Chapter 134: Stalker
Jacob awoke with a languid yawn, he stretched his arms and body as he slowly rose from the bed, the mattress was starting to give him back aches, making him kiss his soft royal bed.
He studied Xenia for a bit while she slept and then he went to the washroom and cleaned himself up, today was the day he would battle Heimdall. It was inevitable, but first he had to complete his daily sign-in.
He quickly washed up, put on a clean pair of clothes and jogged outside, leaving Xenia in the room by herself.
She immediately opened an eye to scan the room as he was no longer there.
’Where does he run off too every morning?’ She mused as she sat up, yawning as well.
After a short debate in her mind, she decided that she was going to follow him, to see where he goes every morning.
She quickly rose to her feet and cleaned herself up, leaving right after him.
Xenia tried her hardest to keep up with the young man, but she only managed to lag right behind, he ran so fast, and tirelessly that she had begun to wonder if he was even human.
’Where is he going?’ She thought as she panted, struggling to follow him.
Jacob eventually came to a halt, in the middle of a clearing, long way from the Wutherhorn estate. He began to do a few exercises, Xenia only watched from a distance as the boy completed what she counted as five hundred push-ups, and five hundred sit-ups. After a while she had completely lost count.
Jacob stared at the panel, it displayed the same it did everyday for the past three days.
<500 push-ups: completed>
<500 sit-ups: completed>
<200 minute plank: completed>
<200 mile run: completed>
He heaved a sigh of relief, he always did two hundred miles in one direction, so that he could get a little extra workout in by the time he returned to the Wutherhorn manor.
So instead of doing a hundred out, and then a hundred back; he just did four hundred miles in total. That way, he was satisfied, plus it wasn’t enough to make him tired.
After sitting for a while, Jacob stared off into the distance, then his mouth curled, a knowing smile playing on his lips.
"You can come out now." He said to no one in particular. Xenia stiffened, she knew the boy had very high perception, but from where she was standing, she didn’t it was possible for him to notice her presence.
She learned new things about her young master every waking day. She stepped out of the bushes and slowly moved towards him.
"There you are.." He said with a smile. "What prompted you to follow me?"
"You always leave in the morning, I wanted to see where it is that you go." She replied, she didn’t sound nervous, or shaken. Her voice was calm, as calm as flowing water.
"Well, you’ve seen me, I was just doing some early morning exercise, that’s all."
"I’m glad you’re finally taking your fitness seriously."
Jacob laughed at her words, but she was right, he had never taken training or exercise seriously, and part of the reason was that he had never needed to, but now with the possibility of facing his strongest ever opponent, he had to grow up.
Of course, bar Savant, and the Helmand twins, both of whom were actively trying to kill him, he doubted that Heimdall would adopt a similar approach.
He saw Heimdall more as a strategic person, who adopts more psychological styles of warfare than physical.
"Let me join you then, young master." Xenia suggested and got down to begin her push-ups.
Jacob smirked and watched her. "You almost ran out of breath on the way here, and you still want to adopt my own regimen? Don’t burn yourself out Xenia, for my sake."
"Don’t worry young master!" She heaved a sigh and tried her hardest to control her breathing as pushed herself up and down, she finally capped at one hundred and fifty push-ups.
The rest of the morning was fun for Jacob as he watched Xenia try and fail to meet his numbers, but it was only to be expected, he didn’t expect her to do five hundred push-ups and sit-ups anyways, especially not after that two hundred mile run.
It was as though she had not considered that they would have to run back to the Manor after their exercise.
Once she was done, Jacob stood up and dusted his clothes, he then began jumping with each leg from side to side and stretching his arms.
"Well! Time to go back and freshen up." He said as he stared straight at the path ahead of him.
"What!? I just finished, let me get some rest first." Xenia protested, she had hoped that the young master would give her a minute or two to catch her breath but he was already on the move.
"Sorry, but time waits for no one haha." Jacob laughed and zoomed off almost immediately.
"This boy! Grrrr!" Xenia growled as she followed him, they both ran through the tall grasses and trees that lined up the vast space that the estate was built around.
Xenia tried very had to follow but she was already tired from the first round of running. She didn’t have infinite reserves of stamina like Jacob.
After a while of tireless and seemingly endless running, they finally got back to the entrance of the Manor.
Xenia was practically wheezing by now, she bent over and placed her hand on the wall, sweat dripping down her forehead. She struggled to catch her breath as Jacob looked at her with a villainous smile on his face.
It wasn’t that he didn’t care about her, he just liked being mischievous like this sometimes to see how far she would push herself.
"You’re... *wheeze*... incorrigible... *wheeze*." She said, struggling to maintain her stance.
"Not bad for your first day, haha." Jacob joked, patting her on the back and helping her to walk inside.