Nick groaned as he opened his eyes, someone was pounding on his door. "Who is it?" He groggily called out.
"A letter for you, sir." A butler said from behind the door.
"Just... slide it under the door." Nick grumbled and turned over.
"Yes, sir." Nick could hear the faint sound of a letter being pushed under his door. Over the course of the next thirty minutes Nick tried to get back to sleep, but he was unable to. Usually he could wake up and go back to sleep within minutes but for some reason his body was refusing to sleep.
"Well, I guess I'll get up then." He mumbled to himself, sitting up as he rubbed his eyes. Seriously, who the hell is sending me letters? I only know one person who doesn't work in this castle and I seriously doubt Trak is the kind of guy who sends letters. Nick stood up and walked over to the envelope, picking it up. Letters bring back bad memories...
Nick slowly opened the envelope and took out the letter, as he looked over it he found out it was from someone named 'Lord Sebastian Blackwood' and it was inviting him to dinner at 5 in the afternoon. The letter was a formal invitation and if he showed it to a butler then the butler would take Nick to the correct room. "This is suspicious..." Nick had never heard of anyone with that name and last time he went where a mysterious letter told him to go he got stabbed. However, he realized that it would be stupid to kill him after formally inviting him to dinner.
Nick sighed and put the letter away in his desk before getting ready for his training. He put on his sleeveless hoodie and basketball style shorts and made his way to the bath. During his bath and breakfast he did what he usually did, he coated himself in his mana to train. He could keep himself coated in mana for most of the day now. However, this time he was using healing magic. during his entire morning routine he was healing himself. He was able to keep up a constant full body healing for around two hours.
It was low level healing magic so it did not take much mana, but it also did not heal fast. Nick hoped that it would be enough. After killing some more time, Nick made his way to his training. His training with Kane progressed normally for about an hour and a half until Kane decided it was time to switch things up. "Alright, as I said I would, I will dedicate the rest of the time to teaching you how to use a sword." Nick had almost forgotten about that.
Kane walked over to a container that held multiple practice swords with rounded edges and points. "We will start out with the wooden swords, they are lighter so they are easier for a novice to use. As time goes on we will use heavier and heavier swords to help build up muscle in the areas where you need it. However, for today we are mostly going to focus on how to handle a sword properly. If you don't know how to handle a sword properly you are a danger to yourself as well as others."
"Alright." Nick reached out and caught the sword that Kane threw to him. It looked to be a generic long sword, though it was made out of a lightweight wood. Overall the sword only weighed about two pounds. "How well will these lessons translate to different swords, like short swords?"
"Once you get good with a long sword you shouldn't have much trouble with other types of swords as long as they are similar in style. Different styles require different techniques." Kane said, grabbing one of the heavier looking metal swords. The sword was not sharp or pointy, but Nick knew it was going to hurt to be hit by that.
"Why aren't you using a wooden sword?"
"It's more fair this way. Also this hurts a lot more than a wooden sword, it should help you remember what I teach you. Besides, I heard that you can apparently use healing magic, so you can practice by healing all of the bruises I am going to give you." Kane smiled, but it was a sadistic smile.
"Of course..." Nick sighed, getting into a fighting stance. He was really not looking forward to being smacked around by Kane.
The next two hours passed by slowly, Kane taught Nick the basics of how to handle a sword for the first hour and he spent the second hour sparring with Nick. At every opening Kane would smack Nick with his sword and give him instructions and advice on how to improve. By the end of the second hour Kane must have smacked Nick over a hundred times. "Did you really have to hit me so hard?" Nick winced as he sat down on the floor.
"Of course, pain is a great motivator. The only way to avoid the pain is to improve as fast as possible." Nick rolled his eyes at Kane's reasoning, even though it was true. Nick was forced to try a lot harder in an effort to avoid any more pain. "When you have the time I expect you to practice. Every gym in the castle has swords you can practice with and dummies to practice on."
The mention of the gym made Nick remember what happened with the girl the Night before. Nick groaned, he was not looking forward to having to apologize to her. Technically he didn't have to, but he felt like he needed to. "Alright, I will think about it once I heal. Even breathing hurts right now."
Breathing hurting wasn't an exaggeration, Kane had hit Nick in the ribs numerous times. "Well, you can work on healing that while you make your way to Rolfe, now get going." Kane motioned to the door and Nick groaned as he got up and left. Every step he took sent a wave of pain through his body. He was glad that Rolfe didn't focus on physical training.
For an hour of the time he was with Rolfe he focused on healing his injuries. For the rest of his training Rolfe had Nick practice using both shock magic and healing magic at the same time, which was a little bit tricky. Nick was completely drained by the third hour of his training with Rolfe, so the last hour of his training was just him resting and regaining his mana. Getting used to this new training routine was going to be hard for him.
After his training for the day was done Nick grabbed his invitation letter and found a butler to take him to where he was supposed to go. The butler took him to the second floor where a lot of nobles lived, it was a lot nicer looking than the floor he lived on. At quarter to five the butler stopped and pointed out the room that Nick was going to, he just had to knock and show whoever opened the door his invitation. Nick took a deep breath and approached the door, knocking softly.
"Coming." He heard someone say on the other side of the door.
Hold on, that voice... Oh, fuck.
The door slowly opened to reveal the woman who had yelled at him the day before. Her eyes widened before she recoiled in disgust. "Stalking now? Get out of here before I call the guards." The woman slammed the door in Nick's face before he had a chance to reply.
After a couple of seconds he could hear people talking inside before the door opened again. When the door opened he was greeted by a tall man with long, shiny, black hair and bright red eyes. "Sorry about that, I didn't tell Alyssa that I invited you. Come on in." The man, who Nick assumed was Sebastian, opened the door and motioned for Nick to enter.
"Alright..." Nick slowly entered, Alyssa was nowhere in sight. Nick assumed she retreated to her room.
"You are early, so dinner isn't ready yet. How about I give you a tour?" Nick turned around and looked at the smiling man, this all felt weird to him.
"Sure..."
Sebastian gave Nick a quick tour of his room, which was really more like a small house. There was a large kitchen, a living room, a dining room, two bedrooms, three bathrooms, and a few small closets for storage. Nick's room had a main room and a bathroom, but this room had everything a house would normally have. Nick was extremely envious of the living conditions for nobles compared to his own. "The food should be finished, shall we eat?"
Nick nodded and followed the man to the dining room where three plates were set out. The table was large but only had three chairs, if they wanted they could sit a dozen people at this table. Nick sat down in one of the chairs and Sebastian sat next to him. He could guess who would be sitting in the chair directly across the table. After a couple minutes, Alyssa entered the dining room.
Nick looked up at her, she was wearing the same clothes she had worn when working out. Nick was also still wearing the clothes he had been working out in, but it hadn't occurred to him until he was already here that he should have changed into more formal clothes. Alyssa shot Nick a death glare when she caught him looking and he quickly averted his gaze. "Do I really have to eat at the same table as this damn pervert?"
"Please, Alyssa, watch your language around our guest." She rolled her eyes at his words as she sat down, moments later two chefs exited the kitchen carrying covered plates of food. They placed the plates down before removing the cover, once it was removed Nick instantly recognized the smell of steak. It had been a while since he has had steak. His mouth almost started to water at the smell.
"It looks wonderful." Sebastian said, as Nick looked at their plates he noticed something odd. Their steaks weren't cooked, they were completely raw. Nick's face contorted in confusion, causing Sebastian to laugh. "Ah, you must not have figure it out yet." Sebastian opened his mouth and pointed to his canines which were elongated and sharp.
Nick's eyes widened as he put two and two together. They were Vampires. "I see you figured it out, but don't worry, we don't eat humans. Nor would we be allowed to even if we did." Sebastian's reassurance did nothing to ease Nick's mind. "Besides, it would be suicide to eat this kingdom's greatest asset, so you can rest easy."
Nick took a deep breath and relaxed a little, looking between Sebastian who was grinning and Alyssa who was already chewing on a piece of raw meat. "Go ahead and eat, they made yours medium." Nick was speechless, so he just cut off a piece of his steak and began to eat. The steak was the best tasting thing he had ever eaten, for a second his feelings of fear were replaced with envy. Nick quickly cut off another piece and began to eat it.
"I'm glad you like it." Sebastian said, chuckling. For the next five minutes they all ate in silence. Once Nick was chewing his last piece of steak a question formed in his mind.
"So, why did you invite me to dinner? You must know how your daughter feels about me." Sebastian laughed and Alyssa rolled her eyes and continued to eat her steak.
"Well, it didn't take long for the story of my daughter yelling at you to circulate through the castle. I thought it was only right that I invite you here tonight to clear the air." It didn't take long for Alyssa to speak up.
"There's no need, he got what he deserved. The little pervert was staring at me while I was working out." Alyssa said with a mouth full of raw beef.
"I'm sure he had his reasons, Alyssa."
"More like lame excuses."
Sebastian closed his eyes and sighed before looking towards Nick. "Well, shall we hear your reason?"
Nick was slightly uncomfortable about being put on the spot like this, especially seeing as he was in front of two vampires. "Ah, well, I have never seen anyone fight like her before. It was interesting to watch. A lot of the time I wouldn't even noticed I was staring."
"That's bullshit and you know it." Alyssa shot Nick another glare, Nick's face turned deep red and he sunk down in his chair.
"He seems sincere enough, I don't see any reason to doubt him."
"Dad, you can't be serious. He's just some perverted kid who likes to stare at women in the gym."
"You aren't much older than he is, Alyssa. Besides, before inviting him here I did a bit of research into him. He is being trained by Kane, so his story makes a bit of sense."
"You have got to be kidding me, this twerp is being trained by the same person who trained the crown prince to fight?" Alyssa was dumbfounded.
"Yep."
"Why would he be training someone who isn't even a noble?"
"It was a request by the crown prince, apparently."
"Why the hell would the crown prince get Kane to train this kid?"
Sebastian shrugged. "I don't know." Sebastian looked towards Nick, it took a second for him to realize that they were waiting for him to explain.
"We met in the bath and talked, I told him that I was trying to get stronger and he told me he would set me up with a trainer." That wasn't exactly true, but it wasn't a complete lie either.
"I don't believe that for a second." Alyssa scoffed.
"Why not? It makes sense. There is no other reason for him to be trained by Kane." Sebastian said.
"Whatever." Alyssa pushed her plate away and stood up. "I'm full, I'm going to the gym." Without even waiting for a reply she stormed off.
Sebastian waited until he heard the door slam shut to start talking. "I'm sorry about that, she can be impulsive."
"It's fine. I was staring at her, so it is my fault regardless of my reasons..."
"True, but she could have handled it differently." After a couple of moments of silence Sebastian changed the subject. "Would you like to stick around for some desert?"
"No, I should probably head back to my room for the night. I appreciate the dinner, I have never had a steak that good."
"Of course, nothing but the best for our guest. Have a good night, Nick."
Nick quickly left and was escorted back to the first floor by a butler. Nick decided it would be best if he didn't go to the gym tonight, even if he could just go to another gym and avoid her. He had an idea for training. Once Nick entered his room he took a deep breath and focused his mana. "Azara."
Flames erupted in the center of his room before slowly dissipating to reveal Azara. "Yes?"
"I was wondering if you could turn into a sword like last time, but this time I want you to be twenty pounds." Azara seemed a bit confused by the odd request, but just shrugged it off.
"Yeah, sure." Azara burst into flames as she became a black bastard sword. "Mind if I ask why?"
"Ah, I just want to train. You can talk normally while we are alone." Nick said, picking up the sword that was once Azara. It was a bit uncomfortable to hold a sword so heavy, but if he got used to the weight he figured that he would improve faster than just practicing with the swords available.
"Maybe you should start out lighter, you could pull a muscle."
"I'll be fine." Nick began to sluggishly swing the sword around, it was a lot harder than he had anticipated. "If I can get used to this weight then I will be a lot faster when I use lighter swords."
"Sure, but if you do too much too soon you will just hurt yourself."
"I found out that I can use healing magic, so I should be fine." Nick was already panting and starting to sweat after only a dozen swings of the twenty pound sword.
"Really? That is interesting..." Azara trailed off, she had a mischievous tone to her voice. "Hmm, then train away."
Until ten o'clock at night Nick trained with the sword, he would train for forty minutes and then heal for twenty before repeating the process. Currently Nick was resting and healing, he was done training for the night. He had noticed a great improvement in his ability to use the twenty pound sword, but he was still swinging the sword so slow that even a child could dodge it. "Man, you have a lot of stamina."
Nick looked over at Azara who was currently sitting on his bed. Since he was done for the night she was no longer in sword form. "A week of this and I should be able to go for a couple hours without stopping."
Azara grinned, opening her mouth to say something before Nick cut her off. "Don't even..."
Azara pouted. "Man, you are no fun. Way too serious."
"Well, you are the one who decided to be my familiar."
"Not like I had a whole lot of choices. Besides, you are interesting in your own way."
"What do you mean?" Nick shot her a curious glance.
"That's a secret." Azara winked and giggled.
"Whatever. You can go for the night." Nick sighed, waving her off.
"Wow, you just use me and toss me aside? I feel violated." Azara giggled. "I'll see you tomorrow, then." Azara burst into flames and disappeared.
Man, demons are a handful. Nick stretched and walked over to his bed, laying down with a relieved sigh. Nick spent the next hour relaxing and healing on his bed before he heard a knock on his door. "Who is it?" He wasn't expecting anyone to come by, he never got visitors. Instead of an answer he just got more knocking. Nick groaned and stood up.
He walked over to his door and opened it, he never would have guessed who was on the other side. "I thought I should apologize for being childish earlier, so, sorry." Alyssa said, though she was not the slightest bit sincere.
It took a second for Nick to compose himself, she was the last person he expected to knock on his door. "Ah, no, it's fine. I should be the one apologizing. I should be able to control myself better."
"Whatever, I'm going now." Alyssa turned and walked away without another word. Nick was satisfied that he at least got to apologize. He went back to his bed and closed his eyes as he once again focused on healing his body. It did not take long for him to drift off to sleep without even realizing it.