Lucas woke up in the middle of the night, he slowly opened his eyes and was shocked by the unrecognizable room.
'Where am I?'
'Looks like a shed or a stable.'
Realizing where he was, he calmed down. Because he got worked up he was wide awake. He stood back up and looked at himself. The clothes were the same as when he was in his hometown. They were very dirty and smelled terribly from all the sweat they collected over the last couple of days.
He opened the door of the shed and went outside. He didn't know the grounds of the mansion, wandering aimlessly was the only thing he could do. Walking around for a bit he found the training ground, his vomit had disappeared.
'Looks like they cleaned up our little mess.'
'I wonder which maid did it, did you see the one from last night? The one serving the dishes, she looked so beautiful.'
'I hope you don't think you stand a chance with her, or do you?'
'Love comes in many forms.'
'And I don't think you're in any of them.'
Lucas strolled around the mansion, to see what it had to give, there was a giant fence bordering the mansion's ground, probably to keep out any monster or beggar. He explored as much as he could, inspecting every corner of the outside of the mansion.
Seeing the courtyard again, he started to feel proud of his achievement.
'The training was hard, but I still finished it.' Lucas felt a bit proud and thought about Gregory. 'Once I'm a knight, I'll go and look for you Greg, I know you wouldn't be killed by those monsters. You're the protector of the church, the steel wall of our home. You wouldn't die by some stupid monsters.'
'Says you.'
'Says we.'
'Don't put words in my mouth!'
'Why not, aren't we the same? You're just a lot more negative and can't see the beauty of life.'
Ending his walk for the night he went back to the shed. The hay was softer than the ground, but not that much better. Pieces of hay were poking him from the back, but it was nothing compared to the little stones he once slept on, so he quickly fell asleep.
The next morning
Liam cleaned himself up with water that came from the well in the garden. Putting on his instructor clothes, he went to the canteen to eat. He was an early bird so he could eat alone, yet this time he had an unexpected guest. The baron Havi and the mage were talking while they were waiting for him.
"Good morning, my lord, sir.", Liam nodded at both gentlemen.
"Good morning Captain, have a seat.", the baron seemed to be in a good mood, which was surprising since it was so early in the morning. The baron was known for his morning mood, the maids had plenty of stories to tell, yet Liam tried to avoid them.
A decent breakfast was served by the servants and they started to eat. "I heard you started the training of the child yesterday, is that correct?" The baron inquired.
"Yes, my lord, Lucas completed the 75 laps yesterday. If he keeps this up, he would complete his training in a few weeks.", lying straight to his own master's face gave Liam a small feeling of unease. He was a loyal man, always was, but if he couldn't understand the reasoning of certain orders, he wouldn't mind twisting the results a bit.
'That's far too long', the baron on the other hand was glad about the progress, but still had a small frown on his face.
"Ah yes, well, sir Venion here has given you the potions right?"
"Euhm, yes, my lord, I was instructed to give Lucas one after every exercise."
"I would like to see that, can you start the training right after this."
"Yes, my lord, that's no problem, although I don't think he has eaten yet."
The mage finally spoke
"That won't be an issue, you should start the training as soon as possible."
Perplexed on why he needed to hurry, he couldn't disrespect the baron, so he swiftly finished his meal to get Lucas.
Lucas was brought back to the training grounds, he looked a bit less enthusiastic, but his determination was still there. To start off he had to do his laps again, luckily, he only needed to do 10 as a warm-up. After he completed his laps he was already tired and hungry. Since his meal was only partially digested he still had a growing hunger to seethe.
'Alright, time to see the effects'
The mage though was looking forward to what his creation could do. The captain walked toward Lucas and handed him a tiny flask.
Lucas saw the purplish liquid inside it and looked with a desperate look toward the captain. Liam didn't show any sympathy, he was in the presence of his lord, and he couldn't show any feelings towards the lower ranks.
"Do I have to drink this?" he whispered to the captain
"What do you think?" the mage said from afar, Lucas didn't know how he heard him but knew what the answer was.
The captain was about to apologize to Lucas for what he had to do but held his words back since the mage could probably hear his words too. Only in spirit could he apologize to him.
Opening the flask up, he smelled the drink. It smelled like a mix of a bunch of different ingredients, but he didn't need to know what was inside it to know it had a horrid stench.
Closing his nostrils he drank the potion in a single gulp. After swallowing it down, it wasn't actually as bad as it seemed, the taste wasn't bad, it was even rather sweet.
Suddenly he felt something, he hunched over. The mage showed a smile when he saw his reaction and looked excitedly at him waiting for the result. They couldn't see his eyes since it was hidden, but they could imagine what kind of smirk he would be making.
Lucas started to scream and fell to the ground, it felt like every muscle in his body was being destroyed. The muscles were being corroded for new muscles to grow right after. This process was excruciatingly painful. To feel your muscles being replaced atom by atom, he started to foam at the mouth. The worst part was that his heart was also being recreated, this made him skip more than a few heartbeats, but only just shy of giving him a heart attack.
The captain looked on in horror, even if he was a higher class, he still cared for humans in general. Seeing this kid go crazy from something he started to empathize with Lucas. Still, he couldn't do anything because Venion and Havi were looking with interest. After a few minutes, the pain went away and he could start to assess his situation.
"How do you feel?" the mage asked with curiosity flashing in his eyes.
"pant, pant, I, pant, feel…good?" Lucas was surprised by what he just noticed, his hunger went away, his muscles were no longer sore and he was filled with energy.
"Perfect, it seems it worked."
"You weren't sure it would work?" Liam remarked
"Hmm, of course not, I tested it on a rat, but I didn't know it would work on an actual human. Not that it matters, he's filled with energy now, so up the training even more. But first I need to check something. Brat! Take your clothes off!" Venion was happy with his creation and couldn't be bothered by the side effects, yet the strange request startled everyone present. Even the baron wasn't sure of what the mage wanted to do.
Lucas could only glance desperately at Liam, hoping he would save him from the upcoming humiliation. Liam couldn't look at Lucas, he didn't divert his eyes from the baron and the mage, for if he looked at Lucas he might start to feel sorry enough to go against the mage. This could only spell a big punishment for him. "What are you waiting for? Do I need to call the soldiers to do it for you!!!"
The prospect of that scared him even more. He could only start to strip, he already didn't have too much on him, since he hadn't changed his clothes since he came from his village. Starting with the tattered and dirty shirt to his pants, he was buck naked beside a single braies that covered his private parts. He stopped there, hoping it would be enough. Some of the maids and servants were standing a bit further away and couldn't help but stare at his appearance.
His burn wounds and scratches were now visible to everyone, the maids had to cover their mouths for a bit while the servants looked a lot more serious, losing the humorous side. "I said to take your clothes off, does your underwear not count as clothes?"
For the first time since Lucas arrived, he couldn't follow the orders given to him. "Sir please, isn't this enou-?", he stopped talking because an enormous invisible pressure was forced on him. He felt like gravity had multiplied by a lot, forcing him down on his knees. "YOU DARE TALK BACK TO ME?!"
"Sir Venion, it's fine. LIAM! Strip him!"
The sudden force and yelling alerted some of the patrolling guards and once they saw what the others were seeing they couldn't help but snicker. They didn't have to be sympathetic like the maids and servants, they were of a higher rank after all. They called their friends over and it didn't take long before the duo had an entire audience. They didn't say much since their lord was present, but laughing wouldn't hurt. Lucas was already in a bare state, but the approaching Liam was intending to make it even worse.
"Please, Liam..Please."
"I'm sorry Lucas, I don't have much of a choice.", this time Liam did say something even though he knew the mage would hear it. He simply couldn't not feel hurt for Lucas.
His underwear was pulled of off him, Lucas tried to push away his hands, but a sudden spike in pressure defeated all his resistance.
He was naked, sharing his bare form for everyone to see, the soldiers started to laugh and called him all kinds of things. They were degrading a specific place, so everyone's attention was plastered onto that one place. Their pointing fingers and evil laughs were being burned into his mind. The embarrassment was immense. The maids couldn't help but blush a little while letting out a laugh or two, while the soldiers didn't even bother hiding their superiority.
Lucas was frozen on his spot, he started to shiver and tried to cover up as much as possible by crawling into a tiny ball, hiding his face, but the mage wasn't having it. He approached Lucas and pulled his arms up to inspect every inch of him. "Hmm, good, I don't see any. Sometimes the rats displayed purple spots from the potions, looks like you're saved from them, that's good. I still haven't figured out what those spots do ar what causes them, but then they always die not long after, so you should be glad to not have any. You can put your clothes back on now. Captain, continue the training, up it by two, and make sure that this crate of potions is empty by the end of the day."
The baron and mage left while the soldiers started to approach him. Luckily Liam was there to ward them off and make sure Lucas got dressed again, but he didn't seem like himself anymore. He was crying, for the first time, he had seen Lucas express his sadness, and Liam couldn't help but hug him. Liam himself had a loving wife with two children, so he knew all too well what was good and what wasn't for Lucas' development. If these sort of things aren't taken care of, they could transform into traumas.
Lucas hadn't cried once during the entirety of the arduous journey or during the intensive training, not even when his entire body had been reshaped over and over again by the potions. Not a single tear, yet now it seemed that his sturdy wall had cracked.