Soon enough we arrived and I begrudgingly got to my feet, picking up a wooden sword from a nearby stand before standing in position across from my sister, adopting the first and most basic stance in the imperial sword style.
My sister took a slightly different stance across from me, beginning to move her mana for physical enhancement while I matched her.
We stood still for a moment. Then, we both launched at each other at incredible speed no normal human could match. Our swords clashed with loud clicks and bangs as we moved through the courtyard.
At first it looked as if we were evenly matched, but soon enough, my sword suddenly flew out of my hand as I loosened my grip while she went for a disarming strike.
I exaggeratedly fell on my back as the sword fell out of my hands before complaining.
"See sister. You're too strong. Let me go back to sleep." I wailed, while discreetly trying to crawl away.
However I was unfortunate.
"You think you can go back to sleep after purposely losing?" A voice rang out behind me. It was serene and beautiful. I still remembered when that voice was incredibly soothing and comforting. However it was terrifying how quickly such impressions could change as it soon became the bane of my being.
"Wh-what do you mean mother? My sister is a genius trained by a genius like you." I responded to the voice, turning to face my mother who was equally as tomboyish as my elder sister, wearing some light and slightly revealing clothing that showed off defined abs and muscles, ready to crush the heads of any normal man.
"You're getting good at faking your moves, but do you really think you can fool me when you almost move completely differently only to change to a position susceptible to disarmament while loosening your grip. " My mother explained, smiling as she got closer.
"What!?" My sister yelled at the realization before glaring at me with a fire in her eyes.
"Mother, I'm not sure what you mean. I changed my position after thinking I would have a chance of a one hit win." I played dumb until the very end.
"Yes, you could argue that. And I would almost believe you if you hadn't so purposely loosened your grip, letting go the moment the blades collided and falling back so exaggeratedly when your stance hadn't been shaken at all." My mothers smile grew wider as I realized that whether I could come up with excuses or not, my mother had made up her mind.
Safe to say it became a day with very little sleep.
I fought with my sister under our mothers tutelage from brunch to dinner. I was exhausted and sweaty and even putting in some effort to win one bout against my sister didn't save me as I continued to lose on purpose throughout the day after that, being caught multiple times as I mastered the art of deception, making my fake defeats look completely real.
"Dadddd…. Save me…" I begged at the dinner table as our family all ate together.
"Hahaha… No." My father laughed deceptively before shooting me down faster than a cannon.
"I'm gonna die…" I continued complaining as I slowly ate.
"It was only 7 hours of sparring, not that much. You'll be fine." My mother claimed as she calmly ate.
"It was fun! Let's do it again tomorrow!" My elder sister yelled happily, expressing her honest stance straightforwardly.
"If you force my hand you won't be able to find me tomorrow." I threatened.
"You can sleep with me then." Our mother countered. If I really slept in the same room as her I wouldn't be able to escape even if she was out colder than a rock. Evidently she had trained extensively against assassins.
"Never. I'm 10 now and don't need the comfort of my parents at night." I responded.
"I want to join in too!" My little sister called out happily.
"No, you don't. It will only spiral you onto a path to misery." I warned as we ate.
"Haaaa… All my children are getting so old. Alex, There's less than 3 years until you're old enough to attend the royal academy. Are you excited?" Our father soon chimed in as he looked over us all.
"Yup. But I would be more excited to see my cute little brother go all out, without trying to be lazy." My elder sister answered, once again, with brutal honesty as I let out a cold sweat.
"Haaaa… It's not just you, my wonderful little Alex. I think we would all be excited to see what your little brother could do if he went all out." My mother soon answered, getting an approving grunt and nod from my father before my little sister chimed in as well.
"Big brother should try harder!" She yelled out innocently as I felt a looming fear over my head in the form of the system's rule on excessive physical exertion. Though it seemed to only apply to physical exertion of my own volition and not what I was forced to do. It was a stupid distinction which made me grind my teeth in seeping fury as I could have passed it off as a sickness and get exempted even from my mothers one hour of mandatory training a day.
A while later I was once again in my room sleeping. Or as it stood right now, just lazing around, which the system counted as sleeping. In the meantime I was staring at the status panel wondering how I could use the exchange store.
It was at that moment, the system which rarely responded to me did so.
'I see. It makes sense.' I thought as I considered the quest. While I was forced to be lazy in this life by the system, it would still be a different kind of lazy, whereas, in my previous life where I ended up just scraping by every day not doing anything. In this life I would live easily and in luxury without doing anything. It made sense.
The only thing I had to wonder now was what kind of business to start, or maybe try starting multiple with my fathers support.