Whoosh, Whoosh…
Since Zelos was bored out of his mind, he decided to push his limits with training. He occasionally does that on his days off, but he usually takes it easy after a couple of hours since he needs to keep his routine steady. Instead of trying to rush ahead to get stronger, he would increase his strength at regular periods. That was the key to getting stronger with as much efficiency as possible.
“Even if the room is free, Zelos, you don’t have to make it smell like sweat so much.”
Zelos ignored Irlan and kept swinging the club with one hand. Eventually, he stopped sweating, and steam began to leave his pores. He truly liked to reach that state when his body was warm. He felt like he was at his peak, and the training could show a lot of results. If only he could reach that stage faster…
Eventually, night came and dinner time as well, so Zelos decided to stop finally. It was the perfect time for something to happen, after all. Zelos and Irlan kept their eyes on the surroundings once more, but things didn’t look much different. The girls were talking pretty loudly in their room, though. Eventually, they came and even Kaitrine looked way too relaxed.
“Let’s get dinner and eat together in the hall. It will be more fun that way.”
Zelos and Irlan looked at each other in confusion. They never thought that Heirina would say something like that. Still, Zelos soon recalled the night that the others went out and drank themselves almost to death. It seemed that they needed a breather, and the situation was providing them exactly that.
The kitchen still had food, but it looked like the guards had already been served of their meal. It made sense. They would eat a bit earlier so that they wouldn’t stay relaxed too much in the later hours and risk attacks. That seemed like a reasonable routine for them. Thanks to that, Zelos decided to grab three bowls for himself.
“You sure can eat a lot, Zelos? What is your secret? I want to be able to eat a lot and don’t get fat too.”
“Use your head all the time and keep moving your body.”
For all intentions and purposes, it sounded like Zelos told her not to be lazy and to keep her brain working, so Heirina couldn’t help but sigh. He was as honestly brutal as always.
“Makes sense! That’s the perfect way of thinking for a balanced and productive lifestyle. Keeping our minds sharp and our bodies active is key to staying healthy and achieving our goals. If we keep working all the time to reach our goals, we will consume the energy that we obtained.”
“Something like that.”
As usual, Liry had way too much positive energy. Zelos’s jaded way of thinking was completely lost on her, and she ended up seeing something totally different from what he said.
After dinner, the group stayed in the hall of her part of the palace for a while and talked. Speaking of which, they met her pretty early in the morning, and she didn’t do much aside from interacting with them. While it was rather normal for her not to have many visitors, it was a bit weird that she didn’t try to visit her father that day. Did she forget about it because of the group?
While Zelos was thinking about that, he realized that the atmosphere had shifted a bit. All of a sudden, he entered combat mode, and then he realized that he had messed up. He shouldn’t have reacted like that.
“What is wrong, Zelos? Do you need to go to the bathroom?”
“Yeah, where is it?”
“On the left side of your room.”
“Thanks.”
Liry smiled while Zelos stared at her… did she notice that the atmosphere changed and covered for Zelos? He wasn’t sure of that. It could be a coincidence. In any case, Zelos went to the bathroom and forced himself to use it for a short while before returning. In the end, Irlan also joined the talk. In the end, Zelos realized that he will have to do the heavy lifting by himself.
For several hours, Zelos stayed in the corner of the hall, trying to meditate while staying focused to notice anything weird happening around. The atmosphere didn’t change at all, so he imagined the princess was only being watched, and they were being watched as well.
“The level of discomfort is low, so only one or two people should be watching us. There aren’t many places here that anyone can hide, but this palace should have been built with that idea in mind to spy anyone around to prevent trouble.”
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There is also the possibility that some people with that kind of trait were working for the prime minister but then working before for the king. That kind of situation to consider was a bit troublesome. Zelos wanted to get used to quick thinking and finding weaknesses in the enemies, but that was much harder when considering things out of combat. There were too many factors, and the goals were numerous as well…
In any case, soon enough, the group had to retreat to their rooms, respectively. Since that was part of the work and risks of failure would be too high, Zelos thought that it would be wiser for all of them to sleep in the same room, but the girls definitely would be against that.
Once they returned to their room, Zelos checked the wall that separated them. He could hear the girls giggling. The wall wasn’t that thick, so perhaps that was fine.
“What is wrong, Zelos? Are you finally interested in their talk?”
“Just go to sleep if you aren’t planning to do anything useful.”
Irlan laughed a bit and then yawned. While he didn’t do much that day, he felt pretty relaxed and sleepy now. He felt like he was relaxing too much in the middle of a job, even by his standards. Still, he went to sleep, not minding that much.
Zelos decided to stay awake the whole night just to be safe. He knew that nothing would happen on the first night of their stay there, and they would only be watched before anyone decided to do anything. They were a group of kids, relatively speaking, but since all the parties involved wanted to be cautious no matter what, it made sense that they would play it by the ear.
“Ah, politics… No wonder I hate you so much. I guess I should train with the goal of becoming strong enough not only to protect myself but to also defeat politics with my strength. I don’t actually have to use it, but making people fear it should be more than enough for the time being.”
Zelos would have to work pretty hard for a while to reach that goal, but it was a fine goal to have, nonetheless. He knew very well the power of fear… people fear what they don’t understand and try to keep their distance instinctively from it until they can understand it and find a way to control it, but no one will truly control him.
When morning came, Zelos felt a bit sleepy since he didn’t rest that much. His body had rested plenty, but his mind stayed focused and sharp. Fortunately, he received a reward for his hard work. His resolve increased by one point.
“I guess forcing myself to stay awake can have that kind of effect.”
At the same time, Liry looked a bit sleepy since she was yawning all the time. Maybe they went to bed later than he had predicted. Still, it was odd. Edea wasn’t a morning person, but she looked fine since it was seven in the morning.
“What do you guys want to do today?”
Liry eyes were shining full of expectation. The group looked at each other, wondering what they could do. It had to be in the confines of the palace, though. In the end, Heirina decided to ask her what she wanted to do instead.
“What do you want to do, Liry? We don’t have much free time like this, so we don’t know what to do.”
“Talk about yourself. You can always train for a couple of hours. There is no better use for free time.”
Heirina felt like sighing… as if Liry could join them in that kind of activity. Moreover, training with real weapons in the palace would be beyond stupid.
“I have some staves here that we can use for training. I used them now and then to learn some self defense, but it is hard to practice by myself. Still, I was thinking that it would be more fun to take a walk around the city today.”
For someone who spent the day curled in the palace, it was surprising that Liry was in shape. She didn’t have many visible muscles, but it was hard to say much when she was wearing that dress of hers.
“... Can you actually leave the palace, Liry? Isn’t this a bad time, considering things?”
“I don’t usually leave, but I should be fine with you all. It will be fun. You all don’t know the capital that well either, right?”
“Well, that is true. Let’s get going then. We also should buy you some gifts as well.”
“You don’t have to. Your presence will be enough.”
Zelos was thankful for that since he didn’t have much money and all that he had was for emergencies, for food emergencies. In any case, while the chances of something happening in broad daylight were low, that was also a good chance for them to walk without having to worry about being heard. Zelos had the feeling that they weren’t heard during all the time in that sector of the palace. However, the weird feeling that they were being observed stayed throughout the night. With that in mind, why would they be watched without being heard? He was almost certain spies with good hearing traits would have been around.
Without wasting time, the group decided to leave the palace and walk around the city. There weren’t many places for them to actually visit aside from some places that were selling sweets… the girls ate a ton of them. All of a sudden, Liry stopped eating and smiling like a child and then looked around.
“... We should be fine now. You are free to ask whatever you want.”
Zelos raised his eyebrows. The girl certainly knew how to change her pace all of a sudden. It was clear that she was no normal princess, but Zelos wondered when she began to eat again.
“... How can you tell that we are fine here?”
“I have developed a feeling after being watched for more than ten years. It will be helpful if you all also keep acting like usual and keep your expressions relaxed.”
“This is kind of hard…”
Changing their gears that fast and acting like that weren’t things that warriors were used to, but people that work in some areas that involve a lot of talking and analyzing other people should be pretty good at that. In any case, Zelos decided to take the reins for now.
“What should we know for now?”