Lyra already knew that Zaos was a smart kid, but she didn't imagine that her three-year-old son could be so methodical. Not only was he disciplined enough to wake up by himself and prepare everything for his training sessions, but he was also dedicated enough to increase his time of training in each session by a couple of minutes. Thanks to that, Zaos doubled the amount of time he could maintain that running stance, but it came with a cost.
"Let me see your feet, Zaos," Lyra said.
In the end, Zaos could only shrug while showing a forced smile. As expected, his feet had several bruises, even though his boots were of good quality and had just the right size.
"Why didn't you tell me that your feet hurt?" Lyra asked.
"It doesn't hurt all that much," Zaos replied.
Lyra frowned, since the skin was peeling in some parts, so it certainly was causing Zaos a decent amount of pain. Still, he was stubborn enough to try to put a strong front on his mother. Regardless, Lyra closed her eyes, and he noticed that the air around her changed. Zaos noticed that the pain in his feet decreased when his mother's hands began to shine. In the end, the bruises disappeared after a couple of seconds, and the peeled skin returned to normal. Lyra smiled proudly after taking a deep breath.
"Thank you, mom," Zaos said. "Was that magic?"
"Yes," Lyra replied.
"When are you going to teach me that?" Zaos asked as if that was a matter of fact.
"... Are you already giving up on your sword training?" Lyra asked. "Learning spells will take a while as well."
"I will learn both," Zaos said.
"You weren't joking when you said that before, weren't you?" Lyra smiled. "Well, if it is healing magic, it should be all right. My magic isn't that efficient anymore. Let's see… if you complete your training in less than two weeks, then I will teach you how to use magic."
"That is a promise," Zaos said.
Time was of the essence, so Zaos quickly resumed his training. From Lyra's perspective, it was pretty refreshing to see her son doing something so seriously. Time passed so fast that they even lost the notion of time and had a late breakfast.
Maybe it was due to that, but thanks to that, they finally met the new servant Laiex had mentioned. Lyra tried to say hello, but the woman froze on the spot for quite a while, and when she recovered, she was unable to look Lyra in the eye. Since her head was down, Zaos saw her face and realized that she was very beautiful. He had heard lowborn women were a bit rougher due to the different lives they had, but that one had some delicate features as well. Maybe she came from a relatively well off family of commoners.
"... Good morning, my lady," the woman said. "Forgive me for answering you like this, but I am new to this job, and I don't want to disrespect you."
"It is fine. Just get used to those places at your pace. We will be counting you," Lyra said. "What is your name?"
"It is Jeline, my lady," The woman replied.
Jeline seemed to be around the same age as Lyra. She had curly, light brown hair and her eyes were of the same tone. She could easily pass as a noblewoman from Zaos's perspective. In any case, he decided to forget about her since she became as pale as a ghost when she noticed that Zaos was looking at her.
"What a weird woman…" Zaos thought.
In the end, mother and son left before they could bully involuntarily, even more, the woman. Aside from that event, things proceeded as anticlimactically as they could. While Zaos avoided to train before lunch, since his mother always looked tired when she stayed outside at that time of the day, his training still proceeded favorably.
"It is just like dad said. I just needed to build up some discipline," Zaos thought. "I didn't hear another message like that one, so my stamina didn't increase, but by strengthening my will, I managed to use less stamina while training for even longer periods of time. Although that comes with a price…"
After every training session, Zaos's feet would be covered in bruises, and again, some skin was almost falling off. Fortunately, Lyra was always there to heal him. Besides, now that he was moving more than usual, Zaos also had to eat more and sleep more. Thus, giving him less time to read some books.
"I guess that is why mom looked surprised when I said I would learn both…" Zaos thought. "It will be more difficult than I thought. It isn't just a matter of insistence."
Ten days after the start of his training, Zaos completed it. However, knowing how harsh his father was, Zaos was pretty sure that just achieving such a level wouldn't be enough. He probably would make Zaos try to do the same around noon, and that would be difficult.
"You don't want to show your dad that you can do it yet?" Lyra asked.
"Father is probably going to test me at noon. I need to confirm if I can do that in such conditions," Zaos replied.
"When did you learn such difficult words, Zaos?" Lyra asked while patting his head. "Still, knowing your father, you are probably right."
"That is why, mom, from today onward, you should watch me through a window," Zaos said. "You don't need to endure the hot weather as well."
"Don't be silly, the year is approaching its end, and the temperature is decreasing," Lyra said. "I can take much just fine."
Zaos wanted to insist, but he didn't want to make his mother sad by treating her like a frail doll. In any case, maybe he should ask her if it is possible to learn some magic that can help in that situation once he completes the first part of the training.
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