Chapter 24: Chapter 25: The Swordmaster Fled in Panic

The moment the Swordmaster laid eyes on his prospective student, his jaw nearly hit the ground.

“What? You want me to teach this little girl swordsmanship?”

The Swordmaster was dumbfounded, his trembling hand pointing forward.

A few meters ahead stood a delicate little girl with hair as golden as molten sunlight. She looked no older than seven or eight, her posture graceful and polite. Her serene elegance carried an air of noble beauty.

“Yes, that’s right. The two of you will spar in sword training every day.”

Rhine pulled out a wooden sword he had prepared in advance.

“With this… this enormous, heavy wooden sword… you want me to spar with that little girl?” The Swordmaster stared at the heavy wooden sword, which was nearly taller than the girl herself, and completely lost control of his facial expressions.

“Of course not!” Rhine immediately shot down the Swordmaster’s assumption.

The Swordmaster let out a sigh of relief.

Then, Rhine casually tossed the wooden sword to little Aurora.

“The wooden sword is for her. We wouldn’t want you to get hurt. You’ll use a real sword.”

The Swordmaster glanced at the sharp, blood-stained sword hanging at his waist. Then he looked at the little golden-haired girl in front of him, who was holding a wooden sword taller than herself and earnestly sizing up her opponent.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

At that moment, the Swordmaster began to question reality.

Am I dreaming?

Rhine shrugged, wearing an expression that screamed, “Isn’t this obvious?”

After all, Princess Aurora was protected by the witches’ blessing that made her immune to all weapons. Even if struck by a real sword, she’d be fine. The one who should be worried was this mere mortal, the esteemed Sword Saint…

A few seconds later.

The Swordmaster was slammed to the ground by Aurora’s terrifying strength. As he lay there, writhing in pain, he finally realized:

No, I’m definitely not dreaming.

With the witches’ blessings amplifying her abilities, Princess Aurora’s photographic memory and extraordinary learning aptitude were fully unleashed during her sword training.

Every move she saw was instantly committed to memory. And when she executed the techniques, it was as if she’d practiced them thousands of times, her movements fluid and seamless. She even improved upon them, surpassing the original! 𝔯𝓪ɴộᛒЁṣ

Her eternally healthy physique and immunity to injury allowed Aurora to practice high-risk maneuvers without any concern for harm or long-term consequences.

These factors combined to make Aurora a monster cloaked in the form of a young girl. Her progress was astonishing, her growth palpable with each passing minute!

Both Rhine and the witches were thrilled by her progress.

To be honest, the now-monster-like Princess Aurora was becoming increasingly unreal to them.

Every time they saw her knock the Swordmaster to the ground like a true Sword Saint, the witches couldn’t help but scream internally:

“Are we sure the blessings on the Princess are the ones we gave her?”

Watching the Princess improve day by day, the only one whose mood dampened was the Swordmaster—who was tasked with being her sparring partner and daily punching bag.

This golden-haired little girl—what even was she?

Despite her petite frame, she possessed monstrous strength!

At first, he could rely on his technique and mastery of swordsmanship to hold his own against her. But as Aurora quickly learned his every move, all that remained for him was relentless defeat!

One day, the Swordmaster, now bruised and battered, lay in bed tossing and turning. His thoughts drifted to a story that had been circulating around the kingdom for years.

It was a tale of a magician who could grant wishes.

“The Sage Beyond the World, the Prophet Who Foresees the Future, the Wizard of Miracles and Wishes… I implore you,” he murmured.

“My wish is: to wake up tomorrow morning without any pain.”

That night, Rhine, who was sleeping in the adjacent room and overheard the prayer, snuck into the Swordmaster’s room under the cover of darkness and healed him with his most proficient healing magic.

The next morning, the Swordmaster woke up completely pain-free.

“No way… the legend is real? Does praying really work?” The Swordmaster was overjoyed.

Seeing that the Swordmaster had recovered well, Rhine was equally satisfied.

Excellent. This means I can “use” him for a little longer…

That night, the Swordmaster lay in bed once again and prayed fervently, this time wishing, “Please let this secret mission from His Majesty end quickly. I don’t want to spar with this monster in a girl’s skin anymore!”

Unfortunately, this time, the wish-granting magician did not bestow his mercy.

And so, many more days passed.

Today, the valiant Swordmaster finally fled in panic.

Of course, the only reason he was allowed to leave successfully was that Rhine had confirmed multiple times that there was nothing left for him to teach Aurora.

“It seems there’s no one left in the kingdom capable of instructing Aurora,” Rhine said, rubbing his temples.

This was an issue he hadn’t anticipated when he proposed the “Super Princess” plan:

Princess Aurora was learning too fast and becoming too skilled. No one could keep up with her!

“If she stays in the kingdom, she likely won’t learn anything new.

“Maybe in a while, we can consider taking Her Highness out of the kingdom to travel the world. After all, with my teleportation ability, traveling would be easy…”

“Hmm, we also need to gather information on the Black Witch Maleficent. Who knows which country the culprit behind the curse has fled to?

“There’s been no recent news about the Black Witch, and the prophecy hasn’t provided any clues. She must have some way of blocking others from foreseeing her movements…

“Let’s also contact His Majesty the King to see if he has any useful information regarding the Black Witch.”

Rhine gathered his thoughts and gazed out of the window at the blood-red setting sun. He was filled with anticipation for the new, uncharted journey of venturing beyond the kingdom with Aurora.

The crimson dusk illuminated the boy’s silver hair.

“By the way, where’s Grandma Rosa? It should be her turn soon to take over caring for Aurora. Where has she gone?” Rhine turned to look at the Violet Fairy nearby.

Grandma Rosa was the weakest in magic among the twelve witches, so Rhine didn’t usually pay much attention to her.

“Before Rosa left, she mentioned something to me,” Violet Fairy replied. “She said she had discovered the whereabouts of a powerful magical artifact. She’s off treasure hunting for it now and will return once she’s obtained it.”

“A powerful magical artifact? What kind?” Rhine asked, puzzled.

“She didn’t mention what the artifact’s ability was. She only described its appearance… It seems to look like…” Violet Fairy lowered her head in thought.

“A tinderbox!”