"Hopeless. How can you be this hopeless?!"
Two weeks later, Rotsard was clenching his head from both sides while groaning at the teary-eyed maid.
The bleached-blond-haired boy sounded as if he was in actual pain over the incompetence he was forced to witness.
The black-haired maid's chin and shoulders were trembling, and she could barely keep the wooden sword straight.
Initially, Mira was showing up for the training sessions to keep up the pretense that the petite maid was her employee in training, but that stopped after a week.
It wasn't like she didn't want to, and she also wasn't asked to stop.
Simply put, the Royal Academy announced the change in the evaluation and introduced exams. And it just so happened that the exams for the fifth-years who wanted to continue their education into sixth and seventh-year that weren't mandatory, were much more expansive and required a lot more preparation.
Which meant that Mira didn't have as much free time as the two first-years.
That said, without her calming presence, the bleached-blond-haired boy and the maid didn't seem quite capable of calmly talking things out…
"Your technique is already passable, we established that the first day! But what the hel do you mean by claiming you cannot put your mana into the sword?! You're holding it, aren't you?!"
*THUMP*
Rotsard scoffed, shaking his head, but in response, the petite maid threw the training weapon to the ground with all her might.
"I TOLD YOU, I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN! I'M ALREADY PUSHING MY MANA INTO THE SWORD, AREN'T I?!"
The maid burst into tears and screeched hysterically, spewing tears, snot, and spit in front of her.
"Tsk."
"I'M TRYING AND TRYING BUT YOU ALWAYS ONLY SHOUT AT ME AND NEVER EXPLAIN A THING! YOU'RE A TERRIBLE TEACHER!"
Using the chance that Rotsard was too disgusted with her display and was moving to the side out of the line of fire, the petite maid spilled out all her venom, clenching her fists on her dress and stomping her feet in a tantrum.
"I DON'T CARE! I'LL GO TRAIN MY STAMINA AND STRENGTH! AS ALWAYS!"
She declared and turned right around, fully intending to stomp away to show how upset she was.
But…
"Stop."
"!!!"
One ice-cold word froze her right in her tracks, sending chills down her spine.
"..."
Already trembling again, she slowly turned back, not fully, only enough to take a peek at Rotsard's expression, and all signs of anger disappeared from her face, replaced by the expression of a pitiful small animal who knew it messed up big time.
"Come back."
"..."
Rotsard demanded, and the petite maid trotted right back, stopping in front of the boy, but not daring to raise her head enough to look him in the eyes.
"Put up your hands."
"!"
Rotsard instructed, and the maid trembled.
"..."
But even so, she still obeyed, even though she also put up her shoulders and tensed up as if expecting her fingers or palms to be struck by a ruler as a lesson for disobedience.
"?!?!"
Nothing like that happened, though. Actually, nothing could have prepared her for what would happen, because Rotsard simply grabbed her hands and pressed his thumbs in the middle of her palms, causing the maid to let out an incoherent wheeze while her face turned crimson red.
"Relax. I already know you're short-tempered and kind of stupid. I only show you how to train, and I'm definitely not here to fix your helpless character."
"...!"
The bleached-blond-haired boy sorted mockingly, causing the petite maid to take a short, offended breath but not say anything back in the end.
"I keep shouting at you because you want me to explain something that should already be natural to you. From my perspective, you are crying at me to tell you how to breathe, you know?"
Rotsard's expression softened, and he shook his head while lightly swaying their connected hands from side to side.
"From the start, your idea is flawed. You cannot force your mana into the sword. It's not like coating your blade with a spell. What you're doing is splashing buckets of water in an attempt of filling up a very thin tube. You're just wasting your resources."
"...I understand your words, but I can't figure out how to actually follow them…!"
He continued, but only made the petite maid's chin tremble again as she started sobbing once more.
"I can't figure out how you don't understand it, though! You are touching the sword! That's like submerging the whole tube into the water! It should fill on its own if you just don't mess with it!"
"No, it doesn't!"
Rotsard rolled his eyes and sighed, causing the girl to bite her lips and tremble while sniffling as she denied his words.
"It does! It would be another thing if the weapon you trained with was trash, but the one provided by the Academy basically sucks in your mana whether you want it or not!"
The boy insisted and began moving his thumbs alongside the petite maid's palms.
"When you try again, don't force your mana out like you're trying to cast a spell. Wait a bit and concentrate on your senses. You will experience a sensation that should feel something like this…"
Rotsard slid his thumbs onto the girl's wrists and pressed them in. He then started to bring them back onto her palms, sliding his thumbs in a wavy pattern while lessening the pressure.
"Nnng-nnh…!"
"..."
As Rotsard was opening his mouth to continue the lecture, a questionably sweet voice escaped the petite maid's lips, and she flinched, hurriedly lowering her head as the bleached-blond-haired boy froze up.
"..."
Rotsard let go of the petite maid's hands and stepped away without lowering his own hands and without trying to look at the crimson-red face of the extremely embarrassed person in front of him.
"...it… Ehem… It would appear that the reason for you being unable to progress in training is… your perversion…"
"N-NO! NO, IT'S NOT!"
Rotsard breathed out, clearing his throat before pointing out in a matter-of-fact manner, causing the petite maid to jolt back and cry out with tears of shame about to stream down her face.
She was clinging her hands to her chest, and her chin was trembling again.
It really did appear that her chin was getting the most out of the whole training, although, of course, not for the right reasons.
"If that sensation alone is… getting you… like THAT…"
"IT'S NOT!"
Rotsard was speaking slowly, careful about his choice of words, but still causing a vehement response from the petite maid.
"Uuuuu… gh…!"
She even ended up crouching down and hiding her face in her knees, and then hugging her knees while letting peculiar sounds of despair.
"Get up. We can't stop the training in this way."
"..."
Rotsard let out a sigh before getting a bit closer and tapping his foot against the petite maid's ankle… to no response.
"What will you do if this ends up turning into another perversion of yours?"
"Stop saying it like that! I don't even know what you mean! What about it would…?! A-anyway! It won't!"
The boy insisted, messing with the maid more and more until she couldn't ignore him anymore and called out. But only a little, as the moment she looked up and met his yellow eyes, all of her gusto dissipated into the thin air.