"Ah, Kaiser!"
Rai called out to me the moment I stepped out of my room.
And turning to him, a big smile was plastered on his face.
"..."
I just smiled back at him and started walking toward his direction.
Tap- tap- tap—
And when I reached him—
"Hm?"
I noticed a guard standing behind Rai, frowning like he just ate something rotten.
And seeing where my eyes were looking—
"I had to ask for help. I couldn't carry everything by myself, after all."
Rai said that while scratching his cheek, looking a bit awkward.
"Ah, I see."
I muttered, shifting my attention back to him and nodding.
"By the way, I used up all your battle points."
He said, sounding a little apologetic.
With a shrug of my shoulders—
"Don't worry, I already expected that."
I answered casually.
"Phew..."
Rai looked relieved after hearing my response.
"Anyway, I brought everything you asked for."
Fwip—
He quickly followed up, handing me a big paper bag.
"Hm?"
I took it from him, curious about what was inside.
And noticing that—
"It's roasted chicken breast. There are two in there."
Rai explained.
"Oh... this is nice."
I mumbled as I peeked inside the paper bag.
"Hmm~"
The aroma of roasted chicken filled my nose, making my stomach growl a little.
'I'm going to enjoy this later.'
I thought to myself, the corners of my lips rising slightly.
Then as that was happening—
Creak—
"Hm?"
The guard that was with Rai suddenly opened the gate. Then without saying a word—
BAM!
He just dropped a large sack with a heavy thud.
'That must be the sand.'
I immediately concluded in my head.
THUD!
The guard slammed the metal-bar gate shut right after.
"Bring that to your room yourself, I'm out of here."
He grumbled. And without waiting for anything—
Tap- tap- tap—
He stomped away, still frowning...
"All guards here are pretty much dickheads, huh."
I muttered, looking at his disappearing back.
"Yeah. It's not like I didn't pay for his help too."
Rai agreed with a whisper, slightly furrowing his brows.
Anyway—we just decided to ignore the guard and move on.
Then, with his eyes sparkling with excitement—
"Lastly..."
Fwish—
"Take this."
Rai slipped something circular and wooden through the space between the bars.
Fwip—
"..."
I silently caught it. I already knew what it was.
"It's the buckler. It's the best I could get with your remaining battle points."
Rai said, but I wasn't really paying attention to his words anymore.
"..."
I held the small shield in my hands, inspecting it carefully.
The middle and the edges were reinforced with metal. It was just slightly bigger than a basketball.
Fwish—
I immediately strapped it onto my left forearm.
And after doing so—
'Haha...'
I couldn't help but grin.
The buckler was big enough to fully cover my forearm.
"Do you like it?"
I heard Rai ask, a hint of worry in his voice.
"..."
I looked back at him with a smirk. And opening my mouth—
"It's perfect. Thanks."
I simply told him that.
"Fuuu... I'm glad then."
His face immediately lit up with relief after hearing that.
*****
"Good luck on your next fight! I'll be watching it again."
Rai told me before he left.
I just thanked him once more and watched him walk away.
It was already night so Rai didn't stay long, he really just went here to deliver what I asked for earlier.
Which is I'm very grateful of.
Then, after he left...
THUD!
"I'll just leave it here, kid."
I had asked Jin for help to bring the sack of sand into my room.
"Thanks."
I said to him.
"Meh."
He just casually waved his hand off before walking away. He's a chill guy.
Thud—
Click-
I closed the door once he's gone.
And now that I was back in my room—
"Hmm, guess it's time to train."
I said that to myself.
Though, before that—
"Let's eat one of the chicken breasts first."
My stomach had been aching ever since I smelled them earlier.
...
...
...
After eating one of the chicken breasts, I started training.
And I'm not talking about just holding my short sword and javelin, swinging them around like an idiot again.
No.
I was training my physical body.
How so?
Well, using the small bags that came with the sack of sand—I created a makeshift weight set.
I poured sand into the bags until they were heavy enough. Then, I used the javelin as a bar, tying a bag of sand with similar weight on each end.
And just like that—
I had an improvised dumbbell.
It was nowhere near the quality of the modern dumbbells, but hey, it was better than nothing.
I did curls, shoulder presses, and a bunch of other exercises with them.
I trained my arms, back, shoulders—Basically, my entire upper body.
Then for my lower body—
I carried a heavy sack of sand on my back and did squats. Deep squats too, to make sure I was hitting every muscle.
I mixed in some bodyweight exercises like push-ups and sit-ups to round everything out.
... Even planks.
They killed me.
But I endured.
No excuses.
I was going to the gym back on Earth too. It was a small hobby of mine to keep my body fit.
I started it because I was skinny and wanted to build some muscles.
So this isn't my first time doing this kind of thing.
Though, being in a kid's body—
"Haaaaa..."
I immediately hit the end of my stamina not long after starting. I barely worked out for an hour.
'Ugh... I can't anymore.'
I thought to myself, feeling my hands and legs shaking uncontrollably.
I could probably squeeze out a few more sets if I pushed myself—But I didn't want to risk it, not when I didn't have any water with me.
"I'll probably die of dehydration if I lose more water in my body and become thirsty."
I mumbled to myself, half-joking, half-serious.
And so...
Pat—
I sat down heavily on my bed and started resting.
Fwip—
I reached for the remaining chicken breast inside the paper bag.
And without hesitation, while still catching my breath—
Nom—
I took a big bite and started eating.
Moving my body that much really made me hungry.
After that...
Thud!
I laid flat on my bed.
'Sleep is essential too.'
I thought lazily to myself.
(I always sleep late though :v)
And with that—
"..."
I closed my eyes and started drifting off.
I still have to do all of this again tomorrow so I need a good rest for some energy.