While we were talking about blessed people I noticed that Stella was just standing between us and listening. She is too young to know who the blessed person is. At least our talk wasn’t boring to hear because she was clearly listening with interest.

It was getting late and Stella was very tired. Dian let her sleep on his bed. He said he needs to leave for a bit but he will be back in an hour or two. I left Skyge with Stella and followed Dian. There is something off about it and I still can’t quite point at it. He stopped in the middle of the forest. There was a pile of rocks and a tree without a bark.

The boy began stretching and jumping in place. He walked to the tree and grabbed the highest branch he could and lifted himself. He did it with both hands but he felt the pain from his injury and switched to one hand. From behind the three he picked up a wooden sword and hit the tree with it. He came here to train. This talk about wanting to be a hero was real. He was training hard but even I could see that his swordsmanship was sloppy.

[ Eric ]

“Hey, kid! You’re doing it wrong.”

[ Dian ]

“What are you doing here?!”

[ Eric ]

“Not gonna lie. I followed you because I was suspicious of you. I can see that I was wrong. I’m not some great warrior but after a few fights to the death, I can tell that your fighting technique is sloppy. You only use your arms to swing the weapon. You should use your whole body like this.”

I showed him how to use the sword or at least basic knowledge. He caught that really fast. The kid has potential or his enthusiasm for being a hero helps him in a way. I wanted to spar with him but he had only one wooden sword. While training he asked me about my adventures. He got interested once I said I fought to the death a few times. I told him everything from the very beginning. About me arriving at the island. Fighting for my life. About my fight with the bear, and sea monsters and about the cultists. I also told him about my quest to rescue Tae. Of course, I didn’t tell him about me looking for a special blessed person because I still don’t know what Loki wants me to do with them.

[ Dian ]

“Let me help you!”

[ Eric ]

“Why? You don’t even know me.”

[ Dian ]

“You had amazing adventures! This one also looks promising. I want to be a hero! Save people in need! Be recognized! That’s why I want to help!”

[ Eric ]

“I know it sounds cool and all but you might die. It’s not like they gonna just arrest you and release you after a few days. Even if you don’t get killed you might become a slave for the rest of your life.”

[ Dian ]

“I’ll prove that I’m worthy! I was falsely accused of being a criminal like you in this town. This town has three guard captains and above them is the head captain. One of the captains is the brother of the headmaster and he often lets his brother’s action slide. You probably attacked his guys so he put a mark on you. The same happened to me. I stopped some illegal trade. He was behind it so he marked me as a criminal.”

[ Eric ]

“Hmm… Normally I would ignore it but he sounds like a dickhead I want to beat up. I’ll help you and depending on how well you’ll do I might take your offer.”

[ Dian ]

“Deal!”

He already showed that he is worth hiring with that fog magic. If he learns how to use a sword and combine it with his magic he might become unbeatable. With this power rescuing Tae might be easier than I thought. If he doesn’t grow, he’ll definitely die. After that talk, we came back to training. We trained for so long that Dian no longer had the strength to move and I barely had any. I dragged him back to his house.

The biggest problem appeared by his door. Elevated threshold! I tried just dragging him but I couldn’t do it. Then I placed his torso on the threshold and tried to lift his legs. While I was slowly lifting his legs the rest of his body slides down and hits the ground.

[ Eric ]

“Sorry. Wasn’t on purpose.”

He didn’t respond to me. When I looked at his face I noticed that he was sleeping. I have never seen such a hard sleep. If he doesn't have any problems with sleeping I’ll just leave him here… Of course, I didn’t have a better place to sleep since the bed was for Stella, and Skyge slept with her so I lost my living pillow… All left for me was the floor or chair…

Somehow I slept through the night. Sunshine woke me up. Stella and Skyge were still sleeping and when I looked for Dian he wasn’t in the house nor by the entrance to it where I left him. I had a hunch where I could find him and I was right. He was training from the moment he woke up.

[ Eric ]

“Training on an empty stomach is not a good idea.”

[ Dian ]

“I’m doing just fine.” He said as his stomach growled.

[ Eric ]

“Let’s go to the town for the food. We have two more mouths to feed in your house.”

[ Dian ]

“Are you sure? You’re wanted by the guards.”

[ Eric ]

“You too yet you were in the town while being wanted yourself.”

[ Dian ]

“Fine. Take some cloak to cover your face. I have a secret entrance.”

The forest ends around twenty meters before the walls of the town. Nothing to hide behind and the guards were on the walls. Once we would step out of the woods they would immediately notice us. Dian kneeled behind a tree and whispered something while touching the grass. A fog slowly appeared on the ground but it was only reaching my knees.

[ Dian ]

“This is our cover. Now we need to crawl to the walls. There is a hole by the watchtower.”

[ Eric ]

“Is it thick enough to cover us?”

[ Dian ]

“If you’ll stick to the ground then yes. Let’s go. I don’t have much strength to maintain in for so long.”