Chapter 91: Training

Two days later. In Early morning. Dante stood in the garden behind the little house with the spear in his hand.

The grass was wet. A thin mist lay over the ground, and the fence posts dripped with dew. He drew a slow breath and let it out.

’Two days.’

The first midnight had given him a cracked clay pot and turned it into a Hearth Pot, SSS-rank, able to cook a meal that restored all his stamina. It couldn’t be used in a fight, and it took an hour to make. He had put it in the old ring and not said a word.

The second midnight, a rusted nail. Now it pinned a shadow to the floor for five seconds, once on each target. It failed against anyone stronger than him.

’Small things. But the pot already saved me two bad mornings.’

His body felt different from ten days ago. Gideon had brought more healers, a woman and two assistants from the lower district who didn’t ask questions. They had worked on his stomach and his hand for hours. He had used the Mending Thread twice since waking, once on the first day and again last night. His ribs had closed. The wound in his stomach was a pale scar. His right hand still ached when he made a fist, but it closed.

[Vajra Mirror Body: Offline.]

’I could turn it on. but I won’t.’

It had made him soft. The Mirror Body took every hit for him, and he had stopped dodging, stopped hardening, The first time it failed, he had nearly died. He wanted his body to learn that again.

He rolled his shoulders and turned the spear in his hand. The shaft was bent a little. The head was dull. It was a guard’s old spear from a rack by the door, and he didn’t care about it. He just need it to do some training

A footstep came on the grass. He didn’t turn. He knew the step. Esabella stopped in front of him with her whip in her hand.

She wore the same black dress as always, clean now, with the sleeves mended. Her hair loose over her shoulders. The bandage at her collar was gone. She stood straight, and her eyes were clear and gold. Gideon’s healers had worked on her too. She was almost whole, though the core in her chest still pulsed a little unevenly.

She looked at him for a moment. "You’re up early."

"So are you."

She let the whip uncoil on the grass. She glanced at the spear, and then at his face. "What are you thinking?"

He lowered the spear. "I’ve been lying in bed for ten days. Two days up, and I’m still slow. I need to know how much I’ve lost."

She nodded slowly.

"Esabella."

"Yes, my King?"

"Fight me."

Her eyes widened. "Now? Here? "

"The garden’s big enough." Dante said.

She looked around. The grass was wet. The fence was close. A line of morning glories climbed the wall, still closed.

"Your wound," she said. "The healer said you should rest for a week."

"She also said I’d be in bed for a month."

"But–You might hurt yourself."

"Then I’ll heal it again." He planted the spear point in the ground. "I need a partner so i can do some training. I can’t train alone."

She hesitated. She gripped the whip and let go and gripped it again.

"But what if you get hurt? what if i mistakenly hurt you?"

"Esabella." He said it quietly. "I’m not asking you to hurt me, do you don’t want to help me?."

She stared at him a few seconds. Then she nodded once, took a step back, and set her feet. The whip trailed across the grass.

"Promise me If you feel pain you will tell me, I’ll stop," she said.

"Okay, Promise."

She breathed out. Behind her, the door open. Yenna floated out, with the lantern glowing at her wrist and the ring of violet light moving with her.

She stopped a few meters away and settled in the air. "Are you two fighting?"

"Just Sparring," Dante said.

She tucked her knees up and hovered there, her ears pricked and her eyes bright. "Lady Esabella, don’t hold back."

"I’m not holding back." Esabella sighed and lifted the whip.

"Now get Ready!" Dante said.

"...."

He pulled the spear out of the ground and stepped forward.

Esabella’s whip cracked across the grass. Dante tilted his head. The lash went past his ear and snapped the air with a sound. He stepped in, spear low, and drove the butt toward her ribs.

She leaned back. The shaft brushed her dress. He swung the spear around in a wide arc. She ducked under it and flicked the whip at his ankle. It stopped an inch short.

"Sorry! Sorry!"

"What are you doing? Hit me."

"I’m trying!" But She wasn’t. He could see it in her shoulders. Every strike started fast and slowed down in the last hand’s width, as if her arm had been told to stop.

He thrust at her stomach. She caught the shaft in her left hand and held it, her eyes wide. "Did I hurt you?"

"...?...You’re holding my spear."

"I thought you’d..."

"Let go."

She let go. He pulled the spear back and spun, and the heel of the shaft cracked across her thigh. It was a hard hit. She stumbled one step and caught herself. She looked down at her leg, and then at his face, and her eyes filled. "You –You hit me."

"Yes, because we are doing training"

"Oh. okay, as long as it’s my king i don’t mind."

"I hit you Because you can take it."

She wiped her nose with the back of her wrist. She raised the whip again. Her arm shook. And then He came at her.

First Thrust,Then Step and Turn. He moved the way he had on Floor 1, with no skills and nothing in his body except practice. The spear scraped her sleeve, her shoulder, her hip. Every strike stopped a finger short of hurting her.

She backed away. She blocked. She said "sorry" eleven times. Not once did she let the whip land on him.

From above, Yenna called, "Twelve."

Dante lowered the spear and breathed out. ’This isn’t working.’

His left hand was sore. His stomach pulled where the scar was. But the soreness wasn’t the problem. He wasn’t being tested. He was being handled.

"Enough, let’s Stop," he said. She stopped. She stood panting, with her whip trailing in the grass and her gold eyes on his face. "I can’t train like this."

Her face went white. "I didn’t mean to..."

" It’s alright i know you just don’t want to hurt me"

She looked down. Her fingers worked at the whip handle. "I keep–i know you are– i am sorry"

He walked over and stood in front of her. He was close enough to see the new skin at her collar.

"Look at me."

She looked slowly.

"It’s alright– you don’t have to push yourself "

They sat on the garden wall afterward. The mist had burned off, and the morning glories along the fence had opened. Yenna floated at the far end of the lawn with her hands raised, concentrating. A tiny silver thread hung in the air in front of her, and she tugged at it, and it snapped.

"Three," she said under her breath, and wiped her nose.

Esabella rubbed her thigh where the spear had hit. She glanced at Dante.

"My king, Can I ask you something?"