Regal was pacing around in his chambers with only a few candles to light up the room. The curtains were closed, but it didn't matter anyway, there was nothing but darkness outside. Night was upon the world.
'Is a month enough time...? Too little? Too much? Agh, so annoying!'
Regal was in a slight mental conflict... and it was related to Himari.
Unknown to Regal, Himari was actually the Saintess. While he was aware that she holds a great amount of holy power, that alone isn't enough for someone who isn't from the temple to recognize it as the power of the Saintess.
'What was up with all that anyway? Stories about magic from their world...? So they are aware of this world, but don't, or cannot contact us. Or perhaps it isn't about this world at all, it could be about an entirely different but similar world. Or maybe it's a crazy coincidence...'
Though that last part was unlikely.
The idea excited Regal. If he was right and there were other worlds similar to his own, there was probably much to learn from them. A chance to develop his magic perhaps...
But those thoughts can be left for another time. He currently has a problem.
He decided to give Himari the option to use magic... but he also gave a condition. She would need to practice using her holy power for a month. Was it likely that she would try and find a way to use magic herself? No.
There's no way she could search for help from the temple, I'm sure she was also aware that they would never allow themselves to lose someone so promising. If Regal was right, she could be a potential candidate for the Saintess.
She could ask other mages... but not only was Regal the most powerful mage she would ever find, he was the only mage she had currently met who told her that she could use magic. In other words, the most trustworthy.
Why was all this a problem for Regal?
Well, if it went as Himari wanted, then Regal may make himself the enemy of the temple. And while something like an enemy isn't usually a problem for him, an entire religion would make things troublesome.
If he made an enemy of a kingdom, he could at least go to a different kingdom, they would easily welcome someone as powerful as Regal as an ally, as long as they believed he was trustworthy. But religion is different, it is spread across almost all the kingdoms, and the only kingdoms not under their influence are controlled by different races altogether.
'At least I have the elves... assuming they'd take me back'
Regal was reminded of his rebellious self who left the elven kingdom many years ago... how old was he, 17? 18? Whatever age he was, it has been a while. But it also wasn't that long for an elf, and that's the confusing part!
Regal is a half-elf, so his sense of time is distorted. He perceives the present time and the near future like a human would. To an elf, it would seem like Regal was in a rush for some reason, determined to become powerful as quickly as possible. But that wasn't it, especially after his journeys with humans, it seemed like he was just barely ahead of others, he was living life at just the right pace.
But now, he has no idea what the elves think of him. He made a reputation for himself, but they might not even remember his name. He did visit occasionally... but it's still been a while.
'It might not even come to that... If she became the Saintess first, they might even accept her decision. Not because they want to, but because they would be powerless to oppose it. The word of a Saintess could command an entire religion.'
He eventually sat on his bed and started pondering calmly.
'A promise is a promise... I've made sure that she will train her holy powers and at least entertain the idea that holy power might be the better option. She should also be ready in time for the invasion... any stupid ideas can come after that'
Regal could have not made the promise in the first place. But he would never stop someone from pursuing magic.
Someone with so much holy power pursuing magic could even be quite fascinating...
'I wonder how they would use mana... how they would perceive it'
Regal got up and walked over to his candles and was about to blow them out, but before he could he looked to his left and saw a tall individual wearing the clothing of a butler.
"Uh... You can leave now Pamel"
Pamel bowed and left the room.
Regal shrugged and blew out the candles. He then proceeded to his bed, already wearing appropriate sleeping attire, and went to sleep.
***
The next day, the heroes were gathered in the training area. But instead of their usual schedule from the past week, they were told to stand near the entrance. Their teachers, other than Regal, were all standing nearby too.
"You said they were going to make our training harder... right?", Eric whispered to Himari.
"Something like that... though I don't know what they have planned", Himari returned.
From the faces of the other teachers, they were just as in the dark as the heroes.
A few moments passed without Regal to be seen anywhere, the training grounds were silent and barren. The only items occupying it were the few pieces of equipment that Regal happened to have in storage.
And then, finally, a magic circle with six layers appeared at the entrance to the training grounds, where everyone was gathered. Following the light of the magic, two individuals appeared... alongside a large pile of equipment behind them.
The equipment... no, the equipment was irrelevant, everyone was focused on something else.
Kendrick saw their faces and burst out laughing.
The now appeared Regal also noted their expression and was a little confused.
"What are you lot staring at? I haven't even explained what we are going to do yet"
Eric pointed at him and blurted, "W-why is he so... ripped. Where did those muscles come from!? Do mages work out!?"
He had many questions and all the others had the exact same ones.
Regal was standing with the equipment while wearing what seemed to be training attire, he had light leather clothing, the shirt had short sleeves, and showed his strangely muscular arms. The muscles were small like his body, but they were very defined.
You could see every single one of them, many of them showed through the clothing itself.
Regal let out a single sigh of laughter.
"I'm just unique for a mage, I was crazy for traveling alone back in the day, but traveling every day leaves you with a body like this..."
He left that statement there with a smirk.
'There's no child out there that's ripped as this, it's impossible for someone to mistake me for a kid'
"Travelling was all it took?", William asked.
Regal shrugged.
Kendrick scoffed and replied in his stead.
"It wasn't any simple traveling, this man would fight monsters daily without a party. A mage without mana is useless, so he ended up running away with his life on the line one too many times."
Regal scowled in his direction.
"Traveling itself isn't easy either you know! Doing commissions in the wild leads to using every single bit of your body! Swimming across rivers and ponds, climbing mountains, running from monsters..."
Regal shivered when we thought back to his ridiculous endeavours.
"True enough", Kendrick replied with a shrug.
Regal crossed his arms and faced the heroes.
"Ahem! You lot did well yesterday! I apologise for continuing the training so soon, but I think we should keep up the momentum with more training."
He looked at the pile of equipment behind him and then back at the heroes.
"On that note! You will all be doing the same physical training! Your first task is the assemble all of this stuff behind me"
Eric and William looked at each other and shrugged, but Anne and Himari looked devastated. The most exercise they ever did was likely their trip from yesterday.
But the heroes didn't complain, perhaps even a hint of determination could be seen in their eyes as they walked to the unassembled equipment.
Regal walked over to the other teachers as the heroes picked up some of the pieces with confusion.
"Are there... any instructions?", Himari asked.
Regal looked in their direction for a moment, "Figure it out with Pamel"
He turned away and continued walking to the teachers. Behind him were the faces of the baffled heroes and Pamel who had no idea he would be involved.
Kendrick looked at him with a raised brow.
"So what exactly is that stuff? Just some obstacles?", Kendrick asked.
Regal wore a devilish smile as he stopped in front of them.
"Hehe, you want to know?"
"Wait, before that...", Ellis cut in, "Why does Himari and Anne need to do physical training? It isn't necessary for their roles"
All of them, including Ruk, looked at her with a hint of disappointment.
"Have you ever been out on a mission for the temple? Traveling through forests and rocky terrain? Fought against a horde of monsters for mere minutes that felt like hours?", Ruk asked.
Ellis shrank a bit before responding, "No... I haven't..."
He sighed.
"The fights are where it's most apparent, the desperate movements made by the party in order to fight a horde of weak foes or to fight a single powerful foe, it makes people exhausted beyond belief. Healer or mage, it doesn't matter, you need to be at the peak of your physical capability to truly survive."
Regal nodded.
"Agreeable words for once"
Ruk continued, "On the bright side of things, the heroes won't have experienced anything like that yet, and we can prepare them like this for when that time comes"
Ellis' face eased with that in mind.
"They have though?", Regal interrupted.
They both looked at him, Kendrick had shock written on his face with a drop of sweat sliding down his cheek.
Regal tilted his head.
"I told you what we saw in the forest yesterday right? They had to fight against a horde of demonic beasts for a while as I took care of the Majin", Regal finished.
"A Majin!?", Ruk exclaimed.
"They what...? Why didn't you mention that!", Ellis followed.
"What? I said they got plenty of practice, and that they did it alone. They hardly got injured and had Kendrick watching over them too."
Ellis looked baffled, speechless, unable to say another word.
"Hey! What happened with the Majin!?", Ruk urgently asked.
"But that's just too dangerous! You should have escaped instead!", Ellis managed to say in complaint.
Regal rolled his eyes and looked at Kendrick.
"You tell her, the situation was completely under control. You could even say it was easy, other than the appearance of the demonic general"
"THE WHAT!?", Ruk shouted.
Regal held his ears from the sudden rise in volume and then threw Ruk an annoyed glance.
"Would you quiet down? You'll distract the heroes from their construction work", he said as he pointed at them.
They were currently attempting to fit together two pieces of wood onto a foundation which they managed to create... it looked rather... unique?
Anyone could guess what they were making and they'd all be wrong. It was literally a big mix of random parts.
Pamel had a vague smile on his face as he watched them, he was probably the only one aware of what Regal was doing with this task.
Ruk couldn't care less and turned his head back and asked once again.
"Two Majin's were there!? One of them was even a demonic general!?!?"
He was once again interrupted by Ellis who continued her complaining. This pattern repeated for a good while as Ruk insisted on Regal to elaborate on the case of the Majins but Regal was both annoyed and happy as he enjoyed ignoring Ruk to give Ellis useless replies.
A good view minutes passed and veins were bulging on almost all of their heads.
"Regal! Please listen! I have good reason to ask about the Majin's! I have a history with them... one of them specifically, they caused the death of... someone I knew...", Ruk said as his vision darkened, even causing Ellis to stop her own line of questioning.
Regal looked around for a few seconds and back at Ruk.
"Uh... I didn't ask?"