Despite the close war, the sunny city of Ratho was just as lively as any other big city. The confidence in the fortifications and Ratho warriors was absolute, and it kept the Amentiae and their problems away from the city. Instead, people talked about their own mundane problems, vendors tried to sell their products, children played between the passersby and elders complained about the good old days.

The main street of the city was especially animated, and some people were even selling food on the pavements. Appetizing smells mixed with the cacophony of the various street vendors gave a bazaar vibe to the street. The feeling was also exacerbated by the massive crowd meandering between the stands. It was because of that crowd that Mahon had chosen the street as his training ground for the day.

The mass of people was pushing him left and right. Some were jostling him as they came across. Others were rushing past him so fast he had no choice but to stay immobile. And there were also these old people that should not be disturbed under any circumstances.

All in all, it was the perfect place for the training he needed. It was both a mental and a physical exercise as Mahon had to decipher the surrounding crowd’s paths and motions, predict its next moves and react in accordance to what, or who, he encountered.

The mental part was the easiest as Mahon was both a great warrior and a Last Red. He had to know how to read people and units movements. And even if the crowd was more chaotic than a trained soldier or regiment, there were similarities he could rely on.

To him, the true deal was the physical part of the exercise. He had to push with his legs just to resist the flow of the crowd and the strain was almost too painful to bear. Mahon had thrown away his canes a week ago, but that didn’t mean he was back to normal, far from it. He had found the exercise to be at the right level for him, building calf and thigh strength, as well as the deep core muscles needed for a good posture.

He resisted being pushed around by the crowd while forcing his way through it. His legs were soon shaking with exhaustion, but it was part of the exercise and Mahon carried on, relentless. He had to stay lucid despite the fatigue or he would risk getting injured by someone he hadn’t seen coming.

Less than two minutes in the flow of people and Mahon crawled to the street wall, away from the oppressive force. Sweat rolled down from his head as he laid there for a few minutes. But the break wasn’t without distraction.

After so much time in the horrors of Nightmare, Mahon enjoyed the simple things he saw in Ratho. He watched the interactions between buyers and sellers, children racing through the stands, unaccustomed people marveling at knick-knacks and regulars ignoring everything.

Once he could stand up, he dived again into the crowd. He had to move all the way to the end of the turbulent avenue and then come back to his starting point. This would count as one repetition and he had set his goal for the day at three repetitions.

An especially bulky and muscular guy walked straight to him and Mahon pushed with all his strength through the crowd to leave the man’s path. His muscles were screaming in pain the whole time and a few seconds later, he had to rest again. The task was physically demanding and as he got used to its strain, he immersed himself in the training.

When he was in the crowd, his mind was focused on grasping every detail of what happened around him. From the slightest hints, he contracted his muscles to stay free from the swirls of movements around him.

After a full back and forth, he had analyzed and broke down the task into four possibilities. Either ignore, avoid, deflect or resist. With his deeper understanding of the situation, he could partially make up for his increasingly tired muscles. As he rested against the wall, he shook his muscles and drank a bit of water to recover as quickly as he could. He exhaled, put back his water flask in his bag and vanished into the mass of people for his second lap.

Mahon had been training non stop since the official end of the Nightmare war, almost a month ago. He had to change most of his training plan at the last minute, but he did not regret it as he had been accepted into the Pine Hill Officer Institute. Once he had shown the letter of reference written by the Blue counselor, it had been effortless.

However, to make the most out of its teaching, he needed to be physically apt sooner than he had planned. At first, he had scheduled a full six months of training before even applying to a warrior’s school. Then he had envisioned the slow grind to a rank high enough to impact the war. And with the right opportunity, end it.

Except, even before his training started, he had to shorten it to two months. Mahon was not sure he would even be able to run before the school started. There was no doubt he would make a fool of himself in that case. Accepted in the best military institute but physically unfit to run? What a joke.

In normal circumstances, he would not even dare to try, but one could graduate from an officer’s school with a much higher rank than from a warrior school. Even if he ended the weakest officer, it would still be magnitude faster than what he had previously imagined. And if he was despised by the entire school for that, so be it. The opportunity was too big not to grab it.

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To Mahon, it was just a matter of trading dignity for efficiency. And he had already made that choice dozens of years ago when he had abandoned Ratho for Nightmare. Dignity for efficiency? He would walk this path again without hesitation. Yet, deep inside, he was worried about what awaited him at the institute. Despite the Blue counselor's claim, he knew some things about Ratho. He had heard stories about nobles. And he was not looking forward to meeting them.

Nobles lived for Ratho and Ratho only. Most of them hadn’t seen Nightmare for decades as they just got no-dream pilled since the moment it was discovered. Other nobles were only thinking of Nightmare as another playground and went there with a full legion of guards just to discover new sensations and maybe kill an Amentiae.

To the court, successful nobles were people that had never been in Nightmare. Because it meant they had the money to prevent their entire family from entering it for decades. And, obviously, nobles could not be the kind of people to slack off in bed all day and slay monsters in their dreams.

Following their logic further, the longer one had spent in Nightmare, the worse he was to the nobles. And Mahon had spent all his life in Nightmare. Undoubtedly, not all nobles were so stupid to believe such nonsense, but nobility was all about manner and appearance, so even if they thought otherwise, they had to play the act.

Despite all this, Mahon knew some nobles from Nightmare. They were marginal and addicted to the dream world and its sensations. They often became Nightmare warriors or commanders and served in the army. He had met plenty of the usual boastful noblemen too, as sometimes they were forced to serve in Nightmare. Either as a punishment or as some kind of training. They didn’t stay long though, at most a few months.

All in all, the situation was puzzling to Mahon. Nobles despised Nightmare, but sometimes, it was tolerated to go there and train. The rules that differentiate a glorious noble having served in Nightmare and a ruffian that slacked off were incomprehensible.

But maybe that was the purpose. As always, only nobles knew the rules of the game.

The one thing Mahon knew with certainty was that spending all of his time in Nightmare was not at his advantage. That, and being a commoner. Two enormous burdens that assured his time at the institute would not be peaceful. Mahon hoped that the younger ones were less sensible to this, but who knew? Warriors were supposed to be more straightforward and not to care about such topics. Yet the army’s upper echelons were full of plots and political moves. Anyway, Mahon chose to believe some of them were smart enough or unconcerned enough to disregard his background.

He would have to restrain talking about ending the war, though. Because of the nobles. Again. They had deformed the teachings of the Fada so much that talking about stopping the war was almost a blasphemy nowadays. After Nimeroni’s warning, he had found the information rather easily.

The nobles believed the war had lasted for so long it was now part of the balance of things. They had tamed the war and they knew how to deal with it. A world with no war, however, was too unknown and would probably need centuries before finding its balance. Since most people in Ratho believed in Blue and its balance, and nobles were the ruling part of Ratho, they had come to terms with the never ending war.

To Mahon, it looked like bullshit excuses for not being able to end it and continuing reaping benefits from the everlasting demands. But it was a point of view that should better stay unsaid.

It was during the way back on his second repetition that he failed the exercise for the first time. He saw what was coming and determined the consequences ahead of time, but his exhausted legs were too slow to move him out of the trajectory of a tumbling man. A violent collision with another person had pushed the man back and they both fell backwards on Mahon.

As the three of them tried to grab something to prevent their fall, they pulled others with them and many people crashed on the ground. The pack of people lying down, arms and legs waving in the air, was quite the comical sight. People stopped and laughed at the scene, while more benevolent ones helped the unfortunates to stand back on their legs.

“You filthy piece of shit! Don’t you dare insult the Fada again! I will break your bones if you say one more word! Take back your money and go spread your wickedness somewhere else!”

A massive merchant was roaring insults at a man crouching on the ground. He threw some coppers at the man, aiming at his head. Shortly after, two city guards came to the scene and separated both protagonists. The merchant was now yelling at the city guard while the unfortunate previous target was standing up.

“What the...”, he sounded dazed as if he had not yet realized what happened to him. “I… I just tried to... bargain a bit with him and... he started to yell and… and he pushed me.” He looked around, as only now did he realize what ruckus he had triggered.

“Sorry ladies and gentlemen... I don’t know what got into his crazy head…” He apologized to the crowd.

The city guard that was close to him waved him off. “Yes, yes, whatever. We don’t want any problem here, got it? So stay low and don’t cause any. Now buzz off.”

The guard was rude, but he had seen his comrade having trouble handling the angry merchant. As soon as he assessed there was no further danger here, he ran to help subdue the shopkeeper. The man was screaming all his lungs at the poor guard about Fada and the lack of respect everyone showed.

Mahon observed the entire scene from a few meters away. Dejected, he shook his head to clear his mind. He was sick of being useless in Ratho, and his inability to dodge a simple man made it worse. Moreover, a man that was not even trying to put him down. He really was a long way from fighting.

His loud sigh got lost in the noises of the surrounding crowd as he pictured all the efforts he would need to do to reach the same proficiency he had in Nightmare.

Three is not enough. Let’s make it four repetitions today.

And without another thought, he resumed his training.