The Ashen Dominion
Chapter 42 - Three Things

Chapter 42: 42 - Three Things

After agreeing to the trade—

"Here."

"Thanks."

Jin handed me the greatsword. Khan was holding the bottle of alcohol so I could take it with both hands.

"I’m warning you, it’s heavy."

Jin said to me, still holding the lump of iron up.

Fwip—

I tightly gripped the handle of the greatsword. And staring straight at Jin...

"Got it."

I simply replied to him.

"..."

Jin nodded at me. Then without hesitation—

Fwop—

He let go of the greatsword.

Fwoosh—

"...!"

My arms immediately dropped under the weight. It was heavy as fuck!

But since I’d braced myself thanks to Jin’s warning—

TAP!

I managed to plant my feet firmly on the ground!

And mustering all my strength—

"GRRRGH...!"

I pulled my arms upward and successfully stopped the greatsword from slamming into the floor!

I was squatting with my legs spread, muscles in my arms and legs tensed from how hard I was trying not to let it drop!

"Ohh... Close one."

"Woah, good job."

"Need help?"

Brock, Khan, and Jin spoke up after seeing me like that.

"Urgh...! N-no... I got... this...!"

I gritted out a reply to Jin.

"I’m... heading to my room first... Enjoy the alcohol...!"

I quickly followed up, knowing I wouldn’t last long holding this thing.

"Yeah, no worries."

"See ya later, kid."

"Thanks for the alcohol."

Khan, Brock, and Jin nodded as they responded.

And as soon as they said that—

"GRRRGH...!"

I wasted no time and started dragging the heavy-ass greatsword back to my room.

SHHHHHKK—

The sound of it scraping along the floor echoed throughout the place, but I didn’t care.

"GAAAARGH...!!!"

I feel like passing out just carrying this thing, I have no time to give a fuck about that.

...

...

...

Fortunately...

My room wasn’t far from where we had been sitting and talking. Just a few steps away—it was literally right in front of us.

But still...

"GAAAAHHH!!!"

It took me a minute or so to get the damn thing into my room.

And as soon as I was inside—

BAM!

I let go and just dropped the greatsword onto the floor. It landed in the middle of the room with a loud thud.

"Huff.. haaa... huff... haaaa..."

I immediately started catching my breath. My whole body felt relieved after letting go of that heavy lump of iron.

"..."

My hands were red, aching. My arms and legs were sore as hell.

’Just from dragging this thing for a minute... I didn’t even lift it.’

I grumbled in my head, staring at the greatsword on the floor.

"Haaaaa..."

I let out a tired sigh.

Pat—

Then I flopped down on my bed, exhausted.

"I won’t be able to use that thing for a while."

I mumbled to myself, referring to the greatsword.

"Whatever."

I added, closing my eyes.

’I just need to train until I can use that.’

And after thinking of that—

"..."

I dozed off and fell asleep.

I’ll continue my training tomorrow.

*****

The next day...

Just as I said, I continued training my body and getting used to my equipment as soon as I woke up.

I used my javelin and short sword.

But I completely ignored the greatsword on the floor.

’No way I’m lifting that thing again.’

My arms still ached from last night.

Anyway...

I went out of my room a bit later to join Brock and the others for breakfast.

I also saw Viktor outside. I waved at him as a greeting, and he waved back too.

Then—

Brock, Khan, Jin, and I just talked about random stuff.

I asked them more about mages, aether, and more.

And I learned a lot of new things again today.

Monsters, dungeons, magical beasts, spirits, and all sorts of other things!

They apparently exist in this world!

’So in short... I’m in a fantasy-type world, huh.’

I thought to myself as I absorbed all of that new information.

...

...

...

Later, when the afternoon arrived—

I waited for the servants to get here after having lunch with the three.

Or to be specific—I waited for Rai.

They arrived not long after, and I immediately walked up to him.

Rai saw me approaching and he waved at me with a bright smile on his face.

"Yo, how’s it going."

"Haha, I’m doing good. Your last fight was amazing."

We exchanged a few words in greeting, catching up to each other.

And after that—

"So, what do you need?"

Rai asked me that, getting straight to the point.

And without hesitation, I started listing everything in my head to him—

"First, I want you to continue bringing me a chicken breast every night."

I said.

"We can buy a bunch of chicken breasts and have someone cook them every day... That’s cheaper than buying a cooked one daily. The battle points you’ll need will go down to seven instead of nine."

Rai immediately followed up with that suggestion.

"Let’s do that. Thanks, Rai."

I nodded to him, thankful.

He just brushed it off with a smile.

Moving on—

"Second, I want to access a training ground for at least a month."

I added that.

"Hmm, you’ll need one point weekly for the copper place’s training ground... That’ll be four for the month."

Rai explained.

"Okay, that’s fine."

I replied.

Then—

"Lastly, I want some armor. At least a pair of leather boots and vambraces."

I ended with that.

(Vambraces are forearm guards.)

And after hearing all of that—

"Got it. I’ll try my best to get everything you need."

Rai said that with a smile.

"I really appreciate it."

I said sincerely.

"I’ll come back later tonight."

Rai declared.

And with that...

Tap— tap— tap—

He started walking away.

I casually waved him goodbye.

And when he was already out of my sight...

"Time to go back to training."

I returned to my room and resumed training with my weapons and makeshift weights.

*****

I continued training until nightfall.

And now—

"Haaa..."

I sat down on my bed to rest.

I was covered in sweat. I took off my shirt way earlier so it wouldn’t smell bad.

After all...

’I don’t know when’s the next time I’ll be able to take a bath.’

I thought with a slight frown.

Also—

"Ugh..."

My whole body ached. I could feel my muscles throbbing.

My throat was dry, and I was sleepy as hell.

And even though I’d just eaten dinner earlier with Brock and the others...

’I’m hungry again.’

Grrrr—

My stomach growled.

Exercising burns through my energy too fast.

"..."

I remembered the time Rai would bring me two chicken breasts every night before.

It made me even hungrier.

So after resting for a bit more and wiping the sweat off my body—

"He’ll be here soon."

Fwish~

I put my shirt back on and stood up from the bed.

And without hesitation...

Creak—

Thud-

I left the room. I decided to wait for Rai outside my room.

...

...

...

I stood outside with Brock, Khan, and Jin.

But we weren’t chatting about random stuff this time, no.

Right now—

"Okay. Start now, kid."

"We’re ready."

"Give it your best."

I was training my skill!

The three of them had volunteered earlier when they saw me get out of my room to be my test dummies!

Why, you ask?

Just because they were curious about my skill too!

Such a simple reason.

But since it was a good opportunity to receive guidance from these people and especially someone with the same kind of skill—

"Got it, here I go."

I accepted their offer without shame.

So while I waited for Rai...

"...!"

SWOOOSH—!!

I kept training.

...

...

...

Though, just a few tens of minutes later—

"... Grgh..."

I was already mentally exhausted, and my head was hurting from using the skill.

I was only able to activate it three times, and even then, it took seconds to trigger it... Each use only lasted a couple of seconds too.

"Yeah, you can’t use it in a real fight yet."

"Yep. You’ll die before you can even activate it."

"And it takes too much toll on you just to use it once."

Brock, Jin, and Khan gave their assessments.

"Mhm."

I completely agree with their words.

"The output’s not great either... Try meditation and imagery training to help with control."

Brock added.

And nodding my head at him—

"Noted."

I simply replied, still catching my breath.

Then, at that moment—

"Kaiser!"

I heard a voice call out from outside the place.

And immediately—

’It’s Rai.’

I knew who it was.

"I’ll be going now. Thanks again, misters."

I said, slightly bowing to the three.

"Meh, go ahead."

"It’s nothing big."

"Good luck getting stronger."

Jin, Khan, and Brock responded in turn.

And with that...

Tap—tap—tap—

I headed toward the metal bar gate to meet with Rai.