Mama Sword Princess

"What do you take me for? A call girl who comes and goes at your beck and call?" With her arms crossed over her chest and her chin held high, the Sword Princess snapped, "Do I need to report my whereabouts to you? Do I have to submit a formal application every time I go to the bathroom?" "I wouldn't mind, personally. But do you even need to use the bathroom? And do you prefer squat toilets or sitting toilets?" "I'm not talking about the toilet!" The Sword Princess suddenly rose and stepped toward Yaxiu. Her piercing glare drove him backward until his back pressed against the wall. Eyes blazing, she stared right at him and pressed a finger against his collarbone. "Even though you promised before that you would respect me, that clearly isn't what you think inside. You still believe I'm just an illusion made of data streams, a 2D character brought into existence for your sake, someone whose duty is to serve you... Even after we've interacted for this long, even after we've explored the Void Realm together, you still haven't changed your habit of... looking down on me." Yaxiu did not argue, nor could he. She wasn't asking a question; she was stating a fact. Given that she could hear his inner thoughts, any lie was utterly pointless. "I can't change what you think inside. I only need you to remember one thing: I am a person too." Word by word, the Sword Princess declared, "I have my own life, my own hobbies, my own pursuits, and my own world to live in... You are not the entirety of my existence; you are merely an accident in it. Even without you, I would still live perfectly fine somewhere you know nothing about. Understood?" "When I help you, you should be grateful. When I don't help you, you have no right to complain. Understood?" "Understood! Thank you for all your help, Mama Sword Princess!" "Don't call me that!" She jabbed him hard in the forehead. "Who wants to be called 'Mama' at my age?!" "Who knows? I wouldn't mind if you called me 'Daddy'..." Sensing her finger coming back to jab him again, Yaxiu hastily changed the subject. "So, Sword Princess, care to tell me if anything interesting happened to you today?" She sat back on the bed, staring at the water cup on the nearby table, falling into a prolonged silence. Just when Yaxiu thought she had no intention of divulging her whereabouts to a stinky man, she spoke again. "This morning, outside the entrance to the Meditation Building, I took out the Torrent sorcery spirit to show off a bit. By afternoon, the whole school knew I'd obtained a Torrent sorcery spirit from the Void Realm. Hah, even my snooty roommate shamelessly came up to ask if I'd sell it..." "So basically, you had a blast today?" "Boring!" She rolled her eyes at him. "What's so great about petty, shallow vanity? Why should I care about the praise and jealousy of strangers? Only a teenage girl would get smug over something like that." *But as I recall, you are a teenage girl...* The moment the thought crossed Yaxiu's mind, she glared at him fiercely. *Unreal. Can't a guy even think you're young? The Sword Princess is way too strict.* "The air in a bachelor's dorm room is truly foul and suffocating. I'm leaving." "Apologize to the air purifier hanging from the ceiling! Right now! This instant!" Yaxiu nearly roared. "Besides, I haven't done anything these past two days! At night, I've been doing Void Realm Exploration with you. Where would any foul stench even come from?!" "Perhaps because you're breathing. Or maybe your heart is beating too vigorously." Yaxiu decided not to stoop to her level. "So, are we continuing the Void Realm Exploration tonight?" "Of course." She paused briefly. "Barring special circumstances, I won't normally show up during the day either. If you have anything you want to discuss with me, save it for the Void Realm. The night in the Void Realm is our shared leisure time." Naturally, Yaxiu had no objections to that. Or rather, the moment she had reaffirmed her personal freedom and human rights, he had already sensed that she wouldn't continue offering round-the-clock accompaniment. "What if something urgent happens to me and I desperately need you? Will you show up?" "Didn't I just say? You aren't the entirety of my existence." At those words, Yaxiu nodded to show he understood, turning his gaze away. "However, you are an accident in my existence," the Sword Princess added, glancing at him sideways. "If an actual accident happens to you, I'll show up as fast as I can—just to rush to the scene and mock you." "So don't go expecting me to pop up and keep you company just because you're panicking from loneliness. I don't offer that kind of service." "I'm a mature, working adult. As if I'd get lonely." Yaxiu thumped his chest in protest, though the delight in his eyes was almost impossible to conceal. *Heh, how ridiculous...* *At this point in time, the End Watcher actually fears loneliness and a strange prison. He even clings to me like a lifeline, growing anxious after not seeing me for a single day, just like a child...* *So, he wasn't born so...* *Still, fortunate that his mind isn't all that sharp right now. Here I thought fooling him would be difficult...* A flurry of thoughts flashed through her mind, and then she vanished from the dorm room, returning to where she belonged. ..... ... Starry Country, Training Hall. "Sonia, can you still walk?" Looking at Sonia, who seemed practically melted into the floor, Ingrid strained with all her might but failed to hoist her up. She was completely exhausted herself from ratcheting up her training intensity. "No... My legs don't have an ounce of strength left. Let's rest a bit, just a bit..." The two young women plopped straight down onto the roadside grass, leaning against their sword bags and panting heavily. "Achoo!" "What's wrong?" "My sports bra is completely drenched." Sonia tugged at her collar to vent the heat. "Any breeze chills me right through..." "Heh heh, I recommend buying sports bras from Festa. They dry fast and breathe well." "Really? Let me check." After chatting about bra choices for a while, Ingrid exhaled a puff of warm air and unscrewed her water bottle, only to find it completely empty. She turned toward Sonia. "Sonia, where's your bottle?" "What water bottle?" "You come to practice without bringing a water bottle?" "I... I just grabbed my sword bag and rushed over. I forgot all about bringing water." Prompted by Ingrid's mention, Sonia swallowed dryly, feeling her lips parched. "Do you have any water left?" "All gone!... Well, maybe one or two drops left?" Ingrid tilted her head back, and after a few seconds, a single drop fell from the bottle. Licking her lips, she sighed with wonder, "Why does this water taste so sweet?" "Let me have some too!" Imitating Ingrid, Sonia let a single drop fall into her mouth and let out a long, melodious sigh. "How could this be mere water? It's a vintage no banquet wine from the imperial court could ever rival!" "Have you ever had imperial banquet wine?" "Never. But doesn't saying so make me sound impressive?" "I have!" Ingrid giggled. "My father kept a bottle of wine in the cellar that he never opened. He said Her Majesty the Empress bestowed it upon him back when he attended an imperial banquet... When I was little, I was bursting with curiosity, so I sneaked down to the cellar and took a sip. To keep Father from noticing, I even watered it down, but he found out anyway. That was the worst beating my father ever gave me in my entire life." "How did he catch you?" "My footprints were too small. The second Father entered the cellar, he saw footprints trailing straight to where the bottle sat." "So what did it taste like?" "I don't remember, but it must have tasted awful. Because if it were good, I wouldn't have just topped it off with water—the whole bottle would've ended up as water." "Hahaha, you were such a menace as a kid!" "Naturally. When I was young, I beat up every boy in town." Ingrid tilted her chin proudly and patted her sword bag. "And I still can today." Above them spread the luminous starry sky; beneath them lay the lush green grass; before them flowed students coming and going from the training grounds. Yet the two young women simply sat there, hugging their knees as they rested and chatted. At moments of delight, they burst into carefree laughter, letting the post-workout sweat drip down their cheeks into the earth. The rumble of an engine drifted from nearby as a luxury silver sedan drove slowly along the campus road, pulling up right in front of them. "Need a ride?" Felix poked his head out and asked calmly. "It's no trouble at all for me." Ingrid shook her head. "No need. Walking back helps relieve leg fatigue, and we're drenched in sweat. We wouldn't want to get your car dirty." "Didn't Senior Celia come pick you up tonight?" Sonia asked in return. "We broke up." "Ohhh..." Not knowing how to react, the two could only let out an awkward "oh." Without another word, Felix drove off. Watching the silver sedan fade into the distance, Ingrid patted the dust off her rear and stood up. "Rested enough? Time to head back. Lately the showers lose water pressure after ten. If we're too late, there won't be water left for bathing." "You go ahead. I'm going straight to the Meditation Building." Ingrid wasn't particularly surprised. "Trying to avoid Lois? Still haven't decided what to do with the Torrent sorcery spirit?" "Yeah." Sonia sighed too. "It's not that I haven't thought about it... I'd just rather trade it for a swordplay sorcery spirit." When word spread that Sonia possessed a Torrent sorcery spirit, her roommate Lois immediately approached her to ask if she would sell it. Lois had no intention of taking advantage of her, offering one hundred and twenty percent of market price—a sum Sonia could never fetch on the school's trading platform. Selling to her was an indisputably good deal. If it had been the Sonia of the past, she would have jumped at the chance without hesitation, then spent the night laughing under her blankets while counting her money, fantasizing about how to use this "huge fortune" to make more money. Under Professor Trozan's tutelage, however, Sonia's horizons had broadened. She now understood deeply that sorcery spirits were the true foundation of a sorcerer's strength, while money was merely a secondary resource, the icing on the cake. Thus, she far preferred a "sorcery spirit exchange"—trading the Torrent sorcery spirit for a swordplay sorcery spirit she desired, thereby increasing her combat strength to better explore the Void Realm. Yet such exchanges were not readily available at any given moment. Common sorcery spirits were easy enough, but a rarity like the Torrent sorcery spirit naturally demanded an equally precious swordplay spirit in return. Even though Professor Trozan had promised to keep an eye out for Sonia, a trading partner could not be found overnight. Caught between Lois, who could produce a hefty sum at any time, and an exchange partner who had yet to appear, Sonia wavered, deciding to lay low for a couple of days while she carefully weighed her options. "Actually, you have a third option: use it yourself." Sonia turned her head and found the Watcher sitting right beside her. Suppressing the tiny spark of joy that welled up within her, she asked nonchalantly in her mind, *When did you get back?* "Right when you two were discussing bras." *...* "Don't buy bras from that Festa brand. Festa caters specifically to women of small-to-medium bust. Given your size, I'd recommend Daosilin. The shaping effect is great." *Enough. I have no intention of discussing this topic with you.*