Chapter 277 Winter Solstice

Tuesday, December 15th.

Pedrarruna Manor, Elffire City.

The first day of Winter arrived and with it, it brought snow coming from the skies.

The Winter Solstice.

On this cold dark Winter Solstice day, we await the birth of the sun, but the sun did not come to greet us.

From this, the shortest day of the year is the promise of hope and light.

The wheel ever turning onwards, takes us through the longest night.

Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand, and a talk beside the fire, it is the time for a home.

Winter is not a season, it is an occupation.

What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give its sweetness?

Snow was falling, so much like stars filling the dark trees of the Pedrarruna Forest, that one could easily imagine its reason for being nothing more than prettiness.

The snow fell slowly and calmly, it seemed to think that it was enough to mark the start of the cold season in Elffire City.

But this calm snowfall happened throughout the entire night.

If Elffire City was an underdeveloped city, the streets of the city would be covered with snow by now.

The citizens would be held in their homes.

The students would not be able to go to school or college.

The workers would not be able to go to work.

All types of establishments would not open.

Shortly, the city would stop.

Everyone would suffer damage and losses because of the snow on the streets.

But this was the Sakura Abode Country.

The most technological country in Azure Star.

Decades ago, the country developed a system that made it possible to melt the snow off the streets.

No matter how much snow it is there.

And Elffire City was no different.

Every street of the city had this system.

But because it was very expensive to use this system, the government only turned it on when the Winter arrived.

Now that the Winter officially arrived, the government promptly turned on the system.

That's why when the citizens woke up that morning and left their homes, they did not see any snow on the streets.

Even though if they looked at the sky, they would be able to see the snowflakes falling constantly.

The miracles of technology.

No one would be able to excuse themselves from work or school because streets filled with snow.

Some citizens hated and some loved the system.

The ones who hated were the lazy ones who did not want to leave their homes in the cold weather.

And the ones who loved were the ones who had things to do that could not be delayed by the snowy weather.

Some girls who lived in Elffire City loved the system.

That was because they had an appointment early in the morning every day.

They were Ayia, Shizuka, Sam, June, and Sayuri.

The five of them had a Martial Arts Training at Theo and Aurora's house every day.

At first, Ayia and Shizuka were the most excited about the training.

But after training for more than two weeks, Sayuri, Sam, and June started feeling happier and happier as they trained with Theo and the girls.

They could feel themselves becoming stronger and more confident.

Now if they see a guy bigger than them, they will not be as afraid as before.

They know exactly how to proceed.

Search for escape routes and escape as fast as possible.

If that is not possible, try to attack the opponent's vitals.

That's why the three of them did not complain anymore about waking up early in the morning.

And of course, Theo and Ayia's breakfast played a huge role in making the girls more excited about the morning workout.

That Tuesday morning, which marked the first day of Winter, the morning workout happened as usual.

There was no snow on the streets when the girls left their houses, so they did not have trouble arriving at Theo's house.

"Come on! I want you to put all your strength!" Theo shouted as he watched the girls practicing.

In today's training, Theo made the girls exercise the strength of their kicks and punches.

The girls needed to be used to using more strength most efficiently.

"Sam! Spin your hips! Remember, even if you do not strength in your arms, you can still punch strongly if you spin your hips!" He shouted when he noticed that the blonde girl was not turning her hips.

Sam nodded weakly and kicked the way that Theo taught her.

The front leg turned sideways and the back leg kicked as the hip spun to give the movement more strength.

A classic kick.

But Theo needed the girls to make the use of her hips a common scene.

After all, the movement of the hips also played a huge part in punches and in other martial arts techniques.

That's why Theo tried to still this thought every day through training.

So far, he thought that the girls were becoming more and more used to using their hips in the techniques.

"Ayia! Shizuka! Aurora! Control your body! Even though I told you to punch and kick the hardest you can. You still have to be precise! More precision!" He shouted as he looked at the three girls.

Ayia, Aurora, and Shizuka did not need to train to be used to using their hips.

They knew without even thinking how to use their hips in the techniques.

That's why Theo devised a different exercise for them.

They would have to kick and punch the equipment the hardest they could, but there were marks on the equipment.

The three of them could only hit these marks, and if they missed even a little bit the marks, they would have to do 20 situps and 20 push-ups.

This training was for them to become more aware of their bodies and learn how to control them.

Even if someone was super strong, if he/she didn't know how to control their body, they would still lose to someone who knew how to control their bodies.

Control was a key step for every grandmaster.

Every Grandmaster knew how to control their bodies almost inhumanly.

That's why Theo gave Ayia and Shizuka a much harder controlling exercise than Aurora's.

The two girls were sweating bullocks, but they still failed constantly.

Even though their arms and abdomen were burning in pain because of the situps and pushups, they were still happy because they could feel they were becoming better at controlling their own bodies.

Meanwhile, Aurora had a much easier control exercise, but she was still having huge troubles with it.

But that was not a surprise, after all, she was not a Black Belt Martial Artist like Ayia and Shizuka.

But Theo was more than satisfied with her progress.

He could say without any doubt that Aurora would become a Grandmaster years later.

That was how talented she was.

Theo continued the training until the time for them to leave arrived.

He announced the ending of the training, and they all gathered at the center of the tatami to the ending formation.

"FIGHTERS!" Theo shouted as he cupped his hands.

"SENSEI!" The girls shouted back as they also cupped their hands.

They bumped hands and headed to take a shower.

They had a long day ahead of them.

But before that, they had breakfast together.

Breakfast to warm their bellies on that cold day of Winter Solstice.