I turned back to Mason only to find his hand targeting me. Miss Mary obviously took note of this but hadn’t said a word about it, possibly in fear of losing her job, or even worse, her head.

“Let go!” I kept kicking the vine, and I clawed at the dirt around me. More vines were on it’s way to grab me until suddenly

*slash*

It was Celie! And she tightly gripped her very sharp-edged dual steel broadswords as she swung at the vines, cutting each one with every two to three slashes.

At last, I was finally let free.

Did Celie just help me?

She did, and she looked relieved as she heavily panted and fell to her knees.

“H-hey! Celie!” I called to her with a voice of concern

“Hmph, two disappointments in love, what a couple.” Mason managed to get out with his now raspy voice. This, however, sounded a lot better than his over-cocky tone of voice.

“I’ll show you.” Celie mumbled. She shot her head towards Mason and pointed at him. “I’ll show that I can use magic to you by the end of this month!”

Oh no…

“Hm? Interesting. I’d love to rub it in your face after you pass out from digging up your ass for some magic you could never cast.”

This guy…

“Didn’t you just lose to a 9 year old? Why’re you still talking?” I stood up, dusted myself off, and pointed my hand towards him. Half of me was expecting him to flinch, the other half was expecting him to cry for forgiveness. None of me expected him to just laugh.

“Don’t get so cocky, hotshot. I didn’t even use my magic.” He snarled

“That’s not my fault. Wait- didn’t you just use magic on me?” I wholeheartedly asked, and for some reason, I was actually expecting a decent answer.

“That was after the match, you pig.” He spat on the ground.

“Ok.” I turned around and gave a hand to Celie who instantly swiped it away and got up on her own.

Why is everything getting more hectic as the days go… it makes me feel as if I am in an anime…

It was halfway through the month of constant scolding, exercising, teaching, and Tomas when Celie finally made progress.

“You got it, keep going.” I urged Celie. I could see sparks every time she tried casting magic. She looked so proud when she first did it. Of all people, I wouldn’t care if Celie was happy or not, but seeing our progress finally unfold- that was a sight to my sore eye.

“HMMMPH! Raa!” At last, after all those days of constant teaching and training, Celie had casted a small ball of water which she would soon lose control of and it fell on her feet.

Wow… Water Creation Magic?

There were multiple tiny environments for her to try to manipulate, but she didn’t need to manipulate any. Instead, there was a ball of water floating between her hands as she squinted her eyes as hard as she could and bit her lip so hard that a little blood came rolling down her chin.

“Very nice!” I encouraged Celie who was standing still, locking her sight at the mud she had created.

Hm? She’s creating more water? I don’t see her using her hands though…

I went through 5 seconds of my absolute stupidity to finally realize that she was shedding a pool of tears.

Ohhh…

I disregarded my stupidity and walked up to Celie who threw her open palm at me, and casted a small water ball at my chest, drenching my shirt.

“What was that for?” I wailed.

“Nothing.” she responded as her tears ran around her big smile and down her chin, dripping on her chest.

As much as I hated her, this was a heartfelt moment. I forced a smile and walked into the manor to change my clothes.

The month had ended, and Mason had returned from his adventuring in Peak’s Forest, which is a dangerous part of the forest located far out to the west of Rodby City.

I sat on the manor’s doorstep as Celie was standing proudly in front of me.

“You’re not gonna mess up, are you?” I taunted, but she responded more sincerely.

“No.”

This and her training was the only time I’d seen her act so mature. I had a distant thought that maybe we can actually be friends, but she stepped on my foot as she jumped backwards in excitement.

“OW! What the hell?”

“He’s here!”

Horses galloped through the manor’s gate and parked in the smooth stoned horseshoe driveway of the manor’s entrance that surrounded a large fountain. Mason was helped out of his wagon by the driver. He gave a disgusting laugh and turned to us.

He wore a black turn down collar tuxedo jacket with a tall black tophat.

“This is it.”

“Yeah…” Her voice faded as Mason approached us.

“Well? Are you going to stand there or show me?” Said Mason, who was now standing well over us. Celie turned around.

“Celie what’re you-” I knew what she was doing as soon as she raised her arms and faced her palms at each other.

“Giving up already?” Mason faced the sky, giving a terrible attempt to fake a cry of laughter when suddenly…

*splash*

Celie hurled a small water ball onto his leggings, making it look like he pissed himself.

Mason immediately looked at his pitch black leggings with gray stripes, then shifted his gaze into a glare at Celie.

“You bitch!” Mason shouted

“I’m going to kill you!” Mason wrapped his hands around Celie’s neck and tightened his grasp hard. Celie reached for his hands and trick pulled away, but Mason (being the strong man he is), lifted her into the air.

“H-Hey!” I immediately stood up. “What’re you doing?”

“Gahh!” Celie growled as she kicked the air.

“You stupid fucking bitch! Disgrace! I’ll kill you here and now in the name of the Taywin Chalot house!”