5-1
"I see you both are energetic today," Said Ranulf after looking at the Grey being dragged by Eira.
"I hope I have a good training session under your guidance, master." Said Eira with a slight bow. She is a girl with good manners and elegant behavior, but Grey believes otherwise. The only thing he sees her as is a Fight freak.
She went toward the sword stand and picked up a Sword. She kept looking at the sword before saying " Master, I want to learn how to use Great Sword.".
"Are you sure?" Asked Ranulf. A great sword is considered a Weapon of brutes and no technique and over that, a girl using a great is more frowned upon.
"Yes, I want to learn great sword just as elegantly as you ."
"fine, I will teach you the basics of a great sword. Any great sword over the stand is heavy for you, so I have prepared weapons for you guys." He had a range of all types of basic weapons but smaller in size so that kids could handle them.
Ranulf picked a great sword but very smaller in size, which could be considered a normal sword in an adult's hand, and gave it Eira "This should help with your training now."
Ranulf turned toward Grey who was sitting with his butt on the ground and asked "What weapon will you prefer."
" Since Eira is learning Greatsword, ill learn Great sword too," said Grey with a non-intersted tone.
"Okay here take it." Ranulf gave another tiny Greatsword to Grey.
But it was too heavy for grey, where Eira was able to pick up the tiny great sword with ease. Grey was barely picking it up.
"First we will do basics." Ranulf took a pause before saying the following sentence " Swing your great sword 100 times.". That statement hit Grey like a truck.
"What??? What???????? 100 times????? This greatsword????? I would like to change my weapon, I want to use Bow, sword, or something else."
"Even for bow, you need to learn how to pull the string. Pulling the string needs incredible strength and even for a sword, you need the best physical shape to properly master it."
It was checkmate for grey.
"Fine, ill do it"
Grey doesn't want to live a life of a warrior, mage, or anything else that has a risk of harm. He just wants to live his life normally. His plan is to learn few tricks and become a farmer, chef, and any other profession that has the least possibility of getting hurt. So, this type of training doesn't interest him at all. Ranulf knew his lack of interest in becoming strong and that's why he didn't force him.
4-2
"99...….100" Grey was finished with a swinging sword. He tried to speak as he was gasping for air.
"I am tired, Give me the vitality pill" Vitality pill is a pill that is very useful to restore vitality after intense training. But, overuse of it may lead to getting stress accumulated and so overuse is not recommended.
"You can have 15 min rest, then we will spar." Said Eira with an elegant and beautiful smile.
'Don't get deceived by that smile, she will just beat the shit out of me' Thought Grey, Ofcourse grey was exaggerating, Eira only spars with him till he gives up.
After 15 min resting Grey got in the sparring ring and Eira was standing there with her great sword.
"I will stop the spar whenever I feel like someone won or some get knocked down, do you guys understand?"
"Yes, father" "Yes master," said both simultaneously.
"Okay then now begin the spar."
Grey was barely lifting his great sword whereas Eira was becoming more comfortable with her Greatsword.
Eira closed the distance between them she didn't use any footwork, because she didn't know any footwork. She closed the distance by running towards him.
In this world, every Seal Marking is different in nature, The seal of Minerva that Grey was mostly mysterious in nature. But Grey one of the abilities that grey found was increased observation and the constant flood of information in his brain. For normal human beings to take action subconsciously takes a lot of practice, for grey it comes naturally.
Right now, his brain was reacting to Eira running towards him. The stance she took before stopping in front of him, she was preparing for the right swing.
"Dodge back," said his instincts, before he could realize it, he was already dodging her sword. He jumped backward barely missing the sword swing. Grey landed on the ground and as soon as his leg rushed forward, he dashed forward toward Eira abandoning his greatsword in the process his instincts were ready to end it with the fist. The inertia of the Greatsword swing going right was hard to manage even for Eira.
But there was one thing Grey realized in between his instinctual counterattack, that his main objective was not to win. The more he wins, the more he will have to spar with Eira and he doesn't want to get stronger or fight with anybody in this world. His only objective is to live a peaceful life. As grey was going for the hit, he hesitated for a moment which gave Eira an opening to react and land a kick. Grey went flying and landed on the ground, he acted like he was hurt and he couldn't further continue.
Eira came running towards him " I am sorry, I didn't mean to kick you so hard"
'Huh, did I do overdo my acting? No, I think this much acting is fine. I think she will be happy after winning now.' As grey turned to look at her, he saw something he didn't expect.
Eira had tears in her eyes "I am sorry really, I didn't mean to hurt you", She was crying.
'I overdid my acting' He felt bad for acting hurt more than he was.
"No, I am fine. Look I can jump and it didn't hurt at all." Said Grey with a smile.
"Really?" asked Eira wiping her tears.
"Yes" at first grey thought Eira was a Brutish girl who only acted elegantly in appearance. But today he realized, she is really a feminine girl who just happens to love learning great sword and swordsmanship.
Ranulf having battle experience knew that grey was okay and he already noticed his exceptional instincts. But he also noticed his least interest in fighting and getting stronger. He wasn't disappointed or angry at Grey, Ranulf wants grey to choose his own path and if grey wants to live a peaceful life, Ranulf will try his very best to give Grey a peaceful life and Ranulf want grey to live his life outside of all danger of this world.
"Okay, Eira you win You guys will have to practice your swings and increase your strength if you want to master Greatsword. From tomorrow your exercise will get more vigorous."
"Yes, I will do my best master." Said Eira with a big nod.
5-3
It was time for dinner, Usually, everyone including Eira and Slyphy has dinner together.
The usual chatter was going around the table, the usual topics, and the usual laugh. Anong those topics, the topic of the room changed to 'future'.
"I want to be the best great sword user just like my uncle," Said Eira, By uncle she meant Ranulf. She calls him uncle normally when they are not training.
"I am not that great, With your talent, you will be the best," replied Ranulf.
"Uncle, I have seen you fighting, You are the best." Said Eira.
"Huh?, You have seen dad fighting? Not fair" asked Grey.
Ranulf scratched his head and said " I just happened to fight some bandit in front of Eira"
"He was like a hero back then, that time I decided. I want to fight like an uncle. Also, I am not very compatible with mana like uncle, but I can still be powerful without being much compatible with mana just like an uncle."
"I want to see dad fighting too." Said Grey with a pouty face.
"Okay, if you promise to be a good boy. I will have a spar with your dad. How does that sound?" said Alice.
"Uncle will win because he is strongest." Said Eira with a smug face.
"Mom will win, she is the strongest." Said Grey.
"Okay it's on now, lets make a bet. If uncle wins, you will marry me and do everything I say your whole life." Eira was confident in Ranulf.
"Fine, if mom wins you will have to do everything I say your whole life and I am not going marry you"
"Enough both of you." Both of them got bonked in the head by Ms. Lozen, who just came to the dining table to eat dinner. "Eat your food first"
After dinner, everyone sat for a while at the table to talk about their day.
Eira asked Grey " What do you want to do when you get big?".
"Me? I will go around the world, visit different countries. Meet different types of people of different languages, races, and species and also eat all kinds of foods." Grey didn't want any part in being a warrior or becoming strong. The more book he read about this world in the library with Sylphy and the words he heard about the world by Sylphy, made him want to go around the world to those places.
After hearing Grey's dream from him, It was quite a shock for everyone. In this world, every kid wants to become a warrior or strong. Becoming a hero's part member, the warrior is the most common dream for kids in this world. But it was a kind of relief for Ms. Lozen, Ranulf, and Alice. Because they didn't want Grey to risk his life and every parent would want their kid to have a peaceful life.
"You don't want to become warrior, knight, hunter, mage, or hero party member?" asked Ms. Lozen.
"No, Why would I want to become knight, hunter warrior, mage, or hero party member when this world is so beautiful. It would be a waste to train and become strong instead of exploring this world." The words that came out of grey's mouth hit everyone at the table, especially the experienced three at the table who have battle experience.
Ms. Lozen, Ranulf, and Alice were thinking the same thing. They wished that someone told these words to them when they were kids which came out of Grey's mouth, they would have taken a different path. They would have fewer regrets, they wouldn't have has so many blood on their hands.
"I- I hope your dreams come true," said Sylphy.
"What do you want to do in future, big sister Sylphy?" asked Grey.
"Me???? I- I want to go around the world too. Meet many types of people, races, and species and eat all types of flood." Said Sylphy Nervously.
"We will go together, I will protect you along the way." Said Grey with a huge smile.
"I will go too," said Eira "Who will protect you, if you protect Big sister Sylphy? I will come too so that I can protect you."
"Mom will come too, if I don't come who will make sure that you guys are eating healthy." Said Alice with a big smile just like grey, They look a lot like when they smile.
"Dad will be pretty lonely without you bring me too with you guys"
"Wait, Grey aren't you forgetting your grandma?" asked Ms. Lozen.
"No, I will take grandma with me too."
"Yes, I will fly you guys over huge mountains and sea." Said Ms. Lozen rubbing her nose.
This life that Grey got was like a dream for him, the time he spends with everyone is very precious to him. He never want this to end. He doesn't have memories of his past life, but in his heart, he feels like this was always his home, among these people.