“So, that would mean that a warrior is stronger than a sorcerer.”

Sirius said with a little downtrodden voice. His dream of, I imagine, raining down fire on his enemies seemed to be quashed now.

“That is also not necessarily true. If there is a sorcerer who can just disregard stamina depletion and conjure up an attack that the warrior has no hope of escaping, wouldn’t the sorcerer win?”

Oooh, that is possible?

“But that means that the sorcerer is always stronger?”

I said while leaning on the staff as I tried to get the feel of the ground.

“Neither of you asked the most important question. Can’t we become both sorcerer and a warrior?”

The old man Blake looked at us with his eyes peeking out from behind the glasses.

“Why would you want to be segregated under the banners of warriors and sorcerers? If you want to become strong, you strive to get everything within your grasp. Not just your personal strength, but every aspect of a fight should be under your control. Fights, and by extension wars, are extremely complicated. The stronger doesn’t always survive. So, diversity in attacks is extremely important in your arsenal. Do you understand, both of you?”

Smart, isn’t he? Or rather, I should call him wise. After all, he is quite old. But I like his way of thinking. Take everything you can if you want to become strong. The strong always stand on a mountain of bones anyway.

“And how do we do that, Sir Blake? How… do we become both?” I asked with a glimmer in my eyes. That's the easiest way to survive, after all. Just be stronger and smarter than everyone.

“Well, this is something that children usually learn in the academy. However, having me as an instructor has some boon to it.” Old man Blake smiled as he tapped our shoulders.

“But before all that, you will need to make your bodies better. After all, you won’t be able to utilise mana until you are around 8-9 years of age.”

Um, heh, I can though. But it's not like I can tell you about it.

“So from now on, your physical training will constitute you practising with the weapons of your choice, and then….” the old man shifted his gaze from us to the other people around this training stable, and I swear, I saw a sparkle in his eyes, “.......you’ll be fighting these guards.”

This shitty old fart.

I turned my eyes after cursing inwardly and noticed the gleam in Sirius’ eyes leaving and I wondered if that was his soul. He stood there with a lifeless expression on his face as he uttered a few words under his breath, “More… physical training…?”

………………..

My muscles were screaming as I kept standing straight with the staff in my hand pointed towards a middle aged guard. My body was drenched in sweat and my palms were filled with calluses. I put my weak foot forward as I thrusted the staff towards the guard, who simply moved his waist to dodge my attack. I pulled my staff to my body and I held it horizontally above my head.

Thwuck!

A heavy kick came down on my staff and made me unbalanced, but I scrunched my face and twisted my leg to squat down and sweep my opponent off his feet in this small window. I turned my focus up and only concentrated on his remaining leg that touched the ground. Just as my leg got close to the guard’s foot, I noticed it disappearing from my sight.

Shit, where did he go? Did he use mana? No, there is no fluctuation.

That’s when my notice shifted to the shadows on the ground, and I looked up almost immediately. And to my horror, I noticed that the guard’s leg had almost reached my face. I tried to get back to evade the incoming kick to my face, but it simply was too late. I felt the mana around the guard shift as he slowed down and came to a halt in mid air. He kicked the air and pushed his body back to give me some space.

“That last attack of yours was incredibly swift. Your decision making is quite commendable, child.”

The middle aged guard smiled as he recounted the little spar we had. I bowed lightly and thanked him.

“Thank you for providing your valuable time, Sir.”

“Hahaha! Don’t worry, child. At first we were just following Ser Blake’s orders, but it is genuinely fun to spar against you. How old are you now?”

“Thank you for the compliment. I should be around 5 and a half years old now.”

Now that I think about it, it has been over a year since I ended up here. Time sure flies when you do something you actually enjoy. I can’t say the same thing about him though.

I turned my head and looked to the side where Sirius was laying down sprawling on the ground. He was wheezing heavily and the floor had become wet due to his sweat. I could hear certain ramblings under his breath about how he hated physical training. I walked towards him and proceeded to sit down.

“Did you land a hit yet?” Sirius asked in the same wheezing voice of his.

“Not yet… I’m getting close though.”

Sirius looked at me while laying there with his mouth open. He huffed and sat down with his hands behind him supporting his body.

“We’ll win the day when we’ll be able to use mana.”

“I don’t think so, Sirius. They haven’t used mana either. They have years of proficiency against us. Even if we were to use mana, I believe the result would be the same. We’ll need to be creative and catch them off guard to defeat them.”

Sirius smiled while looking at me. His eyes had become slanted and he was deliberately showing his teeth as if to mock me.

“Why are you acting weird?”

I asked while averting my eyes as I had just realised what Sirius was going to say.

“You said we. Hehehe.”

I looked at this annoying child who hadn’t changed much in the past year and shook my head in resignation.

“I’ll defeat him myself. I don’t need your help.”