While the students began their training, Noboru entered Aiden’s chambers. The Master Manipulator was nose deep in a book when the door creaked open. He looked up to see Noboru closing the door behind him and walking towards Aiden. Aiden didn’t look surprised to see Noboru, instead he simply nodded towards the seat opposite of him and closed the book he was reading. Noboru took the offered seat before speaking, “You aren’t surprised to see me?” Aiden snorted and shook his head. “Of course not. I knew what the first day’s training was like, and with your skills I figured you would have nothing to learn from Gaharad. You’ve been doing good with gaining knowledge so far, but now we need to increase our pace. So far you’ve only read two books, that’s not enough. I’m assuming that within a week you will be sent out, so you need to read at least seven more books. Preferably you’d be able to read ten more, but that would be difficult to do while still retaining all of the knowledge. As I’ve explained before, in order to turn knowledge into a skill you have to fully understand what you are reading. So you can’t be skimming, read every word until you understand it then move on to the next. Starting now.” Noboru nodded and picked up the book he was reading last. He had just started this book yesterday and he planned to finish it by today. His journey for knowledge would be a boring one.

Aiden looked on as he began reading with a smile on his face. I’ll make sure to introduce him to Kassandra when she returns. I think they would like each other. Imagining Kassandra meeting Noboru turned the smile on his face into a far brighter one that was also filled with nostalgia. He looked back towards the book he had closed when Noboru originally entered and reopened to the page he was on. The two sat in silence, reading peacefully while they still could.

As Noboru was reading peacefully, the other students were having the exact opposite experience. Orochi was lying on his back, panting heavily with leather armor surrounding his body and a wooden sword in his hand. He was not the only one on the ground, Mika and Minori both were in the same position as Orochi, each of them panting just as hard as he was. The only one still on their feet was Yuriko, but she had her sword stabbed into the ground to support her body and she was just as out of breath as the other three. In stark contrast to the four exhausted students, Gaharad was standing at ease, his breath perfectly even, watching the students in front of him. A wooden sword was in his hand hanging limply at his side, and the expression on his face made him seem bored. No, maybe he was actually bored. Gaharad had just sparred with the four all at once in order to grasp their capabilities, but while he had heard they were already adjusted to their increased stats he was disappointed. Out of the four only one had any sort of decent movement. It was Yuriko who had somewhat caught Gaharad’s eye, but even her movements were rough, like she had never practiced them before. Which was the truth, she was trying to emulate the movements she saw Noboru practicing. Of course, these movements were not quite suitable for someone with a smaller stature like her, but they were still more impressive than the other three who had next to no clue how to fight. It was also the reason why she was the only one still on her feet.

“Hmph.” Gaharad snorted, “I was hoping for more, oh well, from the basics it is.” It was hardly scathing criticism, but the fact that he was disappointed in their performance annoyed Orochi to no end. Tch, I tried everything I know on him, but couldn’t ever reach him. He’s like a brick wall. His attitude is like a brick wall as well, what a precocious person. Of course Orochi didn’t voice these thoughts out loud, he knew that pissing off Gaharad was a bad idea, still he disliked the man. Once I get stronger than you, I’ll put you in your place. Just you wait. Unaware of how conceited his thoughts were, Orochi glared at Gaharad between breaths.

Gaharad noticed the glare of course, you couldn’t be a high ranked soldier if you were unaware when people expressed hostility towards you, but he ignored it. In fact, he was grateful that Orochi hated him, it would mean that he would put in more effort in training. Although Gaharad’s words were harsh, he was somewhat lying to the students. He was actually impressed with Yuriko, she had fought well despite her subpar movements, and was actually able to stay in a fighting condition the whole time. The rest had performed pretty much as he expected, so the ‘disappointment’ that he was showing was a lie. He was merely hoping to stir their competitive spirits to get them to grow faster.

And it seems that it had worked, as all of the students now had fire in their gazes. Gaharad smiled, he would enjoy teaching this bunch of heroes. “Hey!” Gaharad raised his voice. “I don’t care how tired you are, get up and get in formation.” The three students on the floor groggily got to their feet and, along with the already standing Yuriko, formed a straight line in front of Gaharad. This was the basic formation that they would need to be in every time they took lessons from Gaharad, it was the first thing they were taught. Gaharad looked at the four with a smile still on his face, “Alright, let’s get started shall we?” With tired muscles and a fatigued mind the four students began their first lesson to become heroes.

Four days had passed and the students were hard at work with their training. Gaharad’s group of four had already learned the basics and were busy making sure to polish those skills on their own time while Gaharad taught them specifics. The other group had just gotten used to their new stats and were beginning their work on the basics. Neither group had seen Noboru since the start of training. In fact, no one had seen Noboru aside from Aiden, and when the students asked Aiden if they could go see Noboru he shook his head and said to not disturb him. For Yuriko, these four days were the longest four in her life. She had never gone more than a day without seeing Noboru before, but now she hadn’t seen him in four, and that left her feeling alone. All her worries concerning him magnified while she couldn’t see him, so much so that she was feeling cramps in her stomach at just the thought of him.

So when Aiden said that Noboru could use the break and allowed Yuriko to visit today, she was overjoyed. She quickly ran towards Aiden’s room, ignoring everything on her way there. He went inside and saw a scrappy looking Noboru inside. There were dark circles under his eyes, his hair was a mess, and his usually clean shaven face was beginning to show some signs of a beard. He didn’t even react to her entering, no, he didn’t even realize someone had entered, he was engrossed in the book in front of him, making sure to understand all of the content inside. Yuriko walked up and put her hand on his head. The sudden touch shook Noboru out of his trance and he looked towards Yuriko. Before he could turn fully, Yuriko shifted her hand to the back of his head and pulled him into her chest, hugging him tightly. She rested her own head on top of his and let herself stay this way for a bit. Once she had enough she released Noboru from the hug and let him turn towards her.

He smiled gently, and even with his current appearance, that smile melted Yuriko on the inside. “Long time no see, Yuriko.” She nodded her head. Noboru got up from his chair and pulled a second chair next to the one he was in before sitting back down. He patted the seat of the chair as an invitation to sit. Yuriko, of course, listened, and sat next to Noboru. She leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder. Even if it was a reunion after four days of not seeing each other they didn’t feel the need to speak. They simply enjoyed each other's presence for the time being. But there was something Noboru needed to say, so after a while of just sitting, he spoke up.

“Yuriko, in a few days I will probably be sent out of the castle. There is nothing they can teach me so they will probably send me to gain experience, then send me to the frontlines. Which means we won't be able to see each other.” Noboru turned to look at Yuriko, making sure to look her in the eyes. Her eyes were wobbling fearfully, she was scared that he would never come back. “Don’t worry, I will always come back to you. So make sure you are always there for me to come back to, okay?” She nodded, nervously yet confidently. Noboru patted her head for a bit before letting her rest it on his shoulder again. Feeling refreshed by the girl on his shoulder, Noboru picked up the book and began to read once more. Shortly after, Aiden entered the room and told Yuriko that she should leave, and just like that, the pair parted ways once more.

Three more days passed, and those days consisted of the same training and worrying that the previous four had. But Yuriko was less worried, that talk with Noboru had lightened her load a bit. However, today was different from normal. Today was the day that Noboru would be leaving the castle. Gaharad had told them yesterday that this would be happening, much to the students' discontent. But over the course of the day the students had accepted it, and they went into today with no thoughts of complaint. They only wanted to wish Noboru well. The students all gathered by the carriage he would be taking out of the castle. It was a prestigious carriage, fit for royalty, that would be transporting Noboru from the castle to the outskirts of the city. There he would meet up with some soldiers who would take him to a place to gain some experience fighting for real. Noboru had yet to arrive at the carriage, he was still packing up his stuff apparently. Instead of getting ready to leave when he was told yesterday, he just kept reading until the very last moment.

Noboru finally appeared, his messy hair combed to the side, the circles that were under his eyes when Yuriko visited were gone, and the scrappy beard that he was growing was shaved off. He had a backpack on his back, and a sword strapped to his waist. The students all waved him over. Each student said goodbye differently.

“I still don’t feel too good about you leaving on your own but please be safe Noboru!” Akane’s goodbye was peppy as usual.

“Be careful out there, okay?” Gorou’s goodbye was accompanied by a fistbump.

“Hey, hey, goodbye from us three, yeah? Be safe!” Naoko said goodbye for her, Kei, and Minori.

Mika merely nodded her head at Noboru. She was a woman of few words.

“Goodbye Noboru.” Orochi’s goodbye was simple and awkward, fitting of his character.

“Um, please come back safely Noboru. I’ll be looking forward to it.” Emiko’s goodbye was heartfelt and sincere.

And finally Yuriko hugged Noboru tightly, unwilling to let him go. Noboru simply patted her head for a while until she let go on her own. There were tears in her eyes that were threatening to spill out at any moment. Noboru reached forward and wiped them from her eyes before speaking. “I’ll be back.” He said, simply, as if he was just going to work. Then he entered the carriage and left the safety of the castle behind.