- Seris: I... I can't….anymore...
- Seris dropped to sit down and panted heavily. Owen grabbed Seris' hand with a dissatisfied expression and pulled her back up but Seris dropped to sit back down and caught her breath.
- After the day of the mock siege warfare, three of us usually met up and trained together. Ever since we finished mock siege warfare, Owen said that his ideal team had been so close by and started to refer to us as a 'team'.
- Owen: Here, water. Today's training is over if you just finish one more set.
- Seris: But... that's what you said before...!
- Seris instantly gulped down the water Owen handed to her then got back up to barely finish one more set and dropped to lie down this time.
- Owen and I looked at each other and shrugged then we went to sit beside Seris.
- Seris: Owen's training is... Is way too strict...
- Owen: You shouldn't have teamed up with me with such a small resolve.
- Seris: I didn't think it would be like this at the time.
- Seris gave a sidelong scowl at Owen then raised her body to sit and wiped the sweat off her forehead. She did always complain but Seris was diligently following Owen's training routine. Owen's training routine was difficult but it was structured methodically to fit individual's strong and weak points so Seris's skills were increasing day by day.
- Seris wasn't the first girl to enroll in a military academy, but instructors all praised her by saying they've never seen a girl this enthusiastic. But she also became a target of jealousy for some students at the same time.
- Raven: Seris... why did you come to this military academy... You could have had easier life...
- Seris: Because I think that I should be the one who constructs my life.
- Seris drew an unrecognizable picture with her finger on the ground as she continued speaking.
- Seris: You would normally have to marry somebody picked by your household when you become a certain age right? I absolutely loathed that. What about my freedom? My will? Is a life where I cannot choose anything freely a life at all?
- Seris: I thought about it carefully and concluded that kind of life was no good. Of course, life here is difficult too, but still... on the day when I fought together with you guys, I finally felt that I was alive.
- Seris smiled like a child then looked back and forth between Owen and my faces.
- Raven: (I understand now that... not all nobles are greedy as I thought.)
- My narrow-minded thought from when I first came here started to gradually change because of Seris. Maybe that girl's positive personality was affecting me.
- Owen: Then you have even less time to rest. I'll have you enter special training course starting tomorrow.
- Seris: What??? No way… I can't… no, I won't! Look, my legs are shaking this much already...
- Owen: You're overreacting. You should at least be able to handle one person's worth to remain in our team.
- Seris: Seriously... you're too harsh...
- Raven: (Although he sometimes spouts out harsh words as if they are nothing... That must be his way of caring for his friends.)
- Owen had a completely opposite personality from Seris. He was calm, rational and calculative but he gave an absolute trust towards people that he thought was on his side.
- Owen: Don't just sit there smiling like an idiot and take this.
- Owen also handed me a note filled with very dense writings as he stood up.
- Owen: Raven, you're entering a special training course too. You should raise your strength whenever you can after all. Two of you, don't waste any effort so that I can make use of you guys more effectively.
- Raven: Ugh...
- Seris: What's the use if we die in the process?!
- Owen: People don't die from just this much Seris. Don't worry, I'll immediately call for a medic if you collapse during training.
- Looking at Owen give a scary smile and starting to coach Seris's training again, I raised my blade also.
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A Piece of Memory 5
