Four days later,
Theo was sitting on the ground of a running track, his clothes filled with sweat and his breathing ragged.
"Yo- hufff- You did good today, young master." From just the side, Clara spoke with ragged breathing.
"That was 10 full laps, right?" Theo asked while trying to breathe in between words, and Clara nodded.
They had ran for ten whole laps without a stop, and it was all because Theo refrained from stopping.
"With this much training, you will start having muscles from this age, young master." Clara giggled while breathing loudly. She was still not as exhausted as Theo, but there was still some exhaustion.
They stayed like that for a little while longer before he went back to his room to bathe.
When Theo came back to the room, he saw the mantis eating the ore that he had given it before going. It was a big piece, so it was taking some time.
Even the powdered version had come in these four days, and the pup and boar ate it mixed with meat in delight. Theo was quite satisfied.
After bathing and getting all that sweat off his body, Theo went and laid on the bed for a while before having his breakfast.
His whole day was ahead of him, and Theo had a lot to do.
"The mantis's skill is quite powerful now, young master. Reaching level 2 was fruitful." Clara spoke after completing her bite, she was looking at the dummy.
Theo nodded in satisfaction. It reached level 2 a day ago due to intense training for many days now. Clara was quite apprehensive of him training whole days, but this way, Theo was completing his short-term goals one after another.
The training dummy had big gashes on it now, and there were some of the ropes that had cut from places and come out. The upper part was still stable, yet the one near the bottom was all messed up already.
"What's the level of the boar's main skill, Clara?" Theo asked, with another piece of meat going into his mouth.
"The charge skill reached level 4 some years ago, young master. Which was enough to get into this job." Clara was happy while saying that, but Theo frowned inwardly.
'Now is the chance,' He thought.
"You always talk about this job as if it was your life's goal, Clara. Surely there are more goals after it, right? You're only 18 anyway." Theo spoke.
Clara looked toward him for a second with a thoughtful gaze. Theo waited patiently for the answer.
"I haven't thought about it since I got this job… the pay is good, and I enjoy taking care of you… If I leave here one day, I have enough savings to survive for a few years without work. You could say retirement will be my new goal." She stated.
"!!!" Theo was dumbstruck. An 18-year-old was talking about retirement?? What kind of logic was that?
"Ahem… retirement? At 18?" Theo asked with a cough.
"Hahahaha, you won't understand, young master. But the pay I get from this job is unlike what a commoner should be getting. It is the Baron who gave us commoners a chance, unlike the other noble families who only hire based on status." She spoke with happiness.
"If I get out of this job, it will be a while before the money I saved will run out. I am even thinking of starting a business at one point." She spoke again.
"Business? That is the first time I am hearing about this from you, Clara?"
"Well, it's not my place to tell you if you haven't asked. And you're always so busy in training now."
Theo nodded and looked up at her. "What kind of business are we talking about? I am curious."
While he wanted her to be with him, the plans she was talking about felt too important to leave behind. Taking Clara down the path of strength when she didn't want to be in it was very wrong.
"A production business of some sort. There are a lot of things that are selling well in the market right now. It's mostly clothes for women that sell well, from what I have researched."
"Hmmm…" Theo listened carefully, his eyes latched onto Clara. The way she so passionately stated her thoughts made him feel like this was the thing she was so interested in, not just fighting.
"My apologies, young master. I did not mean to bore you like this when it's just morning." Clara chuckled and said with an awkward smile.
"There is nothing boring about this, Clara." Theo muttered and sighed. "And here I was, trying to make you consider getting strong alongside me so that we can fight together for as long as it is possible."
Clara was shocked, to say the least, yet a smile formed on her face soon enough.
"That will be difficult to do, to be honest, young master. But if you say so, then I will try my best." Clara spoke with a hand on her heart, as if showing her determination, which made Theo laugh.
"Hahahaha… From what I heard from you just now, the passion behind those plans, I respect them. Even after you are not my attendant anymore, we can still meet often, right?"
"ALWAYS,"
The breakfast after that was silent, and Theo thought about women's clothing and how they were always so in demand, no matter the world he was in.
Just when he was going to end the breakfast, Theo stopped moving, his gaze stuck on the plate.
'Wait…' He thought when realization seemed to hit.
"Clara, what do you think about clothes… or just fabric? Yeah, fabric... that has the ability to heal people slowly, as long as they are in contact with it for prolonged times?"
Theo stated, his mind had always been on how the silk from the silkworm in his terrarium room could be a good asset in the future.
He might need more than just one of them, but it was better to use its abilities like this, as he could never be able to tame it anyway.
"That sounds… like a dream product, young master.""