Aliyah was pissed.

She had just found the perfect stick in the garden when one of the maids called her inside to attend her etiquette lessons.

The etiquette lessons themselves weren't the problem. The problem were the noblewoman classes she had to take. Or rather the fact that she was only taking classes for a noblewoman.

Her great-grandfather had been awarded the barony and the accompanying title for 4 generations, as a reward for years of dedicated service to the kingdom, and her great-grandmother had been a legendary mercenary. Her grandfather had been a famous adventurer and had retired after a very long career. Her father on the other hand was completely untalented in all things martial. He was a passable mage, but his only talent lay in making money.

And money making was what he intended for her. Instead of learning how to fight or use magic, her father wanted her to become a proper noblewoman. It had started 2 years ago on her 5th birthday. She had wanted a spear to start on the path her family had walked since generations. Her father had other ideas. He wanted her to be a good bargaining chip to rise in the ranks of nobility.

Usually a 7 year old shouldn't know of such matters, but her father was fairly vocal about his dislike for her. Which was itself quite perplexing as the Baron loved his wife with the same intensity as his dislike for aliyah. 

Usually nobles would take care not to show such vulnerabilities to the outside, but nobody could blame her father, as his wife was a true beauty. He himself was a fairly average man, with short blonde hair, a patchy beard and dull blue eyes. His only discerning feature was his height. At about 195cm the Baron was tall for a human. His wife in comparison was an angel in humanoid form. At 167cm she was already fairly tall for most human women, but her figure enhanced even her above average height. Her flowing red hair, shone like living fire under the sun, the piercing blue eyes seemed like pieces of the heavens themselves, and her her face showed a bit of her even heritage.

Aliyah patted her clothes down to flatten her skirt and made her way inside. Her etiquette tutor was a hateful woman that took full advantage of the dislike her father showed towards Aliyah. Even though Aliyah performed well above average in her etiquette lessons, her tutor found every opportunity to belittle and beat her with a ruler. She was pretty sure that her [pain tolerance] had already advanced a few times, but she couldn't be sure as her system had yet to unlock. 

The only reason she continued her lessons with any motivation was, that the [Posture] and [Dancing] skills helped greatly with general combat arts. 

The way through the mansion was depressing as usual. The servants themselves looked at her with open hostility. She had long since grown used to the dislike, even though she didn't know where exactly it was coming from. One of the maids that actually liked her, said it was because they could vent their frustrations on an actual noble without any consequences.

Shaking her head to clear away stray thoughts, she arrived at the dreaded room. The study was an interesting room, which she would love to spend more time in, if only for all the ornamental weapons between the bookshelves that lines the walls. The far wall consisted of two floor to ceiling windows, only broken up by a bookshelf which held the rarest books in the estates collection. The middle of the room was clear, and one could see the steps she had taken over the last 2 years in the indents on the giant carpet that filled the entire room. In front of the right window stood a table and 2 accompanying chairs, one of which was currently occupied by one of the most despised devils in all the 49 hells (in Aliyah's opinion) her tutor.

She sighed and got ready for 2 hours of being belittled and beaten.

 " Do it for the skills Aliyah " she said to herself as she took a seat in front of her tutor.

It had been 3 whole days since Aliyah last saw her tutor. All of a sudden she had no more etiquette lessons, so she spent most of her time reading the martial arts books on auxiliary skills and classes her grandpa had written. And she played with the long stick she found, in hopes of training some sort of skill for spear wielding.

Currently she sat at the dining table with her parents. Her Father sat at the head of the table with her mother sitting opposite of her on the side of the baron. 

 "Aliyah" the Baron called.

Aliyah perked up from her seat and looked at her father. It wasn't often that he choose to speak to her, so this had to be something of some import. 

 "The coming 2 weeks will be of importance for the future of our family, so you are to be on your best behaviour and stay inside as much as possible. Understood ?" 

 " Yes father " she answered while keeping her face as stoic as was possible for a 7 year old. Inside she was cheering for 2 weeks of alone time. If important guests were to come that meant fewer maids to bother her when she played in the garden. And if said guests where to occupy the garden, she would be able to spend some time in the study, and either ogle the antique weapons, or read the class and skill books .

The rest of dinner was a sullen affair as usual, but Aliyah couldn't care less. She couldn't quite keep the slip out of her step as she made her way to her room. 'Two weeks of alone time ' Aliyah cheered internally. She couldn't wait.

"Two weeks really was too long" Aliyah lamented from her seat in the study. She had spent the better part of a week inside the room, pouring over books of skills and classes. Yes it was interesting, but apparently the books on martial skills weren't intended for 7 year olds. The language was overly formal and the books themselves were obviously written for nobles. In the back of each books were her great-grandfathers notes. They compiled all the flowery language and spoke of ways to get the relevant skills by oneself, but the last skillbook she's been reading, was just abhorrent. The man who had written it was probably very talented, as he's managed to develop a set of perception skills by himself, and even documented his way of acquiring them, but the useful details were drowned out in pages of useless dribble of how great he was..

 "Milady perhaps we should spend some time in the garden? You have spent way to much time cooped up in the study as of late, perhaps some fresh air shall do you good." The maid at the other end of the room said, taking the opportunity to finally leave this dreadful room. The maid obviously wanted to leave the study, but Aliyah had to agree, she had spent way to much time reading, maybe some fresh air would do her good.