"Wonderful job, all of you!" he praised, handing out more snacks and water.
"You're really starting to get the hang of this. Now, I think it's time for a nice, long lunch break. How does that sound?" The children cheered enthusiastically, eager for a chance to rest and refuel.
Marcus chuckled and gestured towards a shaded area, where a new picnic blanket and basket had been set up.
"Alright, then let's go enjoy our lunch. I've got all your favourite foods waiting for us," he said.
'This is way too easy; I can't believe I am getting away with this. Now I just have to trick, Ahem, encourage them to do this for an entire year,' Marcus thought.
The children eagerly scurried over to the picnic spot, sprawling out on the blanket and digging into the delicious meal that Chise had prepared.
They chatted animatedly, sharing tricks for each game and laughing together as they savoured their food.
Sadly for Draco, his training was to last longer than the rest.
Marcus watched over them with a warm smile.
He may have been getting on in years, but he soon realized that spending this time with his beloved grandchildren was the most rewarding thing he could imagine.
Once they had their fill, he gently called for their attention.
"Alright, my little ones, I think it's time we wrap up our training for the day. How about one last game before we head home?" he suggested.
The children eagerly agreed, quickly finishing their meal.
"Nii, here," Vasileios walked up to Draco and offered some food.
Vasileios didn't know why his big brother was made to do harder things.
He noticed that Draco didn't get to participate in lunch, so he saved bits and pieces of his own for him.
"Is this for me?" Draco asked, touched that Vasileios thought to share.
"Hmm," Vasileios replied with a shy smile.
"Thank you," Draco replied, throwing the food in his mouth.
"Hmm, it's delicious," Draco praised while patting Vasileios on the head.
He made sure to rub behind his ears, a weak spot of Vasileios.
The others saw this and gathered round for their turn; to them, it didn't seem fair that only Vasileios got a head pat.
Draco didn't mind; he knew all their weak spots so satisfying them didn't take long.
"Ahem, kids," Marcus called out to get their attention once more.
'Tsk, damn brat. What can he do that I can't? Is it because they are of similar age?' Marcus grumbled within.
Marcus then led them through a series of cool-down stretches and introduced a final activity that involved teamwork and problem-solving.
Draco had his lunch in between these exercises.
As the sun began to set, the training session came to an end.
The exhausted but elated children thanked their grandpa, each one giving Marcus a big hug before running home to take a bath.
Marcus waved them off, his heart filled with joy and a sense of accomplishment.
He would be going home after cleaning up; he couldn't wait for their next training session together.
"So why am I stuck on cleaning duty but the others go home early?" Draco asked.
Marcus had forced him to stay and clean up alone after the other kids left.
"Ahem, it's part of the training," Marcus replied comically.
"I am not stupid, you know," Draco protested.
"Sigh, this is what's wrong with smart kids these days, do you know better than your grandpa?" Marcus countered.
'Sounds like a trick question; sigh, I should just do it. Who knows what excuse he might come up with if I say yes,' Draco thought.
"No," Draco replied.
"I thought so," Marcus said with a silly smirk, pushing at his buttons.
'Sigh, who knew that he was really like this. I feel as though I have lost the grandpa I knew for the past 4 years,' Draco thought.
Soon, he was done and packed the picnic baskets, ready to head home.
He saw his Grandpa Marcus resting by a tree, he has been waiting for him to finish.
........
The year went by pretty fast; the children had fun training almost every day.
Now the spring had come around once again; it was time for Anita and John to add their training curriculum into the mix.
Marcus had made notes of all the children's current abilities.
This was done to strengthen their core and begin making a foundation for the path they would follow.
They weren't ready for the hardcore stuff yet due to their limited physical capabilities.
But the children weren't exactly ordinary, especially Draco.
All the children except for Clair seemed to display strength greater than their age would suggest.
Clair wasn't exactly ordinary; she was from the tiger people race, so she could display some of their abilities, but compared to the other kids, she was currently at the bottom.
Chise speculated that it has something to do with the method used to conceive her children, but she wasn't going to tell.
The training was brutal, especially for Draco; Anita and John forced their bodies to the absolute limit daily.
They didn't show any mercy to anyone, everyone knew that from that day on, the training was no longer a game and fun like with Grandpa Marcus.
One particular morning during the middle of spring, John called Draco out; he and Anita had decided to begin Draco's personal training.
"Before I begin, I would like to give you a warning. The training will be more brutal and merciless; I may or may not take things too far. Do you still wish to proceed?" Anita asked.
"Yes," Draco replied firmly. He had gotten used to the earlier training, so it didn't affect him as much.
"Are you really, really sure? If you complain later, I might just hit you with something," Anita asked again, raising an eyebrow.
"Uhm, maybe," Draco replied, now a bit unsure if he wanted her to train him.
"I need a straight answer," Anita asked sternly.
'Well, I do want to hold my own and go dungeon diving immediately when I get to Orario someday,' Draco thought.
"Yes," he replied with conviction.
"I see, just don't die on us," Anita muttered while John nodded, something Draco didn't fail to miss.
From the next morning, his training would be separate, with Anita being the main teacher.
......….
"Time to train, boy!" Anita barked. Draco quickly scrambled out of bed, knowing better than to disobey.
As he ran outside, Anita was already stretching and warming up.
"Today we will seriously work on your reflexes; For now, I want to see just how fast it is," Anita said sternly.
She slowly tossed a small rock at Draco, who easily dodged it in time.
"Not bad, but what if I increase the speed and amount?" Anita yelled.
She pelted Draco with a flurry of rocks while gradually increasing the speed, amount, and even reducing the size.
This forced Draco to be in constant motion, weaving and ducking to avoid getting hit.
After an hour of the gruelling reflex training, Draco was bruised and panting.
"Now for strength training," Anita announced. She dragged a heavy log over to Draco.
"Lift this 250 times. No breaks." Draco grimaced but knew better than to complain.
She was holding what looked to be a large hammer a bit over half as tall as her body.
'Damn this woman, does she plan to hit me with that' Draco thought before picking up the log.
He strained and grunted as he slowly lifted the log, his tiny arms shaking with the effort.
By midday, Draco was exhausted but Anita showed no signs of letting up.
"Time for combat practice, let's see where you stand" Anita said, tossing a wooden sword to him.
"I will be using this" Draco said, brandishing his arm transformed into claws.
"Attack me. Give it everything you've got." she said.
Draco swung his claws with all his might, but Anita effortlessly blocked and parried each blow.
"Pathetic," she scoffed.
"Again!, use your feet and waist" she instructed.
This went on for hours, with Anita repeatedly knocking Draco to the ground.
Nothing he did could phase her, not faints, not sneaky tail attacks or even his cute face.
She just pummeled him without mercy.
As the sun began to set, Anita finally called an end to the day's training.
"Not bad, for a start," she said gruffly. "But you've got a long way to go, boy." She added.