Celestia ducks in sync with the rest of the Valkyrie Riders, she feels the power, the intensity. 

"Lunge!" 

Celestia propels herself forward, striking out with her wooden sword and skewering an enemy in front of her. The only thing she hit was the air, but she feels as if she's in a fight to the death.

"Strike!"

Celestia delivers a downward cleft on the imaginary enemy before her, cutting them across the chest.

"Dodge!" 

Her skirt glides through the air as Celestia dodges the attack from another opponent. 

With those final actions, Celestia drops on her bum, her heart beating like a war drum. She pants, exhausted but also impressed. This is the most she's managed to do yet, it seems just swinging her sword to the with the Valkyrie Riders is improving her stamina and endurance bit by bit. But she won't get anywhere by not pushing her limits.

Celestia grabs the wooden training sword and goes to swing it again, but before she can, a strange sensation surges through her body, into her hands and out of the sword. An odd glow radiates from the wooden sword briefly before diffusing into nothingness. Her sword cuts through the air leaving a faint trail of light.

However, Celestia didn't notice the mysterious light that was created when she swung the sword again. She only felt a bizarre energy flow through her veins and her strength getting inexplicably and suddenly sapped. The princess drops back to the ground tenfold more tired than before.

"What was that?" she splutters as she holds her head. "Migraine? I need to remember that I'm not a 29-year-old salaryman, but now a 23-month-old female princess. Looks like my body might not be able to handle swordsmanship like I originally thought. If I am, in the future, unable to handle this, I may have to give up on becoming a knight and just endure the life of a political pawn. I might just have to run away, no that's not an option. I've already grown attached to my family over these two years, breaking their heart would break mine. Anyway, they'd probably track me down eventually."

Celestia looks back to herself in the mirror and scowls at her apparent helplessness. No, she won't allow herself to be strangled by the cutthroat political landscape of a medieval civilisation. 

Slowly, Celestia gets to her feet, her determination to stay chaste and celibate rejuvenated, "No, it's my age that's hindering my abilities, my body is too fragile to be doing training as intense as that done by the Valkyrie Riders. I need to keep that in mind."

Celestia kicks her sword under the door then moves to it as their is a knock. She opens the door to reveal a middle-aged female maid and Annabella in a maids outfit before her. They both bow deeply.

"Thank you for saving me and my family, your royal highness," says the older maid.

"You must be Annabella's mother, Erina. Pleasure to meet you," Celestia does the perfect curtsey towards the two.

"Ah! Such manners to people as low as us. Your royal highness, you are too kind," Erina states. "We owe you a life debt that I want to repay. If I lost my job, Annabella herself would be unable to keep buying medicine for my husband."

"I merely did the right thing, I do apologise for the actions of my sister."

"Your apology is wasted on us, your royal highness. But thank you for your graciousness, we will not forget it," declares Erina. "More importantly, Queen Serena has instructed us to get you for a family breakfast."

"Please follow us."

After a few hours, Celestia finds herself on the shoulders of Fredrin being transported to the courtyard. Next to the one-armed swordsman is Cirian, his new practice sword sheathed on his belt. He has a curious look on his face, it'll be his first time seeing Fredrin, someone considered to be a cripple, fighting against an opponent. Many of the servants trash talk him behind his back. 

Celestia had heard such poisonous gossip when she was a baby, people thought she was incapable of understanding them when in actuality, she understood most words spoke. It honestly disgusted her how maids and butlers with no combat skills can ridicule someone with one arm who can still practise swordsmanship despite his disability.

"So, my dear princess, what brings you to my neck of the woods?" inquires Fredrin.

"We're still in the palace though, we're not even close to the courtyard. You don't even own the palace, so it's not 'your neck of the woods'," Celestia replies.

"True, true, but you should understand what I'm talking about. You don't leave the palace building. Excluding that royal parade, I believe that was your first time going outside. So, why do you want to watch the duel?"

"Because staying in my room and observing it from there is boring."

"Why don't you play with your dolls and teddies like Princess Ruby?" questions Fredrin.

"Boring boring boring!" Celestia shouts childishly as she tugs on Fredrin's brown hair like she's Ratatouille.

"Celeste, please stop being so immature," says Cirian. "You're turning into Ruby."

"What's wrong with Ruby?" asks Celestia. 'Yeah, I know exactly what's wrong with Ruby; however, if I am to help repair this family, I must know their opinions on the girl.'

"She's incredibly annoying and always demands things. She's not someone you want to share personality traits with," comments Cirian. "Don't you agree, Mr Fredrin?"

"I don't like to make negative comments on people. You also have to understand Cirian that she is a child, like yourself. But unlike yourself, she wasn't born a child prodigy," replies Fredrin.

'That girl is four and already showing negative character traits such as greed and rampant volatility, she's definitely intelligent enough to be called a genius. She seems to throw insults at people for not meeting her needs in the tiniest ways. I definitely don't like the way she is developing. If this is kept up, she'll ultimately devolve into those stereotypical Otome Game villainesses who end up getting exiled or even executed due to their bullying of the main heroine.

It would be a terrible end to such a person I've grown attached to. Their childish personality and care for me is what has me concerned about their future as a princess. Let's hope she doesn't become a vile and conniving witch. I'll see if I can get Serena to straighten her out.'

Celestia continues her childish arguments the entire journey to the courtyard where multiple Valkyrie Rider are intensely sparring. Some are young and youthful while others appear to be way past their prime; the older soldiers are surprisingly outperforming the younger men. 

According to everyone, Valkyrie riders were trained as soldiers since the age of seven and underwent similar training processes to Spartan warriors. Fortunately, these kids weren't ripped from their parent(s) but instead poached from orphanages. They were also comparable to Persian Immortals as they have a reputation for being near unkillable in combat. Blood loss isn't a concept to them based on the stories Serena has told Celestia.

As soon as they spot the princess and the prince, they halt and salute them out of respect. All their actions screamed decades of experience, they moved as one unit, one mind, one goal. To serve and die for the country. 

In the corner, under the shade of a tree, sit a ragtag group of people who stick out like a sore thumb. Any isekai or fantasy fan would immediately identify individuals like these as adventurers. No uniform, no discipline, no formal training just here they were. The only thing that is similar between them is the blue star shape located in various places across the group. 

Fredrin waves over to the group who stand up upon seeing them.