****(POV)

The man's life had changed in the recent year.

While he would still train diligently, he had shifted his focus.

He realized that any amount of power was useless if used inadequately.

For that, he relied on her.

While he trained, she would read to him.

Explain anything he had trouble with.

Talk about subjects like administration and whatnot.

Honestly, it all confused him extremely.

Still, he persevered.

Many times he wondered what would have happened if things were different.

She was dealt a bad hand at birth.

One condemning her.

Her potential value was extremely low.

How low she didn't know, but she had failed the tests of many sects.

Quite grandly at that.

He often wondered what his life would have been without talent.

He would have probably been farming without accomplishing anything.

When he told her that he admired her because of it, she refuted.

Sure, she was trying to make a difference by helping the man, but he shouldn't look down on farmers.

That giving life and caring for crops was equally noble.

That made her special.

She didn't buy into the idea that there were people superior to others.

Meanwhile, even the god of diplomacy he was worshipping was trying to establish his superiority.

It was a worldview that clashed with everything present in the earth realm.

Of course, she only opened to the man about such things.

Life kept going.

One day she came back with a young man in tow.

Declaring proudly that she had found him a disciple.

He was from one of the strong families.

He had heard about the man's past from history lessons.

He had then tried everything to talk to him.

Until finally he had managed to meet her.

He was both polite, talented, and driven.

The martial king was at a loss.

Not ready for such a thing.

Thanks to her insistence he agreed to teach him.

Thus in the vast courtyard were two men training after day.

Before long that number turned to three.

She had picked up a stray from the renovated slums.

A teenager with a shifty look in his eyes.

He was earning his keep stealing.

She had convinced him that he could be doing something more with his life.

At first, he was extremely suspicious.

Even expecting to be sold as a slave or something similar.

Still, the temptation was too high to ignore.

His dream was to one day own a manor.

Slowly he opened up and left his old self behind.

Finding solace in the sword.

He was used to working hard all day long.

It was just a matter of using all that energy efficiently.

Thus the lessons continued.

He would teach them about the sword.

She would teach them about the world.

Her that had never truly traveled.

She somehow knew more than the merchants.

How insane was that?!

The martial king had stopped trying to understand her with common sense.

The more time went the more his disciple grew.

At some point, they left his side.

The vast courtyard felt oh very empty.

She giggled when she saw how at a loss he was.

How he had become attached to them.

Both of them were extremely busy, making their teacher proud.

One started dealing with internal affairs, slowly making the city a better place.

The other took charge of the military.

Slowly building his own personal force until he had control of most troops.

They both in turn taught their subordinates strictly.

The same way as they had been.

Soon, competent officials started appearing.

When that happened the mentor celebrated.

For once he left himself vulnerable and drank away without any worry.

She waited until he was dead drunk and struck.

She had been waiting for an opportunity all this time.

His life was all she wanted.

He pulled a shadow of resistance but faltered quickly under her relentless tongue.

His true desires uninhibited thanks to the alcohol.

As a result, she got stabbed.

Repeatedly and all night long.

That made them closer, but nothing really changed.

Well, besides that he was now showing affection.

Also that she had become his wife.

A ceremony with only the two of them.

One day a man came into the picture.

He brought a baby with him.

He turned out to be a relative.

One the man had not seen in a while.

He needed a place to stay.

The martial king accepted him as his brother and the newborn as his nephew.

Life continued as normal.

More training, sometimes babysitting and keeping in touch with the city news.

All until one day both disciples excitedly invaded his courtyard.

They had been researching a lot lately.

They had chanced upon some extremely complex formation diagram.

One that would allow great things to be realized.

That would make the city safer.

But they lacked the funding necessary.

They had a plan for that.

They would invite other sects to this city.

They would make it bigger and more interesting.

Transform it into a metropolis where diverse factions would interact.

Then use the profit to realize the project.

Such a plan would bring countless troubles for sure.

They would have to work extremely hard.

Making sure not to commit a single mistake.

They wanted their teacher's blessings for that.

For they knew should anything go wrong he would be the one having to shoulder it all.

For there was no one worthier than him.

He agreed.

He felt that it was better to try and fail than to fear never progressing.

His wife also supported the project.

Thus they got to work.

Before long the city expanded to unbelievable dimensions compared to its initial size.

Somehow, they managed to deal with all the issues by themselves.

Of course, they used their teacher's name to intimidate people too.

They amassed most of what was needed for their plan.

Sadly they were missing a core.

One that could control such powerful magic.

There was a family that specialized in finding magical gems, but it wouldn't be enough.

They kept looking and looking until finally, the eldest found a solution to their problem.

There had been records of a rank 4 creature sighted in a disaster zone.

One that protected a treasure that would serve well as a core.

A black twin-headed giant snake.

Any sane person would have instantly disregarded such an idea.

Not them.

The eldest was especially knowledgeable.

He came out with many countermeasures and ideas.

The youngest used to be a thief.

He would never fight the creature, but he dared to steal from it.

Thus they slowly etched their strategy.

They said goodbye to their teacher and left on a journey.

One that would not be as simple as they had initially thought.