"....why?" Zion tilted his head.

"I want to see your skills."

​​

"But you don't have a sword." Zion thought if he were to fight a girl, both sides should be standing on equal grounds. To be honest, he wasn't wrong to think like that, but Lia was very proud of her skills. She was so confident that she knew she could defeat Zion without even batting an eyelash.

Her eyes squinted as she stared at the man for a moment and snorted. "Defeat me without a sword, then I'll think about it."

What else could Zion say? He pursed his lips and picked up the wooden sword before he walked slowly. He still didn't know what he should do, but since he already had hands-on experience while fighting that assassin, he still had basic skills. In his own world, he had joined defense classes where they had taught him how to defend himself from any attack. It was just that the martial arts used in his world were nearly 5% of what he had seen after coming to Magicae.

That was why it made it impossible for him to fight against basically anyone here. So now that he stood at the center of an open ground surrounded by trees, he stared blankly at the princess standing in front of him in a fighting stance. His lips pressed in a thin line as he raised his sword. This girl hadn't even attacked him yet, so he didn't dare to go all out as he had with the assassin.

He sighed and slashed the sword toward the girl weakly, but she caught it without any delay and threw it on the ground before looking at the human in front of her with cold eyes. "Is that how you will attack an enemy?"

Zion scratched his head awkwardly. "I really don't want to attack you. It's like, you have not harmed me yet, so why should I unnecessarily pick up the weapon against you? Even if it's for learning, I can't really harm anyone without any reason. You get it, right?"

In his world, people wouldn't pick up weapons and fight just anyone. It was against the law that allowed everyone to live without a trace of violence in their minds. Zion was the same even after he joined the FBI. When in danger, he would just use his mind to save himself instead of picking up weapons. Finding weapons would be the last thing on his mind if he were to be left alone in a dangerous situation.

Lia squinted her eyes, and the corners of her lips curved up. "So that's why. Then, I should attack you for real."

After saying that, Zion didn't even get a chance at taking his weapon back when the princess rushed at him. Her body flashed across the field and stopped right in front of him. He just blinked when the girl appeared before his eyes as she smiled, and her hands stopped at his neck as if she were about to chop his head off right this instant.

Zion's heart leaped up as he stared at her in a daze. Why did he ask her to attack him? Could he even think of a possible counterattack? If he had known she would be way faster than that assassin he fought earlier, he wouldn't have asked her to attack first! He pursed his lips and backed up a few steps. Even though Lia was shorter than him, he couldn't take her for granted. He was already her slave, and if he were to do something to irritate her, she would chop off his head for real!

Meanwhile, Lia was enjoying the dumbfounded expressions on her servant's face. She backed away and said, "Now, do you really want me to fight?"

Zion shook his head and took his sword with a serious face, and charged at her.

***

Fifteen days passed by just like that, and the detective's life became even more disastrous. Since he would be woken up with a bucket of cold water every morning, he had to force himself to sleep early at night. Just as he would freshen up, he would practice with Lia for the entire morning without any food or water. At noon, she would take his test about the recent fighting style that she taught. If he were to fail to live up to her expectations, she wouldn't even let him have his lunch and force him to continue to practice.

The more Zion went hungry like that, the more careful he became when practicing his skills to the point that he wasn't showing any chance to produce error in his sword-fighting formation and style after fifteen days. Then, he would take a break until the evening when Lia would teach him a new skill. If he hadn't passed the noon's test, she would make him practice until dinner.

It had been fifteen days since he was going through such a hectic schedule, and yet, Lia hadn't picked up the sword. His sword wasn't even able to touch her hair! In the morning, he wiped his forehead as he angrily looked at her and said, "You're doing this deliberately, aren't you?"

Lia shrugged and folded her hands on her chest, looking arrogant. "You wanted to learn from me, and I had warned you earlier that I would be strict."

Zion's eyes went gloomy, and he raised his sword again. It was earlier in the morning, and he was hungry, but the rule said that he would have to practice until noon and give an exam before he could get something to eat. He took a deep breath and was just about to charge at the princess when the girl stopped him.

"Let's take a break today."

"Really?" The detective was skeptical. The girl who wasn't giving him a chance to rest peacefully suddenly said they would take a break today. It had been an hour since he had started practicing with the sword. He squinted his eyes at her and said, "I don't seem to understand why you would want to take a break today."

"Let's go somewhere. It's been half a month, and we still don't know anything about what happened in the Vanne Kingdom." She said and walked toward the inn. "Don't tell me you aren't curious."

Of course, he was curious. He wanted to know what happened to the black-cloaked man and whether the king was still alive or not. So he said nothing and lowered the wooden sword as he followed the princess.