Chapter 6

"KEEP MOVING! YOU WON'T MAKE IT IN NEARLY HALF ENOUGH TIME RUNNING LIKE A PRINCESS AT HER WEDDING!" I shouted across the field to a beet-red Tetsu and Reltin that continued to jog hurriedly across the snowy white field, their heavy steps leaving a trail of deep footprints in the snow.

They jogged two more laps before Reltin collapsed down in front of me, clutching his chest and gasping for air while Tetsu simply leaned over onto his knees in a similarly exhausted manner. "So, how're ya feeling?" I asked in an entirely separate tone than the unlovable drill-sergeant they'd been hearing for the past two hours this morning. The boys simply looked up at me in visible frustration as they continued to let out rapid breaths.

"Whahh…. What's even the point of this…!?" Reltin hissed through his frantic breathing. "Y..yhou complain that we… -that we were just swhinging around sticks but now all we're doing is jhumping up and down and running around in circles… how's that better?"

"Hmm" I mulled over his words as I came up with a reasonable response a teacher should have for their student. "Pick up that sword and swing it ten times." I said succinctly. Reltin looked at me in both confusion and dread as his already red cheeks somehow flushed even redder. "Huh?"

"Pick it up and swing, I said. You just ran four laps, right? And that was, what? Twelve minutes of running, surely you can swing a sword just ten times after running twelve minutes. If you can't even do that much then slowing down your entire group is about the only thing you could do in an actual fight, let alone protecting them from any danger." I spoke matter-of-factly. And Reltin soon walked over to pick up his sword and get into his usual stance. Tetsu watched in silence as he did so.

He swung his stick once and almost lost his footing, leaning over slightly too far towards one side before moving his foot to correct himself. I smiled at the sight as I continued to watch him slip up and almost fall over ten times, leaning on his sword and shifting his legs constantly to keep him standing as he took his own sweet time between each swing.

"-Th….Therhe…Haah… I dihd it…see…" He said after falling down back first onto the snow behind him, panting for air as if his life depended on it now.

"Three minutes." I spoke in a telling tone as I smiled down at him. "It took you three minutes to perform ten less than even mediocre swings that wouldn't take down a chicken let alone a troll." I mused on what the size of a troll could be as I said so. "If you can't even take down a chicken after running for twelve minutes, imagine which ground you'd be six feet under entering battle after a twelve hour trek through enemy territory."

Reltin continued to pant as he laid on the ground, no longer disputing me as he was seemingly ruminating at my words. While Tetsu did the same, thinking about the

[Endurance : { Level 2 → Level 3 } 71/100%]

[Strength: { Level 3 → Level 4 } 60/100%]

[Agility: { Level 2 → Level 3 } 53/100%]

[Sword Master: {Level 2 → Level 3 } 30/100%]

The glowing words projected over Reltin's head as he looked up to the sky right through them. I had thought of many possible answers as to where these computer-like that had popped up in the world from time to time came from but was ultimately left knowing even less than I started with when I thought about it. The questions continued to pile on rather than dwindle in number. The words were quite simple to understand but it was their simplicity that made them so vague which in turn left me clueless on how I should use these figures presented to me. When I had used the mysterious power to heal Usra's infant boy before I went off of feeling rather than logic so when it came up once again I tried to will it in many ways to hopefully get out more information but there were no changes in the words no matter what I'd do.

[Endurance : { Level 3 → Level 4 } 97/100%]

[Strength: { Level 7 → Level 8 } 40/100%]

[Agility: { Level 5 → Level 6 } 28/100%]

[Sword Master: {Level 4 → Level 5 } 55/100%]

[ ???: { Level 0 → Level 1 } 15/100%] [Potential Disciple]

The most confusing part was that some of the four boys had varying words that projected over them. Leaving me with even more questions as I attempted to put them through training. At first, when I had accepted them all as my students and they accepted me as their teacher their percentages were all at 0/100%. I had to try out many different exercise and workout routines I'd learned from my time on earth before I saw any changes in the percentages of their goals. And now, after a week of putting them through all the different methods that I'd thought of, it was only Tetsu who was right at the edge of finally moving to the next ability of one of the 'attributes', as I liked to call them, hovering over his head.

The rest of the boys were either within the top 20% range or higher with their highest progressed attributes but the only growth I'd seen from them was about what you'd expect from doing what they did for only a few days: little to none. Although I resolved myself to wait until one of them had actually leveled up an attribute to decide whether or not my show at the campfire that night was worth the embarrassment, I couldn't say I wasn't worried at the prospect that this time it really was all in my imagination.

"Alright boys, finish your squats then you can go home for the day." I said, waving my hand behind me as I walked over towards two boys crawling in the snow further across the field. Rafal panted and squealed as a drop of sweat dripped down his already wet forehead. He repeatedly pulled his torso just a few inches off the ground, his hands wrapped around the back of his neck as he did so, performing a proper formed push up just as I'd taught him.

[Endurance : { Level 1 → Level 2 } 86/100%]

[Strength: { Level 0 → Level 1 } 67/100%]

[Agility: { Level 1 → Level 2 } 82/100%]

[Sword Master: {Level 0 → Level 1 } 73/100%]

Out of all four boys he was definitely the one lagging the farthest behind. I couldn't help but look down at him in sympathy as he continued to frantically pull all the strength from his body in the effort of finishing just one more repetition. But despite his jagged start, he had definitely worked the hardest out of anyone else apart from Tetsu since the training started and his progress most definitely showed it.

"Thirsty?" I interrupted his concentration, offering a leather flask I carried around with me on my belt as he looked over, surprised at my spontaneous appearance. Arton eyed me from the corner of my vision while doing situps of his own. "Yh-yeah, uhh… thanks." He reluctantly grabbed the flask out of my hands and immediately began to chug it down after uncapping it and holding the lid to his chest with his other arm. I smiled as he gave it back to me half-empty.

"How are you feeling?" I asked, noticing just now how his eyes refused to leave my face after I took back the satchel. "I-I'm fine!" He squealed back a quick lie and I narrowed my eyes that looked directly into his until he eventually crumbled under my glare. "I-it's just that… everyone else, they can do this stuff pretty easily, y'know. And that's good! I don't want them to do bad… but I just don't think… that I can catch up. No matter how much I do the 'sit-ups' or running or jumping up and down" –"The jumping jacks, you mean." I corrected him. "Y-yeah, the jumping jacks… No matter how much I do it, I don't get any better." He lamented. "It was the same before you started h-helping us, and e-even before that. M-maybe Tetsu was r-right and I-I just wasn't b-born for this. M-maybe I could do more good as a farmer, or a brickman like the other boys…" His words were quite mature and self-aware for his age. And were I one of his close friends or some normal villager who knew him for a short while, I would have agreed with his assessment and moved on.

But as a teacher who knew the drive and hard work that hid behind his feeble impression, and as the wielder of whatever strange power I had been granted, It was my obligation to ensure he would have all he needed to not have to worry about such things as talent or affinity. As long as he wanted to become something, he should be able to become it. "That's nonsense." I started. "There's no reason that you wouldn't be able to become just as good a warrior as Reltin or Arton, over here. Hell, I'd be surprised if in ten years you weren't way better than these two lazy bastards of ours." I joked, causing Rafal to let out a suppressed chuckle as Arton looked our way and clicked his tongue.

"And what if he doesn't get better?" Arton quizzed nefariously from behind the young boy I was talking to. "What if he can't improve because he just doesn't have a body that was born strong enough? Or if he just doesn't have the talent to be an expert in sword-fighting? What then? Are you saying that you can make some miracle happen to magically give him that?" He hissed from behind him in anger I never noticed until now.

"Yes." I answered resolutely. "If he doesn't have the talent or the body for it then I'll just give it to him." I smiled contently at Arton with my ludicrous answer as he stared back in unadulterated confusion, not knowing what to say to my strange response.

" *Chk* Whatever." The long-haired boy clicked his tongue before walking past me, heading angrily back to the cabin door. I didn't stop him.

[Endurance : { Level 3 → Level 4 } 34/100%]

[Strength: { Level 4 → Level 5 } 45/100%]

[Agility: { Level 5 → Level 6 } 82/100%]

[Sword Master: {Level 2 → Level 3 } 16/100%]

I already knew from counting his progress that he did not skip a single training exercise today. Nor had he for the past week a single time that he'd showed up. I wondered what had gotten him so upset however as I watched his retreating back heading towards the cabin behind me.

________________________________________________________________________

Llana watched as the boys performed their strange training exercises. Though surely practiced to a more imperfect degree by the young men in the field, It reminded her of the soldiers that trained in the capital. At the thought, she recalled a certain young man who practiced many times in the same way. She quickly reigned her tired mind back in and shook away the memory as she moved her gaze toward the white-haired young woman who shouted authoritatively at the slacking boys during their training.

She wondered where she had come from, that woman. Falling out of seemingly nowhere with no sigil of any tribe nor anything else indicating her identity. Wearing luxurious clothes and retaining perfect features despite her time spent in this pigsty of a village she fell into.

Her burning curiosity would have been enough to send her on a trip straight up to ice marrow mountain if it weren't for the existence of the trolls that had made that place their home. That fact had only made her all the more curious. Well, curiosity might have been a tame way to describe it. In truth, she was filled with indignance and blind anger at the stranger who fell from the home of those monsters.

At first, she wouldn't have bought her ludicrous story of losing her memories if god himself had come down and told her it was true. But after spending as much time with the girl as she did, there was too little to hate about her to be angry. Never getting upset with her no matter how far she tried to push her patience. Staying committed and consistent with her garden work regardless of the fake recipes she had given her to test her understanding of the plants. It made her feel bad enough to slowly change back the recipes until she wouldn't have gotten hurt by Llana's trickery anymore.

She still remembered her celebratory face and excitement when she had gone her first week without destroying any part of the garden. The memory etched a terrible shame in the heart of Llana. Regardless of how far she had fallen into depravity already herself, she wouldn't drag an innocent soul down to doom unnecessarily. Staring at the other three boys who wouldn't be so lucky, her heart ached in a foggy cloud of guilt.

'One is too ignorant to know he is dragging himself into his own demise as well.' She thought as she looked at the well built fourth boy who sat in the air before pulling himself back up again in a strange movement she had never seen the soldiers in the capitol do.

"You're doing it completely wrong by the way. She said feet flat, remember? You keep leaning on your toes, there's no way you're seriously messing up this bad right?" Reltin scoffed at Tetsu as he continuously lost his balance, slipping up multiple times while trying to perform a squat.

"Stop bothering me.. I'm trying to figure this out." Tetsu spoke as he continued to slip up.

"Or what? What are you gonna do about it?" Reltin responded, mocking him for his outburst a couple days ago.

"...Sorry." Tetsu didn't respond to his provocation, instead looking down and away in shame as he remembered what Elvi had told them that night by the campfire.

"...Eh, whatever. It's not like I really cared that much anyway." Reltin responded as he donned a guilty face at Tetsu's reaction.

"So, what am I doing wrong?" Tetsu asked. "Well…" Reltin continued to explain Tetsu's mistakes as he showed him his own version of the exercise.

Llana watched in shock as the prideful giant she had known for so long cast aside his ego to receive advice from his incompetent friend. She looked back again at the white-haired girl wondering who exactly she could have been when she lived further up the mountain. Opening her eyes, she saw that the fog in her head had now grown a little lighter, evidence that the amnesia had been lightened to an extent. However ridiculous the story of her recovering only a few of her memories, and those related to training at that, all the evidence pointed to the woman telling the truth.

-Crrk- From beside Llana, the back garden door creaked open quickly, revealing the slim, blonde-haired boy behind it. "Hello." Llana said succinctly as the boy spared her no more than a cursory glance and nod before making a beeline straight for the front cabin door. As he walked, however, the door began to open from the other side, a bearded man with beady eyes standing on the other side. Arton stopped in his tracks in the presence of the other man, standing to stare at him with wide eyes in a mix of surprise and fear. The village chief simply stared back as he began to form a glib smile on his face.. "Tch." Arton quickly returned to his spiteful glare at the man's smile, clicking his tongue and pushing past him to get to the village trail outside the cabin.

"Hoho.. quite the attitude on that one." The village chief chuckled as he talked to Llana who still looked out on the field with her back facing him. She said nothing.

"Someone do something to that blonde one? He didn't seem like the type to get bullied." He laughed again.

"..." Llana continued to stare in silence at the remaining boys outside as the village chief spoke. "His name is Arton…" She mumbled. "Hmm?" The village chief was confused at her mumbling, she wasn't usually the type to not say what was on her mind. "His name is Arton. You always do this… pretend like you don't know them when the time comes near. Don't you have any shame?" She spoke up in a clearer voice.

The village chief's smile disappeared at her words and his voice changed into a low and emotionless droning. "Shame…?" He spoke as if a different person than before. "There's no room for shame in what I do. Preserving this tribe leaves no room for such useless things like shame. Everything I do, I do in order to protect this village, you know that." The village chief inched closer as he spoke.

"And how about you?" The village chief said as he placed his hand on the field-facing Llana's shoulder as she began to cringed under its touch. " The Prodigy Healer Princess Llana'." The village chief spoke in an exaggerated sarcastic tone into Llana's ears. "If you find such shame in what I do, why don't you just stop it? Run over to the capital and tattle to daddy and mommy that the bad man in the village is doing something you don't like."

Llana continued to hold her head down in shame as she hissed from under her breath while the Village Chief retracted his arm from her shoulder. "You know why…"

"Anyways!" The village chief returned to his normal happy tone as he looked outside at the children in the field in front of them. "This Elvi is quite the interesting lady isn't she?" He said in a knowing tone. "Wait, did you? How?" Llana asked in surprise.

"Nope." The village chief responded succinctly. "I have no idea where the woman came from!" He said loudly while laughing.

"But a miracle healer… and now a competent trainer!? We've stumbled onto quite a goldmine here!" "And…" He started in a nefarious tone. "We have the perfect anchor to hold her down…"

Llana looked back up at him as he said so with a stiff face as she followed his gaze to the largest boy in the field. "If only we can somehow convince that boy not to follow in his brother's footsteps..." The village chief tapped his foot on the ground as he thought intently. "Well, I'm sure we'll figure it out eventually!" He concluded as patted Llana's back before turning to leave.

"Wait." Llana said, stopping the Village Chief who turned around to look back at her. "You… why did you come here in the first place? S" She asked in a low tone, she couldn't believe that the cunning Village Chief would walk all the way over to her cabin for a simple chat. "Why…?" The village chief repeated as a wry, open smile formed on his face. "To see you of course!"

Llana's heart dropped as she saw the single sharp blue tooth that protruded from the back village chief's open mouth. She continued to stare, shocked as he turned back to make his way outside through the open cabin doors.

____________________________________________________________________________

"So, how was your day?" Tetsu's mother asked in her usual excited tone that I'd come to appreciate over the past few days. "Great!" I responded almost immediately, recounting the efforts the boys had put into their practice today. "I think everybody is getting a little impatient, though." I decided to be honest with my inner thoughts. "There hasn't been much improvement in any of them yet even though they're all left sore everyday from the new training. But, I have a feeling that's all gonna change pretty soon." I said, smiling while I glanced over at Tetsu who put down his bowl he had dug his face into at my words.

"That's great!" Tetsu's mom responded absent-mindedly. I sighed internally at her air-headed words. Although I appreciated her always being as supportive and positive as she was, the significance of it heavily weakened when she never bothered to understand what she was being supportive about. "Oh, you know Tetsu, after you guys are done with this whole training club party, maybe you could try and ask Elder Souan if he'd take you back in to train your metal magic." She suggested to Tetsu who froze at her words. I dropped my fork into the table and immediately turned to stare holes into Tetsu at her words.

Tetsu attempted to seem ignorant of my gaze as he shamelessly stuck his head back into his bowl of soup while peering up at me out of the corner of his eye. "Hey, don't make a mess on the table!" Tetsu's mom pouted as she leaned over to put the fork back into my bowl and wipe the table lightly with the sleeve of her gown.

"You can use metal magic!?" I shouted energetically at the rescinding form of Tetsu who seemingly wanted nothing to do with this conversation. "Why didn't you tell me!?" I shouted again as he finally turned to face me with his arm holding the back of his neck.

"You never asked…" He lied through his teeth in a quiet tone and my face contorted in incredulity at his words. "I… I thought you'd make me do more training…" He said as he held his head down in shame, looking down at his bowl as he did. The hunger in his eyes was apparent as he stared holes into the last piece of roasted potato in it. "You gluttonous bastard." I said in shock that he was still so infatuated with his food after holding his head in it for minutes like an animal just moments before.

[Endurance : { Level 3 → Level 4 } 97/100%]

[Strength: { Level 7 → Level 8 } 47/100%]

[Agility: { Level 5 → Level 6 } 39/100%]

[Sword Master: {Level 4 → Level 5 } 60/100%]

[ ???: { Level 0 → Level 1 } 15/100%] [Potential Disciple]

I looked in shock as the words above Tetsu's ahead suddenly appeared again, this time with new text that I had never seen before. 'Potential Disciple?' I was confused at the appearance of the strange new words. `He's already my student, what's the difference?' I contemplated as I noticed where the new words were placed. 'Right beside the unknown factor, huh?' I drowned in my thoughts a few seconds more before I stood up out of my chair to speak.

'Regardless of what I figure out in my head, only one thing to do from here.' I thought. "Tetsu, be my disciple!" I said authoritatively with the same confidence I had when asking the boys to be my students. "..." The room went oddly quiet as both Tetsu and his mother looked up at me with wide eyes with shock. "What are you trying to do…?" Tetsu's mother glared at me with an ill-meaning glare that I never would have expected a kind-hearted woman like her could give. I grew worried as their faces contorted into reactions I didn't think they'd have at my words.

After a few uncomfortable seconds, Tetsu turned to his mother who looked as if she was about to explode with rage and quickly opened his mouth to speak. "Mother, she…. remember?" He said as he gestured with his hands towards his head the way a middle schooler would pretend his head was exploding. Thankfully, however, despite the immature method of the giant, it worked as his mother's face considerably eased before she opened her mouth to speak, now in a much gentler manner.

"Really?" I responded in a rejected tone after Tetsu's mother had explained to me how serious a thing a discipleship between student and teacher was in this world. Once entered into a contract with a master, a disciple would essentially be relinquishing all his rights to the teacher he had chosen. A teacher would be able to control what the disciple ate, where he slept, who he would talk to, and every other small detail of their life essentially turning into a glorified slave-master of the students that would enter under him. Contracts between a teacher and disciple were treated as god's word and any breach of the contract would turn a man into a convicted criminal in any territory under the rule of the northern tribe federation. A teacher who would take on disciples had to be of considerable reputation as no self-loving man would sentence himself to the fate of a disciple to an unruly master.

"I'm s-sorry, I really didn't know." I apologized profusely as Tetsu's mother attempted to assure me it was alright, convinced of my innocence at my apologetic response to the truth. "Regardless of whether you knew what a discipleship meant or not, what would bring you to ask such a thing of Tetsu?" His mother asked, confused at my sudden proposal earlier.

"Well." I started, wondering how I'd explain the floating robotic words in a way that wouldn't make me sound like I had lost my sanity. "I wanted to teach him how to use his magic." I blurted out, not wanting to lose the moment to say something quick enough to not sound suspicious.

"!!" Tetsu's mother gasped as he also widened his eyes at my words. "You can teach him!?" Tetsu's mother squealed out as she stared at me in reverence I did not deserve. "Wait, I thought you didn't remember anything.." She spoke again as bits of suspicion returned to her face.

"Y-yeah I don't need to remember anything for it though!" I started frantically. "I-It's more like a feeling, really. Like I can teach him how to feel the m-mana in his body." I replied, having no idea what I was talking about.

"Oh! That's wonderful!" His mother quickly accepted after a few seconds of contemplation. 'So easy…' I sighed.

"Yes, but if I can't have him as my disciple…" I started, falling into thought of how to resolve the situation. "Oh! How about this: instead of a full discipleship, I can become his magic-tutor for just a few weeks.." I said, resolved to at least try to unlock the mystery attribute partly even if I couldn't get it officially.

"Magic Tutorship? Hmm…" Tetsu's mother ruminated. "Y-yeah, I'd teach him magic and he'd be my disciple for just a few weeks and in exchange, I don't know, he'll spread my good name?" I said, thinking that there had to be some way lesser known teachers could earn a good reputation before getting official disciples. "I think I've heard of that before." Tetsu's mother said aloud as she turned towards Tetsu to speak. "What do you think?" She asked him. "It's your decision."

"I… I trust her." He spoke gently as he looked away from me in embarrassment. "Nice!" I celebrated under my breath, unable to hold in my excitement. "Alright, so Tetsu, will you be my first ever part-time disciple?" I asked again. "For, uhh, three weeks? We can extend it later if you want." I added quickly, remembering I had to be specific about things as serious as this.

"...Yes" He responded after a second. "Alright! Let's get started!" I said excitedly, surprised and ecstatic at the large amount of unexpected text newly projected over the boy's head. "W-what, now?" Tetsu stuttered as he looked back between me and the potato that was still left uneaten in his bowl on the table.

"... Just… just eat first I guess…"