Gathering Wives with a System

Chapter 684: Sword Empress’ Training, History Of Wars Between Disciples

Author’s Note: How is the new cover?

...

”Yes, that’s a good idea,” Eleanor said with a nod.

Isaac nodded along as well. He did not understand why Eleanor did not mind ’training’ Oz alongside him and Catherine, but he certainly was not going to tell her otherwise. Having another person suffer through the training with him made the whole thing feel slightly more reasonable.

Eleanor instructed them to begin with a few basic exercises while she left the basement to bring Oz over. Isaac and Catherine started immediately, following her instructions without questioning them, and they had barely gotten through the first few exercises when Eleanor returned with Oz.

The former East Sea Dragon King looked as though he had eaten something terrible and was regretting every decision that had brought him there. His expression became even worse when he saw Isaac, Catherine, and Celia already training, but he did not have enough time to complain before Eleanor began the next part.

Then the training began.

It lasted only a few hours, but by the time Eleanor finally stopped, Isaac and Oz were both sprawled on the ground, panting heavily. Catherine was doing her best to maintain a dignified expression, though her pale face and trembling hands made it obvious that she was struggling just as badly as the two men.

Celia had completely given up on maintaining any dignity and was sobbing quietly with her head resting on Isaac’s lap. Alice had already gone upstairs to prepare lunch, while Eleanor had also left the training area, looking slightly unsteady herself after putting them through the exercises.

”Why... sob... why do I have to train like this? You should have told me it would be this horrible.” Celia complained between her tears.

Isaac did not have enough energy to explain that he had, in fact, warned her before they started. He simply rested a hand on her head and gently caressed her hair while staring blankly at the ceiling.

Isaac felt like shit. In fact, that was not quite accurate, because his body and mental energy were both in perfect condition, which was exactly what made the situation so unpleasant.

He had gone through what felt like several hours of hellish pain, and every part of his body knew that he should have been exhausted beyond recovery. Yet his body remained completely healthy, his energy remained full, and there was not even a trace of the damage he felt he had suffered, leaving him with a strange and almost nauseating contradiction between what his mind experienced and what his body actually felt.

”You were the one who dragged me into this, weren’t you?” Oz asked while continuing to pant.

”Yes,” Isaac admitted with a tired nod. Under normal circumstances, Isaac probably would have denied it simply to have some fun, but doing that now could easily shift the blame toward his wives, so he decided that honesty was the better choice.

Oz gave him a disgusted look before sighing and turning his eyes toward the ceiling.

”I suppose I should have expected something like this from you,” the former East Sea Dragon King said.

”That’s it? I thought you would be more angry,” Isaac said, slightly surprised.

”It’s not like this is the first time something like this has happened,” Oz replied.

Isaac and Catherine immediately perked up at those words. They had always been curious about Eleanor’s older disciples, especially those who had trained under her long before Isaac and Catherine joined her, so even their exhaustion could not completely suppress their curiosity.

”So the other disciples used to drag you into training too?” Isaac asked.

”No, it was actually the opposite. We were the ones who dragged the newer disciples into training, although I still hate those idiots whenever I think about them,” Oz explained.

Isaac frowned as he tried to understand what Oz meant. ”What exactly do you mean?”

Oz was probably too tired to bother keeping the old stories to himself, so he took a slow breath before explaining how things had been among Eleanor’s disciples in the past. In the beginning, the relationship between the disciples had been terrible because the older disciples had been beaten like dogs and treated harshly by Eleanor.

When they saw newer disciples joining them, the older generation realized that they finally had an opportunity to relieve some of their frustration. They began tormenting the younger disciples, and since they were monstrously powerful compared to the newcomers, the younger disciples had almost no chance of fighting back.

After all, the older disciples had tremendous talent and years of training under Eleanor, while the newer disciples were still struggling to understand what kind of monster their master actually was. The difference between the two groups was so great that the younger disciples could only endure whatever the older ones decided to throw at them.

However, pressure had a way of producing results.

Among those constantly tormented disciples, a few began improving at an absurd rate. They grew stronger, adapted to the brutal training, and eventually reached a point where they could fight back against the older generation, and it did not take long before some of them became even stronger than the disciples who had originally tormented them.

At that point, the situation naturally reversed.

”Wow,” Isaac said after hearing the story, his expression speechless.

”Well, everything ended well eventually. The last generation had disciples like Gael, who helped everyone become closer. Since we had all gone through the same hell, it became surprisingly easy for everyone to understand each other once the fighting stopped,” Oz said.

Celia wiped her tears and looked at Oz with some curiosity. ”So what kind of things did you used to do to torment the other disciples?”

”Nothing too serious. Sometimes we would mix a slow paralysis poison into their food, and once they fell asleep and the poison took effect, we would teleport them into forbidden zones where the monsters were at least two ranks above them,” Oz said casually.

Isaac slowly turned his head toward Oz. Oz continued speaking as if he had merely described an ordinary childhood prank, apparently seeing nothing particularly strange about what he had just said.

”We were always there to protect them if things became dangerous. Of course, they never knew that part,” Oz added.

Isaac, and Celia fell silent. For several moments, both them seemed incapable of deciding what would be an appropriate response to such a statement.

”Did the younger disciples ever try to kill you?” Celia finally asked.

”Yes. How did you know?” Oz asked, sounding genuinely confused.

Celia stared at him for several seconds, her expression making it clear that she could not understand how he had failed to realize the obvious answer himself. Even Isaac looked as though he wanted to ask the same question, although he was too tired to bother.

Eventually, the group made their way back to the living room after recovering enough strength to move. Celia refused to walk, claiming that she was far too tired, so Isaac had no choice but to carry her on his back while Catherine followed behind them.

Lunch was soon served, and both Isaac and Oz ate heartily. After everything they had endured, neither of them cared much about manners or conversation, and they simply focused on filling the emptiness in their stomachs.

Once he had eaten enough, Oz leaned back and let out a long breath.

”I’ll return to the Soul Space now. Master said the training won’t resume until tomorrow,” the former East Sea Dragon King said.

He was about to leave when a strange sensation suddenly passed through everyone in the room, causing them to stop and look around.