Zaos sighed as he watched his father moving back to the mansion, he could have defeated him by using some mana, but his pride wouldn't allow that. Still, that spar made Zaos feel a bit more motivated. Defeating his father fair and the square wasn't much, but it certainly would be refreshing.

"I guess I need to return to the basics and do some strength training," Zaos said.

Although he didn't want to become a mountain of muscles, Zaos still could grow a little more in that department. After all, getting tired of sparring for only half an hour seemed a bit pathetic, even though his father was a famous soldier. Regardless, Zaos at least realized that he still had plenty of room for growth when it comes to techniques. After all, he had planned to break his father's sword, but even after his weapon got hit so many times in a row, it never broke. That clearly showed that he still wasn't skilled and experienced enough.

After using some magic to make his right arm recover faster, Zaos began to practice his attacks using the other stances. Only after his father left the mansion, he began to train his Ox guard again. While it seemed a bit silly, he didn't want to let his father annoy him even more by commenting about that later.

----- -----

Laiex also didn't want to look weak in front of his son, so he didn't do anything to his arm until he left the mansion. Once he left the place, he began to massage his right shoulder until he reached the throne room.

"What is wrong, Laiex?" The king asked. "Did you sleep on the wrong side of the bed and hurt your arm?"

"No, Your Majesty," Laiex said. "I sparred for a little while with Zaos, but it seems that the idea of having a strength contest with him wasn't a wise one. I got carried away."

"Heh, interesting…" Dalyor smiled. "To think that your son can already cause you trouble at his age."

"It is probably thanks to his magic, right?" Drian asked.

"No… he refuses to go all out against me while using magic," Laiex explained.

"Really… it seems he inherited your stubbornness," Drian laughed. "By the way, Drannor said that he doesn't use magic when they train together as well."

"I guess our kids are almost adults now," Drian said and then sighed. "I feel like an old relic for having to take my son seriously in a sparring."

"So you too have to do that now?" Dalyor asked.

"Yep, the other day, my wife hit us in the head when we were sparring, and then we opened some big wounds on our left soldiers while attacking at the same time," Drian replied. "Oh, well… I suppose you can't win against age."

"Well, I am looking forward to seeing those two fighting in the tournament," Dalyor said. "I am sure it will be quite the show. Regardless, I was thinking of offering my sword as a prize for the tournament. What do you two think?"

"… That seems a bit too much, Your Majesty," Laiex said.

"I don't think so. After all, even I can feel age starting to get on me," Dalyor said. "I'd better find someone worthy of inhering that with the tournament."

----- -----

Zaos trained hard until he was too hungry to focus on the training. Once his body relaxed, Zaos noticed that his muscles were sore all over, he had trained too hard that morning, and he will have to rest for a while. Training with a crossbow and the throwing knives wasn't possible either since his right hand couldn't stop trembling whenever he put a little more strength in there.

"I guess not even magic can solve this entirely…" Zaos said and then sighed.

Zaos saw himself with a lot of free time on his hands, so he decided to walk around the city once again. Perhaps he would find something to keep him motivated in his daily life again. The capital was pretty large, so Zaos had the chance and time to visit many places, but not a single one of them seemed particularly interesting.

"All right, this might be a bit bad…" Zaos said.

Training has become like something Zaos had an obligation to do. It wasn't fun anymore. As for his research, Zaos couldn't see any sense in it either. The money would keep coming in now that his magic book was being sold, so he didn't need that either. Having strength for the sake of having strength wasn't something that Zaos wanted. His focus on studying magic was only because, thanks to it, he spent some good times with his mother, and now that she was gone, Zaos considered it just another tool.

"I guess I need to find this person I need to protect and see if she is worthy of it," Zaos said. "At this point, I can't see anything else in this world that might make me feel motivated."

Zaos was worried about Nyana, but he couldn't follow her around to protect his little sister. As for Ameria, she probably had the skills to protect herself, so she probably wasn't the one who he had to protect. With just some extra training, she will even be fine against assassins… so, who the hell Zaos was supposed to protect?

Perhaps if Zaos find this person as soon as possible, he will have the chance to teach her how to protect herself, just like what he did with Ameria. He didn't even try that much, but things worked out really well since Ameria had magic talent. Still, if he tries hard enough, he can make everyone a decent fighter that won't lose to the likes of assassins.

"Come to think of it, I never discovered from what or who I have to protect his person from," Zaos said. "What are the most dangerous things in this world? The mercenaries, the pirates, and the followers of the demon god… I kind of know how to deal with them, so I can pass my experience to her and then finally be free from this task."

Zaos couldn't sense much purposing on keeping going in that world anymore. While he didn't want to die, he was tired of the things he had to do and wanted to live a calm life. Perhaps he should tell his father to find someone for him to marry with. At that point in time, Zaos even gave up on finding love. As long as he doesn't cheat on his wife, things will work out in the end, even without love.