The Second Princess was doing her usual sword practice, and I stood diligently by her side, instructing her. Today, we would finally spar.
We were using sturdy wooden swords, of course. So, right after she finished her routine practice swings, we had immediately switched to sparring practice. First, my primary goal was to carefully identify her inherent weaknesses and closely observe her raw movements when striking a real person. I needed to see how she reacted not to the stationary, lifeless wooden dummy we got last time, but against myself, a living, breathing, and unpredictable opponent.
"Teacher, is it not rather unfair for you to spar with someone so vastly inferior in skill?" she asked, lowering her wooden blade slightly as she caught her breath.
"Oh? Are you frightened?" I teased, resting my wooden sword over my shoulder.
