[LitF] 11. Training Program (Patreon)

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[A/N: This chapter should've been released on Jan 28th, last week. Sorry for the delay.]

Minutes later, canes and weights were being magically assembled in the air. Sophie had stopped to watch in amazement and clap. Tamara grumbled something under her breath.

When the last of the twenty-five machines were in place, occupying a quarter of the vast cave chamber, Graham started taking heavy-looking metal bars from his spatial storage and positioning them in specific slots in the equipment. Lastly, he took out a lot of barbells of different sizes.

"Time-dilated dungeons allow for fast growth," he said. "That includes faster achievement acquirement. Some achievements require you to do specific actions in consecutive days. Fortunately, Fate-achievement days will be much shorter in this dungeon." He placed the last barbel on a stand, took a round metal plate with a glass screen from his storage, and stared at the numbers it displayed. "Time runs exactly 122 times faster here than on the outside. Although you were taught to divide that number by 5, the greater the dilation, the lower the division. In this dungeon, the precise ratio is 3.72, milord."

Arthur raised an eyebrow. "How does that even work?"

"Think of our world time as an anchor, my prince. Dungeon time dilation is a rope tied to it; the longer the rope, the higher the dilation. And there's a ring on the rope, representing your soul's synchronicity with spacetime, which is affected by the dimension you were born and the one you're at. We call it the normalization ratio. It'll help determine how fast Fate will let you grow.

"When we are in our world, the rope has zero length; therefore, the ring is in the anchor. That's your base rate of growth. As the rope grows, the ring attempts to stay close to the anchor because that's the spacetime your body and soul are synchronized with, but the rope pulls it. Dividing by 5 is a rule of thumb, where the ring usually stays, but longer ropes can pull the ring closer to the tip. The dividing factor decreases because the time dilation has a greater effect on Fate.

"Time in this dungeon runs 122 times faster than our world. We divide it by the normalization rate, 3.72, to get its Fate-growth rate, 32.8. Any questions about it?"

Arthur shook his head. He had to see where things were going before asking anything.

The knight continued his explanation.

"The Fate-growth rate is crucial, sire, but beware: it doesn't affect you directly. You won't learn any faster in the ten years we'll be inside than you could've learned outside with the same mind stats. However, Fate is affected. For instance, your junior maid's natural stat growth will be almost 33 times as fast as yours was. If she withstood the same training regimen as you did, she could reach peak natural stats within fifteen days instead of the sixteen months it took you. Her training will be nothing like yours, but don't be surprised by her growth or feel shamed by how long you took."

The prince frowned, but not out of envy. "If things are faster here, why would my father not send me here from the get-go?" Then, it dawned on him. "Oh. The potions."

The man nodded. "A good guess, milord. This is a ten-star dungeon, beyond what the Golden Kingdom can handle. We cannot even completely clear it; if we could, we would destroy it as soon as we got to the core. Our second-best solution, which we enacted, is blocking the entrance with a voidsteel door to prevent the dungeon from absorbing more mana from our world. We don't want an outbreak."

"Wait, what about its mana regeneration threshold? If it's not getting mana from our world, where does that mana comes from?"

"A good question, my prince. Just like the world generates mana through unknown means, so do dungeons. However, mana generation is capped by the maximum amount of mana an entity can contain. Without dungeons or awakeners absorbing the world's mana, it would reach a saturation point and stop generating more. The same is true for dungeons. Dungeons invade our dimension because they can steal the world's mana to increase their mana capacity. The delvers that come inside are connected to their homeworld, and dungeons can leech off that link. The negation potion prevents that, too. However, the dungeon can still regenerate its mana until it reaches maximum levels."

"It still doesn't make sense to me," Arthur insisted. "If the dungeons absorb the mana from our world, how can too much mana cause an outbreak? Shouldn't the dungeon just keep it?"

"Just like we must absorb environmental mana into our mana pool before using it in spells, dungeons must absorb it into their core to expand their limits, Your Highness. However, they can't or won't instantly absorb everything that comes from our world. The surplus stays inside the dungeon, building pressure until it explodes. Said explosion somehow frees monsters from the dungeon's control. An outbreak is actually an escape opportunity for monsters, but they don't become less monstrous for that. They are bloodthirsty creatures that fight against each other in the dungeons as much as they do if they invade our world. They only know how to spread chaos and destruction. The only reason dungeons don't get destroyed during outbreaks is that monsters would still die if the core gets destroyed while they are inside."

"Oh," Arthur said.

He didn't really have much to say to all that. He was learning and had understood everything. The interjection was his way of informing the man that he was following.

"Continuing my explanation about why you didn't train here, sire, yours was a good guess. His Royal Majesty might not have acquired the negation potions at the time of your training. Giving this dungeon more mana would be an issue as much as getting achievements here. Yet, that isn't the actual reason.

"Growing too much in a short time isn't desirable. Fifteen days is just too little time. A child suddenly thinking like an adult without any maturity behind it and finding themselves in a fast-changing body—one they might not even recognize as their own—is confusing at least, terrifying at worst. As I said, your junior maid won't grow that fast. She will be under your head maid's care, who will constantly monitor her mental health to avoid complications as she grows. I would be surprised if she reaches peak natural stats before a year has passed."

Arthur was about to nod when he thought of something. "That includes mind stats? If so, how? You said she can't learn any faster in here compared to the outside."

"Natural stat growth is mostly based on how much time you spend on intensive stat-related activities, milord. They also have unquantifiable factors that we call triggers or enlightenment moments. However, they can only occur after enough time is spent on stat-related activities.

"While in a time-dilated dungeon, all time-based variables are affected by the Fate-growth rate. You could, for instance, use stat points much faster than 3 every minute, but we'll take a while to reach the point to increase your stats. Instead, the perfect example is achievements, especially the ones we'll focus on at first.

"As I told you before, these achievements will require you to do specific things for consecutive days, like the dungeon achievements you got while traveling. We divide the time-based variables by the Fate-growth rate, 32.8, to figure out an achievement time length in this dungeon. For instance, a 24-hour day divided by 32.8 is about 44 minutes.

"In other words, every 44 minutes here will be considered one day for achievement purposes. Likewise, if an achievement requires you to do something for 1 hour, you would only need to do it for less than 2 minutes.

"We'll take full advantage of that. From now on, every 44 minutes, you'll wake up, execute different sets of actions, then go to sleep until the next Fate-achievement day starts. It won't be easy or pleasurable. In fact, you will constantly find yourself confused and tired. But it will earn you achievements and make it harder for you to overthink things, which I previously stated to be my primary goal."

Graham was showing it to Arthur again: thorough explanations, including absolute honesty. Indeed, all shackles in his learning were off. The man had even temporarily veered off his original subject to thoroughly accommodate the prince's doubts.

Arthur was actually not sure if he liked knowing he was being manipulated like this. Then again, was it even manipulation when he knew it beforehand? His mind, at least, would be tricked into not overthinking matters, no matter how much he might want to.

After a few silent moments, the knight nodded. "You already did the first thing you'll do after waking up, my prince: looking at the monsters in the other room. As I said previously, this achievement series doesn't require you to spot new monsters. That single room will last you all the way to the last achievement in the series."

The prince cooked his head. "Achievement series?"

"Yes, Your Highness. Achievements that require you to do something every day, like visiting dungeons, often come in a series of up to three achievements. Once you get the first, you must not stop until you get the last one in the series, or you'll permanently lose the chance to get them.

"The first achievement will always involve the number 100. You visited the same dungeon 100 times and 100 different dungeons without repeating any. Then, because the series is dungeon-related, Fate's requirements for the following achievements were greatly reduced. 500 times the same dungeon and 500 different dungeons, then 1,000. This pattern, multiplying the first value by 5, then the result by 2, can be found in any dungeon achievement. Visiting the same dungeon 1,000 times is the easiest S-tier achievement of all. "

Arthur nodded. He had been told that achievement was a windfall, though not the specifics of patterns.

"Most of the achievements you'll work on from now on are not dungeon-related, sire. Their pattern is multiplication by 10. As I said, achievement series always start with the number 100 somewhere. In non-dungeon-related series, they go from 100 to 1,000 to 1,000. They will always be the number of cycles you must complete and the minimum number of days to get the achievement. Almost always, a cycle will also involve 100 of something, which will remain the same throughout the series."

"Give him examples for context," Tamara said out of nowhere.

Arthur turned to see she was setting up the white panels in what was starting to look like a house that occupied half the cave chamber. The panels stood in place wherever she left them, even without any support. They were now acting as divisions or walls. Some even had frames for doors.

Instead of complaining about the maid's interference, the knight was surprisingly accommodating.

"An excellent idea, thank you. Milord, one of the achievements you'll pursue is strength-related." He gestured to the machines he had assembled. "The first achievement in the series, the F-tier Weightlifter, requires you to do 100 workout cycles of 100 minutes each for at least 100 days. Naturally, I'm talking about our world time, not Fate-achievement time. Every workout must use all your strength.

"Notice how I said at least 100 days. Non-dungeon-related achievements take longer to accomplish but allow for some flexibility. In this case, you only need to do at least 10 minutes of workout per day as long as you keep the streak. We call that a sub-cycle, which remains the same throughout the entire series. They add up until a cycle is complete.

"Conversely, you can't do more than a cycle per day. The 100-day minimum is inflexible. You also can't work out in advance; once a cycle is complete, another will only start the following day.

"The second achievement in the strength-related series, the D-tier Bodybuilder, requires 1,000 workout cycles of the same 100 minutes each for at least 1,000 days.

"The final achievement in the strength series, the B-tier Musclehead, requires 10,000 cycles of 100 minutes each for at least 10,000 days.

"As I said, the cycle involves 100 of something. In this case, 100 minutes. It's exceedingly rare for a cycle to deal with a different quantity. Any questions?"

Arthur shook his head. "This is pretty straightforward."

"Indeed, my prince. Now, let me show you the strength-related exercises." He moved to one of the machines he had assembled and sat on it. "These specialized weightlifting devices were developed in a special zone set by the League to see how the unawakened can live and grow without Fate's intervention.

"100-minute workouts divided by 32.8 is around 3 minutes; that's how long you must work out every 44 minutes in this dungeon. Most of your major muscles must be used every ten days or so, so it also requires you to diversify the exercises. This is a seated cable row. You use it like this."

Graham then proceeded to show Arthur how to use every machine and how to do some exercises with the barbells. Arthur was told to use the devices exactly like the man did and had to showcase it to the knight.

"If your movements don't activate your muscles enough, you'll miss the achievement, Your Highness," Graham explained. "You must know what to do and do it well. Posture, breathing, intensity, movement amplitude, cadence, everything is important."

Almost two hours later, Graham was satisfied with Arthur's movements.

"Good enough, sire. You'll work out for 5 minutes every Fate-achievement day, every 44 minutes."

Panting from the muscular exertion, the prince asked, "Isn't the cycle 3 minutes long?"

"Yes, milord, but as I said, how you do the exercises is also crucial. What if you mess up somewhere? Unfortunately, there's no way of knowing whether Fate accepted your effort. I'll pay close attention to you, but I admit I'm not an expert on these machines.

"This is another reason why sub-cycles are important, milord. On top of keeping the daily streak alive, Fate will evaluate you in sub-cycles. A 10-minute sub-cycle divided by 32.8 is around 18 seconds. If you do well enough in that sub-cycle, those seconds get added to your cycle until it reaches the 3-minute mark, and the cycle is complete. I hope that adding 2 minutes to your workout sessions will ensure you can complete a cycle every day and get the achievements as fast as possible. We'll work on redundancy for every achievement, especially those where you might only have enough time for a sub-cycle."

Arthur nodded. "Oh, I see."

"After exercising for five minutes, you'll sprint for the agility-based achievement, my prince. Sub-cycles of 10 yards, 100 cycles of 100 yards in at least 100 days. As you might expect, the number of cycles and days grows to 1,000 and 10,000 in subsequent achievements. This cave chamber is 200 yards long. You'll sprint twice from one end to the other at a maximum speed in the hopes you can complete a full cycle every day and finish it quickly, too."

The knight then took a wooden table and four chairs from his spatial storage and placed them close to a machine. It was followed by a four-foot-by-four ridiculously thick book that he left on the table.

"Afterwards, Your Highness, you'll work on the perception-based achievements. Every two pages of this book have similar but not equal pictures. Have you played the seven errors game as a child?" Arthur nodded, and the man continued, "It's the same principle, except there are hundreds of inconsistencies in every pair of pictures, not only seven. They can't be easy to find, or Fate won't accept the effort, but you might waste too much time if they are too hard. This book is the best that the Akron Scholar Academy has ever developed for peak natural stats. His Royal Majesty acquired it at no small cost. As usual, the first achievement has sub-cycles of 10, 100 cycles of 100 inconsistencies for at least 100 days. You'll spend at least one minute here spotting as many inconsistencies as possible. You'll remain longer if you can't spot at least 20 within that minute."

Once again, the prince nodded. "Redundancy, right?"

"Indeed, sire. Although this is the best tool money can buy, it doesn't mean it's infallible. The scholars might've made a mistake."

"May I ask a related but a bit out-of-topic question?" Arthur asked.

"Go ahead, milord."

"Who even was crazy enough to get these achievements the first time? How do you know all this?"

The first line of every achievement's description told the awakener what was needed to do to get them. One could then extrapolate the next achievement in the series from that.

However, who liked playing the seven errors game enough to do it every single day for at least a hundred days until they coincidentally got an achievement? Who even had enough such pictures lying around? After all, Arthur assumed you couldn't repeatedly spot the same inconsistency, unlike looking at the monsters in the other room.

"Your training is the result of millennia of espionage, research, testing, and accidental findings, my prince. All the information I'm so freely sharing with you is closely guarded by mostly everyone who knows about them. For awakeners, knowledge is power in more ways than one. Knowing how to get achievements that your opponents are ignorant of lets you grow stronger while they stagnate. As the crown prince, you have free access to all data of your ancient royal line and the Golden Kingdom's loyal organizations. It was shared with me only so I could pass them on to you.

"Nevertheless, don't ever believe we know everything. Some of these achievements can be acquired in different ways. For instance, you can get this same perception-based achievement by spotting camouflaged insects. I can even speculate the insect-spotting way was found first, then researchers streamlined that into the errors game. It stands to reason that all achievements have similar alternatives, yet the Golden King couldn't find them all. Therefore, it also stands to reason that there are many achievements we don't even know about. No one will share their secrets with you. You should also not share yours with them."

The prince frowned. "That sounds unfair to my subjects."

"Your Highness, some hierarchy will always be established in the world. The strong, influential, or resourceful—or all three—will always be at the top. You can only do your best to be worthy of your position. Many won't; they'll abuse their power instead. Freely sharing information with everyone means giving more potential power to those who would abuse it, and such people would strive harder than anyone to acquire said power."

Arthur kept frowning. "But if everyone knows about it and have the means to grow powerful too, won't they have a better chance to oppose the eventual tyrant that might rise to power?"

Graham nodded. "Yes... Prince Boria." It was the first time he addressed Arthur like that. The prince approved of it. He had asked for variety, and the man kept delivering. "But that same tyrant will be the one to forbid that knowledge from being spread after they grab the power for themselves. Such prohibition will happen regardless, so it's better if a just and wise king does it preemptively to avoid a tyrant from surfacing from the masses in the first place." Arthur opened his mouth to counter-argue, but the knight raised his finger and continued. "Yes, having the knowledge freely available will give the people a small window of opportunity before it's taken from them. However, that means civil war and chaos. Likewise, the rise of a tyrant from the masses will make rivers run red with blood. Preemptive knowledge restriction will also aid in maintaining the order, which is usually overall better for everyone."

The prince wasn't convinced. "Shouldn't the people have the right to decide if they want temporary chaos to make a tyrant fall? Shouldn't they be allowed to weigh the pros and cons and decide their fate by themselves?"

William shook his head. "You sound like my wife, milord, and she was almost branded a revolutionary. The next step in that line of thought would be not having a monarchy at all. Soon, the Golden Kingdom would become a republic like the one ruled by barbarians in the south. Or a democracy, as I heard one of their city-states promotes. Those nations are too new to show any glaring issues, but our scholars insist they can only be taken by corruption and fall eventually."

Arthur was a little proud of sounding like Charlotte. He didn't like being called a revolutionary, but what she had taught him made sense despite what the knight said.

"We aren't immune to corruption either," he pointed out.

Graham sighed. "My prince... How can I say this? Even my wife was glad not everyone could awaken. Freely distributed power is dangerous. Yet, I ask you to leave that discussion for the future. We have ten years ahead of us, and it would be better to discuss these matters after your mind stats are higher."

It was the first time Arthur was asked not to insist on a topic. Stinson and Charlotte used to just refuse to answer him if they thought they shouldn't. William, instead, worded things in a way that suggested he would discuss the topic if requested but believed now wasn't the moment.

The prince felt humiliated by being called too dumb to talk about it but was paradoxically wise enough to see how having better mind stats would be beneficial.

"Very well," he said.

"Thank you, Your Highness. After perception, you'll work on intelligence achievements."

He took a thick book from his spatial storage and placed it on the same table as the perception book. Unlike the latter, this book was average-sized, like something he might find in a library.

"You just need to read, Prince Boria. But beware: you must understand the words you're reading, not just read them individually, and the subject can't be too easy. Sub-cycles of 10 words, 100 cycles of 100 words for at least 100 days. The cycles and days increase. You'll spend at least one minute on it to read at least 200 words per day as a safety measure."

That sounded easy enough.

"I almost forgot about the vitality achievements, sire. It requires you to eat fruits within a certain range of nutritional value. Sub-cycles of 10, 100 cycles of 100 fruits for at least 100 days. Naturally, the cycles and days increase. I was told your head maiden will take care of this for you. This achievement will be challenging because there's only a limited set of eligible fruits; you'll get sick of consuming them. It might take you many years to get this achievement, even in the dungeon."

The prince looked for Tamara but didn't find her. Instead, he found she had finished constructing the white house occupying half the cave. It had three distinct wooden doors, all closed.

"The mana stats achievements are next, milord. The magnitude series requires you to do the same exercise you did to naturally grow the stat, contracting your mana. Sub-cycles of 10 minutes, 100 cycles of 100 minutes for at least 100 days. In Fate-achievement time, sub-cycles of 18 seconds and cycles of 3 minutes, like working out. Also like working out, you'll do that for 5 minutes."

Graham hadn't finished talking. He took out a tiny glass vial from his spatial storage. It was filled with a blue fluorescent liquid.

"Efflux and absorption require you to spend and recover your entire mana pool, respectively. Sub-cycles of 10 times, 100 cycles of 100 times for at least 100 days. You can empty your mana pool by yourself, my prince, but you'll require assistance from these potions to refill your pool fast enough. We'll start with as many as you can drink, up to 100 a day, until you can't drink more than 20 without going ill."

Arthur raised an eyebrow at that. It sounded dreadful. However, he had known things wouldn't be easy. He worried more about something else.

"You said nothing about keeping my mana full?" he half-stated, half-asked. "I mean, I was told to keep using my mana every hour or so so as not to get an achievement."

"That is an alternative way of getting the magnitude achievement, Your Highness."

"Oh." Fortunately, he hadn't been lied to about that. "So, only wisdom is missing."

"Indeed, Prince Boria. The wisdom series will be the last thing you'll work on every day. I'll present logical puzzles to you, much like the ones you did to grow your stats naturally. Sub-cycles of 10, as usual. You'll get to bed and answer 20 of them before I use a magic item to get you sleepy. Then, you'll keep answering them up until you only have fifteen minutes left on your Fate-achievement day. If you haven't slept by yourself by then, I'll force you to go to sleep. The days will be difficult enough with such short naps with thirty-minute gaps between them, and we can't sacrifice the little rest you're supposed to get."

Arthur sighed. "So, to sum it up: wake up, look at monsters, work out, run, spot inconsistencies, read a book, contract my mana, use all my mana and drink mana potions repeatedly, then go to sleep while solving puzzles. When do I eat?"

"Your head maid will feed you when she sees fit, sire. Likely throughout your waking moments."

"Alright. I'm ready, I think. Actually, wait. You never explained the look-at-monsters achievement."

"That achievement series is about seeing monsters without engaging them in battle, milord. It's not exclusively dungeon-related but deals with monsters, so it's called a mixed series. It's not as flexible as non-dungeon achievements, but some of its numbers work like dungeon achievements, making up for a softer progression."

"The first achievement in the series, the D-tier Monster Gazer, requires you to see 100 monsters daily for exactly 100 days. Each monster must be at least level 5. Notice I didn't say at least 100 days but exactly 100 days. There is no sub-cycle either.

"The softer progression I mentioned can be found in the minimum monster level. If you recall, the dungeon achievements you got went from 100 to 500 to 1,000. Multiply the first by 5, then 2.

"So, the second achievement in the series, the B-tier Persistent Watcher, requires you to see 1,000 monsters daily for 1,000 days. Their minimum levels follow dungeon-achievement rules and only increase to 25.

"The third achievement, the S-tier Peaceful Observer, requires you to see 10,000 monsters daily for 10,000 days. Each monster must be at least level 50." He pointed at the room with bright light. "That room has about 12,000."

Arthur turned to look at the blinding light. "12,000 level 50 elementals?" He could only imagine that many grand knights. It would be an army capable of conquering any nation. In fact, that perspective made Graham's previous battle even more impressive. "How many did you kill in this room?"

"Around 5,000, my prince."

"How?! Aren't these monsters as strong as grand knights?"

The man chuckled. "Not even close, Your Highness. Monsters don't have Fate's blessings like us. They don't have access to skills, achievements, or traits. Their levels are estimates that only take into account 81 stats per level, no achievement points. Their spells are severely limited, not to mention their lack of experience. Lastly, they don't have my very expensive equipment.

"Don't underestimate grand knights, or first-class wizards, for that matter. I evaluate the 5,000 lighting bolts to be as powerful as 100 level 50 fully armed and armored grand knights with half my experience. Dealing with that is still somewhat impressive if I say so myself."

The prince still could only look at the man in wonder.

"Now, Prince Boria, let us find your bedroom. You must get a good night's sleep before we start your training. You won't have another opportunity like this for a very long time."

They walked up to the house Tamara had erected, and the knight knocked on a door.

= - = - =

Arthur was impressed, to say the least.

Except for being made of wood, the building's walls and ceiling looked precisely like the palace's. The floor was dark wood, often covered by gray carpets. The panels connected so seamlessly with each other that Tamara even had to place light crystal fixtures to illuminate the rooms despite how absurdly clear the cave chamber was due to the neighboring lightning elementals.

The prince only realized how much all that light had been annoying after entering the building.

He and Graham entered through the middle door, which led to a reception room with four armchairs, a sofa, and a wall table. It felt cozy. Three closed doors led further into the house.

Tamara, who opened the door for them, was alone. "Your bedroom is to the right, Your Highness," she said. "It has a dedicated external door. Feel free to use it in the future. Grand Knight Graham, I listened to your conversation, and I believe some changes are in order. If I may?"

"Of course, Head Maiden. Go ahead, sire. I'll wake you when it's time."

Arthur nodded to both, said a "Good night," and went to his bedroom.

Its walls, ceiling, and floor were like the reception room. A big double bed dominated the center. It had black covers and was smaller than his palace bed, but when he sat on it, it felt just as fluffy. He had gotten used to softness again after sleeping on his bed for seven months.

A small wooden wardrobe was to one side of the room. A basket on the floor beside it would take his dirty clothes, though Arthur didn't know where he would bathe. There had been no discussions about it. He returned to the reception room to ask.

"...unadvised," Tamara was saying. She and Graham sat on the armchairs and talked about his training. "His Highness will start dreading the end of the day, which might build undesirable mental barriers. Spacing the absorption and efflux sessions throughout the day, maybe together with his meals, would dilute negative emotions."

"That sounds reasonable, Head Maiden," Graham agreed and turned to look at Arthur, who was waiting for an opportunity to speak. "Yes, milord?"

"Will I be able to bathe?"

Tamara replied, "Yes, Your Highness. It's one of the subjects I was about to discuss with Grand Knight Graham. There is a small bathroom with an enchanted bathtub in this house. You and the grand knight are booth expected to use it at least once every other day. Actual days, not Fate-achievement day."

"That'll be impossible, Head Maiden," the knight rejected at once. "I must wear armor at all times. Unlikely as it is, the dungeon might believe this building is a trap and send monsters from other rooms. Or an outbreak might happen at any time. I must be ready to protect His Highness."

"Nonsense," Tamara countered in stride. "Smelling like the monsters you kill might be acceptable for knights, but you're in polite company, and propriety must be observed. We don't want His Highness to forget how society works during his time here."

Arthur had never seen someone be as quickly convinced as Graham. The man nodded at once. "That sounds reasonable when put like this, Head Maiden. However, the best I can do is once a week. We also don't want His Highness's life to be at risk more than needed. He must survive to return to society one day."

"Acceptable, I suppose," Tamara said and turned to the prince. "I'll take you to the bathroom, Your Highness. I'll wait while you bring clean clothes from your room."

Arthur did as told. The wardrobe had exactly twenty sets of non-enchanted black martial robes. He grabbed one, then followed Tamara through another door in the reception room. A small corridor later, he reached the tiny bedroom. It had a big copper bathtub already filled with steaming water, a wooden bench, a towel, and a light crystal fixture.

"Bathe for as long as you want today, Your Highness," Tamara said. " Your next baths will take five minutes at most. After you're done, bring your dirty clothes with you, and leave them in the basket beside the wardrobe." She bowed slightly and left.

A moment later, the naked prince entered the ridiculously comfortable tub and sighed deeply.

The last ten days had been like a weird vacation. However, learning so much in such a short time and being so close to starting his training made him feel the weight of expectations on his shoulders.

The war depended on him, on how well he did, on his focus and drive. His family depended on him. His nation's future was in his hands.

Today, he tried to relax as much as he could as he let himself soak in the hot water. Tomorrow, he would show Graham how Charlotte had been right.

Arthur had learned his place in the world.

He was mature enough.

He wouldn't run from his responsibilities.

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