Chapter 16

Annette was on her sixth lap when she felt her legs giving up. The clearing wasn't that big, so the laps were consequently short but still. Her breath was ragged, almost wheezing and her lungs burned. What was a dozen minutes felt like forever and she didn't know how she would finish her first task. It wasn't that long ago that she absorbed that wind attacks from the dark-robed man, the night that Keziah found her. Yesterday would be the word. She couldn't find a space in their schedule to release all that mana discreetly, otherwise, it would continue to weaken her physically, and as much as she felt some unexplained level of trust toward Keziah, she didn't want to tease the fates with revealing her Class to him just yet. Even Evelyn, the one they are now searching for, didn't know her Class and they were best friends while she was in the Palace, possibly the best friend she had ever had.

The king didn't particularly care for it but the Tower's researchers were scarily interested in it. So was the man who had bought her from Clemen, because she doubted it was for political reasons. She was almost worthless in that regard, at least that's what she thought. How much would a bastard princess, brought up outside the Palace, be worth? The king had already two sons older than her, both capable of being the future ruler. No good marriage options would be present either, considering her situation and the rumors that were already going around. It simply wasn't beneficial for King Clemen to keep her around.

She glanced at Keziah, who still stood in the middle of the clearing. She spotted him looking in the distance, eyes unfocused, a couple of times. He also chuckled and shook his head like he was talking to somebody, but there was no one there. Everyone has their quirks, I guess, she thought.

"Keziah! I think this is it. I can't run anymore," she managed to say between the gasps for air.

He ignored her. She didn't know whether it was because he couldn't understand her, or because it was intentional, so she tried again. "Sir! I'm at my limit!"

"You can still talk. Two more laps won't hurt." He gave her a grin.

Is he really not going to respond to anything if I don't address him as 'sir'? She harrumphed and steeled herself for the last laps. At least he lowered the amount from 10 to 8. She would take it.

She made her last runs with something between a jog and a walk. She couldn't keep up running anymore. Finishing the last one, she dragged herself to the middle of the clearing, next to Keziah.

"I'm done," she said, half squatting, her hands on her knees and breathing heavily.

"So I see," he said slowly, seeming to evaluate her performance. "Now twenty push-ups."

"Wha—" was the only thing she managed to stumble. "I can't, I'm exhausted."

"No, you are not. You are still talking, that means you are fine."

"Was this whole running thing just a ploy to keep me from annoying you? I don't think that's justifiable yet."

"No," he replied, "but that's a good idea for the future, judging by the 'yet'. This is training. You need to be able to not collapse after a few skirmishes, and strong enough to actually do some damage with a sword or any other weapon. Even if you had magic, it will only take you so far after you deplete your mana core, and trust me, they aren't as deep as folk would like to think."

"I don't have to worry about that. I have no magic because I wasn't born with any Class." She waved her hand.

"You do have some kind of Class. It's not Elementalists, that's for sure. It lets you absorb attacks from other mages though. I don't know what the drawbacks are but that will definitely come in handy if you ever have to combat other adventures."

She stiffened at Keziah's mentioning of her Class. He noticed it and quickly added, "Those attacks that the assassin used didn't just dissipate on their own. I didn't really have time to connect the dots back then, but looking back it's obvious what happened. I understand you trying not to reveal it to anyone you barely met, which means you are not dumb," he paused for a second. "I was thinking of seeing how far you could take this secret, but if I'm to train you then we shouldn't be handicapping ourselves with such things."

She gave him an uncertain look. "You won't change your mind?"

"About what?"

"About helping me. I mean, you didn't know this when you agreed to it. I lied to you."

"It's just a Class. Most adventurers or mages try to hide it. It's harder to deal with them that way. And lying? That's the bread and butter of surviving. If anything I'm happy you are good at it. Don't try it against me though. I'm good at sniffing it out." He smirked.

"You won't sell me then?"

"Sell you? Last I heard slavery was prohibited in all the lands of the former Empire a couple of hundred years ago."

"It didn't stop my father."

He gave her a long look. "I don't know what's so important about your Class that would make people wanna buy you. Class is just how your magic manifests onto the world, and while yours is certainly unique, potentially powerful, but not to the point of turning myself into the worst scum of the earth," he thought for a bit. "Maybe it's just me, after all, I've seen people doing worse for less. Anyway, you don't have to worry about that, I promised to be your teacher and to deliver you to your friend and I intended to keep that promise. I may be an honorless liar but I keep my word. Most of the time, anyway."

He looked at Annette getting visibly less stressed. "Besides, do you really think that I would go through so much trouble to get you out of the city if I wanted to get rid of you afterward?"

"I guess not." She chuckled lightly, all the worry now gone from her face.

"Good, now on the ground. You rested enough with this quick diversion but I haven't forgotten about these push-ups."

"Damn it," she muttered under her breath and followed his command.

Keziah watched her with a light smile on his face. She really didn't have a strong base for fighting but she was young and could easily improve. What mattered most to him was her reaction and how she handled those first two simple tasks. They didn't have much time for more as the sun would be setting soon and they still could be chased so he preferred to not overspend her stamina in case they would have to run away again.

So far he was fairly satisfied with her performance. She didn't complain, and if she did, it was to throw him off to lighten her load. She was cunning, which was the best trait a fighter or adventurer could have. It also couldn't be taught or improved as easily as strength, agility, or stamina. She kept him talking for a while to allow her to rest a little before the inevitable next task, which she also predicted would happen. She also kept going till the end, even if she could barely afford to. Even as she was doing the push-ups, he could see her hands shaking, ready to collapse at any moment, but she still kept going. Obviously, it was still too early to tell if she would keep this attitude up, but the signs were promising. He could certainly make something of her.

As he finished his thought, Annette collapsed on the ground with a thud, unable to push herself up for the last couple of push-ups. "That's it. I can't feel my arms," she said while lying on the ground.

"Arms? All I can see is a pair of wobbly noodles," he joked.

"Ugh, kicking me while I'm down, how graceful of you."

"Unfortunately, grace is rarely worth anything outside of palaces, so I'm forced to not accept your compliment," he said, pretending to not understand her sarcasm. "Now get up."

"Did I do alright? I hope you won't change your mind after seeing… this," she said, aware of her own weaknesses.

"I already told you I'm not going to do that." He shook his head. "Besides, that was… acceptable. At best."

"Really?" she asked, her face lighting up.

"Of course, I'm saying this in comparison to a sickly and malnourished peasant boy who only ever held a hoe in his hand, but still. Acceptable."

"Oh." Her sudden cheerfulness quickly deflated.

"Don't worry, we will work on that. Hard to expect you to be a killing machine when you spend your last year doing nothing in the Palace of Avinea and are only what? Nine years old?"

"I'm fourteen! I understand I'm short but come on." She pouted then paused for a second. "Wait, is this payback for calling you old? How petty can you be? Throwing jibes around with a teenager?"

"Ohh, more than you can imagine." He smiled widely. "Now, before we go back, there is one final exercise for today."

"What is—"

She couldn't finish her question before Keziah rushed towards her, his eyes cold and focused. She froze for a moment, confused, but quickly ducked away, just as Keziah's fist was heading for her face. She spun around on the ground to face him again in case he was going to continue but he was just standing before her, hands clasped behind him and a wide smile donned his face.

"Good job. Another test passed. Tomorrow we might actually get to do some training."

"What— what was that? Were you trying to kill me?" she asked, appalled.

"Merely testing what you would do if someone was to actually try to attack you," he explained. "And your reaction was good, couldn't have been better to be honest?"

"My reaction?" she asked, confused. "What else was there to do but to dodge?"

"Freeze and do nothing. Close your eyes and not defend. Scream in terror hoping the situation would resolve itself. Try to block with your feeble hands…"

"Okay, okay, I get it. My arms are weak." She sighed. "So what, does this mean I'm fast and should use this to my advantage?"

"Oh, not at all. I was holding back quite a bit to make sure you would actually get a chance to do something," he explained. "It had nothing to do with finding your strength. Merely your mind and decision making."

"Wow, what a way to motivate your student," she scoffed, but quickly added, "Sir."

"And a quick learner. What can't you do, little miss?"

"Please don't call me that." She pretended to make a gagging sound. "You sound like some noble trying to suck up to the king. Just call me Annie."

He laughed. "Sure, Annie. I think we are done for today. Can't make Lucia wait too long, or who knows what she would do? S rankers are notoriously rather… weird, at least according to rumors."

"Can I call you Kez?" she asked suddenly.

"Didn't I just tell you to address me as 'sir'?" He raised his eyebrow in question.

"I mean outside of training. Can't be calling you all the time."

"Why not? Seems perfectly reasonable to me."

She looked down and mumbled, "Oh, okay."

He looked at her for a moment, considering. "Sure, you can call me Kez whenever we are not training." She looked up at him again, her eyes sparkling with joy. "But when we train, you keep to 'sir', understood?"

"Yes, sir!" She gave him a salute and a wide smile that Keziah couldn't help but reciprocate.

With that, they headed back to Lucia. The sun was already starting to set, signalizing that Keziah's watch would soon be starting.