Ruth inspected it with narrowed eyes before motioning to Ulyseon, who hovered awkwardly nearby. “Now, please attack her.”
The young squire’s shoulders flinched as though he had been whipped. “Y-You want me to attack the lady?”
“Of course. How else will we be able to assess the strength of her shield?”
Ulyseon scratched the back of his head, looking unwilling. “I do not think it has to be me….”
“Well, we can’t have her ladyship practice with one of the senior knights now, can we? And I’m afraid my attacks would not achieve anything at all.” Ruth pulled up his sleeve to reveal a slender arm. Ulyseon looked awkwardly from the sorcerer’s arm to his face, unsure of how to respond to his utter lack of shame. Ruth remained perfectly unperturbed. “Come now, stop hesitating and attack it.”
“But…how can one aspiring to be a knight raise a sword to a lady?”
“It’s not even a real sword.” Ruth rolled his eyes and continued firmly, “And might I remind you that we are doingthis explicitly for her ladyship’s safety. This spell could end up saving her life if she were ever to be in danger.”
Ulyseon gulped, then went to stand across from Maxi. His face resolved into a look of determination. “My lady…please forgive this discourtesy.”
Maxi summoned as much of her mana as possible and nodded gravely.
The squire raised the wooden sword and then swung it down. There was awhooshas it arced toward her, followed by a loud shattering sound. Maxi’s eyes widened as the weapon crashed through her shield as if it were a thin layer of ice. Before he could pull back, the wooden sword hit Maxi’s forehead with a hearty thud.
Ulyseon let out a shrill scream as Maxi stumbled backward, her head spinning.
“M-My lady!”
The disorienting pain made Maxi groan and drop to her knees. Tears involuntarily trickled down her cheeks. “Ahh!”
“Ruth! Quick! Do something! Her ladyship—her ladyship is hurt!” Ulyseon frantically shook Ruth’s shoulders, panicked at having struck the lady of the castle.
The sorcerer simply gazed down at Maxi, unimpressed, before crouching next to her with a sigh. “If you could remove your hands for a moment, my lady, I shall ease the pain.”
Her hands trembled as she lowered them, tears continuing to stream down her cheeks. Without even trying to disguise his disapproval, Ruth clicked his tongue and cast healing magic over the knot forming on her forehead.
Maxi’s face flushed with shame, and once he was finished, she slowly rose to her feet. She wanted nothing more than to dig a hole and hide in it for the rest of time.
“Are you all right, my lady? Does it still hurt?” Ulyseon asked as he fretted about her nervously.
Maxi brushed the dust from her skirt, trying to feign nonchalance. “I am p-perfectly fine.”
“I am truly, truly sorry, my lady. I can’t believe I hurt you….”
“N-No. It happened because…m-my magic was weak,” Maxi muttered feebly.
“An understatement,” Ruth said scathingly. “I have never seen such a pitiful shield in my life. Parchment would have been sturdier.”
“It was my f-first try! The next one…will be better.”
Ulyseon paled. “You…intend to do this again, my lady?”
“Of course,” said Maxi with a determined nod. “I shall keep p-practicing…until I get it right.”
Maxi studied the rune again, but she simply could not work out what she had done wrong. She had let her mana flow through the symbol as she had been taught, so why had the shield broken so easily?
“Your mana is moving so slowly that it is weakening your shield to a ridiculous degree. You will need to increase your speed at least threefold for it to function decently.”
“Th-Threefold?”
“Or you could use double the amount of mana.”
Maxi looked dejected. “I think either would be d-difficult.”
