Chapter:07 The Venhorst Novo Redondo territory.
It's been a week since John and Alex began training. During this week, they pushed themselves to the limit. They were now able to reach the other side of the pool and back without either of them falling in. While it was a bit challenging, they were both proud of their achievements.
During the terrifying process of endless falls into the pool full of piranhas, the two's dexterity and speed increased greatly, John felt that he could control his body better.
An Iron Tail's senses are naturally superior to those of humans. The Iron Tail racial trait encompasses high strength, heightened senses, and elemental levels of earth and water. As he grew up, John noticed that his body was different from his previous one. At first, he thought the tail was the only distinguishing feature between a human and an Iron Tail. tail .
As his body grew, his vision, hearing, smell, touch and taste - all five senses - were expanded. Now, relying only on his sense of smell, he could distinguish everything around him without even opening his eyes. He could now hear a type of sound frequency that only animals could hear. The range of his vision improved greatly to the point where he could reach objects.
During a week of training, Catarina and Fernando supervised the boys' training on different days. Catarina saw how the two were able to go back and forth without any problems, and nodded and said.
— Boys , it's time to take a break.
When the two, Alex and John heard Catarina's words, they increased their speed and quickly returned without any impediment, lately the piranhas were unhappy, this is because John and Alex no longer fell into the pool and therefore they were left with nothing to bite.
Woxim
Woxim
With a start, two boys jumped out of the pool, one a little over 7 years old and the other looked to be 9 or 10 years old. As soon as John got out of the pool, he ran to Catarina and gave her a big hug. He sighed and said:
—This training has become very boring, when are we going to stop doing the same thing, day after day.
Alex didn't say anything, but he agreed with John's words, nodding his head, for Alex it was also boring to do the same thing every day, Catarina looked at the two and laughed mischievously.
—Very well, you have forced my hands, since you are bored of giving me something to do without complaint.
The two looked at each other and saw the other's caution. Catarina raised her staff and chanted an incantation in the Baboan language . She pointed the staff and suddenly the pool trembled slightly and without warning, it began to expand, expanding several times, until it transformed into a large lake. With another incantation in the Baboan language , pieces of trees arranged themselves to form an obstacle course, much more complex than the previous one, now the pieces of trees were a little further apart from each other.
Catarina was far from finished, she removed the piranhas from the lake using magic, again chanted another complex incantation the lake water began to boil, with one spell, the water reaches 100 degrees Celsius, steam began to rise to the sky, it was difficult to see clearly with the steam, but with the vision of an iron tail was no problem at all.
The entire route was properly prepared, Catarina explained the objective of this new route in simple and clear words.
— This route is the opposite of the previous one, which helped you have better control of your body, working on your agility. This route will train your speed. With the boiling water, if you don't want to end up like soup without vegetables, you would have to be very fast.
Catarina spoke seriously, for her it was tedious, she prefers to teach magic, at the end of the day she is an elemental mage not a warrior, preparing another person's body to be a warrior was boring without a doubt, it is like a teacher teaching something outside of his specialty, but even so, she pointed the staff indicating for the two to jump into the newly formed lake .
The two jumped onto the wooden platform, John felt an intense heat running through his body, his throat went dry, sweat began to run down his entire body, he tried to take a deep breath but hot air entered his nostrils.
Cough cough cough .
John looked at Alex, he had already started running the course, he didn't wait but he also started running accelerating at a gradual pace, the faster they both ran the faster they lost vigor, it was very difficult to run the course with the boiling water, after a few laps at high speed, they were both breathing heavily, his vision was blurry, his head hurt, after 5 more laps he jumped out of the lake, Alex lasted a while but in the end it was only 6 laps more than John.
The two were lying down breathing deeply, they both looked at each other for a long time until the tiredness left them, after thirty minutes of well-deserved rest, they jumped into the lake again and resumed their journey.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Throughout the day, they ran the course repeatedly, until they could no longer stand it. When they finished, their bodies felt even lighter, and their speed increased significantly. The training proved very effective; the results were visible quickly, and this made them both very happy. However, fatigue was also evident; they had to stop frequently to recover, their bodies exhausted.
One day.
Two days.
Three days.
Four days.
For several days John and Alex trained, aiming to outdo each other thanks to this objective, they gradually got used to the high temperature, the time in the lake increased in the same proportion as the rest time decreased, their speeds increased to a point that running the course no longer helped, but even so they trained throughout the month.
During the month that passed, Catarina gradually increased the difficulty of the course with her magic, all the magic that Catarina used for training were low-grade magic, they were magic of a level 1 primary being.
***
It was already September, only a month left until John's birthday. In the month that passed, John and Alex became good friends. John discovered that Alex was a simple and very respectful boy. He had a burning desire to become a warrior as soon as possible. Without Fernando's help, Alex would not become a warrior so soon. Even though Ceto is an average warrior, he signed a non-disclosure contract regarding the warrior's path, so he could not pass it on to his son.
*****
Venhorst Castle.
In the dining room, John was happily eating dinner with his parents. He now had good dexterity, his body control was decent, the training had paid off after the hard work. Fernando seemed worried about something in the last few days. He has been making preparations to go to the capital to resolve some matters. Fernando's biggest concern was John. He didn't want to leave without John passing his first evolution. This would give him extra protection.
— Dad, I want to take a tour of the territory tomorrow.
John asked with anxiety on his face, he was already tired of staying in the castle all the time, he came to this world a long time ago, it was time to breathe new air and get to know his family's territory, Fernando spoke without any expression on his face, in fact he already expected John to make this kind of request, it was just a matter of time, so he was prepared, the same could be said of Catarina.
— I'll tell Ceto to go with you.
John frowned, he didn't want to go visit his city as the young lord, he wanted to explore the territory on his own, without alarming anyone, he knew that although Ceto acted as the family butler, in Venhorst Castle, in fact in the city estate Ceto is Fernando's representative, if people see him with Ceto it would be easy to deduce his identity, this would prevent him from exploring and doing what he wanted.
- Dad, I don't think it's a good idea to go with Ceto, I just want to go for a walk, I don't want to attract too much attention.
Catarina looked at John then looked at Fernando showing some concern in her beautiful eyes, but she didn't say anything, Fernando thought for a bit and said.
— You can't walk around alone, after all you are the young lord, at the very least take some guards with you, for your protection, I believe that this way your mother will be at peace and so will I.
— Don't worry, Mom, Dad, Alex will go with me, no one will know that I left Venhorst Castle.
John spoke with an air of confidence on his face, Fernando thought for a moment since no one will know that he will be in town for a visit, there won't be any problem, he replied saying.
— Okay, you can go with Alex, but don't stray far from the city, there's no way you're going to the favelas.
John nodded with a wide smile on his face, his goal was achieved, and so dinner came to an end. After dinner, John went to his room, anxious about tomorrow. Soon night fell and gave way to a new day.
****
The next day.
John was having breakfast when a maid entered respectfully, she bowed slightly and spoke.
— Young lord, Alex wants to see you
John happily put the food aside and went out to meet him in person. When John and Alex saw each other, they smiled at each other, then bumped fists.
— Alex.
— John.
The clash of fists was a form of greeting, for those who were close, Alex asked with a smile.
— are you ready to meet the new round one?
— Ready and enthusiastic.
John's answer came as soon as Alex asked.
"Who will escort us to the new round? I don't see anyone around here." Alex asked.
— My father allowed only us to go to the new round.
Alex was skeptical.
- serious ?
— You are the young lord, how can we leave without an escort?
— I want to see the new Redondo without alarming the inhabitants, it would be boring if people
keep an eye on me just because I'm the young lord.
After John enlightened Alex, the two left Venhorst Castle through the back doors. None of the servants knew of John's departure. Before leaving, Alex lent John a set of clothes. He didn't want to wear his own, as they would attract too much attention.
With a few copper coins, they boarded a carriage they found along the way, which coincidentally headed for Novo Redondo. Venhorst Castle sits on a plain far from the city of Novo Redondo, because Fernando preferred the silence of Venhorst Castle to the bustling castle on the estate in the city of Novo Redondo.
Alex had a comprehensive, if superficial, knowledge of Venhorst territory. John watched the carriage slowly move away from the familiar plains. He looked up at the blue sky, the morning sun shining brightly, the wind blowing lightly. Although the distance wasn't great, it would still take two hours by carriage to reach Novo Redondo, John asked.
"Alex, do you know how the territory works? My parents didn't explain much to me, so I only have a very superficial knowledge of the territory."
Alex thought for a moment to organize his words and began to explain how the Venhorst territory was organized and how it worked.
— Your family's territory is very large, measuring about 95,900 square kilometers, it is made up of plains, plateaus and mountains, many races and Clans live there, in the mountains to the south lives the water clan, it is a clan of humans with a high level of affinity in the water element, most of them are water elemental warriors, they can communicate with aquatic animals.
Alex looked at John who was listening to him attentively and continued with his speech.
— In the mountains to the east lives the race of fierce barbarians. They are very strong. They are warriors, but they do not use elements; they use only brute force for combat. In the east is the forest, a very vast forest inhabited by a great diversity of monsters. Only warriors and mages can go there.
— I haven't been informed about other parts of the territory, my father hasn't explained them to me yet, my knowledge is also superficial, but the most important are the agricultural areas and the mining areas.
—in the territory there are small towns that are controlled by minor nobles without title, they pay taxes annually, many nobles help the territory in the small towns.
— the heart of the territory is the city of Novo Redondo, it is the center of commerce, the nobles and some merchants live there, all the races and clans of the territory pay their tributes annually at the lord's castle, and of course my father is the chief supervisor.
When Alex spoke of his father, a gleam of pride and respect passed through his eyes. Fernando is the lord of the territory, but he did not have time to act as the lord castellan. He delegated Ceto as his representative when he was away. He preferred to stay in the capital, improve his skills or wander around in search of opportunities for his evolution. Therefore, he would leave his authority as lord castellan to his most faithful man.
The carriage moved quickly at a steady pace. During the journey, two people joined the party. They were human, a man and a woman. Both were adults. They weren't very talkative and remained silent throughout the journey. Alex spoke cheerfully about the territory, but because they were discussing basic knowledge, they didn't attract the attention of the two humans.
The trip was uneventful, the two hours that passed John was listening to some important aspects about the city of Novo Redondo, soon in the distance the city could be seen, a wall made of stone and concrete surrounded the entire city, the stones in the wall were well worked, a gigantic gate gave access to the entrance to the city, two men in armor and spears were charging the entrance fee to people who wished to enter the city.
The carriage stopped in front of the gate and everyone got out and was intercepted by the gate guards, with their gazes raised they swept the eyes of the newcomers, from the clothes they wore they deduced that at most they were middle class, given this they acted with undisguised arrogance, they spoke extending their hands with a smile.
— 10 copper coins to enter the city.
John and Alex each took out 10 silver coins and gave them to the guards, the two who traveled with them, the man and the woman, also did the same, giving each of them 10 copper coins without opening their mouths, in fact considering the position of John and Alex, they did not deserve to pay to enter, but a measly 10 silver coins means nothing to Alex, what to say about John, the young lord of the territory.
After paying the fee, the two passed through the gate and entered the city.