"He is Bear Hunter Lind, the one you are looking for." After the two arrived in front of Linde, Raul pointed at Linde and introduced him.
"Lord Bear Hunter, my name is Luo Li, and I am the son of the Bitterbridge blacksmith." The young strong man walked nervously to Linde, took a deep breath, as if making a major decision, his expression tense, and said in a very formal tone: "I can no longer find an opponent in Bitterbridge, and those Lord Knights disdain to fight with someone like me. I have heard legends about you, and just now I also heard from your camp that you once fought with Lord Fotimo, so I want to…"
The young strong man stopped halfway, his face showing a difficult expression, as if he didn't know how to say the rest of his words, and he got stuck.
"Are you trying to compete with me?" Linde spoke the words the other party wanted to say.
The young strong man breathed a sigh of relief, nodded, and then asked with some concern: "Can I?"
"Of course." Linde nodded, then looked at Raul, who was beside him, and asked, "Has he already competed with you?"
Raul gave a wry smile and said, "We did. This guy is too strong, none of us are his match." As he spoke, he looked at Luo Li and said, "When we were in Highgarden, we heard that Baron Caswell had a formidable individual under his command, the son of a blacksmith, who was only a teenager but already stronger than most adult warriors. Now we know that those rumors were not exaggerated at all, just like your legends, Lord Linde."
After hearing Raul's introduction, Linde also looked at Luo Li with a hint of curiosity, then drew the twin swords from his waist, gestured to Luo Li, and said, "In that case, let's begin!"
"Wait?" Luo Li was stunned when he saw Linde's movements and asked, "Are we using real swords?"
"Of course." Linde said in a deep voice, "Using practice swords is not dangerous, but it doesn't achieve the effect of actual combat, because deep down you feel that even if you are hit by a practice sword, you won't die, you'll just get a little injured. So you will make some incorrect movements in offense and defense. These movements won't be a problem during regular practice, but they can be fatal on the battlefield."
Although Luo Li didn't fully understand Linde's explanation, he felt there was some truth to it, so he turned and hurried towards the castle, apparently intending to get his sword.
After Luo Li left, Raul asked with a slight doubt, "Lord Linde, how do you have time to train this kid this time? We've been asking you to help us improve our swordsmanship for a while now, but you always say you don't have time."
Linde heard a hint of dissatisfaction in Raul's words and said, "I've told you, what you bottom-level warriors need to improve is not swordsmanship, but battle formations that cooperate with each other on the battlefield. Excellent swordsmanship cannot help you survive in a melee of thousands, but a perfectly coordinated team of comrades can."
Raul pouted and said nothing more. He knew very well that Linde's words were correct, but he still hoped to possess excellent swordsmanship, then be noticed by a certain knight, become a knight's squire, and have the opportunity to become a knight in the future, rather than just remaining a guard soldier until he died.
Perhaps because of the commotion Luo Li caused at the encampment earlier, some busybodies in the camp also ran to this open ground to watch the excitement, primarily wanting to see how Linde would train this Bitterbridge blacksmith's son, and incidentally vent some of the resentment from being defeated by him earlier.
By the time Luo Li brought his longsword, two or three dozen people had already gathered around the open ground, including guards from House Tyrell and guards from Bitterbridge Castle.
Seeing so many people gathered there, Luo Li did not show stage fright; from his expression, he seemed even more excited. He came before Linde, eagerly drew his longsword, and assumed the most common offensive sword stance.
"Let's begin." Linde did not assume any preparatory sword stance. After reminding Luo Li, he walked slowly towards him, looking less like he was engaging in a sword practice and more like he was taking a stroll.
On the contrary, Luo Li, who was fully prepared, felt immense pressure at this moment. In his eyes, Linde seemed to have transformed into a beast slowly approaching its prey, which forced him to retreat two steps to slightly alleviate some of the pressure.
However, Linde's steps did not stop; he continued to approach slowly, and the pressure that had just diminished reappeared, this time even stronger.
Perhaps feeling that if he continued to be so passive, he might eventually lose even the courage to swing his sword, Luo Li endured the invisible pressure on him, let out a loud roar, and brought his sword down fiercely towards Linde.
Although Luo Li's sword strike was fierce, even the fiercest strike is useless if it doesn't hit anyone.
Linde simply moved one step to the side, easily dodging the descending longsword. At the same time, his left-hand longsword swung towards the opponent's neck, while his right-hand sword tilted slightly and thrust straight. Almost simultaneously, one sword was placed against Luo Li's neck, and the other was pressed against Luo Li's chest.
The surrounding sounds instantly quieted down, followed by gasps from the Bitterbridge Castle guards. After all, Luo Li was a famously strong warrior in Bitterbridge Castle; a year ago, no guard soldier in Bitterbridge Castle could defeat him, and only a few knights in the castle might be stronger than him. For such a powerful person to be defeated so easily by one person left the Bitterbridge soldiers who had previously lost to Luo Li utterly astonished.
On the other hand, the soldiers of House Tyrell had grown accustomed to Linde's strength during this time and were not surprised by the current situation, so they did not show much emotion.
As for Luo Li, the person involved, he was completely stunned. Although he had already felt the gap between himself and Linde when he experienced the immense pressure Linde exerted on him, he had never expected the difference between them to be so vast. In fact, what just happened could not even be considered a sword competition; Linde had merely taken one step and casually swung the sword in his hand to defeat him. An unprecedented sense of frustration washed over him.
"Continue, again." Linde, on the other hand, withdrew the twin swords from Luo Li, then stepped back two paces, and said to Luo Li with a calm expression.
Luo Li was stunned, he collected his shattered confidence, then took a deep breath, gripped the sword in his hand again, and then, as usual, attacked Linde once more.
The result of this attack was exactly the same as the last time. Linde moved diagonally one step, easily avoiding Luo Li's attack, then attacked the opening he exposed, subduing him.
Luo Li, whose confidence was shattered again, began to think that perhaps he was not as strong as he believed. His previous matches with the castle guards were just them letting him win because he was young. He also wondered if he should give up his dream of being a knight and honestly inherit his father's blacksmith shop to become a blacksmith.
"Do you know what your shortcomings are?" Linde could see that he had already crushed the other party's confidence, so he didn't continue, but instead said with a serious expression.
"Shortcomings?" Luo Li was completely stunned, a blank look on his face.
Linde, like a teacher, instructed, "I guess you haven't received any formal swordsmanship training. Your swordsmanship is just something you imitated from watching the castle guards and Baron Caswell's knights train. Your swordsmanship is very crude; it relies entirely on your physical talent to be effective. When you encounter people whose physical talent is inferior to yours, you might win, but when you encounter people with better physical qualities than you, or who possess excellent swordsmanship, then all your advantages will cease to exist."
Luo Li's face turned somewhat pale upon hearing this. He had never imagined he had so many flaws. Perhaps due to his youth, his mindset was not yet mature, and a slight setback caused him to doubt himself, and the pride he had accumulated over the years began to totter.
Linde then offered a suggestion: "If you want to improve your strength in a short time, you can practice dodging and defense more. Of course, it would be even better if you could hire a swordsmanship teacher."
"A lowly blacksmith's son should stay in his place; a pair of hands meant for a hammer is not fit to hold a sword." Just as Linde's words fell, a sharp, piercing voice came from outside the crowd watching the commotion.