Chapter 12: Siblings
The bright sun illuminated the Ylisse Clan’s training field. In the middle of it, a somewhat slender and delicate-looking figure was diligently exercising.
"This is way too light," Priam muttered, frowning as he looked at the spear in his hands.
Back at his residence, he trained every day with his cousin using weapons and various absurdly heavy materials, always pushing his body to its limits. But here... there were only things far inferior, made for children to use.
To gain perfect control over his body, Priam had learned from his cousin to train every single day without missing even one.
Since he had been given this chance to live, he needed to make the most of his new life. Even though he had trained hard for less than a year, every time he pushed himself physically, it felt as though his body was surpassing limits he had once thought impossible.
Of course, the power coming from the system helped a lot with that, but it didn’t diminish his effort or accomplishments.
Not to mention that he still only had the body of a fifteen-year-old, which wasn’t fully developed yet. Perhaps, even with the genetics of a slender and almost feminine elf, he could still develop powerful muscles.
Priam turned to Flora.
"Don’t you have swords, armor, or anything heavier than this? It would be nice if they were a little bigger, too."
He had already swung that weapon hundreds of times, yet he had barely broken a sweat.
"Also, I told you to stay over there in the shade. Why are you standing under the sunlight?"
"I-I’m fine," Flora replied.
"As if you could be fine while sweating like that. Stop being so stubborn and go sit in the shade. But before that, answer my first question."
Despite sweating heavily, she maintained a bewildered expression. The person standing before her was only a fifteen-year-old boy from a branch family. Even so, he wasn’t someone she could ignore. Although her position might be temporary, she had been assigned as his personal maid; therefore, it was impossible for her to rest in the shade while her master trained.
"The other types of equipment used by adults are... in the gym’s storage room," she replied quickly.
Priam looked at her.
"Can you get some for me? Do I have permission for that?"
"That is... I think so... or maybe... if you’d like, I can go ask, but..." she said uncertainly, in a very awkward manner.
Priam snorted.
"If that’s the case, then it’s fine. You don’t need to go."
He already knew that Flora was only sixteen years old and had just completed her apprenticeship. Because of that, he didn’t want to make things difficult for her with unnecessary demands.
Why had they assigned him a maid who had just finished training? Wasn’t it obvious? If he took out his frustrations on her whenever she made a mistake or showed any disrespect, he would be the one punished.
It was a trap for arrogant Young Masters.
If he kept swinging that light weapon, he wouldn’t even manage to warm up. Casually swinging his arms, Priam headed toward the storage room, causing Flora to immediately hurry after him.
"Young Master Priam! If you need anything, please instruct me!" she said, almost desperately.
Priam stopped and replied calmly,
"If it were anything else, maybe. But if it’s for training, I need to choose it myself. What’s the point of asking you to fetch something that doesn’t suit me? Should I waste our time sending you back and forth several times until we find something appropriate? If I look myself, it’ll be much faster."
The storage room clearly wasn’t used very often, as everything was covered in dust.
Priam entered without paying attention to Flora. He walked through the room until he found what he was looking for: sandbags to attach to his body.
On a shelf, he also found something useful. It was a chainmail vest that was covered in dust as well. Although it was much larger than his torso, Priam appreciated its considerable weight when he tried it on.
Next, he grabbed a large spear, longer than his own height. Then he turned and waved at Flora.
"Is there something I can help with?" she asked.
"Try stepping on this," Priam said, pointing at the spear he had placed on the ground.
Following the instruction, she stepped onto the spear.
’Should I try lifting her together with the spear, like in those anime Bruno used to watch with me?’ he thought, but quickly dismissed the idea as ridiculous.
Priam walked over. With Flora standing on the spear, it wouldn’t roll around, allowing him to tie the sandbags onto it more easily.
Flora watched everything with a bewildered expression. Priam was wearing an enormous chainmail vest several sizes too large for him, with sandbags hanging from each arm. On top of that, even more sandbags were being attached to the spear.
’No way.’
Flora thought, her eyes widening.
Judging by its appearance, the spear alone probably weighed twice as much as he did. Even so, Priam wore a strangely satisfied expression.
’This is satisfying. I feel just like a certain pirate who used multiple swords and did completely ridiculous training routines.’
He thought excitedly.
Thus, Priam bent his knees and lifted the spear with both hands.
Although he clenched his teeth for a moment because of its overwhelming weight, the way his muscles tensed and his bones trembled filled him with joy.
He turned his head and looked the girl in the eyes.
"Stay in the shade. You’re already much redder than usual."
"Y-Yes!" Startled, Flora nodded and took several steps back.
Priam also moved a little farther away from her, maintaining a safe distance, and then swung the spear in a wide arc.
The spear was heavier than he was, but since he had placed even more weight on his own body, he wasn’t dragged around by it. That was the secondary purpose of wearing the chainmail vest and hanging sandbags on himself.
With heavy footsteps, he continued swinging the spear with force.
With every strike, it felt as though his arms were being ripped from their sockets, while the waist that controlled the rotation screamed in pain.
But... his excited smile only grew wider.
Seeing the scene, Flora covered her mouth in astonishment.
Yet even when it looked like Priam was about to collapse at any moment, he remained standing. Whenever his body seemed ready to give out, he instead swung the spear even faster.
Priam forced himself to stop the growing momentum of the swing and immediately transitioned into a thrust.
He felt the calluses on both of his hands tear open.
’That hurts!’
He couldn’t help feeling grateful that he wasn’t wearing gloves, because otherwise he wouldn’t be able to enjoy this pleasure!
If his mother or cousin had been there, they would have known exactly what he was thinking and would have snorted while calling him a training maniac. Not that Flaris was any better.
Priam continued swinging the spear, laughing out of pure joy. He compensated for the blood on his hands, making the shaft slippery by gripping it even harder. His eyes were slightly red, and he breathed rapidly from exerting too much force.
He definitely looked insane, practically having orgasms while torturing himself like that.
Flora watched the scene in amazement, but the spell was broken by a voice that seemed to carry shards of ice.
"What is that country bumpkin trying to do?"
Flora jumped and found herself facing two figures approaching as if they owned the world.
"Young Master, Young Lady! What brings you here?"
These people... were the ones she knew occasionally visited this place.
"I asked what the country bumpkin is doing," the girl repeated, frowning. She was visibly offended by the servant’s "slowness."
"Can’t you tell just by looking? Or is the air up in your castle too thin for your brain?"
The answer didn’t come from Flora.
Priam stopped moving, planted the spear into the ground, and looked directly at the girl.
Internally, he was amazed by this figure. She looked like a living sculpture made of ice so pure it carried a bluish tint, yet her temperament was anything but calm.
She had long white hair. Her pale blue skin was marked by patterns resembling the surface of a frozen lake. Her deep blue eyes contrasted with the delicacy of her face, while her body seemed to merge seamlessly with a dress that resembled black stone and ice.
She was an exotic and beautiful sight.
Beside her, her brother was the complete opposite. He had short hair as red as fire, scarlet eyes, and wore "clothing" that seemed to be made of black rock. The air around him appeared subtly distorted, as though he were a walking radiator of flames.
"Do you know what this is?" Priam asked, pointing at the weapon.
The girl narrowed her eyes, processing the audacity of the "bastard." Her brother, however, let out a chuckle and answered immediately.
"It’s a spear, obviously."
Priam nodded, ignoring the aura of "divinity" the two of them radiated.
"Great. We’re already 50% of the way there. And do you know what a spear is used for?"
"To stab and swing, you idiot," the boy shot back, amused by Priam’s cheekiness.
"Then why were you asking her what I was doing?" Priam raised an eyebrow. "If I’m holding a spear and moving around, then I’m... come on, you can do it..."
"Training?" guessed the legitimate Young Master of the clan.
"Brilliant!" Priam clapped sarcastically. "Now, why don’t you explain that to your stupid sister? Or did your bloodline come with some kind of factory defect in the cognition department?"
The boy’s smile froze for a second before widening even further.
As for the girl... the blue in her eyes flared with dangerous intensity.
"Stupid? You... what did you just call me?!" the girl cursed.
Priam snorted while wiping the sweat from his forehead.
"If you look at someone training and still need to ask what’s going on, then ’intelligent’ definitely isn’t what you are."
"Oof, sis... this country bumpkin just called you dumb right to your face," the boy commented, poking her icy arm with a finger that steamed with heat. He didn’t seem offended at all; in fact, he was thoroughly enjoying watching his sister’s short temper get ignited. "I wouldn’t let that slide."
The effect was immediate.
The temperature around them dropped drastically, and the ground beneath the girl’s feet began to crack as a thin layer of frost spread across it.
She was trembling, not from the cold, but from a fury that threatened to turn the entire courtyard into an iceberg.
