“You! I can’t stand how you’re the oldest out of all of us and yet you take the form of a child! Stop lying to yourself and accept your status as a relic from a bygone era!”

Sylvia appeared to have electricity shooting from her eyes and fire coming from her nostrils. Grahlgar couldn’t understand why Sylvia was so bitter about the form that Olivia took. Appearances were just that, especially when it came to spirits. Still, it was kind of scary when Sylvia began to loom closer, ready to begin her daily conflict with Olivia.

“Sylvia...irritating…!”

Olivia replied snappily. Although she didn’t say much, her words were concise and to the point. She glared at Sylvia for a moment before turning her face away with a ‘hmph.’ What Grahl found hilarious was that these two were absolutely in sync with their timing in snubbing each other. However, while he found it hilarious, he didn’t dare to laugh.

“Okay, okay, can you two please stop fighting now?”

Grahl asked with upturned eyes. If an adventurer were to see such a sight, they would surely cough up blood. They would likely question, ‘Just what part of this creature’s expression is cute?! ’

To Olivia and Sylvia however, such an expression was as adorable as a fawning puppy.

“Hmph, I guess I can tolerate this hag for another day.”

“Olivia...complies…”

With the both of them giving their agreement, Grahl gave a vibrant smile.

“Thank you!”

Olivia gently nudged Grahl, then pointed timidly to the top of her head. Grahlgar chuckled lightly, then softly ruffled her hair. Olivia wore an almost imperceptible smile while her head was being patted. With her perched atop his shoulder, the scene was quite heartwarming. But for Sylvia, it only served to irritate her.

‘Guh, damned hag, acting like a child so that she can get spoiled by Grahl! Aqua gets to spoil him, Olivia gets to be spoiled by him and I’m left with no spoils! So unfair…’

Sylvia put on a pouty face and looked away with yet another ‘hmph.’ Grahlgar then walked over to her and gently ruffled her hair as well. Although she was hovering in mid-air, she wasn’t out of reach for the eight foot Grahl.

“Don’t be angry, Sylvia.”

The Sylph wore a satisfied grin for just a moment before she pulled away from Grahl’s hand. A part of her was dying to be spoiled, but her pride just wouldn’t allow it.

“I’m not angry Grahl, but thank you for caring. Anyway, let’s begin.”

She replied before managing to compose herself. It was no good; being around Olivia just made her frustrated. Perhaps it was because their natures were so opposed? Sylvia was a spirit of the wind, while Olivia was a spirit of the mountain. Or to be precise, ‘the’ spirit of the mountain. One represented transience, the other permanence. Though at least their relationship was not as tempestuous as water and fire.

In the end these two decided to put their differences aside and focus their efforts in educating Grahl. Sylvia would help teach him the basics of melee combat and Olivia helped Grahl to build his strength and stamina. As an Oreiades, Olivia was essentially the avatar of this mountain range. Therefore she had a magic skill called “Pressure.” This skill allowed her to utilize an invisible force that could press down with as much as a hundred times the weight of the mountain range she was born from. Such a skill could only be called terrifying. Using this skill on Grahl while he trained with Sylvia was a suggestion that Grahl himself came up with. Of course, Olivia only used the slightest pressure, or else poor Grahlgar would be nothing but a bloodstain on the rocks.

Sylvia was worried that Grahl was walking down a strange path with the self-abuse he called training, but Olivia praised Grahlgar for his hard work. Or to be precise, with clenched fists she said, “Grahl....work hard...good job..!” but the meaning was clearly conveyed to him.

“Then I’ll be counting on the both of you!”

Grahlgar said enthusiastically. With reluctance, Olivia hopped off of Grahl’s shoulder and landed on the rocks below. The stones around her then neatly assembled into a throne that she promptly sat in. Sylvia floated across from Grahlgar and although the height difference was severely mismatched, she didn’t seem to be bothered at all. Without the need to say anything, the three began another training session.

With an unspoken cue, an enormous pressure weighed down on Grahl and Grahl alone. Olivia’s ability could be used with surprising precision and finesse, to the point where the pressure wouldn’t affect anything she didn’t want it to. After Grahlgar felt the activation of Olivia’s skill, he stubbornly refused to activate either his skill or his mana in order to train his endurance. Although this was only a very tiny fraction of Pressures’ power, the fact that he could move unhindered without any buffs, was impressive in itself.

The young ogre put tremendous force into his lead foot and launched himself toward Sylvia. As he charged forward, Grahl tilted slightly so that his right hand dug into the earth, uplifting loose soil and rock. Using the momentum of his sprint, as well as his full strength, Grahl hurled the rocks and soil toward Sylvia. Even with no mana infused into it, the force of the throw was so tremendous, the stones had turned to molten rock and then the air pressure cooled it back into solid stone, within the blink of an eye.

That instant of heating, cooling and forward momentum, transformed the rounded stones into sharp, needle-like projectiles that blanketed a wide area. Using this as a cover, Grahl then utilized his great strength to stomp down and smash the rocks beneath his feet. Then, pivoting on the ball of his foot and transferring his momentum through the tips of his toes, he smoothly transitioned into a vicious flying roundhouse kick. The kinetic energy produced from this violent kick swept up all of the shattered rocks and essentially created a vortex of razor blades. Being at the eye of the storm he was safe, at least for a brief moment.

In response to Grahl’s abrupt assault, Sylvia gave a complacent smile. Without a care in the world, Sylvia seemed to weave through the slightest gaps in the projectile wall, her lithe figure emanating with peerless grace. When the occasional projectile drew close enough to hit her, she would casually change its trajectory with a flick of her wrist. It was nothing for her to use a bit of wind current to alter its flight path. As she advanced past Grahl’s first move, she was then met with the storm of razors. While it might have been mean, malicious even, she used magic to shift the winds and tighten the eye of the vortex. This meant that the rocks would surely be close enough to injure Grahl.

As the vortex died down however, Grahl was nowhere in sight. Sylvia was surprised for a moment, but managed to compose herself quickly. Without a second glance, Sylvia created a barrier of wind directly above her. The next instant, the sound and force of a great impact echoed throughout the area. Grahlgar had used his first two moves as a veil, allowing him to gather his strength and launch himself into the air.

Grahl then ingeniously used Reinforce to create a single foothold in the air to make a second leap, reaching even greater heights. By the time the vortex had died down, Grahl had already reached terminal velocity. He then used Reinforce once more to strengthen the force of impact at the moment he collided with the wind barrier. With raw power, he managed to break through. The compressed heat and air from his fist shot forth with fury.

Sylvia used a high level wind spell called Cloudshift, which allowed her to become incorporeal. As a spirit such a move might seem redundant, but even a spirit could be dispersed with force. Cloudshift enabled the user to avoid such power altogether, but it required a very high level of skill to utilize at whim. Of course, Sylvia had such skill in aces. After Grahl’s move passed right through her, she simply floated right behind him and wrapped one of her slender arms around his neck. Her hand rested at his throat, coated in a very thin layer of wind-attributed mana. This was basically a blade to the neck. In essence, a total checkmate.

“Dang, I lost again!”

Needless to say, Grahl hadn’t gained any victories, not even a close one. Though if he were to win against Sylvia under his self-imposed handicaps, she would die of shame.

“I certainly wasn’t expecting you to attack from above, but you shouldn’t be so quick to go for an aerial attack. You become completely unable to make movements in mid-air without the assistance of mana or skills. However, I noticed that you seemed to have made a foothold mid-air with Reinforce, otherwise you wouldn’t have been able to jump so high. Although you haven’t gotten used to doing that, it was a good idea. Also using the same principle to increase your attack power was good. It’s just that the sequence in which you executed those moves left you with no way to follow up afterward. In essence you killed your own momentum in trying to go for a quick kill.”

Like always, Sylvia would point out the flaws in Grahl’s strategy and give him advice to help him improve. Since Grahlgar had always kept the battle on the ground, she hadn’t expected him to act in such a way. His instincts were good, but they hadn’t been sharpened yet. It was enough for him to sense his opponent's intent, but it hadn’t developed to the point where he could react subconsciously to that intent. If it was, he would’ve been able to better sense the flow of battle and push Sylvia to try a bit harder. Still, Grahl wasn’t even in his double digits yet and he had a lot of time to improve. With a smile, Sylvia pulled away from Grahl and floated in front of his face.

Grahl, who received this constructive criticism, nodded vigorously. Despite his crushing defeat he wasn’t discouraged in the slightest. After all, he had actually managed to avoid using mana strengthening or Reinforce on himself. He used his skill once to create a foothold and another time to amplify the force of impact, but not his strength. It was quite a feat that he endured the effect of Olivia’s Pressure with nothing but muscle. But now, after the battle was done, he felt exhausted.

“Understood! I’ll reflect on it and improve! You better be careful next time, Sylvia!”

This was the same line that Grahlgar replied with after every defeat, but somehow the determination in those words grew stronger with each loss.

“I will be. Grahl has endless potential, so I can’t afford to be careless.”

After the stick, comes the carrot. After her criticism, she always said something to make him feel better. Well, really it was to make herself feel better. Lecturing Grahl about his mistakes was heartrending for her! But she wanted Grahlgar to improve and to be aware of his shortcomings, even though she found his shortcomings to be adorable.

“Yes...Grahl...surely...succeed…!”

Olivia chimed in, not wanting to be left out. She quickly leapt from her throne and once again perched herself on Grahl’s shoulder. Shortly after, Grahlgar took a seat under the shadow of the mountain and then glanced at both Sylvia and Olivia. With gratitude from the bottom of his heart, he replied,

“Thank you, Sylvia, Olivia. I promise, I’ll become strong enough to protect you both someday. To protect this place and all the ones I love who live in it. Till my dying breath.”

Little Grahl, who always acted merrily, spoke with an attitude that was especially solemn. To this fantastic wish that seemed like nothing more than a pipe dream, neither of them laughed. Although they wished that they could protect Grahl forever, they also wished that his wishes would come true. In the silence, Olivia and Sylvia met each other’s eyes and nodded in agreement. There was one thing that these two would always agree on.

“Grahl, we love you and we hope that you never change.”

“Yes...Grahl….is loved..”

Too embarrassed to reply, Grahl’s training session ended in sweet silence.