By the time Xena and Celia managed to make Helvi stay quiet via a contract, they were outside of town.
If they were going near the nearby forest, they had to make sure they were in a position where they could see any monster that suddenly popped out, no matter where it came from.
Even if someone could see a monster just as it approached them, there was always the possibility that someone could get hurt.
“Well then. Let’s do our best Theo!”
“Yes! Thank you!”
Xena crossed her arms and took on an imposing position like an awkward teacher, and Theo lowered his head with a serious look on his face.
“Yes, no problem!”
“What are you doing?”
“Ouch! Hey! Don’t hit my head!”
“Kuh… I didn’t punch it or anything… I forgot how stupidly hard your head is.”
Xena’s head was harder than most, even without using her steel magic.
“It’s your fault for hitting me all of a sudden. And don’t call my head stupid!”
“I could just hit it with magic.”
“Hurry up and start teaching Theo you two.”
Said Helvi, as the two started arguing amongst themselves.
(Or I’ll tell him about your leak.)
“Alright! Let’s go Theo! What do you want to learn, fighting or magic!? Obviously, I recommend martial arts!”
“Magic is better, you know? And I can teach it well.”
Helvi held a powerful bargaining chip, and the two women quickly returned to the matter at hand.
Theo had no idea why they were suddenly so intense about it.
“T-then… Let’s start with martial arts…”
“Oh, of course! Being good at using your fists to fight is cool!”
For years, Theo wished he was good at it, so he went with Xena’s suggestion first.
Celia and Helvi took some distance and watched on as the other two talked.
“I did say martial arts, but you’re obviously not going to fight empty-handed like me. Is there any weapon in particular you want to learn how to use?”
“Hum… A sword, safely. Ah! A sword in each hand…!”
“No, dual wielding swords is too difficult. Even ambidextrous people find it difficult.”
“Ah, I see…”
Xena quickly rejected the dual-sword style that Theo admired, and he looked a little sad.
“…Cute.”
“I agree.”
Said the other two, quietly enough for Theo not to hear. If Helvi peeked into Xena’s mind, she would have surely found that she was thinking the same thing.
“I think a short sword would be good for you. Regular swords are heavier than they look.”
“I-I see. I have one right here.”
Theo took out a short sword from a bag he carried with him.
When he did so, another sword came out as well.
“Ah, hum, this…!”
…He really wanted to dual wield swords.
Not only that, but a longsword and a short sword.
“Fufu, we can practice dual wielding later.”
“…! Y-yes, thank you…!”
Theo knew she was humoring him, and nodded as his face turned red.
“Hmm, cute.”
“Yes.”
Said Celia and Helvi, again quietly enough for Theo not to hear.
Xena also wanted to say the same, but refrained from doing so because Theo was standing right in front of her.
“Then let’s see you swing that short sword.”
“Yes!”
Theo then started lightly waving the sword, and Xena quickly felt something was not right.
“Hn? Theo, did you start training a lot after we said goodbye a year ago?”
“Eh? N-no, not a lot…”
“Really? You’ve gotten really good.”
“R-really!?”
Xena would not lie like this, and Theo knew it. He kept on waving his sword with a smile on his face.
(Good… Or rather, fast?)
As Xena watched closer, she realized it was not really that Theo used the sword well, he simply became faster.
And not because his technique was better either, he was simply waving it harder.
Even Celia, who was watching from afar, could see how different he was from a year before.
“…Helvi, did you do something?”
Only one thing, or rather, one person could be behind Theo’s sudden increase in strength.
“Hm, it would be difficult to say I did not.”
“I knew it. It doesn’t look like you increased his physical strength, so did you give him magic energy?”
As one became stronger, their muscles would increase, but this was not necessarily the case in this world.
Obviously, if one worked on their muscles, they would become stronger, but magic energy was the best path.
The reason why someone slender like Xena could beat big men was the overwhelming difference in their magic energy.
Obviously, the same could be said for Helvi, whose immense magic energy also meant her hits were stronger.
Basically, Theo could swing his sword faster because the amount of magic energy in his body had been increased.
“I transferred it, to be more precise.”
“What do you mean?”
“…It seems I accidentally transferred it at night.”
“…I don’t want to hear it.”
Basically, since they did it every night, Helvi’s magic energy was accidentally transferred into Theo.
“But even if you can transfer magic energy, it’s hard to control it. This is inefficient.”
“I know.”
Transferring magic energy was very difficult.
Celia could just barely do it, but the person she transferred it to would only receive a tenth of what she gave, so it was very inefficient.
Helvi had actually transferred a lot of magic energy onto Theo, but only a small fraction could actually be used.
And even that would be gone once he used it.
Still, the maximum amount of magic energy that Theo could have was very, very slowly increasing.
“In thirty years, Theo should have around the same amount of magic energy as you two.”
“…That’s frightening. Just thinking that he could go toe to toe with us in thirty years without training.”
“In a way, it’s more intense than training.”
“Oh quiet. How intense?”
“Do you want to hear?”
“…Not now.”
Celia felt she would be unable to hold back if she heard there, and opted not to.
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