"Good. Good girl, Emilia. You've improved a lot!"
Emilia bowed to the old man with a smile.
If the old man's disciple had been in hearing range, she might have fainted from shock, because this stingy teacher's 'bah, you're hopeless!' already meant 'amazing, you're definitely going places'.
For him to speak like that, Emilia must be making progress at a truly monstrous pace.
"Thank you, gandpa Brown. It's because you're a good teacher."
"Hoho… no need to flatter me, young lady. It's just, what a pity…"
Emilia had already taken a lotus position on the mat to relax after the grueling 'training' session. Although she couldn't sweat, it was impossible to not feel any fatigue after long sessions of intense physical and mental focus.
"What's a pity?"
"A pity that Dixie isn't a boy!"
Emilia couldn't help but burst into giggles.
"Would be weird if she was, right? And I think she's doing pretty well already. Look, your disciple isn't able to bully her anymore, and it's only been what, a few days?"
The old man squinted his eyes as he turned to look at the spar between his disciple and granddaughter.
"Hoh, you can't fool my eyes, Emilia. Dixie's technique is far, far inferior to my disciple. It's just that the innate strength of her body is too abnormal, and my disciple is unable to handle it now that she also learned a few moves of her own. As expected of my granddaughter."
Meanwhile, Koko screeched like a victorious banshee as the poor 'kiddo' was sent flying by her almighty kick. She triumphantly walked over to her bag and took out a cold water bottle.
'Kiddo' watched in resentment as the heinous button masher drank the water like victory wine.
"Emilia, catch!"
Emilia uncorked the water bottle that Koko had passed to her, glad that even her friend's monkey brain had enough sense to close the bottle before throwing it.
The cold water was refreshing, and even if it would just vanish in her belly shortly after and not be of much help, it felt good to just drink it.
"Emilia is slowly but surely reducing the total volume of water in this world. What a villainess!"
'Shut up, Cynthia!'
Looking at the old man's dissatisfied look at having his conversation interrupted, Emilia wondered if Koko would be suffering in the future. Well, it's best to distract him anyway.
"So, grandpa… I was thinking, it's not like Dixie is physically weak, so why did you want her to be a boy then?"
The old man sighed as he sat down on the tatami, assuming a lotus position facing the young girl. He raised two fingers in the air.
"Two reasons."
Emilia tilted her head, her curiosity tickled.
"First, after that huge mistake of a son I had, I wish to redo it! It's definitely not my fault, I can definitely raise a proper boy!"
Emilia tried hard to contain her smile. She almost felt sorry for this 'Mr. Brown', even though she had never met him.
"That's not a good reason, grandpa. And isn't Mr. Brown doing fine?"
The old man snorted in disdain.
"What 'doing fine'?! He just wags his tail around his wife like a dog in heat! Doing whatever she says, humph! If she wasn't so cunning, his brains would go splat on the floor the moment I'm dead."
"Yikes, that's harsh, grandpa, I'm sure it's not that bad."
"Humph."
Emilia hummed, already knowing how this old man's words were often exaggerated, she knew he probably didn't really hate his son.
"So anyway, what's the second reason?"
The old man looked at her up and down, as if scrutinizing something, and then sighed as he looked at his granddaughter on the other side of the dojo, still in an intense deadlock against his disciple.
"How is she going to impregnate you if she's a girl?"
Emilia blinked. "I-I'm sure I misheard something just now, right? Can you repeat that?"
The old man sighed. He had never been one to care about how others felt about what he said, and that wasn't going to change now that he almost had one foot in his grave.
"I mean, wouldn't it be wonderful if your talent in learning the moves could merge with the raw strength of our Dixie? If only she was a boy…"
Emilia's eyes flitted towards her companions, and she breathed a sigh of relief as she realized they weren't close enough to hear them unless they shout.
Next time, it was better to just keep sparring until her friends were done for the day as well, and then leave immediately after.
Talking to this old man was just injurious to her mental health.
"… A-Ahem, it is how it is, grandpa. What can we do, right?"
The old man's eyes sparkled, as if a brilliant idea had suddenly come to him.
"Hey, little girl, tell me… isn't there all kinds of science mumbo jumbo going on these days? Did those silly science kids not make anything decent all this while?"
Emilia didn't think there was such a thing, but she still couldn't be completely sure.
'Is there something like that, Cynthia?'
"Something like what? I wasn't listening."
'Uh… I was talking to the old man, and wanted to ask… is there a way for a girl to make me pregnant in this world?'
"Idiot Emilia! Moron! There's no such thing in this world, okay! Don't listen to this wrinkly ass fossil! Also, you can't have a kid to begin with! You're now a void lifeform. Who's impregnating who?! Fuck!"
'Geez, calm down, Cynthia… No one's impregnating anyone!'
"Oh… good."
Emilia breathed a sigh of relief as Cynthia didn't throw any further tantrum. Her system was really faulty. It can explode spontaneously, anytime!
"I don't think they've made anything like that, grandpa."
"Why did you think about it so long?"
Emilia couldn't really say she was asking about it, could she?
"Did I?"
The old man gave her a skeptical look. "You weren't wondering if you should lie to this old man, right? Is there really no way?"
"I-I'm not lying, there's really no way!"
"Why did you stutter, then?"
Looking at Emilia's increasingly gloomy expression, the old man chuckled.
"What a pity, then. Look out for a boy who can handle her for me, yeah? After a few rounds with you, I feel like my youth has returned, or maybe just some rust fell off of my joints. Perhaps I can still teach my great grandchild."
"U-Uh, okay."
Although Emilia agreed, she had no intention of actually following through with it. Because if Dixie was busy with her love affair, wouldn't she have to look for a new chauffeur, a new knight, and a new assistant?
And deep down, Emilia's nature was already extremely possessive. After dying for the second time, it had become almost impossible to control.
As long as she even remotely liked someone, she could not bear to see them with anyone else.
Not to mention lovers, even regular friends were not allowed to have someone more important than her in their life! If Emilia could prevent it, she would.
Cynthia couldn't help but whistle.
"That's messed up, Emilia. So villainous! Good!"
'They can have a lover if they want, I just won't be friends with them anymore.'
Not to mention Dixie, even Koko could only remain single, at least until Emilia completed her missions.
It did not mean she would take them as her lovers, or she would kill anyone who proposed to them. But if they wanted to have a lover, they would have to make a choice between them and Emilia's friendship.
Cynthia pretended to shudder.
"Oooh, so cold! But won't you get hurt if they leave you like that? That's no good. A competent villainess only hurts others, not herself!"
'Don't be stupid, Cynthia. I'm not a love struck fool, and I'm definitely no virtuous heroine. If I really cared enough about someone to get hurt… do you think I will let them leave?'
"Ehhh, then what will my villainess do?"
Emilia smirked. 'You should just hope that you don't have to find out.'
By this time, Dixie was also done with her session, and the three of them bid farewell to the old man and left the dojo.
Koko looked reluctant to part with them as she gazed at her own car resentfully.
"Are you two really going to study with that girl from class A? I thought we can finally play together when weekend comes!"
Emilia sighed. It's not that she didn't understand where Koko was coming from, but at least for the first few weeks, she had to spend all her time making sure she was caught up with this world.
Once everything was on track, she could relax a little more. It won't be too late to play then.
"That's right. Koko's cram school is in the evening, right? Why not come with us?"
The freckled girl looked horrified at her proposal. "Nonono, no way. I'm not studying any more than I have to! And doesn't that mean I'll be studying even more than you guys?"
Dixie scoffed. "Not that it would help if you study more, monkey brain."
"Why are you always so mean to me, Dixie! Emilia~ I'm so sad, can I hug you for comfort?"
Emilia frowned as she looked at Koko's sweat soaked body. "Um, I think maybe some other time."
Dixie chuckled. Although both Koko and herself were equally soaked, she would never give in to the urge to rub against Emilia just because she looked cool and refreshing!
'The monkey is too dumb, or maybe not straight enough, unlike myself. I, Dixie, am definitely the straightest, most unbendable steel rod of a straight girl in existence. There is no better qualified knight to protect her than me.'
Koko clutched her heart in pretend shock as she wailed. "Aaah, even Emilia won't comfort me~"
The freckled girl turned her sight to the small boy who had just recovered from being kicked around all morning. The other two didn't understand why he always followed them to see them off, but Koko knew. The little sidekick must idolize the 'Great Warrior' Koko too much!
"Keke, my sidekick, come, let big sister hug you!"
The little boy gagged on the spot, and then immediately bolted back inside the dojo.
"Disgustiiiiiiing!"