“Umm Big bro Ady, Big Sis Ali? Are you two okay”

The first thing that Adrest heard the next day was the too loud sound of his own heartbeat in his ears, with Belle’s voice echoing in his skull.

With a Herculean effort, Adrest pried his burning eyes open to see a concerned Belle looking at him from the other side of the table.

Looking around confused; he took the chaos in around the room. There were remnants of what had been a full barrel of alcohol on the floor, dripping the little left onto the wood floor.

There were several games scattered on the ground and table, and Adrest noticed his right arm was numb.

Looking to his side, there was a head of purple hair using his upper arm as a pillow while hugging the rest of the limb. She was snoring away blissfully, and Adrest knew there wasn’t much that could wake her up right now.

Shaking his head at the night that had gotten out of hand, and his new house in disarray, Adrest carefully freed himself of Alissa who woke just enough to move her head atop the table and continue the uncomfortable sleep.

“Haha, sorry about the mess Belle. Give me a few minutes and we’ll make breakfast together, okay?” Adrest placated the girl who was still looking slightly concerned for the two “adults” who couldn’t even make it back to their own beds last night.

Soon enough though, the spilled drink and scattered game pieces were cleaned. The oven was being put to good use, and Alissa finally stirred with a groan.

“Urgh… breakfast?” Her eyes were just barely cracked open, and she teetered back and forth, seeming ready to fall back asleep any second.

The plate put in front of the barely conscious woman was Adrest’s answer, and she quickly started devouring it. Soon she was joined by a famished Adrest, and a still recovering and growing Belle. The meal passed in relative silence with only sighs of contentment to be heard.

The day for the trio was much the same as before, with both Adrest and Belle getting personalized instruction from Alissa. For Belle who was still on the basics of everything, it was still far too soon to spar with Alissa, but she was amazed watching the older two fight so fiercely, she could barely keep up with Alissa’s extended claws, or Adrest’s sword, but the repeated ringing and flashing of sparks was enough for her.

The two went back and forth in a trance of sorts as they exchanged blows, testing each other’s guards and constantly searching for any weakness to exploit. While Alissa was the superior swordsman, she also wasn’t a complete master as her body itself was an amazing weapon, so very occasionally Adrest was able to break her guard.

Like all good things though, the fight came to an end. Alissa noticed the building fatigue in Adrest's thrusts and guards and when he was too slow to in following up an attack, she closed in dlivering a palm to his upper chest with a deep thud as her pale hand landed.

Adrest coughed up the air in his lungs and couldn’t breathe for a few heart beats as the ache in his chest dulled and spread. While he was still struggling to fill his lungs, Adrest took note of the pair of gentle hands on his upper arms holding him steady.

As Adrest flashed an exhausted smile at the purple haired demi-human inches away from him, he heard clapping coming from Belle whose thin snow white hair and slender rabbit ears flew erratically in the air as she bounced in her seat and clapped in amazement.

The pair gave a bow to the audience before walking over to Belle, who was looking at the pair in amazement.

“Wow! Big bro and Big sis are really good! Will you teach me to do that someday?”

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Having caught his breath, Adrest closed the distance and nodded “Yep! Someday you’ll be as strong as us, especially with Ms. Alissa teaching you.”

Adrest had to dodge the jab that came from his side that came along with the words “Don’t call me Ms. It makes me sound old!”

Having successfully chased off Adrest who had run away chuckling into the house, Alissa went back over to Belle who had just watched the exchange with a big smile.

“If you work hard, you’ll be just as strong as either of us! You’ll eventually learn how to really use your dual swords. And you’ll be a strong mage with life, body, and even earth magic to power your blades and body.”

As Belle heard what her future entailed, her eyes filled with stars just thinking about how hard it would be and seemed to have grown a little nervous at her big sister’s expectations.

Alissa saw the faint worry in her eyes and gently smiled and rubbed Belle’s head, “Don’t worry, that's years from now, no one could be expected to learn all that overnight. Plus, you’re a great learner Belle and we’ll be there to help every step of the way!”

Belle focused on what was said and gained a determined expression as nodded at Alissa before giving her a tight hug around her waist, seeming to make up her mind about something.

The two girls stayed like that for a few moments before Adrest poked his head out of the house, interrupting them saying, “Hey! Go clean up and I’ll make a snack.”

The pair smiled and held hands to the house and quickly cleaned off the sweat and dirt before going back downstairs where a clean Adrest was just taking over 3 small plates of cheese and buttered warm bread to the table and sat down.

He was quickly joined by the girls who took their seats and ate peacefully before passing the rest of their day training, which soon became a habit for the three of them as the days and weeks blended together.

Nearly two months had passed now, and instead of Belle watching the other two fight, today Adrest was the spectator for a fight between Belle and Alissa. He hadn’t gotten to see much of her sword training as he was usually sent to do something ridiculous off in the forest by Alissa, so he was quite excited to see and cheer her on.

The pair stood around ten feet apart, Alissa with a simple blunted sword held lazily to her side. Opposite her was Belle, holding two short swords that were only about as long as her forearm, nearly small enough to be considered daggers. Belle’s face was completely serious, missing her usual cheer, and was wholly focused on the seemingly relaxed Alissa.

Belle took a deep, slow breath before blurring forward and slashing at Alissa’s throat. When it was easily blocked by a sword that seemed to have come from nowhere, Belle used her other arm to stab toward the side of her opponent, through her ribs. However, as the strike got close, Belle’s arm and whole body came to a sudden stop, before getting sent backwards as she rolled with a kick that Alissa had delivered.

Undeterred, Belle closed the distance and started wildly slashing at Alissa from all directions, testing Alissa’s reactions and not giving her any room to strike back. All she found however was a wall of steel that was Alissa’s blade, strike after strike was parried, blocked, or evaded with the tiniest fraction of movement. Before long Belle’s breathing was rough and she was starting to slow as the short swords got heavier in her hands.

Just as Allisa was preparing to end the fight, Belle’s body glowed subtly with life magic and she fought with renewed vigor. In the midst of the onslaught, Belle also started using her earth magic to simultaneously make the dirt below Alissa loosen and act as quicksand, while shooting an angled pillar below herself to act as a springboard and launched into Alissa’s guard, using her swords to keep Alissa from grappling her, Belle head-butted directly into flat stomach across from her.

There was a dull thud, and a moment of silence quickly turned into Belle loudly crying “Ow! That hurts so much! Why!”

She dropped the swords and grabbed her head with tears welling up in her eyes.

Adrest chuckled at the semi-comical scene and quickly clapped and cheered for Belle, just as she often would for him. “Good job Belle! You’re amazing, you’re going to beat me soon if you keep working at it!”

Belle partially opened her watery eyes and looked towards Adrest before blushing slightly and smiling back at him through her pain.

As she was distracted, Alissa gently put her hand over Belle’s and said to her, “For most species, as they climb ranks their body improves at every step. That’s another reason why its so hard to fight above your level.”

As the pain slowly faded under Alissa’s gentle touch, Belle nodded in understanding, but couldn’t help feeling a bit sad at failing at the end though.

Alissa saw this and quickly added, “The last attack was amazing Belle, it was everything I’ve been teaching you. I cant believe you’ve improved so much in just a few months!”

“I know right? It was amazing to watch her fight like that, it was like a different person compared to our cute and shy Belle, right?”

Adrest said as he approached from where he’d been seated and clapped belle on the shoulder adding “I’m really proud of you Belle.”

Her eyes misted with tears a little more as grabbed both Adrest and Alissa’s hands and gave a big smile and a “Thank you both!”