Sorry For The 4 Month Break, I've Improved my writing for the time being.
Five days.
Five brutal days of Torvald's stick, dummy practice, and formation drills that left them limping back to their homes each night.
But it worked.
Jade's Polearm hit 25, Numerius's Two-Handed was at 35, Yuzon could actually hit targets now with Bow sitting at 30, Mataranas was a wall with Shield at 35, and even Nathaniel's One-Handed scraped up to 20.
They were still Level 1 but the Experience bars were close, 95/100 for most of them.
One more good day and they'd level up.
Right now though they were collapsed by a pond just outside the village, splashing water on their faces and trying not to die from exhaustion.
"I can't feel my arms," Nathaniel groaned, dunking his head underwater and coming up sputtering.
"That's progress," Yuzon said, lying flat on the grass with his shortbow resting beside him, "pain means growth"
"Pain means Torvald hates us," Numerius said but he was grinning, flexing his bicep like it was a trophy, "check it out though, I'm getting swole"
Mataranas just grunted, sitting with his knees up and staring at the water.
Jade leaned against a tree with his spear across his lap, the pond was quiet and clean, surrounded by reeds and wildflowers that smelled like grass and mud
He missed home, his phone and bed and his actual dad who didn't hit him with sticks
But dwelling on it wouldn't help.
He toggled his UI off and just breathed.
Someone was coming, light footsteps and quick
Jade's hand went to his spear before he saw who it was.
Hilda.
She had a cloth sack over her shoulder, braid swinging as she walked, apron cleaner today and she looked less annoyed than last time.
Nathaniel froze mid-splash, water dripping from his hair.
"Oh no"
"Relax," Hilda said, rolling her eyes as she stopped at the pond's edge and crouched down, pulling out bread from her sack,
"Ma sent me, said you lot have been training yourselves to death and probably forgot to eat"
She tossed a loaf to Jade, then Numerius, Yuzon, Mataranas, and finally Nathaniel who caught it awkwardly and stared at it like it might explode.
"Thanks," Jade said, tearing into the bread, it was warm and crusty, way better than the hall's stale stuff
Hilda nodded, sitting on a rock and watching them eat.
For a moment it was just chewing sounds and pond ripples.
Then Hilda spoke.
"You guys changed"
Jade paused mid-bite.
Numerius looked up with crumbs on his face, "huh?"
Hilda's eyes swept over the group, lingering on each of them, "you usually don't include me this close, like you'd see me coming and scatter or ignore me, sometimes you'd say stuff"
"Stuff?" Yuzon asked carefully.
"Girls are weak, stay in the kitchen, that kind of thing," her voice was flat but there was an edge to it, "you lot weren't exactly friendly"
Nathaniel choked on his bread.
"We said that?" Numerius said, looking genuinely shocked, "that's wow, past us were jerks"
Hilda's gaze snapped to Nathaniel.
"And you"
Nathaniel flinched.
"You were always close to me before, too close honestly, but now?" She tilted her head,
"now you act like I'm gonna bite you, you're trying to get away from me every chance you get"
"I'm not-"
"You are"
Nathaniel's mouth opened and closed.
Hilda crossed her arms, "is it because of your mom?"
"My mom?"
"Does she still want you to marry some rich merchant girl?" Hilda's voice was sharper now,
"I know she used to be a rich noble merchant before whatever happened, does she think I'm not good enough?"
"What? No! I mean-" Nathaniel was floundering, looking at Jade for help
Jade stayed quiet, this wasn't his mess
Hilda stood up with her hands balled into fists, "my father and your father made a promise before they disappeared in the war, both of them, their last request was for us to be together Nathaniel"
Silence.
Nathaniel's face went pale.
"I didn't know that," he said quietly.
"No, You always do," Hilda's voice cracked just a little, "so if you're gonna avoid me at least tell me why, don't just vanish"
She turned and started walking back toward the village.
"Hilda wait—"
She didn't stop.
Nathaniel sat there with bread forgotten in his hands, staring at the ground.
Numerius whistled low, "dude"
"Shut up"
"That's heavy," Yuzon said, "arranged marriage vibes, your NPC backstory's brutal"
"I said shut up"
Mataranas looked at Nathaniel, "you gonna go after her?"
Nathaniel shook his head, "I don't even know what to say, I'm not this guy, I didn't make that promise, my character did or whoever I'm supposed to be here"
Jade finally spoke, "doesn't matter who made it, she thinks you did"
Nathaniel looked up with his eyes red, "so what I just play along? Pretend I'm some dead guy's son who's supposed to marry her?"
"You are that guy here," Yuzon said, "like it or not"
"I hate it"
Jade sighed and tossed the rest of his bread into the pond, a fish darted up and snagged it
"We all hate it Nate but running from it won't make it go away"
Nathaniel didn't respond.
The group sat in silence, Hilda's words settling over them
After a while Numerius stood up, brushing crumbs off his tunic, "training tomorrow?"
"Yeah," Jade said
"Good, I need to hit something"
They gathered their gear and headed back as the sun dipped lower
Nathaniel lagged behind, staring at the path Hilda had taken
Jade glanced back once, Nate was still standing there