Chapter 10

Battle Race in the Fantasy World – 10

EP.10 It’s a Given that Things Get Twisted from the Start

 

“Tisha?”

“Kyle?”

They stared at each other as if completely unexpected, lost in thought.

At this early hour, and particularly in this place, the situation couldn’t be more inexplicable.

“…What’s up? It’s not even the right time to be fully awake yet…”

“Tisha, what brings you here at this hour?”

“Me? Well, I always had a habit of waking up at this time. My eyes were open, but there was nothing to do, so I thought I’d take a walk and maybe try some exercise.”

Oh, you too? Hey, me too.

“Isn’t it too early?”

“It is, but at this hour, I can save the flowers that wither away when the sun rises by climbing up the mountain. It’s a rather important sorcery ingredient, so I had no choice.”

So, she’s doing aerobic exercise by climbing a mountain since early in the morning.

She claims not to be close to exercising, but isn’t this quite intimate?

“What about you, Kyle? What brings you here at this early hour?”

“Oh, that. In our family, we always wake up at this hour to exercise.”

“At this hour? But the sun hasn’t risen yet.”

“Just think of it as similar to you climbing the mountain. It’s essential for our family members.”

“Really? So, were you professionally trained in physical fitness?”

“That’s right. I have no grudges, but anyway, I know how to do everything systematically.”

Tisha nodded in understanding at Kyle’s explanation.

And there was a vague silence between the two.

Although they weren’t distant or awkward, they weren’t extremely close either.

They were friends who journeyed together from the North to the Academy.

Encountering each other unexpectedly, and just the two of them, made it quite awkward.

“Um, well. Shall we exercise, Tisha? I’ll finish what I was doing too.”

“S-Sure? Okay then, let’s do that!”

Tisha quickly moved inside and sat on the equipment.

The problem is she’s never tried exercising with these machines before.

‘What are all these…?’

There are a bunch of strange machines that she can’t even express in words.

They seem like they’re meant for lifting or pulling, but she can’t figure it out at all.

She came here to exercise, but she can’t grasp how to do this exercise.

And sitting there, Kyle is too distracting.

“Phew.”

Tisha either forgets now, or pretends to forget.

While Kyle focuses on the shoulder press, adjusting his breathing.

With each movement, hidden muscles greet the morning.

‘Wow….?’

Even though he’s wearing a robe, his firm contours are visible.

Now, with just a light tee on, his body condition is clearly revealed.

‘His shoulders are really broad… He looks incredibly firm and… Wow….’

His tone is very polite and gentle, yet his body exudes a manly aura that could dismiss any superficial examination.

Such a charming twist, this must be why they insisted on going to the Academy.

“Tisha?”

“Hehe… Huh? Oh, yes?”

“Aren’t you exercising?”

“Oh? Oh, yes! I-I should! Why?”

“You’ve been staring at me since earlier, so I thought you might have something to ask.”

And in that moment, Tisha blurted out without realizing it.

“Oh. I, actually… I haven’t tried systematic exercise like Kyle.”

“It’s your first time. That’s understandable. Honestly, exercising like this is hard, tiring, annoying, and you just want to get it over with quickly.”

It seemed like there was a lot of sincerity in Kyle’s words just now.

Tisha was unsure whether to agree with Kyle’s offer or decline, pondering over it.

“If you’re not sure, would you like me to help?”

“Well, I’d appreciate that if you did.”

“Then….”

– Thud. –

Kyle gently lowered the heavy barbell he was holding onto the ground.

Even though it looked heavy to begin with, the sound it made hitting the ground felt even more substantial.

‘Was it really that heavy? I’m not confident about this….’

While Tisha momentarily relaxed with unnecessary worries,

Kyle approached her and sat down right next to her, their hips touching.

“Gah.”

Thanks to that, Tisha could scrutinize Kyle more closely.

‘Wow…’

Up close, Kyle’s physique was even more impressive.

There wasn’t an ounce of excess fat on him anywhere.

As a sorceress who traveled far and wide, Tisha had seen many people.

But no matter how hard she tried to recall, she had never seen a man with such a toned body.

Occasionally, there were men with bodies similar to hers.

But unlike Kyle, they were too busy flaunting their muscles.

There were plenty of occasions where she wrinkled her brows seeing those less disciplined men.

‘Kyle’s body is much better than those guys who can’t even control themselves, he must have been hiding it completely.’

Tisha thought to herself. This person, he doesn’t want to boast about himself.

Just thinking that she could be friends with such a person made her feel really good.

She even worried if her lightly pounding heart could be heard.

“Tisha?”

“…Ah, yes! Kyle.”

“Focus. Shall we start?”

“Yes! W-What should I do first?! Do I need to use those things too?”

“Huh? Oh, no, no. That’s not necessary. We need to decide on the most important things first.”

“The most important thing?”

To Tisha’s question, Kyle nodded.

“Is the reason you’re exercising now for weight loss or weight gain? Is it simply for health, or do you want to build muscle? These are all important factors.”

Kyle, who dislikes exercise more than anyone else in the family,

Unconsciously influenced by the habits accumulated over the years.

With the addition of Jonathan’s determination flowing through his body, he unknowingly shows an enthusiastic side.

“Um… y-yes?”

“First, looking at your body condition roughly, your weight seems just right so it’s probably not for weight loss. Your lower body balance seems nicely shaped, probably from regular hiking.”

“Really? It does?”

“Yes, indeed. So, you probably don’t need to focus separately on the lower body from the basics.”

Kyle is genuinely discussing exercise, while Tisha is focusing entirely on strange aspects, excluding exercise topics altogether.

The twisted encounter from the start was gradually becoming more distorted between the two who were unaware.

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***

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“Okay, let’s do it again.”

“Ugh…! Again, more?”

“Yes. One more time.”

“I-I didn’t ask for this kind of instruction?!”

“Stretching before exercise is essential. Otherwise, you might get seriously injured.”

A point always emphasized by Baron Jonathan.

There’s nothing more foolish than overexerting yourself for no reason.

Training is good, but there should be no hindrance in battle.

In other words, you must know how to treat your body with care.

That’s why stretching before exercise is even more important.

Kyle grew up hearing such words from his father, mother, and siblings since he was young.

Thanks to this, now even similar words would reflexively trigger a response.

“Do you happen to have something you want to try, Tisha?”

“Um… I, um, I’d like to try what Kyle was doing earlier.”

It seems she’s referring to the dumbbell shoulder press they were doing a while ago.

Kyle briefly considered whether it was okay to do this from the start.

If he couldn’t do it here, it might hurt his pride, so he brought the lightest dumbbell he could find.

Of course, ‘light’ was only relative to Kyle’s standards.

“Ugh!!”

“Oh, is it too heavy?”

“Yes, yes. I don’t think I can lift this even with both hands…?”

Hmm, definitely still quite weak in the upper body.

I should start really slowly from the basics. He thought.

Kyle once again chose a really, really light dumbbell.

“Before we start, let me check your posture. Can you straighten your back?”

“Like this?”

“A bit more, a bit more. Yes, maintain that position. Can you watch me? You hold the dumbbells like this in both hands above your head. And then you lower them, but the angle of your arms is crucial. They should neither spread out nor bend. Right angle! 90 degrees! Maintain that angle while moving. Let’s just try to get the form right for now.”

“Like this..?”

“You don’t need to lower it too much. Like this..”

As Kyle’s hand touched her body, Tisha involuntarily shivered.

Quickly blinking her eyes, Tisha nervously checked Kyle’s reaction.

But he was completely focused on teaching the exercise, seemingly unaware of anything else.

“Remember. Keep your back and chest straight. The angle of your elbows should always be 90 degrees during contraction and relaxation.”

“Yes, yes!”

“Shall we try it then? Okay, grab the barbell…”

This one is heavy too. I wonder if I can do it.

But thinking that Kyle is personally guiding each step, maybe I can.

“Okay, slowly lift it up. Lower it down. Maintain the right angle, Tisha. Yes. Good.”

Instinctively, she could tell. This man is paying very close attention to her.

How considerate he is, how deeply thoughtful he is.

Through his careful gestures, touching her skin, she could clearly tell.

‘Wow, exercise. It might be quite good…?’

Perhaps if he heard this, Kyle might have raised an objection.

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***

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“This is one set done like this. We do about 6 sets of this.”

“S-Six times?! You said it’s fifteen reps per set!”

“I originally planned to do twenty reps but reduced it to this.”

“But still, that’s 6 sets… That’s like ninety times!”

“We don’t do it continuously. We break it down into sets. Slowly. You can do it all if you take it step by step.”

Tisha inwardly screamed, ‘Aahh!’ at Kyle’s words.

Cancel the ‘exercise is okay’ statement! Cancel!! It’s hell from the start!!

“Of course, you don’t have to do all the sets right away. Adjusting according to your body is important. Since we’ve done two sets now, how about just one more set?”

“Hahaha!! Th-That’s! Oh, it’s morning, isn’t it?! We have to eat!”

“Right. Well then, let’s do one more set before breakfast…….”

As he was about to say that, memories of past days suddenly flooded in.

Family members who insisted on doing one more set even if you collapsed and died.

Seeing that there was still strength left, one could probably do five more sets instead of just one.

“…No. You’re right. Let’s go eat breakfast.”

I must be crazy. What am I doing here at this point?

I’m saying the words I hated hearing so much to someone else. I must be out of my mind.

With that thought, Kyle quickly tidied up the equipment and took Tisha’s hand.

“Huh?”

“Let’s go eat breakfast quickly. I wonder what they serve at the Academy.”

I hope it’s not just salad, chicken breast, and stuff like that here.

There’s no way that’s the case, but still, with a slight unease in mind,

As they stepped out of the indoor training area into the outside world.

“Uh.”

Ian, who was in the midst of swinging his sword, suddenly came face to face with them.

“…”

Ian seemed slightly surprised by the sudden appearance of Kyle and Tisha.

Then, his gaze slowly shifted towards the hands of Kyle and Tisha, which were holding each other.