Chapter 40

3 days have passed and I'm receiving fairly good results. Small but we're getting somwhere.

"Alright, now that you're more accustomed to your weights I'll be making them a bit heavier," I said with the snap of my fingers.

"Planking today," I smiled as they lined up.

"Mary, hold for a minute, Arian, hold for 1 minute and 30 seconds, Vincent, Hold for a minute and 10 seconds and Hero hold for 5," I said as they got on their bellies to wait for my signal.

"Minutes?" Hero asked confused.

I shook my head, "Seconds," I said as he looked dissatisfied.

I've been giving Hero the easiest exercises on purpose and sending him home early. I hoped he'd come to grow more and more frustrated and use that to my advantage.

On the first day he said he was happy with being 'average' now it's time to test that statement.

Though I hope he would say something about it he also got into position begrudgingly.

"Start," I timed.

"Drop, Hero," I said, bored. But he didn't stop.

"Hero, stop," I said again. But he didn't stop.

The three other knights looked at Hero curiously.

I used wind magic to push him close to the ground so that he'd stop. But surprisingly he pushed himself upwards, trembling under the pressure but holding on.

That's it. That's what I wanted. I smirked as I added more weight.

Vincent dropped before his time.

"Jeez, Vincent. I really thought you could make it this time," I sighed disappointed as he sat in defeat.

"Time, Mary," I said as she dropped.

But Hero refused.

"Hero, you've done enough," I said, but still he wouldn't give.

I pressed the weight harder and still his determination didn't falter.

'This is good,' I smiled.

"Arian, time," I said but Arian didn't stop either.

"Oh really?" I summoned a pair of cymbals and banged them together and Arian immediately went down and covered his ears.

But Hero kept going.

"Enough, Hero," I said again as the timer reached 2 minutes.

After 3 minutes I pressed him to the ground and he stayed down as I approached him.

"Go home, Hero. You've done enough," I said, giving him a water bottle.

"Vincent, go do yoga like I taught you, then the normal sets after," I said as he nodded.

The first 2 days Vincent was extremely sassy and complained that yoga was 'embarrassing' but after I almost punched him and he instinctively doged quickly he started taking it seriously.

He could feel himself improve even if it was just a tiny bit faster than before he wanted to improve it further.

"Mary, push up and pull up sets, then meet me later for a special 1 on 1," she nodded, slightly terrified of having a 1 on 1.

"Arian... I'll teach you something new," I said as he followed me curiously.

I saw Hero just sit there. He looked lost in thought.

I created a wooden stair case with 12 inch steps so that Arian could jump on them easier.

"Now, just jump on one step with your hands behind your back like this," I said jumping up 3 steps.

There were a total of 20 steps and I planned that he'd go up and down these stairs at least twice a week.

"Alright, seems easy enough," he said, jumping on the first 3 steps.

He started to slow down on the fourth step then once he jumped onto the fifth step I banged my cymbals as loud as I could.

He jumped and fell off the stairs but I caught him with wind magic.

"P-Princess, why did you do that?" He asked me.

"I know your ears aren't sensitive. You startle so easily so every fifth step you take I'm going to make a loud noise and you shouldn't fall. That's your exercise today," I said seriously.

"B-But, I can't! I hate loud noises--,"

"Why?" I asked.

"Why do you hate loud noises, Arian?" I pressed as he stayed silent.

"... I'm sorry-- I-I have to go," he said leaving.

I didn't stop him. It was clear to me that Arian has gone through something that made him so scared of loud noises. And it wasn't my right to pry.

I sighed and went to meet with Mary for our 1 on 1.

"Hi, Mary! Done with your sets?" I asked happily as she nodded.

"Alrighty come with me this way," I said leading her into the woods.

"You know, I really like this way of training," she laughed as I smiled.

"Everything was so generic. What the guys do I have to do, when I couldn't hold a sword they were ready to kick me out until your father, the king, picked me up and I started to train with you," she explained brightly.

"And do you seem to be improving?" I asked curiously.

"Of course! You tailored this training just for me! How could I not improve! I feel so honored," she gushed.

Mary really was extremely talkative when you got to know her.

"Before we continue, may I know the reason you joined the knights in the first place?" I smiled.

She hesitated and she seemed to drift to a far off place.

"You don't have to tell me," I said, turning around to prepare.

"No... I think it's alright... I just... Haven't told anyone about it yet and I... I think it would be good to open up to you. I joined the knights as a surprise... For... My lover," she said as I tripped over a tree root.

"Princess! Are you okay?!" She asked, flustered.

"I-I'm fine, h-how did it go?" I asked, expecting it to not have gone well.

"... My first day... I asked around for him... It turned out he was cheating on me for a girl he met up with daily a few months after he became a knight... I... Never really saw him after that... I don't want to either." She explained, tears threatening to fall.

"How long ago was this?" I asked shocked.

"A few days ago..." She squeaked quietly.

"Oh, dear," I exclaimed, hugging her. She was pretty tall and I was just 12 so I only reached up her waist.

I felt droplets fall on my head. She was crying.

"I'm sorry... I'm here for training, not crying, we should continue now," she said, her voice trembling.

"It's alright, Mary. I can tell you're very open, it must have been hard keeping your pain all to yourself," I comforted.

"He always said I was so strong-- I couldn't see him for long because he was a knight in training and I thought he would be happy I could finally spend a lot of time with him," she hiccuped.

"But he had replaced me. She wasn't anything like me, she was cute, petite, not tall and-- and--,"

"Beautiful?" I continued.

"Strong? Determined? I'll tell you now that men do like women who have long legs, he probably couldn't handle everything you had to offer when he had nothing that could match up to your love, beauty, and talent," I smiled.

She cried even more.

"The princess is too kind," she cried.

"When they found out I couldn't hold a sword everything got worse. The knights would tease me, giving me the heavier swords on purpose, tripping me when I was running, they said it was to make me stronger. But the knight commander saw what they were doing and wanted to punish them," she explained.

The current knight commander of her batch was Adrian Nelson, the kingdom's earl.

"But I told him that I had no reason to continue being a knight and asked him to just dismiss me," she cried again.

"But you, Princess, I don't want to let you down, so I'll make sure to work hard!-- harder than I've ever worked!" she said, determined.

"Thank you for the sentiment, but I would be much happier if you did this for yourself," I laughed.

"Myself?" She asked confused.

"Yes! Show them who you are! How strong you are! And how far you've come and that they were wrong for teasing you. Maybe someday you could become a knight commander, my knight commander, and we will protect the kingdom side by side," I said inspiringly.

It seemed to have worked judging from the sparkle in her eyes.

"Right! It will be an honor serving the kingdom and the royal family!" She said with a salute.

"Now here," I said giving her two thick disk like weights tied to ribbons.

When I gave it to her the disks immediately hit the floor.

"Climb that tree using these disks and then we're done," I smiled, pointing to a 50 foot tree as she looked at me dumbfounded.

"U-Um, t-these weights? C-Climb that tree?" She asked.

"Yes! Mulan style, now go. I'll wait," I said summoning a chair and sitting on it, smiling brightly.

She barely dragged the weights to the tree and tried to bear hug the tree but of course it didn't work.

After a few hours of trying and failing I finally showed her how to do it but she didn't even reach 1/4 of the way before her arms went numb.

We went back to check on Vincent but found him slacking off.

"How long have you been slacking?!" Mary screamed.

"I was mediating!" He defended.

"Yeah... Meditating while snoring?" I asked with a scary aura.

"Maybe I should start giving out corporal punishment. How'd you like that, Vincent?" I asked, pulling out my elemental whip that burst into fox flames.

"N-No, ma'am... I won't slack again..." Vincent shivered.

"That's right you won't! We need to get better for the sake of the princess!" Mary nagged on and on as I laughed.

"Jeez, what a loudmouth," Vincent commented, scratching his ear.

"I'LL SHOW YOU A LOUDMOUTH!" Mary screamed.

I sent the two off when I felt a tap on my shoulder.

I quickly threw that person over my shoulder in self defense and saw that it was Hero.

"Hero! I'm so sorry! You scared me!" I panicked.

"I-It's alright, Princess, I just have something to talk to you about..."

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