The prison training grounds turned out to be a massive courtyard that looked like it had been designed by someone who really enjoyed watching people suffer.
Obstacle courses? Check.
Combat dummies that hit back? Check.
A suspicious dark stain in the corner that was probably blood? Double check.
"Okay," Sera said, tossing me a wooden practice sword. "Let's see what you can do."
I caught it, immediately dropping it because it was heavier than expected.
**[SERA]: ...He can't even hold a sword. Oh no. OH NO. He's going to die. I can't let him die. TRAINING INTENSITY: MAXIMUM.
"Right," she said, picking up the sword and putting it back in my hands. "We're starting from the VERY basics."
For the next hour, Sera drilled me on basic sword forms. Stance, grip, swing, block. Over and over and over.
**[SERA]: His form is terrible. But his determination is admirable. The way his face scrunches up when he concentrates is... NO. Focus on training. Not on how cute he looks when he's trying his best.
"You're gripping too tight," she said, moving behind me to adjust my hands. "Relax your shoulders. Like this."
Her hands guided mine, and I could feel her breath on my neck.
**[SERA]: This is purely instructional. The fact that I'm pressed against his back is coincidental. The fact that my heart is racing is just from the exercise. I'm a professional. PROFESSIONAL.
From across the courtyard, Sister Aria was watching while pretending to organize medical supplies.
**[SISTER ARIA]: She's touching him. SHE'S TOUCHING HIM. That's unnecessary. I could teach him sword fighting without all that... that... physical contact! Although if I did teach him, I'd probably need to demonstrate proper form which would require... NO. Stop thinking about it.
"BREAK TIME!" Aria announced loudly. "Kyle needs water! And possibly healing! I should check for injuries!"
**[SISTER ARIA]: There are no injuries. I'm making this up. Why am I making this up? I KNOW why I'm making this up.
Sera stepped back reluctantly.
**[SERA]: Five more seconds of hand-holding and I would've made progress on— on TEACHING him! Teaching him proper form! That's what I meant!
I gratefully accepted water from Aria, chugging it down.
"Let me check you for muscle strain," she said, placing her hands on my shoulders and channeling a soft healing glow.
**[SISTER ARIA]: He has no muscle strain. I'm just using this as an excuse to— wait, is this actually wrong? I'm literally healing him under false pretenses. I'm a terrible person. But his shoulders are so tense and he smells like— FOCUS ON THE HEALING SPELL.
"I'm fine, really—"
"Nonsense! Proper health monitoring is essential!" She moved her hands to check my arms. "You're building muscle already! That's... that's good!"
**[SISTER ARIA]: Oh my goddess he has nice arms. When did I start evaluating arms? What is happening to me?!
Sera crossed her arms, tapping her foot.
**[SERA]: That "healing" is taking suspiciously long. And she's smiling. Why is she SMILING while healing him? Healing is serious business!
"Okay, back to training!" Sera announced. "Kyle, we're moving to agility drills!"
The "agility drills" turned out to be Sera throwing blunt objects at me while I tried to dodge.
"TOO SLOW!" She threw a practice dagger that bounced off my shoulder. "AGAIN!"
**[SERA]: I'm going easy on him. Like, REALLY easy. That throw was at 10% power. Any slower and it would be insulting. But I don't want to hurt him. But I also need him to learn. This is so conflicting!
Another dagger whizzed past my ear.
"Sera, maybe we should—" Aria started.
"He needs to build reflexes!" Sera insisted, throwing another. "The Duke's assassins won't go easy on him!"
**[SERA]: Also watching him move is... educational. Yes. Educational. I'm studying his movement patterns for teaching purposes. Not for any other reason.
I managed to dodge the next three throws, and Sera actually smiled.
**[SERA]: He's learning! He's actually learning! I'm such a good teacher! My student is progressing and it has nothing to do with personal feelings!
"Good!" she called out. "Now let's try—"
"DINNER BREAK!" Aria shouted, appearing with a full meal tray. "Kyle needs proper nutrition! You can't train on an empty stomach!"
**[SISTER ARIA]: I may have bribed the kitchen staff to prepare his favorite foods. Which I discovered by asking around. Which is definitely normal reconnaissance and not stalking.
The food was actually delicious—fresh bread, roasted chicken, vegetables that didn't look like they'd been stored since the medieval period.
"This is amazing," I said around a mouthful of bread.
Aria beamed.
**[SISTER ARIA]: HE LIKES IT. Mission accomplished. Wait. Wrong mission. I don't have a "make Kyle smile" mission. Except apparently I do now and it's self-assigned.
"I could've gotten food," Sera muttered.
**[SERA]: Why didn't I think of the food strategy?! Food is important! I should've brought food! Mental note: tomorrow, bring BETTER food.
As the sun set, Eliza appeared to check on our progress.
"How's our student doing?"
"He's a fast learner!" Sera said.
"Very dedicated!" Aria added.
Both girls were standing suspiciously close to me.
Eliza's eyebrow raised.
**[ELIZA]: ████ THREE HOURS ██████ AND THEY'RE ████ ALREADY IN ██████ FULL COMPETITION ████ MODE ██████ THIS IS ████ HILARIOUS ██████ ALSO ████ CONCERNING ██████
"Good. Kyle, come with me. I need to test something."
She led me to a private training room, away from the others.
"Okay," she said in English, "real talk. How are you holding up?"
"Physically? Sore. Emotionally? Confused. Mentally? Pretty sure I'm in a dating sim disguised as a conspiracy thriller."
She laughed.
"Yeah, that sounds about right. Look, I know those two are... intense. But they're genuinely skilled. Sera's one of the best spies in the kingdom. Aria's killed targets that national heroes couldn't touch."
"That's not reassuring."
"It should be. Because they're both on YOUR side now. Do you know how rare that is? You've accidentally accomplished what most protagonists spend entire arcs trying to do."
"By almost dying?"
"By being genuinely kind in a world that rewards cruelty. They're not used to that."
**[ELIZA]: ████ JUST LIKE ██████ HOW I'M ████ NOT USED ██████ TO SOMEONE ████ WHO UNDERSTANDS ██████ EARTH CULTURE ████ AND DOESN'T ██████ THINK I'M ████ CRAZY ██████
"Captain—"
"Eliza. When we're alone, call me Eliza."
"Eliza... thank you. For everything. I know you're risking a lot."
She shrugged.
"Ten years ago, I would've killed for someone to help me when I first arrived. Consider this paying it forward."
**[ELIZA]: ████ ALSO HE'S ██████ NICE TO ████ TALK TO ██████ AND HIS ████ SMILE ██████ IS REALLY ████ GENUINE ██████ AND— ████ FOCUS ELIZA ██████ YOU'RE SUPPOSED ████ TO BE ██████ THE RESPONSIBLE ████ ONE ██████
"Now," she said, pulling out a real sword, "let's see your actual combat level. Don't worry—I'll heal you if you get hurt."
The next hour was humbling.
Eliza moved like water, every strike perfectly placed. She wasn't even trying, just testing my reactions, and I couldn't land a single hit.
"You rely too much on predicting movement," she said. "Stop trying to read where I'll be and start watching where I AM."
**[ELIZA]: ████ HE'S THINKING ██████ TOO MUCH ████ JUST LIKE ██████ I DID ████ WHEN I ██████ STARTED ████ TOO MUCH ██████ GAME KNOWLEDGE ████ NOT ENOUGH ██████ INSTINCT ████
After my tenth failed attempt, I finally asked:
"How did you get so strong?"
She paused.
"Ten years of grinding. No shortcuts. No cheat abilities. Just me, a practice sword, and a burning desire to never be helpless again."
**[ELIZA]: ████ AND LONELINESS ██████ SO MUCH ████ LONELINESS ██████ THREW MYSELF ████ INTO TRAINING ██████ SO I ████ WOULDN'T THINK ████ ABOUT EARTH ██████ ABOUT HOME ████ ABOUT BEING ██████ ALONE ████
"You're not alone anymore," I said.
She looked surprised.
"What?"
"You said you've been alone for ten years. But you're not anymore. I'm here. And I'm not going anywhere."
**[ELIZA]: ████ HE JUST— ██████ DID HE— ████ THAT'S THE ██████ NICEST THING ████ ANYONE'S SAID ██████ IN A DECADE ████ DON'T CRY ██████ CAPTAINS DON'T ████ CRY ██████ ESPECIALLY NOT ████ IN FRONT OF ██████ CUTE TRANSMIGRATORS ████ WAIT DID I ██████ JUST THINK ████ CUTE?! ██████
She turned away quickly, pretending to examine her sword.
"Yeah, well. Don't die and ruin that promise."
"I'll do my best."
We trained until midnight, and by the end, I'd gained three levels just from sparring with her.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: LEVEL UP! LV 1 → LV 4]
[NEW SKILLS UNLOCKED: BASIC SWORDSMANSHIP, DODGE ROLL, ANALYZE WEAKNESS]
"Not bad for day one," Eliza said, offering me a hand up from where I'd collapsed on the floor. "Same time tomorrow?"
"If I can still move tomorrow."
"You will. I'll have Aria prepare extra healing potions."
As I limped back to my new quarters (an actual room with a bed!), I found Sera and Aria waiting outside my door.
"We brought extra blankets!" Aria said.
"And a weapon to keep under your pillow!" Sera added.
They glared at each other.
**[SERA]: I thought of protection equipment first!
**[SISTER ARIA]: I thought of comfort items first!
"Ladies," I said carefully, "I appreciate it, but you don't need to—"
"We're your assigned handlers," Sera said quickly. "This is our job."
"Spiritual guidance is a 24/7 commitment," Aria added.
**[SERA]: I just want to make sure he's safe. That's all. Definitely all.
**[SISTER ARIA]: If I'm not here, she'll be alone with him. Unacceptable. I mean— unsafe. Definitely meant unsafe.
I sighed. "Fine. But you're both staying OUTSIDE the room."
"Of course!" they said in unison, then glared at each other again.
As I collapsed onto my bed—my actual, non-moldy bed—I heard them arguing in whispers outside.
"I'm taking first watch!"
"YOU took first watch last night!"
"We MET him three days ago, there WAS no last night!"
"Exactly, so it's MY turn!"
**[SERA]: Why am I arguing about guard shifts? I'm supposed to be a professional spy. This is ridiculous. But if she gets first watch, she gets to be the first one he sees in the morning and that's— WAIT WHY DO I CARE?!
**[SISTER ARIA]: If I let her take first watch, she wins. This isn't about Kyle. This is about PRINCIPLES. ...Okay it's definitely about Kyle. I have a problem.
I stared at the ceiling, processing everything.
Three days ago: Death row inmate, no hope.
Now: Protected by an OP transmigrator Captain, trained by two assassins who might be falling for me, leveling up via speedrun tactics.
"This is insane," I muttered.
From outside: "Did you hear that?! He said something! He might need help!"
"That's just him talking to himself! Don't use it as an excuse to go in!"
I pulled the pillow over my face.
Tomorrow: More training. More jealous waifu antics. And apparently, according to Eliza's warning, possible assassination attempts starting in two days.
But tonight?
Tonight I was just grateful to be alive, even if that meant dealing with the world's most competitive bodyguards.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: RELATIONSHIP VALUES UPDATED]
[SERA - AFFECTION: 28/100 (+13)]
[SISTER ARIA - AFFECTION: 25/100 (+13)]
[ELIZA - AFFECTION: 15/100 (+15) - NEW!]
[WARNING: ALL THREE CHARACTERS ENTERING "COMPETITIVE INTEREST" PHASE]
[GOOD LUCK, PROTAGONIST]
Yeah.
I was definitely going to need it.