"Get me cooked chicken breast every day until my fight, starting today."
I said to Rai.
"Hm?"
He tilted his head and raised a brow.
"Does it really need to be the breast part of the chicken?"
He asked innocently. And hearing him—
'Looks like just as I thought, this world is ignorant about nutrients.'
I thought to myself.
Then without hesitation—
"Yeah, it needs to be that part."
I firmly declared that.
"..."
Rai was confused by such a weirdly specific request from me.
But nevertheless—
"Got it."
He just nodded his head and accepted it with a smile.
"That'll be like three battle points for the week."
He followed.
"Okay, sounds fair, I guess."
I responded with a shrug.
"Moving on... I also want a bag full of sand and a few more extra bags."
I added after that.
"Huh?"
Rai squinted his eyes at my words.
He opened his mouth, trying to say something.
But before he could even try to—
"Yes, it's necessary."
I declared that without letting him speak.
"..."
Rai closed his mouth after hearing that.
"Okay."
He simply nodded again.
"Is there anything else you need? You'll probably have at least five battle points left."
Rai followed.
"Hmm..."
I became silent for a while, recalling my fight with Umar.
I was trying to think of something I would actually need.
And in that moment—
"Ah..."
I remembered the time when I blocked Umar's first attack with my short sword and ended up dislocating my left shoulder.
'Short swords aren't really suitable for blocking and stuff.'
I mumbled internally. My shoulder tingled with that memory.
So shifting my attention back to Rai—
"A small and light wooden buckler would be nice."
I said that.
"Hmm, I'll try to get the best one with your remaining battle points."
He replied.
And with a smile on my face—
"Thanks, please do that."
I responded to him.
...
...
*****
After telling him everything that I need—
"I'll come back later."
"Okay, take care."
Rai simply waved his hand at me and left to fetch everything.
Tap- tap- tap—
And me—
"Hello, kid!"
I joined Brock and the others.
"Hello, misters."
I slightly bowed my head to greet them.
Then casually, as their conversation was going—
"Is there a place here where we can train?"
I asked that.
"Ohh?"
Their eyes widened a bit at my question.
"You trying to get strong, huh."
Brock mumbled, a mischievous smile rising on his face.
I frowned upon seeing the expression he was making. Anyway—
"Yeah, I am."
I answered him. It's not like it's a secret of mine, it's actually pretty obvious.
Then—
"Well, there's actually a training area here. They bring the new fighter servants there to train them for a while before putting them into the coliseum fights. You didn't get to go there because you skipped it completely with what happened on your first day."
Khan mumbled casually, looking at me with his brows furrowed.
"Can I go there?"
I followed up.
And with his face wincing—
"Well, you need to pay battle points weekly to do so."
Khan responded.
"..."
A frown appeared on my face again when I heard that.
I literally just used up all of my battle points.
"Forget it then."
I mumbled, casually waving my hand to brush it off.
But then, suddenly—
"Want us to help you train instead, what do you think?"
Jin went and suggested that!
"...?!"
Fwish—
My head immediately turned to him when I heard that.
I became silent.
"Not a bad idea."
"Yeah, that's good.."
Brock and Khan followed, not opposed to the suggestion.
"..."
I remained silent still... It was really tempting to accept.
After all, the three of them looked really strong.
The problem is—
'Their training is probably barbaric and purely focused on increasing physical strength.'
I thought internally.
I can't raise my strength high enough to dominate my next opponent in just a week.
'Their training wouldn't really help me right now.'
I concluded in my head.
And so—
"I'll politely decline that for now, misters. Maybe after my next fight."
I flatly replied to them.
"..."
The three of them stared at me in silence. I could tell that they were slightly taken aback by my refusal.
But seeing my face as calm as ever—
"Well, you do you."
"Just approach us in case you change your mind."
"Meh, whatever."
Brock, Khan, and Jin just brushed it off, shrugging their shoulders.
And with all that aside now—
"So hear this..."
The four of us just started chatting about random stuff.
I join their conversations like this to learn more about this world. They talk about bunch of stuffs.
*****
After talking to Brock and the others for a bit...
Thud!
Click-
I went back to my room when I started getting bored.
And there—
"Hmm, it's lighter than I expected. I can use more of this."
I held the javelin in my hand, studying it carefully. The wooden shaft felt smooth against my fingers.
I had forgotten that it was brought into my room earlier. I was so tired back then that I immediately fell asleep without even checking it.
SWISH—
I tried swinging the javelin a few times and thrusting it. I was striking different poses like I was throwing it too.
WHOOSH—
Each movement cut lightly through the air, making a soft swooshing sound.
I was trying to get used to the weight and length of the javelin, feeling it out with every motion.
And not only that—
Fwip-
FWISH—
I grabbed my short sword with my right hand and started swinging it around too. The familiar grip fit snugly into my palm.
Then in my head—
'He's overpowered me in every aspect, it's a miracle that I even beat him.'
I kept running my fight against Umar over and over again.
Thinking about what I did right, and more importantly—
What I could have done better.
And with my eyes closed—
"..."
Swish—
I mimicked responses and attacks with my short sword.
Tap.
Fwip-
Stepping lightly on the ground, shifting my weight carefully.
I was shadow fighting.
SLASH—
And I continued doing this for a long while.
I was bored and has nothing to do.
I would've lost my mind already if I'm not doing all of this.
It's my first time doing this so my moves were sloppy and clumsy.
But still, I just continued, not caring about such stuff.
FWISH—
...
...
...
After a while—
"Fuuuuuuu..."
I let out a long, tired sigh as I sat down on my bed, wiping the sweat off my face with the bandage on my arms.
"Ugh..."
I weakly groaned. I had been shadow fighting for about three hours straight now.
Even I was surprised that I lasted that long.
'I was so caught up in it that I didn't even notice the time passing.'
I thought to myself, still chasing my breath.
Thud—
I placed the javelin and my short sword down on the floor.
There was nowhere else to put them anyway.
"..."
I leaned back, resting my hands behind me for support, feeling the burn in my arms and legs.
Every muscle in my body ached, but—
A small smirk formed on my lips.
'This is good.'
The feeling of getting stronger, even if just a little bit.
It was quite addicting.
But as that passed my thought—
"Meh."
I just brushed it off.
And after that—
THUD!
I laid on my bed and rested.
I didn't sleep.
I just relaxed my whole body, meditating for a little if I might say.
I did this for hours.
...
...
Then not long...
"Brat, that servant kid is here to meet you!"
I heard Brock call for me from outside the room.
"Ugh... I'm coming."
I responded to him as I stood up up.
Looks like Rai is back.
And he's probably carrying everything that I asked for earlier.
And so with that...
Creak—
Tap—
I stepped out of my room to meet him.