"I see. Yes, it’s good to be healthy and strong."

Ha, it was just laughable. A little girl who was probably barely seven or so years old, walking two or so hours every time she left the house and wanted to go home? If she spoke of her eldest brother then it had to be the second young master of the Vritara Duchy, Francis De Vritara, another person who served as a minor villain in the story.

A petty family that spawned petty villains, the eldest brother was just as bad as his younger brother. Their older sister was a different case however, but that only made her a worse match for Alice.

"You have to be careful if you want to sneak into the orchard, some of the roots stick up. I once tripped and broke my nose so I got scolded for bruising the tree that they worked so hard to raise."

"Ah, and over there you also have to be careful when it rains! The ground is soft so it will form a puddle that is much much deeper than it looks, just last year it went all the way up to my stomach when I tried to jump in it and Elder Brother got angry because he had to buy me a new pair of pants!"

"The earth over there gets all muddy during the rainy season so you have to be careful, I once got stuck in it for over an hour! I even lost my shoes and got scolded because they had to buy me new ones!"

"The man living in that building over there makes pretty statues, he once turned a collection of logs into a carving that looked like a reaaaally big tree. Oh, I know, I’ll show you one day! We just have to be quiet, Elder Brother will get angry if he sees us around it."

Alice spoke without pause as they walked, it was as if she wanted to make up for the years of silence. She spoke of the things she had seen, the things she had done, the things she had learned not to do because she got punished for it.

She cramped her entire life into two hours, just so that she could speak as much as possible before Gabriel had to go to the training grounds. But time was never as slow as you wanted it to be, so the time to split up came.

"Ah… If you follow that hallway then you’ll get to the training ground where Uncle Lawrence should be. There will be a guard at the entrance, he’ll give you a sword if you say that you were sent for me…"

Her words trailed off as she pointed at the building to their right, a hexagonal building topped by a large dome that seemed to be made from crystalline glass. There were multiple entrances, door-less arches that led to straight stone hallways. She looked a bit hesitant to let him go now that she finally got to talk a little, but in the end, neither of them had a choice.

"I see, thank you, My Lady. I will come find you later."

The slight hesitation on her face was broken when he referred to her as My Lady again, the corners of her lips twitching and curling up happily. So simple, it really was a bit sad how simple it was to make her happy.

She brought away the four other girls, silence descending over the group as she clamped up awkwardly, clutching at the hem of her skirt. Gabriel, in the meanwhile, entered the hallway, which was lit up by fist-sized white rocks that were embedded into the wall.

The hallway didn’t go on for too long, only a handful of closed doors along the way. And indeed, there was a guard standing at the very end of the hallway, right in front of a large round room that had several circular patches of dirt prepared as separate training grounds. He saw a few weapon stands even before entering the hall so there were probably quite a few more.

"I’m here to start training to be Lady Alice De Vritara’s knight, I was told to come find Knight Trainer Lawrence."

He prepared himself as he spoke. Looking at how people were treating Alice so far, he could already form a guess as to how things would pan out here.

"First weapon rack to the left. Take only one, you’ll lose your hand if you take a second. Lawrence is the one with a grey beard."

Curt and short, simple directions. The guard stepped aside and Gabriel quickly found the weapon rack. And indeed, just as he expected, the things on this rack couldn’t even be called weapons. Hell, they couldn’t even be called training swords. The ones used for kendo where he came from would probably be stronger than this, maybe even sharper. The ‘swords’ here were barely better than branches.

But still, he had no choice but to grab one and accept it, turning his head to look for Lawrence. Most of the people here were young, so finding the man with the grey beard wasn’t hard, he was currently shouting something at a group of younger knights.

Lawrence. A neatly trimmed grey beard without a moustache, equally grey hair that was cut so short it resembled an army cut. His left eye had a large scar going across it, rendering the entire eye a pale and useless white, his other eye was a dark blue. He was clad in simple leather armour, a bit of metal going around the top of his chest and his shoulders. He held a sword, the tip pierced into the ground as he stood there to give orders, but the edge seemed to be blunt.

The bits and pieces of his body that weren’t shielded by armour were covered in smaller scars and bruises. He was missing two fingers and his palms, which were revealed occasionally as he gestured, were covered in callouses. He was a warrior, a battle-hardened knight. Yes, Gabriel had seen people like this before, his instincts wouldn’t be wrong. This man had seen, and delivered, more than his fair share of death.

"I have come to receive training to be Lady Alice De Vritara’s knight."

Gabriel stopped in front of Lawrence and those he was currently training, placing the tip of his wooden sword against the ground while resting his hands on it. Naturally, the other people training cast him a few snickering glances. He was just a malnourished kid who looked as if he couldn’t even hold the stick he was carrying, not to mention that his clothes were still stained with vomit. Lawrence gave him a one-over with his eyes, a heavy sigh escaping him.

"Oh for… You all are dismissed, find sparring partners and engage in at least two fights."

The handful of younger knights quickly scurried away, Lawrence casting a sharp glare after them. They looked quite relaxed and at ease, not a one of them showing any signs of starting any sparring matches. Lawrence probably realized the same thing, sighing once more.

"I weep for the duchy."

He muttered quietly, clearly trying to make it so that Gabriel couldn’t hear him. He then turned his gaze back onto the child, scrutinizing him once more before sighing.

"Really, what exactly are they expecting me to do? You clearly haven’t even rested yet they want to start training immediately. Are they looking to get you killed?"

He shook his head with a bitter expression. Lawrence Cadbury, he was a character that was mentioned but never showed up in the story. The reason was simple, he taught the young Alice some swordsmanship, but he was executed by Leonardo De Vritara before the second season started. Who he was as a person, what he fought for, what he believed in, Gabriel knew none of it. But judging by his sighs, he at least seemed better than the Vritara brothers.

"There’s a good chance that’s the aim. But what’s there to do about it? I’m expendable."

Gabriel didn’t deny it, there was a good chance that the bushy-browed knight, or perhaps even Leonardo, were aiming for him to die during the training. And if he didn’t die, then just scaring him enough to give up also worked. Something similar would probably happen to the new maids as well.

"Give me the sword, kid."

Lawrence only snorted in response to Gabriel’s assertion, stretching out a rough hand and gesturing for the stick he was holding. He weighed the wooden sword for a second and then raised it, quickly bringing it down again, right on top of Gabriel’s head.

Thwack!

"No one is expendable kid, don’t go around saying such sad things."

He stabbed the wooden stick into the ground in front of Gabriel as he spoke, the latter busy rubbing his head after getting hit. It was similar to what the bushy-browed knight had done, but this hit felt gentler. Lawrence didn’t gesture for Gabriel to pick up the sword again, he instead chose to be honest and tell the kid exactly what was up, leaving the choice, and his fate, in his own hands

"Now then. The knight of Young Lady Alice… That’s a rough path kid, I’ll be honest with you. This training won’t be the last piece of harassment you’ll get. If you just give up straight away then they’ll at least treat you a bit better, less hostile. So I have to ask, are you sure you want to do this?"