The next morning was filled with pain and agony as I pushed my body during a workout. I had far more stamina than I did when I first started, but I still had a long way to go in order to reach my goal physique.

Even putting that aside though, I enjoyed my runs that were graced with the cool air and morning dew. I also got to get a better read of my city.

As my training had become regular, I often passed by a select few routes, and I would often see the same people as I went.

Being the new city lord, my appearance was already well known. Like Grace, I had deep purple hair inherited from our family that made me stand out. That feature of mine practical screamed city lord, so it wasn’t a surprise that I was recognized while running through the city.

But that came with its perks. I came to meet several people who would graciously offer me water, and those who owned restaurants would sometimes offer me a breakfast meal when I was on my way back.

I accepted more often than not, getting to know the nice people and receiving freshly cooked food.

Sowing goodwill with the populace was always good. By seeing how hard I worked and how nice I was in conversation, any bad rumors about me would wash away in time.

Truly, I don’t know how the bad rumors Gentle Snow told me about came to pass, but I didn’t intend to let my image remain that way. Everything I did would naturally create a better reputation, especially as my plans bore the fruit of prosperity within this city.

After that morning workout, I was back to work.

There were many things I had to do, and lately with the mining and wall operations in full swing, I had been traveling often to consistently check in on things, as well as sneaking out at night to engage in some special operations.

Cement production was expanding rapidly as the number of kilns and workers multiplied, and we were beginning to bring in mass amounts of raw iron ore to be processed.

And this is where my new position as a partial owner of the Rock and Stone Foundation came in handy.

After receiving a contract from the brothers of the company, I signed and attained the right to manage operations alongside them. And using that, I quickly had them work with Sir Campbell to build iron processing infrastructure.

Kork, who had attempted to develop iron mining and processing before, already built one smelter that was used for all his iron processing needs. However, the smelter itself was low quality and inefficient, even though it was also surprisingly big.

This led to a series of redesigns on my part. Doing plenty of studying using the Tool’s repository, I quickly designed the perfect smelter that we could build with what we had.

It wasn’t as efficient or scaled as an industrial blast furnace, but it could be built and it was far better than what we had.

The smelter was quickly queued for modification.

Beyond that, there were only two more things I needed to settle in the near future.

One was the deal with the merchant the brothers at the Foundation told me about.

A merchant who dominated the Ridge River supply lines. As a river, it was naturally a very popular and important trade route that facilitated business between several cities. Being the behemoth of this river would naturally make you a big name.

It was one I didn’t know about until I discussed it with the Baron.

He was known as the Iron Horse. Apparently he was an accomplished military officer before he went his own way and established a merchant company. After settling at Ridge River, he quickly dominated it with his connections and ruthless generosity.

He was someone who brought wealth to all, yet utterly destroyed those who intended to interfere with his interests.

He let other merchants operate all the same, not interfering with them if they didn’t do so with him, even when he became the behemoth that he is now. This led to his organization becoming the effective leader of all trade along the Ridge River after all the other merchants bowed to him and merely supplemented his business. And god help anyone who intended to harm anybody associated with that guild. They all protected and supported each other, even against the Verlenium Empire.

Basically, he was a big deal. And apparently he wished to meet me.

When he would arrive exactly, I didn’t know. But it wouldn’t be long. And I hoped that it would be soon, because with him, I would be able to establish a much needed supply line that would help me through the Months of Darkness.

But even the connection with that merchant was secondary to a big piece of business I needed to handle.

It was the Baron who came to me at night the day after my enthusiastic conversation with Rachel.

He seemed expectant in a way as he announced the good news.

“Lord Audius, we’ve assembled the troop you wanted. They’ll be prepared for you tomorrow morning in the northern region of the city.”

“Oh, very good.”

“Though… I have a question.”

The Baron spoke his unexpected concern.

“I’ve read your documents pertaining to the training of these soldiers, and I’m worried.”

“About?”

“It doesn’t seem like they’ll be prepared when the time comes to face actual demon beasts. You only intend to teach them all kinds of commands, formations, and what seems like endless conditioning. I see very little about fighting with spears and shield formations, and nothing about archery.”

“Ah, about that.”

I realized the Baron’s concern, responding with a smile.

“In time you’ll realize why I’m doing things this way. Let’s just say that this training is designed around a set of tactics and weapons that you’ve never heard of. Still, I’ll be there to oversee everything, so there’s no need to worry. I’ll be up at dawn tomorrow to head over with you. Until then, get some rest. A long day awaits.”

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“Yes sir.”

He simply nodded and took his leave, deciding to wait and see how I would conduct things.

And after he left, I quickly got another guest.

I lifted my head just as I put it down to do work, looking at the beauty who walked through the door.

Rachel flicked the door closed and approached my desk, leaning over its front to face me at eye level.

“I’m itchy again. And I know of a few things that’ll scratch it.”

“And you’re here-”

“So you can scratch it.”

“...”

I was silent as I looked her in the eye. She looked quite heated. She needed something to stave off the hunger of sensation. And it seemed like she hadn’t forgotten what she wanted last night.

Of course, it seemed she came here with multiple options as well.

She threw a knife onto my desk, looking at me with expectant eyes.

“Pick.”

“Between?”

“What you walked away from last night, or what I’ve been doing that drenches my beds in blood. And I want you to do it. It’s better with someone else. Someone who understands.”

She practically crawled on the desk after grabbing the knife. And when she looked at me, she stuck out her tongue, running the blade down it and drawing blood.

The wound healed quickly, leaving her to taste the bit of red liquid in her mouth.

It was erotic in a dangerous kind of way. Yet, all it did was cement in my mind how much help she needed. Still, at least she was coming to me.

Taking a few seconds, I eventually stood up. With one hand I took the knife, and with the other I grabbed her hand.

Like that, I pulled her along as we left the study. But it wasn’t a bedroom that I walked to.

Instead, I headed to the garden behind the manor. It was a small field filled with a few trees and plenty of pretty flowers. It was also where I did strength training.

“Outside? That’s rather embarrassing…”

“You wanted me to cut you with this knife?”

I asked, overlooking her comment. She nodded weirdly.

“Yeah, I guess?”

“Right, because being hurt scratches that itch. In that case, let’s do something that’ll help me as well.”

I spoke while stripping off my jacket and boots, leaving me in a shirt and pants. Then, I began jumping around on my toes, swinging my arms around and loosening my body.

She looked at me confusedly, until suddenly, I came at her.

And I lifted my leg, swinging it while using the rest of my body as a source of torque. My foot swung around, and before Rachel knew what was happening, she was slammed right in the arm by her side.

I could hear a distinct pop as she was sent to the floor.

“Ugh… What was that?”

She groaned while standing. Then, she lifted her arm.

There was already a big red bruise on it fresh with blood. I had no doubt fractured her arm.

But in mere moments, the blood was washed away, and her arm seemed to realign its bone.

I watched for a short amount of time as she healed completely.

And the entire time, she looked totally unbothered. It was more surprising than anything.

I nodded before bringing up my arms.

“You want to be hurt, right? Well, I need to teach myself how to fight. So in order to kill two birds with one stone, I’m going to scratch your itch for you whenever you need it through hand to hand combat. And there’s no reason you shouldn’t be learning to fight either, so it’ll help both of us in more ways than one.”

“...I don’t mean to offend, but that only hurt a bit.”

She pointed to her arm.

“How will you scratch my itch when only knives have been able to?”

“How about you trust me and watch? Given time, maybe you’ll be thanking me.”

I smiled before diving in again.

And she just stood there as I threw a right hook into her gut.

My fist drove through her tight abs, and she couldn’t help but cough as all the air rushed out of her lungs.

After the punch, I followed by throwing up my elbow, striking her in the chin. Her hunched body rose right back up.

And as she unsteadily teetered, I grabbed her arm, turning my body and using my momentum to throw her over my shoulder.

Her body shook the soft ground as she violently landed flat on her back. After that I backed off, watching as she laid there without breathing.

And after a minute or so, she smiled.

“Heh… Hahaha…”

I could hear her strained chuckles as her wounds healed completely. She climbed back to her feet, looking almost perfectly fine.

“That was kind of fun. I’ve never been thrown like that. Made me a bit dizzy for a second.”

“Then your power is just as monstrous as I thought it was.”

“I was burned alive for what seemed like an eternity. Even now I can still feel my skin melt as I recall it. I’ve had my hands torn off by wolves in the forest, and guards have driven their swords through my chest. A few hard hits won’t do much.”

“Good to know. Then let’s continue.”

Diving in again, I started throwing out more kicks and punches.

And Rachel responded in kind. She started fighting back, using her superior strength and dexterity, not to mention her pain tolerance, to deliver her own blows. Joint locks had almost no effect since she would actually break her own bones and tear her ligaments to get out of them. She was disgustingly resilient.

And her wounds healed in seconds, minutes at most for the worst ones. It took all Ihad to keep up, when after several minutes she should’ve died several times over.

It was incredibly tiring on my part, even damaging for my own body. I received bruises on my legs and hands from dishing out the blows. But I continued through the pain and the exhaustion.

I ‘fought’ Rachel for over an hour. Only then did I finally stop as my body refused to move anymore.

Rachel was left on the floor, but given about 2 minutes, she completely healed.

She walked over to my sweaty and bruised body with a smile.

“Hey, that was nice. I’d say it actually worked despite being different from the usual remedy. I feel good.”

“...Yeah.”

I waved, still heaving for breath.

She chuckled before helping me up, guiding me into the manor where she got me a cup of water.

After drinking it, I finally started to feel good enough to speak properly.

“...I will do this once a day. Either in the morning or at night.”

“You sure? It seemed to hurt you more than me.”

“It’s a workout, so it helps me. And so long as it helps you, I’ll continue.”

“Well, it’s not exactly what I wanted, but yes, it helps. And I must say, your skills are rather impressive. You broke quite a few bones.”

She smiled while getting me another cup.

I just drank the water without responding. My skills were minimal, my body barely moving as I wanted it to. With greater strength, and as my body adapted to this kind of movement, I would hit far harder. My muscles just needed to catch up to what was in my mind.

And Rachel was the perfect one for the job. I had no issues basically trying to kill her since she was practically begging me to mutilate her. Plus, it would teach her valuable combat skills, which would no doubt come to help me in the future.

Granted, I had to admit how extraordinarily odd and messed up the situation was. But drastic conditions called for drastic and creative measures.

“Alright, I’m going to bed. You also need to get rest.”

“Not that I sleep, but okay.”

“No sleep either? What a hot mess you are.”

“Just noticing?”

She giggled as we walked back into our rooms.