Training
Last time.
After catching those masked intruders who'd scaled the estate walls.
My life had undoubtedly grown richer.
For one, the way the servants looked at me had shifted, just a little.
From the barbarian who'd threatened the young lady.
To... the barbarian who threatened intruders too?
Or maybe even more dangerous than that.
"Here, eat this!"
"Thank you."
It probably had something to do with how obediently I acted around the young lady.
"Should I eat a lot?"
Right now, all sorts of snacks were laid out before me.
From fancy-looking cakes to perfectly baked cookies—every kind of treat sat spread on a cloth blanket on the ground.
Ever since I'd asked for snacks as a reward last time, they brought piles of them like this every so often, under the pretense of giving them to me.
"Thank you."
"Uh, y-yeah..."
But... it didn't feel like they were really bringing them just for me.
I always ate them anyway since they offered, but the young lady's eyes were anything but normal.
"...Would you like some?"
"C-can I?"
"Of course."
"N-no... this is puppy's reward..."
...Moments like this, she really seemed like a kid her age.
Well, even normal kids her age acted like this sometimes...
But those red eyes were the problem.
Whenever they gleamed, a chill ran down my spine.
"...Since everything is the young lady's, isn't my reward hers as well?"
"...!"
Well, all I had to do was play the obedient, meek role.
Honestly, it was way better than my gladiator days.
A slum-born wretch like me, eating luxurious cakes meant for nobles?
It felt like a dragon rising from a gutter—rags-to-riches on steroids.
"Mmm—delicious!"
"Eat slowly."
And so.
We sat in the garden for what wasn't quite a tea party but close enough.
"Then I'll head to my lessons...!"
Her cheeks still puffed with cake, the young lady trotted off to class.
"Whew."
Alright, time to go.
I fished out the key I'd hidden under the cushion on the ground and unlocked my collar.
Instantly, my stagnant Aura surged through me in a rush of sweet liberation.
Yeah, it really had felt stifling.
That constant sense of being blocked from using Aura—it grated on me.
How had Alden endured it?
Ah, he probably couldn't, which was why he broke out and ran.
Come to think of it, I wondered if he was doing okay.
No word from the Colosseum, so he must've evaded capture.
If they'd nabbed him, they'd have executed him as an example and boasted about it to all the gladiators.
Anyway.
I crossed the now-familiar garden.
Passing servants who eyed me with suspicion—or more like wariness of something hazardous.
Circling around to the far side from my doghouse brought me to an open training yard.
More precisely, this was the back section of the estate.
I was the dog let loose in the front yard, after all.
"You've arrived."
"Yes, Rowell."
"Change into training clothes."
One more perk of life here:
Lately, I'd been working out my body here.
They'd told me to come whenever I was bored, so I'd wondered what was up.
Maybe they wanted to make use of me, or maybe it really was a reward.
After the young lady went to her lessons, I trained here.
The estate had three knights on staff.
The two who'd been her escorts—until I'd blasted through them in an instant and earned their punishment—and the one overseeing the guards and training the estate's security.
But my assignment here was specific.
"Let's loosen up a bit."
The old man.
When the young lady had lessons, he got bored and started calling me out for sparring lately.
"Try using Aura today. It's about time I saw it."
"You sure you're okay with that?"
"Confidence is a virtue, but bravado often isn't."
...So composed.
Well, honestly, I had no faith in touching even a hair on his head.
"Here I go, then."
I focused my mind for a moment and circulated Aura through my body.
It flowed through me, infusing vitality and exhilaration.
And then.
Bang!
Overflowing power.
In the Colosseum, I'd trained in secret and couldn't unleash it fully.
But here, everyone knew I was an Aura user, so I exploded with unrestrained force and charged at Rowell.
Whoosh!
My wooden sword sliced through empty air.
...Gone again.
Did he have some pro teleportation trick?
Vanishing like that was a pain.
I whipped my sword behind me right away.
Clang!
Immediately blocked.
"Good instincts."
"If I can't see you, it's usually behind, right?"
I poured more power into the wooden sword and spun my body with the rebound.
There stood Rowell, gripping my sword with his fingers.
"Well, damn."
This old guy's spry as hell.
When your sword's caught in a strength contest you can't win, you let go.
I released it and kicked off the ground.
Swoosh!
Sand sprayed up, clouding Rowell's vision.
In that gap, I spun and aimed a heel at his head...
But then.
Thud!
A heavy impact slammed my chest, launching me airborne.
Crash-tumble-roll!
"Ow..."
How many flips was that?
Blinding someone and then just plowing straight in?
Veteran moves, alright.
"Excellent snap judgment."
"Gee, thanks."
I asked while dusting off, since the bout had ended in a flash.
"More importantly, what was that?"
"What do you mean?"
"That vanishing act. Teleporting or something?"
Too fast—even for me, an Aura user with sharp dynamic vision.
How do you track someone who blinks out like that?
"...You don't know Fleet?"
"Pardon? What's that?"
"You really don't..."
Rowell stared at me like he couldn't fathom my ignorance for a moment.
But I genuinely had no clue.
Alden hadn't taught me any such technique.
"It's one of the basic Aura techniques. Who taught you Aura?"
"Uh... the former Colosseum champion. I only learned the circulation method briefly."
"Briefly?"
"Yeah, he escaped before I learned much, so I figured out the rest solo."
At the mention of self-teaching, Rowell eyed me with disbelief.
Then.
"...In that case, I'll teach you."
"For real?"
"Yes, the basics—you'll pick them up quickly."
For some reason, he was going to instruct me personally.
"Before Fleet, you need to learn Track first."
"...And what's that?"
"You don't know that either? We'll start from the very basics, then."
Track? What the hell?
...I'd thought I was a decent Aura user by now.
Turned out I was a barbarian among civilized folk.
No wonder I'd bulldozed those escorts—desperation had carried me.
Otherwise, they'd have pinned me flat.
"It helps to know what's out there first. Can you read?"
"Yeah, read and write."
"You can write too?"
"Why not?"
I'd picked up literacy during my gladiator days.
...Alden had helped a ton with that.
The guy had been a knight—plenty of knowledge to share.
Thinking back, I owed him a lot.
If I ever saw him alive, I'd repay the favor.
Though he'd probably laugh his ass off at me playing noble lapdog.
"Perfect. I'll get you paper and a pen—take notes."
"Got it."
And so.
Rowell taught me the basics of Aura techniques used by practitioners across the continent.
There were four common fundamentals:
Track, enhancing vision to capture fleeting movements.
Fleet, concentrating Aura in the body for instantaneous acceleration.
Rush, exploding Aura outward to overwhelm foes.
And finally, Guard, a thin Aura sheath for defense.
"These are the basics."
"...A lot to learn."
Didn't look like stuff I'd master overnight.
But it was pretty foundational, on closer inspection.
When I'd escaped the Colosseum, gathering Aura in my legs for that leap? Basically a crude Fleet.
"You awakened Aura through self-taught circulation alone—you'll learn fast."
"Anything but Fleet, sure. But does it really make you as fast as you?"
"Our levels differ, and the Boyd family's Fleet is a bit unique."
I got the level gap.
But Boyd family Fleet?
"Do families have their own secret variants?"
"Usually, yes."
Damn.
So these were the basics, and noble houses refined them into family secrets.
"Guess I can't learn those."
I asked without much hope, but still.
"Naturally."
Yeah, figured.
"Well, it's not entirely impossible."
"What would it take?"
There was a way?
I perked up, genuinely curious about that blinding speed.
"Earn more merit."
"Not the usual stuff, right?"
"Correct. Enough to be recognized by the family head as a retainer worthy of the young lady's pet—then you could learn family secrets."
"...Oof."
Lifelong impossibility?
How was a collared dog napping in the yard supposed to rack up merits?
"Tough to learn, huh."
"You never know—seize any chances."
The masked intruder thing was a fluke; normal opportunities were rare as hen's teeth.
A long road ahead, I thought, as I wrapped up learning the basics that day.
But unexpectedly.
The chance to earn merit came sooner than I thought.