One step after another, our knight made his way out of the mansion as he began to peruse the training grounds that had been set up.
During his walk, he seized the chance to take in the surrounding calm, which aided him in stabilizing his breathing, in spite of the buzzing clouds of thoughts swirling around his head.
It wasn't much, but it was all he had until the end of the day, so he was left with no choice but to make the most of what few moments of relief his mind could spare.
All in all, one could say he was looking forward to the imminent, grueling training session, for he couldn't be swarmed by intrusive thoughts and sensations if he was tired out of his mind.
Also, these training sessions were a way for him to prove something to himself, to mark some sort of improvement, some kind of milestone engraved upon his life's path.
To demonstrate that, perhaps, he wasn't entirely worthless.
His steps were halted on the border of the training camp, as his eyes darted from left to right in search of the half-beast with whom he had a… complicated history.
To say that they got off on the wrong foot would be an understatement.
But fortunately enough, after a considerable amount of hurdles, they had grown past their differences, with Garfiel now looking up to him as an older brother of sorts.
While he initially rejoiced at the thought of someone holding him in high esteem, it didn't take long for his mind to follow up with all the troubles associated with it.
Yet another person relying on him.
Yet another set of expectations weighing down on him.
Yet another chance for him to slip up and ruin everything.
Suddenly, his thoughts were shaken off of him by a firm grasp on his left shoulder.
"Yo Cap'n! Watcha up to? Ya do remember that ye've gotta, as ya put it, hit the gym today, right? Can't have ya spacin' out on me, come on!"
The demihuman's voice roared into his ears, causing him to stumble back by a few steps.
"...oh! No need to worry, Garf! Your Captain was just… uh… getting in the right headspace!"
Of all the lies he had told throughout his life, that one was certainly not the most elaborate, let alone the most believable.
Then again, his interlocutor wasn't exactly known for being particularly bright, so there was no worry in his heart that it would come off as suspicious.
"Sure thing, Cap'n, I know ya! Don't even so much as think of slackin' off on me! C'mon, time for the usual warm-up!"
Without any further word, Garfiel began to run across the training field.
For as much as his captain wished to immediately follow along, there was a certain something that he needed to take care of.
He quickly glanced around, his gaze falling upon a patch of tall grass just outside the field's borders.
After ensuring that he wasn't being observed, he promptly pulled out a tissue, wrapped up the ceramic shard in it, slid it amidst the grass and then carefully laid a small rock on top of it.
As he completed the occultation of the "incriminating evidence", the young knight sprinted along the training course.
The act of rapidly putting one foot in front of the other, the effort of coordinating the movements of his legs with those of his arms, along with the overall physical exertion poured a glass of relief within the jug of his mind.
With each lap of the course completed, with each exercise that followed, he felt his tension steadily subsiding.
Going through these motions brought back quite a few memories, ones that belonged to a far away time in his life, a time in which he was much younger, a time in which all he cared about was to impress those around him, to validate his own worth as a person.
He remembered how, with the passing of time, the weight of expectations grew heavier, dragging him deeper and deeper down into the pits of apathy, shrinking his perspective down to the confines of his room.
And within that room, his life had been slowly, steadily, inexorably trickling down.
Every second of every minute of every hour of every day of every week of every month of every ye-
Suddenly.
Abruptly.
But perhaps, not unexpectedly, there was something that called for his immediate attention.
Something he had been, from the start of his training, subconsciously trying to ignore.
If one were to compare it to something else, for reference, it could be seen as the blemish on a piece of art, the fatal flaw in a criminal mastermind's plan.
Sure, the exercise had been nothing but therapeutic for him up until this point, but the numbness of fatigue was far from everlasting.
A deep, burning sensation crept up in his arms, as if they had been stung by a plethora of flaming needles.
As if fate itself had been orchestrating a cruel twist of events, this painful occurrence just so happened to coincide with the act of climbing over one of the various obstacles that riddled the course.
This had the unfortunate consequence of causing him to tumble down the ground in a fashion that could be described as clumsy and loud alike.
There was barely any time for him to process the overwhelming succession of events, and by the time he had fully realized the circumstances of his predicament, he was lying on the ground, with his muscles strained and his skin bruised by the fall.
How could he have been so careless? He should have thought about the risks of overexerting the limbs he routinely flayed, for even if the aftermath was taken care of by healing sorcery, it couldn't cause the pain to vanish at a moment's notice.
"Cap'n! Hang in there!"
Before he knew it, Garfiel was already near him, the palm of his right hand stretched close to him as a familiar, magical glow.
"Damn ya and yer constant daydreamin'! I swear ye're gonna make everyone have a heart attack or somethin' one day if you keep goin' like this!"
While there was a sense of relief from the wounds closing up, it was quickly overshadowed by an intrusive deluge of thoughts.
Look at him, still pathetically trying to keep up the tough front.
His mind's voice bellowed loud and sharp.
Look at him, putting all that effort into desperately convincing those around him that he isn't just a waste of skin.
Each thought stabbing a bit deeper than the last.
Look at him, always trying to outdo himself, succeeding only after failing miserably over and over.
And all of this for what?
That last question buzzed around his head like an irritated fly.
"… sorry Garf, I didn't mean to make you worry…"
The words came out of his mouth, the tone accompanying them barely holding itself together.
"The hell are ya sorry for?! Ye ain't gotta be sorry, ye gotta pay more damn attention, that's what!"
Despite the rough tone, he knew that was simply his way of dealing with situations such as this one.
And yet, he couldn't help but to think about it.
The fact that, despite his best efforts, there was only so much he could do.
The fact that, no matter how much he planned ahead, he would inevitably slip up at one point or another.
The fact that, even though everything seemed to go just fine, the burden felt heavier and heavier with each step taken along the road.
"… yeah, I guess you're right on this one!"
He replied, somewhat groaning in pain as he stood back up.
"So, we're calling it quits for today?"
The knight asked, as he spotted a fairly noticeable frown on the demihuman's face.
"YOU'll be callin' it quits! Look at ya, it's as if an earth dragon just ran ya over! I'll be goin' on as usual, while ya head back into the mansion and get some proper rest, I ain't lettin' my Cap'n get hurt on his own, not under my amazin' self's watch!"
That last sentence almost caused Subaru to clench his hands into a pair of fists.
"Alright, whatever you say Garf, I'll be seeing you tomorrow, you can bet that your captain will be up and running again in no time!"
He said while striking one of his silly, overdramatic poses, at which the blonde boy simply shrugged, letting out a sigh as he walked back towards the section of the training field he was in before the accident.
Another sigh could be faintly heard, this one coming from the somewhat roughed up knight.
A sigh of relief, as that slip-up did quite the number on him.
But since his training session had ended ahead of time, he had enough time to get cleaned up before getting to what some would argue to be his favorite part of the day.
He turned back towards the rock he left before the start of his training, pulled the tissue-enveloped shard from under it, placed it back into the inner pocket and then headed back towards the mansion.
In spite of the ever-present thoughts intruding upon his brain, his attention was squarely focused on the impending meeting with his lady.
Perhaps, and only perhaps, spending some time with her could finally provide him, if only for the shortest while, with the relief he sought since the start of this day.