As Godfrey's Cross continued to develop in terms of food supply, it was genuinely impressive to see us producing surplus crops so quickly after a famine.
What made it even more impressive was that both Mnex and I had a direct hand in it.
We had to make a few additions to the newly constructed granaries.
So far, we're keeping a low profile by deliberately selling our produce at modest levels.
Militarily, we're still not strong enough to defend ourselves, and it's clear that some eyes are on us.
That's why we're keeping developments to a minimum.
With no shortage of food for now, I found an opportunity to act on a few ideas I had in mind.
First of them, introducing our household cook to noodles and pasta.
For some reason, people in this era don't value gastronomy much.
But some habits from my previous life still stick with me…
One of those is, enjoying food.
So I had to teach the recipes for noodles and pasta from scratch.
The happiest person about this, of course, was Roderic.
Apparently, eating noodles was a lot of fun for him.
If you've never seen a two year old eating noodles, I highly recommend it.
Over the past two years, Remy began sending me my share of the skincare profits as an advance payment.
Between soaps, dental care kits, and cosmetic products... I hit the jackpot.
Of course, I still keep all the profits within my family's treasury.
Sir William nearly exploded with joy when the first shipment of 127 crates arrived.
But the real shock came with the following batch of nearly 400 crates, he fainted.
I'm serious. He vanished for two whole days.
For a moment, I genuinely thought he had either died or retired.
But on the third day, he returned safe and sound, slightly drowsy, but still full of duty.
In the first year, when we launched our skincare products, he hadn't yet seen the revenue since payments were made with each delivery.
But the second year… that was a total surprise for him.
While everything was going smoothly...
One morning, Gareth knocked on my door,
"Young lord, Sir Theo is waiting for you at the training grounds."
"Oh good. Less boiling water, more blood. Refreshing."
"Training? Now?" I said, rubbing my eyes. "It's not even officially morning yet."
Normally, I would wake up and follow the training program Mnex had prepared for me. But this was early even by my standards.
Gareth didn't reply. He simply waited silently for me to crawl out of bed.
I knew Theo was a morning person.
And you don't argue with morning people.
When I arrived at the training grounds, Theo was holding a horse by its reins.
As always, he stood upright, rigid, and far too awake for this hour.
He looked like a statue, but there was a faint smile at the corner of his eyes.
"Today we begin," he said.
"You'll learn horseback riding, archery, and swordplay. You can't win wars with soap. That's the Count's order!"
He made sure to mention it was my father's order.
He pulled the horse in front of me.
My first attempt to mount it was a complete tragedy.
One foot barely made it into the stirrup, and my other leg was already giving up on life.
Somehow I got on its back but backwards.
Literally backwards. I was facing the horse's tail.
"Well, we've started," I said.
"Started backwards, but still counts."
Mnex, my impatient inner philosopher, couldn't help but chime in,
"Statistical likelihood of victory: 0.8%. Source of threat: gravity."
The next few hours were spent learning the difference between falling and dismounting.
Theo was patient.
Really.
Every time I fell, he helped me up, held the horse again, and made me get back on.
And each time, I got a little better.
Slightly. Maybe barely.
In my mind world, Mnex had taught me many things but not horseback riding.
Damn Matrix gremlin could teach philosophy, but not this?
"The fact that you expect everything from me is proof of how helpless a garden gnome you are."
Hah! I may be six, but I look eight or nine. Just wait a few years and watch me kick your matrix sans serif ass. Soon you won't be tossing me around in training anymore.
"All I'd need to do is grow my physical form."
Wait… can you do that?
Archery was more forgiving. At least there was no risk of falling.
Though my first arrow didn't even make it into the air, it dropped straight to the ground.
Just like horseback riding, I hadn't practiced this with Mnex.
I mean, I can use magic, what do I need a bow for?
Try explaining that to redhead Theo.
"Pull like a man..."
"Keep your back straight..."
"Hold steady. Don't tremble…"
At least he wasn't as insulting as Mnex. Then again, Mnex was heckling me in the background anyway.
"A man? You were never one in any of your lives."
"'Standing tall' isn't in your dictionary."
"Well, at least he's good at staying still."
Mnex's words lit a fire of hatred inside me. I took a deep breath, nocked another arrow, and…
Missed again… but this time, it hit the target board.
For the first time, Theo nodded.
"Now we're starting."
We continued both training sessions until noon. Then we took a short break. According to Theo, I'd spend the rest of the day on sword training until sunset.
If his goal was to kill a sixnyear old through intense physical training, he was getting close.
When he said "short break," he really meant short. I barely finished eating before he dragged me back, literally by the collar.
Mnex was cackling in the background.
Thankfully, I had received some basic sword training from Mnex. Was I a master? No. But I knew the fundamentals.
Still, Theo started from the very beginning.
Stance.
Above all else, stance. If your posture was wrong, according to him: "You're dead!"
If you were too stiff, "Dead!"
Too relaxed? "Dead!"
I had learned the basics in the mind world, but doing it in the real world was so much harder.
We started with wooden swords like in anime, but even that was heavy. I couldn't imagine how much heavier a real one would be.
On the first day, I only learned stances. I didn't even swing the wooden sword.
As I watched the sun set, Theo tapped me lightly on the head with a wooden stick.
"Your eyes should always be on your opponent, otherwise…"
"Dead!" I screamed.
I can't even call it screaming, it was more of a cry for help.
"Alright, that's enough for today. Go wash up and be here at the same time tomorrow."
He walked off without looking back.
Only problem was… my legs were trembling, and I couldn't take another step.
I barely managed to crawl back inside.
But once inside, my mother was waiting for me.
Her smile was tired, but her eyes were glowing.
"How was your first day?"
I told her everything. I was on the verge of tears.
She must've thought they were happy tears, because she clapped and praised me.
Finally, she said,
"Henry… I have something to tell you."
A brief silence.
"Soon… you'll have another sibling."
My exhaustion, pain, and swirling thoughts about arrows and soap suddenly froze.
It took me a few seconds to react.
Then I simply nodded.
"Okay," I said. "We'll need to prepare."
Mnex immediately scanned his internal databanks.
"New variable detected. Estimating emotional volatility. Calculating shared inheritance percentage…"
I didn't know how to feel.
Roderic would leave us when he turned seven.
And now… I'd have another sibling.
After dinner, I wanted some time alone in my room.
I lay on the floor and stared at the ceiling.
Tomorrow morning, it would be Theo again.
More horses. More bows. More swords.
And now... another sibling.
And one day, that sibling would walk the same path.
Maybe we'd walk it together.
Maybe I'd have to protect them.
Maybe… they'd need me.
Or maybe… they'd surpass me.
I don't know.
All I knew or felt was that I wanted to do this without betraying Roderic.
I still had five years with him, and I wanted them to be full.
And… the idea of a new sibling didn't feel so bad after all.
From morning to noon I spent my days on horseback and with a bow, from noon to sunset, training with a sword. This went on for a whole year. Meanwhile, Mnex kept correcting me in the mind world, showing me what I was doing wrong.
At least there, my physical fatigue didn't carry over.
Still, I couldn't stay in that realm for long.
In the real world, I had less than a second.
Which translated to no more than two days in the mind world.
That was my limit.
And so, the year passed in intense training.
By the end of winter, I finally understood why they had pushed me so hard.