Chapter 72: Aqua’s Hellish Training

Now, what could a walking cheat like me even teach someone as traditional as Aqua?

Could I tell her to keep her mana circulating even while she slept? She’d probably call it absurd before she called it brilliant.

Hand her a stack of maps to powerful artifacts? Tempting, but those were earmarked for other villainesses. I wasn’t about to let one woman monopolize every shortcut I knew.

Could I teach her to fight better? She’d already mastered her form. Her technique was cleaner than mine. Whatever advice I gave her would either be something she already knew or something that didn’t apply.

So the question repeated itself: what could I actually teach her?

The answer was simple.

Nothing.

Villainesses are villainesses for a reason. And while Aqua wasn’t a full-fledged villainess, she was still an antagonist. And what did beautiful women antagonists have in common in stories like this?

They were absurdly competent.

That meant I didn’t need to teach her anything. I just had to act as a support item.

And that’s exactly what I did for the next hour.

"Fifteen more laps!"

I yelled out as we claimed the half of the platform Lucius and his entourage weren’t using.

"W-What do you mean fifteen more!? I’ve already done two hundred!"

Aqua looked absolutely furious. But she couldn’t refuse. I wasn’t just some random trainer; she’d seen my power firsthand. That gave me a legitimacy she couldn’t easily dismiss.

"So? What’s stopping you from doing another fifteen?"

As she crossed the mark we’d agreed counted as a lap, I healed her the moment she started the next one. Muscle fatigue erased. Lactic acid dissolved. Micro-tears knitted shut before they could even form.

I was basically ensuring she could train relentlessly until her muscles rivaled an ogre’s.

And the first step was leg day. A full school day at the Citadel lasted until afternoon; an hour-long leg session was more than viable.

After this, other body parts. Then, to top it off, relentless sparring where I’d bombard her with a ridiculous amount of magic.

Like I said. She’d learn for herself through the hellhole I built for her.

By the time Aqua finished her two hundred and fifteenth lap, she had stopped cursing me out loud and had started doing it silently. Her lips kept moving, forming words I was fairly certain would have gotten her expelled from any polite noble gathering if spoken aloud.

"Done...!"

She collapsed onto the bench, chest heaving, hair plastered to her forehead. Her legs trembled so badly she couldn’t even sit upright, so she just sprawled there, one arm draped over her eyes.

"Good, take this healing and five-minute break. Then squats."

"Are you trying to kill me?"

"You’re insulting how effective my healing magic is."

Aqua let out a weak laugh, still not moving.

"I thought you’d be sweeter and gentler considering how you treat Lady Fillaunete and Lady Rose."

"Would you like that treatment?"

"No." She laughed.

I handed her a waterskin, and she drank greedily, spilling half of it down her chin. The water mixed with sweat, and she didn’t bother wiping it away. She was too tired to care about appearances anymore.

That was fine. Appearances could be rebuilt. Physical limits were what we were breaking today.

Besides, it wasn’t like a little bit of sweat could make her look ugly. She was a novel character first and foremost, after all.

Everything they did just made them look more beautiful.

"D-Do you always train like this with Lord Nicholas...?"

"He’s much crueler than me. You’re getting the light version."

She stared at me, searching for the joke. When she realized I wasn’t kidding, she let her head thud back against the wall.

"I hope this’ll be worth it."

"Don’t worry. Before the end of this week, you’ll have the same body as mine."

"Same body...?"

"The very same one you admired back at the assessment."

"Right..."

✧ ✦ ✧

The squats came next. Then lunges. Then calf raises until her legs gave out completely and she had to crawl to the next station.

I healed her each time she fell, each time her muscles screamed in protest. The cycle repeated: push, heal, push again. Her body was learning what it could endure when recovery was instant, when fatigue was erased, when the only limit was her own willpower.

And Aqua’s willpower was extraordinary.

She never asked to stop. She complained endlessly, cursed my name under her breath, shot me glares that would have made lesser men flinch. But she never asked to stop.

By the time the afternoon arrived and the Citadel’s bell rang for lunch, Aqua had completed a full leg session, an upper body circuit, and three rounds of mana-intensive sparring where I’d bombarded her with light magic while she dodged, blocked, and countered.

She was drenched in sweat, shaking, and barely upright.

But she was also faster than she’d been that morning. Her reactions had sharpened. Her footwork had improved. The constant pressure had forced her to adapt in real time.

I had probably given her a month’s worth of progress in the span of a few hours.

"Lady Aqua, don’t forget the deal."

I approached her as she began drying herself off at the sidelines. We were the only ones left again.

Lucius and his group had left quite early, while Jean had stayed the longest, trying to copy our training and failing badly, though I did heal him sometimes when I felt particularly benevolent.

"Don’t worry, I won’t."

"I wasn’t worried. Just reminding you."

She shot me a look but didn’t argue.

"Oh, and one more thing."

I leaned in closer and whispered something in her ear.

"At this pace, you’ll be able to overthrow your father in no time."

Aqua’s eyes widened as she turned, her magical sword already forming as she pointed it straight at my neck. I didn’t even bother moving, trusting Titania’s cloak to completely shield me from it.

"H-How do you know that?"

"It’s a secret. But don’t worry, you have my full support."

While I was at it, maybe it was time I started helping her with her own plot. Sure, I was still busy with the Lillith and Anna situation, but it didn’t hurt to plant seeds in advance.