Reaper's Crown

Ch. 31

Morio sunk most of his free time into the things he used to do once he was younger. Fortunately for him, the mentor was kind enough to lend him a hand in pointing out a small training field right behind the main towers of the fortress. Here, whenever lunch was finished and he managed to sneak enough rest in between meals, Morio would spend about two hours each session, continuously striking at wooden poles or obstacles, jumping around or climbing the various ladders leading to leaps down into the water, sliding along the ground towards newer hurdles. Each day he'd come back proudly announcing his progress, and even writing down the things he managed to accomplish as if to not feel bad.

This motivation simply came from none other than Ingo. Facing the next challenge, he was surely going to beat him, even if, he never did. Screw spells or magic, Ingo still managed to rip free of the chains simply using physical strength. Morio was a competitive boy, and a competitive boy always strives to win.

Mentioning the Haran-Morian, Ingo often skipped meals and spent time on his own. Genni once caught him in his room, lifting earlier carried weights over and over again, with a puddle of sweat forming beneath his feet. Then, when he wasn't training in his room, he'd spend that time in anger and solitude, almost scoffing at Morio's progress. He'd swing his club in precise ways, striking at the ground and creating sinkholes large enough to, perhaps, render this entire fortress unusable.

Morio was, as mentioned earlier, inadvertently trying to compete in that sense. Jealous of his quick advancement, he too, assumed a more rigorous routine but found that his earlier happiness and excitement eventually turned into something he just had to do in order to not fall behind the curve. Most nights were spent in silence and beating oneself up over not being good enough to best their opponent. He needed to be stronger.

Morio tried to remain happy.

Meanwhile, Jyuzou watched their progress from afar, spending most of the days stressing over the question instead of actually taking any steps towards relieving that stress. It's only up to us to tell ourselves we're good enough, but with skills that didn't necessarily mean raw physical strength, what was left for him to do? Ponder over the question, over and over again. I mean, he was a good enough Demonear, but it seemed that his earlier trials were blown away. He sighed, not necessarily leaning into training, just seldom waving his spear around and hoping for a miracle to happen.

Genni assumed a similar stance, and the two would often 'train' together, with the mentioned training taking place far away from the fortress to avoid Koyote and mostly consisted of complaints and wannabe smart talks. If we're standing on the same level, then we're surely powerful enough to face each other. If Jyuzou managed to beat a flying demon without actually fighting it, then that power must be stored somewhere in his brain. If he could cast magic, Genni could definitely do so as well. You get what these two wannabe smartasses came up with; it was more of them telling each other that they're surely good enough instead of striving to improve.

The days went on until five passed. Morning came, and the mountain challenge yielded the exact same results. Morio and Ingo continued working around their flaws, while Jyuzou and Genni took this opportunity as an excuse to commend their hard work with a stroll around Omer Narrows.

The evening passed by, and Olala found herself in the library, searching for one specific book that Koyote earlier asked for. "What do magma and skela have in common?" she asked herself, scratching her head, before reaching a hand out towards a stool further near the other shelves. "Why on Errarion would she ask for something like that?"

She squinted her eyes in disappointment, knowing the answer. Still, she really wanted to deny that Koyote would come up with something THIS ridiculous. You'll learn soon too, as well.