Chapter 142: New Punching Bags

"Haaahh!"

Elara shouted as she punched Seraphina, the poor secretary hurriedly stepping back to dodge that punch, however, Elara was relentless. She stepped forward, not giving any chance to Seraphina to recover.

And just as Elara expected, Seraphina, who tried to step back to avoid Elara's second punch mistakenly stepped on her own foot and before she could even lose her balance on her own and fall down,

Elara fist came running down, directly in contact with Seraphina's nose.

"Ugghh!"

Seraphina groaned in pain as she fell down.

Elara finally paused, she took two steps back and took her battle stance again. Her intention was clear, she wanted another round.

Seraphina who saw this just sighed.

She wasn't surprised.

She already expected this outcome.

Elara was unexpectedly strong. Seraphina knew she was a Magic Genius, but to think someone like her was good even in close distance battle, that was quite shocking.

What was more shocking, however, was Vaan and Elara's determination of treating her like a punching bag.

It has already been a week since she was first told to come here and 'spar' with Elara.

And in these 7 days, she has only been a practice dummy for Elara. She had seen how Elara turned from someone who hesitated before even pushing her to someone who started punching her without any care in the world.

It was as if she had already gotten used to punching her face.

This time, she wasn't even using alcohol!

Seraphina cursed her fate.

Of course, after the battle, she was treated like a precious guest of the Vesta Family, an honor that only the most noble mages received, Vaan even made sure to get Mages to use [Heal] to heal the bruises on her face after the battle.

Seraphina couldn't imagine a Mana-draining spell like [Heal] would be used for treating mere bruises, even in the Vesta Family, this wasn't a common incident, healing mages only moved when a patient was critically injured, or if it was a competition arranged by the Vesta Family.

Take Karl for example, when he got beaten up by Vaan for the first time, then despite being a Vesta, Healing Mages didn't make a move to heal him. If it wasn't for other factions involving themselves and using Karl to their own advantage after using [Heal] to heal him, Karl would have needed a year to recover naturally.

'He never fails to remind me that he is the only son of the Family Head...' Seraphina sighed inwardly.

"Is this all you can do...? I am sure you fought for longer than this yesterday, are they perhaps not healing you properly?"

While Seraphina was thinking about all this, she was brought out of her reverie by Elara's question. Seeing her confused expression, Seraphina's mouth twitched, however, in the end, she closed her eyes and sighed.

Then, she stood up and, "[Heal] does not work on mental fatigue, Lady Elara." She replied.

"That is obvious. Spells related to mind are extremely complex, even a slight mistake in the Magic Pattern can bring permanent harm to the target, so the methods to train them are limited. This is the reason why Mages who excel in Spell related to mind are extremely rare and obviously, if you are one of those mages, I doubt you would want to waste time on learning a spell that could relieve others' physique when you can learn spells related to memory and join Vesta Family's special forces.

Actually, I do have another theory in my mind that could make training mind-related spells relatively sim-"

"I understand what you are trying to say, Lady Elara."

Seraphina interrupted before Elara could go on about her theory. This wasn't the first time this had happened, the usually silent Elara was unusually talkative when she talked about magic.

"No, I am quite interested in that theory of yours, Elara. If we can research it and come up with an actual way that can make learning Mind-related spells efficient, it would be extremely helpful to the family. We should talk about this later tonight."

Vaan spoke up.

Seraphina glanced at the man and sighed again, this man really had changed. To think he would be interested in Magic Theory that wasn't even officially published yet. In Seraphina's eyes, researching on this was no different than wasting time, learning new spells, aiming to get stronger, and trying to create his own faction was a much better option for the current Vaan.

Of course, what she didn't know was that Vaan's thoughts aligned with hers. Honestly, he had no interest in the Magic Theory or whatever, he only wanted to spend time with his fiancée. Seeing Elara's bright eyes as she talked about Magic was something Vaan enjoyed.

Not to mention discussing Magic with Elara was something that was almost always beneficial for him, Elara was like a statue of knowledge, there was never a time when Vaan didn't learn anything new after having a long discussion with Elara.

"Sure! I will come to your room tonight then!" Elara spoke as her expression brightened up, discussing Magic with Vaan? It was her favorite activity she could never get bored of!

"Mhm." Vaan nodded with a gentle smile on his face.

"Anyways, shall we continue the battle?" He questioned, not forgetting why they were here for in the first place.

With a newfound motivation, Elara nodded, her red eyes shining clearly as she glanced at her opponent.

Seraphina, on the another hand, just sighed and resigned to her fate, 'At least I managed to befriend the Healing Mage.'

She muttered inwardly then glanced at Elara, ready for battle.

Elara moved, Seraphina could clearly see that her movements were more precise and calculated than the first time they sparred.

Of course, Elara wasn't the only one who improved after sparring everyday for an entire week, Seraphina had learned a few tricks as well. Her body balance was not a mess like it was before, he punches were stronger and faster, and her movements were getting more and more comfortable.

The two of them exchanged a few initial blows, Seraphina held on for a good minute but in the end, Elara's strikes were faster and more accurate. She dodged Seraphina's attacks with grace, her eyes never leaving her opponent.

As the duel continued, it became evident that Elara was gaining the upper hand. Her moves flowed effortlessly, and Seraphina struggled to keep up. Elara's strikes were relentless, her desire to win couldn't be hidden.

With a powerful kick, Elara sent Seraphina sprawling to the ground.

"Khawwkk!"

Seraphina coughed a few times, the impact of Elara's kick was too strong.

Elara stood over her opponent, her eyes clear and unwavering. It was a complete and overwhelming victory. However, just like before, rather than celebrating, she stepped back again, wanting to go for another round.

A bitter expression appeared on Seraphina's face, but then,

"Alright, that is enough for today, Seraphina, you can rest now." Suddenly, Vaan spoke up.

"Hmm?"

"What?"

Both Elara and Seraphina were confused.

"It ended faster than usual..." Seraphina couldn't help but mutter.

"Mhm and it is the last day you had to spar with Elara. Thank you for everything you have done these past few days." Vaan smiled.

"It is over...?" Seraphina questioned, still unable to believe Vaan.

"Oi Oi, don't act like I was torturing you for these past seven days, I clearly remember you enjoying the servants serving you while you did absolutely nothing even though you were already healed."

"I was relieving my exhausted mind," Seraphina replied with any shame.

"Yes yes, whatever." Vaan shrugged.

"Vaan... I do not have to fight anymore?" Elara tilted her head in confusion.

From her tone, she sounded a little sad.

She was enjoying beating Seraphina up.

She didn't know why, but punching people didn't feel as bad as she thought it would feel.

'Is it because I am staying with Vaan...?' Elara muttered inwardly when she realized what she was thinking about.

Then, her face turned slightly red and, 'Is he rubbing off on me?'

Seeing her blush like that, Vaan couldn't help but smile.

"Don't worry, my dear fiancée, we are just increasing the level of your training." He spoke.

"I-I am not worried, I was just glad I didn't have to fight anymore, b-but I guess I was wrong." Elara lied.

She didn't want to sound rude to the woman she had punched so many times.

Elara was indeed a caring soul.

"Wait, Young Master Vaan said that you will be increasing level of her training... does that mean...?" Suddenly, Seraphina spoke up as she recalled something.

Vaan's smile widened,

"That is correct." He nodded, then, he knocked on the door of the Magic Training Room from the inside and, "Bring them in."

He ordered.

A minute later, the door opened and Gabel walked inside together with five men,

"Elara, meet your new punching bags, they are the ones you will be fighting now.

A 1v5, and this time,

Using Magic is allowed."