After the conclusion to my first very chaotic day at the Empire's academy, it was finally time to start my new school schedule. Before entering, students were given the opportunity to choose their desired subjects to take apart from the required lessons of mathematics, language, history and basic mana use class.
In accordance to school guidelines, I decided to select the maximum amount of four secondary subjects. Practical magic swordsmanship, equestrianism, advanced spells class and finally magical research and artificing.
And today's first lesson seemed to be Practical magic swordsmanship. Now I didn't select any of these lessons because I lacked skill or wanted to learn them, apart from one in particular, but rather because of who I would meet and interact with in these lessons.
A smile slipped on my face as I let out a heavy breath, the blistering sun beaming down at me with its intense rays as gusts of wind picked up behind each of my direct sword swings. My white skin naturally glistened in the skin as sweat secreted from my glands and poured down my earnestly built muscle, each tissue of muscle clearly contracting as I engaged my full body in each motion.
Then emerging from the shadow infested gate beneath the circular stands of the colosseum, as if the figure itself lingered to the umbral deeply clinging to the walls, a high-fixed gaze met mine. Our eyes met and didn't break contact, proof of the unshakable confidence of the person who stepped forward.
I absent-mindedly continued to swing my wooden sword as I gazed at her. Long swaying emerald hair that reached to her waist, brown eyes that fell into a tinge of yellow, sharp brows that edged like swords above her small bridged nose, a little rough at the end. Her toned and muscular physique revealed similarly to mine as she wore a tightly fitted crop-top and tight pants that allowed her to move comfortably.
In a innocent and hushed tone she muttered under her breath. "I didn't expect anyone else to be here..."
Her eyes continued to hone in on me as she paused in a single place and gave a small frown.
"Did I catch you off guard?" I joked, my smile getting brighter as my unbreakable stance continued to repeat the same sword swing.
"Hmm...maybe a little," She mused to herself and seemed to drown in her own thoughts.
I chuckled to myself lightly, remembering her quiet nature from the game I came to admire.
"Sorry, am I distracting you?" I asked, to which she only tilted her head to the side. "I'm talking about my lack of shirt. Do you want me to wear one?" I offered.
"No, that's fine. It's better to train swordsmanship and martial arts that way anyway. You can better see how your body moves and correct your movement more finely. I'm also exposing my body, so it would be quite unfair to request something like that from you." She noted a fair argument.
What a sound woman!
But as she finished her sentence, her mouth seemed to slightly dropped and her feet slowly tread towards me. For the first time since three hours ago when I arrived, I stopped swinging.
"You okay there?" I asked, her face close to my body as she examined me, her hand rubbing me up and down.
"Your body...is really impressive. Are you really only my age?" She began to question me as her face then poked up before me, our noses grazing each other. She was quite tall for a girl, but still shorter than me.
"You think so?" I continued to drag on the conversation, patting her head with my right hand. Disgruntled, she slowly back away from me as she ruffled her head with both her heads and looked at me with saddened eyes.
"What are those puppy dog eyes for?" I laughed.
She continued to ignore my remark and returned to her previous points. "Yes, your body really is impressive. The development of each muscle is incredible and your mass is no joke either for someone only sixteen years old. Not to mention your body moves perfectly with the sword. No wasted movements and perfect harmony between mind, body, sword and the world. Be honest with me, for how long have you been training for?"
"My body, six years. The sword, four years." Her eyes widened in surprise at my answer.
"So you have a greater mastery than me even though I've been training both sword and body for over eleven years. I guess your genius is much too great. No, saying that would be inconsiderate to you efforts, especially after seeing you being here much earlier than me before the lesson." She lightly apologised to me and bowed.
I quickly moved my hands in front of myself and told her to stand straight. "A swordsman who wishes to survive against a master must always face them. Being ambitious in the world of swords is necessary, even if it is a fools confidence. Otherwise, you will never understand the difference between yourself and the top. You don't need to bow to someone like me. Stand straight for all the effort that you put in. Coming two hours early to a lesson is impressive enough as is."
Her eyes sparkled for a second and her lip sharply turned up before straightening. "...I see."
Her voice then drowned out and she hastily went to pick up a wooden sword from the pile in the corner. The wooden blade slashed through the wind as her eyes followed each slash, the world in her perception most likely slowed. The buzzing fly circling around us soon fell to the ground as each wing was neatly clipped.
Her gaze struck me firmly as she stepped forward, her sole crushing the recently dropped fly. The wind grew more brazen as her iris's colour intensified.
"Have a match with me!" She raised her voice with a deadpan expression, her body aligned in a stance.
I smiled friendly at her, containing the devious grin splitting my heart inside of me.
"Let's go then."