Chapter 5

The next few days were calm, eerily so. Not once did I see Eris around, even when I outright looked for her. My only conclusion was that she had a plan in mind, and was preparing to execute it while hiding it from me, clever.

If that was truly the case, then she was smarter than I gave her credit for, and risking not having a set plan would likely not be ideal.

Still, even I couldn't find her, the servants most certainly could. They were everywhere, and not much that happened within the manor could escape their beastly senses.

Splitting my efforts to find out more with Sylphy, I was able to gather the following information:

1. Eris left in the morning with Ghislaine and only returned at noon.

2. Her temper had gotten significantly better around them, almost as if suppressing her rage.

3. She was anxious all the time, looking around corners suspiciously and making her way towards places rather quickly.

It didn't tell me much, but it told me enough... Eris was taking this seriously. I definitely couldn't just sit back and relax, even if I had proven the superior combatant before. Who knew what kind of bullshit she'd pull? No, I couldn't just risk losing a job opportunity like that!

"Sylphy, I want you to train with me." - I said with authority as I approached the girl. She looked a bit bewildered at first, but then excitement overcame her.

"I'd love to! What are we going to do Tany? Is this about that girl???" - She jumped from her chair and stood in front of me with sparkling eyes. I was quite happy with her eagerness, but I didn't want that devotion to become an obsession.

"Calm down Sylphy. Admittedly this is quite the annoyance, but she'd been getting prepared for something and I'm not sure what" - I paused and patted the girl's head gently. - "I want you to help me to overcome any obstacle I may face even without the use of magic."

"My skills with a blade, or even bare hands are good enough, but she may pull something dirty, and I don't wanna risk it. Do you understand?" - She nodded, and I stopped patting her for a moment before turning around and going to the door. I turned around once more to face her and continued.

"Alrighty then. You'll be my sparring partner! I will also be taking this opportunity to teach you a few new things. Let's go, shall we?"

"Of course Tany!" - the girl giggled as I opened the door for her. We were off to prepare then.

- Ͼ - ⨀ - Ͽ -

Training with Sylphy was rough. She was a mage in the same tier as Roxy, and that meant she was absurdly talented. It also meant she'd have to hold back a lot for the purposes of this training.

Speaking of, the training itself consisted of a match between me and Sylphy, but with a catch to it: She could use magic, and I could not.

This was to prepare me for any tricks Eris might have had up her sleeves. There was only so much a person could do without magic, and I felt like fighting with the odds cataclysmically against me would be enough to prepare me for whatever petty schemes Eris had in mind.

Sylphy was hesitant at first, not wanting to hurt me. But she quickly started to become more confident in her ability not to hurt me, as well as mine to tell her when to stop... And I did that a lot. It goes without saying that fighting against an opponent with magic as powerful as hers without my own was impossible. On our first day, we sparred a total of 55 times, counting each re-attempted after being down at least, and out of 55 attempts to win, I managed to win 0. As well as this, not a single session lasted more than a minute and thirty seconds.

Still, I had gained valuable experience from all the time I spent rushing at Sylphy. I had instructed her only to use magic when she felt necessary, and coming from places she thought would catch me off guard, so I had gathered some superficial knowledge of how a defensive opponent might have acted if I were to rush them... Only, it was turned up to the extreme.

I had my previous life experiences as well too, of course. But combat back then didn't rely on underhanded tactics on a close-quarters basis quite as much. Guns hardly ever allowed for it.

Aside from that, I took the opportunity to slowly build up Sylphy's confidence, something I probably should have done significantly sooner, but oh well. No time like the present.

Complimenting, pampering, and seeming happy for her whenever she got the best of me and making subtle suggestions about how she should act confident not only in combat. but also in social interactions as well was enough to get the girl glowing by the end of the day. Naturally, she hadn't changed all that much on a broader spectrum, but if I continued to apply positive reinforcement, she'd grow into the subordinate I wanted her to be in no time at all... Thank god I read Pavlov's theories in my first life.

I also made sure to be equally as encouraging with her on other matters. She was perfectly capable of reading and writing, but I wanted her to be able to quickly write and formulate objective reports for me. Naturally, I started her training by killing two birds with one stone. Whenever we weren't sparring, I asked her to write down all the mistakes she believed I was making during combat, and reviewed the papers in front of her, giving her positive feedback on whatever issues I found with the reports... Despite being tempted to start conditioning her to write reports out of her own free will already, I was forced to take a step back and leave that for the future. I could only do so much with her in a set period of time after all.

During the week I had to prepare myself, I also had several, mostly fruitless discussions with Philip about his daughter and what she was up to. He didn't share much, likely being a part of her little schemes, but getting closer to my employer wasn't a bad thing, so it wasn't entirely fruitless.

I had done all I could. Now all that was left for me to do was wait for the day of the fight to arrive.

- Ͼ - ⨀ - Ͽ -

Eris was nervous. She was nervous she'd lose a teacher worthy of her... Why had she said those words? Stupid girl! Even still, what was done was done, and she wouldn't back down now. If Tanya showed weakness then so be it, there were plenty of other teachers around!... But damn she was cool, she just couldn't get her mind off the way that wind magic felt to powerful!

Naturally, the girl had been trying to justify her own actions, but really all she could do was drown away any pesky thoughts by training. Training with whom? Ghislaine of course.

She wasn't the most disciplined student, but she had a talent for fighting. Training for a week wouldn't suddenly make her a master. or even a beginner-level combatant, but it would maybe be enough to overwhelm Tanya... She hoped that would be the case at least and for that same reason she only returned to the manor after 7 hours of daily training, getting healed if necessary just to keep on going.

In the one week she trained, her battle aura had increased dramatically, but that was not to say it was particularly powerful yet. Her form with the sword was also good enough, and above all else, she had guts, and she was furious... Furious with what? Who knew? But Ghislaine had instructed her to let that rage fuel her in the fight, so she had been suppressing it for a long time now...

Getting to release it all would be quite nice. She just hoped her teacher would put up a good fight.

- Ͼ - ⨀ - Ͽ -

The day had come, and I stood at the courtyard of the Greyrat manor with Sylphy, who was happily chatting away about how I would easily win the fight. I was thankful for the support, but she was a bit too enthusiastic about the whole thing, even still, I couldn't complain too much while waiting for my opponent. I had light protective clothing on, and was armed with a training spear, my preferred weapon choice.

What's taking so long?

Finally, after what felt like an etternity, Eris had arrived. Beside her was Ghislaine, and another person... Ah, Sauros Boreas Greyrat, this place's owner. He had those same fierce eyes Eris had, and his entire conduct reminded me of her. It was clear who was her main influence growing up.

We took our stands, Philip and Hilda joined as well, and they, alongside Sauros and Sylphy, watched from the sidelines.

Ghislaine was there to supervise us, naturally.

Eris was armed with a simple sword, and had a cocky look on her face... But I didn't see much else. No pockets to hide sand, no extra sneaky dagger, nothing. It was odd, had she really been just training all day long? No schemes? Before i could think too hard about it, a booming voice disrupted the peace and quiet.

"ERIS!!!!!! FIGHT HONORABLY AND GIVE THIS GIRL A TASTE OF GREYRAT VIGOR!!!" - Sauros yelled out with enough force to shake my whole body. Was he using magic or was he just that loud? Damn!

Motioning for Ghislaine to authorize the fight, he took a seat and watched as his granddaughter rushed towards me.

She was fast, substantially faster than when I first met her at least... But unless she had a secret technique as her trump card, I'd easily win as the more experienced fighter.

A slash was aimed at me neck, but I simply took a step back and aimed a thrust at my opponent's stomach. Eris easily dodged and dashed forward with impressive might, instantly closing any distance I had put up between the two of us.

There were no openings for me to attack, but I could still create one!

With not enough time for me to pull back the spear and thrust again, I swung with the rear end of the shaft at her head, and managed to get a reaction out of her, who blocked with the strong section of her blade, near the crossguard. That was all I needed! Taking advantage of her now open flank, I swung once more, but this time with the other end of my spear.

Taking notice of my attack, she shifted her weight precariously backwards and managed to avoid the trajectory of my weapon entirely, and with a flip backwards, she was back on her feet, ready to attack... But I gave her no such chance. As soon as she started dodging, I was already aiming yet another thrust at her.

This time, she wouldn't have the time to neither block or dodge fully... But the girl still found a way to keep going! dodging to the side ever so slightly, she managed to get into a position where she was able to catch my spear's shaft, but not without receiving a partial hit first. Despite wincing in pain, Eris remained strong. Thankfully we were only using wooden training weapons, otherwise that hit might've hurt more than just a bit.

With my spear now under her control, she pulled me in closer but I wasn't having it. Instead of letting her take control, I thrust forward once more and pulled back. It was enough to get her off balance, and it allowed for me to take the initiative once more as I pulled her in close and kicked her in the stomach.

She let go of my weapon and stumbled backwards, trying to catch her breath for a moment.

Damn! This girl only trained for a week and she improved this much?

In the time it took for me to have that thought, she was already back on the offensive, and rushing me down once more. Persistent brat!

What followed were 30 seconds of me fending her off over and over again as she continued to agressively chip away at me. Admittedly this was a lot easier than my sparring matches with Sylphy, of which I only won one, but Eris had a lot more agression and didn't allow for me to exploit her weaknesses either, she was no easy opponent!

But all it would take was one wide opening, and I could finish the fight... And an opportunity arose after 1 minute and 46 seconds seconds of fighting.

After thrusting her blade at me, I was presented with the perfect chance to do the same thing she had done to me, catching the blade mid attack. My grip was firm, and I took our closeness to kick her on the side again, but this time, I followed through until she was on the ground.

Before she could get up, the tip of my spear was already touching her neck.

"My victory." - I announced while looking down at her, a slight smile on my now sweating face.

She smiled too... I wondered what that was about. She had planned to lose? But that would mean becoming my student, which she didn't want... Or maybe she did. But if that was the case, then why propose the duel in the first place?

Either way, I didn't think too hard and simply offered her a hand, which she gladly took.

"EXCELLENT DISPLAY YOUNG LADY! TREAT MY GRANDDAUGHTER WELL!" - Sauros yelled once more, and Eris ran towards him to receive her praise was well, which was promptly given.

Philip was clapping, and Hilda was simply staring at me with a slight face of surprise.

And Sylphy... Well, she was as enthusiastic as ever,

- Ͼ - ⨀ - Ͽ -

After our fight, Eris had been a pretty cooperative student... For her standards. She was still stubborn, incredibly so, but obeyed my commands and was willing to learn whatever I put in front of her, though some subjects were less welcomed than others.

She had also grown close to Sylphy, who told stories about our village to her. Eris was a lot more docile around my companion, and taking note of it, I had also began training the half elf on how to improve here oratory skills, as well as her confidence. Being around Eris also helped her a lot, as she was constantly encouraged to be less soft to others. Even with all that though, she was still a kind young lady, and it would take some time to mold her into anything else... Still, any amount of progress was good, and progress was being made rather quickly.

We also taught Ghislaine, who was much more cooperative than Eris, but also much older, thus struggled with learning new things a bit more than her master.

Between me and Sylphy, the progress our students were making was astounding. Eris was a very physical person, and enjoyed her sword training quite a bit as well. Knowing this, I taught her wing magic to further enhance her movements. After several months of practice, she was able to artificially boost herself consistently, though not to the same degree as me, likely due to all the calculations needed to do it on the fly.

Ghislaine also showed interest in it, but she was already too strong to really benefit from it.

All in all, their magic progress was pretty good, with Eris mastering various types of elementary magic, and Ghislaine wasn't too far off behind.

Arithmetics were not progressing quite as smoothly. The beast woman showed a lot more interest in it, thus learned quicker. Eris was still learning, but at a lesser pace.

Reading and writing were no issue at all for the both of them, and with one teacher for each person, we were able to coach them individually, therefore correct their mistakes and correcting them much faster.

There was not much else to note about them however. Aside from Eris trying to burn down the manor once or twice, mine and Sylphy's job was quite stable, something I was grateful for.

For me though, this place was heaven! For one, there were a nigh unlimited amount of books in the library, which were promptly read by me. I learned many things as the months passed, but my magical studies were my top priority on a purely theoretical level. In the village, I had hit a ceiling in my capabilities, but here, I had all the resources I needed to further expand upon my prowess.

Within 6 months of arriving, I had already reached Emperor level magic, and had mastered a lot more Saint level spells. I had also learned a lot more about magic circuits, which were a topic of interest, but I had no way to research about them back at home. I read many books about how they functioned, sometimes spending the entire night just reading due to how much information i had to absorb to properly understand them.

Thoughts about a computation jewel in this world also returned to my mind. If I studied enough about these circuits, I could possibly create one myself, which would help out with magic casting a lot. Within a year of arriving, I was able to initiate my work on the lesser systems needed to create a computation jewel... Well, prototypes of said systems at least.

I was also able to create a bastardized version of flight with wing magic. It was crude and lacked proper controls, but that mostly boiled down to me being unable to perform the necessary adjustments in real time. Flight also drained my mana rather quickly, which was a problem, but one that would be addressed later. I was thankful to fly again, and that was enough for me... For now, at the very least.

Training with Ghislaine was also fruitful. Though the Sword God style of fighting didn't traditionally include spears in their teachings, the beast woman was able to adapt some techniques for my use, and I myself was able to perform some even without a sword. My battle aura was also steadily growing, which was quite nice. indeed. It grew slowly, incredibly so, and my body didn't maintain it for long, which told me something within me was rejecting it entirely, but what was? I didn't know, and no amount of research on the subject helped me either. I had no choice but to simply keep working hard and hope for the best.

I couldn't keep up with Eris in a purely martial sense, and often lost sparring matches against her due to the sheer difference is physicality, but between the two of us, I was the more skilled with my weapon, and sometimes managed to sneak in fight ending hits... It wasn't often though.

Sylphy also took up arms, and she also surpassed me in little to no time. It was rather frustrating, yes, but I was also quite proud of her. She was still as loyal as ever, but her confidence had grown over time, and she was a lot more proactice with things, which was good! It was exactly what I had wanted.

Whenever I wasn't studying, I was investing my money on businesses and coming up with ideas of my own. Sylphy was always there to help and manage it all, which was quite nice indeed. Still... The economy was rather dull. Too simplistic in a sense, and I wished to change that as the years passed, but it could wait for now.

I also kept in contact with my family, and more importantly, Roxy, who helped me a lot with my magic circuitry studies, and also was the reason I could figure out flight magic after so long. Her ideas were brilliant as always... Ah, how I missed having her around.

Paul and Zenith were doing well too, raising my siblings to be decent people as well, though, from what they had said, my siblings were just as odd as me when they came out. Norn was silent and often gave creepy smiles to Lilia. She was also a curious child who liked to explore the house. My other sister, Aisha, was similarly silent, and she was eerily disciplined at times, almost like a soldier... But she was like Norn as well, very curious and proactice. It seemed as if both my sisters were geniuses, or maybe just autistic.

Life was good.

- Ͼ - ⨀ - Ͽ -

"A shopping trip? Another?" - I asked, looking at Eris with an incredulous face.

"Yes! Sylphy and I want to dress you up for once!"

"That's true Tany... You're so pretty, but you never let us doll you up." - Sylphy said while blushing.

I gave it some thought. We had already gone out a week prior, and likely wouldn't be getting permission to go out again so soon after spending copious amounts of gold coins.

"Philip probably won't be allowing this, what do you plan on doing to get it?" - I asked, turning my entire body towards them and simply staring while waiting for an answer.

"We'll sneak out! It will be fun!" - Eris, the red haired girl said with enthusiasm, and Sylphy was similarly joyful... Ah, children.

"Absolutely not. I will not be held accountable for-" - Before I could finish, Eris put a finger on my lips and smiled deviously.

"I'll pay you 10 gold coins if you come along.~" - She said, her tone one of mischief... That was 100x my monthly salary, I was more than sold.

Later that day, we managed to walk away from the manor, and found ourselves in the shopping district... Again. Ghislaine wasn't with us, which wasn't very assuring, but between the three of us, we could probably take out any thug that came our way.

Eris and Sylphy dragged me along many stores, but eventually we landed on a clothing store so big it made a castle look tiny. How on earth had a business managed to grow so large on a feudal economy? Damn!

"Hey hey! Tanya! Look at this dress!" - Eris called out, and Sylphy pushed me towards the store... Time to get dolled up I suppose. It was a moment i had been dreading, it reminded me of my second's life propaganda efforts, but 5 gold pieces was 5 gold pieces.

We spent a good hour and a half at that store. They had asked me to dress in every possible combination of pieces available at the store, and I honestly lost track after the 12th dress or so. They seemed content though, which was nice enough. It didn't hurt to let them have their fun, it would further deepen my bond with them, which could come in handy later... I was also being paid, which was the main reason I tolerated this.

In the end, we ended up buying several clothes for me, and we visited several more stores. By the time we had done everything we could do in the shopping district, it was already nightfall.

As we made our way through dark alleyways, I felt something I hadn't felt in many years... We were being stalked. Using magic to capture any signals coming our way, from air vibrations to noise, confirming it was easy. We were indeed being followed, but by who?

Before I could think too hard about it, a blade came in my direction at incredibly speeds. I turned around as my magic picked up on it, and immediately cast a barrier around us. A technique not too dissimilar from the magic shields used in my seconds life.

The blade bounced off but it left a crack on my shield. Now fully alert, I told the girls to stay vigilant, and Sylphy was the one to notice our enemies... In the rooftops, dozens of cloaked figures watched us from above.

Ah, just my luck huh? I remembered the last time I had thought something like that... Eris seemed like a minor inconvenience at the face of the situation I found myself in right now.

Fuck! Am I allergic to good luck or something?

Preparing myself for the worst, I continued to stare at them as at least half a dozen jumped down to our level... They didn't say anything.

"What is your purpose?!" - I asked, my voice stern, full of authority... But no response came from them. Yeah, no getting out of this one.

What a damn headache... Behind me, Sylphy was shaking uncontrolably, and Eris looked the most concerned I'd ever seen her. They didn't look like they were gonna join in the fighting, but I might as well try to get them to act.

"Eris. Sylphy. You two can either run or fight by my side. I won't blame you for your choices today... But I hope to get some help here."

One of the cloaked people took a step forward, and from within their cloak came a pair of knives... The rest did the same.

Great. Just. Great.