Chapter 129: Let’s Play Fruit Ninja

’’Must be just a coincidence, right?’’ Titus tried to find a logical explanation for it.

Their room door’s design wasn’t anything special. It was just a door that could be found in any mansion, the only difference being that it had no handle to open it. Still, even a door without a handle could probably be found somewhere else too.

’’Probably.’’ Celeste agreed with him too, though she only seemed to agree on the surface.

She hadn’t told him about Magna’s dream, since it was something even she herself couldn’t understand.

The connection between the two events felt too strong in her mind, forcing her to think they had to be truly connected.

But unable to find any logical explanation for it, she eventually had to let it go.

’It’s just a coincidence, right?’

—

After finishing his breakfast in the kitchen and answering all the maids’ questions about why he looked so tired and down, Magna finally came out to the garden, to the training field.

It was definitely a weird start to his day, but it wasn’t enough to stop his stat farming.

He pressed lightly on his bandaged wrist and shook it, checking if it was okay.

He wasn’t feeling any pain thanks to Celeste’s treatment. They had some crazy methods that could heal even broken bones in a day or two, so his ankle might have already healed without him even noticing.

He walked straight to the weapon shelf to grab his twin maces and start training.

But when he looked to where the maces should have been, he was taken aback not to find them in their place.

Instead, there was a pair of short swords in their place.

They also looked quite different from the other weapons, more premium, to put it the right way.

Their grips seemed to be wrapped in high-quality black leather, the guards were entirely a dark metallic gray, and the blades looked like they were made from the same dark gray material, appearing quite sharp as well.

Finding them very eye-catching, Magna wanted to try them out, reaching out with both hands.

As soon as he tried to lift them, he felt an incredible weight pulling at his arms.

"Why are these so heavy?"

The question was actually more of a "how" than a "why," since just one of them was already at least two times heavier than yesterday’s maces. According to his estimation, each one weighed around 60 kilograms (132 pounds).

Thankfully, Magna wasn’t the same child he’d been the day before, and thanks to his 54 strength, he managed to lift the short swords.

He even started swinging them, slashing away, and though it took real effort, he still managed to use them effectively.

’Did Titus put them here?’ Magna understood instantly, since these clearly weren’t the kind of weapons you’d find on the weapon shelf at the edge of just any training ground.

Titus probably knew that Magna had chosen the maces precisely because of their weight, so he decided to give him something even heavier to train with while making sure the weapons still resembled his usual choice of daggers.

’I wonder where he is.’ He looked around, hoping to see the man, but he was nowhere in sight.

Last night he had looked very eager to train him again, but even though breakfast time had long passed, he was nowhere to be seen.

Deciding to start warming up while he waited, Magna began his solo training with the new daggers to see how effective they would be.

Moving them was easier than the maces since the short swords’ weight balance was better. Their weight was spread evenly across the whole weapon, with the handles even a touch heavier, making movements like swinging and thrusting easier.

Their length wasn’t bothering him either, since they were just a bit longer than a standard combat knife. Plus, his assassin memories covered this type of short sword as well.

The only problem was that training alone still didn’t let him gain any agility or reaction stats, though his strength and stamina stats started rising again.

While he worked, some maids came by and spotted him in the training area. Knowing how much he could eat, they went back to bring him water, various healthy fresh drinks, plenty of snacks, and fruit.

They even found it quite interesting and entertaining, so they stayed to watch his training.

Magna wasn’t the shy type anymore, so being watched while training didn’t bother him. In fact, with Titus still nowhere to be seen, he decided to get some help from the maids instead.

"Hey, do you want to play a game?" he asked the maids who were watching him like it was some kind of performance.

The sudden question left them momentarily unsure how to respond, but they soon laughed, thinking the child just wanted to play, and agreed.

’’What do you want to play? Tag? Hide and seek?" One of them asked playfully.

’’Nope. Let’s play fruit ninja,’’ Magna answered calmly, walking closer.

He picked up one of the fruits the maids had brought, sitting on the table, and explained.

’’You’ll each get some fruit. You’ll stand around me in a circle and throw them at me randomly, without warning, and I’ll cut them with my daggers.’’

While he explained, he looked very excited, his eyes shining, while the maids’ smiles faltered slightly as they exchanged glances.

It certainly wasn’t the kind of game they expected from a child his age.

Then again, a child his age training for hours with two 60-kilogram daggers wasn’t exactly expected either.

Wanting to at least entertain him, as well as help with his training, they agreed.

Before they started, they realized the fruit they already had wouldn’t be enough, so they rushed back to the kitchen and returned with big crates full of various fruits.

’’Perfect.’’ Magna looked at the fruits with satisfaction, some as small as a thumb, and the biggest as large as Titus’s head.

Also, there were five maids at first, but by the time they returned, their number had already grown to eight, which suited Magna just fine.

After dividing the fruit equally among them, so each maid ended up with an equal share of every kind, he arranged them all in a wide circle and finally stepped into the middle himself.

’’Okay, now start throwing. You can even throw at the same time, just make sure it’s completely without warning.’’

Magna took his position after giving the instructions, then waited.

At first the maids hesitated, and only the ones within Magna’s line of sight started slowly throwing the small fruits in their hands, which Magna cut easily before they could reach him.

But as time passed, watching him swiftly and effortlessly cut every fruit before it could reach him got them caught up in the excitement of the game as well.

Soon, even the maids behind him, hidden in his blind spot, started throwing fruit too.

What started as a simple game quickly turned into quite a challenge for them. After a while, they stopped simply throwing fruit at him and started trying to actually hit him.

The way Magna could instantly notice even the fruit coming at him from behind without warning, as if he had an eye on the back of his head, and cut it down before it reached him, just made the game even more fun.

It wasn’t long before the maids’ laughter began rising across the whole training area too, making the scene feel more like a playful activity.