I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

"Even with the help of servants, it takes a long time to put on many clothes."

"This will do for me."

With that, Elodie flicked her left hand, forcefully shaking the hem of her white robe, and then raised her wooden rapier with imposing presence.

Elodie's stance was a perfectly standard rapier stance—her right arm holding the sword was raised forward, and her right foot had stepped forward two foot lengths. Her weight was evenly distributed on both feet, with her right toes pointing forward and her left toes pointing to the left. Her right arm holding the sword was slightly bent, with her elbow pointing to the right side of her body. The tip of the sword and her right eye were on the same horizontal line, her gaze fixed intently on Qing Deng.

After Elodie got into position, her whole aura changed, and a heroic air appeared between her brows.

"Mr. Tachibana, I'm all ready!"

Qing Deng smiled slightly, then drew the Ghost-Stabilizing Sword from his waist.

He certainly wouldn't bring a real sword to practice with Elodie.

Elodie and her family didn't have any wooden or bamboo knives, so Qingdeng could only draw the Dingguishen sword, put the knife on the ground, and take out the empty scabbard of the Dingguishen sword to use as a substitute for the knife.

With both hands gripping the sword... oh no, it was with both hands gripping the sheath, Qing Deng shouted in unison with Elodie, "Bring it on!"

Elodie smiled sweetly at Qingdeng.

He then quickly wiped the smile off his face, stepped forward, and launched an attack on Qingdeng.

Qingdeng's vision was instantly filled with the fluttering white robes.

Elodie, who uses rapier techniques, naturally relies primarily on stabbing attacks.

The wooden rapier drew straight lines, sweeping towards various parts of Qing Deng's body.

Perhaps out of fear of hurting Qingdeng, Elodie targeted Qingdeng's upper arms and thighs, areas with more flesh that wouldn't hurt even if hit.

However, Elodie's concerns were clearly unfounded.

Elodie's movements were indeed very beautiful, her sword path was very stable, and she had practiced various sword techniques quite well.

But she was just a 12-year-old girl after all.

Children this age haven't even fully developed physically yet; they lack both strength and speed.

Due to the limitations of her physical abilities, Elodie was naturally unable to launch any attacks that posed a significant threat to Qingdeng.

In short—there was absolutely no chance that Elodie's thrusting sword could hit Qingdeng.

Even with his body exhausted from not sleeping for several days, Qing Deng was able to easily dodge Elodie's attacks.

Without even blinking, Qing Deng casually took two steps back, dodging Elodie's stab.

Despite having her combo dodged, Elodie showed no signs of anxiety or frustration.

She calmly took another step forward, caught up with Qingdeng who was dodging backward, and launched a new attack on Qingdeng, who continued to dodge backward.

Elodie kept attacking, while Qingdeng kept dodging.

This "you attack, I dodge" situation did not last long.

Suddenly curious to see how Elodie's defense and evasion were, Qingdeng, after dodging countless of Elodie's thrusts, suddenly slashed his scabbard from above and launched a counterattack—of course, Qingdeng's counterattack was a complete disaster.

If he uses all his strength against Elodie... then this sparring match will immediately turn into a "murder in the settlement".

Qing Deng used only one arm to exert force and did his best to slow down the force and speed of the attack.

Even so, Elodie still had a hard time hiding.

She hurriedly and clumsily dodged to the side, barely managing to avoid Qing Deng's attack.

Looking at the spot where she had almost been hit, Elodie blinked her big eyes blankly for a moment, then chuckled.

Elodie could see perfectly well that Qingdeng's counterattack was a blunder. If Qingdeng had used his true abilities, she might not have even seen his movements before being knocked to the ground.

However, even though she knew that she was able to dodge Qing Deng's attack not because she was particularly skilled, Elodie was still quite happy.

I successfully dodged the attack... A faint sense of accomplishment welled up in my heart, and joy filled her entire face, with an innocent smile on her face.

The practice continues.

Elodie launched another attack on Qingdeng.

However, her attacks continued to miss, and she never managed to hit Qingdeng even once.

Qing Deng, who either dodged Elodie's attacks by sidestepping or parried Elodie's rapier with the scabbard in his hand, was now frowning slightly, staring intently at the small feet under Elodie's robe.

The reason Qingdeng was staring so intently at Elodie's feet was not because Elodie's feet were very pink and cute and he couldn't help but want to look at them more, or for any other strange reason.

After parrying Elodie's attack with his scabbard once again, Qing Deng took advantage of the moment when Elodie was regrouping and whispered to her:

“Miss Angoulême, your feet are a little too tense. Your steps are not flexible and quick enough. Relax your toes and soles a little more.”

When Elodie struggled to dodge his counterattack, Qingdeng noticed that Elodie had a minor flaw: "his feet were too tense."

Because the feet are too tense, the footwork is too stiff and inflexible, whether chasing an opponent or dodging their attacks.

"Hmm?" Hearing Qing Deng's words, Elodie paused, then looked down at her feet beneath her robes. "Relax a little more...?"

Elodie's face was filled with confusion.

Seeing that Elodie seemed a little unsure how to put his earlier suggestion into practice, Qingdeng pondered for a moment:

"Hmm... how about this, Miss Angoulême, imagine yourself standing on a very soft beach where you sink right in with the slightest step."

"Just imagine it like this—because the sand is too soft, your toes and soles can't grip the ground too hard. If you grip too hard, your feet will sink deeper and deeper into the sand."

"With this in mind, slowly relax the muscles in your feet."

After carefully absorbing every word and sentence Qingdeng had said, Elodie nodded slightly, seemingly understanding, then closed her eyes and, following Qingdeng's advice, imagined herself standing on a soft sandy beach, relaxing the muscles in her toes and soles according to her own understanding.

Qing Deng wasn't in a hurry. He rested the scabbard of his sword on the ground and waited quietly for Elodie to finish her preparations.

It was at this moment that Qing Deng suddenly couldn't help but chuckle—he suddenly realized that because of his unexpected guidance, the sword sparring seemed to have turned into a sword instruction session.

As his strength increased day by day, Qing Deng was no longer the nameless junior disciple of the Examination Hall he once was.

In terms of strength, he has long been one of the top combatants of Shieikan, and recently he has been asked by Shusuke, Kondo and others to mentor some newcomers.

Senior students mentor junior students, and those with higher skill levels guide those with lower skill levels—this is a common practice in every sword-fighting school.

Because he has been helping to guide the newcomers at the testing center recently, Qing Deng has unknowingly developed some teaching experience.

After seeing Elodie make such an obvious mistake, Qing Deng couldn't help but point it out to her on a whim.

Qingdeng waited quietly for about half a minute before finally seeing Elodie slowly open her eyes.

“Mr. Orange.” Elodie’s gaze shifted back and forth between her feet beneath her robes and Qing Deng opposite her. “How is it?”

When Elodie asked "how it went," she was naturally referring to whether her feet had successfully relaxed.

"Well... I can't really say for sure just by watching." Qing Deng smiled calmly, then straightened the scabbard that was resting on the ground. "Attack me then."

"Whether your feet are properly relaxed... we can only see the real thing in actual combat."

After hearing this, Elodie nodded solemnly, said "okay," and then picked up her sword again as Qingdeng instructed.

As soon as she took another step forward, she let out a surprised whimper.

Because she discovered that her movements seemed to be a bit quicker than before!

Qing Deng, who easily dodged Elodie's attack, raised an eyebrow slightly, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes.

"Well done, you've improved compared to before."

Elodie didn't hear Qingdeng's praise.

Because right now, she was looking down in disbelief, her sky-blue eyes staring intently at her feet.

Seeing Elodie's astonished expression, as if she had "discovered a new continent," Qing Deng couldn't help but chuckle.

Compared to before, Elodie's feet weren't jumping as tightly anymore, but there's still a lot of room for improvement.

If Qingdeng were to give a score... then Elodie's performance just now improved from 50 points to 55 points, still quite a distance from a perfect score.

However—although the progress wasn't significant, being able to effectively correct one's movements after only hearing Qing Deng's simple advice once... that's quite an impressive thing.

Qingdeng couldn't help but think to himself:

—This child is quite talented…

Thinking of this, Qingdeng couldn't help but glance a few more times at the young girl opposite him who was still in shock.

After about ten seconds, Elodie finally came to her senses.

She raised her head and said excitedly to Qingdeng:

"Mr. Ju, your suggestion was really helpful! I feel like my footwork has become a little more agile!"

"It's not so much that my advice was helpful, but rather that you have a better understanding."

Qing Deng praised him sincerely.

"I have also guided many people like you who are unable to relax their feet."

"No matter how much I advise, guide, or even teach them step by step, they still can't grasp the key to relaxing their feet."

"It's rare to see someone like you who can grasp the knack of relaxing your feet in such a short time."

Being praised so highly by Qingdeng... Elodie chuckled a few times, seemingly embarrassed.

After expressing her inner joy with laughter, Elodie slowly stopped laughing and smiling, then took a deep breath, and with high spirits, spread her legs and got into a fighting stance again!

She had made progress... which made Elodie extremely happy.

Her spirits were high with excitement, and she couldn't wait to continue sparring with Qingdeng and test her progress.

However… Elodie's fighting spirit was suddenly interrupted by a female voice that rang out from behind her—

"Miss, don't play here!" (in French)

The owner of the female voice... namely Leroy, suddenly appeared at the end of the corridor behind Elodie.

After loudly signaling Elodie not to play in the hallway, the maid who had been cleaning in the kitchen walked quickly toward Elodie with her hands folded in front of her and her face expressionless.

Elodie froze like a punctured balloon, then slowly lowered the rapier in her hand, pouted, and turned to look at Leroy.

Qingdeng didn't understand what Leroy had just been shouting.

But judging from Leroy and Elodie's expressions... he could roughly guess that the maid was telling him and Elodie to stop fooling around here.

So, as Elodie put down her rapier, Qingdeng also sheathed his own sword.

However, just as Qing Deng sheathed the sword that had been used to subdue ghosts and gods back into his left waistband... a sudden change occurred!