Time slowly went by and now a month has passed since I began my training from hell with the mad knight.

I grew a foot taller, my tail and my horns grew an inch longer, and my snout grew out a bit more. It’s only been a month but apparently, Dracovians mature really fast despite our long lifespan. Turns out we outlast even Elves and Spirits… I guess that’s to be expected from a race descended from dragons.

My magic was still nothing much to talk about, but my skills in the sword seem to be improving… if lasting an entire training session without dropping dead is an improvement, then yes I am most definitely improving.

To be honest, other than the old man’s Spartan-style hell training, living here isn’t quite half bad. The castle is old and big, but is easily maintained by the undead thanks to Gaius taking control of them. The lake surrounds the castle so light isn’t a problem. The fish I’ve been eating was also caught from the lake.

As for the vegetables? Turns out old man Gaius has a bit of a green thumb and is taking care of a garden within the grounds behind the castle. I was surprised plants can grow here despite the lack of sunlight, but was conveniently explained through the use of Magi Stones, small crystals that contain mana. Apparently, mana can be refined into any other form of energy, including the solar energy that plants need.

Currently, today is my long awaited rest day. At least he understands the principles of a proper training regimen… he told me to take a rest to allow my body to grow and get used to the changes.

Usually, I take this as an opportunity to explore the broken down city. The undead no longer bother me thanks to the old man, so I’m free to go wherever I want. All except for beyond the city where the deep caverns are… no way I wanna deal with that beardo freako again.

Now that I think about, he still hasn’t told me what the hell that thing was. There’s no way that thing’s a natural spawn of nature. It’s also possible it’s one of those monsters he mentioned from his story. Also, while that thing lives in the cavern beyond here, I found that there’s no pathway out of this place from beyond the castle. The lake stretches on only until the wall of the cavern.

I still have a lot of questions, and this place just happens to be devoid of anything interesting like treasure so I decided to find the old man.

As usual, I found him tending to a bed flowers in the garden thanks to his humming. Seriously… it’s still pretty surreal to see a ghastly undead tending to beautiful flowers…

“Hm Hm Hm~♪… Ah Camilla… if only you could see how lovely your flowers have grown… I may be a tactless knight, but it seems I raised them well enough to grow strong on their own while I neglected them in my corrupted state…”

“…Camilla?”

Oops. Looks like I blurted it out while I was lost in thought.

“Ah, Camus! Good of you to come. Would you like to join me in tending the flowers?”

Before I could answer, he gave me a spade and some clippers as he started to do his work again. I shrugged but I didn’t really mind and decided to mirror his work.

“…um... who’s Camilla?”

Curiosity and boredom got the better of me despite knowing it might be insensitive to ask, be he didn’t seem to mind.

“She was my beloved wife. Although she had a weak disposition, she had a kind heart and grew to love taking care of flowers and plants. I always remember coming home looking for her only to find her at the back caring for the garden. Despite being covered in dirt, she always warmed my heart with her beautiful smile as if it were the sun…”

He then grew quiet and looked down with a hint of sadness in his eyes.

“…Despite our happiness, there was always one thing she regretted when I took her to be my wife… and it was that she couldn’t bear me a child…

Camilla was too weak for it, and I feared the labor would claim her life… it was my fear that denied her of the one thing she truly wanted… to have a happy family with me.”

When he said this, I couldn’t help but feel tears welling up as his words tugged strongly at my heartstrings. A family… our wishes were the same…

“Haha… I even remember her promising me that she’ll make sure to become stronger in order to bear our child. Her eyes were brimming with determination when she made me this promise… so to answer her resolve, I as well promised that I would make our child strong… so strong, that she would no longer be ashamed being my wife and the mother of our child… that I did not make a mistake when I chose her to be mine…”

He suddenly put down the gardening tools he was using and looked at me.

“It seems I’ve bored you with an old story. Forgive me. I’ll head on first to prepare for our training tomorrow.”

As he was about to leave, I dropped the tools and called out to him.

“Hey… old man…”

“Hmm? What is it Camus?”

Although I spoke to him in a low voice, it seems he still heard me.

“…I think I’ve recovered enough… so… if you don’t mind… we can start the training today.”

While scratching my cheek with one hand in embarrassment, I felt resolve within me so told him I wanted to start training since I felt my body was already fully recovered.

“… ! … Haha… alright then. Come to the training grounds after you’ve freshened up and picked up your sword. I’ll be waiting.”

It seems he sensed my feelings and went along with it. Geez… what the hell is up with me…

I woke up all alone in this world… had to fight for my food… got almost eaten by a bearded hellbug… was made to experience a Horror Funhouse… got almost split in two by an undead knight… and now… I was taught how to care for flowers while being raised and trained by the same knight…

Although it’s been one hell of a strange roller coaster ride… it’s a ride I’m willing to go with towards the end.

…

And so… 7 years passed in the blink of an eye.