The girl turned around, and Aleph left as well, but soon he turned again and saw her entering that large building. Aside from the serious expression, she didn't have many similarities with Hei. Still, it was safe to assume that they were related.

“I guess she must be trying to train the new recruits as hard as possible in order to make them useful for Hei. Those who had weak minds and bodies would only become a nuisance to him, after all. Maybe I am thinking too much about this.”

Aleph felt a bit bothered by being called a slave boy, even if it was just to test his willpower. It was annoying. If anything, it made him understand that he would do better by focusing on himself alone. Once he became an adult, he could become a sellsword who didn't have a fixed boss to pay for his services. That could be inconvenient, but at least it would be less troublesome when it came to his freedom and related things.

There were other options, but all of them were too soon for a ten-year-old kid… it would be better if Aleph stayed patient until whatever happened truly hindered his growth. In any case, after returning to his tent, Aleph resumed his training and then went to bed after cleaning the wounds on his hands and feet. At that point in time, the skin bleed a fair bit, but it was also too rough for a wound to become much worse… it was better to be safer than sorry, though.

After working the next morning, as usual, Aleph went to have lunch at the same restaurant he had always been to since it was pretty close to the training grounds. He liked their large servings, so he felt it was worth eating there two times in a row and recharging his batteries for the whole day.

As he had been told, Aleph arrived a bit earlier than before, and the redheaded girl was nowhere to be seen. The other kids were already there, and for the first time, Aleph had the chance to realize that some girls were part of the group too… he didn’t recall seeing women in Hei’s group before, then again, he didn’t check the face and the bodies of everyone around.

“It seems that no one is late today…, and it also seems that no one has given up yet. Well, today is a good day, as any day, for that to happen. Your task today is to do handstands. You don’t have to spend the whole afternoon upside down, but you can’t take more than ten seconds of rest between each session. If you fail, you are welcome not to come here anymore.”

That seemed like fun for Aleph. He had never tried his limits like that without weights, but it should have been interesting. All the kids followed the orders without hesitation and soon started the handstand session. Everyone there had good balance and decent strength, so staying like that for a while had been easier. Things began to get complicated after half an hour.

When Aleph felt his arms getting a bit heavier, he decided to take a short break and move his arms around to improve blood flow. Then he reassumed his stance. He felt a lot better, and the other kids began to feel like copying him a bit.

“Are you getting tired, slave boy?”

“Are we still on that page?”

“Yes, we are. Does being called slave boy bother you?”

“Maybe, since you haven’t confirmed yet if I am a boy or not. Do you want to confirm now? I am upside down, so this might be funny.”

“It seems that you want to run around the training camps again, this time until morning.”

“Only if you don’t feel like confirming if I am a boy or not.”

“You can run around the training camps while doing the handstands.”

“I expected that you wouldn’t.”

A vein began to throb on the girl’s face as Aleph started to move around the training grounds. She couldn’t let her anger become that obvious. She couldn’t give up on testing the spirits of everyone there… it was easier to test that when all of the kids were of the same age, but when one was younger than them was enduring much, it made the others feel eager to push their limits out of pride. That could be helpful, but it also could be something very stupid to do on the battlefield… since it could cause their deaths. Instead of relying on their pride, they had to rely on their wits to survive.
In any case, much to the girl’s annoyance, Aleph motivated the other kids to try harder once again. He took some breaks during the afternoon, but none of them took more than ten seconds. He had the guts that she wanted for the recruits to have already, but his attitude was still the problem… she also knew that she was also at fault.

“... It is over for today. Don’t be late tomorrow.”

The girl watched Aleph disappear in the distance with his hands red with blood. She couldn’t help but frown since he didn’t show any signs of discomfort, but that still should be pretty painful for a kid of his age.

When she returned home, she found Hei waiting for her in front of the door with his arms crossed. It looked like he had many things to say, but he didn’t say anything.
“Don’t even start, Dad.”

“You are going too far, Heirina”

“I have to. Didn’t you say that you almost accepted death during the last battle?”

“I should have never said that…”

“You need people you can rely on, people with guts. You lost a lot of them in that battle, and since you aren’t planning to retire anytime soon, I have to do something about it.”
“It doesn’t appear to me that they need your help to show that. So, try not to make other kids even more fearful than you. It is quite embarrassing that a kid of your age doesn’t have any friends.”
Heirina had a hard time keeping her expression calm, but the red on her face betrayed her. Hei couldn't help but let out a sigh… being the leader of such a territory had its share of merits and demerits. One of the most troublesome demerits was the fact that his only daughter would take his role once he died. That was too much for someone of her age… even though he had come with terms of that in the previous battle.

“Just don't do anything too harsh anymore. Those kids can be your closest allies one day, and they won't be of any use if they hate your guts.”
“All right… by the way, did you know that that kid was called Aleph?”

“No… it is an unusual name. He is pretty suspicious of me, so I had decided to treat him like everyone else, so I even forgot to ask that. What else did you learn?”

“He is always barefoot and his hands and feet are always bleeding when the training ends, but the next day, they are mainly back to normal.”

“He might have a talent for healing… it is hard to say. Considering how he helped me in the battle, I assumed that he had some archery traits… anyway, just keep your distance and don't do anything harsh.”

Heirina didn't say anything, but she started to think about what she should do next… she was pretty much a member of the mercenary group, and soon she was going to join her father in the battles. As such, she received the job of training the recruits of the town when they reached the right age. She has been doing that for two years already, and while some people succeeded in joining the group, those ended up resenting her.

“... I suppose I need to become dependable in another way.”

When the next day arrived, Heirina still had no idea what she should do. She knew that she had to improve her attitude a bit, but suddenly, doing a 180 seemed unnatural. When she arrived on the training grounds, she found everyone silently waiting for hell once again.

“... Today, we will practice hand-to-hand combat. While we never should lose our weapons, we need to be ready for that if something happens. Split into pairs and come forward to face each other. The loser will have to do a handstand for ten minutes.”

Everyone looked at each other, confused, but soon they followed the instructions. Still, Heirina didn't realize that the number of recruits wasn't even, so Aleph ended up alone.

“You can spar with me. I will go easy on you.”

“It is fine. I assume my defeat.”