Once again, It's 5 AM and Atelia is trying out her hamon while I try out my spins.
But unlike yesterday, today there's one extra person in here.
"Huff….Haah…Huff"
Apolonia is here too.
"Don't breathe too hard"
She doesn't answer but follows my advice, and continues training.
Why is she here? You might be wondering.
Atelia and I most definitely did.
So we asked her.
"…I want to learn more things…" That is what she told us.
We both knew that was an excuse, but if she had to use one, it meant it was quite serious.
Personally, I think that she wanted to be more useful, since a lot of things are going to happen but the only thing she can do is take refuge and try to use her stand.
Which doesn't even work properly, due to me being around.
Apolonia arrived with workout clothing consisting of normal pants and a normal shirt. Unlike her usual dresses and heels, this clothing allows her to move comfortably.
"It's not like I enjoy using them, it's just etiquette"
I had forgotten that we lived in this era, so once I asked her about it and she did not like my question, if the frown on her face was anything to go by.
Moving on from that theme, she's currently doing some basic exercises while trying to produce Hamon.
With ¨basic exercises¨ I really mean basic exercises. They mostly require you to be in a still pose while performing strength exercises in a body part, like a plank.
Atelia is at a certain distance, meditating while trying to regulate her hamon.
Yes, Regulate, she can already produce hamon. However, she has encountered some complications concerning how to maintain it and prevent it from running out too soon, which are similar problems.
Every thirty minutes I have been offering some help, but every thirty minutes she repeats ¨No, no, no, no, I've got this in the bag, wait one more minute¨ And goes silent for the next thirty minutes.
As for me, I'm once again spinning, but unlike the day before, now I have some equipment to spice things up.
This equipment consists of a straight metal bar that's slightly taller than me and a normal wooden box.
As a side note, I don't think I have ever seen a cardboard box in almost two years of my being here, maybe they haven't been created yet…
So, Atelia told me that a good way of training the body is to lessen the mental stress that gives doing certain actions, like dodging or hitting something.
I kinda understood that, but not completely. In my words, it would be something like ¨Don't think too much about it¨.
And I think she meant that too, because it's exactly what I trained with Jack before we fought the Hamon masters.
My training consisted of fighting Jack while trying to move my body with my instinct.
Which ended up well, I improved at that part, but not completely. So I still have a slight hesitation moment where I think about my actions in a fight, and that moment leaves me weak for a second.
A really big second.
She also told me that to train this, it isn't enough to let the body move by itself, what I was doing with Jack, but you also need to focus your mind on other things, even better if those things are mundane and common.
And that is exactly what I'm doing right now.
I'm doing as many spins as I can in the air while supporting myself with the metal bar and sometimes using the box as an obstacle.
And I'm not thinking about them in the slightest.
I think I feel my body getting used to the spins, and with that familiarity also comes the familiarity with the energy that they produce.
Once again, Atelia told me that to train a discipline most effectively, you need to make your own conclusions about it.
She's strangely weird at training now that I think about it…
Actually, this also explains why she's refusing my help when I offer it. She wants to make her own conclusions.
The point is that I have three conclusions ready. And I'll start with the lightest one.
My first one is that this art is hard to practice.
I really mean it.
Everything is nonsensical and nothing is set in stone. I mean this in the way that there isn't a singular way of learning this that isn't brute force and repetition, the only reason why after two days of training I can feel my body getting used to the energy that the spin produces, is because of the adaption that my body has.
Hopefully, I'll develop something similar to the Ravi in the next few days. Although that hope is slowly fading with every spin that I do.
The second conclusion that I have arrived at, is that I was wrong about the maneuvers of Atelia that day.
The day I met and fought with Atelia she did a counter that was so stupid that I went and complained to her about how it shouldn't work due to straight physics.
Well, now that I'm thinking about it and actively doing the movements that she did, I have concluded that the physics is indeed working for this one.
My statement that day said ¨She couldn't have moved like that because there was no energy to redirect¨, but now I realize that she had the energy to redirect.
The energy that the spin produced, that energy is what she used to make work and do that impossible move with only the leverage of her foot.
To put it in simple terms, the mind commands and the body obeys.
It's that simple.
Now, to go a bit further I need to talk about this energy.
This energy is what you produce when you spin following the path, but this energy also fades out shortly after you proceed to the next movement.
And If I remember correctly(Of course I do, it's the only time when I got beat up that badly), during our fight, she didn't stop moving for a singular second. When I dodged, she recovered from her attack and did another one; when I backed up, she already was hitting me through the path and the destination.
My theory is that she was able to produce energy with every single one of her movements, not only while she spun, but she moved following the path, and that made her gain constant energy that she used to move impossibly.
I'm really focusing on that move because it seems more impossible the more I think about it.
You would need a huge amount of energy, use that energy, and not harm yourself with it.
The more I think about it the more impossible it seems and the more I want to use it.
It makes me excited to think about it
…
Oh yeah, I had a third conclusion, right?
Hmm, I'll leave it for another day.
I think I need more information and evidence for this one.
It's better to do things with mystery anyway, right?
*plaf*
It appears that Apolonia agrees with me, as she took her time to fall to the ground and breathe loudly.
After a small moment, she got back up and took her position once again.
Props to her for resistance.
…
..
…
[Atelia's POV][1]
*plaf*
Apolonia fell.
To her credit, this is the first time she fell in the almost three hours she was doing exercise.
That's impressive, seeing as how I've never seen her do much effort and she always wears those uncomfortable dresses.
She got up and went back to doing various exercises.
Aristocrats sure are tough, didn't expect that.
She must have had this in mind for a while if she knew what to do…
Maybe she wanted to ask Aroa something like this, but she wasn't sure to do so, I mean, she's 12. I was indecisive at twelve too.
Then what prompted her to? I like to think that it was my presence here that gave her the confidence to do so.
I breathe softly out.
*Huuh*
Apolonia grunts but I pay her no mind.
I focus my eyes and look up.
The sun would burn my eyes, but I put some of my fingers above them and do some estimates…
"7…7:40? 7:50?"
Aroa looks at me for a moment, before looking where I'm looking.
He stays silent while I try to be more precise.
"Are you… estimating the hour with the sun?"
"Yep"
"Why?"
"I want to see if it's breakfast time"
"I don't think you're even allowed to be here, how would you get breakfast served?"
"The same way I did yesterday"
"What did you do yesterday?"
"Secret"
"Haah~"
He sits on his box and sighs, not having the energy to endure my incredible amount of charisma at the moment. Or at any moment.
"So, what hour is it?" He asks, overcoming his tiredness.
"It's more than 7:45, but less than 7:50"
"So, precise, thank you"
"Of course, don't worry about it"
Apparently, he did have the energy to endure my charisma. Amazing.
"Alright, I think we should be wrapping this up" He says, after slapping his hands on his knees and making a loud clap sound against them.
Actually, I've seen other people do that too, what does it mean?
Is it like an expression to say that we should stop what we're doing and go?
"Apolonia, breakfast is going to be served shortly, I think we should get going"
"Haah…Haah…"
She didn't say anything, but I think she nodded because Aroa helped her get up and started supporting her with his shoulder.
"Let me join in too!"
I support her other shoulder while we go to her room.
…
We left her in her room after I offered to help her bathe. She refused with ¨I can't impose on you¨. Weird since it's something so minor.
"So, how you've been doing with Hamon?" Aroa asks casually.
"Pretty good, I would say, even if it's really hard to get it to not disperse"
"Yeah, I get you"
It really is hard to control this ¨Hamon¨ thing. I didn't think that it would be that hard, y'know, since I already have experience with internal energy and Aroa uses it like so easily.
I wonder how much he had to train before doing that cool thing of making a sword appear out of nothing.
He didn't even know how to train properly! I mean, seriously, reducing the stress that continuous action has in your body is one of the first things I learned, and he didn't even know it!
That's insane, he doesn't have the basics all that clear, just the necessary, and still could beat me in raw force.
Then again, it's not just raw power that you need if you want to win a fight…
But I'm teaching him the spin, so I'm pretty sure that he might be a foe in like a year or two.
"Alright, I'll see you at the table" I say, taking a turn to the left in this hall.
"It's not that way" He deadpans at me.
"I need to do something before going there"
"Ok, then"
And we went our ways.
Of course, what I need to do is to get my food.
It's really simple, I only need to go to the other side of the building and act as if I'm someone who actually pays for their services. Then I'll go and serve myself from the open breakfast.
I wonder when will he realize I just go to the other part of the hotel.
It would be really funny
But as I'm getting a small amount of food from the open… breakfast lounge(?) I see someone who shouldn't be here.
Well, not in the sense of ¨shouldn't¨, more like in the sense of ¨Why is he here?¨
I see Aethel sitting at a table, immersed in some papers while eating a small piece of bread with his other hand.
"Hey." I say as I sit beside him, plate in hand
"…You?" He answers with a slightly hoarse voice, sign of someone who hasn't slept much.
"Yes, me. Whatcha doing?"
"I'm comparing some documents, reading some things, making some plans"
All very vague things. That's the sign that someone wants you to ask more, right?[2]
"I see… so, what's your history?" I ask, completely casually
"What do you mean?" He tenses.
"I mean like, why are you working for the princess and why are you stuck with three newbies in an odd country in Africa"
Sometimes it slips my mind that we're working for a princess. A princess. I don't think that would ever sink in with me, this is probably the most important thing I will ever do in my life. Damn.
He appears to think a little, but his eyes don't hesitate or even move from the document he is reading, so I don't think he's actually thinking about it.
"The first one is a little bit personal and the second one is because I'm the only one who's around the age of the members of the team and competent enough to lead them for a bit until they can get used to decision-making"
Hmm… Aroa told me I should think about the things people say more, as in the meaning behind them. I'm not so good at it though…
He evaded the first question and said something about a team…
Those definitely mean something, but I don't know why…
"…What about you?" He asked with uncertainty in his voice as if he was touching something fragile and didn't want it to break. "What are you doing in Egypt? Why do you want to work for the princess? Why does Aroa trust you so much?"
Whoa, whoa, whoa, too many questions.
"Uhhh… For starters, I'm here in Egypt because it was my next destination, England is pretty close to Africa and I wanted to go to the most popular city there, even if I don't get too much of the language. I thought it would be fine since England has some influence there." He shrugged, seemingly uninterested.
I grabbed something that looked like fancy bread and (stuffed it in my mouth) took a bit from it. Now that I notice, he said ¨Want to work¨ not ¨Working¨, as in I'm not working for her yet. Is this a test?
"I wanted to work for the princess because…" I'll just go with the truth, never failed me and it won't fail me today. "…I met Aroa, and he was strong, and I made a deal with him that I would teach him my ways if he taught me his, and he couldn't do that because he had responsibilities, so I thought that maybe if I helped him with those responsibilities then I could have him at close reach…"
My voice got increasingly nervous as I was speaking since Aethel started staring at me instead of the documents and oh god I wish he didn't.
I wouldn't be lying if I said that I was being interrogated now, at least those eyes told me so. Ugh, I don't even want to describe them, how does one get his eyes to look like that?
"A-And as for the third question…" Oh god, not the voice crack. "…I don't know, maybe it's because I beat him one time and we understood each other more deeply?"
Every time I fought someone in a nonserious way I usually become more amicable towards them, not sure why, it just hap-Oh god he's staring at my eyes.
Like, directly at them now, not just at my general person, directly into my eyes.
"And how…?" He started speaking in a weird tone in his voice that only helped make me more nervous "…How did you meet him?"
"I attacked him at a hotel in the port!" I confess almost screaming.
I think that a few eyes looked at me, but maybe not.
"Huh?"
"Huh?"
As I stared at him, His eyes immediately switched from menacing to baffled then outright disbelief when I told him that.
"Seriously?"
"Uh, yeah" I answered a bit output by the sudden shift in the atmosphere.
He took in a deep breath and covered his mouth with his hand before asking "Like, beat him up? Physically?" Ending with a weird tone in his phrasing.
Excited that I beat up his friend? What is he? A chil- Oh god, he is a child.
"Yeah, well, not physically, but that's pretty much what I did…"
I started storytelling about how we met, from the first moment to our fight and the chat we had afterward. He had a good laugh about it, even if he tried not to show it.
Haah~ Maybe I was too scared about him, he was just asking some questions about the girl who randomly showed up and wanted to work for one of the biggest shots in the world, I would be suspicious too.
All in all, this was a good chat.
…
..
…
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[1]: I didn't want to use the [X's POV] thing, but I don't know if it would be understandable if I just changed povs that drastically and in the middle of the chapter. I've already used this method back when I made Maria's POV.
[2]: Please don't take Atelia as a Reliable Narrator.