8 Honored Way

"It all started way back in the days when my brother was still alive. I-"

"Epitomize." Noctis heatlessly cut her off. He wasn't going to waste his time listening to the story of someone he doesn't even really care about.

"Whaaa, are you not even going to listen to my full backstory?" Padme complained, a little bit childish.

"Until you prove yourself worth my time. So in the meantime, abbreviate."

"Fine, to make it short. My brother was indebted to a certain group of people but after his death in the dungeon a few years ago, they decided to put it all on me, but I was successfully able to pay it off while working as an adventurer for 2 years. The problem is even after that they didn't want to let me go, so I left my former familia to join this one and become a blacksmith, in hope that would be afraid of my baking, and sure enough, they were. Except, instead of coming directly at me, they keep sending adventurers I don't know to request some armor or weapons and once I made them, those same guys will always come back and say that my products are defective, essentially ruining my business. I can not even refuse to take an order, since I don't know who is with them and who is not."

She explained the best way she could without going too much into the details, that was the shortest she could make it.

"How utterly disgusting." Ouka sighed. This kind of behavior should be completely unacceptable.

"They should be convicted for such a crime!" Mikoto was of the same advice.

"You had it hard." Asuka empathized as she patted her back.

"..." Chigusa though didn't outwardly react.

"..." Noctis didn't comment at first and thought about it for a second before finally speaking.

"I am not going to empathize with you just because you are a woman and you look like the one who has been wronged since it could be possible that there is more to it than you told us."

His words momentarily surprised his team members, but thinking a bit more about it, they realized that what he said was perfectly justified. But they were not to be blamed as well since their reactions were but the standard ones.

"But I am not going to be invidious as well, so I will give you a chance to prove yourself as a blacksmith."

Padme was relieved after hearing that, at least now she can have her first genuine customers.

"Althought I do not possess any exceptional ability to discern whether you are lying or not, I will put some faith in you..." His words really touched her in the right spot. "... but if you happen to be deceiving us as well. Do believe that I will make you pay."

She felt her body temperature raising a little in reaction, sweating a bit inside her clothes. She found Noctis to be particularly menacing even though he didn't act like it and was just speaking as he did until now.

"I will do my best." Just as she always did.

"Now, with that out of the way, what are we really here for?" Everyone looked at Noctis since he still didn't tell them the specifics.

"I told you already, weight, that's what we are here for."

Their gazes turned strange, the blacksmith herself was lost.

"Padme."

"Yes?"

"Do you know how to make bracers?"

"I made some before."

"Good, I will need to make some."

"How many?"

"Four for each of us, two for the arms and two for the legs, they have to stop at the wrist and tibia respectively."

"Hm... It will take some time but it shouldn't be that hard."

"I am not done."

"What else?"

"They should all weigh 5kg."

"You mean the total weight of each person's set?"

"No, each individual bracer should weigh 5kg."

"..." Padme

"..." Ouka

"..." Chigusa

"..." Asuka

"..." Mikoto

Speechlessness was the theme today it seemed. What kind of bracer was that? was he going to protect his body with it or torture it?

"Huh... That." She still didn't know how to respond.

"Can you do it or not?"

"Noctis-dono..." Mikoto wanted to interject but.

"Have faith, I will tell you the details when it's time." Noctis wasn't going to ruin it for himself.

He looked back at Padme who was thinking hard about something but she eventually answered his question.

"If done with normal materials it would be too thick and uncomfortable, but luckily, I know the perfect material to craft such items, its relative weight compared to its size would prove to be perfect in this case, it's just that it's not a really popular ore due to its rather subpart durability." She seemed to know her stuff.

"That will do, They not really going to be used as protectors anyway."

"Then how are you going to use it?"

"You don't need to know."

"ah, o-ok."

"How much will it cost?"

"The material is not that rare thus it's not hard to procure, in fact, it's pretty cheap. The deciding factor will be the quantity. For this much, I will make a reduction and go for 4000 Valis for each."

The Familia member's eyes widened slightly, 4000 valis per piece meant 16000 Valis for each of them and a total of 64000 Valis. Wasn't that a bit too much? They risked their lives to obtain that much money.

"Will do. Can you deliver them to the Takemigazuchi Familia residence when you are done? we are not available most of the time."

"For that much money? Without a problem." She answered quickly.

"Then here is our residence address." He handed her a piece of paper.

"We are leaving." He turned around and started walking away.

...

"I am aware that you know what you are doing but wasn't that a bit too much?" On their way back to their house Ouka voiced his thoughts.

"I know where you are coming from." Noctis spoke as he looked ahead. "But it was not particularly expensive."

"You think?" Ouka was doubtful.

"Your way of thinking is too narrow-minded." He shook his head. "Everything comes at a price. Everything in your life. There's a price to pay if you want to make things better, a price to pay just for leaving things as they are. The question you have to ask yourself is, what price are you willing to pay?" He left not only Ouka but also the others pensive at his words.

He didn't intend to say further. If they couldn't even get the meaning of what he was trying to convey then that just means they weren't worth his effort in the first place and he would be terribly disappointed.

With that, they kept walking in silence, and eventually, they arrived home and everyone went their respective ways.

Noctis was in his room, sitting near the widow as he looked outside humming a familiar tune.

Since he was letting his body rest for today, he couldn't train and had to just sit around doing nothing.

And that made him realize how much that world lacked entertainment. There was nothing for him to waste his time on, no phone, no TV, no video game, no social media, no light novel or fanfiction to read... no nothing.

So as he hummed the tune of Saint Seiya the lost canvas ending to himself, he lamented that fact.

...

Just like that six days went day, and they would go to the dungeon and push themself as much as they could, way past their limit ideally, and would come back weakly, barely able to walk.

And to not overwork their body to the extreme, they would rest every other day.

But now that train of life was going to change. Why? because they just received what they ordered, today was the day Padme delivered their stuff.

So standing in the Backyard all familia members Takemigazuchi included looked at the boxes piled upon each other.

Opening one of them, Noctis gazed at Four bracers made with unknown material, the design was quite intricate and elegant, and the inside was clad in leather to make its use more comfortable.

He didn't ask for it but it seems that she went out of her way to make the finished product better than anticipated.

As he held one of them he could tell could the weight was adequate, in accordance with what he wanted. So looking at the others he started explaining what they were going to do.

"It's time to explain what those are going to be used for."

"At last..." Asuka said just after.

"As I stated before, each of you will receive four of them, two for the arms and two for the legs. Their principal use won't be to protect you but to train."

"And I still don't understand what kind of training that is." Ouka sighed.

"I am coming to it. Once worn, they will have a combined weight of 20kg, which you will be added to your own weight which will make it not only more difficult to move but also to mentally uncomfortable."

"Now I get. You want them to train with that on so as to make it more difficult?" Takemi was quick to understand, in fact, he had thought about something like that since the moment Noctis mentioned 'weight training' but that didn't make it less unconventional though.

"Indeed, but that is not all, I want them to wear it permanently, every day, everywhere, no matter what. The only exception being when they have no other choice but to remove them, for example when their life is in imminent danger. And once you adapt and can perfectly move in them, at a point when you even fail to notice their presence. We will increase the weight once again, this process will be reproduced infinitely."

"Is that even possible? That's too difficult." Asuka expressed her thoughts.

"To wear them even when we sleep? Wouldn't that be too dangerous Noctis-dono?" Mikoto also had her worry and Chigusa beside her couldn't help but nod in accord with her.

"That would have been the case if you were normal, but with the blessing of falna, even an adventurer who just becomes one would be much stronger and more durable than a normal person. And so even more for the like you who are even stronger, it's theoretically possible to do it." Takemigazuchi gave his advice, it's possible and it will make them stronger faster.

Hearing even their God's saying it was indeed feasible, they had no doubt anymore. Now the question was: were they willing to do it or not?

"That's not all." As if to trample their spirit even further Noctis had something else to add.

"Until you are used to them, you must refrain from having your status updated. Or its effect will be less obvious the stronger you become, which would force you to once again increase the weight, but it will happen too frequently and the effect won't be as obvious so for maximum efficiency, refrain from doing so."

"Man, you aren't making it any easier for us." Ouka wondered if he should just give up but thinking about the money that went into it... he didn't want to.

"Nobody said that getting stronger was easy." Noctis shook his head and started putting the bracers from the box he opened.

Looking at this, the first one to step forward and do the same was non-other than Mikoto, followed closely by someone that was not expected to take the initiative.

"Chigusa...?" Ouka was surprised.

"I will do it, I want to grow stronger." Chigusa said determined.

Hearing her words greatly choked Ouka but he also quickly stepped forward and started doing the same.

"How pathetic of me. Please excuse my lack of guts, from now on I shall no longer doubt your way, Noctis." If he couldn't even bear with such a thing while a timid girl like Chigusa was willing to try. How would he once again ever have the effrontery to call himself a man?

"You are all too slow." Turned out Asuka was already done wearing them, almost no one noticed when she did.

"Now I have to ask are you the expert in stealth or am I?" Mikoto laughed softly. Which prompted others to follow, even Noctis had a small smile on his face.

"With that out of the way, I have one more thing to add." Once again all gazes were on him.

"You should train to get a fill of your current ability with those on so as to not put yourself in unnecessary danger. And since everyone will adapt to them at a different rate, don't hesitate to do your things individually if you think it's more efficient. That doesn't mean we will stop adventuring together though, but keep this in mind."

He received a collective nod much to his satisfaction.

'Now, it's time to get serious.' Weight training was but the b.a.-ba of anime training. He was surprised nobody thought about it in this world, even Ais who was ho so obsessed with getting stronger.

...

End.

Now do not get surprised if all of his team members level up in a year or a little less. They are putting in the work, at least as much as the other girls, for your information, weight training is in no way easy.

Also, share your thoughts mfs.