"Ahh—" Rion involuntarily opened his mouth to scream, but a slender hand, likely that of a child, stifled whatever sound he made.
He came to his bearings soon after, and fury burned in his eyes like a candle in a dark room. He looked up to see which bastard had dared to put his hand on him.
However, after seeing the figure of that person, his fury calmed down like cold water poured on a hot pan. He tilted his head and muttered in confusion, "Dora?"
Dora looked around and shouted in a strict tone, "Lower your voice, you dummy!"
He retorted, "Can you not say that while shouting—"
She glared at him and snapped, "Shut up!"
’But you are the one shouting...’ he thought, but didn’t dare voice it this time.
It wasn’t fear that held him back — not of Dora, at least. It was the thought of being her only friend... and of her being left alone, friendless, if he pushed her away.
He couldn’t bring himself to do something that cruel.
"Hah... It’s good none of my friends saw you," she mumbled, letting out a sigh of relief.
’My friends? With an s? As in plural?’ He blinked, dumbfounded, before asking, "What are you doing?"
She turned her head toward him, stepped closer, and jabbed her finger into his chest while asking with narrowed eyes, "Forget all of that, what are you doing here? How did you even get here?"
He stepped back, brushed the leaves of the bush from his hair, and answered, "I came here with Haria so you don’t have to worry about it."
Dora frowned and stated, "But you are not even ten yet..."
"About that..." he mumbled, and began to scratch the back of his head before saying, "I will be taking the fang trial to become a trainee."
He puffed his chest and raised his nose in pride, but she said nothing,
’Why isn’t she saying anything?’ He frowned, lowered his head to look at her and saw her staring at him with a face drained of all colour and life.
His frown deepened at her strange reaction, "What’s wrong?"
Her lips trembled as she questioned, "Y-you know what the f-fang trial is, right?"
He furrowed his brows as he spoke, "Of course, I do."
"You think that it’s a good idea to fight trainees instead of waiting two more years to come here?" She asked with a confused expression.
He nodded, and she furrowed her brows, "You do know that everyone under fifteen is a trainee here and in the fang trial, anyone can challenge you?"
"Don’t they select an opponent for me?" He asked. He still didn’t know how the fang trial actually worked, after all.
She shook her head and explained, "No, anyone can challenge you until most of the squad leaders agree with letting you in... this trial is usually done to solve infighting and rank promotion."
His smile faltered slightly upon hearing that, but he had already made up his mind, "You don’t have to worry, Haria will teach me combat for the fang trial."
She stared at him for a few moments and looked away, "I am not worried about someone stupid like you, hmph!"
"..." he turned silent at her blatant change of demeanour, a single thought came to his mind, ’Tsundere.’
She grabbed his hand, turned around and began to walk as she asked, "Why don’t you become a gatherer instead?
"Gatherer?"
"Gatherers collect all of the herbs and medicinal plants for the Redwood Den and Basin."
Their steps continued as Dora pulled his hand and made him follow her.
"But won’t you still need to become a trainee for that...?"
Her steps faltered slightly, her face turned faint red in embarrassment as she spoke, "Y-yeah, you are not so dumb anymore, huh, Rion?"
A few minutes later, they reached the entrance of a cave. She pulled him further inside, and just as they stepped in, the sound of metal, wood, and flesh reached his ear.
He raised an eyebrow and asked, "Where are we?"
She let go of his hand, turned her head towards him and spoke, "This is the training ground of us trainees... this is where we train and learn everything."
"Oh?" His eyes began to sparkle, he stepped further inside the cave, and soon the cave expanded into a vast room with light streaming down the wide holes within the mountains.
He looked around, but all he could see was children fighting children... However, there was a slight problem; he couldn’t see their moves. ’What the hell? What kind of animal or beast requires us to be so good at combat?’
He stood there with a dumbfounded look on his face until a voice reached his ears, "So you were here, heh."
He turned towards the owner of the voice — Haria, "Group leader... When do we start?" He asked while glancing at the other kids from the corners of his eyes.
Haria shook her head and patted Dora’s head before stating, "Follow me."
Rion nodded, looked at Dora for a few moments, and then began to follow behind Haria.
A few minutes later, both of them stood in another room, fit for the training of a single person.
Suddenly, Haria began to perform pushups. She turned her head towards him and spoke, "What are you standing there for? Get down and do just as I am doing."
He nodded seriously and began to imitate all of her exercises, even though it was hard for him, but for some strange reason, he didn’t feel any fatigue, nor did he feel much pain.
’Is it because of my Immortal body?’
It was like he wasn’t even doing anything, but he knew that this single round of exercises was doing a lot for his growth.
A few minutes later, Haria stood up and spoke with a wide smile, "All right, remember to do this every day before actual training."
He nodded, and she continued, "As for the actual training... there’s no way I can make you as good as other trainees in such a short time using traditional methods, so instead of that, I am going to ingrain combat in your body."
’I don’t like the sound of it...’
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