A Dead Man's Secrets

Chapter Three

Cicero groaned at the incessant beeping of his alarm clock. He slammed his hand down on it and got up. After getting dressed, he grabbed his list of things he had to do. At the bottom of the list, he had scribbled in big letters:

Visit Harvey for advice on teaching safely.

He sighed and walked to the front door. Putting his shoes on, he walked outside and watered his crops, noticing that his cauliflower was almost ready to harvest. He walked into town and towards the doctor's office. Once he got there, he saw Harvey getting everything ready for the day and asked to talk to him for a moment.

"Is something wrong?" The brown haired man asked, making Cicero shake his head. "No, but I just took on a student, and I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm teaching her sword fighting, and I'm not guaranteed that my equipment is all that safe..." He trailed off, waiting for a reply, "And you'd like me to look at it?" Harvey asked, "Yes...If you have the time, that is." Cicero had never felt this awkward asking for help before.

Harvey smiled and nodded, "I'll be off for lunch at 2:00 pm. Will that work?" he asked, making Cicero nod, and Harvey told him that he'd head to the farm once he was off. After Cicero left, Harvey sighed, "I didn't think he was the type to take on students." he muttered to no one in particular, as he resumed preparations for the day.

While he waited for 2:00 to come around, Cicero cleaned as much as he could and made sure that nothing had gotten into the gears of the obstacle course overnight. After he finished doing that, he checked the time, seeing that it was only 10:47 am. "Damnit! How has it only been an hour and a half?!" He exclaimed to himself, scaring away a bird that was resting on the roof of his house.

Cicero sat in silence for about five minutes before he got bored and grabbed his sword to practise until Harvey got there. He slashed at nothing, not wanting to destroy the dummies he set up for Abigail. His personal training didn't come to an end until Harvey arrived. The man didn't even have to call out for him, he just stopped and walked towards him, leaning his sword against the wall on the way.

"I can see why someone wants to learn from you, you're good with a sword." Harvey commented, earning a small smile from Cicero. Cicero led him over to the obstacle course and turned it on, making Harvey go pale in the face, "She's going to train on this?" he asked quietly, earning a small nod from Cicero. "Yes. I just recreated what my father used to train me but without the swords, axes, and fire." The scared man replied, worrying Harvey to no end, as he realised how much more dangerous it could have been, "In that case, try to make the ground around it as soft as possible. That way your student will at least bruise less..." he trailed off, as he thought of ways to make it safer without making it ineffective. "When will you be training again?" The doctor asked, looking at the sword fighter with conviction.

"At night. My student's father doesn't want her to train. The only reason I'm ignoring that is because I caught her trying to go to the mines to train herself." Cicero explained, watching as Harvey went from determined to horrified when he mentioned that she tried to go to the monster infested mines by herself. "I'm certainly glad you stopped her, and I'm glad she's getting training from a proper trainer. Even if your methods are a little...unorthodox...How about this, you teach her with the softened floor. See how well it works. And, you also give me a copy of your plans every week." Harvey suggested, making Cicero think about it before agreeing.

Harvey sighed in relief at the fact that he would be kept in the loop, and this random person was going to be able to get help if she got hurt while training. He pondered on the identity of Cicero's student before dropping the subject from his mind. It wasn't his business.