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honor of meeting you personally, Your Grace," Kren answered in Meno, the military language.
The duke smiled and answered in fluent Meno, "So, you have a military background! Excellent! It's
always pleasant to talk with a former soldier. You always know exactly where you stand. Who did you
serve under?"
Among the Mitchegai, loyalty, when it existed at all, was always on a personal basis, and never to a
territory, or to a group, or to a philosophy. And certainly not to a religion, because the Mitchegai had no
such thing.
"I was in the army of Duke Mo."
Duke Mo's estates were on the opposite side of the planet. Since the upper nobility rarely felt safe away
from their estates, Kren hoped that the two hadn't met.
"Duke Mo is said to have an excellent army. Is that where you learned to use the javelin and the épée?"
"I learned how to handle the spear and the sword there, Your Grace. I learned the ways of the javelin
and the épée at the university. Duke Mo's army was equipped much like your own, but I think perhaps
with weapons of slightly lesser quality," Kren said.
"You have a good eye for weapons, then. I thought that I saw you admiring my own sword. It takes a
master to recognize a true Kanto blade when it is still in the sheath!" The duke drew his sword to show
off the watering on the blade. "It's not fancy, but the blade is the finest quality available anywhere, with
twelve foldings in the forging process. Every one of my soldiers has one just like it. Here, take it. It's a gift
to honor this great occasion, to mark the beginning of a long-lasting association. Perhaps eventually, even
a friendship."
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"I'm deeply honored, Your Grace," Kren said, going down on one knee to accept the sword, as Bronki
had schooled him. "I only wish that I could give you an equal gift in return."
"First, save the knee bending for the throne room, if you don't mind. And second, now that I have your
money, the only thing that you could have for me might be some information," Duke Dennon said.
"If it is possible that I know something that you do not, then certainly," Kren said, standing and slipping
his new sword under his white outer belt, in the proper, edge-up fashion. Concealing a sword under your
cloak required carrying it vertically.
"I believe that you know which event you are going to win at, next Saturday. I have been studying the
patterns of your wins. After your first meet, at each event, you have won at one and only one of the
events that you are outstanding at. The reasons why a perfect athlete would do such a thing are obvious.
I want to know which one you will win at next."
"Your Grace, I am not the perfect athlete that you claim me to be. I can make no prediction with
absolute certainty. But with that understood, well, I'm putting my money on the fencing competition, or at
least such money that I have left, after today's purchase."
"Thank you. It is possible that I will make a small wager as well. Next, I want to see you throw a spear
in person. You know, on television, your throwing form bears an uncanny resemblance to a very fine
young officer and athlete that I used to have in my army."
"Used to, Your Grace?"
"Yes, Droko went missing while on guard duty, a year or two ago. Nobody could ever figure out what
happened to her. But anyway, Lorka, lend him your spear," he said to one of his guards.
"I'm not used to throwing from such a height, Your Grace . . ."
"Two 'Your Graces' per conversation are sufficient, Kren. Just take the spear and see how close you
can come to that large juvenal down there," Dennon said, pointing with his sword.
The juvenal was so far away that the only possibility of hitting her was with a running throw. Kren doffed
his academic cloak along with his well-filled pouch and both of his swords. He hefted the borrowed
spear, took the three standard running steps, and let fly from the top of the tower. The problem was that
the battlements kept him from seeing his target as he was throwing. Standing at them, he watched the
spear fly, and he saw that he would miss. The spear caught the juvenal in the tail, pinned the tail to the
ground, and caused her to run around in circles in a most comical fashion.
Everyone but Kren laughed.
"Ha ha ha! Oh! That was funny!" The duke laughed, "But Kren, it was also a perfect throw. I was
watching from the battlements here. The juvenal moved just as you started your run, but you couldn't see
her from where you were. You hit exactly where she had been standing! Had she remained where she
was, I think your spear would have gone straight through her neck. That was truly amazing! Your style is
much like Droko's, but she could never have made that throw!"
"Thank you. I feel less mortified, now."
"Lorka, go down, and have the mess attendants take that juvenal for distribution to the soldiers. Then
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bring back your spear and present it to Kren, here, in honor of that throw. You can draw another one for
yourself from stores. And get me another sword while you're down there."
The duke picked up the decorated sword that Kren had brought with him. He drew the blade from the
richly engraved scabbard and studied the watering. He judged it to be acceptable, for a civilian.
"Is this what Duke Mo issues to his soldiers?"
"No, I had to leave my weapons behind when I left his service. That's the best that I could find in Dren."
"And why did you leave the services of Duke Mo?"
"Because my duke had gone over two dozen years without a war," Kren said, remembering what he had
read in his current history class. "Things had gotten dull, and promotions had come to an absolute stop."
"Good. You have a proper warrior's attitude. So tell me, now that you have a huge tract of land, what
do you plan on doing with it? Not those filthy drug schemes that Kodo had in mind, I hope."
"Drugs? No, certainly not!" Kren said, "There are plenty of honorable ways to make a decent living. But
I don't actually have the land, yet. There is a matter of signing and registering certain papers . . . ?"
"Right you are! Sala, have the papers brought up to the table here, and we'll get on with it right now."
Turning back to Kren, he said, "But what are your plans?"
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