Chapter 67: Due!

After a discussion between Julia and Tess, Liv was required to learn basic combat skills in the backyard.

Tess originally wanted to start teaching elven melee combat techniques immediately, including the use of short swords, daggers, and even close-quarters kills with a bow.

Julia immediately expressed her opposition.

She believed that with Liv’s current frail physique, it was absolutely impossible for her to master those techniques.

Liv felt the same way.

Since becoming Liv, her strength had been steadily decreasing, especially in her upper body.

The strength in her shoulders and arms, and even her grip strength, had diminished significantly.

Yesterday, while she was holding an apple and eating it, the fruit had simply slipped from her hand and fallen to the ground.

‘I suspect my muscles have been slowly wasting away without me noticing,’ she thought.

‘The Book of King Selection is being far too realistic, isn’t it? Logically speaking, shouldn’t it give me some kind of special ability in this situation?’

Julia looked quite smug because she believed the plan she had tailored for Liv was the best one.

“Liv, your method of self-defense lies in two means. First, let’s discuss the most important point: the proficient use of this legendary creation left behind by the Valenria Family — the ivory pistol.”

“I have studied this pistol carefully. It can be filled with gunpowder and a projectile by opening the rear chamber! I originally thought the projectile had to be stuffed through the muzzle, but it seems that by loading the projectile first to be held by the internal catch and then filling it with gunpowder, it can be fired directly!”

Tess had always been uninterested in firearms.

This wasn’t because she thought they lacked lethality, but because she felt that as weapons with no technical requirements for use, they didn’t require deliberate practice.

“So what, Julia? The reloading time won’t be any shorter.”

Julia shook her head.

“It means it can be pre-loaded and drawn to fire in an instant!”

Tess nodded slightly, acknowledging the pistol’s utility.

However, it was clear that one pistol was not enough.

“Julia, what happens after that single shot is fired? What if the enemy isn’t dead, or if there is more than one?”

“Elves have keen ears and excellent vision; they are natural hunters. Melee combat is something every elf begins learning from childhood. For our coming-of-age ceremony, we must hunt a carnivorous beast alone!”

It seemed Tess still felt it was a pity not to teach Liv melee skills.

She continued, “How about this, Liv? You must exercise appropriately every day. Of course, letting you do high-intensity training like lifting stones is out of the question for now. You will jog around the courtyard for several dozen minutes every day. Furthermore, you are not allowed to let the maids carry things for you. Instead, you must help the maids carry trays every day.”

The Queen herself helping to carry trays?

The maids standing nearby were stunned.

Was this something a proper elf would say?

Julia hadn’t expected Tess to be so harsh with Liv.

It seemed that respecting leaders wasn’t very popular in the Kingdom of Elves.

To her surprise, Liv actually agreed.

‘I don’t want to keep holding Tess and Sister Julia back,’ Liv thought.

And so, dressed in lightweight clothes and trousers, Liv began to trot slowly around the courtyard.

Julia sat down, suddenly feeling bored.

They were supposed to be teaching Liv how to use the pistol.

Tess felt the same way.

She had originally wanted to teach martial arts.

The two women, who didn’t get along, locked eyes and immediately identified something to relieve their boredom.

Naturally, it was a duel, a favorite pastime of humans.

Of course, the duel couldn’t disturb Liv. So, they proactively moved to a different courtyard.

“Julia. You always boast about your military family. But from what I’ve seen of the Republican Guard’s level, it’s really nothing to admire. So, what is your actual skill level?”

Julia took a wooden sword handed to her by a maid.

“What level? You’ll find out once you try.”

Since it was an unarmored wooden sword duel, a maid would act as the referee throughout, determining whether a participant was still capable of fighting based on where they were hit or stabbed.

As the maid announced the start, both sides rapidly closed the distance.

Julia held the sword with both hands near her right hip, the tip pointing forward and upward, ready to deliver the first strike at any moment.

Tess held her sword with one hand, letting it hang naturally with the tip pointing forward and downward.

Tess was very confident in her eyes and ears.

As long as Julia made any move to strike, she would react instantly, coordinating her body to counterattack and hitting Julia’s chest or neck in a heartbeat.

According to the rules, that would basically be a win.

But Julia didn’t make a reckless, wide swing.

Instead, she pressed her hands down and pushed forward, directly testing Tess’s lower body.

Tess performed an upward parry from below.

Wood struck wood, jarring Julia back several steps and forcing her blade upward.

Julia didn’t choose to defend against Tess’s next move.

Instead, she rushed two steps toward Tess and delivered a diagonal slash.

Julia swung from right to left.

Since Tess’s sword was still on her own right side, Julia was betting that the travel distance for Tess’s sword would be too long to block the hit.

But a terrifying scene unfolded.

Tess swung her wooden sword with a speed almost impossible for a human, slamming it hard against Julia’s blade.

The strike was parried again!

Julia immediately pulled her sword back to hold it horizontally in front of her.

She knew it was her turn to defend and Tess’s turn to attack.

The moment her sword went horizontal, Tess used the momentum from the previous swing to instantly switch to a reverse grip.

Leaning forward, she pressed right up to Julia and thrust the wooden sword like a dagger straight toward Julia’s chest.

Julia knew that if this strike hit her wooden sword directly, the sword might snap on the spot.

She chose to slightly tilt her horizontal sword upward and strike down at the last moment to pin Tess’s sword down, then follow up with a horizontal slash.

If she did that, she might win in one hit.

Just as the sword was about to poke her chest, Julia suddenly changed her mind.

More than winning, she wanted to play it safe and not lose.

The decision was made in a flash.

Julia slashed out horizontally.

Then, she watched as Tess instantly crouched to dodge the blow and then lightly poked Julia’s chest with the wooden sword.

Tess had won.

Julia threw down her wooden sword and gave Tess a rare compliment.

“Tess, you are indeed strong. The openings that should normally appear simply don’t exist for you.”

Tess didn’t become arrogant.

“If that had been a real battle, you would have been holding a heavy sword while I held a light elven longsword. I wouldn’t have been able to parry your attacks so easily, and I certainly wouldn’t have been able to thrust directly at a heavy sword in a defensive stance.”

That was natural.

But there was no doubt that if it were a real fight, Tess wouldn’t have engaged in a head-on sword clash anyway; there were far too many ways to kill an opponent.

Through this duel, Tess also felt that Julia’s combat skills were by no means an empty boast.

If the two of them worked together, supplemented by the maids, protecting Liv shouldn’t be a major problem.

Moreover, two falconets had already been placed on either side of the embassy.

The Republican Guard had also sent men to patrol and guard the vicinity every day.

It seemed there was no need for the Dawn Golden Guards to come over.

Tess wiped her sweat, thinking about brushing up on her archery skills.

At that moment, a maid suddenly came running over in a panic.

“This is bad! Princess Tess, Her Majesty the Queen has collapsed!”