Enrico was breathing heavily, sitting on the floor as he was healed by Titanza's personal maid after the end of Titanza's first training. His entire body bore deep wounds, a sign that this woman was cruel to her son.
"Did the older ones go through this?... Lady mother."
"No, I'm simply making up for lost time."
[Lost time nothing, this woman wants to kill you. Enrico, it's better if you leave this mansion immediately.]
When the maid finished healing him, he grabbed his still aching shoulder and stood up firmly.
"Thank you for the healing, Lisa."
"There's no need to thank me, young master. It is my duty. I hope you rest well."
"I will. Goodbye, lady mother."
'One day I'll make him call me mother.'
She knew she didn't deserve that title, especially from him, but she felt a certain amusement and irony in making her children call her that way.
"I hope the young master does well in Lord Matteo's training."
"If that bastard kills someone who finally has compatibility with our family's technique, I'll kill him."
"And I'll help, my lady."
Lisa had served the Ferreira family since birth, and she knew how difficult it was to have someone compatible with that technique. The only one who could use it to the fullest without apparent disadvantage was the family's ancestor.
"Well, before talking to him, I'll increase my own magic now, so stand guard, Lisa."
"Yes, my lady."
Watching Titanza begin to meditate, Lisa stood on guard. This would be a rather long night, because she was certain her lady would train after increasing her mana.
'It seems the young master is just like my lady when it comes to training, and surely she knows it.'
The two of them watched while Enrico trained with those various weapons. In their eyes, he had a drive to become stronger that surpassed his two older brothers and the younger one.
'Good luck, young master. And I hope that man doesn't do anything stupid while my lady meditates and trains.'
As Enrico walked, he felt a chill down his back and looked behind him. It was almost the next day, only thirty minutes left before sunrise, so everything was dark, with only a few lights in the corridor.
'I like training, but I need my five hours of sleep as always before that lunatic shows up.'
Matteo was a man whose training Enrico could never predict, but he was certain of one thing: this would be the hardest.
'Maybe I'll sleep five minutes longer just to make sure I'll be fine for his training.'
[Five minutes? You should rest an hour more, you lunatic, before that training.]
'What are you talking about—an hour? Do you want the world to be destroyed because I rested that long? I don't want to die, so I'll train even more, and you know what? I'll sleep five minutes less today.'
[You know what, just rest already.]
Entering his room, Enrico lay down, exhausted. Slowly closing his eyes, he hoped nothing would interrupt his four hours and fifty-five minutes of sleep.
'I hope it's a good training.'
When he closed his eyes and opened them again, he felt at most twenty-nine minutes had passed since he had lain down to sleep.
"Wait, what—Gahh!"
On his ribs, a hand exuding smoke struck, breaking his ribs and sending him crashing against a red wall. Without time to understand, Enrico was already hit in the back by three red creatures with fire pouring from their mouths and eyes.
"What the hell—"
He kicked one away and, using the momentum, tried to gain some distance. Then he realized that place looked like a prison made entirely of fire. To make things worse, all the cells were open, and at least fifty of those same creatures surrounded him.
"Interesting, you're holding up well."
Hearing Matteo's voice, Enrico sighed with a smile, immediately realizing this was his training.
"You won't even let your son rest?"
"Rest? If you're of the Solcren family, you don't need that. Besides, I can see on your face that you enjoy this."
Yes, he was right. On Enrico's face was a smile of acceptance, with a trace of excitement for what was to come. Stretching a little, Enrico got ready while he watched the creatures approaching.
'This must be in the basement, fifty meters under the mansion… This guy has all kinds of weird things down here.'
"They all look like Nartheis of Faizes level. Do you think I can defeat them all?"
"No, not at all. Because as long as they're in this zone, they're immortal. And since I sealed every exit with fifth-circle fire magic, escape isn't possible."
[This guy is insane.]
Taking a stance, Enrico launched a blast of flames at the first attacker. Taking a step back, he dodged another and grabbed its arm, throwing it onto three others.
"Huff… huff… looks like I… huff… won't just have to fight… huff… huff…"
"Looks like you've realized. As you can see, the smoke coming from these creatures are toxins that will make your body grow weary and burn the longer the time passes."
"That's scary… huff… and what do you… huff… want me to do… huff… in this training?"
Dodging another attack by jumping up, Enrico stepped on one's shoulder and kicked another behind it in the face with his charged momentum.
"It's simple. This is my training day, so you'll train here for the entire day."
"You… huff… are a demon."
"Yes, I am."
Enrico might have said that, but at the corner of his mouth an excited smile was forming. If he had to fight for an entire day, then he knew he'd have to evolve. Licking his lips, he hurled one Nartheis upward into the ceiling and grabbed two others by the arms, spinning them around to push back the creatures getting too close.
'I'll have to adapt to a one-day fight. This is going to be interesting.'