"mhmm," William grumbled as he woke up from his sleep. His eyelids fluttered open to see his two fiancées looking at him as if he had done something wrong.
"What's wrong?" he asked, his heartbeat quickening when he felt their breaths on his chest. 'Why does this feel nice?' he asked himself, wondering what the funny feeling was that he had been feeling since he woke up.
'Does Father also feel the same thing when mothers hug him like this?' he pondered, he recalled his father's expressions whenever his mothers cuddled up to him and thought that he might have felt something similar to what he is feeling now.
Seraphina shook her head while she closed her eyes and said, "This can't go on." Her voice sounded serious, as if she were saying something important.
William frowned upon hearing Seraphina; he turned toward Achlys to see if she had any idea what she was talking about. Achlys, however, much to his mild shock, followed her big sister and shook her head.
"What can't go on?" he inquired; he couldn't take it anymore. His fiancée's expressions weirded him out.
Seraphina opened her eyes and looked at him while squinting and muttered, "Yep, this will be a problem in the future, right, sister?"
"Hmm hmm," Achlys hummed in agreement while bobbing her head up and down.
William was even more confused when Achlys also agreed with Seraphina, "Again, what can't go on?" William almost yelled in frustration. He didn't like being left out and thought they were doing this to tease him.
Seraphina and Achlys both looked at William and pinched his cheeks while muttering simultaneously, "You're going to be too handsome. We can't have all those women flocking to you like bees to honey."
"W-Wha-" William's mind halted at their teasing, but what was more shocking was that Achlys and Seraphina were now working together to tease him. He knew that these two girls had some kind of rivalry and didn't expect them to work together.
HIs cheeks reddened a little while his mind recalled a scene where his brother taught him how to flirt with a woman, 'Why did he teach me that again?....' he wondered, recalling his brother's dialogue.
"Remember, William," Orion started, puffing his chest while he held his face high as if he were stating the truths of the universe, "Women are like bees, and compliments are like honey. If you want to win a woman, then give her honey, sweet honey."
William still remembered his brother's corny, smug smile; he gotta say it was pretty weird, 'but, would this work?'
'Like mother says, there is no harm in trying.' He recalled his mother Carina's words and resolved himself. He clenched his jaw while his amethyst eyes shone with determination and stared at the girls dead in the eyes and muttered,
"I think both of you are very beautiful, like the flowers in our garden." Both of the girls were startled by William's sudden compliment; they both stared at him while opening their mouths like fish.
'Did it work? Did my brother really teach me something useful?' Over the years, before William's awakening, Orion taught William all kinds of useless stuff, from how to pick a woman to how to pick his nose the most efficiently, truly weird.
'Wait, why are they both frowning?' William questioned himself as he saw the girls' reaction.
Achlys was frowning while her cheeks reddened a little; Seraphina, however, was covering her mouth while her shoulders trembled heavily.
"Pfft, Hahahaha!" Seraphina couldn't hold her laughter any longer and began to laugh loudly.
William felt an arrow pierce his chest while watching Seraphina; he turned to Achlys, whose mouth was twitching heavily.
"Pft pft," she pursed her lips tightly, holding in her laughter but having a difficult time doing so.
William sulked while watching the girls laugh at him, 'Damn brother! You are a liar like always!' he exclaimed inwardly, his eyes sunk a little as the girls stopped laughing and took a deep breath.
SIGH
"You sure are very funny, William. Where did you learn to compliment a woman like that?" Seraphina teased while Achlys smiled at him playfully.
William pouted his lips at her and mumbled, "Brother said that in order to win over a woman, I have to compliment her. Only then will she get smitten with me."
The girls smiled at his words; they were over the moon as they realized that William was trying to win them over.
"There is no need for that, William," Achlys replied while caressing his cheek.
Seraphina nodded her head in agreement and added, "That's right, William. There is no need for that; we're already smitten with you."
They then glanced at each other knowingly, leaned in to William's face, and gave him a kiss on the cheeks, causing the poor guy to blush deeply.
...................
A week later,
William was now standing in the training grounds; he kept his head down while closing his eyes, and he wore light armor made of leather and had bandages covering his fists.
In front of him was a woman in her early thirties; her black hair was tied into a ponytail swaying along with the wind. Her amethyst eyes, resembling William, gazed at him with motherly love while her hands were curled into fists in excitement.
'At last, I can train my son; I have been waiting for this forever!' Ara exclaimed while looking at her son. It was always her dream to train her son and teach him, but it got delayed over and over again due to various reasons, and she finally, finally got the chance! 'I will make sure that it's worthwhile.'
William slowly raised his head while opening his eyes; his amethyst eyes met hers. The mother-son pair stared at each other for a while before Ara muttered, "Let's begin, shall we?"
William nodded his head and 'Wind' using wind, he dashed toward his mother.
The goal of the training was simple: touch Ara to win. It might seem simple, but Ara was a very powerful light-attribute user.
'Shield'
BANG
William's face scrunched up in pain when his fist collided with the bright golden shield in front of him. It was a meter long, with a man fighting a lion engraved on it.
He jumped backward while staring at the shield, his mind formulating plans while his eyes darted around to look for any weak point.
"Baby, are you hurt?" Ara asked, her face etched in worry when she looked at William's expression as his hand hit her shield.
William didn't answer and only nodded his head, confirming that he was okay. 'What should I do? Should I use earth to see if it cracks; maybe I should use heat and ice simultaneously to break it from the inside out.'
William then glanced at the shield one last time before he disappeared.
WHOOSH
'Heat'
Reaching her in a split second, he coated his hands with fire mana and punched the shield.
BANG
All of the heat got transferred to the shield, making it glow red hot, making William smile; 'Ice,' and sending ice mana into his hands, he punched it again, cooling the heated ice immediately.
CRACK
William then immediately hurled a few more punches using 'Heat' and 'Ice'.
BANG
BANG
BANG
CRACK
Cracks webbed across the shield at William's might before finally caving in under William's might.
SHATTER
Ara frowned as she watched William, her eyes narrowing dangerously while she looked at her broken shield. "William," she muttered solemnly.
"Yes, mother," he replied immediately. A smug smile was plastered on his face as he thought that his mother was too surprised by his power. He puffed out his chest while he held his nose high, expecting his mother to praise him.
"Are you stupid?" Ara blurted out. Her eyes were squinting at William as if she did not believe that her son was so idiotic.
"Eh?" William was startled by his mother's words: 'Why is Mother scolding me? Did I do something wrong?' he wondered.
"William, what was the goal of this training?" Ara asked, not caring about William's internal monolgue.
William frowned at his mother's odd question, but still answered, "The goal of the training is to touch you, or, in other words, to get used to fighting a stronger being."
Ara nodded her head while sighing in relief; looks like her son is not dumb after all.
"Then why are you aiming at the shield and not me?" she asked, dumbfounding William.
He widened his eyes when he understood what his mother was saying, 'That's right; I shouldn't have aimed at the shield itself but should have used it as a smoke screen to attack Mother. I was too focused on wanting it to break!' He cursed himself.
He clenched his fists in embarrassment while hanging his head low.
Ara smiled as she watched William; she knew that look as she had the same look whenever her father scolded her while training when she made a mistake.
"Remember, William. You have to be willing to do anything in order to win, even if it means using underhanded methods. Yes, there is no honor in doing that, but honor doesn't save your life. The honor you leave will be worthless to me; I would rather have a living yet honorless son than a dead but honorable one."