Chapter 88: A Single Hit
His brows furrowed lightly and the hand on the handle of the door fell to his side.
"Henry? What are you doing here?" Lady Cecil, who had just returned from her walk, stepped s her second son. She looked at his wistful expression and then glanced inside the dining room.
Seeing the heartwarming scene in front of her, she seemed to have understood what was going on.
She said to Henry, "Do you want to go inside?"
"No, why would I?" Henry replied he turned his head and glared at Damien even though he knew that Damien couldn't see him.
He then turned around on his feet and stormed away.
"My lady, shall I bring Young Master Henry back?" the maid behind Lady Cecil asked.
"There is no need," Lady Cecil shook her head and refused. She glanced at Henry who was walking away with a determined posture, but even so, he looked a tad bit lonely.
Lady Cecil knew that even though Henry behaved like this, he truly cared for Damien in his own way. He must be quite upset upon seeing Damien give Priscilla the care that he always wanted.
**
Damien had no idea about this small incident that took place outside the mansion. He stepped out of the dining area after finishing his dinner and the promise of buying Priscilla a doll and a dress and went looking for the only man who could help him.
"Xavier," Damien called out to the man who was swinging his sword on the training ground.
Xavier raised his head and looked at Damien before saying, "What's the matter, Lord Damien? Why are you here?" it was late at night and Damien should have gone to sleep. So what was he doing here looking for him?
Damien smiled at Xavier before saying to him, "I want you to teach me a little bit of swordsmanship."
The tartrite nails in the back of his head had long melted under the venom and the blood of the Impert Beast Snake but Damien was yet to understand how to use the mana within his body.
There was also the matter of mending his broken beast nucleus, thought Damien. Without that beast nucleus, he would never be able to take his beast form and for some reason, Master Godric's words had left a kind of terror in his heart. Even though the man did not say it outright –
Damien knew that something was going on and it was all targeted at –Him.
The dreams that he was having as well as the warnings from Master Godric— there had to be some sort of connection between the two.
And –
'They have brought you here to become their pawn,'
These words were stuck in his head like a broken record, one Damien would have loved to throw out of the window but couldn't.
Damien didn't like being a pawn, he had been used once and knew how it ended. There was no way on he was going to allow anyone to use him the same way as William had. No way in hell.
It didn't matter if he was at the bottom of the apex of this whatever pyramid that the beastmen had in this world but he was not going to let someone else play him like a fool.
For that, he had to regain the strength his predecessor lost at all costs.
Especially his beast form.
But first thing first, he needed to get a hang of how to protect himself. As for the rest, he would think of it later on. Baby steps, that's what he was going to take.
"Swordsmanship?" Xavier frowned as he looked at Damien. Only then did he realise that the man was now wearing gloves which were worn while doing swordsmanship practice.
"That's right," Damien nodded. "I don't want to rely on you all the time, in the future there might be t,imes when even you can not be by my side. So I might as well take this chance, and learn a few tricks to keep myself safe."
"But…" Xavier began however he paused in the middle of his sentence. Now that Damien's skills and the fact that he could create anti-venom were spread, there was a chance that he would be attacked for the anti-venom.
If that was the case, then Xavier narrowed his eyes and walked over to the side of the training ground. From there he picked up something which looked like a brown bag. However, as soon as he turned around and threw it at Damien, the man realised that the thing he was gripping were actually ankle weights. Or something similar to that.
"What's this?" Damien asked as he stumbled under the weight of the ankle weights that were thrown at him.
"Wear it," Xavier said to Damien.
"What?" Damien let out a startled yelp as he raised his head and looked at the man with a stunned look on his face. "You want me to wear these? They are so heavy! Are you bullying me because you know that I have no mana?"
Xavier sighed with closed eyes. He then opened his blue eyes and pointed to the armour that was thrown haphazardly by the guards on the ground and remarked, "Usually the new trainees are asked to wear these and swing their swords. However, I am only giving you ankle weights because I know you will collapse under the weight of the armour."
...∘ ∘ ∘ ( °ヮ° ) ?
"Haha! Hahahahaha!" Dan who was flying next to Damien's head burst out laughing.
The flush on Damien's cheeks turned even more furious. He turned to the 3D hologram and snapped at him, "I thought that you did not understand human emotions!?"
"I don't," Dan answered honestly. He straightened up and replied in a calm voice, "However, I deduced the expressions and screams of the host in case he was to fall under the weight of that armor. It's quite amusing."
Damien: FML!