13 Lessons (2/2)
”Go on, don't bother me. You young hunters always forget about me after completing your training, no need to be so courteous.” the old man shook his head as he started to fiddle with a few bottles containing all kinds of weird liquids, and not minding Garett's presence anymore.
That's pretty rude. You taught every single one of them after all... Garett grimaced for the old man, as that was usually the destiny of the old, to be eventually replaced by the new.
...
”How was it, Garett? Have you met the old Keeper? He's a strange fellow, I remember he was pretty strict with me when I was a recruit.” Alice's merry voice stood out as he arrived at the shooting range, apparently, she was in charge of the range.
”Hello, Alice. I've met him, and he's very knowledgeable, I've learned a lot.” Garett nodded, not bothering to hide his preferences to the theoric lessons over the physical training.
”Oh, you're one of those, right? The captain was also like this, always cooped up in the library, talking to the old keeper all day long.” She spat while reminiscing, her voice drifting in some old memory.
”Captain was?... I guess that suits him, but I don't plan on staying at the library all day long.” While Garett loved to amass a great amount of knowledge, he also wanted to strengthen his powers quickly! And physical training was the way to do that.
”That's good, I usually avoid that place. In fact, most hunters do, as the old keeper's personality can be a little... exotic.” She scoured for words to describe the librarian, eventually deciding to settle for that. ”But less chatting, while I'm your supervisor today, don't expect me to go easy on you.”
”Hah...” He sighed helplessly, a wave of exhaustion already washing over him, even before starting!
...
The training occupied his whole afternoon and left his clothes soaking wet. Each breath felt like a deep knife cutting into the insides of his lungs! While sitting at the side, Alice laughed at his weakness.
Even if I can make use of Vellen's experience, my body is still not used to this! I can remember exactly how he felt... Garett felt his eyes moisten, he could clearly remember the pain Vellen felt during his training, and now he would live through that too!
”I-I'm not used to exercising like this, every single cell in my body is screaming in pain...” He used practically his whole strength to announce those words
”You know, you were pretty good at the shooting range, It even made me suspect if you had already trained before. But well... your performance on the rest washed away my doubts. Hahaha~” She chirped while looking down on him, her red hair slightly swaying with the breeze.
That's because the rest of the training was just about me running around with weighs! Were you trying to kill me!? I guess at least she isn't suspecting me anymore... He grumbled internally while trying to compose himself, the deep breaths slowly allowing him to recoup him his strength.
”Oh, I almost forgot, there's an occurrence for recruits to investigate.” She said without waiting for his recovery. ”It's nothing involving mutants, you can rest assured. We only want the recruit to practice their investigative skills, as they are sometimes needed.”
”What do you want me to investigate?” He closed his eyes to rest while she apprised him on the specifics of the investigation.
”Oh, it's pretty simple, we just don't want to waste manpower on it, so we're making recruits do it; a firearm was fired yesterday near the market district, four drunkards were attacked by an unknown aggressor; actually, wouldn't you happen to know something about it, right? You went in that direction after we parted.” She inquired, not really hoping to obtain an answer.
If I would know!? I was the mysterious 'attacker'! But it so happens that the one attacked was me!... Garett felt incredulous at the sudden development, his eyes bursting open while he looked for words to try explaining the situation.