"Kiddo, wake up, don't you want to be a battle master?"
"Kiddo, If you won't wake up now then you will remain as a farmer for the rest of your life"
Farmer, Farmer
Henry muttered in sleep
"Hell no"
Henry woke up with a loud shout,
"Oh, you woke up come on let's spar"
grandpa Luo seemed more enthusiastic about fighting with Henry then Henry himself.
"Senior, once I beat you don't cry, ok"
Henry walked along with grandpa Luo soon they stood at the centre of the crop field facing each other.
Henry was the one to make the first move, grandpa Luo stood there like a statue.
Henry formed a fist with the right hand and moved it towards grandpa Luo's face
"Too straight forward"
grandpa Luo stopped Henry's punch with ease and held Henry's hand tightly
Henry bent a little then rotated both of his legs
"Too late"
Henry said.
grandpa Luo was hit by the legs but he did not move as if he was bitten by a fly hit him
"Too weak "
grandpa Luo easily lifted Henry and threw him down.
"Aaa"
Henry cried out in pain
"Senior, Let me try again"
Henry refused to give up at first he lost to a kid and now he did not want to lose to an old man
My pride will be nothing if I can't defeat an old man
Henry charged with a kick on the right leg of grandpa from sideways, grandpa Luo did not move he stood there until the kick almost collided with his leg
When Henry was about to land a hit on grandpa, grandpa Luo crushed Henry's left feet
"Aww.."
Henry's kick missed and he fell down while his head was bent in front of grandpa Luo.
"Look at you, You can't even defeat this old man but you want to be a Battle Master, Dream on"
Henry backed off and shouted
"I refuse"
then he charged at grandpa Luo again and he was beaten by grandpa again, Henry charged at grandpa once more and this time grandpa beat Henry to a pulp.
"I will visit you daily to spar with you,if you defeat me you are free to become a battle master and if you can't don't forget to have a good harvest before the given time"
Briefing the words, grandpa Luo left the scene.
Henry was tired so he took some rest then, as usual, he visited river for a bath, he did not come back instead he went to Ivar's field and waited for Ivar.
Ivar was late this time and when he came he saw Henry but pretended to not to notice him, Ivar approached the plough and began to pull it.
"Ivar listen to me, let me help you"
After interacting with Ivar Henry realized he is a complicated introvert.
When Henry had free time he used to study about introverts as they are interesting species worth to be studied, people often called them either weird or dull guy and assume introverts as less intellectual but the truth was quite opposite that introverts are more intelligent,it is just that they did not like to show off, they didn't want to argue with fools who can't accept other's opinion and the truth, the con of being introvert is they were more emotional beings,they were mostly antisocial but can't mingle with the people they have met recently.
Without waiting for the approval of Ivar, Henry pushed Ivar aside and started pulling the plough.
When Henry tired Ivar took over the work, after having enough rest Henry forced Ivar to give up the plough again to him.
Afternoon Zen arrived with a pot full of rice and this time he brought it for both Ivar and Henry.
Henry and Ivar both continued to work hard after eating rice.
In the blink an eye 15 days passed, during these days Henry sparred with grandpa Luo on every morning but was not able to defeat him and the rest of the time he spent with Ivar and he did not care about his farm also he developed quite a good relationship with little devils and uncle Gen, Uncle Gen often visited them and even provided them seeds to sow.
On this day Henry was watering the small plants in the field and Ivar stood next to him
"Ivar,I want to visit your mother as I discussed with you yesterday"
Henry declared his intentions, Henry along farming was planning to build a tractor for himself and a wheelchair with hand paddle for Ivar's mother, He did already build the blueprints but he tricked Ivar into contacting his mother reasoning that he needed to see Ivar's mother so he can complete the blueprint.
Ivar simply nodded.
In the evening Ivar and Henry reached the village, Henry felt nostalgic, he was separated from the village only for about 17 days,
but he felt like it has been years may be due to all the sheer amount of physical work he did,
Henry did not realize but he developed quite muscles and there were even signs of forming six-packs.
Ivar showed the way to his home soon they appeared outside a tattered hut,Ivar went in first then he came back indicating Henry to go in.
Henry went in, It was dark inside but there were candles lit at every corner then Henry saw a silhouette sitting on a chair.
When Henry saw her face he could not move his eyes away, she was beautiful and charming and moreover she looked too young.
Henry knew that the women sitting in the chair is none other than Ivar's mother she had no legs but she was charming, attractive and too young to be a mother.
"Too young"
Henry blurted out.
"Hahaa, Hahaa"
The Women smiled with a small laugh
Henry's heart began beating fastly for some unknown reason.
"You must be brother Henry, Ivar talked about you a lot these days, please take a seat"
Ivar prepared a chair for Henry in advance, Henry sat on it.
"Brother Henry, You have just said "Too young", Did you mean that I should be old hag?"
Ivar's mother started teasing Henry.
"I don't dare...."
Henry replied.
"Brother Henry, Why don't you dare? you have never met me till now, How could be you so afraid of me? Do I look very scary?"
Ivar's mother was really hard on Henry.
"No.."
Henry's voice was weak but still can be heard.
"What do you mean by no? So you dare to think me of old hag"
Henry was sweating.
"Haahaaa"
She smiled.
"Brother Henry, don't worry much I was just teasing you"
Her beautiful face sparkled when she said it.
"You can call me sister Zia,I ain't much older than you as I am just 24,I became a mother early because I was married at 16 and gave birth to Ivar at 17"
"Sister Zia, if you don't mind, may I ask you something"
"Of course"
"Sister Zia, you are too beautiful"
Henry blushed when he said it and he continued
"Even though you have lost your legs, there would be a line of people who will be ready to marry you, Haven't you ever thought about it?"
Hearing Henry, Zia fell silent then she looked at Ivar who was standing beside Henry.
"Ivar could you go out and play"
Ivar understood his mother's intentions and left the scene.
Zia looked at Henry and then she narrated
"My parents were very good to me, they loved me a lot, I had very great memories with them until my mother died,I was small just around 8 years old,I was sad but this did not hurt me much,For me the real hell began when my father remarried, My step mother is a vile woman, she married my father for the sake of property, she treated me worse than human, she used to cook food and hide them from me, she used to feed me only the left overs from the last night and when she had a kid,she began treating me more worse, she treated me like a slave,she used to abuse me and made me to take care of the little kid,while I was starving,I have to feed the small child with cooked and hot food and my father he was happily leaving with his new family and did not even bother about me,she wanted to get rid off me so she forced me to marry to an 40 year old guy fortunately my husband turned out to be good,he was very understanding and even let me pursue my dream to be a battle master but three years ago....."
she started crying
Henry felt guilty for asking that question.
"Sorry, I could not control.."
Zia after she realized she looked to be weak to Henry controlled herself
"I understand"
Henry was really feeling sorry for her,the actual goal of him coming here was to ask about the battle of woods but he did not want to ask about it anymore
"I don't my child to go through the same phase as me,so I decided to be single"
she finally answered Henry's question.
"I request you to look after Ivar and don't let him overwork"
"please"
Zia was not a young woman when she talked about Ivar she would become a loving mother and she pleaded Henry.
"Sister Zia, you do not need to plead me, Ivar is like my brother I will definitely take care of him"
Henry assured Zia.
"Thank you"
Zia thanked Henry then she called out
"Ivar, Ivar please give some water to brother Henry"
"No, no. I will take my leave"
Henry rushed out after saying goodbye to Zia.
When Henry came back outside he saw Ivar.
Henry said his goodbye to Ivar and returned to his farm.