The rest of the days passed normally and more importantly, peacefully. It was just so stark to me how the difference between these last few days and the whole month I traveled in a wagon was. Here, it felt like I’d reached somewhere. Like I wasn’t just in some transitory state between here and there. The level of relaxation was awesome. I even found some books! There was a small bookshelf in one of the rooms and I was currently reading about ‘Elves: A dynasty not meant for man.’ detailing some of the wars that took place between Human and Elven territory during the Dark Age when everyone was stuck underneath the giant dome.

It was fascinating, really, which was only doubly surprising to me. I mean, after all, it was a non fiction, an actual real retelling of events. Almost every non fiction I’d ever read before was horribly boring and dry. This… this was like a movie, all the way through. Or an anthology. I could practically feel the horrors of war and even some of the casual descriptions pulled me in. Water mages that froze and broke plants apart, nature mages that used deadly plants to suck the blood from people and then shoot it back out to carve through flesh at high pressure, elven priests combining their powers to produce the equivalent of flashbang grenades that only affected their enemies somehow, and more and more. My world view was expanding and I thoroughly made a commitment to read as many books as possible.

It sometimes escaped my own notice but… I wasn’t stupid. That’s not just some ego, I was pure and out, at least of average intelligence. But that didn’t come from nowhere. I was raised by smart people, went to a good school, had a generally open personality, and one of the most important was books. Books let you see the view points, the thoughts of others. Concepts and realities and information and most importantly potential. I was an avid reader before and I always held that it was one of the reasons I wasn’t an idiot. It’s hard to be if you’re exposed to so many different kinds of thoughts and ideas. Information and the ways of gathering it had always been the bane of idiocy.

And honestly, while I hadn’t truly felt stupid, since coming here… I definitely wasn’t a native. In any way. There were things you picked up apparently even before coming here. Or, better said, I had picked up a lot of things before coming here that other people didn’t have. That combined with my lack of knowledge and well… Konohora had already figured out my secret. If she didn’t know Tyler, she still might have figured it out. She wasn’t stupid either.

That was an unacceptable risk. Konohora knowing was already bad. Others even so much as suspecting was really bad. Dangerously bad. I couldn’t fight my way past a single kingdom’s forces, let alone all of them. I’d have an easier time waging a one man army crusade against all of Earth.

Books were an easy way to fix that. Non fiction books, at that. They could serve as my intellectual foundation. The in’s and out’s of what people know, should know, do know, etc etc. Thankfully I had Konohora on hand who’d been dealing with Tyler since day one. I’m sure she’d seen and covered for him countless times whenever he had slipped up. Riary too. I’d just have to keep my mouth closed for the most part and my eyes open.

Still… not everyone was content to wait.

“Tyler I fucking hate this.” Riary said one day. Specifically, literally, two days later since Kasandra has beaten us and left to find us some trainers.

“Really? I’ve been having a pretty good time with you.” Tyler said with a gentle smile that had me squinting.

Riary blushed but her anger wasn’t abated. “We’re prisoners! How can it not, rankle you?! Prisoners in our home!”

Tyler just laughed merrily. “A few days ago we didn’t have a home!”

Riary only got more and more frustrated at that, devolving into a bickering match with Tyler as he just laughed. I continued to read my book while Konohora did some stretches nearby. We’d each been spending our time in our own way. After all, I had a small but whole bookshelf to go through. Even for my fast reading speed and binging, it would take me around a week at least. After all, I was already on the fourth book of the “Elven: Dynasty” series.

Tyler had well and truly just enjoyed being lazy. I could already tell he was becoming a little restless, but that had been solved easily enough by continuing our light sparring and training together at night before bed. It wasn’t ever anything really serious, we both thought it’d be critically unfair for him to beat the shit out of me. It reminded me of a few movies really, because we both moved in practically slow motion to get a good feel for how we’d react. I’d stopped training with my greatsword for now, since a proper trainer was coming. I’d slash out with my claws, moving slowly, Tyler would, similarly slowly, raise his shield to react. I’d change how I would change, he would follow suit, and I felt like we were both learning a lot. There’d been more than a few times where I’d been bewildered about what Tyler was doing even in slow motion, before I realized I was going to get stabbed or slashed if we continued. We’d break away, try again.

So Tyler was having a good time. So was Konohora, who basically had patience in spades.

Riary did not.

“How can none of you feel frustrated by this?!” Riary said, looking at us. She then locked eyes on me and I practically slammed my face into the book, studiously ignoring her.

“Oi.” She said. I didn’t respond. Riary squinted. “Half the city probably wants to kill you and you’re just going to hide in here?”

“That’s hyperbolic. I’m sure only, I don’t know, probably only a few percents of the city at most want to kill me. Probably way, way less than that. If we’re lucky, they only number in the hundreds.”

Riary practically let out a growl, before sighing deeply.

“We’re seriously going to just hide away in here?” Riary said, sounding depressed.

“Of course not.” Konohora answered. “We are not hiding, we are merely staying out of everyone’s direct, metaphorical, line of sight. Our location has most likely already been passed down to anyone who wants to know about it. I would not describe everyone knowing where we are as hiding.”

“Then what is the point?!” Riary said. She must have been very frustrated because I was absolutely sure she knew the answer to that. Konohora must have felt the same.

“I believe you already know the answer Riary. We are strong and stronger still than before our misadventures. But raw power and the technique to wield it are not the same. We have not fully adjusted to our new abilities and power despite our normal proficiency. B-Rank adventurers, especially in an Elven City at that, are often either extremely talented like you or have many decades or centuries of experience. All three of you will, in my opinion, benefit the most from it.” Konohora replied, all while she kept up her stretches.

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“Wait, why the three of us and not you?” I asked.

“I am older and do not have the talent of Riary or Tyler. As for you Derek, you are untrained still. Your current prowess is purely through natural ability and on the spot learning.”

Riary frowned, then looked startled and looked at me again. I studiously went back to my book, before deciding I should say something.

“And more than that,” I began. “You’re right Riary. We have people coming for us. Someone’s already tried to kill Tyler, I’m sure they’ll try again, probably when we enter the dungeon. Maybe even B-Rank adventures. We don’t stand a chance. If we want to survive that, kill them, and not be murdered by the next group after, we need to train. Might as well enjoy the time before that though.”

I said that and Riary sighed but nodded, but someone else had issues with my words.

“Wait, what?” Tyler said, eyes going wide. “You think people are going to attack and try to kill us in the dungeon?”

I put down my book, sighing and looking up at the ceiling. Riary and Konohora looked at Tyler with mixed expressions.

“Yes, Tyler. People who try to kill you don’t try once and give up. That’s not how trying to kill someone works.” I pointedly didn’t look at Riary, who had only been stopped by her bafflement and her teammates after roasting me alive.

“But…” Tyler seemed to hesitate.

“Hey. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best, right?” I said. There was no use trying to convince Tyler we would need to go on a killing spree in this damn city. He knew what to do when it came to a life and death situation, so he could ignore the ugly future before that happened if he wanted to.

To that, Tyler nodded, and I could finally go back to my book about how the elves launched a siege on a human city using treants as partnered allies.

****

Four days since Kasandra left, she finally showed back up. This time, she didn’t come alone and she didn’t come at night. I was impressed immediately. All three were stronger than Kasandra and not by a little bit. Not only that, but she found what I considered the absolute best trainers possible for our group. For Riary, she brought an older looking gentlemen with a thin frame and white and grey hair. Elven, with dark green robes that still somehow looked tinged with red. I could feel the fire mana coming off him. It had left a massive impression the first time I saw Riary, who had literal flames in her eyes, and I’d always watched out for more magical phenomena like that.

I’d seen a few, and it had been amazing, but it was the second time I was seeing something I felt was significant. The man’s hair was alive. Grey and white it might be, but it moved like flames, whisking around him perfectly but only slightly. I got a strange sense of earthy nature and… heat. Unbearable but… soily heat. I’d never even considered a… is that nature and fire or earth and fire in him? Maybe… both? Neither? Either way, it was an absolute treat to see him with both my eyes and senses. Older he may look, but god he had aged well.

“This is Carvanses. He’ll be training your mage over there.”

“A delight and boon to make your acquaintance.” He said before, bowing lightly to Riary with his arm across his chest. Riary blinked in surprise before smiling. No doubt she could feel his magic with her mana senses, something different than what I currently felt, and had formed her own quick conclusions. The world of mages and mana was a neat one.

The next person in the line up was a very fit and athletic looking elf. She wore a crop top, had visible abs, and dark tanned skin. She wore her dark blonde hair in a ponytail and radiated health and fitness in a way that caught my eye and soul. Standing across from her made me truly feel like I was a lazy bum who’d never even moved from my bed. She looked like an unending font of stamina and pure health. I noticed she didn’t have any weapon. Her smile was bright and warm.

“This will be your fitness trainer, Kilion. She will primarily be helping your priestess but she’ll do rounds with all of you. No complaining either, I don’t care if you’re a mage, you still need to be able to run.” Kasandra cackled and both Riary and Carvanses frowned. I slightly smirked. Mages were all the same in some ways I supposed.

Kilion whistled as she looked at Konohora. “Heard you’re a priestess of truth yeah? Heard they have healing abilities and oh boy, that’s definitely true just from looking at you. I’ll make sure you’re fit as can be and ready to crack some skulls by the time we’re done.” She had a strange accent I couldn’t quite place.

“I’ll be in your care.” And Konohora nodded back. I could practically feel their work out fanaticism vibrating the air together.

The last man in the group though…. He was a General. I knew that for a fact, because he was in the book I had been reading not two days ago. The strange thing was though… he was a human general… from the Dark Age. That made…. No sense at all. I was completely stunned and baffled.

“This here is Grant Rholheart. Yes, he’s related to that Rholheart.” Konohora and Riary looked over in shock, a group I was now thankfully part of, while Tyler just looked confused. Grant smirked at that, on his weathered old face.

So not the general, a descendant of his, with his spitting image.

He was a stout man, tall, with a dominating Aura to him. Light gray facial hair and hard eyes. He reminded me of a spartan in many ways. Especially since he’d come fully dressed in armor and a helmet by his side. In a similar vein to Tyler, he had come with a great shield on his back and a sword by his side. He was without a doubt the strongest of the four. Not just physically. I was confident he could beat the other three in a fight, maybe even at the same time but that would be life or death for him.

“It’s always a pleasure to train the young ones. You are young I assume? I can tell that beautiful woman over there is approaching my age but you don’t seem to have that same look in your eye.”

Tyler blinked and coughed, a little embarrassed about his age.

“I recently turned twenty, uh, sir.”

Grant’s smile widened.

“Such a young man and already so strong? Good, very good. Not an S-Rank potential for nothing I see. And here I worried the Mauv Kingdom might simply be bluffing. I’ll make sure you’re stronger than everyone else in no time. We’ll need to get another healer though…” Grant began to mumble to himself while Tyler suddenly seemed worried.

I smiled at his misfortune for a moment, before belatedly realizing that my trainer wasn’t going to just appear out of thin air or make a dramatic entrance or was one of these three. After all, I think Kasandra would have said as much…

I was starting to get a little worried. Did someone make moves in the background so that no one would come and train me?

“As for you,” Kasandra said, pointing at me. “You need to come with me. Your trainer refused to come to you first so I got to take you to her.”

My heart skipped a beat. Take me away from my group? Was this a ploy to get me killed?

Kasandra saw my look and snorted. The other three, especially Grant, strongly ignored me. Even with that… since Grant had arrived I could sense his Killing Intent. It dyed the air. I didn’t even know I could feel Killing Intent till this very moment. This was a man that had murdered countless people. Most likely many were demons but still… if he wanted me dead, I was dead, and that was it.

Part of me was really regretting coming to this damn city.

“Oi,” Kasandra said looking at Konohora. “Truth Priestess right? I promise your friend isn’t gonna get killed or is walking into a trap or anything like that. Can’t promise you’re trainer won’t kill ya but she seemed really excited to train ya so I doubt she’ll do that.”

Konohora looked at me and nodded.

Well, that’s as good a reassurance as I could get. I nodded and began walking as Kasandra led me away.

I wonder what my trainer was going to be like.