What is Strength?

"Cindy, can you grab that for me?"

"Alright, on it!" She raced to the side of the house where garden tools lay scattered alongside bags of seeds and plant pots. The mage dashed back and forth under the watchful command of the older woman, who treated her like her own child.

What kind of scene is this? Cindy is... gardening?

"Reno, are you slacking off already?" The boss asked. "Didn't you promise to that stall lady that you would water her plants?"

"Oh, right. Coming!" I ran over, bringing a watering can with me.

"So, which one should we plant first?" I asked, curious. "Do you know anything about gardening, Cindy?"

"Well, just about." She smiled. A smile awkward enough to tell me she'd never gardened a day in her life. It shouldn't be vastly different to my past life, at least in theory, but...

"First, we'll plant these Sonus seeds." Silvia expertly suggested.

"Why these?" Cindy said. She was sticking to Silvia like glue.

"Why not?" Silvia tilted her head slightly.

Uh-oh. Three people who had no clue how to garden.

"Right." Cindy smiled innocently.

"You two are just overthinking, once we get going it'll be fine. It doesn't matter too much about which you plant first or anything like that, as long as you give each of them space to grow and water them often they'll be just fine."

Well that sounded about right.

"Let's start by making a flower garden. Let's split this field into four blocks. Cindy?" Silvia nodded towards her new apprentice gardener.

"How big?"

"Ten tethers by ten tethers."

"Got it!"

Cindy flicked her wrist and a majestic, gleaming staff materialised in her left hand. She raised it.

Fwish!

Razor-sharp blades of wind sliced through the earth, carving the field into a large quadrilateral. The wind further split it into four more blocks, each ten tethers by ten tethers—which seemed to be about the equivalent of a yard.

The larger shape encompassing everything had a centre in the middle for people to walk through and between. The boundaries weren't mere lines but precise incisions, flawlessly etched by the wind.

"Woah, impressive!" I exclaimed, admiring her display.

"Nice going!" Silvia complimented.

"Hm, that was nothing." I expected some sort of smile at the praise, but she was unfazed. That really was nothing to her.

"Perfect, now let's get started! For this first block," she pointed in front of us. "I want Sonus flowers. Reno?"

"On it!" I wasn't going to lose out to Cindy. I took off, running faster than a lightning, returning with a big bag of Sonus seeds.

"So much energy—I wish I could be young like you two again" Silvia sighed.

""You're still young!"" I exclaimed, but someone else's voice had blended together with mine. It was Cindy's. I narrowed my eyes at her. Trying to get on my Mum's good side are we, Cindy?

"Oh you two," Silvia smiled bashfully. "Right, let's make a start."

"Got it!" Cindy summoned her imperial staff again and raised it. Suddenly, the very ground beneath the first block trembled as veins of rich, dark soil suddenly pulsed upwards, as if the earth itself responded to her will.

From the bags, swirling seeds shot upwards and then fell into the soil evenly, like an organised meteor shower.

Cindy, isn't that a bit overkill? Who are you trying to impress... actually, don't answer that.

Silvia sighed. "Not like that."

Silvia waved her hand and the earth shifted again. The soil gently pushed up the seeds one by one, cradling them as they rose, before folding back into its original form. The seeds, like obedient sheep, gathered back into the bag in perfect order.

I couldn't help but marvel at the sight. That control is insane—and she did it without a staff.

"Ack? But, why?" Cindy said, her expression downcast.

"Because that takes away all the human element."

I had a feeling Silvia was going to say something like that.

"But magic, is human." Cindy protested.

"No cheating." She shook her head. "Let's do it like this." She walked in front of her and tended to the soil before planting a Sonus seed.

"One by one?" Cindy said, distraught.

"Yes. One by one." Silvia emphasised.

"Right! Let's get started!" I shouted, trying to energise myself.

"If you don't get going we're going to finish without you." Silvia smiled.

"Ahh—fine." Cindy's expression was one of resignation as she picked up a handful of seeds.

"Do Sonus flowers do anything special? Like feeling lilies?" I asked, my hands full of dirt.

"Yes, they can be used to amplify sound."

"Oh? As in to make things louder?"

She nodded. Ah, so kinda like a microphone then.

"Won't they be really loud once they're fully grown then? Won't they always be waking us up?"

"Nope, they're only loud once they open up, which they don't normally do without outside interference."

"So, is the amplified sound a defence mechanism to stop insects or something from getting in?"

"Exactly. Wow, I'm surprised you could figure that out by yourself."

Well, I know a thing or two about plants, Silvia. Still, that was quite the unique adaptation. I don't remember anything like that existing in my old world.

"How long does it take to grow?"

"I don't know." Silvia smiled. I turned.

"Hm? I don't know either." Cindy shrugged, her expression still slightly bitter from not being allowed to automate our gardening process. Hang in there, Cindy.

"I guess we'll find out eventually." I shrugged in response.

"First row done!" Silvia smiled. "Good job, everyone!"

Cindy's expression was neutral, leaning more towards slightly frustrated. I'd like to think my expression was a pleasant one. It wasn't easy work by any means but it was definitely a human effort.

There was something oddly satisfying about doing tedious tasks like gardening. Hobbies like that demanded immense amounts of patience, however.

"That's the second row." Cindy said, frustrated.

"Fifth."

Then you could see slight satisfaction on her face.

"Eight."

Oh? What's this? A small smile creeping through?

"Tenth, that's the first block done! Only three blocks left." Cindy said, relieved. Wow would you look at that, the person who wanted to do it least was smiling the most.

"Oof. I'm beat." I slumped over onto the swaying grass.

The three of us sat on the grass, three hard workers taking a hard earned break. Perhaps only twenty or so minutes had passed, but it was an exhausting twenty minutes to say the least.

"Should we stop here and continue tomorrow or finish planting them all today?" Silvia asked, noticing my fatigue.

"No! Let's finish!" A voice came, ablaze and all fired up.

"You sure did change your mind quickly." I commented.

Her eyebrow twitched. "Well, maybe there's something more to this than I first thought. I didn't expect it to be so fun doing something so mundane." She smiled slightly awkwardly.

Mundane? I get that gardening isn't exactly the most illustrious hobby—you don't exactly think of royalty when you think of gardeners. But still, mundane feels a bit harsh.

"Did you not do anything like this when you were a kid?" I asked, curious.

"When I was a kid?" She brought a hand to her face, the dirt falling from her hand as she did. "I didn't do anything like this."

At all?

"Are you from a noble family?" Silvia asked, curious. I could only imagine that a large majority of students attending the number one academy would be descendants of noble families.

"I'm not." Cindy said softly.

She didn't want to keep talking about this. The way her hands clutched at the dirt, the way her body unconsciously curled inwards slightly. That told me that there was much left unsaid in her response, the question likely having hit upon a sore spot.

Perhaps she was once nobility, but had left and become estranged? Maybe kicked out? I could theorise plenty but clearly she wasn't going to say a word. At least not comfortably given her defensive posture.

"Alright! Let's start on the next one then!" Silvia said, getting all fired up. She'd noticed Cindy's body language, although subtle, and decided not to pursue the topic further. Attentive as always.

"What's next?" I asked.

"Lumin flowers."

"What are those?" Cindy asked.

"They're the things inside Lumin-Lanterns, right?" I said, looking to Silvia for confirmation.

She nodded. Lumin Lanterns were something I noticed when I first strolled through Butter Town's outer district. There were tall poles which looked just like lampposts in my old world but instead of a lightbulb a flower was trapped inside them.

"Lumin flowers store light during the day and release them at night if I remember correctly." I continued. Which was fascinating to think about, even now. There had to be some sort of evolutionary benefit to it otherwise they wouldn't, not that I could think of one.

After all, wouldn't being more visible at night generally be a bad thing? Unless they have a symbiotic relationship with some sort of animal or other plant that needs vision at night? Or some other reason?

"That's exactly right, your memory is pretty good."

"Hmm, interesting. Lumin flowers... anyways let's go! I'll finish this in no time." Cindy said, excited and raring to go.

Row after row, we carefully tilled the soil and planted the seeds one by one. Having now done it before, our movements were more confident and efficient. Before long, the entire block was ready, soil nurtured and Lumin seeds planted.

"Piece of cake." Cindy smiled.

"Let's keep the momentum going—can you manage Reno?"

"O-of course!" I said, catching my breath. Damn this body, really made this harder than it needed to be.

"Hydrun next."

"Got it."

We moved quickly, like a trio of well-oiled machines. One by one, we cleared our allotted areas with precise, practiced efficiency.

"Done!"

I turned to Silvia. "What's the last one?"

"Flescia flowers. They can be made into blankets if there's enough of them."

"Hmm..." I paused.

"Wait, this is already the last one?" Cindy said, her shoulder drooping.

"Well, you can always help us expand in the future." Silvia said politely.

I don't think we had to worry about expanding anytime soon. This was already quite a large area for just a flower garden, but I guess it was fine.

"Woah, what's this?" A deep voice bellowed as the front door creaked open. "Hard at work are we?"

A large wooden sword rested lightly across the back of the man's neck as he walked forward. His expression calm as he carried a smaller wooden sword in his off hand.

"Care to join us?" Silvia smiled.

"Not this time, but I'd like to borrow your star worker." Glyffe replied, making eye contact with Silvia. She seemed to understand what the look meant, as if they'd just spoken telepathically.

"Ah, I'm busy." Cindy said, hiding behind Silvia.

Glyffe rubbed his nose, his eyebrows involuntarily twitching. "Not you, dummy."

"Oh, me?" I said, laughing. He nodded. So that's why he hadn't trained yet—he wanted to train with me.

"It's okay, we'll finish this off." Silvia smiled. "Us Aquateelia folk are stronger than we look, right, Cindy?"

"Right!"

"I'll get going then! I'll be back for our lesson later, okay?"

Cindy nodded, her eyes flicking back to the final block in front of her, beaming focus.

I ran over to Glyffe's side, going towards the back of the house.

"Here." He chucked the small wooden sword in his hands in the air.

"Woah, woah! C-careful dad." I said, barely managing to catch it. The weight was less than I expected, but still felt taxing on my young arms, especially after all the gardening work.

"Haha! Don't worry so much, it's not sharp. And it's definitely not heavy."

"Still..." Still, I wasn't used to having a sword thrown at me, even if only in principle.

"So... are we going to spar?" I asked, curious.

"Spar?" He paused. "Hahahaha! Why would we spar?" He curled over laughing even more.

Yep, that's definitely Glyffe. My face twitched slightly. "Then why do you have a sword too?"

"This is for instructing." As he spoke he thrust the wooden sword into the ground, where it stood upright. He bent down. "Reno, sparring is to learn to fight someone. You don't need to fight anyone."

"Then what's the point in having this sword?"

"To grow strong." He paused. "In this world, being weak is a sin."

A sin? Isn't that kind of extreme?

"Reno, I've seen all of the continents in this region. And more than a few beyond. There's only one thing that's consistent among all the places I visited. A single rule. The strong survive and the weak don't."

His gaze was firm and steady, his posture straight and sharp, mirroring that of his sword.

"Even the reason you can live comfortably like this is because me and Silvia are strong." He didn't look pleased to admit as much, but his expression told me he knew it had to be said.

"I see..." I wasn't quite sure how to respond to that.

My lived experiences told me that life wasn't so strength oriented. But perhaps I was unknowingly avoiding anything that told me otherwise. Even my meeting with Cindy was proof in and of itself.

If Cindy had been carrying malicious intent she could've killed me—or at least came extremely close to doing so, and there was nothing I could've done.

Then again, Glyffe and Silvia could’ve sensed her killing intent or noticed something was off.

Thinking back, she did look slightly nervous as she was sending me off, maybe that was because Glyffe and Silvia had already noticed her.

I didn't want to admit it but Glyffe knew this world much better than I did. I'd be a fool not to listen.

"I understand."

"Good." He nodded, not showing a trace of his usual playfulness. "Watch."

He got up and extracted the wooden sword he'd thrusted into the ground earlier like it was Excalibur. He held it directly out in front of him, his other hand coming forth to hold it too. His grip firm, steady, unyielding.

He took a deep breath in, slowly raising the sword in his hands.

His movements effortless like the wind, his expression as gentle as a forest. His tensed muscles were coiled with volcanic potential, his stance as immovable as the ground beneath his feet.

Like out of a painting, the swordsman stood tense, his gaze set, his face turning solemn.

That focus... I've seen it before. On a certain blacksmith.

The wooden sword in his grip shone.

Zip.

A flash of light. The sword streaked downwards, the pressure of the swordsman's swing displacing the air around it as it carved a perfect arc. Then came the shockwave.

Boof!

I stumbled, wind rushing past my ears as the air around him surged, slamming into everything around him with force.

"One." he said, his voice seemingly emanating from the sword itself.

"What the..." I coughed. That air pressure... what was that?

"Did you use wind magic just now?" I said, still distraught.

He shook his head.

"No way..." He generated a shock wave like that from simply swinging his sword? How is that even possible?

"Still want to spar?" He said, with a cheerful grin.

"Ha. Hahahaha." Now it was my turn to laugh heartily. "Why would we spar?"

"Hm. Well said." He laughed, hearing his words returned to him. Then, he refocused. "Now you try."

"Eh? I can't do that..." I shook my head profusely. "I'm not strong enough."

He perked up hearing my last sentence. He contemplated and after a brief pause, he spoke gently.

"What is strength, Reno?"

"That's obvious. Strength is the power to beat everyone!" Simply put, it's the ability to win. The more strength you had the more fights you'd win.

He laughed heartily. "I used to think the same. But I was wrong."

"Oh?" His words caught my interest. "So, what is strength?"

"Courage." He paused.

Courage?

"Strength is facing someone stronger than you to protect someone weaker. Strength is smiling in the face of a difficult situation. When everything goes going wrong, you laugh, because you know you'll be alright.

The ability to see the light in the darkest of moments. That is true strength."

The ability to see the light in the darkest of moments—isn't that just optimism? What does that have to do with strength? I didn't quite get it, and I could tell that was showing on my face from Glyffe’s next words.

"For now, you don't need that sort of strength."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm here." He smiled. "So you don't need to protect anyone right now. But in the future, you will. Maybe it'll be confronting bullies, or cheering someone up when they're sad. It might even be having to protect yourself if me and Silvia aren't there.

That time will come."

His eyes were clear, as though he was looking into the distant future from the present moment.

"For now, think of this training as preparing for the harder times. This practice is where you'll learn to smile when things get tough. Where you'll learn to be reliable, not only for yourself but for others too."

Preparation for harder times, huh. It seemed early for that, but I understood. In my past life I lost my parents when I was still a child, with no preparation or mental resilience at all.

Glyffe had a point. Mental resilience is something you can learn at any age and ideally, the younger the better. What was that old saying? 'Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.', right?

"I’m not sure I completely understand but... I trust you, Dad." I smiled.

"Good." He smiled, ruffling my hair. "So, try it—just one swing."

I nodded, focusing. I thought back to Glyffe's swing earlier. His posture, his breathing, his focus, his eyes, his momentum and his strength. I raised my sword, keeping it as steady and in-line as possible.

I paused, just like Glyffe did. Then the sword fell, sweeping the air with it. No shockwave. No flashing light. Nothing.

"Not bad." A voice came from the side. "Keep your head up, Reno. You don't need to compare yourself to anyone."

I guess my disappointment was evident.

"Think about me as a guide and as a teacher. One day you will surpass me, but that shouldn't be your goal. Your goal should be to surpass yourself yesterday, every day."

"You say that, Dad, but..."

"I know, I know. It takes time, but luckily for us we have a lot of time. You'll learn to think that way in due time." He smiled. "That's one. Count after every swing, okay?"

"Even if I'm not going to be doing anymore?"

"Yes, even then." He continued explaining once he noticed my expression. "This sort of practice is a type of labour. When you're older you're going to have to work in some way, Reno."

Work, huh. I forgot I'd have to get a job here eventually, but recently I'd been thinking about becoming an adventurer, not that I knew what that entailed. I just knew it'd give me the most opportunities to learn about different plants and explore faraway places.

"When working it's important to count things?" Where was he going with this?

"That's not what I mean. You must think of every swing as just another swing. Whether it's good, bad, or excellent. It's just another swing—so you count it to remind yourself of that."

"Wouldn't the quality be worse then?"

"Hah, good question. No, there's a trick to it that I haven't told you yet."

"Oh, what is it?" I leaned in.

"The trick is simple. Give every swing your all."

"That's it?" I leaned back, slightly disillusioned.

"Yes, it's that simple. Treat every swing like it's the most important thing in the world, because it is. Then once you're done, you can forget about that swing. It's in the past now. Now you can focus on the next swing. And the next, and the next, and so on."

"Well, that sounds simple enough."

"Hah." He laughed. "Reno, don't confuse something being simple for being easy. Besides, you said earlier you're not going to be doing anymore." He paused. "But, who decided that?"

Huh?

"100 swings." Glyffe said, his face serious.

Oh no.