Master and student
**Bomb!**
"Kyaaa!" I exclaimed.
The mansion's practice court became covered in a dust cloud.
There I was, flying through the sky, emerging above the dust cloud.
I was so high up I could see the whole town of Vismagia, rather, I could have if I were conscious, that is.
Mind you, we are on the outskirts of town in a secluded cabin, so the height I was in the sky would be the same as the height birds usually fly at to avoid any obstacles.
☆☆☆
"Aaaaahh." I rose from the bed like I had just had a nightmare. "Where... am I?"
"Finally, you're awake."
"Master..."
On the side, sitting beside me was my master, Reina Stacia. But I call her master Rei.
"Aah!". My head hurts..."
I place my hand on my forehead to somehow suppress the throbbing pain in my head. It was vibrating like a beating heart.
"Well, you did hit your head pretty badly when you fell from the sky earlier."
"..."
"Pfufufufu... The way you fell was pretty funny."
"Huh?!... Are you being freaking serious right now?"
She covered her mouth to muffle the sound of her laughing at me. She was even holding her stomach to suggest the great pressure she was under, trying to control her laugh.
It's been 6 months since Mary found me in the forest of the Mist Country and welcomed me to stay with them at the mansion.
After that, master Reina immediately took me under her wing as her pupil to teach me about combat.
For some reason, she was fascinated to see how I would perform in combat. Taking me as her pupil was a decision not made to teach me to become strong; rather, I believe it was so she could observe my development.
The combat training mostly consisted of strength training to increase my stamina, speed, and power.
And to improve my reaction time to different attacks.
I was not allowed to attack back. We had focused mainly on defensive fighting most of the time, but today she thought it best to move on to sparring matches with her. I was allowed to use what I learned to attack.
"Master, would you please stop using powerful spells on me... And weren't we supposed to be using swordplay only?"
"Fufufu... Hahaha!."
"And stop laughing!"
"Hoo... What are you talking about? I didn't use powerful spells... That was just low-level fire magic."
She just chose to ignore my plea for justice and fair play, and only decided to defend her use of magic as being less than what it was.
"Do you even hear yourself?... Low-level fire magic doesn't explode the whole freaking practice court!"
"Those are the whining of a weakening."
She said, waving her hand at me. She was trying to dismiss this as nothing but my own weakness. Clearly, she was not about to take accountability for the matter.
She defended her claim, and I was out of energy to quarrel with her because she would just bring it up to my weakness, but then, something dawned on me.
"Wait... I thought fire magic was not your forte... so what was that?"
"Oh, that was just the use of my skill."
"...Skill?"
People in this world not only have magic, but some are even fortunate to have special powers outside of magic called skill.
They might be outside of magic, but can be used together with or to improve one's magical powers.
And Reina must have been talking about such skills.
Not everyone possesses these skills; only one in a thousand people have them, and only those who have pushed the limits of their mind and mana have acquired them. It is rare for someone to be born with a skill without going through intensive training.
Only a few events were recorded where a person was born with a skill.
Miss Mary, Master Reina, and Sir Marcus are the only ones I know of who have skills, and they were the fruit of pushing their limits.
"You poor sap... I forgot you don't even have a skill."
Look at her, with that smug face of hers mocking me.
Doesn't she have any shame in belittling her pupil like that?
"Tch! What a hag!"
Grinning my teeth and clenching my fists, I somehow let those words slip out of my mouth.
It was unintentional, but there was no turning back.
Reina shifted from mockery to anger.
The smug face disappeared, replaced by veins about to pop on her forehead, and her body became surrounded by a blue aura. The color is nice and kind of refreshing, but the feeling it instills in me is not.
It sent a chill down my spine, as if telling me that I was about to become an ice pop.
I was about to receive a punch from the angry Reina, fully charged and cloaked with her mana, when a sound coming from the door saved me. Her fist stopped just right at my face.
But for some reason, it didn't feel like I was saved.
**CLAP!!**
It's Mary standing at the door.
She looked pissed and oozing with unsettling black mana.
It wasn't the version of pissed where the person blows their fuse and starts going crazy and speaking nonstop while she dished out ass whoopings. No, this one was more disturbing because all she did was close her eyes, wear a quick smile, and ooze black mana.
Though she had her eyes closed, it was as if she could see us clearly. It was a feature only there to add to the intensity of her fury.
She is beautiful, but doing that made her scarier than any woman I've ever seen in this new life of mine.
"So, mind telling me what all this ruckus is about?"
"..."
Both of us stopped in our tracks, and there was silence for a moment. Anything we say wouldn't change the outcome; her face said it all.
It was just a formality before she gave us our punishments.
"Well... you see Miss Mary..."
**Thud! Thud!**
She smacked both of us on the head with her fist and then made us kneel before her like two disciplined, mischievous kids ready to receive a lecture.
"Stop wasting time. You still have to finish your training for the day with Marcus."
"What?! But I just finished training with Master... Can't I take a little break?"
"..."
Mary's eyes instantly darkened.
"Pretty please?"
I mastered the courage to speak again, trying to milk pity out of her, mimicking the cute cat eyes.
Since she's always sweet and kind to me, I thought she would let me slack off.
"You will take a break once you're done with your training... Or would you prefer it when you're dead?"
"No ma'am."
My voice squeaked under her pressure. For the first time, I understood what it would be like if I ever piss Miss Mary off and went against her.
That feeling sent a cold sweat running down my neck.
I didn't want to die, so training was the only option left. Running away was another option, but with that one, no one will be victorious in the end. I'll end up being weak, and they will just be disappointed and worried.
I don't want that.
"Good! Now, be a good boy and go train with Marcus."
I did as she said and walked out of the room, exiting the mansion into the practice court, where a man was waiting for me.
The man stood in the center of the court.
"He sure has grown, hasn't he?"
Reina, who was previously kneeling with Krai, now sat in a boyish manner in the butterfly position with her hands on her knees.
She commanded the space, just like she commands everyone at her mansion.
"Yes. Though he is still in danger and doesn't have much time left... We need to act quickly."
"..."
☆☆☆
"Come on, Young Krai... Is that all you got?"
Said Marcus, grabbing his wooden sword with both hands on the back.
Marcus is the butler of the mansion and appears to be a 50ish-old man.
His build resembles that of someone who gained their muscles from training rather than lifting weights.
He's got white hair and a white goatee beard. Which makes me wonder: Do you get white hair when you're 50?
On his wrinkled 50ish face, he has a scar that stretches diagonally to make a cross on his cheek.
"Keep slacking off, and you will get hurt."
Marcus looked wise under his monocle glasses.
I support myself with my sword, grabbing it by the hilt.
This old man left me covered in bruises on my face and covered in dirt, and now I am feeling pain all over my body again.
It's even hard to speak properly.
"Shut it, old man."
Although it was hard to speak properly, somehow I managed to let my inner thoughts slip out again.
I stood up and held the sword in my hands, ready for another round.
"Oh oh ohh! I see. An old man, huh?"
Marcus released his arms from his back and got into a lunging position.
The sword in his right hand pointed to the side to allow for quicker movement. If it were in front, it would act as a barrier to slow him down, but to the side, it would not.
"Well... Let me show you what this old man can do!"
He lunged at me, sword in hand, at full speed, and took a strike from above.
Though this man was fifty-ish, his movements were still legendary.
There was a gust of wind reacting to the speed of his lunge, and dust moved out of the way to create a path. This man broke the wind barrier without even using magic.
**Clack!**
I managed to block his strike by the skin of my teeth.
"Oh! You reacted to that, huh?"
Our swords were locked into each other. I couldn't parry his strike, and so the only thing left to do was to block.
Man, his swings are heavy. I'm struggling to stand straight.
He didn't stop there.
"Body enhancement magic. Mana build."
Marcus's body started to glow.
There was some colored air flowing into Marcus' body from all directions.
It seemed he was absorbing manacules, and of different kinds.
After a moment, he was surrounded by the light emitted by the mana he absorbed. It was the colour combination of a rainbow.
Or it looked like that from a distance anyway.
"Hey, no fair. You can't use enhancement magic on yourself!"
"I'm an old man... So I need all the help I can get."
Suddenly, Marcus disappeared in front of me. I didn't even blink, and yet he vanished as if I blinked him out of existence.
Within a second, I was receiving attacks from all directions, attacks I couldn't block.
How could I, when I can't even see them coming? It was even harder to predict his next strike, so all I could do was receive the beating I was due for calling him an old man.
I was beaten until I fell to the ground. Now I was even groaning in pain from all the severe bruises he gave me. I couldn't even feel my face.
And the old man stood there watching with a satisfied grin on his face while the glow from his body was dissipating.
"Now, let this old man go rest his old bones... Hahaha."
Damn. That old man is scary. Where does Master find these servants with monstrous powers?
This time, I really struggled to speak. When I spoke, it was as if I had something in my mouth.
"Argh!.. I need to stop thinking out loud."
