Arc 5: The Heart Within
Road to a Hero:
Three Chances in Another World
Chapter 3. Shoulder length
As the day passes, Gray sluggishly moves around in his bed, annoying Rosemary.
Rosemary: “Gray…get…up…or go back…to sleep…”
Gray: “I would love to go back to sleep….”
Gray lets out a long and aggressive yawn, causing Rosemary to do the same.
Rosemary: “UGG! Now I’m awake.”
Gray: “You smell food?”
Rosemary: “I wonder if somebody made food.”
Gray: “PANCAKES!”
Gray jumps out of bed, swaps his shorts for his joggers, grabs a clean shirt, and quickly brushes his hair in front of the mirror in their room. Rosemary takes a bit longer, slowly forcing herself out of bed, and grabs her hairbrush from Gray's hand. She starts brushing her hair when Gray heads to the bathroom. Rosemary continues to wear the same oversized clothes she’s currently wearing but decides to wear Gray's jacket to keep herself warm. Due to the height of the mountain air is a bit thin and the weather is cold, and being in February the temperature likes to stay around twenty to thirty degrees. Rosemary prefers the warmth of spring and summer but Gray loves to be cold. The chance for snow or colorful leaves stands out for him. Gray brushes his teeth smiles, grabs a fork, and stabs it into one of the sausages, taking a bite.
Gray: “This is really good!”
Rosemary: “Yeah, not too chewy and not too bland. It’s perfect!”
Soku: “Alright calm down with that.”
Gray: “Where is Peter?”
Soku: “Still asleep…”
Gray: “I would wake him up, but you told me not to go to your room.”
Soku choked on her food and looked as Gray formed a smirk on his face. She thinks about blasting the wind in his face but she calms down and decides not to.
Gray: “We went to bed pretty early last night, what happened once I left?”
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Soku: “Gordon, Julius, and Edward went to make sure that the army gets here safely, and Peter went on and on about how nice our house is.
Gray: “Our house is nice, it feels like a grandma's house. A front door opens into a small dining room, which is connected to an open living room as well as an open kitchen with nicely placed windows. The upstairs rooms are nicely sized, with a bathroom in the middle of the hall and two rooms on the other side. It’s all well laid out.”
Soku: “Now you’re rambling about it.”
Rosemary: “Kinda wish we picked the room by the stairs, it’s about the same size as our room but we don’t have to walk down the stairs.”
Gray: “I told you I don’t wanna walk up the stairs to go to the bathroom, and our rooms are the biggest.”
Soku: “So what are we gonna do while we wait?”
Gray: “SPIRIT BOOT CAMP!”
Gray finishes his food and jumps up, running into the kitchen to wash his dishes.
Soku: “He seems more active than usual. Reminds me of how he was back at the mansion.”
Rosemary: “I don’t know if that’s a good thing. The last time he was like this he was suffering in silence. He went through all that stuff with Caesar so I assume that messed with him.”
Soku: “Look, don't pay too much attention to it.”
Rosemary: “Be more considerate!”
Rosemary looks at Soku with a disappointed face, and Soku feels a little embarrassed. Gray walks in behind her and puts his hand on her head.
Gray: “Yeah how’s Peter gonna like ya if you’re mean to him? And what were you talking about Rosemary?”
Rosemary: “Oh nothing.”
Gray: “Alright, SPIRIT BOOT CAMP!”
They all get dressed and walk out of the cottage into the cold weather, and onto the snowy ground.
Gray extends his arms and lets the fluffy snowfall on his face, letting his tongue out to catch it.
Gray: “Ahhhh, I miss this. Athens was just wet and salty, this is so much better.”
Soku: “Athens' weather sucked, the humidity was messing with my hair.”
Rosemary: “Where are we going”
Gray: “Ryo wanted to meet at Gordon's training grounds.”
Soku: “I get he’s strong but we don’t have strong spirit connections, what’s he gonna teach us?”
Gray: “He’s a god of war so he should be able to teach you something. And not having a strong connection doesn't mean you can’t connect to them, it’s just harder.”
Soku buttons up a jacket she picked up off a coat rack as they walked. Ever since Soku lost her cloak she’s been uneasy. She’s been anxious and worried and Gray seems to notice this.
Gray: “Soku, you wanna go buy a new cloak later?”
Soku: “I’m fine.”
Gray: “You sure?”
Rosemary: “Come on Soku, it’s cold and you’ll need one.”
Soku: “Gray’s not wearing a coat and he’s in the snow!”
Gray: “I learned how to withstand the temperature, you on the other hand have not.”
Soku shrugs her shoulders and nods her head in agreement. Gray puts his hands behind his head and walks forward, heading toward their destination. Gray gets to the training grounds and enters through the fence. They walk up to Ryo, who is meditating in the snow. He begins to hum and Gray joins him, sitting down in front of him and humming along with Ryo. Soku looks on in confusion, not being able to think of something to say. On the other hand, Rosemary understands what’s going on perfectly, the relationship between master and student obvious. And with that understanding of their relationship, she can only smile. Ryo stops humming and puts his hand on Gray's shoulder, smiling at him. Gray smiles back and stands up, brushing the snow off his body.
Ryo: “Is it time for the “Spirit boot camp” you were speaking of?”
Gray: “Yeah, I wanna focus on our mana control. Soku’s strong but she runs out of stamina too quickly. Rosemary is fine with her stamina but if she wants to get stronger a lot faster, she’ll need better mana control. And I wanna learn the new spell…or get the spell upgrade.”
Soku: “He could have worded it better but yeah, I need to use a lot of mana to do some damage. And I usually just run out by the time I’m done.”
Rosemary: “And I struggle with focusing on my stages, multitasking mixed with the pain is pretty difficult.”
Ryo: “Well I would love to help you both. I’m glad to see people this secure with these types of flaws. I hope to help you as much as I can.”
Soku is aback by Ryos's kind attitude, being more used to Musashi's and Lincoln's harsh, rude, and blunt attitudes.
Gray: “Alright, let’s get started!”
End of Chapter Three