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Tafel lay on the ground, panting for breath. She stared up at the sky, sweat running down her face, dripping onto the cold earth beneath her. Her sword lay by her side, and Vur was sitting next to her, munching on a muffin. Tafel glared at him. “Are you just going to watch?”
Vur nodded as he chewed.
Mary opened her eyes and brought her legs down to her face. She righted herself and dusted off her forehead with the tips of her gauntlet. Her hair flowed like red water as she shook her head, scattering the leaves that had piled up in her hair. She looked down at Tafel, her body casting a shadow along the demon’s face. “You gave up already?”
Tafel gritted her teeth as she sat up, clutching her sword. “I was just taking a short break. Breaks are necessary to prevent overexertion.”
“Are you sure?” Mary asked, tilting her head. “I never had to take any breaks.”
Tafel dug the tip of her sword into the ground and used it to support herself as she climbed to her feet, her body trembling. “I bet you couldn’t do ten thousand right off the bat,” she said and bit her lower lip. “I’m just getting started.”
“But you won’t finish,” Mary said. “It’s been six hours and you’ve only done two thousand swings. Even if you can keep up your current rate, you’ll only finish eight thousand. Now that you’re tired, you’re only going to slow down. And when will you find time to sleep and eat?” Mary tilted her head. “You’re half a magician too, aren’t you? How are you going to practice ten thousand spells as well?”
Tafel exhaled. “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
“Can’t you draw a magic circle on the ground and teleport?” Vur asked. He crumpled up the paper used to hold the muffin and set it on fire, dusting the ashes off of his palm. “You can skip all the steps that way.”
Tafel narrowed her eyes at her husband. “You’re not helping.”
Vur shrugged. “Just saying.”
Mary crossed her arms over her chest. “Didn’t you want to know how I trained to catch up to me? Do you think I’m going to be waiting around for you to catch up? When you’re able to do ten thousand swings a day, I’ll have doubled that. When you catch up again, I’ll have doubled it again. As long as you try to compare yourself to me, you’ll never be satisfied.”
“I can do it,” Tafel said and bit her lower lip. “I’ll catch up, beat you, and make you eat your words. I promise.”
“You’re like a child telling an adult that she’ll one day be the same age as her,” Mary said. “The sooner you realize which tasks are futile, the more time you can devote to things that matter.” She sighed and shook her head. “When I was growing up, my father had me and my siblings tutored in many subjects: geography, math, economics, philosophy, ethics, literature, music, etiquette. It was to prepare us in case we succeeded the throne.” Mary puffed her chest out. “From the very start, I failed every single one of my courses. My tutors were famous individuals with multiple publications backing them, but they were perplexed by my inability to retain even the slightest bit of information. Once I realized I wasn’t suited for learning such trivial matters, I skipped all my lessons and devoted myself to training instead. While my brothers and sisters spent time learning, I spent my time training. When they spent time training, I spent my time training. They didn’t realize how inefficient it was to focus on two things when they should’ve picked the better one to focus on instead. That’s why I’m the empress.”
Tafel’s expression darkened. “You really shouldn’t sound so proud about being unable to run your empire properly.”
Mary snorted. “You’re paying attention to the wrong thing,” she said, placing her hands on her hips. “Swordsmanship or magic, give up one of them and focus entirely on the other. Since your body is already so frail and it seems like you have a lot of mana, you should focus on magic. Why did you even pick up the sword in the first place?”
“That’s…,” Tafel said and lowered her head. Why had she picked up the sword in the first place? “You know, since I have a lot more mana and better mana control compared to the average magician, I’m basically a genius. I had time to focus on learning the sword while still being able to outperform my peers in magic. Wasn’t it better to strengthen my deficiencies in close combat by learning how to use a weapon?”
“When I engaged you in close combat, how much help was that sword to you?” Mary asked. “Instead of capitalizing on your talent, you chose to waste your time learning something you’re only mediocre at.”
“Is that true…?” Tafel muttered to herself. She glanced at Vur, but he was picking his nose and staring up at the clouds in the sky. Tafel pursed her lips and gripped the hilt of her sword. Was the decade she spent training with the Swirling Winds a waste? After receiving her phoenix imprint, the amount of mana she had increased, but her strength barely budged. Wouldn’t it have been more effective to focus on magic the whole time?
Mary furrowed her brow upon seeing the expression on Tafel’s face. She drew her sword and tapped Tafel’s shoulder with the flat of her blade. Tafel looked up and met her eyes. “If you think you can do this one day, then continue training with your sword,” Mary said as she removed her left gauntlet. “If not, give up.”
Tafel blinked as Mary stabbed her sword into the palm of her left hand. Her already pale skin paled even further as her arm pulsed, her sword drinking her blood. Once her forehead became slick with sweat, Mary pulled the sword out of her hand and swung it at the sky with an underhand slice. A crashing sound echoed through Tafel’s ears as a line appeared in the air and extended towards the sky. Heat flooded Tafel’s body as the air was rapidly compressed and decompressed by Mary’s sword strike as if a thunderbolt had struck the ground beside her. A red line appeared in the sky as the air was set ablaze by the friction from Mary’s swing, but it disappeared almost as fast as it appeared. The clouds above dispersed, causing Vur to let out a small sound. He lowered his head and gestured at Tafel while pointing up. “The clouds are gone.”
Tafel nodded, her mouth hanging open. She raised her sword up to her face and sighed. “Sorry, Chi’Rururp. I don’t think I’ll be using you much longer.”
Mary exhaled as she slid her gauntlet back on and sheathed her sword. She wobbled before steadying herself by grabbing onto Tafel’s arm. “I want to take a bath.”
Tafel raised an eyebrow as she lowered her sword. “Then take one?”
“I’ll get lost if I try to find my way back,” Mary said. “Take me there.”
“You can literally see the roof of Apollonia’s mansion over there…,” Tafel said and pointed at the building peeking above the trees.
Mary pursed her lips. “Take me there.”