"I don't have talent. But I have killed like 4 yellow hearts and many more white cores!" Kleos cried.
"I understand that, but it was due to the talent that you possess in magic and your amazing gift. Your determination and will also had a great part in it. You are also weirdly strategic. Everything you do has a meaning to it. You never overcommitted with me, knowing that I was too powerful for you, and always kept a distance, knowing that you had no chance in close combat. It's honestly creepy." Adam replied, trying his best to sound somewhat reassuring.
"Do you think you can still train me with the sword? Even if I don't have talent for it, I know something else, which I can use." Kleos said, as if he weren't even bothered by hearing the news, more like he had actually expected to hear it but was simply in denial at first.
"I mean, of course I will teach you; no matter what, knowing how to use a sword will be useful; after all, close combat battles are usually dominated by the sword. But I have a feeling that you are thinking the same thing as me. Why don't you take out that bow from my bag, which you have been looking at for the past 10 minutes? I'm sad you realized what was in there, but I did carelessly leave the bag open, and it appears to have exposed the bow." Adam said with a grin playing across his face.
"Um, I would, sir; trust me, I want to. But, uhh, I can't really stand right now. And I haven't eaten in over 7 hours."
"Haa, fine, let's go eat. But go wash up first; I don't want you stinking up the house; it's already stinky in here. I think I should let these walls down. What do you think, Kleos?" he asked smugly as if wanting to show off.
"Let the walls down?" asked Kleos confused, still lying on the floor.
Then Adam took his hand and put it to the left of the door, which they had entered from, and pumped mana, and then the roof disappeared and the walls began to retract into the ground.
"This was real costly, but runes, gifts, and magic combined create some fun things, Kleos. Now we have more space, and your sweat won't stink up the place, but for now let's go back in and eat."
"Runes, gifts, and magic, huh?" Kleos asked no one in particular. "Sometimes I forget I'm not on earth."
Welp, time to go inside then. He thought as he crawled up and went into the door, straight to the bath.
Sniffing his armpit, he reeled back and coughed a couple of times.
"Damn, I do stink." He strained.
***
A little while later, he exited the small bath, which was in no way comparable to the one back at the royal palace, but the wooden bath was quite cozy. With very similar heating runes to the one back at the palace. Though this was not automatic like the one at the palace and instead needed Kleos to inject a bit of his mana for it to heat the water.
Which would've been a problem unless Adam had helped out, since Kleos was completely out of everything and he would've most definitely experienced backlash if he had injected any more of his mana anywhere.
But after taking a towel and violently drying his hair, he put on a white long-sleeved t-shirt and black pants.
Looking in the mirror, he could see that nearly 4 months of not cutting his hair hadn't been the best thing in the world, as his hair had already reached down to his shoulders.
"Kleos, come over here; I have prepared some food for you!" yelled Adam from the kitchen
Adam had also changed his clothes and was wearing green pants, which had side pockets. And a black sleeveless t-shirt, and on his lower waist that t-shirt was held down by a belt that held his sheath, but not his sword. His sword was lying on the counter.
Huh, those look like cargo pants. Kleos thought
But what caught his attention in a much flashier fashion was the hefty steak, which had been laid across the table, and the smell, which had just hit him.
"Meat is one of the best things to eat after a workout, since it has the nutrients necessary for your muscles to grow and for your body to develop."
These people know about nutrients? Why are they so educated?
"Well, sit down and help yourself." Continued Adam, though he didn't have to as Kleos had already climbed atop the chair and was wielding his fork and knife to stuff his face.
"So, Kleos," began Adam, "I've got a question for you."
"Yesh?" answered Kleos, his face already stuffed.
"So, how'd you get good at the bow? I mean, you only fired one shot, but I felt quite the talent in that one shot, or at the very least a lot of training."
"Sir, to be completely honest, never in my three years have I touched a bow. But I just felt a really unnatural resonance with it. Almost like it was made for me to use."
"Hmm, I see, no training, just pure talent? Then how'd you know to bring the string back to your chin and to use your pointer, middle, and ring fingers? Instead of how beginners usually do it, by pinching the arrow instead of holding the string back."
"I was just copying what other people were doing, sir."
"I see. Well, it's good that you have a lot of talent for the bow then, but why did you react so calmly when I told you that you have no talent for the sword?"
"That's simple, sir. I have been training with the sword all of the time that I was in the forest, which is around three months. And I haven't improved a bit; the only thing I was capable of was thrusting a standing target. Sure, my precision got better, but I wasn't capable of defeating even white hearts with only my sword."
"Well, to be honest, Kleos, the fact that you, a 3-year-old kid, can kill any monster at all is impressive, not counting the fact that you are even capable of killing yellow hearts. That's beyond insane, but I guess that makes sense. But what still doesn't is that damn maturity of yours. It's like I'm talking to a grown man."
"I get that a lot, sir; it's only because of my demon blood."
"Yeah, sure, whatever you say." Adam said with a playful smirk while biting down on his first piece of meat.
***
"That food was really good. Where'd you learn how to cook like that?" Asked Kleos
"Well, my kid really liked my cooking, so I kind of forced myself to learn it." Replied Adam, with a smile and saddened eyes.
"Ah… I'm sorry for asking."
"No, no, it's fine." He said, looking down, then he inhaled. "But listen here, let that food settle for around an hour, and then we'll go out for my nightly patrol. I did take some time off, but it's high time I get back to my post, and you should also come; your strength can be used, and you'll learn how our little village has yet to die out."