Execute them.

After such a rousing speech about how most bandits are doing it out of a necessity to survive. The choice seems simple to you. They can't stay around, because they're a subversion of the speech gave. It's true that many bandits turn to that live to survive, but there are still those who do it to avoid the law. They should be punished. You can't let them go either. They know who you are and may use that as a bargaining chip should they get caught. With those considerations, the choice becomes obvious.

"Execute them." Despair washes over the captive bandits as you pass judgement, "They are criminals who should be punished for their crimes. They don't belong here."

You walk down the hill to Sir Noah and leave before the executions start. Although you do hear the sickly sound of the first one before leaving earshot. Sir Noah stands. "Should we be concerned that you're going to start every morning with executions?"

"You disapprove?" Sir Noah sounds slightly disappointed and that surprises you considering how honorable he seems to be.

He frowns, "Everyone here has done something wrong in some way or another. It's the life of a bandit to commit a crime sooner or later. The ones you executed may be the worst here, but nobody is the best. That's just here. What happens when you have to deal with other bandit groups?"

"I'll deal with that when the time comes. It's not exactly the best of positions that we're in." A tinge of irritation marks your voice.

"You're right. Hopefully this will send a message that any sort of **** behavior won't be tolerated. Anyway, I'm not here to question you. I'm here to train you. Follow me." He leads you down into an open field before handing you a branch. It's mostly straight and he's sporting one of a similar size. "We'll be using branches for the moment. I don't want any accidental severed limbs. It is about as heavy as a standard blade...maybe a little lighter."

Hefting the branch a few times, you notice that the branch is much lighter than you expected for something that's about as heavy as a standard sword. "It's light."

He nods, "Most weapons are pretty light. The idea that they're heavy is largely a myth. There are heavy weapons, but you probably won't be using them. A regular sword isn't so bad." He steps back a few steps from you and readies his stick, "Now I want you to come at me as hard as you can. Don't worry, you aren't going to hurt me."

You tighten your grip on the stick and release a shout and swing at him. He easily parries. Doing your best to attempt to get past him, you find that you are very easily out matched. Every swing gets blocked and after he takes a few light swings at your body; you find yourself focusing more and more on his branch. After a few minutes, your eyes are trained on his sword arm and started to ignore the rest of him. Suddenly a foot comes out of nowhere and kicks at your wrist and causing you to drop the branch. You yelp and grab your wrist "Ouch!"

Sir Noah gives you a moment to recover and then chastises you, "You are fighting me, not my weapon. It's an easy mistake to make, but it makes you open to other strikes. You started focusing your attacks on my sword and not on my body and that made it easy for me to take advantage.You won't ever score a hit on an opponent that way and you have to make sure that you don't keep the rest of your body exposed."

He picks up the stick and hands it back to you, "Now, let's try again."

You spend the rest of the day training with Sir Noah. It's grueling and hot and more physical labor than you have ever done in one day, but some part of you find it to be a lot of fun. Even at the end of the day while returning to your tent alongside Noah with both of you covered in sweat. He keeps giving you tips and instruction and you drink it all in. the bodies from the execution has been cleaned up in front of it and the tent remains undisturbed. Noah escorts you inside. "If you keep training like that every day, then you should be able to be a decent fighter."

"Well, it's all because you are a good teacher." You give him a warm smile.

He blushes slightly, "I'm not that great, Your Majesty."

"Nonsense. But now...it's time for you to be paid." You take a step towards him and look him in the eyes.

A moment passes where you stare at each other before Noah moves forward and gently kisses you. His tongue probes against your lips and he gently presses you backwards. You wrap your arms around his sides and let him navigate the room. It only takes a moment to shuffle across the room until you feel the rough chord of the side of the hammock dig into your leg. Unfortunately, Noah is more focused on kissing you to notice that he has reached his destination and you both trip and collapse into a pile onto the swinging bed.

Suddenly memories rush back of Boris throwing you down onto it and forcing himself onto you.Your body shivers and it becomes increasingly difficult to breath. You barely have the strength to put your hands against him and attempt to push him back and shout "S-Stop!"

Noah jumps off of you fearing that he hurt you somehow. His eyes pass over your body, "What's wrong?"

Taking a moment to catch your breath, you decide how to respond. Despite your strong facade. It appears as if your psyche hasn't recovered from your night of ****. Maybe it would be a good idea to call this off. Noah seems like a nice man. Surely he would understand, but you did promise that he could take his payment for being your Second in command and trainer out of your body. It's not really fair to him...