Chapter 3: 3. the starting line (3)

A knock startled her. She looked at the door. Did Friar bring the food?

“Come in,” she called out.

The door opened, and she stared at the tall figure that stood at the entrance of the room. She closed her mouth with a sharp snap and stood up, bowing to the man. She was glad that the book explained how to do the proper bow, as it wasn’t a simple dip of the waist.

“May the Light of day and the dark of night bless you, Your Grace,” she murmured the greeting of Droitt. Glad that her emotional turmoil doesn’t bleed into her voice.

“I’m not here as the Duke Leko. I’m here as your father. Stop bowing.”

She stood straight and watched as Kiligar Hosyn sat on the couch. She opened her mouth for a second before closing it again. Sitting down at the other edge. She focused on the fireplace instead of the man that felt like he was encompassing the entire room. They sat in silence for a while before the Duke cleared his throat.

“You are feeling better?” He asked.

She started nodding before stopping herself. She couldn’t afford to be rude. This was a man that gained the name of death god on the battlefield. They described him as being cold and unforgiving. The man who had brushed Leko’s injuries off and never visited his son once. She couldn’t risk angering him, not when she didn’t have a good grasp on his relationship with his son.

“I am fine… father.”

She couldn’t remember how Leko had responded to his father. There had been no interaction between them at all in The Hero’s Start Line. Was calling the Duke father the right move? Or had Leko responded with another title? He’d always been a brash and inconsiderate character. Did he use any titles for his father? She twitched at the icy stare that bore into the side of her head. Did she make the wrong choice?

“Good.”

A relieved breath slipped from her as she watched a few servants bring in food and place it on the table. Their work complete, they rushed out. Some shooting her and the Duke quick wide-eyed looks before scurrying away.

She understood the reaction a bit. Kiligar Hosyn was a scary man. Even Calen had feared and respected the Duke. It was rare to see him outside of his office. He had servants that waited on him and no one else. These servants must have been some random ones if they couldn’t control their reactions.

“You’re a hunter now. What are your plans?”

Releasing a small hum, she turned to face the Duke, who watched her. She held back a flinch at the stare. Leko may be the second child of the Hosyn family, but He was the oldest son. By rights, the heir should have been him. Not that she wanted it. The fact of the matter was that she couldn’t do whatever she wanted. Until the eldest gained the heir title. It still bore down on her with all the responsibilities and expectations.

“I need to train,” she said and ran a hand through her irritating short hair. She leaned back on the couch and kept a careful eye on the Duke’s reaction. “I’ll use the training ground here to get as far as I can first, but after, I’ll need to leave. I won’t accept being a mediocre hunter.”

The best way to grow as a hunter was outside. There were quests and monsters. The more she fought, the more monsters she killed, and the stronger she would become. She didn’t want power. She wanted to live. This world had a future riddled with war, not to mention that even now, this world was not peaceful. She would die if she didn’t get stronger. Plus, she glanced past the balcony. This was a world filled with magic and beautiful locations. It was a fantasy kingdom. The thought of getting to explore it? The many sights could she see? How much fun could she have out there? She would have to be careful, though. As beautiful as this place looked, it was poison.

“We can talk about leaving later,” The Duke’s voice pulled her attention back to him. “For now, tell me about what you plan on working on. I’ll have them set up the training grounds as best as they can.”

“My weakest attributes are strength, dexterity, constitution, and perception. For now, I want to work on weight training to up my strength. I want to do a mix of stretches, yoga, and palates for dexterity. I also thought of picking up dancing. It would help with dexterity and coordination. Running, High Intense Interval training and swimming would be good for constitution. I am not sure about Perception. I also want to build up a track for Parkour.”

She listed the things she’d been thinking of and sighed again. The hardest task would be the self-discipline to keep at it. She could be rather lazy. She would have to get someone to force her to do the stuff or she’ll give up.

“High intense interval? Parkour?” The Duke stared at her with his brows furrowed a miniscule amount.

“Hmm,” she glanced away from the Duke. Right, old world. HIIT only becomes discovered in the late 19oo’s. “High Intense Interval training. Training where I do intense exercises for a short period with small recovery breaks. It’s done until exhaustion,”

“Interesting, and parkour?”

“It’s a style of movement. You use objects around you to move that aren’t meant for such a thing. You climb and jump over things like stairs, walls, carriages, roofs, things like that. It helps with intelligence, perception, constitution, strength, and dexterity.”

The Duke sat forward.

“It would be dangerous to do that in the capital when you have no skill in it.”

“I know, which is why I want to ask if you would have a training arena built for me.”

“Of course, but we wouldn’t know what to put in.”

“I can draw up an idea to show what it should be like?”

The Duke nodded at her and smiled she blinked at the sight.

“And what choice of weapon would best suit my son?” He asked.

“I have a general ability called eagle eye. It’s at its weakest, but my eyesight is rather good. I can see things very well and I can see far.” She pointed out the balcony. “I can see the farmers down there and a little further, as if I am standing down there with them.”

“Magnificent sight is best to combine with a ranged weapon,” The Duke hummed.

“Exactly. I was thinking of a crossbow.” She knew a Bow and arrow would also work, but crossbows looked cool.

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“And for close range?”

Silence spread through the room as the Duke sighed and shook his head. His lips twitched as he watched her face.

“What if an enemy got in too close? A crossbow is useful for ranged attacks. Only it's limited when your opponents are in close quarters,” He explained. She bit her lip and nodded. He had a good point.

“Our family are knights. Would you take up the sword if I ask?”

The Duke watched her with lidded eyes as she scanned his face. She nodded at him, and he seemed to sink a bit more into the seat. A small satisfied smile slipped onto his face. He turned to the food that neither touched since the servants placed it on the table.

“I’ll arrange teachers for you and have a schedule delivered in the next two days. Work on that sketch for the Parkour area and I’ll commission mages to do it, it’s best to have it done with haste. In three days I’ll have lunch set up in my office, I expect you there. We can discuss your plans for traveling then.”

She took some of the food and started nibbling. The man was not as scary as the book had made him out to be. But he’d been rather cold with Leko in the book. Her brows furrowed as she stared down at the food she held in her hands. Was the book not accurate? Or was the title of a hunter enough to change his attitude towards his son?

Kurio and Faier Hunid.

She watched them move around the room, her room. A Maid and Butler duo who couldn’t stand Calen but had worked with him in the war arc. They wanted revenge for Leko’s death. She was sure that they were the only two people that gave any shits about Leko. She found them annoying when she read about them. Who would tie themselves to an ass like that and still be loyal once the guy was dead? Back then she wrote it off as plot convenience, but this wasn’t ink on pages anymore. She sat here watching them. She could touch them. This was real.

Real people had to have a genuine reason.

“Kurio,” she murmured. The Burler turned to her and tilted his head. When you looked at the siblings. Faier seemed to be the naïve one. Her constant beaming and sunny disposition gave that image. That wasn’t the case. Faier was the more logical one. Kurio was innocent compared to his younger sister.

“Why are you and Faier still here?”

Faier stopped cleaning the table where she and the Duke had eaten, to turn towards Lillian.

“I don’t understand, Young Master,” Kurio walked closer with the bundle of clothes he’d removed from the closet. “Do you want us to leave the room?”

“No, I’m a terrible person. I cause trouble anywhere I go. You and your sister don’t have to be here, so why?” she frowned at the wide-eyed man. “Why do you stay?”

"Young Master! You aren’t like that!" Faier interrupted, her voice holding a soothing tone to it. She glanced at the woman, who flinched and turned her gaze down at her feet when their eyes met.

“I didn’t ask you Faier. She turned back to Kurio, who watched her and his sister. “You can lie with a smile on your face, but your brother is terrible at it,”
Faier jerked and stared at her.

“You don’t remember,” Kurio sighed. He tugged her up. She followed without complaint. She hid her surprise at the confidant action that would get any other butler fired on the spot. Faier’s eyes widen and she stepped forward, a reprimanding twist on her lips as she stared her brother down.

“Brother-”

Kurio ignored his sister and started dressing her. She glared out past the balcony and down at the farms to hide the flush that she could feel creeping. No one has dressed her since she was a kid, but she felt awkward about dressing herself in the male body.

-

Kurio kept his eye on Leko’s face. He noted the narrowed eyes and the small downward twist of his young master's lips. That his master thought he was a terrible person angered Kurio. He wished he could tear the people who made him think like that to pieces.

“When I and my sister were younger, they took us from our home and almost to sell us as slaves. We escaped and ended up on the streets of Dundia. You and His Grace had been passing through. You were eight years old.”

Kurio tugged at the fabric and pinned it together with the Hosyn emblem. He stepped back and grinned at Leko, who turned to face him with a softer expression. His eyes lost the sharp glare and his lips pursed a bit. Kurio smiled at his master's curious expression.

“Everyone walked past us for days. We had injuries and were starving, but no one cared for street rats, no one except for you. Even the Duke had brushed us off. You fought with him. I’d never seen someone pick a fight with a powerful man with so little fear. In the end, the Duke had caved, and you took us with you. Everything we have is because of you. We lost everything until we met you, Young Master.”

“For as long as you will have us. We will serve at your side, Young Master,” Faier spoke. Leko’s lips twisted in a mocking smile as he watched the two of them.

“Powerful words. Are you sure you won’t regret it?”

He turned from them and walked to the balcony.

“Never,” Kurio’s voice trailed behind his young master. He neither his sister would ever regret following their master. They swore they would serve him to the end of their lives. They would never back away from that, not for anyone or anything.

-

Tragedy intertwined with this kingdom's future, battle after battle, life after life. Frowning as she watched an old couple laugh down in the farming fields beyond the city wall. A little child ran up to them, laughing as bright as they were. There were no plans to be a hero. She had no plans of being one either. She was selfish. All she wanted was to have a fun and lazy life. Knowing the ruin that waited for these people, that their lives and joy would shatter. Knowing this and ignoring it, the idea made her feel dirty.

“Let's go for a walk,” she said as she turned her back to the farms and the laughing family.

She wasn’t a hero, but she would protect her own.

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