Though it wasn't as nice looking as Central Harrend, it was still a decent size for a village nonetheless. Unfortunately, Rey didn't have the luxury to go explore the village, but luck was on his side when he saw a carriage driver waiting outside of the village, looking for a client.
The carriage was a small one that didn't even have the wood painted. It was being pulled by skinny little horses that looked like they were barely being kept from starvation. Still, as long as they got Kairen to safety, that was all Rey cared about.
Rushing to the driver, Rey, calculated a tip to ensure that the driver rushed her home before the girl finds herself in any more trouble.
"Good day, Young Healer! May I take you and your pretty young wife anywhere?" The old man asked with an amiable smile.
When the two heard the question, Kairen simply blushed while Rey just scratched the back of his head bashfully.
"Uh, just her for today, kind sir. How much is the fare to take her to East Harrend?" Rey asked, not bothering to correct the old man that he and Kairen weren't married, as it'd be too much to explain.
"That'll be 50 Copper, Young Healer." The driver said simply. Though it may be expensive for others, for Rey who was slightly wealthy at the moment, it was an acceptable price.
"Here, take this Silver coin and get her home safely as fast as you can." Rey said as he pulled out a Silver coin from his robe.
When the old man saw the coin, he was quite shocked, as he would typically have to travel days to another city and back to earn this amount. That was why he grew a huge smile on his face and swore to make the young Healer and his wife as happy as possible.
"Of course, Young Lord! Once I get the horses ready, we'll be good to go! Your wife can go ahead and sit in the back, and we'll be off any second!" The old man said excitedly as he suddenly moved like he was a young man.
Helping Kairen onto the back of the carriage, Rey was surprised when Kairen turned around, held his face, and pulled him into a deep, passionate kiss. To the random onlooker, the two truly looked like husband and wife sending each other off. When they pulled back from each other, Kairen still held Rey's face as she stroked the side of his mane almost lovingly, and stared into his deep green eyes even more tenderly.
"I truly don't know how to thank you, Rey. You've done more for me and have shown me more care in a span of a few hours than my own family has my whole life. I have never met anyone like you before, but I'm glad it's you who I stumbled into today." Kairen said with a soft smile.
"Well, how else is a young husband supposed to treat his beautiful 'Wife'?" Rey asked playfully as they both shared a laugh.
"We're all ready to go up here!" They heard the old man yell from the coachman's seat.
"Well, this is where we part. Unless you want to come stay with me in my manor? I'm sure we can have even more fun playing husband and wife there." Kairen suggested with a sultry smile and a mischievous glint in her eye.
"You're definitely going to get me in trouble one day," Rey laughed before giving Kairen a quick hug and stepping back. "But I'm probably already in hot water with my mentor, and I don't want to know how angry he'd get if I suddenly ran away with a pretty girl. But, you don't live far and I'm not leaving this place for a long while. I'm sure we'll have plenty of chances to see each other soon." Rey said, excited to see this interesting girl soon.
When he could no longer see the carriage riding off into the distance, Rey let out a heavy sigh and turned around only to freeze, breaking out into a cold sweat. Standing before him was Harris with a wooden sword strapped to his hip and another in his hand, and he did not look happy.
"Not only are you late, but I catch you galavanting around and flirting with royals while Rory is home sick worried about you." Harris said, his muscles flexing while an aura the was visible to the naked eye exuded out of him. He was pissed.
Knowing that Harris was already mad, Rey knew that lying would only make things worse, so he told Harris the whole truth and left nothing out. When Harris heard that Rey ran into a group of bandits and managed to get away without even a fight, he was quite surprised, but didn't show it on his face. Though he was a warrior, he would much rather avoid danger than fighting needlessly, so he was glad his new apprentice had the same thoughts.
That meant if he and Rory ever got into danger in the future, he wouldn't jeopardize her safety just to get in a pointless fight. His anger also lowered when he heard that Rey not only was able to earn for himself financially, but also took the time to buy Rory a present, something she didn't get often since Harris was very cheap.
When it got to the part where Rey decided to not take advantage of the girl and even used his own money to make sure that she got home safely, he was no longer angry, but proud of his new apprentice for acting like a real man.
"Hmm, sound like you had quite a busy day. Fine, I guess I won't break you in training like I planned. But you still have to train. If you're going to start involving yourself with royals, you're going to need the training more than ever." Harris said as he turned and started walking off, Rey following a few seconds later.
As Rey was happy that he wouldn't be punished in training, something that Harris said finally registered in his mind. "Royal? What do you mean getting involved with royals?" Rey asked, suddenly feeling like he may have made some huge mistake unknowingly.
"You mean you didn't- ah, that amnesia of your is definitely going to be troublesome for you. Every royal of Pruvia has two distinct features, lad. They're light blue hair and their cold grey eyes. The one you were just busy tongue-wrestling with was none other than the black sheep daughter of Pruvia's King, Princess Kairen Pruvia." Harris said as the farmhouse became visible in the distance.
"H-huh? You must been mistaken, Old Man. Y-you mean she's the daughter of some random noble, and her name was definitely just Kairen when I asked." Rey corrected, refusing to acknowledge what Harris just said.
"No, lad, I'm afraid that was definitely the second princess of Pruvia you were tongue tied with. King Francis has 3 sons and only 2 daughters, the other only being a 12 year old little girl." Harris said, sealing Rey's fate.
Rey froze where he stood as a myriad of emotions overtook him. Harris didn't seem like the type to joke around or lie, so that meant that Kairen, the beautiful half-elf girl he saved and had been nearly falling for was actually a princess. A storm of emotions filled Rey as his mind nearly went blank.
Though he didn't discriminate against classes and believed every one deserved love, everyone who's ever read or seen any story anywhere knows that getting involved with a princess always meant getting wrapped up in bullshit, especially a black sheep princess like the one he was dealing with.
Looking back and seeing Rey nearly about to have a mental meltdown, Harris sighed heavily and decided to throw him a lifeline.
"Look, lad. I don't know if this helps or makes it worse, but I do remember Princess Kairen had always been cast aside by the royal family, as she is the only child of King Francis's second wife, who was apparently the most beautiful elf anyone has ever seen. But, she died giving birth to Kairen, which made Francis resent her. He is also notoriously racist, and made Kairen hide her ears and live her life as a human, denying who she really is," Harris confessed, but when he saw Rey still frozen, he decided to continue.
"From what I know, Kairen never agreed with her father's views and said that she should be proud of who she is and that denying her elf heritage would be like denying her mother. She did as she was asked for many years, but I heard she recently wanted to come out and reveal her Half-Elf race to the people, hoping that when people saw that even the princess they loved wasn't fully human, the people would start changing their views and how they treat non-humans. Unfortunately, I heard the king sent her away as a result of her intentions." Harris said, bringing Rey out of his stormy thoughts with a guilty expression.
Though Kairen was apparently a princess, not only was she trying to risk her own livelihood to fight racism, but she was also practically disowned by the royal family, which should make it safe to be with her. But, that still didn't mean that it was completely safe to mess around with her, as her not being in the King's favor and him clearly not being human could potentially cause him even more trouble. He wanted to relax and enjoy this new life as much as he could, and potentially being in the cross-hairs of a king would make that very difficult.
Needing a distraction, Rey was suddenly very eager to begin his training. Heading straight to the wide grasslands on the side of the farm, Rey saw a large training ground full of equipment that he didn't notice the night before thanks to the darkness. Though he was surprised, it made sense to Rey that there was a training ground there. There was no way that Harris could maintain the body he has otherwise.
As they walked onto the training ground, Rey barely noticed some strange drawings that looked eerily similar to Runes, but he pushed that thought to the back of his mind. It was highly unlikely that a magic hater like Harris would use anything involved with it. In the middle of the training ground, they walked into a large white circle with a thick line splitting it in half, showing that it was some kind of fighting ring.
Without saying a word, Harris tossed Rey the wooden sword he was carrying in his hand and stood on the opposite side of the ring. Though he needed a distraction and Harris said that he wasn't angry anymore, something told Rey that he was about to be in a world of hurt.
"You said you have a family martial art, right? Tell me it's name." Harris ordered as he cracked his neck
"It's called, The Vicious Reed, but I was never that good at it to be honest." Rey said, as he stretched his limbs, certain that Harris would ask for a demonstration.
Rey wasn't lying, he truly wasn't that good, no matter how much his family tried to drill the style into him, or how many times he used it in VR. Vicious Reed was a deadly, physically demanding martial art that mixed Capoeria and Krav Maga. It focused on fast, unpredictable movements and precise deadly strikes to finish the enemy. Since Rey was never as serious about it as his family, he never trained his body as hard to where he could use the style effectively. But, with his new Beastian body, he just might be able to perform it like never before.
"Hmm, show me what you have. I need to see what I'm working with. Also, don't hold back. There are arrays around this area that not only aids in your training, but heals all serious injuries." Harris said as he waited for Rey to make his move.
Though Rey was shocked at Harris using something magic related, now wasn't the time to think about that. With the knowledge that he'll be healed if he gets hurt, Rey took a deep breath as he pulled the wooden sword from it's sheathe. Though the sword wasn't his preference, Rey was trained in a multitude of weapons, so he had some familiarity with it.
Bending his knees slightly, spreading his legs as he bounced lightly from one foot to the other, Rey cautiously started shuffling towards Harris. When he got within striking range, he decided to test the waters by flipping the sword in his hands to a reverse-grip and delivering a wide diagonal slash. Seeing this, Harris easily blocked the slash with just the hilt of his sword, which was still in it's sheathe.
What Harris didn't expect was for Rey to follow through with the momentum and perform a jumping cartwheel, sending a powerful kick to Harris' chest while mid-air. Landing in a low stance, Rey never stopped moving, as he quickly braced his hands on the ground while giving a twirling kick to Harris' leg's, trying to trip him. Unfortunately, Harris used his fast speed and reflexes to merely stepped out of range, making Rey miss. Still, Rey's motion never stop.
This was the essence of this martial art, fast, constant, unpredictable movements that allowed you to take your opponent off guard. Thanks to the nature of the style, an opponent could predict your next move like with other styles, which was detrimental to most fighters.
After another series of kicks and flips, Rey jumped to land on his feet before he dashed close to Harris. Now that he was within striking range of Harris, still bobbing around, Rey sent a quick thrust of the sword to Harris's face, showing no hesitation like he asked. As Harris leaned backwards to avoid the length of the sword, he failed to notice the kick sent straight to his kneecaps, making him stumble back slightly.
"Stop." Harris called out, which Rey happily complied with. He was breathing heavily and sore from the areas that Harris managed to block against, meanwhile Harris didn't make a single attack and looked perfectly fine.
Both Rey and Harris were surprised and impressed with what Rey was able to do. If Rey's grandfather could see him now, he'd be very impressed.
"That style you have is definitely dangerous and troublesome to deal with. It's unpredictability makes any situation adaptable to you, but it also makes it nearly impossible to deal with for your opponent. Couple that with the deadly strikes and holds I saw you try to perform, you have one hell of a martial art on your hands. You should be proud, lad." Harris said genuinely, which put a broad smile of Rey's face
He had never been proud of the Vicious Reed before and actually found it annoying that his family kept forcing him to learn it. But, now that a hidden boss like Harris praised it so highly, Rey quickly began to change his views on it.
"But, there is one glaring problem I see," Harris said, immediately dashing Rey's excitement. "The style seems to place heavy focus on speed, strength and mostly importantly, endurance. All things you possess naturally due to your race as a Beastian. But, you are still a Commoner. If you were you go against a Advance or even a Novice, they would be able to defeat you easily no matter how hard you train. Until you increase the level of your cultivation, you won't be able to use that style to it's fullest." Harris admitted, giving Rey the cold, hard truth.
Deep down, Rey knew that he was right. His limitations were what held him back in his past life from using the style. But that didn't mean he didn't feel bitter about being held down by his circumstances.
"But, I've yet to learn magic from master Jory yet! How am I supposed to increase my cultivation and get stronger?!" Rey complained. He felt unwilling to be bogged down, and wanted to shatter through his own weakness. He just didn't know how.
"Lad, cultivation isn't centered around magic and it's mana, it's center around energy, and there is far more energy in this world then just magic." As Harris said this, an explosive energy burst out of Harris. The energy aura was so thick and potent, is was visible to the naked eye. It looked as though powerful blue flames were raging all over Harris's body, yet neither him or anything around him burned.
"This energy I'm using is called Chi, and this is what you're going to learn to use when you increase your cultivation." Harris said as a rare smirk appeared on his bearded face.