That night, the mistress informed the three of them that she was going into the cave behind the house, and warned them that trying to escape would mean punishment. After that, she took Ryo to the room and gave him all the books and scrolls he would need. He was to sleep upstairs with Robert and Beth until her return. The mistress reminded him before she left of the high expectations she had for him, and the consequences if he failed to meet them.

After she left, the three of them helped each other around the cabin until dinner time. Beth had cooked a lovely wild boar stew, complete with vegetables from the garden. He wanted to ask Beth how she’d learned to cook, but didn’t want to pry into her past. When they’d finished eating Robert told them about a time he had escaped from a werewolf that had been stalking him through some woods.

“What is a werewolf?” Ryo inquired, never having heard the word before.

“You’ve never heard of a werewolf?! Lad, a werewolf is a savage and bloodthirsty predator. They have the strength to rip a man in two and chase down a horse.” Robert explained, utterly surprised Ryo had never heard of them.

“Is it true that it comes from a… a curse?” Beth quietly asked, looking around nervously.

“Curse?” Ryo repeated, curious what the old man had to say.

“Aye, from what I was told, one of their gods cursed some poor bastard, after they tried to trick them… or something like that.” Robert recalled, scratching the back of his neck.

“Why didn’t you fight it?”  Ryo wondered.

“Lad, fighting cursed creatures is risky business. If you make one wrong move, or you're not prepared, you can become one of them. All it takes is a single bite from those monsters and then you're cursed as well.” Robert explained, shaking his head.

“Really?!” Ryo asked in disbelief.

“Aye, that is, if they don’t turn you into mince meat instead.” Robert replied, leaning back in his chair.

“Are the rumors true? Do they really look like giant wolves?” Beth asked Robert, getting up from the table.

“Nay, they are wolf-like, but don’t look like normal wolves. They sort of look like canis, if you ever seen one.” Robert remarked, getting up as well.

“What does a canis look like?” Ryo asked. He had heard of them and knew they were a race, but he had never actually seen them.

“I think it’s about time for us to sleep.” Beth stated, as she started to clear away the table.

“B-but…” Ryo tried to counter, before the old man cut him off.

“Don’t worry lad, I’ll tell you about werewolves and canis another time.” Robert assured him, before helping Beth.

They cleaned up the table and then made their way upstairs. Ryo had never been up there, so was excited to see where Robert slept. Walking upstairs, he found himself in a storage room, which was about half of the size of the floor down stairs. It had barrels, boxes, and chests stacked on top of each other, and in the room's corner was a bed. It was about the same size as the one in the mistress' room, but looked more worn. Is this where they sleep?

“Ryo ain’t that big so we all should be able to fit.” Robert said, pulling the covers back from the bed.

“U-um, are you sure? I can sleep on the floor.” Ryo suggested, clearly uncomfortable about the prospect of  sleeping in the same bed as them.

“Nonsense, it gets far too cold for that.” Beth said, shaking her head.

“Lad, I promise no one will… touch you. I know that woman has forced you to do things you don’t want to talk about.” Robert whispered, pulling Ryo aside.

“I-I…” Ryo stuttered, not sure what to say.

Instead, he crossed his arms and looked away from Robert, ashamed the old man knew about it. He had never spoken about it to anyone and didn’t plan to. This was his shame to carry, and he didn’t want to burden others with it. What could they do? Robert and Beth were slaves, just like him, it’s not as if they could stop it.

“It’s okay lad, you don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to. Just know that I’m here to talk whenever you want. What she’s doing ain’t right, but I can’t do anything to stop her. All I can do is give you an ear.” Robert told him, putting his hand on Ryo’s shoulder.

“...” Ryo wasn’t sure what to say to the old man in response.

At his previous master's manor, most of the people would just taunt him. They called him nasty names and ridiculed him whenever they could. This was another reason he didn’t talk about it. He knew Robert wasn’t like that, but he still hesitated, not wanting the old man to think less of him. 

“I know it’s hard, but know that ain’t no one gonna do something to you here.” Robert said, giving him a friendly smile.

“U-uh, Okay.” He mumbled, chewing on his lower lip.

Robert had done nothing but help him this entire time, without asking for anything in return. On the ship, the old man had protected him during the storm and made sure he ate well. Now he was training Ryo to fight and had even offered to take him along on his adventures. There wasn’t any reason he could think of as to why he should not trust him.

Ryo spent almost the entire next day at the kitchen table, relearning everything he had learned the day before. The more Ryo read, however, the more he realized the things he had learned the day before were just the tip of the sword. It didn’t take long for him to have an extensive list of questions for the mistress. The only time he took a break was for lunch and dinner, and even then he kept reading while he ate. Just like that, the first day ended, with him barely leaving the kitchen table.

On the second day he woke up and again studied diligently at the kitchen table. Ryo pushed himself to learn and memorize everything until his mind felt sluggish and dull. On the island he had forced himself to study like this, but he'd never liked the topics. Now, however, he enjoyed learning about magic, and all its complexities and intricacies. After lunch, just before he was about to continue studying, Robert stopped him.

“Lad, how about you come outside so I can train you?” Robert remarked, helping Beth clean up the table.

“U-um, but…” Ryo mumbled, glancing over at all the books he still needed to read.

“Don’t worry, it will not take up that much time. You’ll find that some movement will help clear your mind.” Robert assured him, while giving him a big smile.

“Okay!” He replied, closing the book in front of him with a sigh of relief.

Ryo had wanted to learn from the old man, ever since he’d started listening to his stories. Plus, if it was only for a little while, then it shouldn’t affect his studies, surely. Robert was right, too, his mind had felt a little sluggish, some movement would be good for him. Getting up from the table, he followed Robert out of the cabin and over to the woodpile.

There the old man grabbed a long tree branch and gave it to him. Robert explained that it would be his makeshift spear. Today wasn’t about teaching him the basics, but it was instead an opportunity for Robert to see how Ryo moved. He warned Ryo that he wouldn’t go easy, and not to take anything personally. After that, the two started to spar, but to Ryo it felt like a one-sided fight.

“No, no, no. Lad, you gotta keep your spear up.” Robert instructed, easily dodging Ryo’s attacks.

“That’s it, keep the spear close to yourself. Now, make quick thrusts toward my face, most will try to protect it.” Robert explained, bringing his spear up.

Ryo did as the old man told him and sent his spear towards Robert’s face. It was easily blocked, which made him a little upset. Ryo didn’t want to hurt the old man, but he would at least like to get a hit in. He couldn’t help but feel Robert was playing with him. Wack! A stinging pain in his shoulder brought him back to the fight.

“Keep your head in the fight!” Robert shouted, pulling his makeshift spear back to him.

“There is no such thing as an honorable fight, lad.” Robert said, gathering some loose earth in his palm and tossing it at him.

Instinctively he covered his face, not wanting the dirt to get into his eyes. That’s when he heard another wack followed by a stinging pain in his left leg. Quickly uncovering his eyes, he looked down and saw Robert’s spear there. Robert then stepped back and ran in between two wood piles, before spinning around to face him again.

Ryo wasn’t sure what the old man was up to, but decided it was best to approach with caution. He had fallen for Robert’s tricks and didn’t want to make that same mistake again.

“You gotta steel your mind and do whatever you need to do to win a fight.” Robert told him, taunting him mercilessly.

Ryo lunged forward to attack the old man, but stopped when Robert tossed a small piece of firewood at him. He tried to dodge it, but it struck his left knee, causing him to stumble. Losing his footing, he fell to the ground, dropping his spear. Rolling over, he tried to get back up but found Robert was standing over him, his spear pointing directly at Ryo’s chest.

“Lad, be aware of your surroundings! Think about how you can use them to your advantage. A spear isn’t the only weapon you can wield, you have teeth, legs, hands, nails, whatever you can use to cause harm to the enemy. Only a fool fights an enemy at their strongest.” Robert sternly told him.

“Okay that will be enough for today. We should do this regularly from now on, even if it’s only an hour.” Robert said, tossing his spear to the side, and extending his arm to help Ryo up.

“Thank you.” Ryo replied, taking the old man’s hand gratefully.

“Building a sound foundation now will allow you to become stronger later on. Keep working hard, and you’ll reach your goals.” Robert explained, lifting him up to his feet. 

“I will!” Ryo replied happily.

Although he was in a little pain, it was nice to see Robert fighting. It wasn’t anything like what he had imagined when listening to the old man stories. He had thought that, since losing his arm, he wouldn’t be able to move so well but from what Ryo had seen, the man didn’t seem to have any issues at all. Of course, he didn’t know much about fighting and could only compare it to the mercenaries he had seen fighting at his previous master’s manor.

Going back to the kitchen table, he sat down and studied until it was time for dinner. This time he put the books and scrolls aside and enjoyed his meal with Robert and Beth. Knowing the mistress wasn’t around allowed the three of them to relax a little. Ryo excitedly told them about what he had learned that day in the book. The two of them happily listened to him, asking him questions, which he tried his best to explain.

“It’s only been a few days, and you’ve already learned so much!? You must have a talent for magic or something.” Beth told him, giving him another slice of bread. 

“Really?” Ryo asked, not able to control his smile.

“Yes, I’ve never seen anyone learn so quickly.” Beth answered.

“Don’t let that get to your head, you gotta put in effort if you want to be the best. Being talented is no substitute for hard work. Those who rely on talent alone, will always lose to those who work hard.” Robert remarked, giving him a serious look.

“Don’t worry about it Ryo, I see how hard you're working. I think you’ll become a powerful mage one day if you keep this up.” Beth reassured him, offering him a cheerful smile.

“Aye, lad. You’re doing good.” Robert concurred, nodding his head.

He understood what Robert was trying to say earlier, but it did dampen his mood all the same. Regardless, he felt happy being praised by the both of them, and his chest filled with a warm sense of pride. Ryo hadn’t had someone compliment him like that before. The three of them stayed up late again, this time they discussed expanding the garden. Beth told them she’d seen some wild sunflowers in the woods and wanted to grow them near the garden.

The next day, he again sat down at the kitchen table and studied. Like the day before, Robert stopped him after lunch to go and train together. Unlike the day before though, this time Robert instructed him in how to hold his spear and the proper positioning of his feet. The old man would constantly remind him how important a solid stance and good footwork were. After training, he went back to studying in the kitchen as Beth prepared for dinner.

Ryo was a little bored of reading the same thing repeatedly and opened up a different book the mistress had given him. That’s when he realized that learning magic would be more difficult than he'd thought. This book was much harder to understand, in fact he didn’t understand several words and phrases on the first page. He had to ask Robert and Beth for help, so he could try to learn some of it. To his surprise, Beth was able to help him with the words he didn’t understand.

The days quickly went by and with help from Beth, he was able to get through the material the mistress had assigned him. Now, he just needed to commit it to memory, which would be much harder. Beth told him the best way to remember something was to teach it. So, while she cooked he would often explain to her what he had studied that day. Then, during dinner he would also explain it to Robert, which helped him tremendously.

Three weeks passed before the mistress returned, paler than before and with dark circles under her eyes. The air around her felt off, it was violent and chaotic. Luckily for him, she didn’t talk to anyone and went directly to her room. His instincts told him it was best not to bother her, and to wait until he called on him. He didn’t see or hear from her for the rest of the day and so decided to sleep upstairs like he had grown accustomed to.

 It wasn’t until noon the next day that the mistress emerged from her room. The dangerous aura that had been around her the day before had disappeared. The mistress' movements were sluggish, and she was still so pale. What did she do all this time? He wondered to himself, watching her closely.

After a quick lunch the mistresses asked him to follow her, as she stood up from the table. He obediently followed close behind her, as she walked out of the cabin and towards their usual spot. Once there she leaned back against the willow tree and sat down, facing him. She asked him to ask any questions that had arisen whilst studying. Over the next two hours the mistress answered all the questions he could remember.

“I’m impressed you really did study the things I gave you. Maybe you can be useful to me.”

“Thank you, mistress. I will strive to do my best.”

“Now, let’s see if you truly remember all of it though.”

“Can you raise your mana other than using the natural method and the meditation methods?”

“Yes mistress, there are various potions, medicines, elixirs, materials, and pills that can increase one’s mana. However, from what I read the benefits vary from person to person.”

“… And?”

“The materials used and their quality can affect the effectiveness of these methods. You must also know the toxicity of these other methods and make sure your body can withstand it.”

Just like that, for the next several hours, the mistress drilled him on various things he had learned. She forced him to go into great detail, even asking for the names of the mages who’d helped write the book. There wasn’t a single question he didn’t know the answer to, it surprised him how much he remembered. Satisfied with all his answers, the mistress gave him an approving smile and said.

“I think that is enough for today, I will give you more to learn tomorrow. It will be harder, but you have shown you can handle such things.”

“Thank you, mistress.” Ryo replied, bowing to her.

“If you continue like this, I might even allow you to learn the “Ice Shard” spell. I’ll write out the incantation when I get back to the cabin, and give it to you to study.” She remarked, standing up and walking over to him.  

“I will do my best.” He answered, trying to control his excitement.

All he needed to do was continue to study hard and do as the mistress said, then she would teach him how to cast spells and use magic, it seemed to be as simple as that. Reading all those scrolls and books about magic had only made his desire to learn it grow. He wanted to run back to the cabin, and jump into the new stuff the mistress wanted him to learn.

“I hope you won’t disappoint me, little boy.” She told him, gazing down at him menacingly.