I had no idea what awaited me the next day. I thought I would be holding a sword immediately and be taught slashes and footwork. Before I went to sleep I was daydreaming all about it.

"Why are you running—" I heard Lucas say as I ran past him. The boy was heading uphill towards the castle with a cart of filled buckets, the wood creaking and water sloshing with each step. He looked confused.

I hoped I knew why I was running up and down the hill too—why I was enduring the burning in my legs and chest, out in the early morning, braving the gusting wind along the winding, uneven path littered with stones and thorny grass.

I had thought Leofric to be a kind man, especially after the help he gave me yesterday. But that morning, his colors changed like a chameleon. He dropped all pretense of politeness and assumed the strictness of a typical tutor. He chastised me for questioning anything he asked and threatened not to continue teaching if I didn't comply.

A part of me suspected he was doing this because of what I did to his mistress last night. I, myself, felt guilty about that, but this was just not right. The fact that I was not desperate enough to learn swordsmanship, and that I could probably find another instructor, made it almost impossible to resist quitting before it even started. Yet somehow I agreed. Maybe there were still some remnants of agreeableness within me after all those years of being pushed around.

I slowed down as I was about to reach the foot of the hill. I would reckon the slope distance was only about five hundred meters, but that was if the path was a straight line. With all the twists and turns, it was more like a kilometer or more. And when you're climbing, it feels even further.

My heart thumped like a drum. Out of nowhere I lost my footing. A jutting root caught my boot and I careened off the path into the tall grass. I cursed under my breath as I tumbled through the rough blades.

I knew as far back as the greenskin confrontation that my [Balance Compensation] trait did nothing about sudden trips. I hit the ground somewhere along the way, and hit it some more until I had rolled out away from the grass into the open dirt.

I grunted angrily as I waited for the pain to set in. Then remembered about my [Pain Tolerance II] trait. I looked for nasty bruises and for blood but just found rips on my clothing, my trousers torn at the knees and sleeve frayed. My [Dense Musculature] and maybe also my [Pierce Guard II] have absorbed the blow.

"Are you alright, young master?" I heard a female voice the same time I heard the bubbling of flowing water.

I raised my gaze from the stony ground and found Elena's maidservants fetching water from the spring well. They paused, clay pots in their hands, staring at me with both worry and confusion.

I didn't mind what commoners thought, but it was hard not to get embarrassed. Especially with one of them being a pretty face and one I had been stealing glances from.

"I am… I am alright," I cleared my throat, and spoke with pretense composure. I stood up and patted the dirt from my clothes, bits of crushed grass clinging stubbornly to the wool.

"Would you like a drink, Master Devon?" the pretty face offered. It would have been fine, if only her expression was not that of a worried mother. I was being treated like a child at sixteen years old.

I sighed. "Sure… why not?"

How could my morning get any worse?

Well, it did.

After running up and down the hill three times, Leofric was not done making me suffer. The damned mercenary did not even ask about what happened to my clothes. He finally let me hold the sword, and that was all he let me do. He had me take a stance he called "middle guard"—feet apart, knees soft, sword out in front—and told me to hold it.

Every one of my muscles was trembling. This shouldn't be lawful. Many times I thought of just dropping it and calling it quits. And as it turned out, I was not able to keep that sentiment from spilling out onto my face.

"You must think that I am doing this to you for no reason… or worse, out of spite, some petty tyranny." He circled around me, nudging my elbow up with his scabbard when I dropped it a little low. "But you told me you wanted to learn the sword. Well, I tell you that before you learn it, you must first befriend it. And a sword is no friend to the weak."

For a rough-looking commoner, he sounded profound. Still, it was hard to appreciate his eloquence or the wisdom of his words with all the pain I was suffering.

"I made you run up and down the hill because without strength of lung and limb, your sword might as well be a feather pillow."

He bent my left knee back with a jab from his scabbard. He was making sense, but this was not what I had asked for. I bet Edmund would have dealt with me more gently.

"And this… I ask you to do, because if you can't hold the sword in a peaceful courtyard after just three laps of running, you wouldn't be able to swing it in the field of battle, facing hostile foes and encumbered by mail and plate."

My sweat tickled. It ran in rivulets down my arms, soaking into the leather grip, until I was sweating like a spring. I shivered from head to toe, even when I didn't feel cold. I was starting to feel lightheaded. I had been exhausted before but not for an hour straight.

The river debacle was mostly me riding the current. During the greenskin battle, the actual time I spent swinging the sword shouldn't have lasted more than ten minutes. This was the first time I had pushed myself this way.

Still, I was impressed that while my body had had enough, my mind was not yet breaking. Maybe because my [Pain Tolerance] trait was giving me the exhaustion but without the pain. Or maybe because this was no comparison to what I had been forced to endure before.

Just as that thought settled in my head, I heard a ding. One I had last heard in Castor.

[Trait Acquired: Second Wind]

[Condition Met: Prolonged physical exertion under severe physical exhaustion and significant stamina depletion]

[Effect: When stamina falls below 10% of the maximum while the user is still in active motion, the body unlocks latent reserves. Immediately restores 25% of maximum stamina and temporarily suppresses fatigue penalties for 20 minutes. Can only be triggered once before full recuperation is achieved]

At once, the shivering and the lightheadedness stopped. As my arms and legs seemed to slightly lighten, I straightened firmly with the stance. There was still the exhaustion, but it was back to a bearable level.

I saw Leofric's horrified face, and only then noticed that I was smiling. It brought me pleasure to see his reaction. He must have thought I was nearly done for.

He watched me for a little longer before he finally said something.

"I am impressed, Master Devon. You can now drop the stance. Our morning lessons are complete," he told me.

I grinned. "Ten minutes more, Leofric. I think I am starting to like this."

"All… Alright…"

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