A true goal

We went out walking to a part of town until we got into a carriage and stepped down in the fields, almost in the same area where I was transported. When we started walking, I was having some problems and Elizabeth’s father looked at me.

“Is something wrong?”

“I am just tired from all the walking I did in the last days”

“Are you sure you can continue?”

“Yeah, sorry to make you worry, I’m fine”

“There’s no need to apologize for that… but if you can, then let’s go, don’t push yourself too much though, I don’t want to carry you back”

“Yes, sir!”

We entered more into the fields and in the middle of the woods we stopped. Elizabeth's father had a backpack with him along with the sword, he sat down in the grass and threw a small blade, I took it and unsheathe it.

“What do I do with this?”

“Swing it, try to hit the air, I want to see the moves that you got”

“How do I do that?”

“Just imagine you are hitting something”

“Okay…”

I took the short sword’s handle with both hands and hit the air, I tried to follow the posture that Elizabeth’s father told me to do before as he was looking at me with his hand touching his chin.

The blade made a sound that felt wonderful when cutting the air, it was like playing with a stick as a kid but this time, it was real, and I was going to be using it in combat, I was a bit afraid of that but I was finally doing something that was proper for this world.

I dropped the sword after thirty minutes, sweating, and with my arms tired, I drop my butt in the grass and started taking deep breaths.

“It’s not easy, right? If you can’t manage to keep the rhythm for a long time, you would get eaten by whatever creature is in front of you, now, this is only for swing it the sword, but you are not just cutting, you are moving, you are punching, the creature will force your way into you and you need your own strength along with the tool to escape”

I was looking at the blade while listening to Elizabeth’s father, I tried to pick the sword again but he stopped me.

“Let’s try other exercises, you are going to get every part of your body get muscle and endurance, you like or not”

“Uhhh…”

I started to trot, do squats, and when the muscles of my arms relaxed, I was doing push-ups, I was tired and down on the floor after a few hours, I felt a bit sick and my head was spinning. Elizabeth's father was laughing and gave me some water.

“You can eat after you get recover from the dizziness, after that we go back to town”

“Already?”

“You can’t do anymore for today, I push your body to your limit and a bit extra, if we do more you would get injured and all will be in vain”

“I see…”

I drink the water while looking down.

“Practices makes perfect, remember that, ones you get the hang of it would be easy”

“Practice makes perfect huh?...”

I look at the water and smile.

“That is something my father used to say…”

“Is he?...”

“Oh no, he is alive, but… it was some time since I spoke with him, he gave me the same advice when I was trying to do a lot of things at the same time but never got good at any, “practice makes perfect, son, focus only on one thing” … I do miss him…”

“I’m sure he misses you too”

“I… I hope so… and at the same time… I hope he doesn’t…”

Elizabeth’s father scratched his head and lent me a sandwich.

“If you can be sad, you can eat, come one, you will need to recover the energy you lost”

“Thank you, sir”

“Call me, Norwin”

“Thanks Mr. Norwin”

“Huh… well that’s better I guess”

After finishing eating, we stand up and walk outside the woods and walk to the city. In the middle of the way a carriage passed and Norwin offered him some silver coins, we stepped in the carriage and I stretched my legs while I rubbed them.

“Do they hurt a lot?”

“No… is just…”

Norwin looked at me with a serious look and I looked down.

“Yeah… they hurt…”

“You trained a lot today, and you will need to keep pushing, this first week will be the hardest one, ones you get used to it, it would be better”

“I hope so… huh…”

“Rest the day, don’t you dare to help at the restaurant, otherwise I will pick you up and kick you out”

“Yes, sir!”

The carriage left us at the start of the commercial district, we still needed to walk to the restaurant and once we went, there were some clients eating and we went upstairs.

“Take a bath, I will give you some food after it”

“Thank you, Mr. Norwin”

I went ahead and went to the bathroom taking a bath, as the minutes passed, I could feel how my body was giving up little by little, I was getting hungry and getting sleepy at the same time, I felt the cold water while I dropped the bucket at the top of my head while the soap was being taken out.

I took the towel and dried myself as I dress myself with the same outfit but clean, Mr. Norwin had a lot of these types of clothes. Before I went bathing, he gave me one and said that he had a lot of them.

When I exited, I went to my room and saw the floor, I was falling asleep sit-down, and before I knew it, my body gave up and I fell asleep in bed. When I woke up, I saw a plate with a sandwich and a cup of tea, I stood up and went outside to clean my face, but I couldn’t move.

I tried to stand up one more time but the pain was unbearable, I hit my legs and I started getting frustrated, I started to hit them more and more as I couldn’t stand up and then a drop of sweat dropped in my knee.

I started breathing a bit heavy and then I stood up shaking trying to reach my plate and then falling, making a mess in the room, I clench my teeth and punch the floor, again, and again, and again, and again…

The footsteps could be heard and Mr. Norwin entered, he saw me and he immediately made me stand up.

“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry… Sorry, Mr. Norwin, I’m sorry…”

I was told that as the sweat was dropping more and more, Mr. Norwin saw me, worried about my situation, he hugged me and grabbed my hair.

“Is okay, let it out…”

The moment he said that, I looked down and saw how the sweat was falling faster, I try to breathe, but I couldn’t, I hugged Mr. Norwin, I let out a scream as I put my head in his arm, we were like that for a couple of minutes as I calmed down.

When we stopped hugging, I clean my eyes and try to cough, Elizabeth’s mom was there too and she offered me water, I must wake her up, I took a deep breath and looked at Mr. Norwin.

“Do you really think I can do this, sir?... Look at me, I am just pathetic… Not even able to walk after a session and…”

Mr. Norwin took me by the arms and shook me a bit.

“Don’t you dare to fail without even trying, you can be an adventurer if you want, you can be whatever you want but you must try it, don’t give me this now, young man…”

“But I… I never… I don’t even know if I want to do this… I never had a real… goal… I’m just doing it because it sounds fun but…”

“Then do it, for whatever the reason is, if you don’t like you can’t stop and you can search for another thing”

“Isn’t that… wrong?”

“No, it is not, so man up, and eat this pain now, so you can give it all tomorrow, if you feel that you don’t want to, try it for real and then drop it after”

I nodded and Mr. Norwis pat my head.

“Tomorrow we will still have that training session, it won’t be as intense, but be ready for the pain”

I look at the tea and drink it fully and I put it down.

“YES SIR!”

Mr. Norwis smile and hit my arm with the palm of his hand, his wife gave me a smile and both of them return to their rooms.

I clenched my fist and looked upfront.

“Come on, I can do this!”