Guardian's Farm 8

I sat by the fire as I watched Sage finish his meal, showing his enjoyment of the cooked meat with the ferocious way he ate. “Careful, no one is taking it away. You’ll aggravate your wound.”

That earned a protesting whimper, but he slowed down his eating, which earned a chuckle from me. An extraordinarily smart wolf was not a companion I had expected to have, but if I was being honest, his presence helped.

Especially since he was smart enough to communicate if necessary, but needy for my attention. It was an amusing change. But, that change wasn’t enough to distract me from what had happened with the boar.

I had killed it accidentally, just because I was unable to control my reflexes. The act was startling enough, but the fact that I didn’t even recognize that as a problem … Clearly, spending my time locked in duels in a magically protected arena hadn’t been as helpful as I had expected.

Looking back, I should have refused to even visit the capital once we took down the mad dragon. I should have walked away, maybe even faked my own death. Too bad that the high of our triumph had made me believe that I could make a difference, even as my previously stalwart companions decided to join the camp of the nobles one by one, more interested in the riches than actually doing something.

I sighed and stood up, looking at the spot where the butchered remains of the boar were resting. There was still a lot of work to be done, from butchering to preparing a clay oven for smoking meat for long-term storage, but I decided to leave them behind.

My deadly reflexes were the bigger problem, one that I had no idea how to approach. The easiest solution would have been to break the habit of reinforcing my blows with life energy. Living in the woods, that was surely useless.

However, that would mean that if there was any such danger, I might actually put my life at risk. And, while I was confident that I had covered up my tracks, there was no guarantee that I would stay hidden. And, if detected, it was a coin toss between being summoned back to the capital by the council, and having an assassin sent after me.

I wasn’t naive … at least, not after living in the center of the empire for two years as a nexus of political instability. I had no doubt that, the moment I left, various spies started to spread rumors about my disappearance. About what, I didn’t exactly know, but based on the rumors that were active before I left, it was a guess between getting involved with a married noble to somehow trying to lead a rebellion … or something in between.

However, I also knew that, no matter how much they paid the bards to tell suggestive tales about my indiscretions, people, particularly the veteran peasants, trusted me. At least, they did before I disappointed them by failing utterly. Unfortunately, I got familiar with the nobles enough to know that they wouldn’t be satisfied with that, seeing me as a threat so long as I was alive.

While my own guilt had been the primary reason for my retreat, the details of my escape had been mainly shaped by their inevitable reaction. Also, I knew that their paranoia would lead them to search for me in the North, where most of the veterans had been collected, rather than the edge of the Southern territory where there was nothing I could leverage against them.

Nevertheless, that didn’t mean I wanted to limit my power anymore. The lack of proper weapons already limited me, but that would have been an inevitable sacrifice. I couldn’t go around with an enchanted weapon without getting the attention of the local nobility, which would ruin the whole reason for my current residence.

“The hard way, it is,” I said, then closed my eyes, trying to decide the best way to condition myself to hold back. I could practice the martial techniques I was already familiar with, using them to limit my approach, but they wouldn’t work. The indomitable Blade technique was the core of my fighting style, which was a big part of my fame as a Guardian, giving me an excellent balance between offense and defense.

Unfortunately, while Indomitable Blade had many advantages, self-control during battle was not one of them, and not just when it came to damaging my enemies. I had forgotten how many times I had injured myself. It had been an excellent technique when fighting against the dark horde, where each battle had been deadly.

Not as much when having a leisurely life.

I focused on the other techniques I had learned. Indomitable Blade wasn’t the only technique I knew. Once I had started living in the capital, I had learned several other techniques, mostly because I was afraid of accidentally killing one of the spoiled noble spawns that challenged me — even with the protections from the arena — not ready to deal with the mess that would create

Unfortunately, none of those techniques were useful either, for one simple reason. When I picked them, the similarity to the Indomitable Blade had been the main criteria. Half of them were derived from the Indomitable Blade, and the other half was similar enough that they might as well be.

There were other techniques I could focus on, including the standard imperial technique, but those had their own disadvantages, and I was afraid of it ruining my proficiency with Indomitable Blade.

“How about the Serene Leaf Technique,” I said to myself, remembering the technique the wood elves had taught us back when we had been camping with them. It had been a weird, useless technique that didn’t even have a weapon, focusing on staying calm and maintaining control. It limited itself to palm attacks, with a focus on dodging and deflecting rather than dealing damage.

It was a waste of time for a guardian who fought for his life every day, but the current situation was different. And, the lack of a weapon meant that practicing it wouldn’t ruin my Indomitable Blade technique through bad habits.

I closed my eyes, trying to remember the teachings. I remembered them teaching several moves. Unfortunately, the nature of the moves was less clear than the nasty jokes Elric made about the wood elves; while Thorne and I egged him from the side.

Back then, we really didn’t like the wood elves. In my defense, refusing to fight with the dark horde due to some kind of ancient disaster truly irked us.

But, there was no point pondering about the past. I stopped focusing on the jokes, and instead focused on the lesson.

The first stance, Whispering Breeze, I remembered relatively clearly, along with the explanation. Physically, it was nothing more than a stance that left the user’s feet slightly apart, and their palms raised. However, the move itself was weird. There was no attack, not even a palm attack.

The whole point was to feel the presence of the attack and vacate the premises before the attack arrived. Admittedly, it was a useful habit, especially against any potential assassins, but it had been the antithesis of my previous role. As a guardian, my main role was to stand between my team and the danger … Well, it had been my role in the past.

I closed my eyes, took the stance as accurately as I remembered, and started moving in small side steps.

In response, my internal energy moved. It was a weak, subtle movement, one that I only recognized because I was one of the foremost experts in fighting techniques when it came to practicals, a benefit of living on the blade’s edge for two decades.

The difference was interesting. The energy movements of the Indomitable Blade had been sharp, and merciless, not unlike a stab from a hot blade. Comparatively, Serene Leaf was exactly like its namesake: soft, gentle, and comfortable.

It was also patently useless for any kind of real conflict, which had been the reason why wood elf tribes were more of a joke militarily and politically, but considering my aim was to find a way to keep from accidentally murdering anyone rather than practical benefits, it worked for me.

Deadly reflexes were exactly what I needed when adventuring, but in my retirement, they would only keep me back. When I ran away from the capital, I thought that I had been hoping to leave violence behind, but the little encounter against the boar taught me otherwise.

It seemed like violence was ingrained in me more than I had expected.

I repeated the same basic moves of the Whispering Breeze, gently dancing back and forth in a drunken stagger, keeping my eyes closed as I did my best to move slowly yet perfectly — trying to move as fast as possible was the kind of mistake in the domain of a novice fighter.

As I moved, I could feel Sage approaching me from behind, trying to be sneaky. I should have been panicking, as despite his intelligence, he was still a wild beast, representing danger. However, after he risked his life for my farm, the least I could do was to extend some trust.

A trust that had been betrayed … by a wet nose pressing against my ankle. “Hey, don’t be —” I started as I turned around, only for him to get away. His face was easy to read. He was playful, but there was fear there as well.

He was afraid of being attacked … no, he was afraid of being rebuffed. It was a good reminder that I wasn’t the only one that was feeling alone.

“I hope you’re happy with a prank war, you mangy dog,” I replied, which earned an annoyed, protesting howl. I smirked. “I wonder what annoys you more, being called mangy…” I continued, and he growled threateningly. “Or a dog —”

Before I could finish my words, he attacked, and I found myself wrestling with an annoyed wolf, carefully so as to not aggravate his wound.

I couldn’t keep my smile down. My new life was going to be fun.