The next morning, after leaving a note for my mom, I was on my way to Andrew's place, the sun had barely risen by a few minutes when I reached my destination, I pushed open the gates not really surprising that it wasn't locked strong knights and bloodthirsty nobles often leave their door unlocked or even wide open, why? simple, this world has no official punishment for domestic crimes, in a world that values strength over everything else, if you can't protect your own home that's your problem, and as such any criminal that you detained in your own home, well basically their punishment is entirely up to you, as long as you follow the official procedures of documentation that is, you can basically tie them to your wall, and use them for target practice and no one gives a damn, which gives me an idea.
Pushing my long train of illegal murderous thoughts aside, I walked to the middle of the training area I was about to take a step further, until my instincts screamed at me to duck, regrettably I was a split second too late and got bonked on the head by a training sword, "You're late, the sun already rose before you got here" Andrew said meditating on a training mat a reasonable distance away, "Today we'll be training your instincts" he said, "The situation is this, you are fighting an opponent who has taken an invisibility potion, similar to the one I gave Beth here, you simply have to get three hits on her and we'll assume it's fatal, you have three hours" he said and a wooden training sword was thrown at me from my right, I caught the blade and quickly lunged to my right swinging my sword to meet nothing but air, and for my efforts received a hit to my left side, I swung to my left and again met nothing, receiving a hit to the back of the head.
The pattern repeated with me swinging in the direction of my previous hit and meeting nothing but air, after a while I changed strategies and decided to try visualizing Beth instead, I received a hit to the head and visualized her, she ducked low and ran to my left it was so clear I could almost see the faint outline of her in reality, this time I swung low and finally met… ground at this point everything seemed to be mocking me the birds chirping, the wind, even Andrews faint breaths seemed like it was mocking me. Every single time I swung I always missed my target, it was honestly infuriating, I could even imagine the smug expression on Beth's face in vivid detail. I felt the urge to duck to the left and turned around in confusion receiving a hit to the nose, "Ow" I held my nose in pain, hearing a disembodied laugh right in front of me, "Beth" Andrew said warningly, "Sorry" Beth said now somewhere to my right, "Cassius, there's your problem, you felt the urge to dodge but you didn't, next time when your gut tells to duck you duck or else it's fifty laps" he said strictly, far stricter than yesterday.
I held my sword with both hands focusing, I felt a hit on my back and another one on my side which I ignored until 'Left' my instincts informed me I raised my sword to the left blocking an incoming strike which surprised even me, I felt the pressure leave my sword, I balanced on the balls of my feet, evenly spreading my weight, ready to move in any direction in a heartbeat, 'Right' I dodged to the left avoiding a strike aimed at my head. 'Behind you' I dashed forward feeling the sword barely brush my back. I turned in the direction of the last hit and held my sword decisively, I managed to dodge hit after hit from Beth, her strikes began to become more complex and faster showing frustration, no doubt this was her revenge from yesterday, after dodging several quick strikes I lunged forward and raised my sword on sheer instinct until. A dull thud echoed through the training compound followed by a high pitched "Ow, that hurt" Beth said no doubt rubbing her forehead.
The strike was quick but gentle, as I had no intention of really hurting our resident redhead, though I seemed to have leaked a little more strength than I intended, which was totally an accident (it was not) I looked to Andrew who had a contemplative smile on his face, and stood up from his meditation, and said "Didn't take nearly half as long as I expected" he said proudly, "I had some help" I said gratefully "Who cares, Andy the antidote please?" Beth said suddenly beside me which made me jump slightly, "The… antidote" Andrew said confused slightly, "Yeah the antidote to the invisibility potion" Beth said cautiously, "Uhhh," Andrew trailed off. Yeah long story short there was no antidote, luckily for Beth the potion would wear off… in three days, turns out Andrew wanted to be sure I really couldn't see Beth he so used the strongest potion he could find.
I continued my training with sixty backbreaking laps around the compound, followed by a hundred repetitions of different sword drills until the muscle memory was engraved in every part of my being, part of me still felt it was also punishment for laughing at him being scolded by an invisible Beth. To be honest, it was hilarious like the ghosts of his past came back to yell at him about no longer being able to be seen by cute guys, it was in three words funny as heck considering that Beth was pacing back and forth when she was scolding him making him lose track of her every once in a while the overall hilarity of the situation was worth every lap and every sword swing.
Later that evening, Beth and I was sent grocery shopping for Andrew, normally Beth would go alone but due to her currently invisible state I was sent to accompany the invisible girl to avoid causing a scene. I read through the list waiting for Beth she went to change out of her old outfit and into a new one I thought it was pointless as the potion would turn any inanimate thing she touched invisible but she just said "My conscience would never let me rest." Honestly I didn't care how she looked… I cared even less when I couldn't see how she looked but waited anyway. The grocery list looked normal but though fifty bars of chocolate was a little much in my opinion, but in a world where magic can heal fatal wounds good as new you could guess people weren't worried about an insulin spike.
I waited for a while with the sun already setting in the sky, when I heard "Hey, let's go" Beth said besides me scaring me slightly, "Sure thing invisible girl, by the way, what took you so long" I said lazily, taking a few steps until I felt a hand grab my ear harshly "Ow, what the heck" I asked annoyed, "Cass, listen let me give you a piece of advice, never ask a woman what took her so long, do you understand?" she said in a tone that to be purely honest scared me, but I'd never admit it though. I nodded to which she released my captive ear and said "Follow me" she said confidently. I heard her walking a few steps before she stopped and I heard, "Why aren't you following me" she said with an exasperated tone in her voice. "Man cannot follow what man cannot see" I said wisely.
"Give me your hand." I said stretching mine out, "E-Excuse me" she said so flustered, I could already imagine the invisible blush forming on her cheeks. I mean really, what is going through her mind and why do I feel I'm a recurring theme in those thoughts, "Calm down, it's so I won't lose track of you" I said in exasperation, I felt her hand hesitantly connect with mine, her hand was warm and soft though it was a little rough probably from her years of training with Andrew. We walked to the town's shopping district, as Beth guided me to the shops which sold the items we were after. A while passed and I got used to the feeling of having a girl hold my hand, though I didn't think of Beth romantically the feeling alone was enough to make me blush.
We got everything we needed and walked back home with a copious amount of chocolate. Of course, I held everything as my masculine pride would never allow me to let a woman carry the groceries while I was still alive and breathing. Beth opened the gate for which I thanked her, we walked in and I set the groceries down on a table nearby, wondering what a grown man would need all these chocolate bars for. We walked into the room I first met Andrew in he was sitting on one of the sofas as the fire in the fireplace crackled softly. "We're back Andy" Beth said tiredly. "Ah, wonderful, you got everything?" he asked "Yep, everything including a metric ton of chocolate" I said annoyed. "Are you?" Andrew said trailing off pointing towards our hands which were still together, I slowly retracted my hands. "Sorry, I forgot." I said apologetically.
"No worries Cass, I forgot too I guess" she said kindly, Andrew looked between us glaring at me slightly, "Cassius, I think your stamina is a bit lacking a few laps should do around thirty or so." He said with a sickeningly sweet smile that made every part of my soul recoil, "Really, I mean seriously" I said exasperated. "Andy!" Beth said angrily, "Now kid" Andrew said with a smile that leaked killing intent. I walked begrudgingly to the training grounds and started my laps at my seventh or so lap I heard Beth call out "Cass!" she called, I stopped and jogged over to where I heard her, "Just forget about the laps, Andy didn't mean it really" she said apologetically, I felt her give me a small side hug, and walked away "Bye Cass, see you tomorrow" she said cheerfully, wait wasn't this the same girl who was hitting me with a training sword for revenge a few hours ago, does holding hands have such an effect on a girl.
I shook those thoughts from my mind and went home, I guess being reincarnated means being a lady magnet, and why are all the girls I meet cute as heck, how the hell is a guy supposed to resist the temptation. "Dammit" I shouted kicking a stone.