"What's wrong with you? It's only a guiding spar." Ryu can't help but sigh because of the demeanor of the boy in front of him. Maybe he needs to do something regarding that constant negative thought of him.

"Well, without further ado, let's do it."

"Okay..." Gulping down his saliva, Verdi pulled out his short sword.

Observing from a distance, Ryu suddenly yelled at him; "Don't be so nervous like that, look, your stance now has a reversed function!" Shaking, Verdi only leaves a bunch of openings from his posture.

"Y-Yes, I understand!" The reprimand seems to make him tenser instead. Seeing Verdi's shoulders becomes as stiff as ice, Ryu began to shake its head. "We can't proceed like this."

"I'm sorry..."

"Listen, I don't have any intention to tell you that you suck, but..."

Ryu makes a pause in his sentence, feeling reluctant a bit.

"If we continue like this, entering a Dungeon will be a long goal."

"I'm... Ashamed of myself..."

Somehow, looking at Verdi hanging his head down, gave a smile on his face, it's a caring one. He gradually moves foot by foot, closing the distance between them.

Still low in his head, Verdi suddenly gets a sensation of his hair getting stroked gently. Surprised, he slowly raises its head.

"You're actually a talented individual."

Verdi stays dazed in his place, gazing at Ryu with its teary eyes.

Due to his unsettled mood, he's unable to perceive his sworn brother's intention behind those words.

Retracting its hand, Ryu clears his throat and deeply stares at Verdi with his bright blue eyes before taking out his finger.

"Listen, you're by no means a weak person;"

"The problem was your emotion, it's too fragile;"

"You're doubting yourself too much."

Sobering up a little, finally, Verdi clouded thoughts cleared up a bit.

"Still, I can't stop it, the negative thoughts keep entering my mind even if I didn't want it to."

"See, that exactly what makes you this way."

Ryu flicks the forehead of claimed to be his brother, making the other party groan in pain while holding his temples down with both of its hands.

"Did you ever try to transform that energy into a positive one?"

"I will do that already if I know how to..."

Verdi gives out a sigh, it looks like he begins to relax a little around Ryu, although the person itself likely didn't notice these things yet.

"Well, how about you try doing it like Mizuha?"

"Mizuha?" Verdi steals a glance toward the girl that's still occupied with her activity.

"Instead of being pessimistic about it, why don't you starve to become stronger faster?"

Ryu then grabs Verdi's shoulder firmly with its hand.

"Look, you can turn those worthless thoughts of yours into fuel for your motivation."

"The moment you reach a new height in your power, you can deny those feelings effortlessly."

Ryu can somehow understand the train of thoughts of the boy in front of him. He simply needs a push from someone to drive him to keep his shoes together.

That's why when he's finished feeding the boy with plenty of words of courage, the result he had been expecting will definitely show itself. Verdi's eyes slowly regain it's light back. Right now, he seems to be gleaming with hope.

"So, what's your call?"

"No need to ask, it's already obvious, brother!"

Taking a distance away from his brother, Verdi then re-stance himself with his short sword, witnessing that kind of display, Ryu leaks out a sigh of relief.

'Not a long ago, it's a stance full of opening, now it's a perfect one;'

'As I guessed, he was definitely a talented individual, and it was at the fearsome feat;'

'...I guess I only need to babysit him for a little more.'

Didn't want Verdi to wait for too long, Ryu then shifts his focus for the sparring, readying his foot to make a dash in an instant.

"Now, whenever you're ready."

"Okay, please be easy on me, brother!"

As Verdi charges, it's directly followed by Ryu. Ryu didn't have any intention to win. He simply wants to teach his friend so that his battle prowess is improving.

That's why Ryu's move was merely consisted of dodging, blocking, and advising. In response to this, Verdi instead started to get desperate to land a score on his brother.

"Hey! Keep your mind calm and focused!"

Giving a troubled expression, Ryu hits Verdi's head with the back of his dagger, reprimanding him of his rash action. This makes Verdi's hand unconsciously grabs his head, halting his movement.

"You simply leaves more room to attack if you moved so careless like that."

"I'm sorry brother, it's so frustrating to have all my attacks missed like that."

"Although I didn't have any intention to win, I'm not planning to lose either!"

After a few tick of time, it seems Verdi has started collected his mind back. Sensing that, Ryu then clasped his hand together.

"Let's continue, shall we."

"Yes!" Nodding its head firmly, they resume the activity.

This time, Ryu sometimes hits a part of Verdi's body with the blunt side of the dagger, pointing out his faulty stance.

Hour by hour has passed by, Ryu can grasp that the boy he's sparring with is actually not a dull individual at all. Aside from being talented, he can absorb his teaching at considerable speed. He's already much better compared to the past hour.

"That's it, we need to take a rest first."

Stopping the last movement with its dagger, Ryu brings his bottom to the ground while wiping off his sweat. He doesn't think that teaching someone can also be this tiring, out of his exception, maybe this can train his body too.

"Brother, thanks for giving me this opportunity."

Sitting down beside Ryu, Verdi also proceeding to clean his face that drenched from exhaustion. Despite having a hard time to breath, Ryu can see that Verdi was enjoying these moments.

"Don't thank me. I'm improving from this event too."

"But still, I think that I'll stay as a loser if I didn't meet you today."

Seeing those enthusiastic expressions from Verdi, Ryu reflectively smiles.

'I didn't know that teaching someone can be this fun.'