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Improving physical fitness should lead to better performance. Originally, Sean wanted Danti to teach him how to use weapons, but he found that aside from short weapons, all the heavy ones were unwieldy for him.
The main issue was that they were too heavy to swing conveniently; if he used them, he might not even be able to defeat someone agile with a dagger. So, before enhancing his physique, Sean essentially gave up on the idea of training in combat techniques simultaneously.
After all, this world also had firearms like flintlocks. In Luke's quick hands, those exquisite guns were incredibly powerful—he had once seen one kill from over a hundred meters away. Combined with magic practice, Sean felt this was enough for now.
He would learn better methods later if he encountered them, because Danti's approach was to first improve physical fitness... otherwise, he couldn't even lift a steel sword, let alone talk about agile combat.
Sean always thought Danti was the type of heavy-weapon warrior, whose style differed greatly from his own, so he had never been willing to accept the other's guidance.
Aside from joining the morning jog, he rarely participated in other exercises...
In just a few days, a strange phenomenon emerged in the town of Taylor Mian. Many noticed that the baron's household often came out for morning runs, and they ran as a whole team.
They found it quite amusing.
In this remote mountain village, anything that happened became a hot topic in town. After seeing this, rumors started that the baron wanted to train troops, which suddenly excited many young people in town.
In commoners' common sense, the local lord was their leader, and this idea was deeply ingrained, passed down orally from elders for generations. So over the years, except for lords who went too far and faced opposition, there were no stories of commoners rebelling.
Of course, even if there were, they probably wouldn't be spread.
This country maintained social relations through the nobility class; any problem could become a national issue.
So once the rumor spread that the lord was training troops, many joined in...
Aiming to become part of it.
After all, most people believed that following the local leader would bring rewards, and if the lord's title improved, their own lives could also get better.
In just a few days, the group swelled from dozens to hundreds running together. With so many people, Sean had to split them into batches on different roads or at different times.
But it still felt crowded!
Probably because Taylor Mian was too small.
These people really had nothing better to do.
……………………
That day, Sean was jogging alone in the town's alleyways.
Since he had only recently inherited the baron title—less than a month ago—many hadn't yet seen him in his new role.
Especially the young girls in town...
When the previous baron was still alive, few paid attention to this, but now they realized the young baron wasn't married, meaning everyone had a chance to get close to him.
As a result, every day on his running route, town girls waited to offer water or breakfast.
At first, Sean thought it was the townsfolk's hospitality, but later days saw more and more people... So he had Luke and Danti lead groups in different directions each day, while he mingled among them and then split off to less crowded paths.
"Young Baron!"
Suddenly, a seductive voice came from the alley.
Without guessing, Sean knew who it was. For the past few nights, he'd heard the same voice almost every evening, and only she called him that in Taylor Mian.
He turned around...
A head poked out from a small window by the alley.
Daytime was different from nighttime. Lucille dressed as an ordinary, plain woman during the day, and if not for encountering him, she might not even bother changing her voice.
"You're back?" Sean said to her.
Her face was smeared with something dark and gray, as if she hadn't washed in years.
If not for the witch who came to his room every night being her, no one would connect the two.
"Came back yesterday," Lucille said.
The informants in Taylor Mian were really useless. A few days ago, due to heavy snow, the dispatched scouts couldn't stay on the mountain and came down, cutting off almost all news. They could only guard the mountain's outskirts.
But the forest was vast; without constant monitoring, five people could easily slip in and out unnoticed. So Sean still didn't know she had returned.
"So, did you find what you were looking for?"
"Cri found some archaeological research items, but I didn't..."
Sean remembered Cri was the leader of the archaeology team. That guy had come for ancient ruins, so anything of historical value should count as a gain.
"I had my scholar search for it, but it seems there's no record."
Sean had asked Luke to compare items to find the magical artifact she wanted days ago, but there was still no news.
"It's fine. That thing isn't easy to find, or I wouldn't have traveled so many places."
"Have you searched many places?"
Sean had never asked about her origins or the purpose of her search. Back then, he thought even if she told him, he wouldn't understand.
But after these days of learning common knowledge, he might grasp some of it now.
"More than you can imagine..." Lucille suddenly smiled, then hearing other noises outside the alley, quickly changed her expression.
"I heard you've been quite popular lately."
"More popular than you can imagine!"
Lucille seemed unwilling to tell him much, always replying with vague words. Sean followed suit.
"Heh~"
Her laugh wasn't as charming as at night, but if you accepted her costume-changing habit, it was okay.
Just then, someone knocked on her door.
"Ilya, the captain's calling us..." It sounded like someone from her archaeology team.
Another name change!
"Is your name really Lucille?" From the start, Sean suspected the name was fake. She was too good at hiding and disguising; she probably had many names.
"What do you think? I'm not lying to you."
As she spoke, her eyebrows twitched deliberately. Sean noticed a status above her head: [Finds it amusing!]
Well, that name was probably fake too.
"I need to go. See you tonight!"
"See you tonight..."
After the brief exchange, Sean continued his run.