Using my aim had become instinctive. Almost automatic. Like breathing.
At first, it was a conscious effort - adjusting the weight of my body, the pressure on my feet, the right moment to shoot - but now... now it was part of me.
Over the months, I learned to control the early growth of my strength, speed, reflexes and even my own weight in combat. It was as if I was finally fine-tuning the instrument that was my body. And, for the first time, I felt like I was living a quality life, not just surviving or fighting.
That afternoon, I was in the garden again. It was a small sea of flowers, colorful and silent, my personal refuge. I spent a long time cultivating those plants - some needed weeks of care, others required specific conditions of light, soil or temperature.
Each one had unique medicinal properties, and I made detailed notes in my herb notebook whenever I discovered something new. I was in third year now, and the subject wasn't as simple as it used to be. The names were multiplying, the concepts were deepening, and memorization required more than attention: it required understanding.
While I was watering one of the rows - my favorite, a delicate cluster of pale blue petals that produced a soothing oil - I heard a voice.
"It was her."
It was her. It was her again.
I looked up slowly. There was the girl, the same one who had come to me a month earlier. But this time, she was carrying a bottle in her hands.
I immediately became alert. There was something strange about the glint in her eyes.
I frowned as I focused on the bottle. Inside it... there were maggots.
These were no ordinary maggots.
They squirmed sluggishly, their green, wrinkled bodies shaped like an inverted "Y". Each one had two small movable heads, which rotated as if sniffing the air.
"Those are... Hydra larvae." I muttered, more to myself than to her. I took a step forward, instinctively getting between her and my flowers. "Are you crazy?"
She raised her bottle with a mischievous, almost innocent smile, but the words that came out of her mouth left me motionless:
"If you don't go out with me at least once, I'm going to throw it on your plants."
I blinked. Slowly. I was trying to process whether I had heard correctly. But the threat hung there, in the air, like poison.
She really had threatened me.
I felt my forehead heat up. My heart did a little flip. Angry? Yes, but also surprised. I never imagined that she would take it this far.
And what's worse: it worked.
It took me a whole month to grow those flowers. A whole month of daily care. If those maggots got their hands on them, everything would be lost. And it wasn't just about the effort - it was what those plants represented. My progress. My discipline. My little piece of peace.
I took a deep breath. I gritted my teeth. And I gave in.
"Okay." I said, after a few seconds of silence.
She smiled. A childish, triumphant smile, as if she had won a game that only she was playing.
"We'll meet after school. In my carriage."
"I can only stay for thirty minutes."
"Why? Why?"
"Just because. I'm busy. I don't have any more time than that."
She grimaced in frustration, as if she wasn't used to hearing "no".
But she nodded in agreement.
As she walked away with the bottle in her hands, I approached the flowers. I bent down slowly, as if I could calm them down too.
"It's okay..." I murmured, running my fingers gently over the petals. "I've looked after you. And I will continue to do so.
But honestly?
I was beginning to think that these plants were easier to deal with than some people."
"Okay." I muttered, returning to tending the plants with a slight smile on my face.
The lessons passed unhurriedly, and when the bell finally rang, I left the classroom with calm steps. I headed towards the school gate without much haste, until I was interrupted by a tall, bald man with a smile too wide for my liking.
"The lady is waiting for you." he said with the air of a butler, although his posture revealed something else. Warrior. A beginner, apparently. The other man, next to the carriage, also had the same restrained aura. The light of life in both of them was slow, unstable. They had improved by artificial means, surely. Perhaps potions, rituals... nothing natural."
I looked at the carriage for a moment before walking up to it. The door opened softly and a small girl emerged from inside, clad in a white nightgown that was as delicate as it was provocative. Her eyes met mine with a penetrating gaze, as if she had been analyzing me from the first second.
"You're late." she said, with a tone of disapproval that seemed trained on her.
"What can I do?" I shrugged, unconcerned. I tried to look away, I swear I did, but it ended up falling on her breasts, molded under the thin sweater as if the fabric didn't even exist. I blinked, confused. Were these how noble girls dressed now?
"What's your name?" I asked, trying to keep my voice steady and my gaze above my neck.
"You can call me Victoria. As of today, you're my boyfriend. We're going to hold hands, smile in public and everything. You're my first." she said it like she was reading a sentence that had already been written, as if nothing in the world could change what she had just declared.
I was silent for a moment. It was strange to hear that. With the two girls I'd been involved with before, I'd taken all the initiatives. Every step, every word, every show of affection... always came from me. And in the end, I was used. I came to see women as parasites. Opportunists. They took what they wanted and disappeared.
But there she was. Beautiful, rich, self-assured - and choosing me. Without me having anything to offer in return.
"Why was that?" I asked, frowning.
"Why? I give you this chance and you ask me 'why?'" She looked surprised, a slight blush rising on her cheeks.
"Yes." I answered dryly, bluntly. I wasn't going to feign enthusiasm for something I didn't understand.
She hesitated for a moment, but then crossed her arms, as if she wasn't going to back down.
"You're the biggest in the class. Your body attracts me. And your face... it's reasonably pretty." she said, with disconcerting sincerity.
I stayed still. I looked at my own body, a little doubtful. I'd never seen myself as sexually attractive. This area of my life had always been a blind spot. I didn't know how to react. But one thing was certain: this was new. And, to say the least... intriguing.