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Bonus Short Stories
Summer Shopping
“Young Mistress, we should start getting ready.”
Summer vacation was almost over. The end of that long break was finally in sight after such a grueling work schedule back home. And then Lynokis sprang those words upon me when I was doing my morning routine in a capital hotel.
“Start getting what ready? Am I not getting ready right now?” I was in the process of getting changed for the recording I had today.
“Oh, no, I mean we should go shopping, since you’ll be going on the island trip soon, right?”
Е̄n ů mа
“Right!”
It was almost time for my true vacation! Just a few more days! I had been waiting for so long!
Baca cerita ini hanya di situs resmi Enuma.id!
The last five days of the summer break were finally approaching. Now that it was this close, my mood was much better, and I could more easily muster up the energy to work hard. Besides, the only part of my schedule that had really been tough was the part that I’d done back home. Bendelio would never get away with it. I’d beat him up the first chance I got.
“I was thinking that we should start making preparations for the trip,” Lynokis elaborated.
So that was what she meant. Of course we’d need to make preparations!
Or...did we? What was there to prepare?
W ë b̂ n̄о̇ v ёl Е̇ nù m̆ а̌
“Is there anything we actually need to buy?” I asked. Our destination was a floating island owned by royalty; wouldn’t everything we need already be there? I guess my loathed homework counted as a hang-up, but I’d made sure to gradually chip away at that over the past few weeks, so I’d almost finished it. Lynokis had been watching me the whole time. Personally, I thought I’d done a great job. I was proud.
“Of course there is! The most important thing!” Lynokis said with a glimmer in her eye.
The most important? What?
Horrified at my cluelessness, Lynokis instead shouted the answer at me: “Swimsuits! Swim! Suits! We’re going on vacation! It’s summer! What else do you think of other than swimming and baring your skin?!”
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Why are you so enthusiastic about this?
I was more than a little suspicious of her intentions...but she had a point. Hildetaura had said that there was a lake we could swim in on the island. I’d promised Reliared I’d play with her too, I think. It all felt so long ago now that my memory was fuzzy.
Ёń u m а_.і ď
No, I’d definitely made a promise like that.
“You’re right, we should buy some swimsuits.”
“I know! We should, right?!”
We should, but you agreeing so enthusiastically makes me wonder if I’ll regret this.
“And!” Lynokis continued. “You’ve got some free time during this morning’s recording, right? I was thinking we could take that opportunity to pop out and buy some!”
“Okay.”
Baca cerita ini hanya di situs resmi Enuma.id!
Lynokis may have been acting suspicious, but I couldn’t deny that I needed a swimsuit. I’d probably end up using it. Bodies of water were good for training in, as well. Though, honestly, even if I didn’t have a swimsuit, I was perfectly fine training naked.
“Then let’s do that. Do you know where we—”
“I’ve looked them up! There are fourteen stores selling children’s swimwear; four in particular have a wide variety of types, quality, and other essentials! We can cut it down to two stores if we choose those that are closest to the recording location! Let’s think long and hard about the perfect swimsuit from these two shops! We’ll find a swimsuit that perfectly complements your prettiness and cuteness and femininity and loveliness! I’ve already got my eye on some!”
Really now. I see. Glad to know I have someone so skilled at information gathering. This was all a little... Well, it was fine. I didn’t understand why Lynokis was so excited to see me in a swimsuit when she already saw me naked practically every day. But I didn’t need to understand her motives to know that she looked like she was having fun, so who was I to ruin that?
“What kind of swimsuit would you like, Young Mistress?! A one-piece?! Or a sexy bikini?! A really raunchy one?!”
I really did not care what type it was.
W̄е bn_о̂ v̌ е̂ l Е n̊u m̄а
“Ahh, I’m so excited! This is going to be such a great day!”
I was nothing but suspicious of her motivations.
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And that was what led us to go swimsuit shopping, during which Lynokis ultimately bought one of her own.
Two New Disciples
Around the same time Lynokis went off to begin her life as an adventurer, I acquired two new disciples.
“And that’s why she’ll be training with us as well.”
Е̄ ǹ um̈ а ._і̆ d̈
The first night we went to the Heavenstriker dojo for a training session, I briefly introduced Lynette Bran, my brother’s personal attendant, to Gandolph, who was kneeling on the floor. Lynette had been Lynokis’s classmate while they studied at the Department of Adventuring in middle school; though apparently, it was a coincidence that they’d ended up working for the same family.
Lynette was tall for a woman, but beyond that, there was nothing particularly remarkable about her. She was decently strong as Neal’s bodyguard, but decent was where it ended. She would maybe serve as a good opponent for Gandolph at least, though the fact she knew how to wield a sword meant she was likely to win a battle to the death between the two; at their level, the ability to use a weapon could make all the difference.
“Pleasure to train with you,” she said.
“Same here,” Gandolph responded in kind.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
They’d already seen each other around, so the introductions were easy enough.
And now onto the main topic.
Wӗb̊ ńо̊v еl Ē n̈ ù m̈а
“First, I need both of you to learn how to manipulate what we call ‘chi,’ but before that, I also need to let you know my objective,” I explained, as they both knelt in front of me. “Two years from now, I want to hold a large-scale national tournament.”
“A national tournament?!” Gandolph enthusiastically lunged forward. His eyes were sparkling.
Isn’t it amazing to think about? I was talking about a competition to determine who was the strongest in the country—and perhaps even neighboring countries. Of course he would be curious. The king being so nonchalant about it all was the real crazy one.
That said, Lynette’s reaction was also quite subdued, given she wasn’t a martial artist herself. She seemed mildly interested at best. The contrast between the calm and collected attendant still kneeling politely and the large man leaning forward out of excitement was incredible.
“For that purpose, I need to raise a large sum of money. One billion krams, to be precise.”
“One billion?!”
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
“Oh, that’s why Lynokis...” Lynette muttered.
Isn’t it amazing to think about? A billion krams is an absolute fortune. At least, that’s what those around me had said. I had no real sense for how much that actually was. The only thing I understood was that it was a lot of money.
“And that’s why, in exchange for my training, I want you both to find the time to go out and raise some money. Of course, I won’t force either of you, especially since you have your own jobs that make it harder to travel freely.”
“Yes, well... I live within the campus, so it’s a little difficult for me to go very far,” Gandolph said. Given what I was asking of them, it wouldn’t be enough for him to just pop out for a bit at night either. Gandolph had been officially sent to Altoire Academy from the main dojo to serve as an instructor here. Apparently, even his pay was coming directly from the main dojo.
“My job is to remain by the young master’s side, so I can’t really afford to be away from him for long periods of time...” Lynette was my brother’s personal attendant. No one sane would think it would be a good idea to leave your charge behind to go out working somewhere else. Work aside, she didn’t want to stay too far away from Neal in general—to a suspicious degree.
“I know. As I said, I won’t force either of you to do this. I simply wanted to keep you informed.” I wouldn’t say I wasn’t expecting anything from them either, though. They could help me out as suited them best.
W еb̂ n ӧv̂eľ Е̌n u m а
“Training and actual battles are different; the divide between doing drills independently and hitting a real, living opponent is particularly wide. Experiencing these kinds of differences in a real battle is an inevitability. Preferably, I’d like you to get both training and real experience in equal measure. If you don’t, you have no chance at winning against Lynokis in the tournament. I’m training her to be a victor, after all.”
Nerves, hesitation, performing in front of a huge audience—factors like these could often make one’s strength waver. That was why it was important to get as much real experience as possible. It was an important aspect of a martial artist’s skill that simply couldn’t be polished through training alone. At the very least, neither of them were beginners. They’d understand without me droning on about it.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
“Is this not a good opportunity for you to save face from your previous loss?” I asked Gandolph directly.
“You’re right... I’ve already lost to her once, after all.” It had happened back at the club fair just before I’d started school, so everyone in attendance had mostly likely forgotten by now, but there was no way the man himself would forget. Tasting defeat as a martial artist always left a deep impression.
“Do you not view Lynokis as a rival or something to that effect, Lynette?”
“No, not particularly.”
Е̃ň ū.m̀ а́
Made sense. They were old friends, after all.
“That said, given we are both personal attendants, if the difference in our strength is blatant, I can’t help but be concerned.” She found her competitive mindset because they were coworkers, probably similar to how I couldn’t help but be interested in other strong fighters.
“And that’s why I will be training you under the assumption that I’m preparing you for the tournament two years from now,” I said. “Whether you participate or not is entirely your decision, but that’s how I’ll be training you.”
Arbitrary training could have its benefits, but having a very clear goal worked far better as far as motivation was concerned. If there really existed a tournament in which I could face those stronger than me, my obsession with my training would be vastly different.
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No point wishing for the impossible though. I wasn’t even of an age that I could enter, so I needed to remain patient for now.
“Hm, okay, I see now.”
W ėb̂ n̂ о̄v ѐl̀ Е_ṅ ũ m̈а̊
I sparred with the two of them to get a sense of their skill and talent. Gandolph confirmed my impression of him as a solid man. He had a lot of muscle mass weighing him down—meaning his movements were slow. His reaction speed wasn’t bad though, so he’d already learned to adjust to some degree.
Unfortunately, if I were to teach him chi as is, he’d just become a walking target. The only battlefields he knew were ones where raw strength was all that mattered. Still, it wasn’t like I expected anything different from him. I vaguely recalled that someone would usually be trained in chi before they reached this point, and then build their body depending on their style of fighting. Gandolph, on the other hand, would be learning how to use chi after already over-building his body.
He was an interesting little gem indeed. If Gandolph were to learn a style that allowed him to hold his own in the realm of chi, then...
“You’re definitely more suited to countering. In other words, you want to control the opponent after they attack.”
“After they attack?”
“Yes. Block their initial attack, and then counter. With your body type, that will be what will suit you best. There is no need for you to get the first hit in.” If he learned to heighten his fortification chi, he could block even shoddy blades or needles. This would be the best style for Gandolph to focus on.
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Naturally, there would come a time where he would be faced with a situation where countering wasn’t enough, such as when pitted against a projectile user. You couldn’t exactly counter something coming at you from a distance like that. Once he reached that wall, I had no doubt he would find his own way onto the next stage of his training. All I would teach him was the foundations of chi. I had no intention of teaching him how to fight. Once Gandolph learned how to control it, he simply needed to get stronger with the Heavenstriker style. I would be exceedingly happy if he became so strong that I couldn’t ignore him.
Next was Lynette.
“You’re quite the balanced fighter, Lynette. Continue to train as you have been.”
As a sword fighter, Lynette had nothing especially notable. Not in the sense that she was bad, but that everything about her was equally trained to a high level. Such balanced training started off as boring, plain, and lacking in versatility, but once the fighter had passed a certain level, their skill would improve to an unnatural degree—especially after learning sword Techniques close to an Ultimate.
Honestly, I had absolutely no memory of sword Techniques, but surely I’d remember something when the time came. Weapons weren’t my forte, but I knew I’d fought against many a weapon wielder. Enough to get sick of them. So I was surely capable of recalling something.
Lynokis had been similar to Lynette when I first started training her, but she’d had a strong focus on speed—the kind of fighter that would take advantage of preemptive attacks.
Ěn̄ ũma. іḋ
“Continue as I have been? Um...do you not have any more detailed advice you could supply me?”
Hm, she seemed to want me to say something more. Maybe because my advice towards her was notably less involved than Gandolph’s.
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Let’s see...
Honestly, I wasn’t sure what else I could tell her. I didn’t say anything more because I had nothing else to say.
“There’s no need to add any strange quirks to your style, is there? You’re still teaching my brother swordplay after all. If your style becomes too skewed, it would potentially cause problems for his traini—”
“Yes, that’s true. I’ll get stronger then, all for Young Master Neal,” she suddenly replied.
Е̊nùm̆ а
Ah. Okay.
“All for Young Master Neal.”
You don’t have to say it twice. You’re only getting more suspicious.
Why did I have this tendency to attract the quirkiest of people? First Lynokis and now Lynette. Why were these personal attendants so overflowing in strangeness? What was that all about?
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
And that was how my training with my two new disciples began.
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