***
If he clashed with Hu Tao in a contest of strength, right now, when he was so exhausted, his sword would immediately be sent flying.
Yomite understood that, so he didn't exert any more strength than necessary and took great pains to parry the attacks with the suitable amount of strength.
If he made any blunders here, a blow that held nothing back would land on him and he might potentially bleed to death and they didn't have a healer nearby.
"That's right, Assistant-kun. Using your pinky as the base, transform your grip strength itself into the strength for your parry. That way you don't have to receive my attacks when you're tired. Also, try going for the stance I told you about, you're not using it."
"I don't have any strength left to use it! Besides, there isn't any persuasiveness in it if you're looking that joyful while talking and beating the hell out of me!"
"Ayaya! Now, don't say that. If you have strength to shout, then you're still surely full of vigor! Besides, this is just a joyful skinship between a Director and her Assistant! We're so close, our hearts are almost touching!"
"In what world is skinship something where my heart is an inch away from getting pierced!?"
Just an instant of carelessness might become deadly.
Despite what he was thinking, he had to admit, Hu Tao was truly a genius.
Not only could she point out his mistakes during spar with a single glance, she also taught him some breathing techniques that helped him recover quickly...
It was as if her mind worked on a whole different scale compared to his.
It was as if she knew how to do everything well...
Jack of all trades...in this case, however, master of all…Although he wouldn't admit that as she would for sure gloat about it till the day he dies.
The biggest problem was...she was a slave driver to the core, that wouldn't let him rest until he was fully spent and she was satisfied...
She was terrifying.
Such dangerous training, constantly throughout the two painful months, constantly accompanied by the spectre of death, was just morning scenery that had become custom in the Yomite's mansion.
In the distance, spectators were...well... spectating...
"Do you think...he'll be alright?"
Lumine worriedly spoke. She felt like Hu Tao was going overboard the past few days, it was as if she fueled her own sadistic tendencies by beating him up.
"Paimon thinks he brought it upon himself! If he asked Paimon for training, we would be eating sweets and relaxing every day! Choosing that Fire Runt as a partner for training was the biggest mistake he could ever make…Speaking of sweets...Paimon has heard that a new recipe called Honey Bitter Roast was released!"
Paimon jittered excitedly, sparkles following her trail as she floated around the head of Lumine, as she salivated.
"Yomite is the Star Lord, he'll obviously be fine...I think…"
Fischl's comment wasn't reassuring in the slightest, but they were all comrades, they surely wouldn't kill each other…
They sparred for ten more minutes and finally, Yomite couldn't even put any more strength in his fingertips, which were just barely holding onto the sword.
It was only then that the training was finally over.
"Ah, being alive is wonderful...I survived once again..."
Today too, he managed to get out of training alive somehow. Yomite looked up to the sky as he felt emotionally moved from that.
"Here is your drink, Party Leader." Lumine walked up to him.
"Thank you, Lumine. Is everyone done with their training?"
"Yes, we ended a long time ago and enjoyed the show before us." she giggled and held out a cold sunsettia refreshment juice towards him.
"You're merciless...you know that? Hu Tao is a slave driver...One of these days I will seriously lose my life..."
He lost himself drinking it in big gulps.
The refreshing sweetness of the chilled sunsettia was permeating into his extremely exhausted body.
He handed her the empty cup and thanked her, he then sat down on the ground and relaxed.
The best thing to do after such a battle, was to exercise some light stretches and flex out all that tension.
He put his hands on his hips and broadened his shoulders then pushed against his hips and stretched his spine left and right.
*Crack* *Crack* *Crack*
Each segment in his spine from the neck to the sacrum made a crack as all of his residual energy was released.
"Boy, oh boy...that was amazing..."
Yomite took a deep breath then started to twist, flex and stretch again.
Each time he released the tension, it was akin to a thunderous orgasm coming from his tired body and bones. Simply divine.
"I'm glad to be alive..."
After he took a shower, he lay down on the couch to relax for a while.
His body was tired from all this daily training and quests.
He just wanted to rest for now…
"God I want to have sex so badly...Why is there no brothel in Mondstadt? I am seriously at my limit here..." Yomite groaned.
Still, the whorehouse might not be the best idea as he might contract some unknown and known diseases, so after seriously thinking it through, he decided to just let it go.
His mansion was pretty vast and Yomite was more than happy to finally enjoy his privacy, although Iris was still there, she was either sleeping or eating at all times, so it was as if she wasn't even in his room.
Although the Mansion was huge, it was still easy to bump into each other in awkward situations.
A cliche like this had already happened to him twice.
Except for the fact that it was a reversed scenario.
The first time around, he was minding his own business in his room when Hu Tao waltzed in on him without knocking, wanting to discuss a new poem she wrote overnight, only to see him beat his meat.
She stared there dazed for a second and apologized, "...Sorry for intruding, I will come back later~"
She slowly closed the door behind her and left.
(Can't you just knock...come on...)
He thought that she would be acting abnormally after such an incident, but to his surprise she didn't seem like she cared about it at all.
It looked like she was mature enough in that regard.
The second time an awkward thing happened, was when he was taking a shower and he forgot to bring his towel with him, so he walked back to his room to grab one.
Unfortunately, he encountered Lumine, who was also getting ready for her bath, and as she heard the bathroom door swing open, she thought Yomite had obviously finished showering, only to witness something she would never forget in her life...
