Another story

Stabbing the shovel into the soil, you grumbled for better wages

You basically dig up the whole of this paradise, planting fragrant roses and soft pine trees, the vines slithered up the logs, the bluejays and black jays partying at the tree top

You can name every single botanical plant in this concrete mansion, and it dampens your spirit whenever the mistress cuts off the "dead plants", even though when the "dead plants" would be self-revitalizing during the next spring

Mistress in her curtain dress staring at you through the windows

Sweeping leaves is easy, having someone watched over your back is uncomfortable

The autumn has arrived with its scented gust of fragrance

It's the smell of tree sap and fruit pollen

Cradling the miniaturized trees and bundling them with beautifully carved wooden boxes, you made bonsai for the mistress to sell

Every time, the bonsai are sold, the mistress goes on a shopping spree, new clothes, new furniture and new workers, occasionally we get new knights, and today is such a day, for travelers afar and nearby have seek refuge in the wolf-head mansion

You had worked as a room maiden too, so you know how difficult it was to serve the visitors

You (satire): Oh, the bed is black and dirty, wouldn't you bring me new bed sheets?

You (satire): Ow, I am a vegan, dun you know?

You (satire): I need more tea, it must be hot, not cold

You (satire): Where is the restroom? Unless you want me to do it here?

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What makes this garden unique are that there are rusty and shiny swords stabbed downwards into the soil bed, making it a circle of ritual

In the past, the becoming of a knight requires one to slay the opponent

Nobody came to retrieve the slain knight's sword, and so it was left here to rust

In recent times, the system got changed

Participants needed to pay in bag of coins

Winner take all coins

Therefore even if the mistress do not want to recruit a treacherous knight

He would still be paid in full, and leave with honor

At night, the soft glimmer of the new moon wakes up the rare flowers and you

When you paced up and down the yard for thieving squirrels and intruding beggars, you could see a field of abundance, rosy pillows, fluff of cloud petals, tipsy apple tulips

A boy alerted your vision

You (Stern): What is your house name?

Boy: I have none

You: Only those with houses can compete in tomorrow's knight selection

Boy: I can pay with the price of my life

You: That's the old system, nowadays, you have to pay a bag of coins

Boy: And would you spare me some?

You: Lol, are you mad, begone beggar

Boy: You have toiled long and hard in this prison for so long, how long more can you endure?

You: If I give you anything, I am getting nothing back

Boy: If I become a knight, I can buy your freedom

You: And work for you? Still the same, still the same

Boy: No, you would be released in full to repay tonight's debt

You snickered at the boy's height

The boy sighed and showed some martial arts movements, quick and precise strokes, however, it was fist-fighting and not sword wielding

Also, anyone can punch fast without the heavy armor weighing down on you

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Money, power and horses

Those three were the currency of this era

Becoming a knight will grant you all three

But the price could be your very life

There were 12 participants,

4 dead, 6 survived, 2 remaining,

5 chosen to be knights and serve the wolf-head clan

The last two were disqualified, one had no house and one had no coins

The disgruntled unchosen knight threw his two bag of coins onto the boy and the tall, slim man, then he lingered around as a spectator

The judge with grey beard, looking at the ferocious knight waiting for more entertainment dared not disrupt the scene, after all, he could just exclude the two combatants as knights anyway

You (Whisper): Now things are interesting, would the boy win?

The weak fellas robbed the slain knight of their equipment

The scarred knight snorted

Usually, the mistress would scold you over uncleared flowers

But today were carpet of blood and stiff bodies and she still kept silent like an owl

A few kids, supposedly princes and princesses were looking downwards to the battlefield from the high balcony, their mouths were agape with shock and terror as though it was their first time spectating

The courtyard is lined with granite walking paths, resembling a tortoise's outline, the inside were flowers, the outside were trees, the front were judges and mistress and from afar was the victorious knight and you

The two "knights" bowed to each other at the tortoise's center

A double upward swing of sword pushed the boy backwards, he kept moving backwards to absorb the weight of the metal

The tall and slim man smiled in relief, his body size has granted him a huge advantage, in physics and his range of attacks

The tall man continued his combo, he smashed through the boy's grayish armor in just a few seconds

You (Scorn): Glad, I didn't spent half my fortune on you

As the tall man restore his posture, the boy starts swinging his sword like trying to light up a matchstick, every single clash was blocked by the tall man's sword

The tall man strategically moved backwards, boasting the boy's confidence artificially, and just when the boy's loses his energy and concentration, the tall man spiked a lightning and tore through the boy's shoulders

The boy's armor slipped off, it was evident who is the winner

Boy: Caw caw!

That was the strangest battle shout the spectators have ever heard

The judge crossed his wrists, hinting the boy to give up

But the boy wouldn't

The tall man decided to end the match, by killing or kicking his opponent out of the ring

Clash clash clash clash!

The sword keeps battering the boy's blade

Every hit was like an earthquake, fear painted the boy's face

The boy pretended to back out of the ring but haven't

The man decided to have mercy and kick him out instead

Swoop

The boy managed to bleed the man's leg

The man was angry but couldn't walk straight

The boy circled around the man

The man's vision was blurred

Caw caw!

The man swiped towards the air where a distant raven was cawing

The boy slithered into melee position and stick his skinny blade up the man's torso

But the man was still alive

Like a zombie, he hacked onto the boy's neck

The boy walked backwards uninspiringly

out of the ring

He looked at both of his hands that touched his neck

Blood is all he could see

The man was also badly injured, he raised his sword and pummeled it down into the soil bed along with the rest of the garden swords

The happy knight stood out of his spectator zone and took back his two bag of coins and left like nobody's business

You went into the circle by mistress' orders, bandaging the bleeding joints and giving them words of encouragement

The boy (Last breath): At least I have tried

The man didn't speak, he knelt down like a statue, when the blood didn't stopped escaping from his wound, his eyes turned white

You: You knights fought well, now rest