The next morning, I woke up later than usual.
I hadn't stayed up late and had gone to bed at my normal time, yet my body felt completely sluggish.
The first bell of the morning rang, and it wasn't until several tens of minutes later that I finally managed to drag myself out of bed.
My entire body ached. I could still move my arms, but one in particular felt particularly unresponsive.
It felt as though my grip strength had severely deteriorated.
"And here I even made sure to take that medicine before going to sleep last night..."
Anticipating that I might end up like this, I had taken the medicine Hannah-san gave me before bed.
I had massaged my muscles thoroughly in the bath, too.
I had even stretched before turning in, but I still ended up in this sorry state.
"Well, I overextended myself in that fight, so I suppose it can't be helped."
Just having survived was fortune enough.
Enduring the aches throughout my body, I gathered my laundry, left my room, and headed for the back courtyard.
"Oh my. After hearing what happened yesterday, I thought you'd sleep right through today, but you managed to get up after all."
"Good morning, Amanda-san. Well, only barely."
Amanda-san was already getting ready to do the wash.
Just in case, she had set out a washboard for me in case I showed up.
I washed my own clothes first, then helped her launder the inn's bedsheets.
Once the washing was done, I returned to my room to hang up my clothes to dry.
After finishing that, I headed down to the dining hall.
Taking a seat at a table, I began picking at the breakfast set before me, eating at a noticeably slower pace than usual.
"What's the matter? Not feeling well today? Or is the portion too big for you?"
"No, it's nothing like that. It's just that yesterday's fatigue hasn't really worn off yet..."
Ted-san had noticed me nibbling at my meal and spoke up with concern.
"That's bound to happen every now and then when you're an adventurer. Why not take the day off?"
"Mmh, but since I haven't told my master anything, I figure I should at least show up for the morning training."
"I see. Don't go pushing yourself too hard, all right?"
"I won't. Thank you for your concern."
After assuring Ted-san, it took me twice as long as usual just to finish my breakfast.
Afterward, I picked up my gear to put it on.
Feeling its sheer weight in my hands, the very thought of wearing it today felt dreadful.
Maybe I really should take the rest of the day off... Overdoing it and getting injured would be far worse. The morning training doesn't involve intense physical exertion, so that should be fine, but I ought to call off this afternoon's outing to the forest with Philia.
Thinking it over, I somehow managed to strap on my gear and stepped out of the inn.
With the heavy weight of my equipment weighing me down even further, my steps were sluggish.
The Adventurer's Guild felt much farther away than usual.
"Good morning, Erik-kun....My, you look utterly exhausted. Have you not recovered from yesterday's fatigue?"
"Yeah, that's pretty much it. Um, has Philia arrived yet?"
"No, she hasn't come in yet today."
"In that case, could you let her know that I want to call off this afternoon's exploration once she gets here? Going into the forest in this state would honestly be too dangerous."
Taking a good look at me, Reina-san nodded in clear understanding.
"Understood. Once Philia-chan gets here, I'll pass the message along."
"Thank you very much. Well then, I'll go do my training for today."
With that, I made my way to the guild's training grounds.
Since Olivia-san hadn't arrived yet, I sat down on the ground and began my routine.
"Good morning, Erik-kun."
"Ah, good morning, Olivia-san."
Before long, Olivia-san arrived at the training grounds.
"I heard about yesterday, you know. I was told the two of you managed to take down a monster well above your rank."
"Yes. Well, we barely managed to make it out alive, but the exhaustion from it is still lingering today..."
"So that's why you look so worn out already. What would you like to do? Shall we call off training for today?"
"No, as long as it's training that doesn't involve moving my body, I can keep going."
Physical exertion was the only thing that felt unbearable.
Using my head or manipulating mana didn't feel much different from normal.
"Is that so? But if it starts feeling like too much, we're stopping immediately, understood?"
"Understood. Well then, please guide me again today."
After replying to Olivia-san, I continued my training under her tutelage.
"You really are a hard worker, Erik-kun. Continuing to train properly even when your body feels that awful."
About an hour had passed since we started.
She had mentioned we would take frequent breaks today, and we were currently on our first one.
It was then that Olivia-san praised me.
"Well, I can channel my mana just fine. Besides, it's not like I'm sick or anything."
"Still, most people would just rest if their bodies felt that strained, you know? Though pushing yourself to the point of overwork isn't good either..."
"I know. But I can use mana and things like that with no problem, so..."
"Yes, and that's precisely why I'm instructing you after checking. If there had been any issue on that front to begin with, I wouldn't have trained you at all and sent you straight back to the inn."
So that was why she had kept such a close eye on me during the first part of our session.
"Come to think of it, how are your experience points coming along?"
Olivia-san asked about my skill progression.
I quickly glanced over at my status screen to check.
◇
You have trained [Parallel Thinking].
Gained 1 EXP.
Progress toward skill acquisition: 83/100.
◇
◇
You have trained [Mana Control].
Gained 1 EXP.
Progress toward skill acquisition: 64/100.
◇
◇
You have trained [Earth Magic].
Gained 1 EXP.
Progress toward next level: 63/100.
◇
After checking the experience points on the screen, I shared the numbers with Olivia-san.
"So [Parallel Thinking] has already come that far, has it?"
"It seems so. I didn't expect it to progress faster than [Mana Control]."
After finishing my review of the numbers, I rested for a little while longer.
Once I had taken a sufficient break, I resumed my training once again.