13 Stubbornness

"Wha-? Is that really true? Did he complete all 5 laps without your help?" When Gil reported everything to Mera, she couldn't help but look at Gil with a shocked expression.

"Yes...It's just as I reported. I- I might have wanted to stop him when he completed the 4th lap but he dodged my hand and then looked at me as if I was his enemy. He had no problem with me running close to him but when I tried to touch him...it felt as if-"

"After so many laps, he might have switched to subconsciously dodging anything that intends to make contact with his body. When you focus too much on your goal, you can lose sight of other things such as your allies. Still, I never expected him to be capable of completing it. I wanted him to complain a bit but it looks like he is much more stubborn than I anticipated, he reminds me of you, Gil." Mera said and her last words caught Gil slightly off-guard.

"Maybe choosing you as his mentor wasn't such a bad decision." Mera said with a slightly sadistic smile.

"W-What might you mean by that, Mera-sama?" Gil felt uneasy after seeing that smile but she still tried to ask calmly.

"Hehe, you will teach him hand-to-hand combat and I believe you will definitely enjoy it, after all, he doesn't fear pain nor death. You two will make a great mentor-student pair, haha!" Mera said before laughing a bit, causing Gil to blush.

Gil was indeed a bit sadistic but this was the last thing on her mind after coming back with already bloodied Ink. And she was usually sadistic only to her enemies as she had no chance to do the same to her allies before therefore she was doubting whether she would truly enjoy beating her ally...She already started treating Ink as an ally without even thinking about it.

"Where is he now?" Mera asked with a bit more serious expression, showing that she wasn't taking Ink's situation totally at ease.

"His injuries are being treated right at this moment however he could be poisoned for quite a long time already." Gil said while looking down in guilt.

"I see, since he is already being treated, let's leave it in the girls' hands. Now that you are free, how about we have some fun..." Mera suggested with a seductive smile, patting the empty space on the couch next to her.

Hearing her suggestion, Gil's face lit up but she quickly stopped herself from approaching the coach which certainly shocked Mera as she was staring at Gil with a disbelieving expression.

"Mera-sama, I truly apologize but can we-" Before she even could fully apologize, Mera waved her hand in front of her to stop her from saying any more.

"You want to check up on him, right? Just go, don't make it look like you are in love with that kid, what's the big deal?" Mera "shooed" Gil with her hand while gently smiling at her.

.

.

.

When Ink opened his eyes, he saw the familiar ceiling and he immediately recognized that he was lying on the bed inside his room.

"Finally decided to wake up, huh? How are you feeling? Apparently, you were poisoned and it came from one of those small wounds which means you had poison circulating in your body for about 2 hours, you are lucky to be alive, and that it was probably weak poison." When he heard someone's voice, he moved his head to the side just to see Gil sitting on the edge of his bed, looking at him with a wide smile, showing off her teeth in the process.

"...Weak poison won't affect me at all. Didn't granny inform others about my training? How long was I unconscious for? Have I failed to complete the training?" Ink immediately started bombarding her with questions.

"Whoa, calm down. I didn't know anything about your body having some resistance to poisons. You were out for only an hour and as for your training...You really don't remember?" Gil replied before asking with a confused expression.

"...I don't remember anything from around the half of the 4th lap. The only thoughts on my mind were to keep moving." Ink replied while staring at the ceiling.

"I see...Well, you did complete the training, you did very well." Gil said with a smile, bumping her fist into Ink's chest. Ink just looked at his chest in confused expression, thinking that it was some kind of tradition in Oarburgh.

"En, thanks for training me." Ink lightly nodded his head and bumped his fist into Gil's voluptuous breast.

"Mm?!" Gil's eyes widened as she felt the jolt of electricity through her entire body, reddening her cheeks slightly.

"W-Why did you do that?!" Gil asked with an "upset" expression while hiding her mountains behind her arms. She felt extreme shame and she didn't want to admit that what Ink did, gave her some pleasure.

"? I apologize, I thought I was supposed to return the gesture. I am not well acquainted with all customs here." Ink seemed innocently confused by Gil's reaction which caused her to stop hiding the front of her breasts.

'He is just a kid...Don't get angry at him and most importantly, don't think about your body's reaction. You are just confused, that's all...Yes, it must be because Mera-sama's offer is lingering in my mind...' Gil kept convincing herself while nodding her head with closed eyes.

"Anyway, I feel fine already, can we go train something other than endurance?" Ink sit up and asked with a calm expression.

"You were just poisoned not long ago...You should take it easy for today." Gil shook her head.

"Please...?" Ink tried the same trick he learned from Taeko which was something similar to puppy eyes.

'...Cute...?!' Gil unconsciously thought before quickly covering her mouth, thinking that she said it aloud. Ink just tilted his head with a confused expression while doing his best to keep the puppy eyes while staring right into Gil's green eyes.

"Ughh...ALRIGHT! I will ask Dora to train you in blade techniques in the evening but for now, just focus on recovering!" Gil grasped her head, messing up her hair a bit before she shouted out. She put her hands on Ink's shoulders and forced him to lie down.

"I am leaving" Gil quickly stood up and made her way towards the door with flushed cheeks.

"Thanks, have a nice day, Gil." Ink said with a small sly smile. When Gil heard Ink calling her name like this for the first time, she stopped for a split second and without turning around, she released a small smile before leaving Ink's room without replying.

In the evening, Ink left his room with new dark gray clothes. This time he didn't have to go outside of the hideout since they had their own training ground inside.

"Hello, Gil informed me what I should do so you can leave everything to me and just try your best to follow my instructions." Dora politely bowed her head to Ink who just awkwardly returned the gesture, getting more confused as more time he spent here.

"Will you use all of your arms to train me?" Ink asked while curiously looking at her 4 arms. It was the first time he had a chance to observe her and he found her body fascinating. The number of options he would have in a fight if he were to have 4 arms...

"Do you find them disturbing? Don't worry I will be using only 2 arms as there is no need for more until you show me that you are ready for more." Dora asked calmly without a single change in her expression. She was already used to people's stares when she was "working" in the circus together with Gil.

"Uh, I find them fascinating...How does it feel? Do you need to focus more to control them or does it come to you completely natural?" Ink asked, truly curious about Dora's special condition.

"Eh? It feels...normal, natural. I don't need to exert additional effort to move with them. Enough of chatting, we are here to train, right?" Dora for the first time seemed surprised by Ink's questions.

Ink just nodded and grabbed the training sword from the weapon rack.