5 weeks remaining.

Loom.

Time’s running out, so it’s time to practice. Reese should be on his way to join us within the next few weeks.

“I’ll need to catch up with the rest of the officials.” Anne bows, “I’ve been away for quite long and it’s time I relieve them from their tasks.”

I nod, Anne feels strongly for her colleagues that agreed to take over her responsibilities, so that she can go on this journey with me. So, now that we’re back, she’s going to try and catch up on all the paperwork that goes into running a region like Loom. Oh well, so I trouble Adam to arrange for the accommodations of Marty and Reese, while I arrange for Sara and Lani to be housed in one of the spare homes we have in the town.

Initially I offered the same facility to Marty, but he insists on being with the rest of the soldiers that he will be fighting with. It’s one of his key values, so I don’t press him on that.

“Okay, the plan is simple, we have 5 weeks left, so please bear with me. The next 5 weeks, we’re going to practice 6 days a week. We’re going to do everything. Spars, drills, exercise, fitness routines, monster extermination. We’re going to be ready for whatever that comes.”

“You sure about this?”

“Yes. If nothing happens, I’ll let you guys have a break, and I’ll pay you guys a bonus out of my own coffers. So please, just give me your next 5 weeks”

Sara, Lani, Marty, Adam nods. “As you wish, prince. A bit of hard work is not a problem.”

Indeed, as part of my commitment to this training, I too am part of the training. The idea I have in my mind, is that everyone can seamlessly work together, to achieve a kind of mental ‘connection’ that a ‘team’ has.

So, I have Adam and the captain, who’s rather pleased to see me return, to design the training for us. Adam’s our front liner, and in a way, he’s got the best battle sense of anyone, with Sara slightly behind.

We start with just being comfortable of fighting together, so that means sparring battles, where a large group of other soldiers try to attack the 5 of us, meaning me, and the 4.

And we quickly discover a flaw in this training.

“I can’t use my magic in a practice setting against other people.” Lani frowns, she has certain ‘values’ too, and one of those is that her magic must be carefully used, not in cases like this. “My magic is very dangerous, and I can’t use weaker versions of my magic.”

Darn.

Adam’s obviously doesn’t know much of magic, so he’s training is designed for swords, bows and shields.

“Hmm… Lani, why not you use this sling.”

“A sling?”

“Yes. This sling represents your magic. I know you can chain your spell, but think of this sling, with its soft rubber bullets as the time you need to charge up your spells, and you can fire them.”

Lani pauses, and eventually realises that it could work. I walk over to brief the soldiers to play dead once they are hit with the rubber bullets, and so we try it out again.

And well, the first time is a little awkward for everyone.

But I insist to try a few more times, and gradually, everyone seems to be getting into the groove of this combat sessions, and we end up having multiple rounds of it. Partly because the guys were abit frustrated at how they fail to protect Sara and Lani from getting hit.

It’s breaktime, and so after I use my healing magic to mend the soldiers from their sparring wounds, I also catch up with my newly formed ‘elite’ team.

“It’s tougher than I thought.” Marty frowns. “My shield is big, but when there are many, I can only push so many back.”

“We need to keep distance, have a certain way of picking off the attackers so that we can protect ourselves.” Sara nods. “Maybe we can focus on one side and leave the rest to the others.”

“Yeah… it’s hard to just ignore that side and leave it to you guys though.”

“That’s part of teamwork. It’s why we need these 5 weeks of practice. Whatever it is, by the end of this 5 weeks, we’ll be a decent team.”

“Yeah.”

Later that evening, after dinner in the mess hall with the rest of the troops, I return to my chambers. As it gets dark, I hear a knock on the door, and Anne walks in. She looks rather exhausted, but she’s got a smile on her face.

“Hi Anne. Sit, you look like you’ve had quite a day.”

She sits on one of the chairs next to mine and our eyes cross.

“Well, how’s your day?”

“Tiring, but we’re getting help.”

“Oh?”

“The King is sending someone over, someone called Rozario.”

“My dad? Why? And who’s that?”

Well, I kind of have a bad feeling about this...