Training with Kathe
Yesterday, we went back to the same forest and ventured a little deeper than the day before, where we subjugated some wolves. The brownish wolves looked more like oversized stray dogs than actual wolves, nothing like what I’d imagined.
Still, compared to Horned Rabbits, they were much bigger, about one size larger than a big travel suitcase.
Apparently, higher species like Gray Wolves and Black Wolves are intelligent enough to fight in groups, but regular wolves mostly act alone. Just like Horned Rabbits, they attack the moment they hear footsteps.
They spot me (a kid) and charge without any preparation. At that point, they feel less like monsters and more like plain old animals.
They’d leap at me with their mouths wide open like, “Time to eat!”, so while they were still in midair, I just used [Air Cutter] and chopped their heads off.
We found three, and all three attacked exactly the same way, so even Dad was getting exasperated.
Since wolf meat supposedly doesn’t taste good, I stopped going for clean decapitations after the second one. Instead, I compressed [Waterball] and [Earthball] down to about the same size as yesterday’s Fireball and blasted them right between the eyes before they could even jump.
Thanks to that, I was able to properly skin the heads of the second and third ones for materials.
I don’t remember ever being a hunter back in Japan, but even when helping out at Macole’s butcher shop, I didn’t feel much resistance to cutting things up.
Maybe that’s one of those reincarnation perks? …No, thinking back, during my travels with Mom, I did help dismantle monsters. Not just watching, I handled the smaller ones myself.
So it wasn’t a reincarnation perk after all. It was Mom’s teaching. Thank you very much.
Since the materials were large, the fights were too repetitive to learn much from, and the effectiveness of magic wasn’t much different from Horned Rabbits, we stopped after processing those three wolves.
◆◇◆◇◆◇
The next afternoon, after finishing an early nap, I headed to the guild.
“Vio!”
“Kathe!”
Kathe’s whole family was gathered at one of the waiting tables inside. I thought I’d made them wait, but they said they had just arrived too.
“You started going on subjugation requests too, right? Were you okay?”
“Yeah. I think you guys already cleared everything out, so instead of the back forest, I went to the one across the river.”
The practice forest only had what looked like newborn Horned Rabbits, so I went to the other forest instead. The shallow areas had pretty much the same ecosystem, so it wasn’t a problem, and it was good walking practice.
Apparently, Thea had gotten a little too enthusiastic about practicing spear hunting so she could fight me.
Kathe’s mother, Thea, uses a bastard sword, one as big as Kathe herself, strapped to her back. It’s such a heavy weapon that she can even use it as a shield.
But using that here for training would be way too dangerous, so she practices with a spear… or rather, a wooden staff.
She used to use spears in narrow dungeon corridors, but she only resumed adventuring last month when Kathe reached Bronze rank. So she probably went a bit overboard while getting her instincts back.
“Kathe, how was the dungeon?”
“It was… a really strange place. We only went to a beginner dungeon, though…”
While Dad and Kathe’s parents were talking things over, I asked about what I really wanted to hear, the dungeon.
The beginner dungeon was about two days away from Samania Village, and the entrance looked like a cave at the base of a mountain.
“The first floor really is a cave, but it’s not pitch black. It’s kind of dimly lit, and the air doesn’t feel stagnant.
The only enemies were slimes. Soft, pale-blue blobs of liquid. They’re transparent, so you can see inside. There’s a core floating in the center, and you have to break it with magic or a sword.
But weak magic won’t reach it, and it’s the same with swords.”
Ohh, so slimes don’t show up around here, but if you go into a dungeon, you can meet them.
Apparently, the core inside moves around, so weak strikes lose to the water pressure, and the same goes for magic.
Kathe trained on the first floor until she could reliably defeat them.
And even after going through all that trouble, they don’t leave behind any materials. Most adventurers just ignore them and move on.
“Alright then, shall we begin training?”
It seemed the adults had finished their discussion, and they called out to us. We all headed down to the basement together.
While I was Bronze rank, they used to reserve the place just for me, but now that I could take subjugation requests, I’d be interacting with other adventurers more often, so today it wasn’t reserved.
Even so, the training grounds were empty. Apparently, some people come on weekends, but not many show up on weekdays.
“Now then, who’s fighting who?”
Taddy asked, looking excited.
Wait, I’m the one choosing?
Kathe was also clearly signaling, Pick me, so… what do I do?
“You guys. We agreed we’d draw lots to decide, remember?”
Thea came back from the weapon storage carrying sticks, and she was radiating a chilling aura. Wait, that was a thing?
I drew one of the lots she handed out. The tip of mine was dyed green.
Once everyone had drawn, it turned out there were two of each color, and Dad had drawn green too.
Blue was Thea and Taddy, red was Kathe and Gars. So it ended up as parent-child, married couple, and siblings.
“Heh, heh… if you’re my opponent, I don’t need to hold back with this.”
“T-Thea? It’s training, alright? Didn’t you say you were working on spear practice? Wouldn’t a spear be better?”
Thea tossed aside the stick and smoothly pulled her bastard sword from the waist pouch at her hip.
Taddy backed away stiffly.
… Yeah, I can definitely see who wears the pants in that marriage.
“That one’s on Dad.”
“Well, yeah… he tried to start without mentioning the lot drawing, so he kind of had it coming.”
Looks like the siblings decided not to defend their father.
“Alrighty then, Vio. Let’s go.”
“Yeah!”
My training with Dad didn’t use weapons, it was pure hand-to-hand combat.
Dad only played defense, but I went all out, using physical enhancement, striking, kicking, full force. And he still handled me like it was nothing.
With reinforcement and a barrier properly in place, I sank low and dove in for a tackle at his legs.
Dad’s big, so he’s not great at dealing with someone darting around at his feet.
I dodged the large hand that came sweeping toward me and slipped behind his knee.
I drove a palm strike into the back of his right knee, throwing off his balance as he leaned forward, now’s my chance, but he recovered instantly, grabbed me by the scruff of my neck, and threw me.
I spun midair and landed on my feet. Damn it!
“That one was quick. Your palm strike’s gotten stronger too.”
He sounded pleased, but it didn’t do anything to him!
I went for his blind spots, slipped between his legs, ran up his back, attacking from every angle I could think of, but he knocked everything away.
It felt like he was just playing with a kitten. So frustrating.
Kicks, palm strikes, punches, he always took at least one hit, checking how strong they were.
But the second hit? Never landed.
He threw me again and again, and by the time the other two matches had finished, I was completely out of breath.
Sometimes I couldn’t break my fall properly and ended up rolling on the ground, so I was covered head to toe in dust.
Meanwhile, Dad looked almost exactly the same as when we started, maybe just a little sweaty.
"Well, I'll be! You've gotten a mighty sight stronger. More importantly, you're faster than a jackrabbit. Your muscle strength's improved somethin' fierce."
“Vio’s movements are really fast, about the same as Run and Ren, right? That’s amazing!”
Panting and gasping, I lay spread-eagle on the ground, trying to catch my breath while Dad praised me.
Even though I didn’t land anything…
But I couldn’t even reach him at first, so I guess that means I am improving.
Kathe, who had apparently been watching for a while, said I wasn’t losing to the black cat brothers in speed either.
Hearing that from someone who’s actually seen them in action at the academy made me really happy.
“Another round… yeah, that’s not happening today.”
When I looked toward Gars at that comment, I saw Taddy looking completely battered, and Thea smiling very happily.
… Yeah. He got wrecked.
I was out of stamina too.
Kathe and the others would be heading back to the dungeon for more training starting tomorrow, and they’d return next Fire Day next week.
They planned to keep that pace for a while, so we decided to train together on Water Day afternoons.
They also invited me to have lunch with them next time so we could talk more about the dungeon.
Alright, next time, I’m definitely getting the rest of that story.
What do you think about this chapter?
