This morning, John's room is filled with the scent of strong herbs that have permeated the morning air.

"Oww, it feels like my whole body is getting stabbed by needles,"

John said as he lies on his bed struggling to turn off the clock.  

Luckily, someone knocked on his bedroom door.

"Master John, can I come in?" 

"Yes! Elma, come in quickly"

Elma opens the door to the sight of John trying to get out of bed.

"Elma come here quick. Turn off the alarm clock."

Seeing Elma freeze in the doorway, John hurriedly ordered Elma.

"...! Yes!"

Finally snapping out of her trance, Elma move to the bed table and turned off the clock.

Now that the silence has once again returned, John sighed in relief.

"Thank you, Elma. Now, can you give me a little push?"

Elma went to the other side of the bed and pushed John's back with her skinny arms. Using the momentum, John weakly turns to his side and leans on his elbow. Using his elbow, John was able to turn his leg out of the bed and finally sit up on the bed.

Without the cover of the blankets, John's upper body full of bandages can be seen.

"By the way, thank you Elma for treating my body last night."

"You're welcome... I also need to reapply the ointment..." Elma said shyly. 

"Okay. I will be in your care." John relaxed her body.

Elma took off her shoes, and went and kneeled on top of the bed. 

'It felt like Elma blushing and being shy as she bandaged my body last night is my imagination.' John thought as Elma undo the bandage.

Once the bandages were undone, John's well-trained body is revealed. Like spots, there are faint bruise marks all over his body. Elma subconsciously touched John's back accidentally hitting one of the bruises.

"Ouch, Elma is something wrong?" John flinched and asked Elma.

"No! Nothing is wrong!" Elma quickly denied it as she moved her hand away. She sighed and took out a tin can from her front pouch. She pops open the tin can's dome cover revealing the green paste inside. 

As Elma applies the cold ointment, John recalls what happened last night.

 

 

After saying she would train with John, Lucia happily went back to her room.

"I guess that made her happy " John murmured and returned to reading his book under the light from the lamp. 

A few moments later, a small cough broke his focus. John looked up from his book just to see the dim figure of an unexpected person.

"Did you not go and retired for today?" John asked looking at Lucia. 

She has her hair tied up in a ponytail and on her hand is a wooden two-handed longsword.

"No, your enthusiasm and skills for the sword have reached my heart. I want to start your training now." 

"It's quite dark now, won't that pose a problem?" John asked trying to stop Lucia.

"No problem, I already lit and placed all of the lamps in the main room."

John wanted to say more, but Lucia's expectant eyes made those words stuck in his throat. 

"Fine. We could do a little bit of sparring tonight."

With the help of Elma, the two moved anything that could be toppled to the side creating a large enough space to spar in.

"I do wish the city also have light bulbs like in the capital," Lucia complained.

"Light bulb?"

"We can talk about that later, I need two explain two things to you"

"Okay..."

"The first thing you need to know is gauging the enemy's distance. In my experience, there are three types of distances. The first is when the distance is out of reach. The second is the wide distance, where you can reach the enemy by stepping one step forward. The last is narrow distance, where you can reach the enemy by simply moving your body." Lucia explained as she showcase each distance and swung her wooden sword. 

Seeing  John ask no question, she continued.

"The next thing you need to learn is tempo. Tempo is simply knowing the correct distance and time you should strike.  The best way to learn these two is through sparring." Lucia then put his wooden sword in a middle stance.

Seeing Lucia's action, John redied his cane to the 3rd position. 

The two readied their breath and attack one another. Most of the time, Lucia was able to hit John with her sword. However, there are times when John was able to use the cane to move the pressure from Lucia's sword and attack from underneath and overhead.

Such a display of skill only invigorated Lucia to work harder. As the spar progressed, Lucia's blow became increasingly more powerful. Fortunately, or unfortunately, John's adrenaline rush was through the roof such that he did not feel the change in Lucia's strike.

Elma is at the side nervously watching the spar progressively turn dangerous. Many times she wanted to stop the fight but was scared at the last second.

'I think I can feel this tempo Lucia is talking about.' John thinks as he moves while watching Lucia.  

'I cannot parry this, I need to dodge' John thinks as he saw Lucia attack with a cut. John leans back and the wooden sword passes through the empty air.

'Now is my chance,' John thinks as he moves his cane from low guard into a trust. The cane trusted into Lucia's chest with enough force to make her walk back a few steps.

After moving backward, Lucia stopped with her head downcast. After his head has cleared, John recalled his action 

he asked worriedly. "Lucia, are you 

"Ahahahha, well done John. That was a wonderful counterattack." Lucia said happily as she press on the spot John just attacked.

Seeing Lucia in good condition, John collapsed at a nearby seat. Then as the adrenaline faded, the pain flooded into his nerve receptors. 

"Fuck! my body hurts like hell. I think I broke a few ribs myself." John cursed in pain.

"Elma, go to my room and get the medicine tonic,"  Lucia said to Elma in a calm tone.

Elma returned with a vial of red tonic. She opens it and drank half. She then gave the rest to John.

When John drank the bitter tonic, Lucia has already returned to her room.

"My body feels warm, but my body still feels sore..." John complained.

"Master...I have some ointment that can help you." Elma offered.

 

 

"I'm finished, Master John." Elma's voice returned to John's mind.

He has finished rewrapping the bandage.

John puts on his dress shirt and left the room with Elma.

Lucia was already sitting at the dining table drinking tea. When she saw John arrive she blushed and looked down.

As the three ate breakfast in silence, John breaks the silence.

"Lucia, can you do a favor for me?"

"Huh, yes?"

"Can you invite some of your noble friends to the shop"

"Why!?" Lucia slammed her hand on the table scaring Elma.

"I just thought... they might buy something they fancy in the shop." John stammered confusedly about why Elma is angry.

"Okay... but don't hold it against me if no one comes."

Hearing the answer, John went back to eating

This time Lucia broke the silence.

"John... I mean Mister John, what about the training."

John looked up seeing Lucia's red face.

"....We can continue it, but only if it is light sparring." John thought before answering.

Hearing the answer, Lucia's timid expression becomes bright.

"Leave it to me, I won't lose control again."