I am very grateful to Saren, because he has always treated me as his closest friend from beginning to end.

He taught me how to cast spells and led me into the rune master's door. From a certain perspective, he was half of my teacher.

Even though we are in the war in Cabofis, we still have a very important place among the countless worries in his heart.

I am deeply grateful for this. I can't think of more gorgeous or more genuine words to praise everything Saren has done for me. The things he taught me have helped me a lot in the years since then. They have allowed me to escape from the arms of the God of Death more than once and have given me the status I am today.

◇◇◇◇◇

"Hey, Hill," Saren suddenly spoke, and I watched him put down the wine glass in his hand. On the table next to him was the information sent by Rana Gang. "In fact, I have been thinking about something," he turned his head to look at me, "and I think now is the best time, anyway, I'm idle."

"What?" I was a little confused about Saren's meaning. "Sarah, you have to make it clearer, you've confused me."

"Ah, sorry," Saren slapped his forehead habitually, "I'm just talking to you in my own head."

He walked up to me and pressed my shoulder eagerly, "As far as what is going to happen next, I decided to give you a special training, Hill," he looked at me seriously, "You know, your close combat skills have always been your shortcoming."

I nodded, and sometimes I really felt that Salon had to know me even more than my family.

"You're right, but is there time?" I looked at Saren with some concern. Leclerc's troops would meet us tomorrow at the latest. I don't want to drag Saren back in the assault.

"A night is enough, come on," Saren pulled me out of the tent excitedly, "The real close combat is different from what you think!"

He pulled me all the way to the training ground in the military camp, and a short knife was handed to my hand. "It is obviously not realistic to teach you superb sword skills in such a short time, so I decided to teach you something more practical."

I looked at the training short knife in my hand and nodded. Actually, I also prefer daggers or short swords to big swords like his Broken Steel.

"Before training begins, let me see how you play."

Saren took off his chain mail, changed into a dark training shirt, and carried a large pot of white lime.

"Come on, Hill," he waved at me, "Don't be shy, this is just training with a short knife, you can't hurt me."

I nodded, pulled out the short knife with my right hand, and held it in front of me.

I was about to shoot at Saren, but I felt a flash in front of me and my wrist hurt. The training short knife in my hand fell to the ground.

A series of blunt objects hit me came from my chest. I looked down and found that there were several white spots on my chest.

"If it was on a real battlefield, you were dead now, Hill." Saren put away his knife and looked at me seriously. "Middle fighting is not as ideal as those novelists or handwritten."

I rarely see him as serious, “I get it, Sarah.”

"Very good," I nodded with relief when I saw him, "Let's do it again."

He pulled out his short knife, "Maybe you can always see such scenes in novels and adventure stories, where the bad guy holds the knife in front of him, and then easily disarmed by heroes or brave adventurers."

"But this is not the real situation, Hill," Saren looked into my eyes, saying word by word, "A smart and experienced warrior prefers to live rather than die like a fool."

"Let me ask you a question. If you attack me, what is your favorite move?"

"Well," I thought about the answer to this question for a while, "maybe it's to cut you with a knife, like that."

I half stretched out my right hand holding the knife and made the action of cutting with the knife, just like the action of cutting a small piece of meat with a dining knife.

"Look, that's an obvious mistake," Saren stepped forward and punched me in the arm, then easily removed my short knife. "In fact, it's slow and dangerous to swing like this, you're taking risks."

"Okay," I was somewhat frustrated by the successive failures, "I think you're right, you should teach me some more practical techniques?"

"Of course," Saren nodded confidently, "Next, I will teach you a complete set of practical fighting skills, which I summarized when I was surviving on the streets in Brento."

"First point," Saren raised a finger, "Never let your other hand idle, whether you are using a short sword, a long sword or a pistol, as long as you are using a one-handed weapon, make your other empty hand work as much as possible."

"I will give you an example."

He faced me and drew out the short sword, "In fact, our battle must not be done with the hand holding the sword as a means of killing, rather than part of a regular attack."

He took two steps forward, clenched his empty hand into a fist, and waved hard towards my temple, "Use your fist, or rune technique to attack first, so that your opponent can reveal its flaws, and then"

I had already subconsciously waved my arm to block Saren's powerful punch. After hearing his words, I suddenly had a bad premonition in my heart, but I had no time to take back my arm.

Saren touched me, and the short knife in his hand stabbed me four or five times in the abdomen at a lightning speed.

"Look," after succeeding, Salon immediately stood away from me and looked at me with a smile, "This move is indeed effective, your abdomen is now bleeding."

I nodded and remembered everything he said seriously. It seemed that Saren's experience when he was young had brought him many valuable skills.

"One more thing, you have to remember that rune art may easily allow you to defeat ordinary opponents, but don't take it lightly against elite Imperial officers, Attorney General and Judges of the Tribunal, and don't try to use rune art casually in confrontation with them. You must know that even if you are proficient, using rune art will provide your opponent with a huge flaw. In combat, this flaw is likely to kill you."

"I remember, Sarah."

I nodded at him seriously and seriously, and I knew that only in this way could he feel relieved.

"Very good," Sarah tightened her face, unable to tell whether it was joy or sorrow, "Then we will continue our teaching."

"The second point you need to remember is"

I listened to Saren's words seriously, but he suddenly punched me in the abdomen.

His punch was very heavy, and I almost had the illusion that his fist was about to penetrate my stomach and then penetrate it from behind me.

"Vomit," the nausea from my abdomen made me start to retrench my retardation. I curled up and fell slowly to the ground like a pitiful shrimp.

"You are so cruel, Sarah." I lay on the ground, opened my eyes with difficulty, and said to Saron who was standing aside and smiling.

"This is the second lesson I'm going to teach you, Hill," Saren said with a bit of a cold hand, "You must remember that technology is never the most important thing, and at any time, ruthlessness and decisiveness are better than so-called superb skills and fine weapons."

He kicked me in the stomach again, and I felt like I was about to vomit my intestines, "After experiencing such a painful blow, what else can weapons and technology help you? Remember, if you want to win, your mentality is more important than these things!"

He kicked me in the ribs again, and the severe pain made me gasp.

"Stand up! Hill! Stand up! After you are stabbed by a knife, slashed by a sword, shot or hit by magic, only the unyielding will will allow you to maintain your standing posture, rather than fall down as easily as you are now."

Saren's roar echoed in my ears, and he was right, my will was never as firm as he was.

I gritted my teeth, supported the ground with both hands, and then tried to slowly get up from the ground.

"Hurry up!" I heard Saren shouting beside me, and he kicked me again, "I will always 'bully' you like this until you stand up!"

"Ahhhhhh!" I let out a cathartic roar, pushing myself up from the ground bit by bit.

"Good! Very good!" Saren kept encouraging me by my side, and then punched me in the stomach without any mercy, "You're going to stand up, Hickrad!"

"I am, Hiccrad Laxos! Don't try to knock me down!"

I don’t know how long it took, but I finally straightened my waist completely in a venting roar.

"Very good, remember this feeling and make sure you will be like today in future battles," Saren stopped his ruthless attack, "Let's take a break and move on to the next step of training."

When I heard his words, I could no longer support my body and sat on the ground.

"It's quite uncomfortable, right?"

Saren sat beside me with a smile, massaged my thighs and arms for me, "Relax, you'll be fine."

I looked at his side, and after a series of yelling and punching, he didn't even sweat a drop.

"When you get used to it, this level of attack will be like tickling to you, Hill."

"God," I swallowed with some difficulty, "How many beats have you been and how many injuries have you been?"

"I? I don't remember it myself," Saren smiled self-deprecatingly, "Don't look at me with pity, it's a good thing, Hill."

He clapped his hands and the dirt on his pants and stood up from the ground, "This shows that I have learned to control my fears, and that's what you lack, Hill."

I nodded with deep understanding. Saren was right. I would be afraid of injury and pain.

"Don't care too much," he looked at me and smiled gently. "This is our instinct, and anyone, born to be afraid of pain and injury, and what you need to do is overcome by exercise."

I nodded, "I get it, Salon."

"Very good," Saren smiled happily, "This is not something that can be successful in a day or two. You have to accumulate it continuously to make this an instinct."

"Okay," he stood up and pulled out his short knife again, "Let's go ahead, it's time to teach you real fighting skills."

◇◇◇◇◇

"He actually knows this," Kara smacked her lips with some jealousy. "He has never taught me."

"You are a blue dragon, Kara," Hickrad smiled disconcertedly, "If Saren takes close combat as his main teaching course, that's what burys your talents."

"Your clan is a natural illusionist and rune master, and this is the direction you should work hard on."

"Wait," Karen put down his quill, "as I sorted out these two stories, I discovered a name that Saren had mentioned before."

"What kind of person is this Serfiri?"

"Oh, why did I forget to introduce her to you?"

Hickrad patted his head and put down the cup. His bright eyes were filled with nostalgia at the moment. "Sephilistoween, this is a name I am so familiar with but a little strange."

"That's a girl we met on Grey Kirishima. I guess Saren has told you this part."

"Indeed," Karen nodded, "we know she is an Imperial, from the Imperial Mage Society, will she be the one Saren is looking for?"

"It's possible," Hickrad began to think seriously after hearing this, "she is an excellent doctor. To be honest, her medical skills are the most exquisite I have ever seen in my life, and she is also from the imperial capital. Maybe she is the one you are looking for."

"Maybe it was her," Kylord waved his fist excitedly, "I said, Registrar, what are we waiting for, Talos must know something!"

"Don't be impatient, Kylord," Karen comforted the restless dwarf for a moment. "It's not too early now. When the sun rises again, we will naturally visit Captain Talos."

The impatient dwarf nodded reluctantly and sat back into the chair.

"Okay," Karen clapped his hands, "I think we can hear one or two more stories before we go to bed, so we'd better not waste our time."

◇◇◇◇◇

A gust of cold wind blew, and Saren shrank into his clothes, "It's so cold, are you okay, horse?"

He exhaled a cold breath and shot out a small spark with his fingers.

"Huh" the warmth brought by the flame made him breathe a sigh of relief, "I finally feel more comfortable."

He turned to look at the roadside. Unlike the emperor who came here, there could already be seen bunches of snow next to the official road here, and even thick white snow was hanging on the branches.

"We've walked very far," he rubbed his hands, "It's only half a day, how far have you been, my dear horse?"

The pack horse was running and neighing with a smug voice, and the speed under his feet increased a little faster.

"Good," Saren smiled, his eyes narrowed completely into a slit. "As long as I get to town, I will ask someone to take a good bath for you, and then we can all be warm."
Chapter completed!