Chapter 1101 - Intermission: Lunamaria's Teacher

Royal Capital of Symphonia Kingdom, residence of the Albert Duchy. At the training facility behind the mansion, the Head of the family, Lilia Albert and her close friends Sieglinde and Lunamaria were training.

They had several mock battles with different combinations, and after a certain amount of repet.i.tions, the three of them took a break to reflect on their training.

[Even so, you sure are getting stronger and stronger, Sieg. Your training has really been paying off, hasnt it?]

[Yes, thanks to Kuromu-sama and Funf-sama, I can feel myself growing. I feel like Im making steady progress, little by little.]

Sieglindes recent regular training with Kuromueina and Funf had improved her ability by leaps and bounds.

She used to be just below Peerage-holders, but she has improved considerably since then, and is now at a level where she is just as strong as Peerage-holders.

[On the other hand, Luna seems to be in a bad shape. How should I say this You seem to be moving more stiffly than usual Are you sick?]

[Ahh, no, its just, Ive been struggling a bit with my a.s.signment.]

Contrary to Sieglinde, who was in a good shape, Lunamarias movements were lackl.u.s.ter, and to Lilia and Sieglinde, who knew Lunamaria well, she seemed to be in much worse shape than usual.

Hearing Lunamarias answer to Sieglindes question with a wry smile on her face, Lilia asked curiously.

[a.s.signment?]

[Yes, well, Ive been receiving some guidance like Sieg, but Im finding the a.s.signment given to me quite difficult.]

[Fumu, what kind of a.s.signment is it?]

[To put it simply. It was to keep on thinking.]

[ [ Unnn? ] ]

Lilia and Sieglinde tilted their heads at Lunamarias words. It didnt seem like Lunamaria had any intention of talking further, as she continued chatting with them while dodging their questions.

Lunamaria doesnt live in Lilias mansion, but commutes from home and would go home after work hours.

Normally, she would have headed straight home, but recently, once a month On the day they had designated, she was to go where the being that became her teacher was.

A card, delivered to her through some special method, had the location written on it, and Lunamaria would head for the designated place through the back roads.

When she arrived at the designated place, she found it to be strangely quiet and eerie, with a dimly-lit atmosphere.

Swallowing her saliva upon such an atmosphere, a card flew towards Lunamaria. It wasnt very fast, so Lunamaria caught the card, and immediately afterward, she heard a voice.

[How many different patterns did you imagine now?]

[15]

[Not quite yet there then. You should be able to think of at least 10,000 different things that are written on the card before you catch it.]

Appearing from the shadows at the end of the alley, Alice continued.

[That aside, how did you do with your a.s.signment Well, you most probably ended up stopping as usual, didnt you?]

[Yes. To be honest, I couldnt move at all as I wanted to. Its quite difficult, to keep on thinking]

[Well, I was the same case in the beginning. I mean, I think youll stay like that for several years. But even so, you need to keep on thinking. Your opponents next attack, your possible options, the situation around you Just keep on thinking. You wont be able to move well in the beginning but if you keep doing it all the time, before you know it, your thoughts will eventually connect like flashes of light. Your thoughts will overtake your actions.]

Speaking in a light tone, Alice recovered the card Lunamaria caught before continuing.

[That being the case, you must now expand the variety of your thoughts. Consider all possibilities in everything you do, including the possibilities that people would normally dismiss as improbable, even if they are only less than several decimal points above zero percent. In this way, your thinking ability will someday get stronger to the realm of what can be called as Precognition. By that time, you will have gone from a weakling to someone whos relatively strong.]

[Yes. It feels annoying being left behind by Lili and Sieg all the time.]

[Good. Well then, lets see you move around a bit Ive already taught you several times, and Im sure youre well aware of this, but Im not as gentle as Kuro-san, so you need to stay focused else you could get hurt.]

With a snap of Alices finger, the back alley hidden behind a Spatial Isolation Ward they were in before changed into a vast empty s.p.a.ce, in which Lunamaria quietly a.s.sumed her battle stance when she seemingly thought of something.

[Speaking of which, I dont think Ive asked but why did Phantasmal King-sama decide to train me?]

[Well, Lilia-san is getting stronger and stronger even when self-taught, while Sieg-san was getting instructions at Kuro-sans place, so I thought it was a pity that you were falling behind but well, most of all, I think that youre the one who resembles me the most, so I just wanted to take care of you a little.]

Saying this, Alice slightly smiled. As she felt like Lunamaria, who was struggling with the a.s.signment she gave her, was like how she was back when she was weak, Alice somehow found herself smiling

Serious-senpai : [Eh? Youre doing that? Moreover, with a couple of monthly training sessions, youve been training her for quite a while now?]

? ? ? : [Well, I started teaching around the time Kaito-san just returned. As for Sieg-san, I was going to recommend her to train with Kuro-san, that is if they didnt talk about it back at the beach.]

Serious-senpai : [You started training her Arent you afraid youre gonna turn her as buggy as the others?]

? ? ? : [As long as I havent trained them from scratch, it will be alright.]