"So…would you be willing to help me?" Ron asked the question after a moment of silence passed.
"I-I'd like to return home honestly" Elwyn said a little unsure. Her answer wasn't what Ron would've liked to hear but considering what happened he could understand.
Before he could say anything else Elwyn continued "But you saved my life and helped me so much, I know when to repay my debts". "So I will teach you what I know about survival in the wilds"
"Thank you, once you've taught me what I should know I'll send you home okay?" Ron promised.
"Well considering how you almost died, I suppose I will help you in toughening up" Scarlett teased Ron. Was she a little salty about that dance joke?
"Thank you o merciful one" Ron decided to play along.
They joked and chatted for a bit while also eating a food package. Ron told them how he found the goblins after fighting a boar and then summoning Goblin Slayer.
"Did you know about him before?" Scarlett asked. It was too much of a coincidence he managed to summon a goblin expert.
"Correct, I did know of him" Ron told them. "Back in my own world there was a lot of entertainment. One of these was watching or reading about the lives of others, that's how I knew of him" Ron explained.
It was known that they were all of different worlds so to speak. Scarlett was from one where martial arts had evolved drastically and Elwyn was from one with a multitude of different races.
"But why does he hate these creatures so much?" Elwyn asked. It was a weird thing to be summoned but to accept only to kill these goblins?
"I do know the reason as to why he hates them that much, but It's not my place to talk about that, just know he has a good reason," Ron said vaguely about Goblin Slayers past. He did know what happened to him but he wasn't going to tell everyone.
"So what happened after summoning him?" Scarlett wisely moved the subject along. Ron continued talking after that. It wasn't only Ron speaking, Scarlett and Elwyn spoke about their experiences in their own worlds.
Ron learned Scarlett was a martial artist and a very strong one if her stories were to be believed. She could've easily destroyed the goblins had it not been for Jeff controlling her. Elwyn was actually a huntress who was skilled in tracking and an archer and knew a plethora of fauna.
Ron couldn't believe Jeff's luck with summoning, he summoned a survival expert and a strong fighter. Was this coincidence or part of the tower? Ron had no way of knowing.
After an hour of chatting Ron decided it was enough, they were both still recovering from injuries. After leaving Scarlett and Elwyn Ron decided to study the map and books he had taken the day before.
('Let's see here') Ron pulled out the map. The town was in the middle and the map showed the surroundings. The forest where he came from was in the west and stretched past the map, ('Is the forest really that big!?') Ron was stunned. The forest had some markers but with no legend Ron couldn't make much of it.
To the north of the town is a river with more plains past that again there were markers placed but with no added info. To the west was a big black marker that was circled. This one had text that read "CAVE" seems self-explanatory.
To the south was actually a bit distorted, It was a massive black blotch with a skull underneath it. Ron had a theory that that's where the goblins originally were from, it lined up with Scarlett and Elwyn's accounts. So where did the villagers go? Were they all killed?
Ron doubted they were all killed if they knew danger was coming. ('There most likely at the cave considering it's circled'). Ron now had a choice to go to the cave and get the villagers back or let them stay there while they recovered for a bit.
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In the end Ron decided to stay. If they were confident in leaving the village they were confident in staying in the cave. Plus he could use this as shelter for the time being. As for future plans, he would like to explore the forest and these markers and the markers to the north before going to the cave.
After putting the map away Ron decided to read some of the books he found. There was a book about agriculture and growing different kinds of food, a book on different types of ores and a diary. Ron assumed the diary was of the mayor and he was correct. Reading a private diary was a little dirty but with it Ron understood more of the situation.
He was indeed correct about the goblins as the mayor was afraid they would attack them. He also found out why this village was named Silver Village, the mine was a silver mine. They also indeed migrated to the mine when more goblins came.
With all that done it was now time to train a bit, however Ron had no clue when it came to training himself however and consulting with Scarlett left little help. It turns out their standards were on a completely different scale. Ron apparently couldn't even do things kids should be able to do to where Scarlett was from.
('I'll have to summon someone again') Ron guessed however he had the perfect person already in mind, however his point total was only 2,275 after buying and upgrading the rings and the gemstones for Goblin Slayer.
"You wish to summon someone again?" Scarlett was a little surprised he wanted to summon someone after just sending away another.
"Correct and I already know who I want to summon," Ron said.
"I'm fine with it as long as they're not asshats". Scarlett said with some crass.
"I think you'll like him actually" Ron smiled a little mysteriously.
"Oh? Then I really would like to watch" Scarlett said as she got off the bed. She could move a little but wasn't completely healed yet.
Ron and Scarlett moved outside and Ron opened the wish store in order to summon him. However when he wanted to summon him he hesitated a little ('5,000 points per day?!') It meant at best he could only summon him for half a day.
Ron gritted his teeth and accepted the wish. Suddenly a handsome looking guy appeared in a tracksuit. "Where am I?" He said while looking around. Another thing worth mentioning was language, everyone was from different worlds yet everyone could understand everything. It was probably the tower interfering.
"Hello there Mr. Naruzo" Ron spoke to the man. His name was Machio Naruzo, a personal trainer and professional bodybuilder.
"Well hello there nice to meet you! Can you tell me where I am?" Machio asked them.
"You're currently in the tower of wishes I summoned you here, my name is Ron and this is Scarlett" Ron introduced himself and Scarlett to Machio. Scarlett looked at Machio and was unimpressed so far, he looked far too skinny.
"So why did you summon me here?" Machio asked, a little confused.
"The thing is I want to start training but have no idea how or even where to begin" Ron explained to Machio. "I would like your help, of course I'll pay you if that's fine with you", Ron really would've liked Machio's help.
"Hm, I see, but why not have your friend here train you though? She seems tough enough already" Machio said, he was even able to spot that Scarlett wasn't an ordinary person. Scarlett seemed surprised that he was even able to spot that.
"She's too far above me, even her lowest training exercises are things I can't do" Ron explained. 1,000 squats with 500kg? Yeah no.
"I can see how that is a problem. Now what is your purpose for training? To look good or to get stronger?" Machio got down to business, a goal would dictate on how he would train.
"I need strength for life and death combat," Ron told Machio straight up. Machio looked surprised before getting a bit serious.
"Seems like these are not safe lands then" He said.
"Not really no" Ron agreed with him.
"Well that's fine! Combat huh? It requires strength, speed and stamina. Flexibility is also important". Machio explained, seemingly aware of combat, Scarlett looked at him a little miffed, how did he know these things?.
"We also have no equipment. Will that be a problem?" Ron told Machio.
"Hm, in the beginning it's not that big of a deal, but in the future definitely look to add weight" Machio explained.
"The goal is to gain muscle hypertrophy, which basically means tearing the muscles and regrowing them to gain strength" Machio told Ron before having a dazed look and muttering to himself "Yes growing your muscles…muscles…muscles"
('Here it comes') Ron thought as he side eyed Scarlett wanting to see her reaction to this. Machio suddenly flexed his arms and his tracksuit started ripping from his muscles "Yes! Muscles!" He suddenly yelled while flexing, parts of his tracksuit went flying everywhere.
Machio's full physique was now on display and it looked even more amazing than on tv. His muscles were like diamonds, incredibly tough. Scarlett was looking at him like he wasn't human. She looked at Ron who had a small smile on him. "You wanted me to see this?" She hit the nail on the head.
"He's impressive right?" Ron teased her a little. Scarlett just gave him a deadpanned look however on the inside she also saw the power in those muscles they weren't normal.
"Now where were we?" Machio said now in a speedo and his body on full display.
"Speed, stamina and flexibility" Ron reminded him
"Ah yes, let me explain what you need to do" Machio explained a bunch of exercises to Ron and also how to make it more difficult for him later on. Scarlett also pitched in some training ideas and was impressed with Machio's knowledge of training specific muscles.
After a total of 6 hours Ron dismissed Machio with a small bag of gold as payment. At first he refused telling Ron it was too much but Ron insisted. Ron now was left with 1,000 points.
After 6 hours Ron was beat, he had written a lot of it down and remembered the rest and even did a lot of exercises. He had learned that a good diet was just as important and decided to spend points on a week's worth of fresh meat and vegetables but also a very useful supplement he had an idea about.
'Muscle recovery potion. A useful potion that speeds up the recovery of muscles' It was a potion that helped the muscles recover quicker then normal allowing Ron to train more and gain strength faster overtime. He bought the food and potions all for 300 points leaving him with 700 points.
From 5,100 points all the way down to only 700 points from the wiping out the goblins seemed like poor management, however Ron gained a lot out of these points.
First he managed to get Scarlett and Elwyn to teach him and help him along the way. Second he's managed to buy defensive equipment against the wish store should he encounter someone like Jeff. Third, he managed to get top notch personal training from one of the greatest teachers. For now Ron had to consolidate his gains.
('It's going to be a hectic week for sure') Ron thought as he laid on his bed. Scarlett had said she would recover after tomorrow and Elwyn after 3 days. ('Oh well let's see what tomorrow holds') Ron thought as he entered a deep sleep.