“Siya…”
I heard Mara’s voice softly reach out to me through the darkness.
“Get ready, and meet me outside in 5 minutes.”
Everything after that was a blur until I somehow found myself standing up. Before I knew it, my internal clock was already telling me two minutes had passed.
It was pitch black, and the lingering feeling of impending hardship weighed heavy on me. My mind began wondering, trying to cope.
‘Mara and I didn’t even look similar, so it's hard to feel connected to her at all. She is muscular and toned, tall and fierce, it's hard to believe we're related. I have some muscle, sure. Enough to look decent on my small frame at least, and I’m pretty toned too, although I am a lot more normal looking now that I've recovered from the magic my father cast. Still, Compared to her I'm basically a kitten trying to roar like a lion.’
I thought back to what she had told me. ‘I don't need to be like her though do I…’
“Ugh… Focus.” I rubbed my fists against the side of my head. ‘I need to get ready.’
I glanced around the empty room trying to adjust my eyes to the dark. The candle helped a little, but I was still uneasy. ‘It's not too dangerous. Logically I have nothing to be afraid of, my room is simple. It has rickety floor boards but it's not like I'll fall through them. It is ridiculous for me to be scared of the dark at my age…’
It didn't matter what I said to myself. I couldn't shake the uneasy feeling of not being able to see my surroundings.
My foot got caught on a floorboard sticking ever so slightly out of the ground and I fell with a crash. “Ow…” I whined, looking up to see Bhaltair standing in the doorway.
“Siya, did you really just trip over your own feet… Seriously, you need to get it together before one of our parents kills you.” He yawned and swept his long hair back behind his ears before continuing on his way.
The entire house began to feel suffocating. It was all I could do to stand back up on my feet. My heart raced. It was beating so hard that I could feel its thump all the way in my head as I slammed the door.
I focused on slowing my breathing, looking down at my chest slowly rising with each puff of air.
The fact that I had new clothes calmed me down. It was an odd thing to settle my nerves, but it was hard not to appreciate them. Effectively they were the same as my old rags, the difference was the material.
They still didn't cover my stomach or my arms, or anything below my knees, but the thick padded linen they were made out of was a drastic improvement from the itchy sackcloth I had before.
When I arrived outside, my nerves finally began to calm down and I was able to think clearly again. ‘Even if he beats me it's not like he would ever try to kill me… Not without permission anyway.’
With a deep breath in I took a step out into the fields. ‘I thought I was desensitized to all of this, is three days really all it takes to reverse that?’
I felt the mud squish between my toes as I walked towards Mara. ‘It must have rained last night.’
I took another deep breath. The panic was gone, the hesitation had left with it. All that was left was my own calm determination to get through my training one step at a time. No matter how calm I was though, given that it had rained, one thing was for sure. ‘This is going to suck.’
I slowly approached Mara, rubbing my eyes. As I started to relax again they began to ache from my poor sleep, and when Mara saw me rub them a scowl covered her face.
‘Was I late? No, I should still have 36 seconds left.’
“Siya, you look rattled, did something happen?”
‘It's that obvious… Why am I suddenly so sensitive.’ I thought back to everything that happened during the three days off I had, and before that to my conversation with Agis. ‘Oh…’
“Siya?”
I looked up at her. “No, nothing important.”
She grimaced, but her eyes were softer than usual. That was the only reason I was able to stand next to her. Her expression was cold, but her eyes were completely different from the Mara from my dream.
To try and hide what I was really feeling I filled the silence with whatever I could think of, trying to avoid the topic. “Do we really have to get up this early every morning? I mean, the sun hasn't even risen yet.”
“No, unlike your siblings, you were-”
“Born weak I know I know. But…” I stopped and looked at her. She didn't say a thing, just stared at me calmly. ‘She isn't mad that I just cut her off like that?’
I suddenly remembered years back, when she would get so mad at me for interrupting her. ‘I wonder when she stopped doing that?’
My mouth hung open as I started staring at her. She was already stretching, no doubt she was joining me for our morning run. ‘No point in saying anything. She always stands her ground, in some ways it's respectable.’
There were some things that I did admire about her. She never took a day off for instance. No matter what she was going through, it never affected her work, her duty as the lady of the house. No matter what she was always there to train me… No matter how much I wished she wasn't.
“But what?” she asked
A jolt shot through me. I thought that the conversation was over. Normally, if she said no, and I gave up pursuing the topic, we just left it at that.
“I… But…” I paused as my mind jerked in a different direction. “You actually want to know my reasoning?”
She let out a breath of air, coming back to a passive stance. “Sure, it would make it easier for me to explain my own, then maybe we could understand each other a little better.”
I paused again. “But why do you care though?” I wasn't trying to sound rude or offend her. It was a serious question, blunt as it was.
Her eyes stared directly into my own. “I want you to know that everything I do, I do for a reason…”
‘I guess… If she wants to know what I think, then I'll tell her…’ “I was going to say, that even though I'm weak, wouldn't it help me recover more if I could sleep in? I could train harder since I had more rest, right?”
“I'll think about it.”
Another shock ran through me. “You'll what?”
She gave off what almost looked like a smile if her eyes weren't so sad.
‘The heck?’
She always wore armor covering her legs that was made out of heavy interlocking metal plates. Supposedly they were extremely heavy, and the design was to help her swing heavy weapons without getting thrown off balance.
For her upper body though she just had a tight-fitting shirt that resembled what a track sprinter might wear, not even covering her stomach. I never actually asked, but I assumed it was a cultural thing, or that she liked showing off her scars.
Her body was a perfect match for her steely glare, so seeing her smile at me just felt wrong.
Her white hair was silklike and flowed in the wind, darkening to golden blond at the ends I didn't measure up at all, not in appearance, and certainly not in physical prowess. I suppose the one thing we did share was our pale skin, although mine burned… badly. ‘Maybe that's why we train so early.’
She turned and looked to the distance. “If you're fast we can make it all the way to the abandoned well and back in 45 minutes.”
Hearing her give me a goal flipped a switch in my brain. It became completely void of thought, only one persisting feeling remained. ‘Ok… let's get it over with.’
Before I knew it, training had started. It wasn't that bad though, I had nothing against a light jog. Especially since I was setting the pace. Still, the darkness made me uneasy, unsure of my footing in the mud.
“I know why I had to start years earlier than everyone else, but why do I have to start this early in the morning…”
“It builds resolve for your goals.”
I groaned. ‘That answer isn't satisfying at all.’ I gritted my teeth. ‘What even are my goals? I guess to get strong enough to survive and change the world right, but that's so vague.’
“Siya, focus on the run.”
“Right…” I said between puffs of air. ‘If I can still speak I could probably go faster.’ I picked up the pace. ‘If I had one goal. I want to make her acknowledge me, and be able to surpass what she tells me to do, just once.’
Keeping my new goal in mind I ran until my chest felt like it was catching fire, and my throat had dried out from the cold air. My legs burned and all I wanted to do was quit, but I kept going. ‘45 minute pace. This should be fast enough. I just have to keep going.’
I was only 16 years old when my previous life ended. My sister had died not long before me. My past life was filled with memories that were hard to carry, but I still wanted to remember them.
I felt like my past life was who I truly was, and this life I was living now was fake. My birthday, my sister's birthday, our names, these were all useless memories logically speaking, but I found myself clinging to them dearly as time went on.
December 6th, July 9th. Rikki… Suzuki. Just thinking of her name made me smile, to think my dad named her after a motorcycle and then complained when she became a biker.
“Focus, keep your head on, your breathing is off.” Mara’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts again. ‘She must have noticed something was bothering me.’
She was the last person I wanted to talk about it with though. I had a feeling she didn't want to be bothered with it anyway.
I groaned in response, too out of breath to speak and my pace started to slow down, slowly falling behind.
She looked back at me and slowed down to match. “Are you sure you're alright? This can't still be from the poison, can it? Siya?”
I waved her off and kept running. The reason didn't matter. I was sick of making excuses for myself, I was already running, and I wasn't going to stop until I made it to the well.
The aggravation I felt that had built up inside of me pushed me forward until we made it to the well.
When we finally arrived I grabbed my knees, panting. My lungs were burning, but my body was frigid from the cold air. I slowly ended up taking a knee, and then before I knew it I was on all fours.
“Here, cool down some.” She poured cold water from the river over my head and it sent shivers down my spine.
I tensed up and didn't say a word. ‘Just take it…’ There was no point in telling her I was cold already, it was just a waste of breath that I didn't have. Besides, the bucket had already been poured.
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“You have to focus on the run, your breathing, your stride length. Don't cling to any unnecessary thoughts. It's fine to have your mind empty, but you can't let yourself get distracted.”
I felt nauseous, but not enough for anything beyond discomfort. We were only halfway done and all the motivation I had built up was already starting to fade. ‘This can't be all I have…’
“Stand up, and start walking, when you're ready, set the pace.”
It hadn't been long, but I had recovered enough to stand at least, even if I felt a little lightheaded.
‘This is how it is, no point in trying to imagine it's not so bad. It is what it is, and I'll make it through like I always do.’ “Let's just get going.” If I wanted to make it back in time, I would need to set a pace I could hold, and the only way to do that was to start early.
‘Stride length, breathing, pace, every muscle in my body firing in unison.’ I slipped into an almost trance-like state, managing to avoid all thought. There were a few times I faintly heard Mara’s voice, but I couldn't even make out what she was saying.
When I saw the castle growing closer I still felt nothing. It wasn't until I crossed the imaginary finish line I came out of it. All of the fatigue and exhaustion hit me at once.
“I’m… done… Mara,” I said, panting. My legs may have felt good at first, with the blood rushing to them, but at the end of the run, they were cramping and screaming at me. I was starting to lose my balance and my breathing was becoming shaky as a cold sweat covered my body.
She glanced at the clock tower again unfazed by the exercise, not even seeming to break a sweat. “Hm. 50 minutes, you’ve gotten faster.”
My eyes widened as I fell onto my back. I was too exhausted to care that I was lying in the mud. ‘5 minutes too slow… Maybe she set it high on purpose, it's possible that I still impressed her. She said I was faster at least.’
I could tell from my pacing I wasn't going to make it, but actually crossing the finish line and hearing her tell me I failed made it real, no matter how she said it. ‘That was just the first exercise, I can't let it get to me, I have to stay focused.’
Before I could even catch my breath I felt her foot nudge me. “150 push-ups, Go.” She looked down at me with a stern face and eyes like daggers. It was far from the face of someone who was proud.
I rolled over, obeying. ‘Should have known better.’
I could feel the mud squish into my hands. It was as cold as the air but still didn't stop my muscles from burning while I continuously moved up and down.
I still wasn't worried about the mud, it was better than snow at least, but the goal was far past anything I had ever done in the past. ‘It doesn't matter how high it is, I'll do it. Even if it's just to see the look on her face.
‘I'm going to do it.’
I continued doing push-ups on the muddy ground, anger building up inside of me as a sudden burst of heavy rain came out of nowhere and began pounding into my back in sheets.
‘Each squish just makes me hate this more and more. I get up before the sun rises, to do this! 150 push-ups, are you serious? Where did you even get that number!’
I glared straight ahead, staring her down and gritting my teeth. ‘Still, I'd love to see the look on her face if I actually did it.’
The negative thoughts began taking over my mind, flooding into me again like waves that wouldn't stop crashing. The exercise continued as I kept pushing myself up over and over again until the burning in my arms turned to aching.
The only thing keeping me going was anger. I wanted to prove her wrong. The most I had ever done before was 65, so having her tell me to do three times that number only filled me with more and more anger the longer I struggled towards the goal.
Blood filled my arms until they stopped moving altogether, despite my best efforts I couldn't even do 1 more. halfway up I tried desperately to finish. I didn't want to fail again, to fall short. No matter how outrageous the goal was, I wanted to achieve it.
My arms were shaking, but I kept pushing. It was all I could do to just hold myself there. I gritted my teeth and lowered my head, pushing harder, but it was no use. My hands slipped and my arms collapsed under me, cramping as I took a face full of mud.
With no outlet, my anger slowly turned into sadness. ‘The past three days I actually stayed clean. My body wasn't covered in dirt and mud, and even my hair was straightening out.’
As I lay on the ground, it began to feel like none of that time off meant anything at all. ‘Is this really what my life is like?’ I never let myself compare my two lives, they were too different, and of course, I would like my old one more.
After my three days off though, I had something in this life to compare it to, and it was too fresh in my memory for the sharp contrast to not be at the forefront of my mind.
My face was covered in mud, and it had gotten in my hair. Part of me wanted to cry, while the other part felt nothing at all.
‘All we did was go on a run and do some push-ups. Even if I'm covered in mud I shouldn't be feeling this way… It… Not so bad really…’ My emotions had grabbed onto my mind though, I couldn't win them back over with logic, no matter how hard I tried.
“107, huh.” Mara's voice pulled me out of my thoughts just before I broke into tears. “That's more than last time. We should always take small wins where we can, even if you didn't get all the way to 150.”
‘All the way to 150… Yeah right. If I was on my own, I would have been proud to do 50. Not anymore though… It's hard to be proud of anything I do when it's so far below expectations… Whatever, let's just get this over with.
Managing to get ahold of myself, I pulled myself out of the mud and wiped my hands off, on my pants. “What's next?” I couldn't mask the anger in my voice as I spat out some of the mud that had sloshed into my mouth with the heavy rainfall.
“Stance training. You can start with a 10-minute hold.”
My heart ached, but I got up regardless and squatted down. ‘All I have to do is hold this position for as long as I can… Of everything that we do, this exercise relies far more on mental strength than actual strength. My muscles can hold the position, they are strong enough, it's just a matter of overcoming the pain… If anything, I should be at least good at that by now.’
2 minutes later my legs began burning. Over the next minute, the pain worsened and my muscles began shaking, feeling like I couldn't go on. ‘As long as I can? No… I will do it this time. If it's just a matter of refusing to give up then I can do it.’
‘A stance is held with the muscles in the legs, and when someone “fails” to continue, they usually use those same muscles to come out of the stance, so it stands to reason that they didn't give it their all. Their minds failed before their muscles did. I just need to suppress my reflex to quit.’
3 more minutes passed. Neither Mara nor I said anything, and the rain only continued to fall, but my footing was sure. My feet had grown roots into the ground, and the constant impact from the rain only helped remind me to keep my muscles tightened.
Another 3 minutes passed, and Mara began to narrow her gaze.
‘1 minute left…’ My legs began shaking more and more until it came to the point I doubted you could technically call it “holding” the stance, but I continued. I screamed as long and loud as I could as I made fists with my hands and pounded them into my legs. ‘I will not stop until they fail.’
‘That's 9 minutes and 20 seconds… 9 minutes and 40 seconds… I can do 10…’
The muscles in my legs shut off and I crumpled down into the mud just like before. I wanted to scream again as I rolled over to try and let my legs straighten, but I was already so tired I didn't have any fight left in me.
I closed my eyes and clenched my fists, raising an arm over my eyes and holding back my tears. ‘I already know what she's going to say… Why… Why can't I just do one? I can't even finish a single one!’
“9 minutes and… 52 seconds… You were close that time.”
“What's next…” I was ashamed to admit it, but even I could hear the sound of defeat in my voice.
“It’s a bit early, but I guess you earned some rest. You've been working hard and it's your first day back. Let's get you cleaned up and head back to get some food.”
Chills ran through my body. “Y-Yea… ok.”
It may have sounded like a good thing, but her words actually meant that we were going to the icy cave spring. I was already frozen to the bone and soaking wet, so the thought alone was enough to make my voice shake.
The whole way there Mara kept glancing at me, almost like she wanted to say something. I just stayed quiet though, I didn't want to give her the chance to add in more training, or try to “motivate” me with more of her speeches that just made me want to hit something.
The part that pissed me off the most though, was the fact that I was angry at all. ‘It sucks… but I shouldn't be getting this worked up over it… Whatever, it's almost over.’
A bath in water colder than ice… In my mind, it was the scariest thing I did while training with Mara. One time I actually started shaking so bad I couldn't even get out by myself, I was too panicked to turn to her and reach out an arm to take her hand, so she ended up dragging me out by the hair instead. ‘I wonder if the scrapes I got back then left scars?’
The moment my foot touched the ice cold water I saw my skin lose a shade of color. I groaned, not wanting to get in, but knowing full well I had to. If I didn't, Mara would just throw me in.
Her back was already turned as she leaned against the outside of the cave wall.
“How long?” I asked, trying to hide the shakiness in my voice.
Without turning around she held up three fingers.
‘Three minutes… Ok, I can do that.’
I knew the slower I got in the harder it would be, so I took a deep breath and jumped in, making sure to completely submerge myself at least once. It was a trick I learned. If I kept my head out of the water not only did I feel colder, but I was also more likely to get sick.
After I was in it was just a matter of keeping my breath steady, if I could do that I wouldn't freeze to death. I just had to make sure my body kept circulating blood.
My teeth chattered as I got used to the freezing water, but I continued to breathe, keeping a steady pace of quick deep breaths until I began to get used to it.
I saw the water change color around me as the mud and dirt slowly dissolved off of my skin with every small movement I made. ‘Maybe I can get it out of my hair too before it dries.’
The mud didn't have a chance to dry so it wasn't especially hard to get off. Since I was trying to do it without undoing the braid Finlo put my hair in to hide the antidote though, it was taking a bit longer than I thought it would.
Eventually, my own shaking ended up proving more of a problem than the braids, and my progress slowed even more.
Mara turned around and walked over to me. “Your mouth is turning blue, get out before you get sick again.”
“I'm almost done, I j-just.” My teeth clattered together as I shuddered. ‘I'm so close.’
“Out, now.” her voice was cold as always as she stood in front of the spring with her arms crossed, but for some reason, she wasn't looking at me. Usually, she stared at me when she gave me orders, right in the eyes.
“I'm almost done.” I hated the cold anyway so it wasn't a huge loss, but since I was already in the water I had hoped to at least get all the mud out of my hair. If it dried it would just make my head itchy, and having that for days was worse than an extra minute of terrible cold.
She grabbed me by the arm and pulled me out by force, holding me in the air in front of her “I said now.” she said slowly, squeezing my arm tightly. Even numbed by the cold I could feel it aching from the pressure as her hand squeezed around the swelling and bruising I had accumulated from Callum and Zu.
She held me in the air, staring at me. I was helpless against her, there was nothing I could do. Her word was law. I had forgotten and was reminded of aching bones.
Chills went through my body and I stared back at her, refusing to break eye contact as my shoulder and elbow began to stretch from my weight. “Right, sorry…”
She finally put me down and I did my best to dry off before dressing again. ‘The air is still cold, but luckily it isn't a long walk back to the castle. I should be fine. Even wearing wet clothes.’
“If you get sick again you'll have to take even more time off, we can't afford that to happen if we can avoid it.”
“Ah, you do care,” I said coldly with a grimace. For some reason, it didn't feel so bad while I was in the water, but the moment I got out It felt like ice covered my entire body.
Mara looked towards the castle. “I can't make up for what I did unless I make you strong…”
‘Makes sense… She hates herself for not killing me when she was supposed to. If I can become strong though she would have made up for that sin…’ “Let's just get going. I'm hungry.”
“Pft. That's a first.” Her voice had gone from cold and heartless to lighter and only slightly heartless.
I rolled my eyes. ‘And she questions the times that I make jokes at?’ “Whatever…”
I stopped for a second, letting out a long yawn.
“Siya!” she yelled, snapping her fingers in front of my face.
“What!” I yelled back looking around. The only reason I could think for her to yell my name would be if monsters were approaching, but I didn't see any, and as soon as I responded she seemed to go back to normal.
She groaned and then continued walking.
‘What was that about?’ a gust of wind suddenly blew through and my skin lost whatever little color it had left as it met the water that was dripping from my body. I sharply inhaled and crouched down into a ball. “It's so freaking cold!”
“Let's hurry back.” There wasn't any anger in her expression, it had all vanished. She was back to her cold self.
“Right.” I sniffled, holding my arms across my chest as we walked. ‘Maybe I should have gotten out sooner…’
For a moment I even thought about huddling up behind her, using her as a shield to block the wind. I didn't want to get scolded again. After all, this too was a part of my training. I couldn't get out of it, and my entire left arm from my shoulder to my wrist was a reminder of what happened when I made her mad.
I just held my arms tighter around me and pushed forward.
When we finally made it back to the castle I felt everyone's eyes on me. The guards were all together, loading up a wagon for something, but every single one of them stopped and stared. I felt like I was about to get executed, and I was marching towards the chopping block.
She went on ahead and I inched my feet forward after her, taking extra care not to miss step since I could hardly feel my toes.
By the time I had made it to the kitchen, she had already started to make tea, gathering a bunch of small hollow reads called Ochi, quickly throwing everything together before sitting down across from me as we waited for it to boil.
She was right, it was warmer in the kitchen, but I was still cold. I missed Finlo’s cloak, just thinking about how warm and soft it was made me happy, if only for a moment.
“We will stay here until your body is able to warm itself back up. This is also a part of your training. I won't be giving you a blanket like last time, and you won't be getting a warm bath again either. Those were exceptions. Now that your training has resumed things will go back to the way they were.”
I hugged my arms and pulled my feet up onto my seat. ‘Yeah like I didn't know that already.’ “Figured as much…”
Her eyes awkwardly moved around the room as a deafening silence once again filled the air between us.
“You might be weak, but your skills aren't bad, all you need is the minimum strength to use a greatsword, a real one, your skill should be able to make up for everything else from there.”
‘I know that already too, that was my plan. It would be a lot easier if I could use a normal sword though.’ “Why does it have to be a greatsword anymore, is everyone really so obsessed with strength that we just have to use the most unwieldy weapon possible?”
Her eyes narrowed and her face sunk.
‘I guess I probably should have said that differently…’
The tea kettle began to whistle over the fire. She picked it up and looked at me with an almost curious expression that I had never seen her make before. “You usually have so much more perspective than that.”
Her comment struck a nerve. ‘Am I really so biased against this culture that I can't analyze aspects of it objectively anymore? “Sorry to disappoint…” I said slowly, trying to take a step back and look at the larger picture.
“Well… It's fine, you are only 12 after all.”
She struck another nerve, this time agitating me. It didn't help that I still had pent-up rage from training, but hearing her patronize me might have been even worse. “14” I muttered with a growl.
She froze, nearly dropping the tea kettle while she was pouring it. “What did you say?”
I turned my head to the side. “Nothing…”
A part of me thought I was just going to get another lecture, or an interrogation about who told me my real age. Instead of any of that though, she just continued pouring the tea.
‘Did she actually not hear me?’ A part of me was relieved, while the other part secretly wished that she knew. ‘Maybe if she was aware I already knew so many of our family's secrets, then she wouldn't feel like she needed to hide things from me… Like how I ended up getting poisoned.
I reached around the back of my head to make sure the small pouch was still there. The more I thought about it, the more likely it seemed that someone was trying to take my life and that Mara simply hesitated to save me, that was why she waited to administer the antidote. Nothing else made since.
“Here, drink this.” She handed me a small teacup.
I took a sip, trying not to burn my mouth and holding it in both hands. In a way it reminded me of my time with Elsie, drinking warm milk. It was another good memory. This time though it started to make me sad.
Unlike my time at Jerry's house, there was no fireplace or blanket to warm me up. Certainly, nobody was willing to hug me. ‘It is what it is…’ I said to myself, watching the teas swirl around in my cup as the warm steam hit my face.
After a long pause, as if she was waiting for something, Mara finally continued. “It is true that greatswords require great strength to wield effectively but they are far from the weapon that requires the most strength in order to use. Take one of the great sledgehammers from the orc tribes for example or even the strange polearms from the empire they call dragon skewers. Those both take more strength than a greatsword.”
“Do they really though? I mean a polearm is mostly about balance and momentum, if it's designed right the weight should be balanced enough that it isn't that hard to swing. A great hammer is honestly more about what you're swinging at, and whether or not it's fast enough to dodge, it's not like the orcs that use them are actually strong enough to stop a full-force swing before it hits…”
She let out a low growl under her breath. “Siya, this isn't an argument you're going to win, and it's not one I want to have.”
I looked back down at my tea taking another sip. ‘I made her angry again…’ “Sorry, I was just confused. I mean, our swords aren't the heaviest, but they are all balanced a few inches away from the cross guard, that makes them way more unwieldy than any well-made polearm doesn't it? Conversely, I suppose that means we have more powerful cuts, but someone with a polearm could just grip closer to their hilt for the same effect, of course, this would mean anyone that gets past their point would instantly win a fight but…”
I paused as I finally looked up at Mara’s face. Her eyes were wide open. Before I realized it I was rambling on and on when all I was really trying to do was ask a simple question.
She sat completely still, staring deeply into my eyes until I felt like I had to say something. “Sorry… I didn't mean to disrespect our weapons or anything…” ‘Even if it is stupid to not use a shield in medieval combat…’
A soft smile appeared on her face and suddenly I was the one staring at her with a dumbfounded expression. ‘That made her happy?’
Her smile persisted as she opened her mouth. “No, it's fine. You were only trying to learn, so let me teach you.”
The tea had finally cooled down enough to drink, and with every sip, I felt my body warming up as I sat and listened.
“Our weapon of choice is twofold. Firstly it is the most well-rounded of the heavy style of weapons, it has fewer weaknesses and is more compatible with a large variety of tactics. A sledgehammer leaves you wide open after each swing and a dragon skewer, from what I've heard at least, is most effective when you are completely alone.
The greatsword is also the most effective against slaying monsters, which are the biggest concern. We fight those a whole lot more than humans.
I thought back to the one that I had slain. In the end, I brought it down with my bare hands. It sounded pretty cool until you brought up the part where I basically died afterward. ‘Maybe that plan wasn't so great after all…’
After my body finally warmed up, I was overcome with exhaustion. I let out another yawn. “Am I really just tired all of the time because of what Father did?”
Her scowl returned. “You think you're still being affected by it?”
My eyes began to feel heavy. “I guess I didn't get much sleep last night since I had a bad dream, but still…” pushed my glass away and laid my head on the table mumbling the rest of my words as I started to doze off. “Maybe I'm finally growing some more, ha, that would be nice. Just an inch taller than Lu…”