiding something?"

Percy's breath hitched, looking at her with nervousness and anxiety, feeling his palms slowly shake, his eyes captured by her Amber ones, as if placing Percy in a checkmate. How could she know, Percy kept thinking, unable to form words, which was normal. Percy still didn't know how to reply, as if time seemed to be slowing down, Percy's hands starting to quiver, he didn't know why, he didn't know why that was his reaction, but it was. Percy gulped, looking at her with wide eyes.

"Well that proves it." She said in a low voice making Percy shiver a little. She stepped away from Percy, a smile on her face, Percy though was pale, paler than his usual self.

"I'm not going to question it, it's your secret, I don't mean to pry, it's your choice of you want to tell me or not." She said, Percy was still looking at her with wide eyes, not knowing how it went from zero to a hundred real fast, then going back to zero or fifteen. Percy didn't know why he was quivering, Percy's memories came flooding back to him like a horror movie, that was the reason why he was so nervous. Arthur's death, Guinevere's affair, everything, he wanted to forget it all, he wanted to start anew, but the reminder, of the loss of his friend, the one he failed to protect, and the relationship of the person he wanted to be with.

"I'm sorry Percival, I didn't mean to pry, I'll stop now." She said, seeing Percy's horrified look. She sighed, Percy gulped, shaking his head, trying to forget what just happened. Percy awkwardly waved his hand dismissively, as if trying to forget about it.

"I understand if you want a new mentor now." She said, giving a small sigh. Percy erased all the memories from his mind again, trying not to think about it. Percy turned towards Edeline, giving her a small, awkward thumbs up, shaking his head. Even though that was too close for comfort, Percy couldn't blame her. In fact, the exact same thing happened with both Percy and Merlin, with Merlin questioning him and Percy looking at him awkwardly. Percy shook his head turning towards Edeline who still had a guilty look on her face.

"I'm sorry." She said softly. Percy shook his head patting her in the shoulder, she looked up from the ground, turning towards Percy who was giving her a small smile. She smiled too, her Amber eyes changing from guilty to  slightly happy, her mood elevating a little bit.

"What about I buy you lunch." She said, Percy shook his head, waving his hands awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head, not knowing what to do. Without a thought, she grabbed Percy's hand and pulled him towards the nearest store, the store itself wasn't crowded, only three or four people inside. Percy looked around seeing an array of tables and chairs around, seeing only two that were filled among the fifteen tables. There floor was made out of polished wood, the walls made out of stone, small pillars of stone that seemed to be purely for aesthetic than usefulness.

"I'm sorry again." She said turning towards Percy rubbed the back of his head with his free hand awkwardly. Percy only now noticed his hand was still connected to hers, Percy turned red for a second until she pointed at a table without any people occupying it. The table itself was beside a window, overlooking a small beautiful garden with fountains and flowers, giving a nice scene.

She let go of Percy's hand, Percy rubbing it, feeling s bit awkward. Percy albeit sat down on the table with Edeline across him, giving him a small apologetic smile, she just couldn't drop it. Percy rubbed his wrist, seeing a small red outline from her grip. Percy turned towards a bartender that seemed to be around the age of eighteen. He turned towards the two, asking them what they wanted. Percy remembered almost instantly what it was being a bartender, it was tedious, extremely tedious, but it was fun if you had friends.

"What do you want?" Edeline asked, turning towards Percy. Percy shook his head, giving a small shrug, telling the silent answer of anything is fine. She nodded, turning towards the bartender.

"Does meal one sound good to you?" She asked, Percy turned towards the array of foods, giving her a thumbs up, she nodded, telling the order to the bartender. The bartender nodded, giving her a small wink and leaving. She rolled her eyes, turning towards Percival who was looking around the place. Everything escalated so quickly he barely had time to process anything. Percy became a crusader in the span of two days, but there was still training.

Percy also hadn't encountered these monsters before, he was accustomed to Greek and Celtic monsters, but he still wasn't fully accustomed to their monsters. Hell even the basic monsters Percy still hasn't encountered, Percy was still confused about everything. How Percy was even alive, how he was still breathing. Percy was all very confused about it, questioning if this was all a bad dream that he hasn't awoken from.

Percy shook his head turning towards Edeline who was fiddling with her fingers, not knowing what to talk about. Before long, food had arrived, along with the bartender who was trying to make flirting attempts towards Edeline but ultimately failing. Percy chuckled a little, looking at his food which looked pretty tasty, it smelled nice too, Percy noted. Percy turned to Edeline, giving her a small thumbs up.

A Few Hours Later

Percy yawned a little, walking back to his sleeping quarters. Edeline paid for the food, much to Percy's dismay, Edeline though went ahead, she said she needed to rest in her quarters. Percy yawned a little, walking up the spiral staircases from the Teutonic Order's building, seeing multiple Knights in the lobby, chatting about random topics. Percy didn't mind them and walked past them, grabbing the key from his pocket and opening the door to his sleeping quarters.

Percy yawned, going inside the room and closing the door. What Percy didn't expect was there was someone inside. Percy turned towards the bedroom, seeing someone using the bathroom. Percy grew weary, looking around the room for anything to use. What he didn't see before was another spare bed across the room, parallel to Percy. Percy forgot, he had a roommate, it was discussed on the orientation, he just hadn't met him or her yet.

Percy instantly widened his eyes, seeing Edeline walk out of the bathroom, wearing a fresh clean set of clothes looking at Percy with shock. Percy too stepped back, feeling his heart beat fast from the sudden surprise. Percy tried to speak, finding out he couldn't.

"What are you doing?" Edeline asked. Percy widened his eyes, looking at her. She was crossing her arms, looking at Percy for an explanation, Percy sighed. He wasn't going to live this down.

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