The early morning mist had not yet fully dissipated. Two figures walked one after the other along the stone path leading to the open-air training ground behind the estate.
Ailiya walked in front, carrying a small wooden bucket filled with cleaning tools. That was her tool for the day.
Behind her, Leo followed obediently, maintaining a safe distance of a few steps.
The young boy’s gaze almost uncontrollably fell below the hem of the head maid’s skirt.
There, a fluffy silver wolf tail swayed lightly and rhythmically in the air with her graceful, steady steps.
Swaying left, swaying right—it made one’s heart itch.
Actually, after a few days of one-sided beatings, Leo had somewhat figured out this head maid’s temperament.
He discovered that Ailiya wasn’t really a violent maniac.
As long as he didn’t bother her or deliberately disrupt her work efficiency, occasionally acting a bit cheeky or saying a few words, most of the time she would only counterattack with a freezing glare and harsh words, and basically never actually physically hit him.
For example, right now, as long as he stayed quiet, she wouldn’t slap a mop onto his face.
Ailiya, who was walking ahead, suddenly stopped, and the swaying silver tail paused as well.
She tilted her head slightly, casting a chilly glance at the golden-haired boy behind her who was staring intently at her tail.
“If your eyes truly don’t know where to look, I don’t mind using this brush to correct them for you.”
“Cough! I wasn’t looking at your tail!” Leo jerked his gaze away and retorted loudly, trying to cover up, “I was looking… at this morning’s mist! Yes, the mist is really thick!”
Ailiya looked at him acting like this awkward brat and sighed inwardly.
She unusually held back from hitting him directly.
Ailiya stepped aside and coldly gave an order.
“Since the young master’s gaze is so difficult to control…”
She moved half a step aside, extended her gloved hand, and made a “please” gesture. “Then, to avoid any accidents involving your eyeballs, please walk ahead for the rest of the way.”
“Your gaze is causing my tail physiological discomfort.”
Knowing he was in the wrong, Leo shrank his neck and honestly quickened his pace to walk in front of Ailiya.
Ten minutes later, the two arrived at the empty training ground.
Ailiya placed the wooden bucket on the ground and turned to look at Leo, who was full of anticipation and had already assumed a comedic fighting stance.
“As a weakling mage whose muscle fibers haven’t even fully grown, you want to learn my power technique?”
Ailiya folded her hands in front of her and laughed coldly a few times, but there was a hint of genuine instruction in her tone.
“Listen carefully, young master. True power doesn’t come from swinging with your arms that are as soft as boiled noodles.”
“Power originates from the feet, transmits through the waist and abdomen, and is finally released by the arms.”
“The way you were just flailing your arms is useless except for fanning your enemy.”
Leo felt a bit unconvinced by the scolding but didn’t dare to retort, so he dejectedly lowered his arms.
“Watch closely, I’ll only teach this once.”
Ailiya bent down and took out two items from the bucket.
No wooden swords, no daggers.
They were two short-handled wooden brushes with stiff bristles.
Seeing that familiar cleaning tool, Leo’s eye twitched violently. His knees and cheeks ached faintly, and shadows instantly flooded his heart.
“Catch.”
Ailiya casually tossed one of the brushes to Leo.
“Treat it like a dagger or short blade. For mages like you who lack physical strength, having some close-combat technique is one of the few ways to survive in close quarters.”
Leo caught the brush clumsily and swallowed his saliva.
“We’re using this for sparring?”
“What, think it’s not sharp enough?” Ailiya gripped the brush handle and dexterously rotated her wrist, spinning the stiff-bristled brush into a fancy flourish between her fingers.
“Begin. Attack me with all your strength.”
“You asked for it! Take this!”
Leo yelled and rushed at Ailiya with the brush in hand.
However, the one-sided beating lesson began.
Smack!
“Ow!”
Leo’s brush hadn’t even touched Ailiya’s clothes before the back of his hand took a solid hit.
“Too slow. Your movements are like a sloth doing morning exercises.”
Smack!
“Ouch!” His wrist got struck again.
“Your footwork is too loose, your stance unstable. Are you planning to perform a dance for the enemy in a duel?”
***
Over the next hour, the training ground echoed with the crisp sound of wooden handles striking and Leo’s cries of pain.
Ailiya rarely aimed at his body or face, but instead precisely struck the back of his hand, his wrist, and the brush handle in his hand with her own brush, correcting his power path and attack angles.
After all that ordeal, Leo was panting heavily, his hands bright red.
However, although his movements were still clumsy, after countless beatings, he actually managed to wield that stiff brush like a short weapon and swing it into a few standard defensive counterattack stances with some semblance of skill.
Smack! Smack, smack!
“Ouch! Hiss—”
During a quick turning maneuver, Ailiya suddenly exerted force with her right foot and spun around. Her black-and-white maid uniform skirt lifted high from the centrifugal force.
In that instant, the hem fluttered, revealing the lace trim of pure white stockings and a breathtaking glimpse of soft, pale flesh at the upper thigh, tracing an alluring arc through the air without restraint.
Leo’s eyes widened wimpily for a moment, and his arm that should have blocked inevitably slowed half a beat.
Smack!
Ailiya’s brush handle struck his hand back without mercy.
“Losing focus in real combat? Do you think you have too many hands?” Ailiya retracted the brush expressionlessly while naturally smoothing her slightly disheveled skirt with her other hand, restoring her dignified, ascetic appearance.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Leo covered his reddened hand back and shook his head, forcing himself to concentrate.
The one-sided beating practice finally ended.
Leo stood panting on the spot, though exhausted, the reverse grip on his brush actually looked somewhat decent—at least no longer like a street thug.
He looked at the brush in his hand, then at Ailiya, who hadn’t even broken a sweat, and couldn’t help questioning, “Hey… Ailiya, is it really useful to practice with a brush as a dagger?”
Leo wiped the sweat from his forehead, stopped, and looked at the ridiculous brush in his hand, finally unable to hold back his doubt.
“I’ve learned some technique, but is this thing really useful? Even if I use a short sword, if the enemy is wearing heavy armor or has a shield, my strength can’t even break their defense!”
Ailiya stopped her movements and looked at him expressionlessly.
“Young master, it seems your understanding of weapons is still at the stage of a wild monkey using a branch.”
As the words fell, Ailiya’s eyes sharpened.
She didn’t even make any motion to gather strength, just casually waved her hand.
An extremely thin, translucent arc flashed through the air.
Leo didn’t even register what happened; he only felt a breeze brush his cheek, and then—
Clunk.
The head of the hard wooden brush in his hand neatly fell to the ground.
The cut was as smooth as a mirror.
Leo trembled in shock, nearly collapsing onto his butt, with only a bare wooden handle left in his hand.
A brush could actually cut another brush from thin air?!
Leo suddenly raised his head and stared at the brush in Ailiya’s hand.
Only then did he realize with horror that under the morning sunlight, the surface of the wooden brush in Ailiya’s hand was coated with a layer of extremely thin, restrained, yet razor-sharp faint light.
That was… a magic fluctuation!
“Mana infusion?!” Leo realized, his voice stammering in shock.
Leo remembered—he had seen Ailiya use this technique before to clean the fountain.
Leo also remembered that tutor Ian, who usually seemed full of academic style but sometimes, like him, could be an unreliable, secretly perverted teacher.
He had once explained this magic to Leo.
Ailiya’s control over magic power was exquisite, and she didn’t need to chant at all!
“How—how did you do that? This is obviously the most basic apprentice-level magic.”
“I can use it too, but at most I can only make a wooden stick a bit harder.”
Ailiya flipped her wrist, and the faint light on the brush instantly dissipated, returning to an ordinary cleaning tool.
“The power of magic doesn’t lie in how high its rank is, but in whether the person using it has wisdom or straw in their head.”
“When you can control the magic power within your body to the extreme and precisely attach it to the edge of any object in an instant, even a leaf can cut an enemy’s throat.”
Ailiya tossed the brush in her hand to Leo and brushed off non-existent dust from her white gloves.
“This concludes the instruction. Young master, spend today here swinging the power technique I taught you a few thousand times.”
With that, she picked up the bucket, ignored Leo who was still stunned, and turned to walk toward the corridor.
Today, there was still a mountain of work waiting for her in the estate to grind life experience points.
As for the dumbstruck golden-haired boy behind her, as long as he didn’t bother her, he could swing however he wanted.
“Hey? Where are you going? Aren’t you going to supervise me?” Leo asked subconsciously.
“My main job is a maid.”
Ailiya walked toward the estate without looking back, her silver wolf tail gently swaying in the morning light.
In the morning breeze, only Leo was left standing blankly in the training ground.
He looked at the brush broken in two on the ground, then at Ailiya’s retreating figure, and an unprecedented fighting spirit gradually ignited in his eyes.
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.