The area was empty as they practice. A group of people came out of the eastern part of the area, a young man with black hair, carrying a sword turned his attention to the two who were practicing. He saw their uniforms and plodded towards the two.

“Hey,” the young man said. “Practicing again?”

“Volt, nice to see you, again.”

“Einar,” he said. “Practicing hard I see.”

“It’s for her good.”

“Quit looking away!”

The spell on Thea created the sound of electricity and wind mixing. It flew in a zigzag to Einar. Einar threw his dagger in the air and leaped back. The dagger caught the electricity like a rod and fell. Einar rolled to the dagger, pounced with the strength of his legs, and tackled Thea right in the stomach.

“Gah!”

“You don’t’ hold back, as always.”

“I’m teaching her how to cope. Do you expect your enemy to be kind?” Einar dodged the spells. “Want to practice Volt?”

“And get my ass royally handed again? Really? You are asking me to beaten by you, again?”

“Volt, your swordplay is lacking, and I’m doing this for the sake of you.”

“You could have fooled me easily, but no, that ain’t happening, Einar. The last time you tried to train me, I had to stay in bed for the past week and had to make sure to properly suck on herbs that cause about five gold coins each. Five gold each. Do you understand why I don’t want to spar with you?”

“To be fair, you were an asshole that day,” Einar dodged a spell. “You came walking to me like a goddamn gangster, thought you could extort us; got your ass kicked instead.”

“Screw you for that, and that is why I don’t want to spar with you.”

“Can you please not talk while I’m trying to roast you!?”

Einar dodged her spell with a flutter of movements. He was using his dagger to deflect the electricity. It was a simple method of using a highly conductive material to redirect an attack. Each of the spell blows that she gave could not touch Einar who was swiftly moving.

“You don’t even make too much noise,” Volt said. “How do you do that?”

“Roll your heel to the ball of your feet. Also, try to tip-toe, lower the center of your gravity, and strike with your body weight in it. For example, like this!”

Using his shoulders and hip, gripping his dagger with both hands, he went under Thea’s line of sight and landed a hammer blow at her stomach. Thea spat out saliva, her eyes shaking as she kneels into a fetal position. Volt held on to his stomach.

“Yeah, this is just proving that I am right. You could have killed her.”

“That’s why I was using my fists rather than the edge of my blade. You okay, Thea?”

“Gah, you, damn it, that hurt as always.”

“Oh, always, huh,” Volt muttered. “She always gets treated like this? You are noble right? Not being gentle to women around you?”

“T believe in gender equality – and you should not discriminate when someone is trying to kill you. Do you show mercy and offer your body to someone just because she’s a woman? Oh, she’s a woman, let her stab you to death? That’s what you want?”

“You have a point, but still, isn’t this just too extreme? She’s your cousin right?”

“Thea asked for this.”

Thea stood up, still holding her stomach. “Don’t be a bitch, Volt. Cousin, you should train Volt, now, really, the guy who wanted to date me is acting like a bitch. What a turn off. Cousin, please make him a man!”

“Volt?” Einar cracked his fingers. “Ready?”

“Please have mercy on me, Brother,” he said while kneeling. “I just got back from killing a monster! Have mercy, and I have classes today.”

“Right, you were a night class student,” Einar slightly lowered his fists. “Which would make this perfect since you can use the class to rest. Ah, Thea, you wouldn’t mind helping him carry his rucksack right?”

“Of course!” She gave Volt a wide smile. “Please work hard okay? Maybe, I’ll like you better!”

Volt’s cheeks reddened. “Damn it, why did I do that in the first place?”

“Falling in love makes you blind, and stupid; fall in love while keeping your reason. Though I believe that is hard to do so.”

“Oh?” Thea said. “This is the first time I heard of this!”

“Enough about that,” Einar said. “Here I go, Volt, let’s see how you can handle this?”

“You are going to your fist only, right? Not cut me up into tiny pieces of meat?”

“I’ll parry with my dagger, try not to kiss my fists okay?”

“Oh Lord Anailel, forge this body and protect thee from evil.”

“You are a believer of the God of the Forge?”

Volt readied his sword, expecting the attack from Einar. Einar pounced at him like a wolf meeting its prey, his center gravity low, making himself a small target as possible. Volt was on the balls of his feet, he’s sunk into his knees, and his back straight.

“Guard of the Lady, nice,” Einar said. “Natural, but too open for my liking!”

Einar passed the dagger on his left hand, he twisted his right hand back and landed a straight palm. Volt bit his lip, he raised his sword and swung the flat of his blade to Einar’s head. Einar used the back of his left hand to hit Einar’s wrist, grabbed hold of his hand, and with a lever-like motion, threw Volt into the ground, flat on his back.

“Ah!” Volt said. “Damn it, how do you come up with these kinds of things?”

“You are a Magic Swordsman, and yet you keep getting thrown around. You're tough, but your balance is terrible. Your posture is okay, but your footwork is garbage, you know that?”

“Hmm, I think beating you up right now isn’t going to work.”

“Right now, you were planning to make a mess out of me!”

Einar offered his hand. “Let’s just go, okay?”