Since Lucy had gone so far as to say that, and even scheduled a duel for after her training was complete.
Andrew agreed directly.
After all, he was going to teach people anyway. Herding one sheep or a whole flock made little difference.
It was just a feeling.
It seemed the two people in front of him had slightly underestimated just how terrifying the training methods of a Hunter—even a novice Hunter—could be.
Recalling that time under the Sapphire Star when he wished he were dead.
Andrew chose to first test Lucy's current physical condition to assess what level of training plan he should formulate.
It would be big trouble if he accidentally trained her into an injury.
Thinking of this, Andrew extended his hand directly in front of Lucy and signaled to her:
"Lucy, try to use all your strength to see if you can squeeze or bend my hand. No need to hold back, do your best."
Seeing Lucy grasp his palm with one hand, assuming a posture like she wanted to arm-wrestle, Andrew immediately spoke up to remind her:
"There are no posture requirements. I need you to use all your strength, so using both hands is also fine."
Upon hearing this, Lucy's intense competitive spirit was immediately ignited.
However, because of her previous admiration for Andrew and her understanding of his strength, she quickly realized that Andrew was telling the truth.
She didn't refute him, but she couldn't help but say with a bit of defiance:
"Fine! If I manage to move it, don't be scared!"
As she spoke, she placed both of her hands into Andrew's large palm simultaneously.
Although she had many courses in school that required the prolonged use of both hands, such as swordsmanship.
Even so, those palms that underwent frequent maintenance still remained extremely soft and tender.
As Lucy placed them in Andrew's hand, supported by his large palm, they looked so petite and exquisite.
Though the palms were small, her fingers were very slender and long.
They were as smooth and clean as white jade.
Her meticulously manicured nails were round and smooth, revealing a healthy pale pink color.
The perfect shape of her hands was enough to make any hand fetishist go crazy on the spot.
The only pity was that Andrew was not a hand fetishist. The fact that he didn't subconsciously play with them a couple of times was truly regrettable.
However, although Lucy had talked big.
Reality could not be changed by a few tough words.
When Lucy actually began to exert force, no matter how hard she tried, apart from turning her originally pink and tender fingers pale from the pressure, it had no effect whatsoever.
Instead, it allowed Andrew to truly feel the softness of Lucy's palms, even without playing with them.
Seeing that her exertion really had no effect at all, even though she was mentally prepared, Lucy couldn't help but feel a little incredulous.
Instantly, Lucy's unyielding nature began to gain the upper hand again.
Getting carried away, her exertion shifted from just her arms to her upper body, and finally, she lowered her body weight, practically hanging her entire self on his arm.
While using force from head to toe, she even utilized her body weight.
But no matter how Lucy increased her strength, holding her breath until her pretty face turned completely red, she felt as if she were hanging onto a piece of gym equipment back at the academy.
It was like trying to bend something that was impossible to bend.
After letting go, she subconsciously knelt on the ground. Lucy muttered to herself with a gloomy expression:
"I lost... I lost. In just two short days in the Outer Ring, I've actually suffered another crushing defeat..."
If the contest with Caesar before was the most miserable loss of her life.
Then, just one day later, Lucy's record for miserable defeats was refreshed once again by Andrew.
And it was a pure, crushing stomp.
Looking at the somewhat familiar scene before her.
The familiar testing method reminded Caesar of what happened the morning she took Andrew to Blazewood.
Caesar, who had experienced the same feeling, went up to Lucy, patted her shoulder carelessly, and tried to comfort her:
"Don't mind it too much, Eldest Miss. With Andrew's physical constitution, even I couldn't move him! Let alone you, who haven't even beaten me!"
Shaking her head, Caesar continued with an expression of honest truth-telling:
"Compared to wanting to compete with Andrew in strength, you should consider how to win against me first."
These words were meant as comfort, but for Lucy, who was being comforted, it was no different from adding fuel to the fire.
She stopped being depressed and immediately looked up, staring at Caesar with angry eyes:
"Caesar, you idiot! Very good! I accept your provocation! Just you wait!!"
Hearing this, Caesar, whose competitive spirit was also not low, immediately stood up in defiance.
She immediately argued loudly:
"What! I was kind enough to comfort you, and you actually called me an idiot! Do I not need to save face?!"
"Seeing me lose here and coming over to provoke me with sarcasm, did you expect me to praise you instead?"
When two people with extremely strong competitive spirits got together, the final result was, of course, that neither would give way to the other.
Hearing this, Caesar's unyielding spirit was also thoroughly triggered, and she chose to retort in kind:
"Ah, yes, yes, yes, Eldest Miss Lucy Montefio. I am provoking you—I think you just realized you can't win against Andrew at all, so you specifically came to vent your anger on me, right?"
Although Caesar always looked goofy, perhaps it was the intuition of an idiot, but many times she could hit the core of the problem with a single sentence.
Lucy, who was directly triggered, was left a bit speechless by Caesar's words. So she simply gave up on arguing and angrily pulled out the sturdiest baseball bat she had found in Blazewood.
Smashing the cracked pot, she shouted:
"Ugh, aaah—enough, Caesar! I want to duel you! Today is the day the Sons of Calydon change owners!"
Caesar, who had always preferred using her hands over her mouth, heard Lucy say this.
Immediately, she stopped arguing. Instead, she beamed with joy as she pulled out her 'Veni' and 'Vidi', speaking provocatively at the same time:
"Heh, come on then, who's afraid of whom! A-Cao, come over and be the referee!"
Watching the two who had started dueling aside at the drop of a hat, casually picking someone to be the referee.
Andrew scratched his head, a little bewildered.
Didn't they say they would duel after the training was finished?
How did they start fighting already?
"Those two... will they be okay?"
A bit unsure if he should step forward to stop the two, Andrew turned his head and asked the remaining two little pigs who had come with them.
Regarding Andrew's question, A-Mu, the second oldest, shook his head and said, already seemingly a bit used to it:
"It's fine, Boss, you don't need to mind. Since Captain Lucy arrived two days ago, this kind of situation happens about two or three times a day."
A-Zhuan also nodded from the side, chiming in:
"Right, right, it's fine! Although Captain Lucy never wins, as long as you don't get grabbed to be the referee, it's fine. Last time when Big Sis Burnice was the referee, she delayed the scoring because she was drinking Fuel Drink, and she got scolded by both of them in a fit of anger."
Ah, this.
Was this just how the two of them got along?
Andrew had to express his understanding and respect.
Ignoring the two fighting heatedly over there, Andrew began to think about how to train Lucy based on the strength she had just displayed.
After she grabbed Andrew's arm with both hands, her pretty face flushing red from the exertion of not admitting defeat, Andrew had gained a certain level of understanding regarding her physical condition.
But subsequently, Andrew, who had estimated the rough data, discovered a somewhat awkward fact.
That was, with Lucy's current physical constitution, although it could be called excellent compared to other ordinary people in New Eridu.
If placed before a Hunter's training methods.
It seemed she couldn't endure even the most basic training of a Hunter.
Thinking it over again and again, having no better method, Andrew decided to first follow the normal training process while using Felyne Meals to enhance her physical constitution.
Just like with Belle and Wise.
However, compared to the siblings, Lucy had the support of training from noble equestrian and swordsmanship courses at school.
Lucy's physical constitution—not to mention compared to when Andrew first met the siblings who were super shut-ins—
Even compared to now, after they had been strengthened by Felyne Meals for such a long time, she could still be said to be slightly superior.
Comparing the two, Lucy was indeed much better than the siblings in terms of basics.
Or perhaps it was that Belle and the others had basics that were just too poor.
As for weapons...
Although Lucy said the school had swordsmanship courses, according to her, they learned the western rapier in school.
Leaving aside that Andrew was actually not familiar with that kind of weapon at all, judging by the expression of utter disgust Lucy showed whenever it was mentioned...
She probably wouldn't touch that thing when choosing a weapon later.
He turned his head to look at the way she wielded the baseball bat with impressive vigor while engaging in live combat with Caesar in the distance. He felt that she seemed to like the weapon currently in her hand more?
After thinking it over.
Regarding the weapon, Andrew decided to wait until she made up her mind about what weapon to use before considering how to teach her.
Don't ask why he didn't teach her a Hunter's weapon.
Because with Lucy's physique, which could be considered quite petite compared to a Hunter, at least in Andrew's eyes...
But even if he didn't teach her Hunter weapons.
Andrew still had things he could teach her.
As for now, it was better to first raise her physical constitution, just like the siblings.
When the time came, even if she still hadn't chosen a favorite weapon, relying on physical constitution to perform miracles with brute force wasn't a bad method.
Having a rough idea in his heart about Lucy's training method, Andrew also breathed a sigh of relief.
Having solved this suddenly appearing problem, Andrew actually already had ideas and preparations for the three little pigs that Big Daddy had commissioned him to teach earlier.
It was just that, compared to originally preparing to have himself, a Hunter, imitate the teaching, now he could directly let the master do it himself.
Yes, Andrew prepared to use the Felyne training method to train these three little pigs.
After all, the physiques of the three little pigs were simply too petite; even stacked together, they were only about as tall as Lucy.
It could be said that it was almost impossible for them to fully learn human fighting methods.
Let alone a Hunter's.
But Felynes were different.
Not only were Felyne physiques similar, but as cats trained from a young age, the training volume was actually more suitable.
Moreover, Felyne weapons were also more suitable.
Furthermore, with Meow-Da, the Felyne weapons that Andrew would have originally needed to fabricate from memory now had a formal artisan.
He turned his head to look at Meow-Da, who had been lying on his shoulder watching the noisy Lucy and Caesar the whole time.
Andrew first rubbed his head before continuing:
"Meow-Da, their training will be left to you from now on."
"Meow? Me?"
Meow-Da looked at Andrew with a bit of surprise upon hearing this.
He hadn't even thought that teaching people would have anything to do with him, so he hadn't paid attention to the matter at all earlier.
Instead, he had been focused on lying on the shoulder armor and sunbathing.
Only until Andrew nodded in confirmation did he speak with a bit of disbelief.
And Andrew immediately affirmed his question.
"That's right. After thinking it over, Meow-Da, your abilities are more suitable for them than mine."
"However, it's too difficult to make them multitask like you in a short time. Let them specialize in one thing first later on."
Since Andrew affirmed it, Meow-Da naturally wouldn't question or refuse his Boss's arrangement.
After all, since Boss said so, he definitely had his own considerations!
So he immediately nodded and said seriously:
"Okay! Since you say so, Boss, then I will definitely work hard to teach them well later!"
However, the specific teaching was something that needed to be done later.
What needed to be done now was to let Meow-Da familiarize himself with his two strongholds in New Eridu.
The Seliana Smithy on Sixth Street was too far, that could wait until later. Now, of course, was to take Meow-Da to see Silver City.
And at the gate of Silver City, only one figure remained.
After confirming the other party was truly someone familiar to Andrew, Anby had already sent the other Silver Squad members back.
But she herself still kept watch at the gate.
Although there was still no expression on her face, her eyes, which clearly brightened after seeing Andrew, and her subconscious little movements all indicated that her mood was actually very happy.
"Andrew, welcome back!"
Looking at Anby, whose human scent was becoming stronger and stronger, Andrew couldn't help but reveal a trace of a smile.
He nodded gently and said:
"I'm back."
After speaking, he first introduced Anby's situation to Meow-Da, and indicated to both sides that the other party could be completely trusted.
And Anby also volunteered to take on the task of explaining things about New Eridu to Meow-Da.
Rubbing Anby's head, Andrew turned to look around, wanting to find Nicole to understand the current learning situation of the Silver Squad.
But looking left and right, he didn't find Nicole's figure in Silver City.
So he turned to look at Anby and asked:
"Anby, where is Nicole?"
_____
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