Vihrea did not what to feel. She did not harbor hatred for Vyron, but neither did she like the idea of being friends with him. And so as she asked that question, she let out an aura that only a 7th class soturi could exude.
Vyron could feel the weight of the crushing vitalis in his chest, threatening to crush his back, making it hard to breathe. She only focused the aura on him, so no one else could feel it. He knew very well that he also deserved this, so he held the pain in as sweat poured down his back.
It felt like eternity until it eventually subsided as Vyron coughed and knelt to the floor. Albright could not help but snicker while Fleur looked surprised. Both were quite happy to see him in misfortune.
"Are you willing to forgive me now?" Vyron could not help but ask, holding his chest.
Vihrea hummed. "Well, it's not as if I did not forgive you back then. I simply disliked you."
He may have been a 6th class warrior, but with his lineage, it was clear that his constitution and potential were much better than the average human. Nobles were really bred different. She sighed and lamented her origins. Had it not been for her 'cursed' blood, would she have been able to enjoy the honor she had worked so hard for?
His eyes lit up. "Then-"
"Dawn at the stables."
Without waiting for him, Vihrea turned around and left. She did not expect much. Maybe Carys might come along for a change and then things would get more interesting? Or tedious? She will have to find out tomorrow.
Vyron had managed to arrive on time at the stables. He seemed rather out of place with his luxurious clothes though as the first words he said were, "Why is the smell so awful?"
"Horseshit isn't exactly the most pleasant smell in the world."
"Yeah and we're shoveling this to your room."
Fleur smacked Albright in the head. "Pay him no mind. We help the stablemaster once in awhile because there are too many horses to take care of."
Vyron nodded but inside he was a little unwilling. But what kind of soturi would he be if he could not even do this little menial labor? His ancestors would look down him and he did not want the others to add further insult to injury about how pampered he was raised.
They were, as the others call it, comrades now.
He had to compromise, and so he did. Rolling up his sleeves, he grabbed a shovel and began to dig up the horseshit to the wheelbarrows for transport.
When the sun had fully risen, the stablemaster thanked them profusely and prepared breakfast for their empty stomachs. Again, he felt unaccustomed but forced himself to eat in a rather uncouth way. Although he and Carys trained together, it was more of him being a tag-along more than anything.
So even if he was in a hurry to advance, he did not progress as much as he wanted to.
"Let's head to the training grounds."
Once they arrived, they each did their own rounds of warm-ups. While doing so, Vihrea patiently explained to Vyron their daily routine.
"We train here once the sun rises until lunch, attend academic classes we've chosen in the afternoon, and then train on our own at night. Get it?"
"Kind of like Carys."
Vihrea nodded. "Kind of. We might be similar, but that's because of the headmaster's comparison."
She did not think they were on the same level. Call her arrogant, but she believed she was better than him. Only by a bit, of course. But that small bit made her confident that she would come out on top. Not that it mattered. She could not afford to reveal all her cards. That would be stupid of her.
Vyron did not understand but still nodded. The headmaster loved to compare the two to ignite their competitive spirit, but neither did not go out of their way to challenge each other. Only the occasional spar would happen but even then they did not go all out.
"Want to go first?" She picked up a standard sword from the weapons rack and threw a heavier one to Vyron.
"Sure." He shrugged and caught the weapon before walking towards the circle.
"We'll do a friendly match to gauge our reflexes. A little bit of critical thinking is useful in this case."
Before he could reply, she sped towards him and slashed the sword towards his chest. He widened his eyes and tried to block it with his sword. But the force behind the impact pushed him back. Naturally, he retaliated with a horizontal slash of his own.
Perhaps he had underestimated the weight of the wooden sword and accidentally used too much force. His eyes widened but Vihrea did not lose her cool before bending backwards. This move made Vyron realize how flexible she was.
There wasn't much chance to get into contact with her before he had asked to train with her. He felt that she might be able to help him more than Carys did, as he was too preoccupied with his bottleneck to give him pointers.
As it's the first friendly spar between them, Vyron didn't think too much about it and fought as he usually did but this time, he tried to use his head. He felt himself slowly but surely being pushed out of the encirclement and it wasn't long before she found an opening.
Without hesitation, she stabbed towards the side of his neck, narrowly avoiding the skin. This gave him goosebumps as he shuddered.
"I yield."
Vihrea retrieved her sword and walked out the circle. She had won but it cost her too much stamina to block such a heavy-handed sword. Even if it was wood, a man's constitution was naturally better than a woman's.
She sometimes wished she was born a man, as it took too much of her energy just to keep blocking his attacks. The only comfort seemed to be her blood. She could not help but hide the fact that she was out of breathe and sighed.
"It seems I'm still a far cry from the instructor."
Fleur patted her shoulder and replied, "He's older than us by three decades. Don't be in such a rush. You might end up destroying yourself that way."
A momentary glory cannot compare to everlasting success.
Vihrea laughed and comforted her, "Don't worry about me. I just realized how big the gap between us was still. In any case, you're not too bad."
Vyron perked up at her words. "Really? I also realized I tend to be rash with how I make decisions. It's affected my movement and footwork."
"That's… actually good." She was impressed. She had always thought that he was a bit of an idiot. Turned out he only needed the appropriate environment to realize his mistakes.
Kapfem's arrival was like a trigger to him. He could only bow his head in shame with how long it took for him to realize this. She thought the same, but did not point it out. A noble needed to have some semblance of pride still.
Vyron got flustered too easily, which affected his critical thinking and why he had let go of his sword that day. The instructor's scolding seemed to knock some sense into him.
"If the instructor had not arrived, would you continue being an idiot?" Albright snorted as he picked up a battle ax.
"I know you hate me but must you really go so far?" Vyron sighed. He knows that he had been acting like an idiot, but it really does hurt his pride to continue being insulted to his face when he's trying his best to make up for it.
Fleur shook her head. "Al."
Albright snorted but stopped talking. Instead, they sparred inside the encirclement while Vihrea gave them pointers. Porte came by shortly after to remind them to eat and they left.