“Weighted training?” Lakshman asked and he titled his head curiously. “What does it mean, dad?”

“Weighted training... it’s a training that you do by wearing heavy stuff to make your body weigh more,” Indra explained to Lakshman.

Lakshman blinked in confusion and he turned to look at Ondine, perplexed. Ondine sighed and turned to look exasperatedly at Indra.

“Indra, are you forgetting you’re talking a twelve year old?”

“Huh?” Indra said, looking surprised. “What do you mean, Ondine?”

“Your complex explanation won’t make sense to a kid.”

“What?” Indra said in disbelief. “It’s simple and makes sense.”

“To you,” Ondine muttered.

Becoming frustrated, Indra turned to his son and asked “Did you understand what I explained?”

Lakshman hesitated for a moment. He looked at Ondine and then at Indra before he shook his head. Indra’s eyes widened in disbelief and he hung his head.

Ondine turned to Lakshman and said “Master, your basically training while wearing heavy stuff to make your body.”

“Make our bodies heavy?!” Lakshman exclaimed in shock. When she nodded, he asked “Why?”

“It’s part of the training to make your body stronger.”

“B-But... wouldn’t it, you know... slow you down?” he asked uncertainly.

Ondine smiled and said while laughing a little “Well... I suppose it does slow you down at first, but as the training progresses you won’t feel a thing.”

“Really?”

Lakshman was amazed by her words. He had experience with carrying things to help with the house chores. During this time, he always found himself slow under the heavy things he carried. So, he automatically assumed it slows the people down by wearing heavy gear.

“You don’t seem all that satisfied,” Indra said after recovering.

He smiled at the uncertain expression his son wore. It was only natural to think wearing heavy things slows you down. That was when he decided to put his words to action and demonstrate.

“Alright!” he said sharply and he rose to his feet. “I’ll be right back. You two, wait outside the house.”

“Um... okay,” Lakshman said, puzzled as his father walked out of the dining room.

It was several minutes later when Indra finally came. Lakshman and Ondine were waiting for him outside, like he instructed, when he finally walked out of the building.

“Take a look at these,” Indra said and he held out two wrist bands. “Do you what these are?”

“They’re... wrist bands?” Lakshman said uncertainly.

Indra raised an eyebrow at Lakshman as he said “Sound more confident, otherwise people won’t believe you.”

“O-Okay,” Lakshman said with a nod of his head.

Then, Indra proceeded to put the wrist bands over his hands. Then he waved his hands around randomly. Lakshman stared at the random actions his father was making with his hands. Then he looked towards Ondine with a confused expression on his face.

“Okay,” Indra said in satisfaction and he took them off. “Watch now... this will be a small bang.”

“Huh?” Lakshman said, sounding surprised.

Indra did not reply. He simply smiled and lets the two wrist bands fall to the ground. They fell rather quickly and it made a heavy impact on the ground. Stunned, Lakshman stared down at the two wrist bands.

Lakshman blinked for a few seconds, stunned by the heavy impact the wrist bands made on the ground. Then he bent over and tried to pick them up.

“Wow!” he exclaimed when he picked them up.

Expecting it to be lightweight, he was startled by how heavy they were. Each weighed as if he was carrying a basket full of clothes. He struggled as he held the slightly heavy wrist bands in his hands. Then he looked up at his father with wide eyes in disbelief.

“This is... heavy!”

“Naturally, that’s my very old weighted training gear my master gave me,” Indra said with a wide smile on his face.

“Really?”

“Oh, yeah...! It took me so long to get used to it, I thought my arms might break!”

“But then...”

“You see, I got accustomed to it and became strong enough to not feel them anymore.”

“So...” Lakshman said thoughtfully.  “When you wore them just now, you didn’t feel them?”

“They felt like any regular wrist band you would find in a shop,” Indra said with a nod.

“Wow...!” Lakshman said in awe and he looked at the heavy wrist bands once more.

There was a few seconds of silence as Lakshman simply stared at them. Then he looked back at Indra excitedly.

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“Can I wear them?” he asked eagerly.

“Sure, but... be careful,” Indra cautioned with narrowed eyes. “Lakshmi will beat the hell out of me if you hurt yourself.”

“I’ll be fine,” Lakshman said cheerfully and he put them on.

“Wow...!” he muttered when he tried moving his hands.

He suddenly found that his arms weighed really heavy. Trying to move them up and down took a considerable amount of strength from him. After a few times, he became exhausted. Ondine, who watched him in silence, simply shook her head disapprovingly.

“I don’t see why we should be wearing weighted training gear.”

“What do you mean, Ondine?” Lakshman asked tiredly as he sat down on the stairs.

“I mean... we’re already having a similar training affect with our sword training and body exercising. So, I don’t see how helpful this will be.”

“Oh? So, that’s what you’re concerned about,” Indra said and he nodded while smiling.

“What?” Ondine said with narrowed eyes as if she sensed something.

“You won’t be just wearing the weighted gears. From now on, you two will wear them every day,” he said with a wicked grin on his face.

“What?!” Ondine exclaimed in shock while Lakshman simply stared at him through wide eyes.

“That’s going to be difficult!” Ondine said fearfully at the thought of wearing these heavy things every day.

“That’s exactly the point of it.”

“What? Making training, difficult?”

“If you are unable to push the limits of your body, you will not become strong,” Indra said sternly and Ondine grimaced. “Or, are you tell me you can become strong the way you are right now?”

“W-Well...” Ondine said and hesitated.

Indra folded his arms and nodded in satisfaction as he said “I thought not.”

Lakshman watched them for a while, but now asked “So... what else will we be doing, dad?”

“We’re going to intensify your training from now on. Every early morning, you two will be doing ten laps around the town. Then you will swing your swords with fifty increasing each month. I take it you two only swing a hundred times now between five minutes break?”

“Yes,” Lakshman nodded and Indra nodded in acceptance.

“Good,” he said in satisfaction. “You two can continue from hundred and go up fifty every month. That will ensure your muscles won’t get strained.”

“Isn’t this already pushing it?” Ondine said with a small sigh.

“Oh, really?” Indra asked in surprise. “I haven’t even begun with my plans!”

Ondine was speechless by his words. She could only stare at him with a dumbfounded expression on her face. Seeing this, Indra lets out a roar of laughter.

“In a few months, I’ll Spartan you two into mighty warriors! Now, get accustomed to the training gear Lucky has. I’ll go and find some more from the equipment I’ve saved up.”

With that said and done, he headed back into the house while laughing. They stared after him in completely silence. Once he was gone, Ondine sighed heavily and looked at Lakshman.

“I think I understand why Tetra thinks he is a scary man,” she said in a low voice.

“I think dad is just a bit too excited about this training,” Lakshman said with a half-smile.

“I-I don’t know...” she muttered slowly. “It feels as if his master had a great influence in making him become like this.”

“Are you calling my dad a scary instructor?”

“No, but it feels as if he is going to overwork us.”

“Isn’t becoming strong what we chose to do?”

“Even so, master... I don’t think this will help us.”

“Why? You think it will hurt?” Lakshman asked, sounding surprised.

“N-No!” Ondine exclaimed emphatically. “It’s just... um... I don’t know... forceful?”

“I see,” Lakshman said as he nodded in understanding. “I suppose dad does sound forceful, but I think that’s his way of motivating us.”

“I’d prefer a different kind of motivation,” Ondine said in a low voice.

“Huh? You say something, Ondine?”

“No, master... it’s nothing.”

“Okay. Anyway, let’s do our best and become strong!” Lakshman said excitedly.

Ondine looked at him with half open eyes before sighing in resignation and saying “Yes, master. I understand.”

With that, Ondine accepted the fact that she and Lakshman will be training under the expert instructions of Indra. However, she still felt worried how intense his training regime will be. [Mek-pendragon]