[MC POV]

I was enjoying a dream where me and Amaterasu were having a cup of tea while chatting about random things when I was suddenly splashed in the face.

 

“Grrrr.” (MC)

 

“Shut up, get dressed, and come with me girl.  It’s time your training started.” (Lucius)

 

“Good morning to you too, father.” (MC)

 

He just glared at me before walking out the door.  Since I was now wide awake, I decided I would comply for now and quickly got dressed in something that was easy to move around in that was so very lovingly provided for me in the closet.  When I left my room, my father was standing next to the door.  He silently started to walk away, and I followed.  The place I was led to was a large atrium full of large plants and many small, artificial streams.

 

“I will explain the specifics of this training once, so listen carefully girl.  You are lucky enough to be born into the prestigious Fafnir Duke Family of the glorious country of Falheim.  Our glorious country is known for its powerful military and for good reason.  We were the first to discover Soul Weapons.  The Fafnir family has always produced children that possess powerful Soul Weapons, and you, will be no different.  Once you are properly trained and reach the age of five, you will have the honor of joining the Soul Corps of the military where you will serve for the betterment of Falheim for 20 years before returning to the family and producing the next generation.” (Lucius)

 

“Who will I fight?” (MC)

 

“I will answer you, but do not interrupt again.  You will fight the rebellious scum that want to overthrow this country’s leaders.  They believe that we should open the borders and interact with the plebians of other countries.  Absolute orcwash!  Our glorious country has no need of those barbarians!” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm his nerves. “Continuing, your training will consist of stamina building, muscle training, mana control, and resistance to pain.  You must complete all of the regimen before midday.  Afterwards, you will bathe and go see your mother to start nobility training.  Since this is the first day, I will give you the privilege of asking questions.” (Lucius)

 

“What are Soul Weapons?” (MC)

 

“Things only the most noble of beings can use.  They are a weapon manifested from the soul.  Unbreakable, sharper, they possess abilities ordinary weapons simply cannot replicate.  For example…” (Lucius)

 

He took a stance and a silver rapier with an impractically ornate handguard appeared in his hand.  He waved it in front of him and several copies of the rapier appeared floating around him like a shield.  He took a fencing stance and stabbed forward and the floating rapiers began to rotate around the arm holding the main sword.  All the bladed hit the point in the air he stabbed and the points all converged on the same spot.  He went back into a neutral stance and then the rapier in his hand disappeared.

 

“Unfortunately, Soul Weapons only manifest at the age of five, so until then you will be trained in the basics of several weapons that have appeared in the Fafnir family in the past.” (Lucius)

 

“What if I don’t have a Soul Weapon?” (MC)

 

“Then you are useless to this family and be sent into solitude until you are of age, then you will be brought back to fulfill your purpose as a woman.” (Lucius)

 

I could largely ignore all of the annoying and blatant attempts at indoctrination, but the misogyny made me angry.  I will NEVER be anything like what he wants or expects.  I have a goddess to marry after all.  I did my best to contain the anger and not let it show on my face and decided that it would probably be best to play along as the good little girl until I was strong enough to get out of here.  As I was reining in my emotions, I felt the grass under my feet change.  I looked down and saw that it was starting to die due to heat.  I looked up at the man in front of me and saw that he was sweating buckets.

 

‘I guess things get hotter along with strong emotions.  Good to know.’

 

My father loosened his collar a bit before speaking again.

 

“No more questions.  You will start running until you collapse, then your stamina will be replenished with healing magic before you resume with muscle training.  You will train until you collapse once more and you will repeat this until otherwise told.  After that you will be taught how to properly control your mana.  After that comes pain resistance, things will start small as to not permanently damage that body of yours, but the intensity will ramp up the older you get.  Once you join the military, you will undergo training to resist physical and mental torture, but that is, unfortunately, still a while into the future.  I will leave your nobility training to your mother.” (Lucius)

 

He then made a motion with his hand and a knight looking person came forward.  He was so silent that I didn’t even know he was here.  He knelt on one knee before my father.

 

“Milord.”

 

“You will supervise the girl’s training.  Do whatever you have to, to make sure she completes it every day, just don’t kill her or cause any unhealable damage.” (Lucius)

 

“Yes, milord.  Your will be done.”

 

“Girl, if you manage to persist in this and your nobility training until you manifest your Soul Weapon, you will be named.” (Lucius)

 

With that, he left me and the knight alone.  Once he was no longer here, I looked back at the knight.

 

“He is gone, right?”

 

I nodded my head.

 

“*sigh* Young miss, before we begin, I would like to say this…I apologize.  This training will not be easy and is meant to break you.  I need you to at least play along with it for both of our sakes.”

 

“Why would you do that for me?” (MC)

 

“Miss Saki.  Over the last three years she has gone around to most of us that work here and asked for us to treat you nicely when this time came.  Many of the knights under your father’s employ ignored her, but several of us younger knights sympathize with both her efforts and your circumstances.  Me for example, I was rejected from my family because they called my Soul Weapon weak.  I was only employed here due to the Fafnir family’s one redeeming quality, their acceptance of any Soul Weapon.  I still don’t have a name.”

 

“Then what should I call you?” (MC)

 

“Whatever you want to.  Most of the knights just call me kid, though I don’t think that’d be very fitting coming from you.”

 

“Then I’ll call you Mister Knight.” (MC)

 

“Hehe.  Alright.  Now, let’s get this training underway.” (Mister Knight)

 

I nodded my head and immediately started running around the atrium.

 

[Several Hours Later]

 

The suns in the sky were just reaching their apex and I was sprawled out on the grass breathing heavily.  All around the atrium you could see the effects of my training.  There was a ring of dead grass where I spent time running.  Several larger spots where I was when I had to do several exercises for building muscle and meditating to try and control my mana and a giant burnt spot where I had to go through pain resistance training.  Mister Knight was laying in one of the streams with most of his armor strewn about.

 

“Young miss, I highly recommend you work on you mana control outside of training hours.  The heat is too much.” (Mister Knight)

 

“Really?  I actually find it a little chilly.” (MC)

 

“HOW IN THE WORLD IS THIS CONIDERED CHILLY!?  IT’S HOTTER THAN A GREENHOUSE IN SUMMERTIME IN HERE!” (Mister Knight)

 

“Hehehehehe.” (MC)

 

Mister Knight laid there for a few more minutes before getting up and reluctantly putting his armor back on.  He then walked over to me and restored my stamina with healing magic just enough that the training would still have at least a small effect.  As soon as I sat up, an old man came into the atrium.

 

“Child, it is time for your nobility training.  Follow.”

 

My somewhat joyful mood immediately disappeared and I begrudgingly got up and followed behind the old man.  I did notice Mister Knight giving me a reassuring thumbs up, and that booted my morale a little bit.

 

I was led through several hallways to a large bathroom where two maids stood on either side of the door.  The old man nodded to the two of them and I was whisked into the room rather roughly.  There I experienced probably the most uncomfortable bath I’ve ever had before being dressed in a super restricting dress and for some stupid reason a corset.  I mean, there is no point in wearing this, but it was forced on me all the same.

 

I was now standing in front of a large set of wooden doors, the two maids from earlier standing on either side of me.  They slowly opened the doors and not so gently pushed me inside before slamming them shut once more.  I didn’t fail to notice how they attempted to shut the door on my tail either.  Turning my attention back to the room I was in, I saw a woman that I’d only seen once standing in the center.

 

She had a cold look in her eyes and she looked completely haggard.  Her hair was dull and dry looking, her tail had poorly concealed patches of shedding spots, and she looked overall sickly.

 

“Mother.” (MC)

 

“Girl.” (Leticia)

 

We stared at each other for several seconds before she turned away.  She cleared her throat and started speaking.

 

“I will be training you in all things nobility.  The way to sit, stand, speak, even breathe.  You will learn everything I did when I was your age in the castle and you will not utter a single complaint.  Once I am satisfied with your progress in these three areas for the day, you will go on to learn dancing, sewing, etiquette, table manners, and at least one musical instrument.  I do not expect you to master all of this before you are enlisted into the military, but you WILL be expected to maintain what you learn here every day going forward.” (Leticia)

 

“…” (MC)

 

“Now, get over here and we will begin.” (Leticia)

 

I moved to where I was told to stand and that is when the true torture began.  For the rest of the day it was nothing but strenuous nagging as I was forced into uncomfortable position after uncomfortable position until the banshee of a mother was satisfied.  I won’t go into detail on how many scorch marks were left in the room or how many times my mother nearly fainted due to heat by the time we were done for the day.  How in the name of all that is good in the world do you expect a three year old to do this!?  Anyway, by the time I made it to my room, I fell face first on my bed, completely ignoring Saki holding a trey with my dinner on it.

 

“I see today was difficult, young miss.” (Saki)

 

“The first part was manageable, but the second part not so much.” (MC)

 

“I see.  But it is to be expected from your mother.  She is a princess of this country, so it only makes sense that she’d be strict when it comes to proper noble behavior.” (Saki)

 

“Eh?  She’s a princess?” (MC)

 

“More specifically the fifth princess, but yes.” (Saki)

 

“…” (MC)

 

“Kukuku.  Anyway, young miss, please eat and rest well.” (Saki)

 

“I will.” (MC)

 

I sluggishly sat up and Saki placed the trey of food in front of me.  As I was eating, Saki shakily sat in the chair next to the bed.

 

“Saki, thank you.” (MC)

 

“For what, young miss?” (Saki)

 

“For getting at least some of the knights to be nice.  The one in charge of my combat training told me you spoke to them in an attempt to go easy on me.” (MC)

 

“Kukuku.  It’s only natural, young miss.  I don’t have much time left and I wanted to at least make sure you won’t be completely neglected by the people here.” (Saki)

 

“Huh!?” (MC)

 

“Yes, I’m not long for this world.  I know this is sudden, especially to you, young miss, but it is the truth.  I know you are very smart and I know that you would notice sooner or later, so I thought to just tell you.” (Saki)

 

“Please no.” (MC)

 

I felt tears starting to fall from my eyes and promptly evaporate.

 

“Do not cry, young miss.  It is the fate of us mortals.” (Saki)

 

“No.  I need you Saki.  You are the one of the only things that keeps me sane here… I know, I’ll pray to Amaterasu and see if she can do something.” (MC)

 

“Kukuku.  It warms my heart to see you care for me that much.  But I am old, young miss.  Old and tired, and not just my body, but I feel it in my soul.” (Saki)

 

I stared at Saki for a moment and I thought I saw a dim, whitish-gray flicker in the center of her chest.  I rubbed my eyes and the flickering light was no longer there.

 

“Is something wrong young miss?” (Saki)

 

I shook my head and replied.

 

“No…it’s nothing.” (MC)

 

I continued to eat my dinner in silence and when I was done I leaned back on my bed.

 

“Hey Saki.” (MC)

 

“Yes, young miss?” (Saki)

 

“I had an idea today.” (MC)

 

“And what was that idea, young miss?” (Saki)

 

“I still need to learn to read, and figured, if I knew what each letter looked like and what sound they made when spoken, I’d be able to read them.” (MC)

 

“That’s a splendid idea, young miss.  How about this, while you train tomorrow, I will write the letters out and then we can study them before you go to sleep?” (Saki)

 

“Let’s do that.” (MC)

 

That was the last thing I said before drifting off to sleep that night.

 

Chaos Realm:

Order: Payto, something is definitely wrong with that world.

I know, that’s why I gave that world’s God of Time and Fate permission to do what he did.

Order: And why did you set up that little one in a family like that?  That seems a bit cruel, even for you.

Believe it or not, that family was one of the better ones when I weaved her Fate.

Order: You know very well how quickly mortals change, so you should have foreseen this.

Order, the time I set all of this up was just before Astraea was born.  I wasn’t really paying too much attention to fix any problems that cropped up, I had more important things to take care of.

Order: Alright.

And besides, things are going to work out in the end.  Though I do look forward to when Luna meets her here.

Order: I’m more excited to see if you’ll let her do something as the Abyss of Fluff.

Hehehe.  Just wait and see.

Order: Hehehe.