Chapter 32: Finally to the Point with Training

"Why are you frozen? Did something happen?" said Frode.

"I forgot..." Erland looked away with disappointment.

"What is it?"

"I FORGOT ABOUT LOGI'S TRAINING..."

"Oh. I forgot about that as well. Shall we get into it then?" said Arne and got up from the chair he was sitting on.

"I will go change my cloths. Ask the maids to take you two to the backyard." Arne snapped his fingers once again as the maids appeared from black mist.

"Hey wait...Where is Logi?" said Frode.

"Where is he?...Dang it..." Erland looked around and then at Arne. "Please help me get my Logi back." Erland pleaded.

"Sure thing. I don't have any more maids to dispatch on. All of them are busy with something." Arne sighed and then let out a soft laugh. "My my, I have to look for him myself. Where was the last time you lost his presence?" 

"I don't remember well...Maybe when he got in the mansion?" Erland was about to sob.

"Your personality changes too quick...Anyway, When we got in the mansion, did you feel like anything was unusual? Or did you see someone new?"

"No. I didn't." Erland became pensive.

Arne widened his eyes and immediately rushed towards the door. "Oh Lords...Come with me quick."

Under such consequential moment, Erland became frustrated. They followed Arne to a door to the backyard. As soon as Arne slammed the door open, they could see a man holding Logi with care yet he looked horrific. His overly widened eyes with small pupils and a wide smile with a bold scar on his face made him look like a criminal of sorts.

"(Is this some new variation of friendly yakuza...)" Erland looked at it apathetically. His behavior of getting nostalgic every now and then might never go away.

"Seriously...Sir, I told you not to slack off your work. I am not paying you for nothing. I want it to be done in the next three days. I hope you don't disappoint me."

"Come on, mi hearty. I will finish it in the next few days I promise. Your mansion is so pretty, I could not hold myself. And now you even brought a dog." said the man.

"(He has a different accent. I mean many people of Gaion does but his accent is a bit too different. I remember having weird accent because I never stayed in one place. My friends in US laughed at me because of my accent. My life is perfect they used to say...)" Erland walked towards Logi and caressed him.

The man rushed towards Erland and took his hands. "Hello there little boy! I am a student from Nysa Academy of Culture. Nice to meet you. I was invited here by the government to make a thesis about Gaion. At first I thought that it will be a waste but wow, now I would do it for free. It's like seeing small portion of every place in one small land." 

"Nice to meet you too. I am Erland Hephaestus-" Erland was pushed by the man as he backed away.

"Erland...HEPHAESTUS? You are the descendant of THE Hephaestus?" The man's eyes glimmered.

"Yes."

"Don't push him. He is just a five years old child. If you push him like this you will have no likability left, will you?" said Arne and reached his hand to stop him from getting close to Erland.

"(He is that young?! He looks like he is eight. What is that HEIGHT?!?)Bummer. I thought that I could talk to him." said the man.

"If you want to then I have to be there all the time. He has come here to train his dog."

"Oh? So it's HIS dog?"

Erland answered with his usual polite tone. "Yes it is mine. Sorry I cannot give you my time today. It has been years yet I couldn't make any progress with him. He is still a little goody two shoes." 

Logi got his tongue out and woofed with joy.

"See? He has made no progress at all. So, Arne where do we start?" said Erland.

Arne looked at Logi and gave a thorough explanation. "We can start from teaching him the habit of joy of hunting. At first, we have to make him get used to raw meat. The hunger of blood and juicy flesh will awaken in him. Also, such food in necessary for his hunter's teeth. So the first step will be to change his foods. Don't stop feeding him dog foods sometimes though, if it's of high quality."

"Okay. What should we do now?" said Frode as he tilted his head.

Arne clapped his hands once with a smile. "Physical training. I will tell the guards to prepare a scale on the ground so we can measure his progress."

The ground was painted with white chalk. It was done faster than anticipated. The four guards prepared the ground and stood far away.

"Well then. Erland, what's his favorite food?" said Arne.

"Crispy cooked chicken." said Erland.

"Well then, I will prepare a chicken for him without any seasoning. It will be tasty though. You guys can try it as well."

"Um...Hierius Arne. Why are you here when you were supposed to be at work?" said Frode, with a blank smile and confused expression.

"Oh me? I am here because it's my holiday. I mean I can just tell them that a citizen was at my house. They HAS to give me a break for that hehe." said Arne and gave a sly grin.

After a guard prepared a place to roast the huge chicken, he roasted it as if it was a BBQ party. He handed same amount of some chicken to everyone and threw one afar saying,

"Go Logi, go!"

Logi ran at his full speed and got it perfectly.

"(He got it...)"

"(Oh he actually got it.)"

"(Dang he got it)"

Everyone was in pure awe to see their happy go lucky buddy finally make some progress. Erland and Frode ran towards him as Arne followed them as well.

Erland held Logi close and so did Frode. They both cuddled with him as Logi was completely clueless about the sudden shower of affection.

While they were playing with Logi, Arne was seeing how far Logi ran in such a short while. "Forty meters. Not bad. Yet not good enough for an elite hunting dog. He did good today. Let's keep it up." said Arne.

They spent the evening playing and training the dog whilst the student of Nysa Academy of Culture, stood aside writing something.

"Good boy~" said Erland and threw a piece of meat somewhere. 

But instead of chasing the piece of meat, Logi ran towards Erland as if Erland was not his owner but a thief. Scared to his core, Erland started to run away as well. "Logi!!- What are you doing?!"

No explanation worked on Logi. He kept chasing Erland like there is no tomorrow. At last, Erland fell in a fountain and got drenched in water. As he spit out the water that got in his mouth, expressing his disgust he uttered the words "Crap..."

Because of his height even as a five years old, he got saved. Logi jumped on him for no obvious reason and looked furious. Arne and the others reached them at last and asked him about what happened. Having no idea what just happened, Erland expressionlessly said,

"I don't even know what I am supposed to do now."

Arne sighed and then laughed. "That's weird...Even I don't know why he did that. I didn't chase him because it didn't look like much of a threat to me. Don't get me wrong okay?" Arne went towards Erland and picked him up with a smile.

Arne's face had an expressionless dead smile as he picked Erland up.

"(Why did I pick up a heavy ahh boy.)"

"Is he okay?" said Frode.

"Probably not...after picking me up." said Erland.

Arne kept him on the ground and said,

"That was enough training for today. I am exhausted. Is there anything else you two want to do?"

Meanwhile half an hour ago:

"Arise..." said Halfdan as he walked with bemused expression and insecurity.

"Yes?" Arise looked at Halfdan.

"Do you...love me?"

"Why that question in all of a sudden? Of course I love you." Arise answered, looking away.

"If it's true then why do you act like a stranger sometimes? Am I that boring to you?" Halfdan looked at Arise with the pout of a broken hearted teen.

"No. That's not it...It's just that..."

"It's just what?"

"It's just..." Arise his her face as she blushed and finished her words, "I feel shy. You always get so pushy sometimes."

"H-Huh???" Halfdan's face got red as well as he slightly backed away with surprise written all over his face.

"Don't get me wrong. I am happy to have you yes but...when you get pushy my heart can't handle it." Arise uttered the word with the calmness of a poet but with the heartbeat-rate of a person having a heart attack. "Forgive me for being like this."

"Arise!"

Halfdan held his lover's hand gently yet tightly. He pulled her close enough to touch each other's nose.

"Arise..."

In Arise's mind, behind her beet red face, she was uttering all the words she could, because she felt as if it was her end. Halfdan's bold and strong attire and his soft words that escaped his lips like a lullaby to Arise's ears, made her reach the very verge of letting out a scream. "(NOOOO- I'm gonna die if he acts like this....Why did I say yes, acting so confident anywayyyy. I should have waited till I was a bit more confident. I'm duuuuumbb-)"

Halfdan looked away with his faint blush and a bit of sweat of anxiety rolling down his forehead. "You could just tell me that you feel like that. No matter what you do or what you think, even if I can't handle it, I am here to hear it." He gives a gentle smile as he looks at Arise and holds her face. Another minute and Arise might die. "I am here for you, to comfort you and to give you all the love you want, even if it costs my life. You are like a goddess to me, Arise."

Hearing Halfdan's words, Arise pushed him away and rushed somewhere with the speed of a running horse. "(I'm sorry Halfdan...I can't handle your cheesy romance anymore...Its too much for me.)" Halfdan chased him down and asked her,

"What's wrong? Are you okay?"

"(Oh...what am I supposed to tell him. Oh Lords...Hah? Erland is being chased by a dog! Yeah I can use that. Lord Fortuna is on my side this time.) Hey, look Erland is being chased by a dog. Let's go there. Hahaha." Arise started to run away, again.

"That's...weird...W-Wait!" Halfdan rushed to Arise as well as they both proceeded to go to Erland to help him.

Meanwhile half an hour ago on Hilda and Tove's side:

"So...You like anyone?" said Tove with mischievously pouted lips.

"That's a sudden question." said Hilda with an awkward smile.

"Come on. We both are girls. You should share some secrets. Tell me, tell me, tell me."

"Okay okay. Hm...I do like someone. I mean I like you too." Hilda laughed awkwardly, trying not to tell Tove about the one she likes.

Tove frowned. "Not that liking. What I meant was, do you have a crush?"

Hilda laughed again and answered, looking at the beautiful garden. "You are a riped girl for sure. You have been trying for a long time so I won't disappoint you. Yes, I have a crush. I am waiting for him to get me. I don't have any scope to do anything so...I just have to leave it to fate."

Tove looked down with a grim face for a moment and stayed silent. After a while, she spoke. "You mustn't!" 

"Huh?" Hilda blinked and looked at Tove, being surprised by the sudden objection.

Tove looked up with a frown. "You MUST NOT! Do you think that fate can give you anything? I don't want to follow the words of the Lords. Fate does NOTHING!"

"Why are you saying all these? It's not that big of an issue-" Hilda's voice became dim.

"Everyone used to say that to me in that broken house, when I was with those men. I hated it there yet I loved it there because I thought that it's my place even when it was not...The old man told me that it's all fate. If I didn't run away that time then me and Heba would have rotten over there."

Tove's face was filled with tears. She wept and wept even though she wanted to stop. Seeing her at that state, Hilda held her close and caressed her hair, trying to ease her.

"You don't have to keep so many secrets either..." Hilda smiled faintly.

"That is why...*sob* That is why...Never give up. No matter what, never give up. Never stop. I would have died if I did so don't"

Hilda held Tove's small, soft hands and promised her,

"I will never give up. Never... *giggle* (Its strange how even the smallest things can trigger so many memories...Little Tove kept all these in her for years...I'm happy she could let these out.)" Hilda's faint smile turned into one with satisfaction.

With tear filled eyes and a surprised gaze, Tove looked at Erland being chased by Logi. "Oh, look. Erland is playing with the dog. Let's go and say hi to them."