Chapter 7: Training

“Lift your leg higher!”

As it turned out, Kunta hadn’t lied to Mianbao.
After Mianbao finished her “last breakfast,” another old lady, who was in charge of teaching the girls to dance, began to put her through hellish training, determined to ensure Mianbao could learn the dance called “Heaven’s Wing” in the shortest time possible.

“This powerful healing ability is truly rare.” Kunta observed Mianbao, standing outside the carriage door for a moment before closing it and speaking to Wendi inside the room.

Wendi, as always, sat cross-legged in her robe, seemingly impervious to the heat or cold.
“Not only that, she can also use firearms.”

“She’s truly a strange young lady. If I didn’t happen to be without a pistol here, I would really like to let her try, to see if she possesses the extremely precise shooting ability she claims to have,” Kunta said with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes.

“Her constitution has no affinity for any elements, nor does she possess battle aura. I just don’t know if she would be compatible with Magi-Knight Armor. From this perspective, teaching her to use a firearm is the best choice.” Wendi said with her eyes closed.
“To become a Marksman means she should know how to make magic-engraved bullets herself. That counts as a rare talent.”

To become a Marksman, the most basic prerequisite was to learn how to engrave various magic arrays with different effects onto the base of bullets of different specifications.
Otherwise, how could an ordinary bullet possibly harm a magical beast, a magician, or someone with battle aura?

And the extremely delicate work of engraving arrays required not only a great deal of effort but also talent.
Therefore, on the continent, Marksmen were extremely few, even rarer than people with magical talent.

“It seems I’ll have to find a pistol for her to try. That way, besides us and Zero, there will be one more person to protect the girls on our journey, which will lighten our burden considerably.”

Wendi sneered.
“The second Firia gets her hands on a gun, I’m afraid she’ll first blow your brains out, you old thing who forced her into the troupe.”

“This won’t do, it won’t do! Her foundation is too poor.” The person training Mianbao shook her head with a serious expression.
“It seems we’ll have to start from the very basics.”

Mianbao lowered her head, looking reluctant.
‘I’m a man, why do I have to learn to dance? Of course my foundation is poor.’

The old lady teacher put her hands on her hips.
“First, let’s expand your body’s flexibility! Otherwise, your dancing will be too stiff.”

“…”

“Aaaaaahhh, help! I’m dying, I’m dying!”

The girls who had been enjoying their free time were all attracted by Mianbao’s earth-shattering and soul-stirring screams, and they came over one by one to see what was happening.

They saw Mianbao sitting on the ground, her legs held by two old ladies who were forcefully pulling them apart.
Her legs formed a wide angle, and it seemed the teacher was determined not to stop until Mianbao’s legs were “forged” into a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree split.

“Pain, pain, pain, pain, it hurts so much I’m gonna die, aaaaah!” Tormented by the pain, Mianbao’s forehead was beaded with sweat, and she shamelessly screamed at the top of her lungs.
“Did you hear that, did you hear that! My bone just made a sound! It must be broken! It’s definitely broken! Absolutely broken, aaaaaah! Let me go!”

Mianbao’s hair also scattered messily as her body writhed in pain, completely ruining her image.
The tattoo on her back was seen clearly by some of the girls standing behind her, and soon, some words, whether good or bad, began to spread privately among the girls.

For several hours straight, Mianbao’s body was like a boneless invertebrate, freely manipulated into various shapes by those inhumane old women, as if she were a soulless rag doll.

Mianbao was only temporarily freed when Kunta announced that the troupe would continue moving.
As she was being supported by Xixi, she truly became an invertebrate, completely limp, letting Xixi lead her around.
Her hands, feet, and waist were all incredibly sore, and for a while, she couldn’t exert any strength at all.

“

I will definitely shoot you with a gun one day, Kunta, you old hag…” After being thrown face down onto her bed by Xixi, Mianbao, with hollow eyes as if she had been played with and broken, uttered these words.
Her entire being emanated a towering resentment, so substantial it materialized as black mist, continuously drifting from the top of her head into the air.

“Big Sister Mianbao really has a beautiful tattoo on her back,” Xixi said softly, standing at the foot of Mianbao’s bed.

“Huh?” Mianbao let out a groan that represented both confusion and exhaustion.

Xixi explained to her, “The other big sisters are all saying that Big Sister Firia has a tattoo on her back.”

“So? Is it very ugly?” Mianbao half-closed her eyes, the corners of her mouth weakly lifting into a strained smile.

Xixi walked to the side of Mianbao’s face and knelt down.
“No. They all say you’re fair and beautiful and very charming. They’re all so envious of you.”

‘Beautiful?’ Mianbao wasn’t very keen on accepting this compliment.
If someone had called her handsome or something similar, she would have gladly accepted it.
But why did it have to be beautiful?

“They also said the tattoo on your back is beautiful and want to ask where you got it done.”

“Is that so…” Mianbao buried her face in the quilt, her heart a mix of emotions.
It was the first time someone had said her “birthmark” was beautiful.
Although this was based on the girls’ belief that it was a tattoo, it was basically the same thing.

“You can tell them it’s my mother’s handiwork, and she only tattoos men, not women,” Mianbao spouted nonsense to Xixi.

“But Big Sister Mianbao, you’re a girl too, aren’t you?”

“…” Mianbao silently covered her face in her heart.
“I misspoke. It’s passed down from my ancestors and is not taught to outsiders.”

“Okay!” Xixi poured a glass of water on the side and held it up with both hands.
“I’ll tell them when I have the chance. Here, Big Sister Mianbao, do you want some water?”

“Yes.” Mianbao mumbled unclearly and, with Xixi’s help, struggled to sit up and take a sip of water.

Gulping down the water, Mianbao glanced at Xixi out of the corner of her eye.
Xixi’s demure posture, her hands folded together in front of her skirt as she waited for Mianbao to finish drinking, gave Mianbao a strange illusion: as if Xixi were a maid, and she herself were the young lady of a wealthy family… no, the young master.

“Whoever marries Xixi in the future will be the luckiest person in the world…” After finishing the water and handing the glass back to Xixi, Mianbao couldn’t help but say these words.

Xixi smiled.
“Ehehe, thank you for the compliment, Big Sister Mianbao.”

Mianbao lay back down on the bed, watching the scenery flash by outside the window.
Because she had fainted last night, she hadn’t been able to experience the magi-mobile this morning, so this was her first time riding in one.
Lying in a room while being able to travel to various places gave her a very strange feeling.

“King Edis is truly a great man, to be able to invent something so magical.”