Our tour around Edelweiss ended, when Niahl's errand boy, Joe came to call us out of Niahl's order.
Is that old man already fine?
We entered the strategy room and found Niahl sitting on the chair, with his chin leaned on his hands and was making a real painful face.
I guess he wasn't fine, yet.
Qhuial took a seat near Niahl's seat. "What do you need from us, Dad?" he straightforwardly asked.
Aren't you a bit straightforward, Qhuial?
Niahl smirked, and raised his head up. "You really are a sharp kid, as expected of my son" he chuckled.
And you are boasting of him, now?
"Isn't it normal? You called us, so you surely need something from us, don't you?" Qhuial broke his father's cool demeanor.
Niahl mumbled, "Is that how things are? Well, nevermind"
So, this is what happens to those with hangover. They lose their cool. I haven't seen Father drink even once, so I don't know.
Father, huh..?
"I need to take note with you kids. Our goal is to collect the 7 sacred weapons, right?" Niahl asked.
The air around us suddenly turned into a serious one.
We all nodded at him, as we sat down. "Like I've told you all before, one of the sacred weapons is here" Niahl scratched the back of his head.
Right, he haven't shown that to us, yet.
"I'm sure that you all know that the sacred weapons are just mere orbs with Spirits inside it, right?" Niahl confirmed.
It was written like that on every book that had the story about it.
Niahl continued, "And the all of the Spirits that resides on each of the orbs has different type of magic with the others"
Wind, land, ice, water, fire, dark and light: Those are the type of magic that the seven Spirits that resides on each of the Seven orbs has.
"A common knowledge states that Spirits are second only to Gods, when it comes to power hierarchy" Niahl stated.
Forth tilted his glasses. "What's your point with that?" he asked.
"Well, my point is that because of their rank in hierarchy, most of the Spirits tend to act all cocky and prideful. The Spirits of the orb is not an exception!" Niahl stated.
He scratched the back of his head again. "So if the contractor is someone they hate, that person will quickly fail the trial" Niahl sighed.
I kinda know where he is going…
"That's why I was thinking of training you guys to a person a Spirit would accept as their owner, just with a look" Niahl suddenly let out all of his enthusiasm out in once.
He suddenly sighed, and lost all of his enthusiasm. "But, well…" he mumbled.
"But..? What is wrong, Niahl?" asked Reina, and Anna tilted her head to the side. Niahl looked at them with a bit tired eyes.
He fixed his way of sitting. "Well, you see. Like I've said, Spirits are rather picky, so if I were to say that we are going to train you into someone those guys prefer…" he explained.
It would mean a really strong person.
"Uhm, how much time do we have for us to train?" Russell asked. "I can say 3 months is our limit" Niahl answered.
3 months, huh? That's too short but is long enough, if we think about the thing we need to prioritize in this journey.
"With the time we have, I can assure you all that the training will be real of a hurdle to jump in, but are you kids fine with it?" Niahl asked.
Everyone looked down, and hesitated to answer yes like what Niahl was surely expecting from us.
That's the only answer we can give him, after coming all this way. But…
Trying to break the silence that surrounded the whole room, Gino stated "Of course!" with a wavering smile.
"It's something you shouldn't say so easily…" Niahl sighed.
Gino looked down, before looking up at Niahl quick. "But, we've got no choice but to say yes, don't we?" he hit the table, and stood up.
"We've come this far and even agree to your plan. And you are planning us to back out? That is more painful than getting beaten up by our enemies, Niahl" Gino stated.
Niahl smiled. "Are all of you gonna agree to Gino?" he asked, as he turned at us.
"Of course we will!" Forth tilted his glasses. "It seems fun, so I will be going" Kirt yawned, while Russell giggled and nodded at Niahl.
Reina fluttered her hair, "Like Gino said, No isn't an option" Lux barked and Anna nodded, as well.
"Of course, I will as well" I nodded.
Niahl covered his mouth and laughed. "Fine, have it your way kids! But, remember I've got no intention of training you all kindly" he stated.
We looked at each other and stood up.
"Yes sir!"
…
After such talk, we found ourselves staring at the pit that caught our minds, earlier.
"Uhm, is this the…" Russell was about to say the right word, but Niahl went on and interrupted him. "Yep, it is a pit!" he grinned.
"No Father, it is our training hall!" Hugo quickly retorted.
Qhuial giggled behind his little brother, who was clearing up the misunderstandings his brother and father had put into our minds.
You were the one who said this first, don't forget that Qhuial.
Forth coughed. "So, why are we brought to the training hall?" he tried to change the topic. "Ah, right! That's what we should prioritize" Niahl clapped his hands.
"You kids will be having a one-on-one with me here" Niahl nonchalantly said, with an innocent smile.
We all looked at him, with our eyes wide and jaw down the ground.
"But, well, before we go over that, I will have you kids pick a weapon and get you change into an appropriate outfit" Niahl stated.
Qhuial raised his hand, "Where is Mond and Tristan, by the way?" he asked. "They will be coming soon" Hugo answered his brother.
"Hugo-chan~! Qhuial-kun~!" said a somewhat sexy toned voice, which also sounded like a man's voice.
Qhuial flinched, as we looked over where the voice was coming from.
A man (?) with long red hair was waving at us, whilst being followed by a dark tanned buff man.
"You're noisy, Tristan. Keep your voice down moderation, I beg you" the buff man told him.
The red haired one looked at him with an angry face. "That's your fault for drinking too much, isn't it?!" he complained, near the ears off the buff man.
"Weren't you drunk, clinging onto the newbies, last night?" the buff man complained. "B-but, I am fine now" the red haired one turned his head away.
The buff man sighed, "What about last night?" he whispered.
"Oi, oi! Are you two fighting again, Tristan, Mond?" Niahl sighed, as he looked at the two. "This guy started it" the buff man pointed to the other one.
The red haired one clicked his tongue, "Weren't you the one who started it? Saying things like I am too noisy" he complained.
"Can you two stop fighting like kids?" Niahl droop his shoulders down. "Did you properly finished the things I've asked you guys to?" he asked.
The buff man sighed, "Y'knew that I was tired from drinking that much, last night. Yet, ye still asked me to do these things… really, ye can be a Demon at times, sir"
"Still, you two managed to finish it all, right?" Niahl smirked. "Of course..!" the red haired one and the buff man nodded.
Who are these two?
Niahl soon noticed our confused faces, so he turned and smiled at us. "I was late on introductions, they are our tailor and blacksmith" he stated.
"Tristan Freyj, our tailor" Niahl stated, and the red haired one waved at us with a smile, "Ciao!"
Niahl went beside the other one. "And this one is our blacksmith, Mond Clover" he introduced, and the buff man stood straight and greeted, "Yo!"
"Why are they here for?" Gino asked. "Well, like I've said, I will need you kids to pick out your weapons and get changed into appropriate outfits" Niahl grinned.
Hugo stepped in front of us. "Father asked them to make tons of weapons and clothes for you guys" he explained.
"Look, hurry up and get changed into the clothes I've made!" Tristan grabbed Hugo's shoulder, and moved him away, slightly.
Mond grinned, "The weapons are well made, so expect all you want"
…
After a few minutes, we finished changing into the clothes Tristan made for us.
"So, what do you guys think?" asked Tristan. "They're easy to move with and isn't that much suffocating" Reina jumped around, like Gino.
Tears dripped off Tristan's eyes, out of a sudden. "Eh?!" we exclaimed.
"S-sorry, when I heard that you kids were happy with it and seeing you wear it. I-I… I got happy out of a sudden, and tears fell down!!!"
Sniffled Tristan, whilst having his head patted by Mond.
"This guy took an all-nighter, even though he already finished those clothes yesterday morning, so these tears are something that came from exhaustion" Mond stated.
He cleared his throat. "Well, what I'm saying is be thankful to him, you kids!" Mond stated.
We bowed our heads down and thanked Tristan, which kinda made him cry more loudly, as if he was a kid.
"Hey, hey" Gino pulled Qhuial's sleeves. "Is Tristan a man?" he asked.
Qhuial gasped. "That's what you're going to ask, in this kind of time which you could state as a heartwarming scene!?" he exclaimed.
"Well, go sleep Tristan" Niahl stated. "Understood, sir" Tristan nodded, as he wiped his tears off.
Tristan looked back, as he went out of the pit…I mean training hall. "Adios, everyone~" he threw a flying kiss, and left humming.
We, guys felt a shiver down our spine.
"Really, he is a troublesome fellow…" Mond scratched the back of his head. "Now, now!" Niahl spoke up, with eagerness.
"Let us start the mock battles!!!!!!!"