The next morning was eventful.
Karla made her grand entrance, and told me something that she hadn't yesterday. She is to be my personal maid, and thus is technically no longer employed by the family, instead by me. This doesn't change much, as I hardly have the servants do anything for me anyway. Though, it's certainly a nice gesture and I appreciate it nonetheless.
After that, Karla follows me around during my daily activities. She observed my morning exercise, and even took over for the chef before breakfast. I'll admit, having someone other than Vincent watch me train is more embarrassing than I thought it would be. Up to this point the other servants have left us alone while I train, but now I assume Karla will be in attendance everyday.
Though this is also a blessing in disguise, as from what I saw at the tour, the facilities in the Academy are almost entirely public and as such I will likely not get to be alone when training there. Having Karla observing will help me get used to it beforehand.
Another benefit to having Karla around for training, is that she has healing magic. From 'Will Given Form', I learned that recovery magic in any form is rare in this age. This knowledge just serves to add to my ever growing confusion as to why Viscount Roalen would ever send her away.
Vincent didn't have any objections to using healing magic after training, but requested that Karla keep it simple enough to only accelerate my natural healing, so my body still gets stronger. All their technical talk went in one ear and out the other, so I focused on exercising. I'm definitely still new to all this Magic stuff.
Now I'm preparing to spar with Vincent before lunch. Having training all day every day may seem excessive, but I have no complaints and Vincent hasn't tried to stop me. I haven't won a single time against Vincent yet, but with good sleep and the additional boost from Karla's magic, now I'm feeling confident.
I walk out onto the training ground, and Vincent is already standing in the center with a wooden sword in his hands.
"Are you ready?"
"I'll be ready once I get a weapon."
As I speak, I walk to the nearby rack to grab a training sword. With it, I position myself in front of Vincent in the same stance he has, dominant foot forward and sword raised.
"Please give us a countdown." Vincent calls out to Karla on the sidelines.
"Yes sir, 5"
Vincent stares down at me, and I can't tell what he's thinking.
"4"
I tightly grip my sword.
"3"
I can feel my heart beat faster.
"2"
It pounds in my chest like thunder.
"1"
I can feel my adrenaline pumping.
"Begin!"
With no delay, Vincent's sword comes down on my head and I swing up to parry.
I jump back, then lunge forward with my sword low for an upward slash.
Vincent responds by dodging gracefully to the side, and quickly counters towards my shoulder.
I have no time to block, so I attempt to dodge.
His sword grazes my shoulder, but now I'm off balance.
"Moving around so much leaves you with too many openings." He says as he stabs towards my chest.
"I know!" I shout, as I attempt to block.
Barely keeping his sword off, I back away for a moment to catch my breath.
Vincent doesn't give me any time and lunges.
His sword draws a sharp arc toward my side, and I cleanly block it.
I swiftly guide his sword between us, and attempt to stay locked in the clash.
Putting more strength into my arms, I push up quickly to break his guard, and bring my sword back down towards his shoulder.
Vincent's sword comes straight down on to mine, slamming the tip into the ground below.
"That was good." He says while stepping back. "Now do it again."
Without saying anything I step forward hard, and quickly unleash an onslaught of swings and stabs into Vincent.
He blocks all of them, but I see an opening.
Sharply inhaling, I put all my strength into my grip.
I swing hard and fast toward his right arm.
Quicker than I can blink, Vincent's sword is on course to parry mine.
At the very last moment, I alter the trajectory of my sword just enough that it dodges his, and goes straight into his leg.
After getting that hit in, I step back. My arms hurt immensely from forcing my sword down fast enough to dodge his guard.
Vincent seems completely fine but I know that was a good hit, he's just a monster.
He gets into position again without saying anything, and I can see faint emotions in his eyes. A mix of pride and... something I can't describe.
I also get into position and Karla gives us a short countdown.
"3, 2, 1, begin!"
Vincent rushes me with his sword low, just as I did in the first round, then swings up with force that seems to make the air vibrate.
Instead of trying to parry, I instinctively dodge to the right.
Without missing a beat, I swing toward his left arm and he blocks with ease.
He swings, I block.
I swing, he blocks.
My mind begins to go blank as we exchange blows, slipping into a trance.
He swings, I block.
I swing, he blocks.
He stabs straight forward into my chest, and I narrowly dodge to the left.
Time seems to slow again, and I can see a beautiful red arc from the tip of my sword to Vincent's collarbone.
NOW!
I swing harder and faster than ever before, perfectly tracing the line.
Once again, Vincent's sword moves faster than I can see, and smashes into mine with force I haven't felt since we first started sparring.
It feels like my sword could leave my hands at any moment but my arms keep moving, swinging down unimpeded to complete the arc.
Vincent's gloved hands move, letting go of his sword and reaching up to intercept me.
I push with all my might to break through.
But the moment his hands grip the blade it stops.
I stare into Vincent's eyes.
They're open wide, staring back at me with an indescribable emotion.
*Clatter*
Snapping out of my trance, I look behind me to see what made that sound, hands still gripping my sword... that is laying on the ground, missing its blade.
I turn back to look at what I'm holding, and before my eyes is a shining silver sword in the shape of the one on the ground behind me.