I suggested the idea to Odeta and she readily agreed to help teach the princess to become stronger despite Lisa thinking that it was a bad idea.
Delmare stayed neutral on the matter since she isn’t too familiar with the Royal Family anyway, but she said that she would support my choice.
Thus, Princess Tiara was back at my place again to be trained by Odeta.
Just for this, Mother had lent the Amrap her [Mask Of Impossible Identity] to hide herself from being recognised by the princess.
“Wahaha! So I heard from dear sister that you want to get stronger?!”
“Ye… Yes, Teacher!” Tiara exclaimed, all pumped up and ready to go.
Instead of the dress she would usually wear, she was wearing something akin to a tracksuit, probably made by an Off-Worlder which the Royal Family bought for her to use.
A princess wearing a tracksuit… I never thought I would see something like this…
“Wahahaha! That’s good! Being strong means you can do anything you want without anyone telling you what you can or cannot do!”
I feel that telling that to a child might not be a good idea, but I guess by the time she has been trained to become stronger, she would know how to use her new strength responsibly.
I do not want to be responsible for her becoming some kind of tyrant in the future.
Well, I guess I can rest easy with the fact that it should be impossible for her to become monstrously strong like Odeta overnight so there’s plenty of time to help guide her morality.
Tiara raised her hand, “Question, teacher!”
“What is it, student Tiara?”
“If I’m strong enough, can I eat all the cookies in the World?”
I thought Odeta would tell her that she could for sure but surprisingly she did not.
“Of course not! Sister As… I mean, dear sister wants to eat all the sweets in the World too and that includes cookies! If you were to eat all the cookies, that means dear sister doesn’t get any and that’s unacceptable!”
Errr… It’s not like I laid claim to all the cookies in the whole World either… I’m also perfectly willing to share my sweets with all of you, you know? In fact, I’ve been sharing my cookies with Tiara all this while too so it’s no big deal if she wants a few for herself…
Tiara then turned to me, “Oh! Big sister wants to go around eating cookies too?”
“Umm… One of my wishes for the future is to travel around the World and taste all the sweets I could get my hands on,” I explained, feeling a little embarrassed.
“Wooooow! Big sister is so cool! So if I grow up and become strong, I can go with big sister to explore around as well, right?”
Errr… I’m not sure if I’m allowed to say yes to this?
On one hand, that would make her really happy if I were to agree to it but I don’t want to make any empty promises to a princess…
Odeta let out a bark of laughter before I could answer her question, “Wahaha! If you’re strong enough to make us think that it’s a good idea for us to bring along, then we can surely think about it!”
I guess that’s a safe way to put it since it gives us the option to reject her in the future too. It may be easy to forget but this girl here is still the third princess of the Lehcarouc Kingdom you know?
Tiara pumped her fists, “Yayyy!! Please teach me to be strong, Teacher!!”
“Wahahaha! Alright! Then let’s start you off with a hundred push ups, a hundred sit ups, a hundred squats and a ten kilometre run!!”
I turned to the maid beside me, “Is this really ok?”
Aria nodded, “His Majesty has already given his express permission that this is fine. In his words, he mentioned that ‘things can’t get any worse than her being sacrificed to summon a demon anyway so being stronger would be good too’.”
I wasn’t really referring to that but more of the fact that Odeta is setting up a fourteen year old girl to do such intense exercises from the very beginning…
Then again, I’m in no position to say anything since I started working out even earlier than she did…
In fact… Didn’t I get Mother to train me just a few days after I was born? I guess I’ll just shut up now…
“Put your back into it! Tighten up your core! You call that a push up?! You need to go all the way down and up again!! Straighten those elbows!!”
I turned back to see the princess currently trying her best to do a push up with her knees on the ground. But even with that as an aid, her arms were still shaking visibly as she tried to do a push up with Odeta standing beside her like some kind of drill sergeant.
“Uggghhh… On… One!!” She groaned, successfully doing a single push up.
“Wahaha! Well done, princess! Let’s keep this up! You can do another one!! Come on! Or is your determination that weak?!”
“Nnngghhh!! Two!!”
“That’s great!! Keep going!! You’re not even halfway there yet! Don’t you start resting now!!!”
Truth be told, I had been expecting the princess to give up after the first one with how much she was struggling with it. Yet she was still pushing herself despite how hard it obviously was for her.
I guess the prospect of being able to leave the palace without being constantly watched is something too good for her to pass up.
I could understand her since I had also intended to become strong just so that I could go out and explore the World as well. At least I don’t have some kind of curse hanging over my head about demons and what not.𝓞𝒱𝗅xt.𝗇𝓔t
Despite her motivation however, the princess still collapsed in an exhausted heap after doing her fifth push up.
Well, you can’t expect her to suddenly do a hundred right from the start, especially when she’s not even used to such physical exertion as well.
Thankfully, Odeta also knew that it was unreasonable for her to expect the princess to be able to do that many push ups right from the start so she didn’t start berating her for collapsing.
“Wahahaha! Not bad, princess! You managed to do five on your first try! That’s definitely a good sign! Keep it up and you’ll be able to do a hundred in no time!”
“Ha… Ha… Really? Can… Can I do it?”
“Heh, that question can only be answered by you, right? You’re the one who needs to do it!”
“Then… Then I’ll do it! I’ll… I’ll get stronger… And then go explore! And… And eat all the cookies I want!”
Ehehe~ She’s so cute~ It’s like I got myself a new little sister~
The princess then slowly got up, “Ok teacher! I’m… I’m ready! Let’s con… Continue!”
Err… No. Anyone can tell you’re still worn out after those five push ups… You are most definitely not ready to continue yet…
Odeta grinned, “Heh, you have guts! You remind me of when I was younger and trying to get stronger too! I also wanted to get stronger because I realised how weak I was back then!”
That got the princess’s attention, “Oh! What happened? How did you get strong, Teacher?”
“Wahaha! I was being attacked by a wyvern and was too weak to do anything! But when I thought I was going to die, sister As… Dear sister came flying out from the sky and beat up that wyvern by herself! She was so cool!!”
Tiara turned to look at me with sparkly eyes, “Woooow! Big sister must be really strong!!”
I waved my hand in embarrassment, “Ah, no, no… She’s even stronger than me right now.”
“Wahahah! That’s not true at all, sister! If you were to fight me seriously, I would still lose! I have a long way to go before I can really protect you!”
I could not say anything back since it was true.
As strong as Odeta was, she wouldn’t be able to deal with the amount of summons I could call up as well as my magic.
But if it was just a contest of pure strength, she would definitely beat me, hands down.
Tiara turned back to Odeta, “Teacher! Teacher! I want to be as strong as big sister! Please teach me!”
“Oh now you’ve done it! If you want to be as strong as my dear sister, you need to prepare yourself and train as hard as you can, got it?! I won’t go easy on you even if you start crying!”
“I won’t! I will do it! I’ll become strong for big sister!”
“Wahaha! Well said!”
I’m just picturing the little princess being transformed into a hulking mass of muscle two metres high but still with her cute face on her.
I shuddered and quickly erased that cursed image from my mind.
“Is this really ok?” I asked Aria again.
“Yes, Mistress Nilm. The King has given his express permission,” She repeated what she said the first time I asked her.
Ugh, whatever… As long as everyone is fine I guess…