I awoke the next day at dawn. The twins were still asleep, but Edger was nowhere to be found. I wanted to get back to my routine, so after doing my business in the bathroom, I put on my new armor and went to the inn’s backyard. The backyard was medium-sized. It had enough space for a dozen adventurers to train simultaneously.

  I was surprised to find Edger training in the yard alone. He seemed surprised at seeing me too, probably because it was rare to find people who train this early.

  I greeted him, “Good morning.” He nodded back in greeting and went back to his training. He was doing sword practice, moving through different stances. His moves were fluid, a sign of lots of practice.

  I wanted to do some endurance exercises, but after remembering how the fight with the Gnoll went, I decided against it.

  ‘Real fights are decisive. The winner is decided in a few seconds so stamina doesn’t play a big role. Also, I just got a big strength and stamina boost. I should get more familiar with fighting with one hand.’

  I held the sword in one hand and did a few swings with it. My balance felt all wrong, and I almost fell.

  ‘Balancing without my other hand is going to be tough.’

  I tried a few different stances and something was missing.

  “You're doing it wrong,” Edger pointed out.

  I was surprised at hearing his voice.

  “What am I doing wrong?” I asked. My uncle taught me the stances I was taking.

  “Your stances are right if you had two hands. With only one hand your center of mass has moved and so should your stances. They need to change to accommodate your new situation,” Edger said, helpfully.

  “How can I do that?” I asked, worried that I might have lost everything I had gained from my previous training.

  “Show me how you perform an upper-head slash,” Edger asked.

  I took the stance and then performed the slash. It felt weak like there was not much strength behind it.

  Edger came closer, “Again, take the same stance.”

  I did as he said, but before I did the slash, he changed my stance slightly using his hands. The new position felt wrong.

  “Do the slash again,” Edger said.

  I did it and this time the hit had strength behind it.

  “Woah. This is way better,” I said.

  “Yes, it’s good, not perfect, but good.”

  After that Edger made me do more stances for different situations. Every stance he corrected it in different ways. I didn’t understand what he did and why he did it, but it resulted in stronger and more precise attacks.

  “You should train on these new positions until you forget your older ones. These stances suit your new center of mass well,” Edger advised me after an hour of going through different stances.

  “Thanks for your help,” I said sincerely. The man had helped me and I appreciated it.

  Edger just nodded and went back to his training.

  I spent another hour trying to familiarize myself with my new stances.

  I decided to stop training at the end of the hour as the yard started to get full of adventurers. Training would be hard with all these people around.

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  ‘It seems training early is a wise choice.’

  I was soaked in sweat by the end but wanted to get breakfast at the inn first before showering. I ordered food with the money I got from the reward.

  After finishing with the food, I went up to get a quick shower. After the shower, I wore a new set of fresh clothes.

  ‘I need to buy new clothes. Most of mine were left at home,’ I thought after wearing the clothes given to me by Ramses.

  “How many times do you shower,” Art asked upon seeing my wet hair.

  “Every day,” I answered.

  “That excessive.”

  I just shrugged. From a young age, I was a clean freak. Father sometimes got mad at me, saying I wasted too much water.

  “What are we going to do now?” I asked as we had already finished the mission we came here for.

  “I can’t tell you,” Art said with a sorry face.

  “Why?” I asked, surprised at the answer Art gave.

  “You need to sign the pact first.”

  “What pact? I never agreed to sign anything. I don’t even know how to sign,” I said, angry and worried at the same time. Angry at being left out. Worried about signing a pact I knew nothing of.

  “Pfft, you're silly. I sometimes forget you've not reached adulthood. A pact is necessary to join any adventuring group, our group is no exception.”

  “What is in this pact I have to sign?”

  “Pacts differ from group to group. Our pact is a bit strict compared to the usual adventuring group. In it, you’ll be asked to keep secret anything that might harm the party. Also, you have to do all the reasonable orders the captain gives out. Finally, you have to accept the goal of the party as your's and try to achieve it,” In the last sentence, Art's expression changed to something akin to pride before turning normal quickly.

  “What happens if I breach the pact?” I asked.

  “I think the captain should explain what will happen if you breach it,” Art said uncomfortably.

  I got worried at the last part.

  “And what is the goal of the party?”

  “I also think the captain should explain it.”

  “Aren’t you being a bit too secretive?”

  “Trust me, everything will clear up after you sign the pact.”

  I didn’t ask anything after that- seeing that Art wasn’t sharing. I’d wait and ask Black Eye when the time comes.

  ……….

  Days passed with nothing significant happening. I woke at dawn and started working on my stances, then I would eat breakfast and get an hour of sleep. After that, I’d join Art and Fin in different activities (From the group I only interacted with the twins and sometimes Edger when I asked him about my stances). The twins and I went back to the hot bath a few times, we also tried different restaurants. I wasn’t stingy with my money during this time, I even bought three sets of new clothes that set me back a few silvers. I also bought oil for the leather armor. Leather armor needed to be taken care of so it didn’t dry and crack. The oil smelled nice and I liked applying it. During the evening I’d train on using my Awareness shaper skill. My control over the skill has improved, now I can make a square on one side of the cylinder,

  During these relatively peaceful days, I got to enjoy myself until I saw something that made me remember the harsh reality. One day while walking through the market I saw a person with a collar around his neck. Upon asking Art if this was a fashion trend, he shook his head in sadness, saying it was a slave collar. My mood immediately turned sour at that.

  ‘I could have been in his place if I agreed to Black Eye’s first proposal,’ I thought in anger.

  ……….

  “Hey, Haitham. What are you doing?” Art asked.

  “I’m working on my awareness skills. What do you want?”

  “Don’t you get bored from training every day? Come, I have found a new game, I just need a third player.”

  “Don’t you get bored from playing games every day?” I asked Art. He and his brother spent a lot of their time playing games. I even wondered if they ever trained their abilities.

  Art just rolled his eyes at me.

  ‘Should I join them? My head is starting to hurt from trying to shape the sphere into a square,’ I was contemplating if I should join them when a knock came from the room door.

  I went to open the door expecting to find Edger but was surprised to find Black Eye standing behind the door.

  “You have no manners kid,” Black Eye said.

  ‘Did I do something wrong?’ I thought. Fear crept into my heart.

  “W-why do you say that?” I asked.

  “You see your captain standing at your room door and you don’t even welcome him in. No manners, you really got no manners,” Black Eye said while shaking his head.

  I managed to see a hidden smile on his face.

  ‘This bastard. He’s trying to scare me,’ I thought. My fear vanished, replaced with anger at Black Eye’s stupid antics.

  “I’m sorry Captain Black Eye. Come in, the room is all yours,” I said with exaggeration, trying to mock him.

  Black Eye pretended not to notice. He lowered his head as he went in or he would hit the door. He went straight for my bed and sat on it. I got annoyed at that as I had just bought my own new mattresses and the bastard was wearing his red armor, which he never took off.

  ‘I’m sorry mattresses, I’ll have to burn you today. Filth has touched you and you can’t be cleansed,’

  “I have great news for you kid,” Black Eye said while wearing his trademark crazy smile.

  “You’ll be signing the pact now. I have got it ready for you. This will make you an official member of the party.”

  ‘You call this great news! It seems my peaceful days are really over. Let’s hope this pact is like what Art said…’