"It's your turn to come with me today, Lily," Earl told the demon girl as she was dressing him.
"Lily thought Master had magic lessons today?"
"Ah, you can just come along."
"Lily is getting shivers just thinking about the Queen."
"She's not that bad." Earl rubbed her head.
In the mirror, he was dressed in a plain white dress shirt with a navy blazer on top and charcoal grey flannel pants. His hair was neat and trimmed to a reasonable level. Overall, he looked like a well-educated, sophisticated noble of high status.
"Come over here, I'll fix you up too." He signalled for Lily to come in front of the mirror.
The demon girl came into view. Her crimson red hair was tied into a bun today and her maid uniform was perfect. Earl tightened a few ribbons and hugged her.
Lily wore a content face and spoke. "You will be late, Master."
"You are right. One more minute, though."
"Yes."
The two then left the castle together to meet Saryll in the Elven Forest.
"You brought one of your maids today?" Saryll lifted an eyebrow at their arrival.
"Are you jealous? Don't worry, your student just has a few things to do with her later."
"Hmm is that so? Indeed, I am jealous. Lily is so cute after all, hehe."
Before Lily could react, Saryll was already in front of her and touching the former's cheeks.
"Master... Nyah. Lily needs to be saved!"
"Hehehe."
"I must go greet the spirits, Lily. Hang tight."
"No!!"
Earl left to start his usual spirit training routine. Greeting the spirits was an important part of maintaining a good relationship between the caster and the spirit. It was also an important part of the elven tradition.
The next part of the training was control and precision. Saryll then set up various targets around the forest for Earl to locate and destroy. It was the most time-consuming part of her training.
Control and precision training were essential in increasing the user's coordination with their magic. In regular terms, it would be "hand-eye coordination", but in this case, magic.
Magic mastery was not something that could be acquired in one day. Regardless of how talented one was, there was no way to skip this sort of training. The most talented person of the generation, Ari never skipped on any training. This was why she was the only Archmage of the generation. In a sense, it was a true test of hard work and dedication. Days of training would accumulate into true mastery.
The last part of the training was sparring. There was a very critical reason for why this was saved for last.
"Your movements are becoming sluggish. Concentrate." Saryll advised as she dodged his attacks.
Earl panted heavily. "This never becomes easier... Haah..."
"Of course not. Your skills would be comparable to your mother's if your execution is always flawless regardless of body conditions."
"Haah... This is why we're doing this, right?"
"Exactly, so don't slack off."
The purpose of this training was to condition Earl to be able to use all his spells at perfect condition regardless of how exhausted he was. It was the line that separated mediocre mages from excellent mages.
Mediocre mages may be able to use all the spells in their arsenal perfectly during the training, but all that training would be for nought if they could not do the same during life and death situations.
"It's... finally over..." Earl puffed out a breath of air and laid down lifelessly after the training was over.
"Good job today." Saryll praised with a smile. Her teacher mode was off and she was back in her passive big sister mode. In her smile, there was immense proudness for her student.
Seeing that the two was done, Lily ran over from under a tree. She easily plopped Earl's head on her lap and wiped his sweat off.
"How sweet. How come no one ever does that for me?" Saryll saw the sight and sighed.
"Ahem. Lily is mine, Teacher. But if you wish, I am open to tending to you like this."
"Is this a trap?"
"There is not a single malicious bone in my body, Teacher. Don't worry, I'll touch that body of yours real well." Earl spoke eloquently while laying down on Lily's lap.
"My leg suddenly feels itchy. I might need to step onto something." She hovered her feet over his face.
"Uh." He laughed nervously.
They conversed freely for a few minutes before Saryll had to leave.
Lily and Earl were alone now. The wind blew, fluttering their clothes. A single leaf gently dropped down like a feather on Earl's forehead. Lily moved her hand to remove the leaf. Her cold hand briefly grazed by Earl's forehead.
"Let me lay down like this for a while."
"Rest as much as you need, Master." Lily smiled softly and caressed his face.
"It's rare to see you be so gentle."
"Of course, Lily can be gentle. It's just that Sis is usually better at this than Lily."
"You guys are both... excellent..." Earl told her before dozing off.
When he woke up, he was still laying down on Lily's lap. Her soft, supple thighs pressed against his head and the sky was still bright. He yawned and sat up.
Lily was looking right at him when he turned around. Her innocent face reflected pure feelings for him.
"Master was asleep for about 2 hours." She told him.
"Sorry about that. Your legs must be numb now."
"Master can carry Lily then."
"I'll do that."