"..."
Rotsard leaned back on the bench next to the training ground. He looked up to the sky, furrowing his brows at the sun slowly but surely traveling towards the west.
It was still afternoon, but close to evening.
The first day of him training together with the future hero.
Surprisingly enough, Justin approached Rotsard during the lunch break and asked him to patiently wait for him to show up in a disguise.
It was… slightly suspicious, but to an acceptable degree.
And so, there he was.
And the future hero was late.
And it was… greatly annoying for the bleached-blond-haired boy who could have been either training himself in the cold room or spending time with his fiancee.
"...?"
…Speaking of which, as a certain familiar smell tickled his nose, Rotsard perked up, sniffing the air, and raised his brow.
While it wasn't his imagination, it still could have been a coincidence.
Alas, the scent he picked up on was Mira's.
Still, it wouldn't be surprising that the wind carried over her smell as she was walking from the main building to the dormitory…
"!"
But that was soon disproven by the girl in question showing up on the training ground, instantly picking Rotsard's attention.
"...!"
Mira, who seemed to be looking for Rotsard in the first place, spotted him too. As she did, her expression brightened, and she lifted one hand to bashfully wave at her fiance before approaching him.
Rotsard was already getting up from the bench and opening his mouth to properly greet the girl when he noticed that she wasn't alone and froze up.
He immediately recognized the scent of the other person, but he certainly couldn't match it with their looks.
Because while Mira was walking towards him, another person showed up from behind her.
The smell belonged to Justin, the commoner student and the future hero, the one destined to save the world.
…but the owner of the scent appeared to be a black-haired girl in her early teens. Shorter by a whole head than Rotsard, a truly petite thing with twig-like arms and legs and a worried expression on a cute face.
That girl wasn't wearing the Academy's uniform but a maid one instead, although the more modern one, with a shorter but still modest and proper skirt.
Those two girls approached the bleached-blond-haired boy and stopped three steps in front of him.
Judging by the exchange of glances between the two girls, they couldn't quite decide which one should speak first.
"Absolutely not."
"WHY?!"
Only when Rotsard took it upon himself to declare the choice was made, and the petite maid cried out in a devastated voice.
"Did you try to match your appearance to your weight? It will not change a thing, you will adhere to the diet that the kitchen hand advised for you."
The bleached-blond-haired boy said with a stern expression in his beastly yellow eyes.
"I…! I didn't really…!"
"Second of all…"
The girl gasped, with her cute face turning red from shame. She even got teary-eyed when the boy interrupted her attempt at explanation.
"...learning proper swordsmanship requires you to know your body. When you are under the illusion spell, even one below 8th tier, your brain confuses the length of your limbs. The moves you will learn with those toothpicks will be completely useless in your real form. The muscle memory that is required will be for the wrong muscles."
"...!"
Rotsard sighed and explained, causing the girl to freeze on the spot with her mouth open…
"..."
…soon after, she closed her mouth and looked away, with her chin trembling, about to burst into tears from embarrassment…
"...Tsar… that person means well… he… they…. Umm… she visited me and explained everything… is there a way that this disguise can work despite what you said?"
Mira fidgeted nervously as she spoke up, looking between her fiance and the maid.
"..."
"As you can see, the disguise we both came up with is my maid in training… That person said it makes the most sense…"
"...because if you are the one helping, keeping someone like a squire or male attendant would be inappropriate, hence magically imposing the looks of a girl on this commoner."
Mira continued fidgeting as she revealed before being saved by Rotsard himself figuring out the rest of the story.
"Exactly."
Mira nodded, breathing out in relief over the fact that her involvement wasn't misunderstood.
"..."
Rotsard's jaw moved as if he was chewing on something, and the look in his eyes turned severe.
He wasn't directing it towards his fiance though, but glaring down at the maid.
"Since Mira is showing you so much good will, my response will be much kinder. So, I'll ask it this way, commoner…"
"...!"
Rotsard breathed out and said, causing the petite girl to flinch, lower her head, and start staring at her own feet.
"Will you change the size of the illusion body you have, or are you capable of circulating mana through your body continuously while simultaneously moving around and focusing on other activities?"
"...eh…?"
The boy asked, and the tiny maid let out a dumb-sounding voice.
"..."
Rotsard didn't repeat himself, only staring down at the troubled girl.
"The first one would be easier, but the second one would double as magic training."
"Oh...? Ooohhhh!"
Without getting an answer for a solid minute, Rotsard added, causing a voice of hesitant amazement to leave the maid's mouth.
"If you will circulate mana through your body, it will be done for your actual mana path. The illusion spells under the 8th tier cannot interfere with that. With that, your brain won't be tricked by the illusion, and you will gain the muscle memory for your actual body… all while having a good workout for magic. "
Rotsard rolled his eyes, disillusioned about the possibility of the person in a maid uniform actually knowing what he talked about.
"Question is, if you can circulate your mana while moving. If not, go back to Edemsworth and ask her to redo the illusion."
"Eh?! H-how did you know Miss Edemsworth was the one to…?!"
He added, causing the petite maid to call out with a baffled expression before blocking her own mouth with both of her hands.
"It's improbable that a commoner like you could get any of the teachers to help you out like that. You definitely couldn't count on any of the seniors. The only person willing to help you left, while also being able to use magic of 5th tier and above, is Young Miss Edemsworth…"
Rotsard answered while shrugging his shoulders.
"..."
"..."
"..."
Then the three of them stayed in silence, occasionally glancing at each other.
"...Commoner… If you don't answer, I will just take Mira and go."
"...w-whaa…?! Umm…! Umm…! Y-yes! Yes, I can do what you ask about!"
In the end, Rotsard's brow twitched, and he gave in, being the first to break the silence and startling the petite maid into gasping and calling out while clenching the front of her skirt as if it was too breezy for her.
"I can! So we can train like this! I will definitely get the right muscle memory! I'll be in your care!"
The girl declared with desperation that neither Rotsard nor Mira expected.
"That's more of an attitude I expected from the start. Although I have the rough estimate of your capabilities, nothing blocks us from making sure."
Rotsard's expression brightened, and he winked at Mira before turning his back to the petite maid and taking something out from behind the bench.
Two somethings to be exact.
A wooden log on a metal pike that was a popular budget training dummy for all kinds of weaponry and target practice, and an Academy-provided wooden sword.
Then he moved to the side, taking over a small part of the training grounds and propping up the dummy, before turning around and offering the sword towards the maid who hadn't yet moved from her spot.
"Show me how you usually practice, I bet it can't be that…"