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***Silvester***

“Are you sure you want to do that today too?” Asked Zeph when he saw me taking out the manacles.

We just finished packing everything we were about to go when I took them out.

“Yes, I’ll keep doing this for a while,” I said as I put them on. “Since you said there won’t be immediate dangers on the road, I’ll keep training for a while.”

For how long, I’ll judge after seeing how the training progresses.

“Just don’t overdo it,” he cautioned, “It’s more harmful than good to keep up such intensity every day, and I hired you to guard me, not to train. If we need to fight, I want you to be at your best.”

He wasn’t wrong, though in my case it was slightly different.

“Don’t worry, if we don’t meet any surprise, there won’t be any issue. I can recuperate well enough overnight.” I was really so much more resilient now. “And in the worst case, we could also use one of your potions, or salves, or what you got.”

He frowned a little. “Again, if there is a need, I’ll use them, but don’t go overboard on purpose. I don’t want to be wasteful.”

“Don’t worry, don’t worry, there shouldn’t be a need for that,” I reassured.

After that, we started our march.

Like the previous day, we didn’t speak much, aside from when we stopped for lunch. Freya will take a while longer to get used to this, and she wasn’t really talkative, Zeph too seemed absorbed in his thoughts, and I was having a hard time just taking in enough air, let alone speak.

The weather was still hot and windy, practically sucking out the moisture from my body, and forcing me to constantly take sips from my waterskin.

When we finally stopped for the night, I was feeling no better than the previous day, though maybe I wasn’t as drained of mana. I hope I’ll see more difference tomorrow evening.

I forced myself to wash before it became too dark. Freya too dragged her feet toward the river after I came back, without needing any prompt on my part.

Truthfully, I wasn’t really too bothered by the smell, and we wouldn’t be able to wash if we didn’t have a river near us. Since it was there, though, I wanted to keep ourselves and the tent as clean as possible. Freya also needed to clean the bandages on her feet.

I didn’t see Zeph going, but I didn’t have the energy to delve into that. Also, I was sure it was some magical bullshit he had on him — he looked too damn clean, after all.

When the screen appeared that night, I was pleased to see another level up.

Things are looking good, I thought as I fell asleep.

The next morning, again, I felt like new. My Attributes were something absurd.

I was again the first one to wake up and after relaxing for a few minutes looking at the sky, I started training with my sword.

I was a bit farther away from the campsite, swinging my sword, when I saw Zeph coming towards me. He didn’t have a bowl this time.

“Mornin’. Want another beating?” I asked as I stopped my swings.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

"Good morning," he said, then he sighed, looking at the river for a moment.

“I must say… I wasn’t prepared to lose so badly yesterday,” he said, looking back at me. “As I mentioned previously, I saw you fight the orc in the arena, so I knew of your strength. But still, I thought I could injure you if I took you by surprise. Or at least give you a harder time.”

He shook his head.

“Well,” I said, not expecting such a start to the conversation, “As I said, you're good, you just need more practice.”

He was really beating himself up over nothing. I never understood how people could get so attached to a single defeat. To me, so long as one isn't dead, it's a wonderful opportunity to get stronger. There's nothing better for finding your weaknesses than fighting a skilled opponent; if you get defeated, just learn from it.

“It was still a big blow, though. I thought I was better.” He was more honest than I thought. Also quick to come to terms with it.

“It’s just ’cause I’m the best!” I said, trying to change the mood of the conversation.

“… Maybe you’re right. It’s just that I received dedicated training since I was a kid. I also trained hard to get to this level. And I have a Class. I thought… I don’t know, you just defeated me so easily. Truthfully, I’m still processing it,” he said, sighing again.

“Bah,” I said after he finished his lamentation. “I’m betting what you paid me until now that your training was a joke compared to mine. And besides, did you spend all your time on it?”

He probably had all sorts of things to occupy his life with. Most people do, at least.

“For me, training and fighting was my life, literally. I made a mistake during training, and I got a bruise or a broken bone; I made one in the arena, and I paid with blood. I trained from morning to night almost every day, and I am even older than you. What did you expect?”

I shook my head.

“It’s already quite the feat for you to have fought me so well. It’s not something someone of your age would be able to do; not on these parts at least. So, stop being all depressed about this, and let’s get down to business!”

He looked at me doubtfully at the sudden shift in the conversation.

“First thing first, what do we do if we get attacked? That was one of the reasons why I wanted to spar with you. I needed to understand what you could do,” I said, as I sat down on a rock.

“I know you ‘hired’ me to protect you, other than providing a good cover story, but I am alone and if more than two or three guys attack I won’t be able to protect you. That may not be the case for other people, but I don’t have a Skill that allows me to move around as easily as yours, nor do I have wide-area attacks.” At least, not until I learned how to use my mana effectively, and I doubted I could do it by the end of this journey.

I saw the look of realization on his face.

“I see you understand, good.” I nodded. “That said, my plan is quite simple. In case we can take on the opponents, I will block the most powerful ones, and try to kill them, or him, as fast as I can. You, in the meantime, will grab Freya and do that leap Skill of yours to avoid the other attackers. As soon as I finish with the guys I’m fighting, I will go for the rest.”

He thought about it for a moment.

“I don’t think I can use that Skill too much while carrying someone,” he told me, “I can use it around twenty times consecutively if I don’t use other Skills. While carrying Freya, maybe half of that; I’m not sure since I never tried.”

Less than what I hoped.

“Fine. I’ll just have to finish the fight as fast as possible. It could be doable depending on the opponents. I’ll also leave it to you to judge if you can fight back those who slip past me. If you believe you can, just tell Freya to run and take care of them, or stall them long enough for me to come.”

From my knowledge, there weren’t people of a Level higher than 60 in the kingdom. I heard of a few barely above 50, and they were old. Probably big gangs had a few above Level 40 but, if what Zeph said is true, those won’t come after us.

So, level thirty-something at most… doable.

I had only a few fights with those at that level. All of them nearly cost me my life.

They certainly cost me a few limbs.

If I hadn’t had the healers on standby to reattach them after the fight, I probably wouldn’t be here anymore. They made so much money from those fights that keeping healers on standby didn’t cause much of a dent in their wallets.

I didn’t have healers on hand now, but I was betting on the fact that my opponents would be less experienced than a gladiator and that I would probably get stronger in the meantime.

I’m already feeling a substantial difference in my movements. At my level of skill, a small variance in strength meant a lot. And with my Attributes and Zeph healing supplies, I could take a few risks.

“Fine for me,” he said after he thought about it for a while. “I’ll have to think about it a bit more, but for now it seems good. I should have thought about it before, but it’s really strange since you don't have a Class. You're strong, but also much weaker in certain aspects.”

I shrugged.

“Well, now that we got that out of the way, want another beating?” I asked, eager.

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