"The rest of you."
Lucan looked back toward the knights.
"Gather the horses, we don't have time to drill everything as I did with all of you; these whelps are going to face hell whether they like it or not."
The knights, including Javier, nodded, quickly departing and heading to the stable to gather the horses into the courtyard.
The space was big enough to handle simple formations for the first part of training.
"Four more laps!"
Lucan yelled out once more, motivating the men, shouting how many were left was a simple trick to get them to give their best.
Justinian, hearing this, smiled. This was when he could use up all his energy.
While conserving stamina was important, reputation was also good, and just being average wasn't enough.
He needed to be efficient, both in that respect, his stamina, and in building a reputation.
And saving it all up for a last spurt was the best thing he could think of.
FRSHH!
The dirt below Justinian sprayed as he sprinted as fast as he could, movements perfect; he was used to this already.
THUD. THUD. THUD.
Justinian's foot met the ground with force, slowly gaining traction and moving past the others ahead of him quickly.
"What...?"
"Damn, he's fast."
The other men said in awe as Justinian finally took the front row, sprinting past the last laps quickly, causing Lucan to even widen his eyes.
'Quick... I can give him that, where the hell did he learn to run like that?'
Lucan asked himself, seeing Justinian finish the laps at record speed, completely overshadowing the rest of the other men despite his maintaining an average position the entire warmup.
'Is he trying to build a reputation... here? cunning.'
Lucan smiled before clapping once more.
"Someone already finished! think you'll let a pretty boy outdo all of you!?"
"No, sir!"
The others answered loudly, picking up the pace, sweating drastically due to not controlling their pace properly at the start.
As Justinian took his time to wipe his face, he looked at the men he was going to eventually command into battle, their enthusiasm filling him with some semblance of hope.
Their first disappointing appearance was being made up for with their discipline when it came to training.
'They'd do...'
Justinian thought, bouncing on his feet to make sure he didn't lose momentum.
'For now, they don't know I'm the duke... the reveal will hit harder later.'
He smiled at the implications.
'But the real problem... horses, I don't even know how to ride one.'
Justinian looked upwards towards the sky, the chilly air in contrast to his sweaty body, making a terrible combination.
'The old Justinian definitely learned how to ride one, but still... I hope I inherited those skills properly.'
Then Lucan spoke again in the middle of Justinian's thoughts, just by the front of the courtyard, but this time with horses enough for each man.
All elite warhorses, making the training simpler, compared to untrained horses that would run away at the mere sight of danger.
"Pick a horse. Then get into armor. We're drilling the real thing immediately!"
But despite Lucan's exterior, he knew training cavalry, especially ones that need to carry out a night raid, would be suicidal.
"Fuck... I know I said I'll train them, but training competent cavalry takes a while, and judging by the Duke's words, he'll need them soon." He cursed under his breath, in a voice only he could hear.
Lucan crossed his arms, resorting to another plan; a competent commander should be enough to make up for a barely trained army.
Well... he hoped it would be.
"Knights, on me, we will need to discuss some things."
Lucan said, returning inside the palace along with the knights, leaving the rest of the men to pick their horses, a task that should buy them enough time for discussion.
THUD.
And it was quickly proved when a horse kicked someone straight in the chest with its legs, sending him flying straight to the ground.
None of the horses at all trusted them.
"Relax!"
Another person yelled out, riding across the courtyard recklessly as the horse went out of control.
"Guess it's my turn..."
Justinian laughed grimly, seeing the rest already failing, with only a few managing to even be slightly successful.
'I need to pick correctly here...'
He stroked his chin, stepping backward to get a more general view of the herd of horses.
'I need one with a strong neck and thick legs... preferably not one too tall.'
Justinian wasn't an expert on horses, but he had general knowledge of what would be a good choice; all the horses in front were already great, considering they were all elite horses.
But that doesn't mean all of them were the same.
'What about that one?'
He spotted a specific horse just by the side, completely ignored by most due to its average physique, most favoring larger horses.
But its eyes and coat were clear and shiny, a clear sign of a healthy horse.
'Jackpot...'
He had spotted his horse, but a bigger problem was now present... actually taming it to trust him.