Sound asleep, haha. I guess today really was tiring for him.
I walked inside his tent, sitting down next to his head, playing with his hair gently to not wake him up. although considering how deep asleep he was, he'd probably not wake up even if I screamed haha.
"You did a great job today, Cael. I honestly thought it would take you at least a few days to get it haha, but it seems like I was the one underestimating how much you wanted it."
By now, a good chunk of the top of his hair had already changed color. At this point, if he went anywhere really without covering his hair, it would be pretty obvious that he was an Ashford. It's a shame though, really. He has such beautiful silky hair, but he'd get mistreated because of it outside of our village… but that won't last very long. Just a little longer, and your sister alongside your beloved Mio will fix our reputation, and make sure no one will look down on you because of that beautiful hair of yours.
"You really are an idiot though, you know?… you could've chosen the easy path, and me and her would've just taken care of you until it was time…"
"…Of course though, neither one of us expected you to actually take it. Which is why, we're not only proud, but also worried about you."
It's not like he'd actually need most of the skills I'll teach him, or at least if he wants to live just as an adventurer. But all of them would not only make his life easier later on, but also help him for a different purpose.
"It might sound a little hypocritical since we're the ones making you do it, but it wasn't easy for us to watch. Having to let you fail instead of catching you, and acting stern to keep you in order… We don't like doing either one of them. So for that, I'm sorry, but we can't stop. After all…"
"…We don't know what will happen in the future. And Since you already chose which path to take, I have to make sure you'd be ready for all that your curse will launch at you…"
An average S rank adventurer according to Mio, can only use around 2 of the skills I'll teach him. The most basic of them all which most adventurers know, regardless of rank, is enhancing their own body, but the average S rank would only manage to learn another one at most. But obviously, since we don't know what you'll need to face whenever me and Mio aren't around to protect you, we have to make sure you'd survive.
"I'll make sure that you relearn all of them, just like you used to back then. Today as well, I was only pretending when I said I was starting to doubt your blood. Both me and Mio, who was watching from afar, were extremely proud of you."
I then quickly relieved his pain, which tonight I managed to do myself instead of the creep, and got up on my feet.
"I'll let you rest now, you definitely deserve it after all. Sleep well, my dear little brother."
That didn't mean that the creep wasn't around though. As I got out of his tent, glancing around to make sure no one was nearby first, I jumped up, stopping around a kilometer above ground level where she was standing on hardened air. I sat down next to her, but I guess the mighty Mio felt like standing at the moment.
"Are you anxious?"
"Hm?"
"I mean about tomorrow. You've postponed it once but that won't be the case tomorrow, right?"
"Do you even need to ask? Of course I'm anxious, after all it's time to have him relearn how to regenerate… aren't you anxious? It's your beloved we're talking about."
"Mhhh, I'd lie if I said I'm not a little anxious, but I'm not really worried or anything like that. I know for a fact that he'll manage. He's the man I love after all."
"Must be nice being you, huh. You're not the one who actually has to do it. Today was bad enough when I had to watch him get squashed, but tomorrow I'll have to intentionally hurt him… I'm not really a fan of that, you know?"
"We can't help it, can we? And for that matter, you're the only one who can do it. I definitely wouldn't be able to do it at the very least."
"I know, I know. But that only makes it harder for me… before being the man you love, he's my little brother after all."
She then also sat down next to me, with one knee up.
"You're right. My bad, Maia. But one of us has to do it. We won't always be next to him to save him, and he also wouldn't want that even if we could. He chose to get stronger on his own, and we're going to respect that no matter what… but we need to give him that little push he needs. At the very least, until he'll find out about "that"."
Of course, she was right, and I absolutely agree with her. For that matter, I guess it's pretty stupid of me to complain about how hard it is for me, when he's clearly the one who has it worse. But that aside, there was something we needed to discuss still, regarding tomorrow.
"What do we do though? I'd rather not call it a failure if he doesn't manage until lunchtime, but making him go into town like that is also a bit…"
"Hmm"
She then opened her hand after thinking for a few seconds, and out of thin air as usual, she made something.
"This should do it, as long as you don't go over this much at least?"
"As if! It's more than enough."
She then handed the freshly made prosthetic which obviously was a perfect match for him, and I just kept it in my hands for now.
"What about if he doesn't make it until the end of the day though? I'm assuming you already know why I postponed this, and what I'd like for you to do."
"Yeah, I know. If he doesn't make it by the end of the day, I'll heal him, then change his memories. you postponed it to have a backup ready, no? I'll make it so he thought you spent all day practicing his flying or something."
I really hope we won't need that though…
Of course, I still don't want to, but in the end one of us has to do it. Regeneration is a fundamental skill he'll definitely need… but I still hoped that Maybe this conversation was actually useless. That we wouldn't need to go to such an extent, and that he'd manage to do it tomorrow, buy It might've been just my selfishness speaking. After that, we just spent around half an hour chatting mostly about irrelevant things, until it was time for both of us to go on our way. Or rather, she went back to the headquarters to complete some work, while I just went to sleep, but still it sounds better if I say we both went on our way so that's what I'll stick to.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(Cael's Pov)
"Hghmm…"
I guess I woke up before Maia today… I genuinely slept so well last night that I'm fully awake, and she hasn't even come to wake me up yet.
I had no idea what time it was though, and since I'm not actually the type to wake up early, for all I knew she might've overslept and it was midday by now. I sat up, and started stretching my arms while yawning, intending on getting up as soon as possible… but it seems like I was wrong.
"Cael, wake up!-"
"Gaaaah?!"
I didn't even hear her footsteps outside, so it actually scared the shit out of me. She came inside the tent pretty much out of nowhere, and I jumped a little from the scare.
"Oh? You're already awake? What's up, are you sick or something?"
"…why are you assuming something is wrong with me just because I'm up early?"
"Because it's more likely for a pig to start flying than you to wake up in time?"
"Oh spare me, it's not that bad!"
"It is though? You've never been a morning person. So that's why I'm asking if you're sick or something."
"I'm fine… I probably just slept well because I was satisfied yesterday. I was extremely happy after all."
With a weird smile on her face, she then simply put down my clothes for the day next to me, and turned around to leave. But, before that she stopped right as she was going out and said something first.
"I see. Take your time with it this morning, it's still only around 6. Dad asked me to go hunting earlier, so you have time until I'm done with that. At the very least, I think it should take me around an hour and a half, so I can stock up properly. Make sure you're ready by then, and I'll come get ya. See ya later."
Her tone was calmer than usual, which was honestly a bit surprising. Not in a bad way though…
"Alright…"
This was new. Ever since my training started like what, 2 years ago? She'd never done something like this. I was happy about it, but also made me wonder if maybe there was a reason for it. Regardless, I did still take the opportunity to take it slow, ending up falling asleep for about an hour before I finally woke up again. Taking in consideration the time it took to change my clothes, going to take a leak and resting a bit more, by the time I was fully ready, she had also just returned.
"Oh? I thought I'd have to wake you up again, but I guess I was wrong, huh."
She said while landing in front of me, actually looking visibly surprised.
"You sure were. I did fall asleep again though, but I woke up earlier, and I'm ready to go now."
"Hmm…"
"What?"
"Aren't ya a little too excited? Even after what you did yesterday… Cael, are you developing a masochistic kink or something?"
"Yeah, actually. I really enjoy getting my bones shattered- of course not you damn brainless gorilla!"
"Then why are you so excited?"
"Well that's… that's because I can't say I dislike our training…"
"Right, so you're a masochist?"
"I told you, I'm not…"
She then walked next to me, silently patting me on the shoulder as if trying to tell me that "it's fine", which pissed me off. Flicking her hand off, I then jumped, lifting myself up in the sky, levitating while waiting for her.
"You can tease me after we're done with our training. I'm the one who wanted to do it, so of course I'll stick to it, and be excited about becoming stronger, no?"
While jumping next to me, I don't want to get cocky or anything, but I'm pretty sure she let out a hum of approval. Her expression was honestly pretty hard to read though, since she was technically smiling, but I honestly had no idea what that one meant. Her eyes were also just as hard to read. Either way, we then flew towards the town, and had breakfast really quick, before going around the same area of the first flying attempt, but this time on the ground.
"What's it going to be today?"
I asked as I stretched my arms once again. which by the way I think has become a habit, but I don't really think it's a problematic one. if anything it gives me more flexibility or something? I don't know, but It shouldn't be a bad thing so let's just embrace the stretching.
That aside though, as I glanced at her who was a few meters away from me, I was getting worried. Golden and Black mixed aura was coming from her, and she Silently looked at me with cold eyes. Alongside that, she also had the most serious expression I had ever seen her with in my life.
"Maia…?"
Still without a word, she then took off her big ass backpack as usual, and pulled out a knife from it. And yeah, I was starting to sweat at that point, as I took a step back.
"M-Maia…come on, stop joking like that… it's not funny…"
Then, after slowly unsheathing it, she started walking towards me, slowly, but with those same cold eyes that were starting to give me shivers down to my spine. I instinctively started walking backwards, but after around 5 steps, I tripped on a rock, and fell on my ass.
"…Today's lesson is…"
She stopped her sentence, and after a few more steps, stopping only around 2 meters away from me, while I was still on the ground with one hand holding myself down, she completed it.
"…Regeneration."
"H-huh? Do you mean like actually-"
"I mean what I said. You're going to learn to regenerate your body with mana."
For some reason, while talking she was also wiping her knife with her shirt. I had no idea why, since she hadn't even used it, but it seems like I was completely wrong. Left behind on her white shirt… there was blood.
"Eh?… Maia… why was there… blood on your knife?-"
It was then that it finally hit me. Coming from my left hand that wasn't on the ground, a sharp burning sensation. I could feel something dripping inside my palm, More specifically, from my thumb. My eyes widened as I realized what was going on. Adrenaline started to rush into my veins, and my heartbeat skyrocketed. I didn't look right away. I didn't want to look. I didn't want my guess to be correct. I wanted this to be all just a big misunderstanding, and for me to just be overreacting, then for both of us to laugh it off. Surely, she wouldn't be this drastic with our training, right? Right…?
"Ah… arghhhh!!! M-my my finger!!"
But I couldn't help it in the end. When I looked, my thumb was on the ground, and as my blood was spilling, I started panicking, while also covering up what was supposed to be my thumb with my other hand. Tears started rolling down my face, as I screamed in pain. However…
"Quit whining."
She then grabbed my other hand, preventing me from touching my left hand, and with a small flame, she sealed off the wound.
"Aaaaaahhhh!!!"
Afterwards, she quickly, or rather instantly relieved my pain, but that didn't really help. My left thumb was gone, I could see it on the ground. I don't understand it. Was this the only way? Was this necessary? I couldn't stop my tears. I must've looked pathetic. But at that moment, I actually felt betrayed. It was different from yesterday when she pushed me down, since in the end she just made me begin the first step of the process. Not to mention I was actually expecting it. This time, without telling me, and doing it so fast that I couldn't even see it, she just went ahead and cut me.
"W-why… why?…Why?… why?-"
Then before I could even finish my last word, she dropped on her knees, hugging me tightly, and caressing my head with one hand. I could feel it. She was shaking. So much that it felt as if she'd break down any moment, but as she spoke soon after, her tone was somehow calm. I couldn't see her face, yet for some reason, I could tell. She was holding tears with every single bit of energy in her body.
"I'm sorry, Cael. I'm really sorry. I had to do it, in order to simulate a real scenario where someone might actually try to hurt you without a word. Please, I beg you, don't lose your trust in me. I know it was wrong, I know it was scary, and I know that it might've felt like a betrayal, but please believe me. I would never do this to you if it wasn't necessary like it is now."
"I-…"
I honestly don't know. This was genuinely the first time I had felt genuine fear because of her. I'm not talking about her just casually scaring me as a prank. This time, I felt authentic fear, the same you'd have from an enemy because of her. I understood her reasoning, and I still thought the same as yesterday. It was perfectly reasonable within the training circumstances, even though it wasn't ethical… but I don't know if it would be as easy as just saying "alright, I'll keep trusting you!" Right away.
That being said though, the pain from my missing finger was already gone, but I still felt something. A pain even sharper, that was piercing me straight into my heart. It hurt. Even worse than actually losing my finger, and even worse than anything I experienced yesterday.
Stop this… stop this, Cael. Don't think about it. Don't go down that thought trail. If you do that, then…
I'll start being scared of her, Forever. It never actually occurred to me, or rather, I obviously knew Maia was astronomically strong, but this was the first time I had actually felt what it meant to have her against you. It was terrifying. "She's a monster.", "there's no way she's a human.", "someone this strong shouldn't be among regular people like us.", "why are you so strong?", "what are you?" All kinds of questions we're going through my head.
It hurt. But not physically. Thr very thought of looking at Maia like that alone, was enough to send the worst pain I had ever felt through me. I don't want this. I don't want to be scared of her. I know she's not lying. I know she loves me. I know she wouldn't hurt me if it wasn't necessary. I know. I know… but…
What if she'll do it again- no. I refuse to believe that.
She was holding me tight enough, so I let go of both my arms, and hugged her back with all of my strength. My tears had also stopped flowing, and I smiled while burying myself on her shoulder. Just how stupid could I be? Seriously… I was so caught up in my paranoid trail of thoughts, that I hadn't even noticed. I don't know when it happened, since by this point, around a whole minute of silence had passed, but I could feel it now. She was still shaking, but that wasn't all. She was Crying.
I hate myself. I hate myself for even thinking about the possibility of this crybaby ever hurting me. What was I even worried about again? I already understood why she did it, and it also made complete sense haha. Not to mention, I was actually fond of her unethical but effective method. So once again, what was I worried and scared of? I don't know. It must've been so trivial and stupid. There was simply no way that I'd ever start questioning Maia's intentions towards me.
"…there's no way I'd ever lose my trust in you, Maia. I get why you did it. Honestly, it really did feel like a betrayal though. And I was extremely scared. But I won't start hating or distrusting you because of it."
"I-I'm… sowrwry…"
With my left hand that she had just cut off a finger from, I also started patting the back of her head. I don't know if it helped much, but this was my way of telling her that I still trusted her enough to touch her with the hand she had just cut.
"It's alright. It's all alright. I'm fine now. You've relieved all of my pain, and even sealed off the wound. All I have to do is regenerate my finger now, right? Then it's a piece of cake. So please… don't cry anymore, alright?"
Her grip tightened, and I could feel her shake her head in a yes even though she wasn't able to speak yet. This was fine. All I needed was knowing that she'd eventually stop crying. I honestly am not sure if I'll manage to regenerate my finger today… but I feel like she either already has a plan in mind to mask my hypothetical failure, or it would genuinely hurt her even more to look at me tomorrow if I do fail. So for now, I'll keep holding her for as long as she needs to stop crying, then today, surely, I won't be going home without regenerating my finger first.