Everyone has a plan—until they find themselves rolling on the ground like a madman, reduced to a ragged mess.

Naturally, I turned back time several times during this training session. The training ground was inside the imperial palace, a place I’d used often and was quite familiar with. Being located within palace grounds, it was much flatter than the mountain, so, theoretically, it was easier to run around here.

Theoretically.

But that theory didn’t account for the Swordmaster with a wooden sword.

Dodging his sword strikes one by one was somewhat manageable. Once I got hit, at least I could …