"Good morning, Young Mistress." Liviana hadn't been able to convince her father, so Mary, her personal maid, woke her earlier than usual. She thought back to the day she had learned that her training would be even harsher than she expected. It had been one month ago...

 

***

 

[One month ago...]

 

"Deron, today the Captain will conduct your training." Liviana's father said to his son. "I'll show Livia the armoury today." 

Liviana nearly dropped her fork and looked towards her father. The Marquess misunderstood Liviana's reaction.

"Don't worry. Your lessons are cancelled for today, so you won't lose any of your free time."

'But I have dancing lessons today...'

"Um, Father? Are the lessons already cancelled? I have dancing lessons today and I do not want to miss them." Liviana spoke up.

"No, I was going to cancel them right after breakfast." He thought for a moment. "You have already learned everything necessary. We can make your dancing lessons more frequent. What I planned for today will take the whole morning, so your morning lessons will still be cancelled."

 

After breakfast Liviana followed her father through the corridors of the mansion. They exited the mansion and walked towards the training grounds. Her father walked towards a fairly large building with very narrow windows and opened the heavy hardwood door. Liviana had expected the interior to be dusty but it wasn't. On the contrary, every bit of the interior was thoroughly cleaned. The interior consisted of a single room with pillars to support the vaulted ceiling. On the right side of the wall, Liviana could see stairs leading up to the upper floors. On the left side, a stair was leading down to a basement. The walls and pillars of the room were lined with weapons. Everywhere she looked, her gaze was greeted with gleaming metal. 

"I brought you her so you can decide with which weapon you want to train first. If any weapon catches your interest, just say so."

After saying that, her father went from weapon to weapon and explained its advantages and disadvantages. For the first half of an hour, Liviana tried to act as if she was interested, then she just tried to act ladylike and not yawn. Her father's enthusiasm was like that of a child that showed its new toys. Finally Liviana decided to put an end to the torture and looked around the armoury. She reasoned that if she decided with which weapon she would train first, then her father wouldn't have a reason to show her the other weapons. A sword with a swept hilt and straight blade caught her interest. She pointed at it. 

"This one?" Her father pointed at the sword that had caught her interest.

"Yes, the sword with the swept hilt." 

Her father approached the sword and unsheathed it. It looked a bit like a rapier but the blade was different. It was shorter than the blade of a rapier. A fuller ran through the lower half of the blade but the tip was tapered into a sharp point.

"This is a sidesword. It is made for both thrusting and slashing. The lower half has a fuller to make it more suited for slashing while the tip is tapered for thrusting."

Liviana didn't really care. She had just chosen the sword because the hilt was elegant.

"It is a good choice, but are you sure that you want to learn fighting with a sidesword?" 

"Yes, I am sure." She confirmed her choice.

"Alright, then I will explain what your training will entail."

Liviana suppressed a sigh. 

"In the first five years of your training, you will learn how to fight with a sidesword." Her father told her while they walked up the stairs. "As soon as your mana begins to grow, you will undergo an affinity test and learn magic. After mastering the basics of magic, you will learn how incorporate magic in battle." They were now on the second floor of the armoury. "The training will become much harsher as soon as you learn reinforcement magic. When you are around thirteen or fourteen you will experience a few real battles. You will follow me on patrol and help subjugate a few monsters or bandits. Then you will survive a few months alone in the forest."

Liviana's face grew pale. 

"Your training will end when you are sixteen and you can decide whether you want to join the army or do something else. Do you have any questions?"

"..."

"If you don't have any questions, we will go to the training grounds. Your brother should be training right now, so you can see what your training will look like."

Liviana followed her father with a mix of dread, curiosity and anticipation.

 

The training field was located right beside the armoury, so it didn't take long for them to arrive where her brother trained.

The son of the Marquess was in the midst of a sparring match when his sister and father arrived. Deron took a quick glance at them. A sudden thrust from his opponent forced him to focus on the match. 

He thrust at his opponent's face, turned the thrusting motion into a slash and struck at the neck. His opponent parried the blow and countered with a vertical slash at Deron's shoulder. Deron parried the blow with the crossguard of his sword, forced his opponent's sword high in the air, kicked at the legs of his now unbalanced opponent and disarmed him with a quick twist of his sword. 

The Marquess watched the fight with a proud look on his face.

"What if they hit each other? These weapons are made of metal, right?" The combatants didn't wear any armour or other protective gear. 

"Both of them use reinforcement magic. Getting hit will hurt but you would need to magically strengthen yourself to do any real harm. That is the reason why every professional knows how to use strengthening and reinforcement magic." 

"If every professional knows how to use it, then it is non-attribute magic?" Liviana reasoned.

"Yes, however the earth-attribute offers stronger versions of that magic, so people with earth-affinity tend to be better in melee combat. That does not mean that it is impossible to overcome that advantage. Unlike attribute magic, the effects of non-attribute magic can be trained."

Her father motioned at a knight.

"Lilia, show my daughter around the training grounds, tell her about the training and answer any questions she asks."

"Yes, my Lord."

Surprised, Liviana saw that the knight was a woman. She hadn't noticed before because the woman wore pants and a shirt like all the other knights. When Liviana took another look around the training grounds, she saw that about a quarter of the knights present were women. She turned her gaze to the knight her father had called. Black pants and a blue shirt, the knight's blue hair was up in a ponytail.

'How unladylike.' Liviana thought. 'At least she did not cut her hair short.'

"My Lady," Lilia bowed.

Liviana followed Lilia around the training grounds. They walked on the track that was usually used for endurance training. The field that was enclosed by the track was divided into several sections. Right now, these sections were used for sparring. After a few minutes of talking, they fell into an awkward silence. Liviana hadn't asked any questions and Lilia had already told her everything about the knight's daily training she could think of.

"Your dress is truly beautiful, my Lady." Lilia tried to break the silence. 

"..."

"It is truly a shame that I can only wear dresses in my free time."

"..."

The awkward silence continued until the rest of the tour. Lilia and Liviana were both relieved when they arrived at the place where they had started the tour. Liviana looked around for her father and saw him sparring against her brother. Both of them were wielding longswords, but while her brother held his in head height with the tip pointing at his opponent's throat, her father held his sword casually with the tip pointing at the ground. They circled around each other while carefully maintaining a certain distance.

"Why are they just walking in circles?" Liviana asked Lilia who was still standing beside her. 

"Your father wants to bait your brother into attacking. Your brother probably knows this, so he is cautious." Lilia answered while following the combatants with her eyes. 

Suddenly, Deron began to move. The strike was intercepted by the Marquess's sword and blown aside. The Marquess moved in and slammed the pommel of his longsword into Deron's stomach. Despite the reinforcement magic that he had cast on himself, Deron buckled over.

"You should have tried to feint an attack before coming in for a strike." Liviana's and Deron's father criticized.

"You wouldn't have fallen for it anyway." Deron responded while trying to catch his breath.

"Probably." The Marquess laughed. 

"You are just too strong..." Deron grumbled, but a grin soon began to spread across his face. "It was fun!" He, too, began to laugh. " I really had no chance at all!"

Horrified, Liviana watched the match and the following exchange.

'That looked like it hurt... And he enjoyed it?! Is he crazy!?'

Liviana looked at Lilia for an answer, but the female knight just showed a wry smile and shrugged. 

 

***

 

[Back to the present...]

 

Liviana stared at her reflection in the mirror. Dark blue pants and a white shirt, she was dressed like the female knight she had labelled as unladylike a month ago. Her hair was done into a single braid. She frowned at her reflection.

'I look like a boy!'

"Mary, tie a ribbon at the end of the braid." 

"Which colour, Young Mistress?"

"Red- no, blue."

Liviana waited for Mary to finish tying the ribbon, took a last look at her reflection in the mirror and made her way to the dining room. When she arrived at the dining room, Liviana was surprised to see her aunt sitting at the table.

"Yo, it seems like I'll be the one training you." Her aunt said with a fierce grin on her face.

 

***

 

[Two weeks ago...]

 

Only a few days remained until her sixth birthday. Preparations for the party were in full swing. The great hall was decorated, and maids rushed to clean every nook and cranny of the mansion. The early guests would arrive today. Most of the guests would be family members and loyal retainers of the Vaymoure family. The first one to arrive was her aunt. 

Her aunt arrived just after they had finished lunch. The tall tan-skinned woman with the dark red hair and green eyes walked into the room wearing travelling attire. Exhaustion was etched on her face. 

"Get something to eat for my sister." Liviana's father said to a maid who bowed and left the room.

"Thank you, Lorgand. It's good to see you and you too, Eleanor." Her aunt greeted her parents.

"It is good to see you too, Valeria." Liviana's mother, Eleanor, greeted back.

Valeria, Liviana's aunt, sat down at the table. During the exchange of greetings, Liviana realized that she hadn't known her parents' names. She was quite embarrassed by that. The servants and employees called her parents Mistress or Master, and they called each other Darling, Dear or Honey, so Liviana never had the chance to learn their names, but it still bugged her that she hadn't known them until now.

"So, you are Liviana." Valeria turned her attention towards her.

Liviana got up from her chair and curtsied. "I am Liviana Vaymoure." 

For a moment, Valeria looked startled before she burst into laughter. She stopped when she saw Liviana's red face.

"I'm sorry, but I never expected the daughter of my brother to be so well mannered." Valeria said with an amused twinkle in her eyes, got up from her chair and curtsied as well. "I am Valeria Vaymoure."

'She is not married...' Liviana thought when she heard the surname. She didn't know what to make of her aunt.

 

***

 

[Back to the present...]

 

Liviana suppressed the urge to massage her temples. After a small breakfast, Liviana, her brother, her father and her aunt made their way to the training grounds where they split up. Now, Liviana and Valeria stood alone in the cold morning breeze. 

"Let's see if we can find a fitting training sword for you." Valeria said and motioned Liviana to follow her.

They walked into a small building next to the armoury. The building was barely more than a shed and filled with all kinds of wooden training weapons. Her aunt searched around the weapon racks until she found a suitable training sword and tossed it towards Liviana. She tried to catch it, but it just hit her knuckles and fell on the ground. 

"We will have to practise that." Her aunt commented.

Liviana rubbed her knuckles and picked up the training sword and followed her outside.