The Lazy Second Princess and the Fiery First
I finally got to teach Princess Eris again after a whole month.
“Hah, this is so annoying. Should I just head back?”
Teaching from scratch had been genuinely fun at first. But after such a long break, it felt utterly tedious.
“N-no, Your Highness! How long Your Highness has been waiting for this time!”
When I muttered that upon arriving at the training ground, Vice-Captain Belante, who had been polishing her sword beside me, suddenly flared up.
“You’re still just going to keep teaching her, aren’t you?”
“I cannot allow that! The princess is going to breathe actual fire!”
“Why would she breathe fire? Is she a lizard?”
“Well… I’m not sure if she’s a red dragon. According to legend…”
Belante leaned in close with a serious face and whispered something I couldn’t even begin to process. I bonked her forehead.
“Stop the nonsense and get back to work.”
“……I-I-I-I can’t… I mean, I’m not…”
Belante stormed off. A short while later, the fiery red-haired princess strode in with her usual proud gait.
“She’s here! She’s finally here!!”
Eris’s face lit up with a huge smile the moment she saw me. Her eyes were a little dizzy-looking, though.
“It’s been a while since we’ve met here, Your Highness.”
“Kyuugh… You… how long I’ve waited for you…!!”
“Teacher… did you forget already?”
I grabbed the sword hilt, and her tiny shoulders twitched.
“…T-teacher…”
It had been a full month since I first taught Eris. Even though I hadn’t been the only one giving lessons—most of the time the dean only did special lectures—Cotton-Sword was basically a graduate now.
“Let’s check how much you’ve learned from Belante.”
“Yes, Teacher.”
Eris returned holding the practice sword hanging on the wall. Only one was there, obviously her personal one.
“Hmph, don’t get startled—here I go!”
She pulled in mana with perfect confidence. Red magical energy poured out from her body and transferred into the sword like flames.
“Wait, wait.”
“Huh? Why, why?”
“Did Belante teach you that?”
I asked seriously, and the frightened Eris staggered back.
“N-no… this is what I practiced on my own…”
That made me suspicious. If Belante had taught someone who still hadn’t unlocked a single core, I would have tied her up and spanked her raw. But I didn’t say that out loud.
“Again. Get into the proper stance. Not this useless stuff—only what Belante taught you.”
“U-useless?!”
“Yes.”
“I practiced so hard…”
“You wasted your time. Now, again.”
“Kyuugh…!!”
Eris gripped the hilt with a very displeased face and began the first stance of the Imperial Knights’ basic sword style, Fierce Dragon Sword.
Hung! Hooong—! Hooong!
It was stiff and utterly lacking in elegance. She had no talent at all.
After finishing the form and sheathing the sword, Eris wiped her sweat and turned to me.
“Haah… haah… How was it?”
I had been bored, so I had barely looked at all.
“I watched. This time, do it slowly.”
“Slowly?”
“Focus on making the form fluid and smooth, checking for any bad posture yourself. Start.”
Eris reset her stance and moved the sword at a snail’s pace.
“Slower. Very slow. Like a snail crawling. Good.”
“Kuh…”
After only a few movements, her long arms were already trembling. Sweat beads rolled down her smooth, round forehead.
Eris took more than an hour to finish the entire first form. I had had to correct her stance line by line.
“Hwaaak! Hwac!”
Ignoring the princess’s dignity, she collapsed on the ground and panted desperately.
“I haven’t said you can rest yet.”
“Hwaaak! Hwaaack!”
“Stand up.”
“I-I-I can’t die!”
“Your Highness, people don’t die that easily. Even if you take two slashes, you can live for a few more minutes. Stand up.”
“Two slashes? What… Hwaik! S-stand!!”
Eris finally rose with a jolt, breathing heavily in attention position.
“From now on, you’ll do this every day.”
“Every… every day?”
“Whether I’m here or not, whether it rains or snows, when class time comes, Your Highness will perform this.”
“You’re planning to run away again, aren’t you?!”
“How did you know… C-cough, no way.”
Eris glared at me with murderous eyes. It was exactly the same look Seriel used to give me back then.
I was seeing a ten-year-old kid for the first time who could actually scare me.
“In any case, I won’t move on until you do it perfectly. If you skip even one day, the difference will show immediately, so don’t even think about it.”
“Kyuugh…”
“Then, let’s start again.”
“A-again? I still can’t rest yet!”
“You’ve been resting the whole time.”
In the end, Eris looked like she was about to cry as she gripped the hilt again.
***
The next day, Eris still couldn’t get out of bed.
It was the same as the day I first hit her—her whole body was sore from muscle pain.
“Kuuugh… I’m going to die…”
The slow movements of the sword had overstimulated every unused muscle in her body, making her writhe in agony.
“Are you all right?”
“Ugh… Does it look fine to you?!”
Her personal guard, Belante, grew worried, but the furious Eris snapped at her.
I wanted to say she looked perfectly fine, but the opponent was the princess, so I pulled a rectangular envelope from my pocket instead.
“What’s that?”
“It’s a Pas.”
“Pas?”
“A new product recently released by RS Company. It said it helps with muscle pain.”
“RS? Isn’t that the famous company?”
RS Company.
Founded a few years ago, it had caused all kinds of fads across the entire empire.
Only a handful of people knew it was secretly owned by me (R) and Seriel (S), and that it was actually my private company.
Of course, the name was well-known even in the West. Eris immediately allowed me to apply the Pas to her body.
When I tore off the magical paper wrapper, a strong minty scent exploded out.
“It’s refreshing.”
The magic in the Pas activated, lowering the temperature further.
“Ooh, it’s getting colder.”
“It’s enchanted. It automatically switches between hot and cold therapy based on your condition.”
“Is there really magic for everything?”
The guards watching Eris’s amazed reaction all smiled with delight.
Thanks to the pain-relief magic, the muscle pain had almost vanished. Eris sat up with a bounce.
“I’m moving! I’m moving!”
“Congratulations, Your Highness.”
After finishing the minty-flavored meal with a body still smelling of mint, a sudden idea popped into Eris’s head.
“Wait a second.”
No pain even when I swung my arms. Even when I lifted a heavy pot, my arms didn’t tremble.
A smile spread across her fair face.
“With this Pas, I can finish the first form in one go without shaking. Then tomorrow I can go back to just beating her up… I mean, sparring!”
Eris had just figured out how to end the unheard-of punishment.
“Kuhuhu, just you wait!”
She dashed straight to the training ground.
The sight of Eris covered head to toe in Pas was enough to make me nearly explode with laughter.
“What the hell? How many did she put on?!”
I briefly worried about her health, but her mana flow inside was steady, so I let it go.
Eris gripped the hilt with a determined face.
“Watch! I’ll do it perfectly!”
“Mm. Begin.”
In front of me, she moved through the first form of Fierce Dragon Sword with slow, graceful motions. The movements were smooth and free of extra fluff compared to yesterday.
Eris finished the last movement with a bright smile and turned to me.
Clap clap clap—!
“Impressive.”
I genuinely applauded. In just one day, she had changed so much.
Yeah, you can do it, Eris!
Inside my heart, my evaluation of the first princess rose by a tiny bit.
I also bumped up the difficulty.
“Not perfect, but… you passed the passing line.”
“Then…!!”
“Then, shall we move on to the second form?”
“…Huh?”
At those words, Eris froze solid.
“From tomorrow, you’ll perform the first and second forms back-to-back.”
“B-back-to-back…???”
Shiver shiver shiver…
She had put on at least ten Pas, yet her body was still trembling uncontrollably.
Eris regretted it. She regretted her foolishness to the extreme.
The next day.
“Kueaah— kueaah—!”
The accumulated two days of fatigue hit all at once. Eris slept the entire day.
Her loud snoring echoed so clearly that I, for the first time since entering the palace, removed my ear-magic power.
Meanwhile, the second princess, Anelia.
“Yawn.”
She was half-reclined in a swing, happily eating cake that a maid fed her.
Her chubby cheeks moved as she stuffed her mouth with cake.
“Yawn yawn yawn.”
Anelia’s father, the South Duke, hated the fact that she ate only desserts and refused to eat rice.
He got furious whenever he saw his daughter lying in bed eating cake fed by a maid during meal time.
The South Duke had never had daughters before, but because he doted on his beautiful Anelia, he couldn’t completely ban desserts.
He only limited the number of desserts she could eat per day and allowed her to eat them while lying down.
Still, every time she was caught sneaking desserts, he would scold her.
That was why the South Duke was overjoyed about his daughter’s upcoming palace trip.
Of course, his main reason was her future success, but he also thought that once she lived in the palace, she wouldn’t be able to lie down and eat desserts anymore.
She was growing into a proper imperial princess with a strict routine.
However…
“I love palace life! I love being a princess!!”
The South Duke had no idea that his daughter was becoming even lazier.
***
“Teacher!!”
After finishing training, Eris, who had been lying sprawled on the ground, suddenly exploded.
I was startled.
“Why are you angry?”
“Why isn’t the second princess, Anelia, training? That brat just drinks tea or something at the lounge every day!”
It was unfair that I was suffering while she just lounged around.
“Well… Anelia-nim is already a 2-Class mage, right?”
“What? No, yes??”
Unlike Eris, Anelia was overflowing with talent.
She just played and ate with no effort, yet she had already reached 2-Class.
Even though the South Duke only gave her basic education and no special training, she had somehow climbed to 2-Class.
The reason she didn’t gain weight was because whatever she ate turned directly into mana.
It was a body that modern people would envy to death.
Of course, laziness was a problem that needed fixing, but she was still a child, so maybe it was fine to go slowly.
Then why was Eris acting like this?
“She’s so similar.”
Aside from the red hair, she looked like a perfect clone of Seriel.
Anelia’s eyes and nose were Seriel’s, but the rest was close to the South Duke’s features.
If not for the eye color, no one would have guessed she was Seriel’s daughter.
That was why I paid a bit more attention to Eris and wanted to treat her a little better… or rather, punish her more.
“A 2-Class mage is that useless girl?”
“Hah, no bad words about my sister. You want to get spanked?”
“Kyuugh…”
Even the impolite words she had said were identical to Seriel’s.
The moment I first received affection from Seriel, I felt exactly like a mouse facing a cat.
At that time, she was like a little demon.
I would guide Eris along the right path, not the little-demon path.
And while I was at it, I wanted to feel a little of the old Seriel’s mood.
“All right, stand up.”
“Stand up…”
“I’ll do it one last time.”
“W-what? You just finished!!”
I laughed while watching Eris look at me with a heartbroken expression.
“Hahaha. I was joking.”
“Kyuugh…!!”