Chereads / Rise of the Blacksmith / Chapter 34 - Rude awakening

Chapter 34 - Rude awakening

Charlotte was walking back to their room; their clothes were dirt-covered. However, they got burned and destroyed quite a bit by the lightning bunny. After training with Fang, they got way worse; his body was bruised all over. He had been correct about Fang's smile; things looked to be going his way at first.

That had quickly changed since it seemed Fang had been holding back at first. He learned two things in that sparring session: Fang was further along the second stage than even Iza, and the gap between the two was huge. If Iza and he fought without powers, he doubted that Iza would stand a chance. Of course, that was just his justification to make himself feel better; the second thing was that it didn't seem to matter if you were further along the stages than someone else; as long as you were strong, even if you were behind, you could get to the top, which did motivate him to get better.

Fang was much faster and stronger than him; if he used Chi, he could most likely give him a good fight. But that would defeat the purpose of the training and sparring. Although, if he was honest, he used Chi a few times during their training to increase his reflexes. He did manage to avoid losing, but only by a few seconds. It seems he awoke something in Fang when he realized that Charlotte could take the punishment.

"I hope I'll wake up better by tomorrow; I can't imagine being this sore all day." 

Fang had decided to stay behind, so Charlotte was walking back alone; a few students were walking near him as well, but none of them bothered talking or approaching him.

He had also learned that Fang only used throws and tried to restrain the opponent, which probably meant his power required him to be close to the opponent. 

Honestly, he was tired; he rubbed his weary eyes and yawned. His mind just kept running around, clinging or thinking to any thought that seemed interesting; it was a blessing sometimes, but right now, it was just making him more exhausted.

He was practically dragging his feet as he reached down and pulled on the doors on the ground; he walked in without closing them. He was too tired to care as he stumbled into his room and dropped on his bed like a brick. A smile spread across his face; after sleeping in the wild for so long, it felt nice to rest on a bed. 

He could swear he closed his eyes for just a moment before he heard screaming and groaned. He desperately tried to cover his ears with the blankets; he was too tired to bother.

It quieted the screaming enough, and he silently began drifting back to sleep; just before he could, though, his feet were grabbed, and he was pulled out of bed.

"Hey, wake up, where are we? What the hell happened to you?" 

He didn't get hurt hitting the ground, but it was cold, so he begrudgingly turned around and looked up at the person speaking. It was the same redhead as before, except this time, she was wearing the familiar black tunic, the same as him.

"Can't you wait till morning...I'm trying to sleep."

The worry on her face quickly vanished as she realized he was most likely okay; she grabbed his leg and dragged him out.

"Damn it, woman...please, I'm tired." 

As she dragged him outside, the sun hit his eyes as he looked up at the stairway; he didn't feel like he had slept. He had apparently slept. He wanted to go back to sleep but groaned, forcing himself to his feet.

"Alright...what do you need?"

"Where are we? What the hell happened to you?" 

She said in an annoyed tone and gestured to his clothes, which had holes and some parts had clear burn marks.

"you are at the school you applied for, and I got attacked by a bunny." 

She held back laughter as she looked at him. He kept a serious look on his face; his serious expression broke her as she couldn't hold back her laughter.

"What the hell kind of rabbit did you fight? I thought you were stronger than that."

"I just underestimated the rabbit, so don't do the same as me...as for what you should do, it's probably good if you head to the building near the base of the tree. I'll be heading there myself soon; I'm just going to change into better clothes."

He returned to his room, fixed his bed, and picked up the blankets on the ground before finally getting changed. He had four more pairs of clothes left and had a sneaking suspicion he wouldn't get any more pairs of clothes. Hopefully, in this coming competition, he could win and ascend to a higher class.

As he began taking off his shirt, he turned to the door and saw her standing there. She was crossing her arms, waiting, and he couldn't help but flustered.

"W-what the hell are you doing? Don't look in here; I am changing!"

"...What are you, a girl?"

"No, you are!" 

He walked over and closed the door; he shook his head as he put the chest plate on first before putting on a new tunic. He had to learn how to fix the broken pair later and avoid tearing the rest of his clothes...he didn't want to end up wearing rags again.

He came out and tied the gauntlets to his hip as the redhead female stood near the stairs. He was still a bit bothered by her looking at him shirtless as he blushed and looked away.

"Why are you still here? Shouldn't you be heading to class?"

"Unlike the impatient bastard, I would rather get more information from you before arriving at the school."

He tilted his head in confusion as he mentioned someone else; he figured it was his other classmate...and the word bastard made it evident to him it was most likely the other guy he encountered in the dream.

He sighed and walked up the stairs with her following close behind; it seemed he wasn't going to be getting an easy day anytime soon.