A week later, the traveling party had reached the borders of the Fabio Kingdom. On this day, they'd stopped to camp earlier than usual. There were still a couple of hours to go before sunset.
Adam was lying casually on top of a boulder and, as usual, drinking wine. He took a sip and looked at his two friends in amusement. "Did I hear you right? Mind repeating those words?"
Edward simply face-palmed, meanwhile, Lisa struggled to speak the words out of embarrassment. "I-I want you to teach me how to fight!"
"Hehehe." Adam greatly enjoyed picking on Lisa. He knew that this genius' pride wouldn't allow her to seek help from others, especially people her age.
Despite that, Lisa had come forth and asked him to teach her how to fight properly. Edward was the same. Although the latter didn't have any issues asking for help from him.
After seeing their shortcomings in their battle against the vampire, they knew just how much they needed to improve, especially Lisa. She was an A-grade talent and considered to be an all-rounded genius.
But in the battle inside the cavern, she was nothing but dead-weight.
This tremendously hurt her pride. She didn't want to be a burden anymore. She wanted to become stronger. And the only person she knew who could truly teach her to become a capable fighter, was sitting in front of her. Drinking wine.
Adam's lips curled up into a mischievous smirk. "Say please~"
"You!!" Lisa was livid. But in the end, she swallowed her pride and lowered her head as she softly said, "…Please, Adam. Please teach me to be a better fighter."
Adam deeply looked at Lisa and then clicked his tongue. "Tsk, you're no fun at all."
He jumped down from the boulder and walked to an open clearing in the distance. "We'll begin now. Although I can't teach either of you how to wield a sword or a staff, I can teach you the basics of hand-to-hand combat that I know."
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})Edward and Lisa followed after Adam, determination etched over their faces. The latter hurriedly caught up to Adam and spoke with resolve, "Don't go easy on me just because I'm a girl."
"Heh!" Adam smirked, causing a chill to crawl up Lisa's spine.
"You know…" The youth turned around and looked at his two friends who were beginning to nervously sweat. "There is a shortcut to teaching you to become decent fighters."
"W-What is it?" Edward and Lisa slowly retreated, a foreboding feeling welling up in their hearts.
Adam grinned from ear to ear, like a madman. "It's to beat it into you."
…
Nightfall.
The three kids had gathered around the campfire, waiting for their meals to be served. Edward and Lisa were glaring at Adam with wronged expressions. If looks could kill, Adam would have died several times over.
Adam looked at them and simply chuckled in response. "No pain, no gain, hehehe." After that, he continued to enjoy the Caldera.
Edward's face had swollen from all the beating. His entire body had been wrapped up in bandages. He looked at his friend and spat through gritted teeth. "You despicable demon! How could you do this to us?!"
Seeing Edward struggle to speak, Adam burst out laughing, causing the former to be even more furious.
Lisa wasn't faring any better. But Adam had gone easy on her, in that, he hadn't ruined her beautiful face. But as for the rest of her body parts, they were searing in pain.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})She had never felt so sore. Unlike Edward, however, she didn't complain. She recalled when the two of them had ganged up on Adam, but despite that, they weren't even able to touch the hems of his clothes.
The entire time Adam had been drinking from the gourd and dealing with them as if they were children.
Is the gap between us so large? She couldn't help but wonder.
Suddenly, she thought of something and looked at Adam coldly, "Why do I feel like you're thrashing us just for your own amusement? How is any of this going to help us?"
"Trust the process." Adam took a swig from the gourd. "One day, when you're skillful enough, you'll be able to dodge my attacks. Who knows? You might even be able to counter-
attack."
Seeing Adam's smirk, Lisa was fuming with anger. This hateful guy…
But she knew he was right. In many ways, this was indeed a shortcut to becoming a better combatant.
"Anywho." Adam got up to his feet, wobbling a little. "You guys shouldn't move around too much, lest your wounds open up. Tomorrow, we'll continue our training."
Without waiting for their reply, he turned around and headed into the woods in the distance. He shouted, "I'm gonna go throw up a little… Ugghhh, I've drank way too much."
"Hmph, I hope you drown in your puke!" Edward grumbled under his breath and just ignored Adam.
Meanwhile, Lisa deeply looked at Adam's departing back, thinking to herself, When have you ever drunk so much that you needed to puke?
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})…
Adam walked through the dark woods, stumbling every now and then, and singing a tune while continuing to drink Caldera.
"We found magic—hiccup—in the green dunes~
"We thank you… for the magic shrooms~
"And the—hiccup—magic runes~
"Beyond the star… blah, blah, blah!"
After walking for a long time, far away from the campsite, Adam arrived at the shores of a lake in the middle of the woods.
Seeing the reflection of the stars and the twin moons, Selene and Luna, on the surface of the lake, Adam instantly felt relaxed. "How beautiful!"
A shadowy figure silently stood behind a tree, a few meters away from Adam. The figure observed the youth for a long time before finally making his move. He soundlessly unsheathed his dagger, coated it with poison, and slowly approached the youth.
After months of tailing the kid, he had finally found an opening!
The figure slowly walked up behind Adam, his footsteps stealthy and his presence indiscernible.
Then, he raised his hand and thrust the dagger at Adam's heart!
When the dagger was mere inches away from penetrating through Adam's back, the shadowy figure suddenly heard a cold voice drift into his ears.
"So you finally showed up."
