Tasco's Barrack was the place that Baston visited at the moment. From what Luke told him, the place was owned and organized by a retired knight. In his young age, the knight already defeated many opponents. There was a legend about him, but unfortunately, the world needed a new hero. The old one
was soon forgotten and the knight could only lament his fate. Since he wasn't a noble himself, he had no land and less money to survive in this harsh world. Still, rather than doing nothing, he finally decided to open his own shop in Luminos city with all the remaining wealth.
Everyone knew to survive in this city, the amount of money must be a lot than normal. It was better to stay at the town or village because the retired knight would still have potential to become famous at there. Despite there was an easy way out, the man chose Luminos city as the base. People
thought it was just a matter of time before he was kicked out but until now, he still preserved without any trouble. If not because his advanced skill from his young age, he would be living poor already.
The place was quiet but according to Luke, the knight was an expert. Just like the name of this place, Tasco was the owner of this small barrack. The knight was already old but it seemed he never lost his touch. He
offered everyone his special service which was a training of his advanced skill. The basic skill of the knight was easy and many people could access it, but not many could know advanced skills for a knight. Because of this, many amateur knights dreamed of having him as their teacher but Tasco charged too expensive for his special training. People with limited fund were already obliterated. Only a handful people could pay Tasco and started the training.
However, there was a problem with his customers.
The fee of 100,000 pounds for one week training had already dismissed many people from taking the course. Only wealthy people could pay this amount, leaving a few people who had the possibility to do it. Still, it wouldn't be easy for them to spend these big amounts of money just for one week training. Usually, the one who made the payment would be the old people with a purpose for the training of their younger generations. Although the young one was brimming with
spirit and energy, it didn't ensure them to be successful. When that happened, the young one could only regret that they were useless while the old people could only shake their heads hopelessly. The paid money couldn't be refunded so surely, many people felt this kind of transaction was doomed at the beginning. The result was many of Tasco's future customer weighed down their decisions before they rejected the idea. Because of this, it was better to spend the
money for something else.
Other people might be afraid, but it was different for Baston. His confidence actually didn't come from himself, but from his puppets. If he trained his body, he was sure even the basic one would be very hard for
him. Not to mention his fat body, the time was very tight to make a miracle. Only by using his puppets, he could maximize the training. Different from the fat himself, the puppet could now move flexibly with less restraint. Even though he was rigid and tense when doing the basic exercise, the puppet wasn't like that since there was no muscle to begin with. Just by his order, the
puppet had the ability to shift any part of the body erratically. Baston only needed to remember the advanced movement from the old knight to make the puppet copy it completely.
Baston as the fat man didn't see any receptionist so he stepped further into the next room. Moving ahead, there were many equipment for knight training. Some were still new and some were already broken. There was also a training doll used by newbie knight and a couple of arrow targets. The place was wide enough to be a small arena. Baston looked forward to find there
was a small room. The door was closed and it seemed no one was inside. However,
his heart told him the owner of this shop should be inside. Taking a deep breath, he then knocked the door.
"Excuse me, I'm looking for Sir Tasco. Are you in there?"
There was no reply even though Baston had already stated his reason for coming here. He didn't know whether someone was inside or not. There was also a possibility that Tasco was asleep, so he wanted to try for a second time. Before he could do it, the door creaked and opened. In front of him, the old man was standing still. His beard almost covered his face, but the glint in the eyes showed that there was a brave heart inside him. No matter what his age, it seemed the knight still had ability to fight. The old man stared at Baston for a while before asking him.
"Why are you looking for me?"
"I want to train for one week here…"
"You? Are you sure about that?" Tasco was stupefied, "Judging from the weight of your body, you must be joking."
"No, I'm serious. I already bring the money. I don't mind to pay you first…"
"Ha… ha… ha…" Tasco laughed, cutting Baston off.
The old man couldn't believe such a fat man wanted to train of his advanced skill. Although being fat was no problem, but still, Tasco could see there was no muscle on Baston's body. There was only fat with every
look so the old man simply shook his head. If this customer suddenly threw a tantrum against him because he couldn't learn anything, the reputation would plummet and many would gloat for his fate. Everyone knew they needed money pretty much to live in Luminos city, so the colleagues would be always the enemy. One less opponent didn't have considerable impact, but it always good to have less opponents in business. Tasco had friends plus a lot of enemies in the
city, so every time he took the offer, he needed to think thoroughly whether this was a blessing or just a curse.
"Please go back. Just looking at your fat body, you won't make the first day."
"What if I can preserve for one day?"
"There's no way you can…" Tasco still didn't believe Baston.
"How about this? I will pay full 100,000 pounds at front. You will train me for one day and if I gave up in the middle, you could take
the money and I wouldn't disturb you anymore. You don't need to refund me and
each of us will go their own way."
"Really? Are you sure? What if you take back your words?"
"I'm pretty sure there's a special contract used in Luminos city. By using that, we can specify the requirement and promise so any
violation can be reported. I'm sure no one will dare to fight with the leader of this city. Once you get blacklisted, you will never come back again for your lifetime and the rest of money contained in Luminos card will be gone."
"Hmmm… Let me think about it…"
Even though Tasco doubted the fat man in front of him could follow his teaching, but since the customer already spoke about it, there was nothing wrong to take the money. He only needed to show and teach his customer normally. Whether the fat man could learn something from him, that wasn't his trouble. The old knight had already stated his rules here so no one could say that he fooled them into paying such high service.
"Alright, let's process the payment first. Before that, I warn you whether you can follow my movement or not, that's entirely not my fault. I say this first so you can't say I deliberately make it harder for you."
"It's fine. I understand…"
There was a magic instrument specially used for the payment. Tasco's barrack had one to handle it when the customer decided to buy his training service. Putting the new Luminos card, the amount of money displayed and Baston only needed to confirm it. It went smooth and with just one click, he already spent 100,000 pounds. There was a little regret but Baston shook his
head to forget it. The quest was more important and if not because of the specific event here, he wouldn't want to pay for this advanced knight training.
The payment was successful and Tasco was glad the fat man didn't make any other requirement. Just like the professional seller, the old man soon brought a piece of armor with steel sword. He wanted Baston to wear it but the fat man only took the sword. As for the armor, it wasn't needed since it would
only slow his movement. It should be used to protect himself from any damage occurred after this, but since the fat man was only a puppet, there was no need to concern about that. Even though Baston would get rough treatment, he would shove it off by the end of the day. Tomorrow, he would still come fine without any wounds.
Tasco didn't mind Baston who only wore his clothes as his armor. The customer had already made his decision so if something happened, the fat man would bear it alone. Walking to the counter, Tasco picked his steel sword and both of men finally faced each other. It looked like a duel but actually, it was just a training. The old knight ordered Baston to attack him 3 times first to judge how much stronger he was. The fat man took a deep breath before rushing ahead.
"HAA!!!"
Baston used chopping method as his first strike. He raised the sword high while jumping before pushing the sword down quickly. Tasco only blocked the attack with simple movement. The swords were clashing with each other, but Baston was soon repelled back. Baston felt the sword connected to Tasco's sword, but he felt like he hit a hard rock at the mountain. It didn't
budge a little and he as the attacker was thrown back as the result. The arm of the puppet was shaking hard. Luckily, Baston didn't choose the real himself to go there to accept the training. It must be painful just to endure it.
Tasco could see the hand of Baston was shaking greatly, but the fat man didn't let any sound came out from his mouth. He didn't grunt and just got ready for the next strike. Just by this, the old knight had a good
impression. He thought Baston was just a weak fat man at first, but it seemed he wasn't a simple one. Ordinary people would soon massage his hand or even let the sword fell from his grip because the shaking was too painful to bear. Amazingly, the fat man endured it with no complaint.
"HAAA!!!"
This time, Baston thrusted the sword for his second strike. Tasco as the experienced one just deflected it easily. He slashed his sword
upward, making Baston almost lost his grip. If not because the fat man was a puppet, he already threw the sword because the force was too great to handle. Inside the old book, he could feel his hand would be full of blister if he did it by himself. The hands were shaking once again, but the fat man took his grip tighter. Tasco was grinning because he found this fat man had a talent to become a knight, even though his skill was very amateur.
"Not bad! Even though your strike is too predictable, the strength you show is commendable. Next is your last strike. Give me all you've got!"
Little by little, Tasco felt the fat man gave so much surprise. The round body of Baston unknowingly had much strength than any
amateur knight he had ever met. He wanted to see what else the fat man could offer to him. Baston also wanted to know the best his puppet could do, so on the last strike, he planned to give it all.
"Here I go!"