บท 26: New Routine
Just before I started to run away from her, she brought up another question.
"Where did you get that practice weapon? I don't see any other around here. And weren't you doing some strange motions earlier? What was the purpose of that?"
It was much too bothersome to go about describing the purpose of stretching before a workout, so I just answered the other.
"I'm not sure where you get something like this. I was required to spar with some people yesterday and they got it for me."
"Hmm, could you point out these people for me?"
I typically didn't see them around the training grounds, but today, there were others going through punishment training. All those slackers that were late before we left for the mountains were now being taught a lesson. Thinking back, I found it kind of funny that I jumped the queue to receive my punishment first. I guess Bruno really didn't like me after all.
"They are the ones beating up that poor guy over there."
I pointed towards the pitiful spars that were taking place. Seeing the unfortunate trainee on the ground and in pain, I started to sympathize.
Looking towards who I pointed out, Adele nodded her head.
"Then I will ask them."
I was a bit curious as to how this situation would go, so I followed after her.
As we approached, I could hear the painful moaning of the trainee. Yeah, I definitely knew that pain. At least at some point it all starts to just blur together. It feels like all you know is pain and then before you realize its already over.
I continued being distracted by my sympathy until we arrived.
"Excuse me gentlemen. I was wondering if you knew where I could get a practice weapon like this man's."
She pointed back towards me.
One of them looked over at us with a disgusted expression.
"What you want to train to be useless just like the old man huh? Go away we are busy."
I was very surprised seeing his attitude. Did he not know that she was from the Red Eyes?
"Shut the hell up man. Didn't you hear what Bruno said?"
The man who just spoke shoved the other's shoulder. He frowned for a bit trying to remember what the fuss was all about. Soon though, his eyes widened.
"What did you say your name was again, miss?"
I looked over at Adele to see if I could guess her expression, but was surprised to see how non-emotional she looked. This was a stark contrast as to when she interacted with me.
"It's Adele."
"Mad Dog Adele!"
Immediately after his outburst, the more sensible one punched him in the face. He then turned to Adele and bowed deeply.
"I sincerely apologize for his behavior. Please have mercy on us."
Mad dog huh? I guess that would probably have something to do with her undying loyalty to that Zoran guy. Just what had she done in the name of serving him to make these people act like this?
"Please, pay it no mind. Believe it or not, you have actually helped me in my mission by treating me like you would the hero. Do keep in mind though, never do that again."
"Yes! We understand. It won't happen again. Let us get you that training weapon right away."
He then stopped bowing and turned to the other one with a furious expression.
"Go get another one right away. You better run as if your life depended on it."
The man was still on the ground after being punched.
"But there isn't another one. If they hadn't created a wood version of every weapon possible just for completion's sake, we wouldn't have been able to get one for the old man either. Nobody uses that kind of weapon."
"Don't you understand the situation yet? I don't care if you have to personally chop down a tree and make it yourself, go get one."
The man on the ground was looking quite overwhelmed until Adele spoke once more.
"It's fine, I only wanted to ask if you had it available. Sorry to trouble you."
I was amazed at how emotionless all of her words were. There wasn't even an indication that she was fed up with the situation. Just a simple sentence stating her point of view.
With that, she turned and started walking away, never once indicated that she was inconvenienced. I didn't really need to, but I decided to follow her.
When we were a decent bit away from the others, she let out a sigh.
"Is that how you have been treated around here this whole time? How can you put up with it all?"
She looked over at me with genuine pity or maybe it was concern in her eyes. This whole demeanor was a stark contrast to her emotionless state earlier.
"Well I'm kind of just used to it. It's not like it matters anyway."
"It doesn't matter? What do you mean? How does that kind of discrimination not bring you rage?"
"When you get to a certain age, things like that just stop mattering so much."
She frowned at my words.
"So, it's an age thing. I will have to discuss this with master."
She immediately turned away and took out an orb from who knows where. I recognized it as the same artifact that Bruno used to communicate over long distances. Seeing her pull out this artifact, I just shook my head. What was she going to ask her master about this right now? Was it really the proper time to do so?
She channeled some of her soul energy into the artifact and spoke. Seeing that, I guess this soul mana was able to work in the same was as regular mana. Why did it feel so different then?
"This is Adele reporting. I require a wooden weapon in the shape of a polearm to be made as soon as possible. I also request a meeting with master to discuss important mission information."
"Understood."
A voice came out of the orb, surprising me quite a bit. An organization as powerful as the Red Eyes still used an artifact that was basically on speaker phone? I figured they would have something much more discrete.
She turned back to me once more.
"I'm sorry for all of this. I should have prepared better beforehand. If I was assigned this mission in the first place and wasn't a last-minute replacement for that incompetent fool, then I'm certain that I would have foreseen this issue."
I was still surprised at how readily she showed emotions when talking with me. Was this her real self or simply a projection in order to complete her mission?
"It's fine. It isn't like it affects me at all."
"Please, return to your daily routine. Don't mind me at all."
I nodded and prepared to run once more. This whole thing hadn't taken too long so I didn't feel like I needed to stretch again. I just held my polearm in the most comfortable position I could find and then started to run around the perimeter of the training grounds.
As expected, it was very awkward to run with a weapon. It was not only about the added weight, but also the shifted center of balance. The polearm in particular was also very long, adding to the awkwardness. In combat, that range was a huge advantage, but when just running, it forced me to put in extra effort to lift it up and prevent it from scraping against the ground.
After around the halfway point of running a lap, I noticed just how easy my body was able to take the stress. Even with the added weight, I felt like I could run like this for the entire day and only barely get tired. This was nothing like the intensity of the spars that I did yesterday.
Although it was a good thing that I was showing massive improvement in my abilities, I also felt a bit disappointed. If my body was like this, I wouldn't be able to train my mana at all. Simply running to the point of exhaustion would take far too long and might not even work. I needed an intensity so high that it rivaled getting injured.
Maybe I should go disrespect Bruno some more for the punishment.
I was completely lost in my thoughts as I continued my run until I suddenly noticed that I was completely alone. Under normal circumstances, this was very normal, but now I had Adele trying to copy my every move.
I looked around before eventually spotting her. Far back along the perimeter, much closer to the start than to me, I saw her running. Well, I wasn't entirely sure if you could even call that running. She was very awkwardly jogging and obviously struggling with just that. She looked like someone who hadn't worked out in their entire life and then suddenly signed up for a marathon.
Thinking back now, I realized that every time I saw a mage move even remotely fast, they would always use magic to help. The Red Eyes floated around with their soul magic and during the practical training, the mage instructor casted some sort of wind magic on all of the trainees. I wasn't sure of the mechanics behind it at the time, but it did allow everyone in the group of mages to run extremely fast.
However, now I was looking at Adele not using any abilities to help just in an attempt to copy what I was doing. Even when she was presumably at the core stage, she was hopelessly outmatched in terms of physical ability. I doubted she would be able to complete the run and at that pace, she would struggle to finish anything before I moved on to something else.
Despite all that though, she looked very determined. While breathing hard and struggling to move her weak body, she had her two eyes firmly looking forward. I wondered how long she could even keep that up. Physical exhaustion has a tendency to erode even the best motivations. It was still too early to see the extent of her resolve, but I found myself looking forward to it.
If she was able to push past her limits in an attempt to copy me and actually succeed, she would certainly have my respect.
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