My lady raised her hand, and mana glowed amid condensation before morphing into more than ten ice sickles. Gleaming ice in the cold winter garlanded by hail appeared striking from the sidelines, but Casey didn’t share my stance. Lightning sizzled around her, stark white in color, overshadowing the radiant lamps as she used [Static]. The glow of the mana lamps close to us brightened for a while as lightning ran amok around her, exemplifying Casey’s ethereal appearance.

Another brighter streak of lighting forced the assaulting shards to crumble to indiscernible mana, night breeze casting away the disappearing flakes in the periodic illumination the swirling lighting offered. One [Bolt] was all it took for my lady’s breathing to worsen, but she stubbornly stood rooted as white light gleamed under Casey.

“Those were some strong spells, Rudolf,” Garlan said, watching the girls almost half his age with surprise.

“They sure are,” Beth said, her unabashed eyes staring at Casey intently.

Casey moved a step instantly using [First Step], as ice spikes sprung up around the periphery of the mana circle, trying to imprison her within. She wasn’t breathless like my lady and blithely took turns to step left and right, disappearing and reappearing instantly all around the place. More arrays of shards burst forth my lady’s hands, waning instantly when they lost my lady’s focus in materialization.

Casey was casual in her steps and thorough in her movements that she almost appeared non-existent on the lawn.

The projectile spells differed in the extent of materialization. A mage with absolute control over casting can materialize mana completely, so water from [Splash] spell would stay in the world for eternity until the caster dismissed it otherwise. Anything less than a hundred percent materialization converted the materialized mana back to impure mana once the caster stopped casting, despite the propagating effects of the elements. For instance, fire from the fire spell would disappear, but not the flames on the tree due to the materialized mana. So, complete materialization didn’t add to the apparent advantage of volatile spells, but it was worthwhile learning anyway, at least for an unlimited supply of water.

Casey was close to my lady now after escaping her [Ice Barrage] and [Ice Shards], and she vanished promptly again, reappearing on my lady’s right before anyone could take a note of it. A fist sizzling with lighting rushed toward my lady’s face. Letitia cast [Ice Shield] in haste, losing her momentary focus thanks to the paralyzing effects of the lighting that had slipped past her shield.

The polygonal shield glittering in the sizzling lightning crumbled, and a sharp streak of attenuated [Bolt] forced my lady on her knees.

Letitia wiped the sweat from her forehead, taking time to ward off the wobbly sensation. But she stood back up just as fast, shaky on her feet, and dodged another fist sizzling with lightning by ducking. My lady cast [Blast], and ball of fire forced Casey to retreat a step, but she appeared beside my lady in a flash.

My lady’s fist gleamed with fire, and she bit her lips in pain. Charred hands were rendered useless when Casey side-stepped and landed another streak of lightning on Letitia.

That was the end, I knew, even though my lady’s eyes said otherwise.

“She is darn fast!” Garlan said, already rubbing his hands for the next round.

“[First Step],” I said, Beth repeating the same after me.

“But the girl just disappeared, didn’t she? That was the fastest [First Step] I have ever seen.”

“She didn’t,” Beth said with pride coating her words. “She uses external casting, and coupled with [Static], she is a few times faster than other lightning mages of her rank.”

My lady raised her charred hand and stood up, ardent admiration and not jealousy, seeping out of her eyes. Casey smiled at Letitia, and my lady gladly returned it before turning to me.

“That was hard, mongrel,” she said, covered in sweat, though there was fire brimming in her eyes. And in her hands. [Flame Fist] was a self-destructive spell and caused damage only if the punch ever connected her foe. So she had just charred her hands for nothing. “I couldn’t bypass my internal reserve again. And all her bolts were attenuated, or I couldn’t have stood past the second one.”

“You’ll get used to it, my lady,” I smiled, and wiped her face with my sleeves, removing the strands of hair sticking to her face. [Heal] followed soon, and my lady’s expression eased as her hand recovered.

“Shall we settle our grudges, lady Casey?” Garlan asked with his crafty smile, already ready for another round of thrashing.

Casey raised her lips as Garlan stood before her, hands on his waist, baiting Casey to do her dealings first. A streak of lighting warped on him instantly, as white sparks sizzled around Casey, but [Strengthen] and [Boulder] right beneath his legs rendered it useless.

[Static] quickened her pace, and Garlan dashed forth with a grin. Casey ducked and dodged his punches casually, probably too slow for her erratic speed. Her head bobbed up, but she disappeared to Garlan’s right instantly before the latter had time to see her entire face.

Garlan’s boosted movement speed owing to his [Weightless] spell was no match for [First Step], but his portly fat shielded most of the strong impact on his right cheek. Casey’s face was splashed with a blob of dirt amid the quick exchange, and her vision blurred due to [Slop].

Both were swift, but Casey’s spells didn’t work half as well as they did with my lady because Garlan neutralized almost everything. Earth malformed around the lawn, and uprooted greens sprawled throughout. Casey was assuaged by boulders springing up on the ground that tremendously reduced the efficacy of [First Step] thanks to the uneven ground.

“We are done, lady Casey,” Garlan grinned, staring at the uneven ground. He didn’t give her any room to stabilize after her recent spell and tramped over the jagged lawn, his gaits too quick for his girth.

She couldn’t fade anymore, and a punch laden with [Strengthen] almost took her out, but Garlan stopped short.

“That makes two wins for me,” he grinned at me, beckoning me to spar against him. “You are next, Rudolf.”

Casey smiled, taking a calculated step back, before walking around the ruined lawn, back to the pavement stones glittering in shades of red under the flickering mana lamp. Beth ruffled her hair and glared at Garlan before turning to me.

“You better not lose to that prick, Ruddy!” She said in rage and raised her fist. “Or I’ll give you some good ones.”

I glanced at my lady, who nodded hurriedly, eager to watch me fight. Garlan evened out the deformed ground, though failed to restore the lawn back to its initial state. A walk opposite him would take longer than the fight if I didn’t give him a handicap.

“I won’t use spells, Garl–“

“Ah, screw that, bastard! You come at me with everything you got.”

I removed my coat with a sigh and handed it to my lady before ambling to the disarrayed lawn. I doubted I would really get hit by a boulder, so I shouldn’t have removed the coat. Now, I was damn cold.

Moonlight shrouded us in lambent glow now that [Static] had wiped out the light from the magic lamps, and the guards, who had dropped by to see the commotion, had scuttled away. Garlan was too serious for a spar, and I saw him cast [Strengthen], coating his body with a strange flickering light that appeared remotely similar to a layer of splotch.

I cast [Dispel] when he tried to launch an assault spell, followed by another before he could cast the second. A large iridescent grey circle around his legs forced him to kneel on the ground, pushing him deeper every passing second. I burned mana more strongly, increasing the intensity of [Gravity], and sent him a foot underneath the lawn. His buttock, draped in pants, peeked out of the crater, and I ambled to him with an apologetic look that earned me a gruff. It was harder to pull him out, but his [Weightless] spell helped me considerably.

“Not that I learned anything from the spar, but wasn’t that too fast?” Casey said, watching the crater on the ground intently.

“[Dispel] is harder to cast than just flicking your palm,” Beth said, watching me with her fiery gaze. “It takes time more than anything, and your opponent can ram you with multiple spells when you get one [Dispel] in place. Ruddy is too strange.”

“I didn’t learn [Dispel] from books, lady Beth,” I said, walking toward my lady with Garlan tagging along. He wasn’t angry despite his lips being pulled to a thin line, albeit lost in thought. “Casting speed can be improved by practice, but it’s not like I can cancel every spell of my opponent for eternity. Each time you cast [Dispel], the next time takes slightly longer than the previous casting, and this continues until you won’t be able to stop the assaults of spell on you.”

“That makes sense,” Casey nodded, holding Beth’s hands. “Will you come to the Taspan for the tournament?”

"Obviously, lady Casey. I'll be there. Watching pretty girls fight is a sight to behold."

Everyone ignored him. I patted his shoulder with a smile and turned to Letitia.

“I will be watching my lady, so yes, if the locale is the same,” I gratefully accepted my coat and wore it, shivering in the breeze that had just grown harsher.

Both nodded, wrapping her arms around herself, and they ambled back to the manor, the tournament mostly occupying their discussion. My bread lad placed his hand on my shoulder before I could sheathe my body within the warmth of the manor.

“They were using external casting, weren’t they?” Garlan asked, his eyes narrowed at me. “How do you know about it?’

“What about you? Did your old lady–”

“She was crazy, so I didn’t really believe her horseshit,” Garlan turned his back to me. “But my scum dad was more or less the reason why I never talked to her.”

“She wasn’t crazy, Garlan,” I said, trying my best not to console him. That would have been hypocritical, for I take mirth in the sufferings of humans. Nevertheless, I didn’t feel like adding spices to plain old bread.

Don’t ask me why.

“She wasn’t,” Garlan said. “But you could have at least let me see her before burning down the house!”

“I suppose your old woman didn’t share the same sentiments, bread lad.”

“You’re quite the heartless one, Rudolf,” Garlan said, locking my neck in his arms. “Though, that’s one thing I like about you. And there's one more. You don't make fake promises, so will never backstab me."

I struggled to get out of his hold on my neck, but he let me go soon.

“So, my old woman’s teaching wasn’t wrong then," he said, running his fingers over his bushy hair.

“She was half-crazy, so I wouldn’t believe everything she uttered, but external casting does work, and it can help you become a progressive mage.”

“Destroy my internal reserve, huh,” Garlan said to one in particular, as his gaze wandered over the thick dark clouds whirling in the distant skies. “I’ll take your word on that, Rudolf. You never lie, after all.”

“Hey, Garlan,” I hesitated for a while.

“Huh?”

“How do you resist a woman?”

Silence lingered around us as my bread lad blatantly stared at me for a while before he burst out laughing. “Are you a freaking virgin?!”

Lucky for him that I don’t get riled up quickly, or else laughing at undead can at least cost you a tongue. Though, arms and legs would soon follow, leaving you crawling on the ground, begging for life without a tongue. You better learn how to do it if you don’t know already.

“Is that a problem?”

“Hell! You’re fucking twenty-six! Even the princes have sex when they come of age,” He nudged my abdomen with his elbow, still laughing but drool trickling down his lips now.

I was ancient, but I decided not to point that out. Ancient virgin rhymed badly.

“So that devil incarnate is finally making moves on my bread lad," Garlan's face turned serious. "However, sadly, a true man can never resist a woman; that’s how we are built. Tender breasts, plump lips, curvy waist, sexy legs… I’ve felt them all before. Though, nothing can beat the soft feeling under you when you pin your woman on a creaking bed. It’s...”

I left him all by himself and let him revel in his fantasies, regretting my decision to ask Garlan for advice. Though he often surprised me with his quirks, he was a pervert underneath the crafty persona. He had groped Beth on their first encounter after drinking too much ale and puking over me. It surprised me that they were still on good terms.

As far as I was concerned, he had given me ten loaves of bread the next day.

If you think it's easy to bait me, you are gravely mistaken.

I had asked for thirty loaves instead.