Terrick left the training ground with Fault after the kid woke him up.
They left the cleaning to the servants, but he could tell Fault felt bad about it.
"How about some breakfast? Want anything to eat?" He looks down at the ash-haired boy.
"Uh… what is there?" Fault stays looking ahead.
"Here, I'll show you to the dining hall."
So, they kept walking.
Though, Terrick had a lot on his mind, especially about Fault.
'Father said keep an eye on him, that he may be a threat, his personality is certainly contradictory to that, but his strength…'
This kid is a prodigy. Terrick wouldn't accept anything less than that term. His physical strength is through the damn roof for his age, it's insanity! He had never seen a kid this strong.
The dummies back there, last night, told everything.
With each one, the tensile and strength of the next grows, and thanks to someone's infusion a few years back, they automatically repair after about a day or so.
But…
Fault had torn through the dummies like they were paper. Terrick had seen it himself.
'This is… crazy…'
Not to mention the wooden swords, too. While they were still wooden, they certainly weren't flabby or easy to break.
Yet the kid's grip on some of the handles nearly made the thinner ones crack. A couple even broke open almost.
Terrick had only been able to kill the tenth level of a dummy when he turned twenty.
"Say, how old were you again…?"
Fault blanks for a moment, he even stopped walking.
"What's today?" He asks.
Terrick tilts his head, "Uh… the 29th. September."
"The ninth month's name is September?"
Terrick blinks at him and nods slowly, "Uh… yeah."
"Then… a couple of days ago I turned fourteen.
Terrick stared at him, "Are you serious?"
Fault nods, causing him to be even more shocked.
'Some fourteen year old kid is missing an eye, and has apparently been through more harrowing stuff than I can imagine…'
"So… what happened?" Terrick picked up walking again, and so did Fault, following him a step or so behind.
"What do you mean?"
"The eye, what happened?"
"Ah…" Fault's left hand crept up and felt the cloth covering it.
"It's a bit of a long story, so…"
Terrick nods, understanding, "I see, my bad."
"Nah, it's okay."
Fault sighs and takes another breath, "A god."
Terrick pauses, he looks up and continues walking. He turns to look at Fault, "A god?"
He nods back, "A god and something he made. Ripped out my left eye while I couldn't see out of my right one."
Terrick reeled back a bit at his answer.
*****
I told him what Ayra and Hale believed, so it still adds up.
In reality, I know it was Cronus that tore out my eye. It may have been for reasons I didn't know, but it still did.
It could have been just details for Trinity's game with it.
"Hah…"
I slump forward as I walk next to Terrick. He taps my shoulder, "Here, turn this way."
He starts walking right, and I follow, then I find myself in a large room with him.
Really large. The ceiling is way higher than usual, some support beams are along the walls and even just beneath where the ceiling actually sits. The walls are lined with wooden pillars and the stone bricks seem much cleaner than anywhere else.
The floor is mostly wooden, aside from a few other parts of stone for support.
It's a bit warm in here.
The tables are lined with mostly men and some women of varying ages. Maybe some were my age and a few others had a streak of white in their hair.
"This is the dining hall. Smells good in here?"
I hear Terrick to my right as he pats my shoulder, I take a deep breath with my nose.
'Woah.'
It smells really good in here. Something smells really sweet, while I can tell a few others things are a bit bitter.
"Here, follow me. You like sweet stuff?"
I look up at Terrick and shrug a bit, "Never had too much sweet things, just some candy, I think."
He looks at me incredulously, then smirks, "C'mere."
He brings me to a part of the dining hall where some bright colored food lay on separate tables and plates.
I mostly had just bread and some of the other foods the tavern made for dinner and lunch.
He grabs a plate and puts something really fluffy. It looks like a golden brown color.
"Here, a pancake." He offers it to me.
"Uhm… okay." I begin to reach for it.
"But!" He jerks it away and grabs some brown liquid.
He starts to pour it over the pancakes, he called it.
"Syrup for them, makes them really good."
I nod slowly and he hands it back to me, a fork on the side of them.
I cut off a piece and take it to my lips.
"..."
"Well?" His head tilts.
"...I mean. It's alright."
"...?"
I chew it a bit more. It's really sweet, well, the syrup is. The pancake itself is pretty good.
He just stares at my face as I chew, "Huh."
"Hh mmph."
"Don't speak with your mouth full."
"Mph." I nod.
He made it sound like it was supposed to be really good.
I'm not exactly telling him it's bad, but it's fine. I've had worse.
"Wow. Never thought I'd see a kid not love pancakes."
He looks across the room and smiles at me, making me set the plate down.
"Here, come try this real quick…"
…
"Ugh. Why did you make me try so much food?"
My stomach hurt after he made me try everything.
Terrick had a shocked expression on his face.
"You didn't like anything?"
I shrug, "I mean they were good, most of the food was fine."
He made me try waffles, which just tasted the same as the pancakes but made in squares. Then some other foods I don't know the name of.
"Ugh, just try this I guess."
He passed me a cup, it had some steam coming out of it at the top.
"What is this…?"
"It's apparently kinda popular in main cities, we just got a bit of the bean it's made out of recently. Coffee."
I nod slowly and grab the cup. It's warm, and I could tell the drink inside was definitely hot.
I slowly and carefully bring the cup to my lips.
It's hot, but it doesn't burn. Quite bitter too.
"Hey this…" I take another sip.
"...I like it."
I look at the cup, and barely see my reflection in its dark color.
"Really? Guess you just prefer bitter things."
Terrick shook his head and glanced at the door.
"Uh, want to go back to practicing? There's a lot you need to learn, still."
I look at him, my eye widening a bit, "U-uh, yeah, sure."
I nod and stand up.
*****
Ayra sat in a chair, her hand under her chin, resting her eyes.
"So?"
"So, what?" Lynel responded.
"You know what. What do you think of Fault?"
Lynel sat down in a chair across from her.
They were both in his study, only a small orange flicker of a light sat between their respective chairs.
"Strange, but…"
He sighs and leans back, sinking into the cushion, "Nothing out of the ordinary other than his hair. It's like the ashes of Tenna sunk into it."
He shrugs, "Not much else. He seems fine, too, but…"
Lynel's gaze sharpens at Ayra, "Terrick has shown me something about him this previous night."
Ayra blinks and looks over at Lynel, "That being…?"
Lynel clears his throat, "Fault is… immensely strong. We haven't seen his infusion, but his physical strength is, in one of my servant's words, 'unbelievable'."
Ayra stares at Lynel, recalling how Fault was carry Hale for an unknown amount of time. Hale was a decent bit larger than Fault, too, yet he seemed relatively unfazed after carrying him and walking that far out of Tenna.
"...You may be right." She nods.
Then, she stands up, her skirt fluttering a small bit behind her, "Okay. If that's all, then I will head back to the Astor territory."
She gives a little bow to the duke, "I hope I have sufficiently fulfilled your request, Duke Lynel. The Astor Family's debt has now been paid to you."
She gives him a sly smile, "With that, I hope to perhaps see you at Ayen Academy's entrance exam?"
Lynel pauses, and looks up at her, "They're holding an entrance this year?"
Ayra snickers to herself as she turns around, "Perhaps. Maybe even the one-eyed Fault can get in, if he is as physically strong as Terrick showed and the servant said he is."
Lynel nods slowly, "...I see."
With that, Ayra graciously walks out of his study, Chandler already waiting by the door for her.
"Young Mistress."
She nods at him.
"The family head has received a recommendation letter from Ayen Academy."
She nods once more and starts walking, Chandler just two steps behind her, following.
"As expected, but what about the two boys?"
"Hale and Fault?"
"Mhm."
Chandler tilts his head, "Well, what about them?"
"Do they have any plans of going to the academy?" She looks up at Chandler.
Chandler had been watching the two from a distance since they entered Gate. Hale had stayed in his room after talking with Lynel, while Fault seems to have been practicing with Terrick.
Chandler witnessed Fault's strength too.
He only had one word to describe it.
'Extraordinary.'
"Would you like me to plant the idea of going in their heads?"
Ayra blanks, pausing her steps.
Slowly, a smile spread across her red lips, "Why, yes, actually."
She covers her mouth with her fingers as she laughs a small amount.
"I'd love to see if they could enter Ayen. That would be quite interesting to see."
Chandler nods at her.
"As you wish, Young Mistress."