Mike was in his room once more attempting to do some one-handed push-ups while Orion was lying on his back seemingly asleep as he was moving up and down as best as he could through the pain and aching in his shoulders. Mike wanted to give up but he would not let himself stop there and drop to the floor as he was almost at his 30-minute workout fail time and he wanted to break past that today. So he persevered with a slight burst of energy allowing him to push past the pain and get through his set of one-handed push-ups.
As to why Mike was allowing Orion to lie on his back while doing push-ups was because he felt that he needed to push himself now that things were progressing smoothly with his 'Torture Training' which was what he was calling it. He was not going to call it the Demon exercise something stupid like that since he assumed that name was taken and he did not really want to name it that so he went with something simple and fust named it the 'Torture Training'.
So yeah Orion was lying on Mike's back as he was working out since weights weren't really a thing in this world and Mike did not want to spend the money to purchase something heavy so he decided to use his dog as the weight since he was heavy enough to use as a bodyweight when needed. Orion at first was not happy about being manhandled by Mike and attempted to break free from his grasp when possible but when Mike gave him some extra helpings of food to eat he just accepted his new role and went along with it. This workout was an easier one for Orion to do, unlike the running one since Mike carried him around as he ran through the outer edge of the forest in an attempt to build up speed, stamina, and strength. He kinda hated that one because the first attempt Mike did he ended up dropping Orion on the ground on accident due to his weight.
So yeah Mike was attempting to break past his current limits when all of a sudden he hears a crack and a tear as his body falls to the ground.
He had broken his shoulder and torn something as well but this was not the first time to happen so he has Orion get off him and goes to Dike's room. He knocks with his other arm and soon enough Dike opens it.
"Again?" Dike asks seeing Mikes pained look and limply hanging arm
"Yeah..." Mike says as best he can through the pain as he is holding back the urge to scream in pain
"Alright then..." Dike says as he casts a healing spell on him
A few seconds later the pain in Mike's arm leaves and he can now move it perfectly fine like usual. Mike did not miss the opportunity to see the mana that Dike was using to heal him since he could not utilize mana to form spells Mike had to rely on Dike to see spells being cast and to also find some use for this newfound skill.
"Thanks," Mike says as he goes back into his room to continue once again since the spell got rid of his exhaustion as well
"Wait Micheal," Dike says before he could get into his room
"Yes?"
"Come in my room for a moment I need to talk with you," Dike says as he opens the door a bit more allowing Mike to come in
Mike enters Dike room to see that it is the same as his own but he has a slightly nicer desk and drawer but that is it. Mike moves to the bed and sits down while letting Dike take the actual chair in the room for himself.
"So what is it you want to talk about?" Mike asks
Dike does not say anything and just chants a spell and does some hand gestures before he is done doing whatever he was casting.
"Now then Micheal you know why I was sent here to this city right?" Dike asks as he sits in the chair
"Yes you were sent by his majesty the king to investigate the mayor," Mike answers as he had heard from Dike about his mission
"Yes now the reason I have done nothing for the entire time I was assigned here was for two reasons. One was so you could get stronger as there are some dangerous people here pulling the strings from the shadows, in fact the surviving person that kidnapped you escaped last week," Dike says with a dead serious tone
"..." Mike does not know what to say as he just processes what he heard from Dike
"What is the second reason?" Mike asks after processing everything for a bit
"Well I am treating this as a vacation of sorts and I don't really want to return back to the capital just yet," Dike says
"..." Mike cannot help but look at Dike in a slightly different light then before
"Hey now don't give me that look you may think that just because I am Royal Wizard I get to do whatever I want. No I have to follow a bunch of rules and stuff that will make your brain hurt so can it," Dike says seeing Mikes judging gaze
"Alright then... so what are we going to do then?" Mike asks feeling he might have an idea as to what he was going to stay next
"Simple 'I' am going to investigate the mayor of the city while 'you' hold down the fort okay?" Dike says shooting down Mike's hopes of taking part
"Now don't look so down alright this is just to dangerous for you to help me out alright," Dike continues
Mike knew that deep down what Dike was right. Even if Mike could utilize that magic in his body to cast spells he could not really be of much help anyways as he only knows a few cantrips that only deal damage and slightly affect him and nothing more. Sarenthia would be useful but Mike did not want to rely on her all the time unfortunately since he was trying to improve himself and while he had started getting better physically he still had a long ways to go before he could be considered a real threat to anything or anyone aside from regular people and weaker monsters. So Mike held his head low.
"Now don't be discouraged now I promise in the future you will be of some use later," Dike says
Those words were to say the least not at all inspirational or helpful for Mike to hear or anyone as a matter of fact.
"You suck at motivational speeches..." Mike says as he gets off the bed and moves towards the door
"..." Dike does not say anything as Mike leaves and looks at his retreating figure
"Be careful then... master," Mike says as he leaves Dikes room and enters his own across the small hallway
Dike does not move from where he was sitting as he only just stares at the closed door while his mind was thinking about something.
...
The city of Irondale was a prosperous city located near the Thousand Mile forest, a quarry down south, and a river that flowed inland towards the capital a few miles away to the East. This place was a wonderful city that had thrived off of rich farm land, quarries, and the river boats that brought in profit all for the city to grow and expand. This lovely city was managed by Ronald McDonald the mayor of the city.
Now this city was divided into two groups of commoners and nobles with each having their own respected districts from which they lived. The commoners had two districts which were the slums and the middle area of the city with the slums taking place in one part of the city which was fine, but the thing was the slums were growing slowly day by day.
That is where Mayor McDonald found his problem. He did not want the slums of his great city to expand to the point where everything got out of control as that would look bad for his reputation so instead of dealing with the reasons for the expansions of the slums he decided to use this opportunity to allow a friend of his to use the slums for his own needs so that the he would not have to spend more time and effort correcting this problem.
That was until the king got wind of what was happening and sent a Royal Wizad to investigate what was going on in the city.
That was what was going on in Mayor McDonald's mind as he sat in his private study at his manor looking over some papers that needed his attention even at home he had to work. He reached out for a glass of wine on his desk and takes a sip before looking back at the report.
Mayor McDonald was a chubby heavyset man who liked to indulge in earthly pleasures ranging from food and wine to the opposite gender. He had bright blonde hair that was neatly combed at the middle of his head to each side respectively and ending in a curl at each end. He had a pudgy face with a very thing moustache that was on his face.
"I see you are enjoying the wine I sent you?" A voice rings out from nowhere as a man in a butlers uniform enters the study from the door
"Ah, yes it is quite a good blend, I have come to enjoy this very much," Mayor McDonald says as he places the paper down and looks at the man in the butler suit
"Haha then I will be sure to give you a few more next time I see you in person that is," The man says
If Mike were here he would probably know what was going on and know that the butler was being controlled like he was when his body was hijacked that one time.
"Now then what is it tha you need to know? I highly doubt you came over just to give me more of this fine wine," Mayor McDonald says getting right to the point
"You know me so well. The Royal Wizard has been difficult to deal with with due to the lack of reliable thugs in this town to say the least and as you know I myself cannot directly do anything against him or else that will just bring more unwanted trouble so I would like a bit more freedom so that my two remaining trainees can do something a bit more drastic," The man says
"How... drastic?" Mayor McDonald asks
"Now now this will not affect you or your precious money giving citizens I just want to have my trainees be able to use a bit more force this time instead"
"Fine then but I want the casualties kept low do you understand me?" Mayor McDonald says
"I understand perfectly. No need to worry about anything I will make sure that your increasing slum problem and the Royal Wzard are dealt with in the best way possible," The man says before his body starts convulsing and falls to the ground
Mayor McDonald does not say anything or do anything as he goes back to his work as a pool of blood forms under the man in the butler suit.
...
Mike was in his room just sitting on his bed as he was staring down on the floor while Orion had his head nusling against his hand as if to ask what was wrong.
"I am fine buddy," Mike says as he rubs Orions head
'You don't look fine' Sarenthia says from within his scabbard leaning against the foot of the bed
"I am fine" Mike says
'Well I am always here if you want to talk' Sarenthia says before going quiet once more and leaving Mike to his thoughts