Chapter 11: Student

When it was time for the sun to set, the children bid farewell one by one. The originally bustling house quieted down and only Sherry, Dylan and George remained.

"It looks like the swelling has gone down." Sherry replaced the icepack on George's ankle and commented. George smiled and moved his ankle a little. At the moment, Sherry phone vibrated. "Hello?" Sherry answered the phone and asked.

"Yes, he's doing fine. Mhm, no don't worry it about. Alright, you see in a bit, Mrs Mason." Sherry hung up and spoke to George. "Your mum is coming over right now. Why don't you talk to Dylan while you wait."

George glanced at the man sitting beside him. Dylan was looking at him with kind eyes filled with expectation. He was like a golden retriever waiting patiently with his tail wagging behind him for him to throw the ball. "Um, you were really cool when you did the thing with the sword. I really admired that." George confessed, a faint blush appeared on his cheeks. His eyes glittered with respect and idolisation.

"He said that you looked cool when you demonstrated your swordsmanship." Sherry translated in Divian.

Dylan smiled and gentle pat George on the head with his big and warm hands. "Thank you." He said in awkward English. George smiled and timidly nod his head.

"H-how can you move like that? It was like you were dancing. It was pretty." George upped his confidence and asked. He had always admired the strong and desired to become strong himself. But the people around him also treated him like he was weak and frail, it was displeasing. He was a man, not some delicate porcelain doll.

Sherry chuckled. "He asked how you move around like that. He said it looked like you were dancing, very pretty."

Dylan scratched his cheek with a sheepish grin. "I trained my body a lot and learnt a lot of different martial arts"

Sherry translated for them again. "He says he trained a lot."

"If I train like him, would I also be able to do that?" George asked with sparkling eyes.

"This..." Sherry hesitated. She'd seen Dylan train a few times before. He got up before dawn broke and swung his sword until the sun came up. Then he'll run in the mountains until it was time to eat breakfast. After that, it was push ups and sit ups and planks and weights and everything else. Then, in the afternoon, there were duels with the other royal knights and group fights, 1 vs many. Not only that, Dylan would so train in hand to hand combat, so he could punch and use him legs freely. "Dylan trained for a really long time in the mountains so I don't think you will be able to the same training but I'm sure if you train for long enough, you'll eventually be able to dance around like him." Sherry encouraged with a smile.

George nodded with a radiant smile and thought about all the cool things he'll be able to do when he was strong. On the side, Dylan waited for Sherry to translate for him. When he heard what they talked about, he laughed and said, "I can train him. A promising man like this can't be ignored. Even if he can't achieve the same results, he'd at least be able to protect himself."

"You're going to train him personally?" Sherry asked.

"Yes. Who else would?"

"That, well, I guess that's true. He'll have to know of the hardships the world has to offer eventually anyways." Sherry spoke, a shadow of trauma eluding from her presence.

"Aren't you glad, George. Dylan had agreed to train you himself. This is an opportunity hard to come by, you know?" Sherry told George. The little boy was so happy that he almost blinded the duo with happiness.

"Yay! Thank you!" The polite boy didn't forget his thanks. His excitement caused him to warm up to Dylan and no longer display his shyness towards him.

"It'll be tough." Dylan putting on a joking stern attitude while Sherry translated for him. George also copied and saluted. The three of the laughed and got along despite the language barrier.

Dingdongdingdong. The doorbell rang, signalling the end of their time together. Sherry went to get the door while Dylan helped George up.

"Good evening Mrs Mason." Sherry opened the door and said. George's mother, Lily was a beautiful lady with grace and and air of intelligence. She wore attire suitable for an office and looked motherly and kind.

"Sorry for bothering you Sherry. I hope George behaved himself." Lily said with an apologetic smile. "I got you a gift for all the trouble." In her hands was a box of cookies, the special ones that grandmas like to put their sewing kit in. Sherry gratefully accepted it and invited the woman in.

Lily shook her head. "Thank you but my husband is coming home from work soon, so I have to prepare for dinner."

Just then, Dylan helped George to the entrance and also helped him to wear his shoes. Lily saw the unfamiliar man wander about in Sherry's house casually and her antenna for gossip shot up. The corners of her mouth lifted into a teasing grin. "Who's the handsome man? Your boyfriend?"

Sherry's face flushed with red. She shook her head and waved her hands in a fluster. "No, no, he's just a friend. He's from abroad and has nowhere to go, so I offered to let him stay for a bit."

"Hmm." Lily's eyes narrowed in a not believing way. "Nice to meet you, I am George's mother, Lily Anderson."

Dylan could only half understand what she said, but seeing the outstretched hand and hearing the familiar words, he subconsciously took her hand and lightly kissed the back of it. "My name is Dylan Von Kaiser. Please, call me Dylan."

"Oh my, he's a lady killer, isn't he." Lily bashfully claimed. Dylan looked absolutely dashing from the moment she saw him and his gentlemanly actions and charming temperament just upped her impression of him. The young mother acted like a neighbourhood aunty and teased Sherry. "You better get a grip of him before someone else snatches him up."

"Mrs Mason!" Sherry exclaim with a blushed face. Dylan glanced at George with no idea what was going on but George just shrugged.

"Well then, see you next time, Sherry, Dylan." Lily waved goodbye and left with George in hand.