Using illusions would be good practice for Luchila as well .
The children were panting as I turned to them .
“Nia, children . An illusion of a strong enemy is about to appear, so I want you all to fight it together . ”
“Okay . I’ll do my best!’
“Yes!”
They answered enthusiastically . But it didn’t seem like they understood .
Most of them had probably very little exposure to illusions .
I moved away from them and approached the chiefs who were watching .
“Alright, I’m going to do it!”
Just as Luchila said this, her presence suddenly became very thin .
She was using concealment magic .
And then a lesser vampire appeared in front of the children .
Even the chiefs who had been watching leisurely looked shocked for a second . Some even touched their swords .
That’s how good Luchila’s illusions were .
But I said to them,
“Don’t worry . It’s an illusion for practice . ”
“What! An illusion? But it is so clear…”
“It’s my apprentice, Luchila’s special skill . ”
“I see… I very much thought an actual lesser vampire had appeared . ”
“Even Mister Locke’s apprentices are powerful . ”
They were very surprised .
Danton muttered .
“Even after hearing that it is an illusion, it still looks like a real lesser vampire to me . ”
“Right? I myself learned to use illusions from Luchila . ”
“She taught even you…”
While I talked with the chiefs, the children began to attack the illusion .
In spite of their shock, they quickly moved in to attack .
“Even when they are so young, they are warriors of the beastkin tribe . Their movements are impressive . ”
“You flatter us . ”
“No, I am not . Now, when they are done, I think I will have Shia train like this as well . ”
“You’re going to call out a lesser for them too?”
“No, Shia and Serulis are strong . We will make them fight a lord . ”
“What”!
The chiefs could also hear what Danton and I were saying .
And so they would not be too shocked if a lord appeared now .
Still, I decided to explain it to them .
“When this is finished, I’m going to have a vampire lord illusion appear . ”
“A lord . That is…amazing . ”
“Only Mister Locke would do such a thing . ”
“I’ll let you know when we use illusions next time . ”
“Thank you . ”
I did this, just in case a real vampire happened to appear during training .
If they thought it was an illusion, it would delay their response time .
And so it was important that they knew in advance .
Once I told them this, I walked over to Shia and Serulis .
“Shia, Serulis . You two can continue your training when the children are finished . ”
“Yes! Thank you!”
“I’ll do my best!”
“You two must work together . ”
“Yes!”
“Leave it to us!”
They were very excited .
On the other hand, Grulf was still following me as I walked . He would sit down politely whenever I stopped .
This was unusual because he usually could not stop running around .
“Grulf, do you want to train too?”
“Grrr?”
Apparently, not .
Eventually, the children were finished .
They had succeeded in defeating the illusion .
That being said, illusions could not be defeated by traditional means .
Luchila had watched the children carefully and added damage when appropriate .
I rushed towards them .
First, I asked Nia and the children,
“How was it?”
“It was really strong, but we managed to beat it . Would a real fight be like this?”
“Yes . Luchila is very good at recreating things . ”
“Miss Luchila, thank you so much!”
They bowed and thanked her . Luchila looked a little embarrassed .
I turned to her .
“Luchila . That was very good . ”
“Thank you . ”
“I want to ask you to do an arch vampire next . Can you do it?”
“I can recreate an arch vampire quite accurately, but I don’t have much experience with anything above a lord . ”
“I see . That’s wonderful . ”
“Groof-groof!”
Grulf barked as Luchila petted him .
I left then and whispered to the children .
“I’m going to bring out a lord now . Watch as Shia and Serulis fight it . ”
“Okay!”
They said with eyes full of expectation .
I glanced over to Shia and Serulis . They were laughing about something .
They didn’t know that their training was about to start .
I created the vampire lord so as to catch them both off guard .
This was practically my finest illusion .
Even if you knew it was an illusion, it was hard to not see it as real .
“Wha…”
“How…”
The chiefs gasped in disbelief .
Even though I had given them fair warning, they were unsheathing their swords .
I was quite satisfied that I had made something that was so believable .
“Ah!”
The children raised their voices in a scream . Even they were shocked .
As for Shia and Serulis…
“Hyaaaa!!”
“ARGHH!”
They charged at it before the vampire lord even had time to move .