It's now been a week and a half since I woke up at the Duke's estate. I've toned down the nonsense to an extreme degree. No roof climbing, no food fighting, no extreme acts of childishness. I decided that troubling the staff further would be exhausting on all ends. The worst of my habits is skipping sleep to read more books in the library.

Speaking of the library, it's now always unlocked. My father had it properly cleaned and I can access it anytime I want to. I've upgraded my touch-reading technique as well. I accumulated the concentrated mana in both of my index finger tips originally, so I decided to see if I could read two books at once, one index finger for each. And, well, I can, but there are a few catches. Processing two streams of information at once can lead to a mental overload, and I felt the full force of that result many times while honing the technique.

Struggle leads to success, so those instances of pain were but a small step to growth. I ended up settling for an internal mana management process that takes inspiration from my time with the Elderfrost Bear. Similar to how I compartmentalized the sounds of the forest, I've decided to use my mana to separate my intake of each respective book and section them off into their own receptors. It can be thought of as all the information being funneled into one big box, and then my mana taking that jumble of information and splitting them off into two piles. Each pile processes its specialized information to its own information receptor, and I can maintain my double reading if I keep my focus.

Frankly it's unnecessarily tedious, and I would probably be better off reading one book at a time. However, I find it fun, and if internal mana control like this becomes useful in the future, this would have been a good pastime. I'm not super fast at the process just yet, but I have been improving.

My reading in the library has fallen into my usual schedule here at the estate. Winona or Wimberley wake me in the morning, I snatch a quick breakfast, I read, I snack, I read some more, I wash up, I eat dinner with the Duke and ignore his questions, and then I sleep or sneak out to read at night.

Simple.

Effective.

And entirely dull.

This body has been itching to fight something. I feel that itchiness in my hands. They're not comfortable here, which means I'm not comfortable here. I keep the two halves of Scipio on me nearly all the time and he provides some comfort even in his broken form. But that Scipio-holding sometimes increases the longing to hunt.

It seems I gathered some bloodlust during my time in the wild. That slumbering feeling is being awoken to the proportional decrease of my wild senses. My default hearing isn't as sharp as it used to be, and when I trained my nose in the dressing room my father brought me to that first night, I couldn't identify the smells as well as I thought I could. Plus, I feel as if my mana pulse is stunted because this place fizzles it out nearly everywhere.

The awareness of my surroundings that were required in the wild are not needed here, and my body is noticing that. The changes have been subtle so far, but clearly I need to keep my blades sharpened.

So I must hunt. Here in the North there are plenty of monsters that could pose a great challenge. I could even snatch my bear skin cloak that my father thinks is cleverly hidden and go for a kill.

But there still remains an obstacle in my way. That bastard Sebas. According to my father, he tagged me with some sort of linking teleportation skill when I was knocked out, which means I need to confront him to undo it. Circulating my mana within my channels, I felt an anomaly at the back of my neck, which confirms it. I'll make that anomaly go away.

“Lady Aella, your hand is twitching again, is something annoying you?”

Ah, right, Winona is here too. This girl has been my shadow for my entire stay here. It's near suffocating how present she is in my daily life right now. She's been with me so much that she's already noticing my habits. She failed to catch me once when I fell down the stairs, and I've scared her with my monster under the bed ploy a few times, but besides that she's attentive and aware and absolutely all over the place.

Her ability to perceive things and learn as a child is astounding. She might be a top student at the Academy if she ever went there. Why is she being forced to serve me as my maid?

Well, that is not my problem to solve. Perhaps Winona and her grandmother can explore greater opportunities when I leave this place.

“Lady Aeeeelllaaaaaa. You're zoning out again! What do you think about so much that you keep ignoring me like that? If you need something, I'm here to help you, okay?”

I stop walking abruptly and Winona nearly trips trying to match my pace.

I pull out a handkerchief from my pocket and place it on my forearm, then bow and strike a pose that butlers practice. It's the typical arm against the chest and hand holding a plate pose that many of them do. A standard form of servitude for them.

“Uhm… do you need Mr. Winfred? You're looking for the butler, right?”

I shake my head. You're half-right. What would differentiate that bastard Sebas from the old man? A mannerism, or trait, or sound…

Ah! He has a small hunter's ponytail I believe. I put my hair up into a ponytail and then perform that same butler pose.

“So… Mr. Sebas then? Is that who you're looking for?”

I nod. There you go. I bet it would have taken my father twenty minutes to figure that out. He'd probably think I was trying to act cute or wanted to become a butler or some other ridiculous story. The view of a father to his daughter must truly be warped. I've never lived long enough to become a proper parent, so I wouldn't know that feeling.

“Mr. Sebas is usually with the knights at the training grounds around this time. Despite how he acts, Mr. Sebas is really  impressive in battle! Do you want to see him fight someo- Ah! Sorry, Lady Aella! I, uh, meant-”

“Please excuse Winona once more, Lady Aella.”

Ah, hello Wimberley. I just shrug. My blindness does not bother me anymore. I can see the necessities with magic anyways. Well, I would be able to if this damn place wasn't cleansed to hell and back.

I hold out my hand, Winona is flustered, so Wimberley will take the lead. This has happened numerous times. For being as bright as she is, Winona does panic when she thinks she messes up. That time I feel down the stairs she apologized to me for nearly an hour.

Wimberley is much easier to walk with. I've taken a liking to holding her hand. It's steady and comfortable. Winona is energetic, and my father is too strong, but Wimberley has that just-right grip.

“Winona, dear, you can go eat your lunch, I'll take Lady Aella to where Sebas is.”

“Ah! Alright, then I'll be back soon, Lady Aella! I'm sorry once again! Bye for now!”

It's been a while since I've been to the knight's training grounds. Obviously, I mean that in the context of my former lives. I either never had much need to come here, or never arrived at the estate in the first place.

It's very simple. A large open field of dirt with some training dummies. Eventually it gets refurbished and upgraded, I believe, but I do like the simple form it takes now for one main reason.

I start to take off my socks and shoes. This is the one place that's still fully uncleansed. I can finally let my mana pulse be free. I can run around this place if I wanted to with no qualms.

“My lady?! Why are you taking off your shoes? Your feet will get dirty!”

I give Wimberley a thumbs up.

“I'm not sure what that's supposed to mean, Lady Aella!”

Does Wimberley sense mana well? If I recall she was around when I was gripping onto the tomato man that one time, right? I walk around in the dirt and spin, then give another thumbs up.

“Ah, right, this is how you walk outside right? It has something to do with your mana. I suppose I can let you do your own thing for now… but we'll have to wash up as soon as we're done here!”

As Wimberley and I walk onto the field, I attune my hearing. I'm curious just how much of the knights will be appalled by my appearance. Experience serves me well, the knights tend to be more brash in their words, and won't hesitate to judge. I've heard some servants in the manor whispering about my appearance and behavior, and I've made note of that. I will do the same with the knights here. I don't care about what they think of me on a personal level, but it's good to know who thinks what of me for the future.

“Ah! Is that the young lady?”

“What happened to her face?”

“She's wearing pants and her hair is tied up, does she want to fight someone?”

“She's so tiny.”

“It's hard to look at her.”

“The young lady is barefoot. …Why?”

“She gave the Duke a hard time? At that age?”

So the consensus is general bewilderment. Fair enough. Also, to whoever called me tiny, I will smack you with Scipio. That irked me for some reason.

Wimberley and I stop. I guess we're by that bastard Sebas.

“Huh? Ah, it's young Lady Aella and her maid! Please mind me, I was performing some drills out here. How can I… uh, help you two?”

“Lady Aella wished to see you.”

“Me? Not my father? He's usually much more capable of the butler duties these days of the week. Did the Duke snatch him for something?"

I turn around and lift up my ponytail, then point a finger to the back of neck. I face that bastard Sebas once again and give him a piercing stare. I wonder what his face looks like right now.

“Lady Aella, you are scarily sharp. I thought I had hidden that tag pretty well. Your mana control must be insane. I suppose you truly are a Sincavage."

“Sebas! Mind your words!”

“Ah, I wasn't implying that I doubted the young lady’s legitimacy! Forgive me, Lady Aella, it was a compliment.”

I shrug. This is twice today where the main servants have thought they fumbled. It's not that big of a deal. What is my father usually like that everyone is so scared of messing up? I guess he is the monstrous Duke for a reason, but every time I've seen him angry it wasn't that bad. Well, except when I was labeled a gremlin in this life, I suppose. Perhaps I have the advantage of being his daughter, so I've never truly seen him unleash his anger.

Does that also mean he gets extra angry when something happens to me? If my house-wide game of tag is any indicator, then I guess that must be true.

“I'm assuming the young lady came to me because you want it removed?”

“I can't speak for her, but I think that sounds correct.”

I nod and give a thumbs up.

“Ahh, that's… probably impossible. Lady Aella, your father was the one who approved of the idea. Mind you, I did it originally on my own accord, but it was a retroactive approval nonetheless. I could get in trouble if I cancel the tag.”

Sebas, you fool. You just gave me the largest loophole to charge into. If you originally did it on your own accord, then I have every right to ask for it to be canceled, retroactive approval be damned.

Plus, I'm now the Duke's daughter. The second most powerful person here. Cancel this damn thing already. I've already proven that I can stay here with minimal problems.

“Lady Aella, I can feel that you're upset with me, but there's really nothing I can do.”

I tug at Wimberley’s sleeve and make a writing motion with my hands. She quickly pulls out a writing utensil and some paper.

This is my favorite thing about Wimberley so far. As of now, she is the only person who knows I can write, and she's sworn to keep it secret. Sebas will know now too, but I'll threaten him at the end of this message so he'll keep silent. Writing gives away an entire gold mine of my true intelligence, and I don't need people thinking I'm some sort of prodigy.

My handwriting is a bit messy as always, but for a blind child, it's plenty readable.

The message goes like this:

[Mr. Sebas,

You seem like a capable young man, and I respect your dedication and training. You follow orders well. Despite this, I have come to you to resolve the issue of the mana tag on my neck.

I'm not sure if you realize this, but the fact that you tagged me without my permission and before a formal order from my Father means that I am able to contest it, and I plan to do just that.

Untag me please.

If you still refuse, even now, I challenge you to a duel. Consider this paper the glove thrown on the ground. If I win, you'll untag me and keep silent about my ability to write. If you win, feel free to take this information and do what you want.

If I'm being honest, I am curious enough to fight you. And you'll make a great example to the knights too, if you foolishly choose the option of contesting me.

Think hard on this,

From your wonderful Lady Aella]

“You… w-what… Lady Aella…”

I flash Sebas a mischievous grin. It's clear that he's a bit scared of me now. Good. That'll give me an advantage in battle.

“I… Lady Aella, in good conscience, I cannot duel against a child, you're far too young for me to even-”

“Lady Aella is seven years old, Sebas. That's the starting age for formal dueling permissions."

Nice assist, Wimberley.

“Miss Wimberley, you're supporting her?! What if the Duke finds out?!”

“Lady Aella has plans to deal with that.”

I don't, actually. I just plan to wing it, but thanks anyways for making me seem smarter. Either way, it seems the bastard Sebas is set on keeping the tag, which means I'll have to fight. This is the conclusion I expected.

I hear Sebas sigh. Nice. We got him.

Fifteen minutes later Sebas and I are standing across from each other, with the knights watching from a distance. The duel field is rectangular and fairly sizable, and I've already checked if my mana pulse works here beforehand. I have a full range of movement in this dirt. It seems some mushy snow was hastily brushed away as well.

I'm still wearing the same clothes I had on before, some fairly generic shirt and pants. Am I wearing a blue top today? Winona likes to attribute colors to days of the week, for some reason. Regardless, the clothing is slightly insulated, but the outside breeze is still brisk enough to where it keeps my mind moving and my breath crisp. I couldn't ask for more perfect conditions.

Sebas and I both have shed our armor for simple clothes like this. Well, only Sebas had armor on in the first place, but I digress. I have a quarterstaff, though it has been modified for training purposes, so it's wooden and blunt with no cudgel. Despite that, it's still a full length quarterstaff, which means it's taller than I am. If you stack two of me on top of each other, then you get a quarterstaff’s length. I can easily work with this, even accounting for the limitations of the duel.

This duel imposes some reasonably standard rules. 3 uses of magic of any kind per person, and if the opponent is pushed out of the dueling area, or is determined unable to fight, then a victor is called. There are a handful of Duelos Mages at the estate, so we easily have someone to reliably determine a winner, and the common protective magic used in formal duels has been casted on us both.

Instead of taking actual damage, a Duelos Barrier accumulates damage on the barrier. If an attack were to cripple your leg, the barrier accumulates that actual pain and then locks the leg from moving as it should. It's the closest thing to an injury without actually getting injured. These barriers can be modified in stiffness and protection level, though most only tend to block injuries, not things like recoil.

Additionally, within a formal duel, at the start, each participant has 30 seconds to prepare for the fight. They cannot move too much, but can ready a stance or cast some magic in advance.

As the Duelos Mage starts counting down, I prepare all three of my uses of magic at once. First, insane strengthening of my arms with my mana. I need to swing this quarterstaff properly. Secondly, I start charging a mana pulse at my feet. I will need this to feel every movement Sebas makes. Because I expect this duel to last at least a little while, I need my mana pulse to be active. Since I can't use more than one, a charged mana pulse is necessary. I'll just need to hope it sticks around for as long as I need it to.

My final application of my mana is from my hands into the quarterstaff. It is uncleansed, and therefore usable. I'll store a mana blast in here and use it if I end up in a pinch. This transfer of mana also strengthens the quarterstaff, Scipio-style. It'll never be a replacement for my dear friend, but a substitute will have to work in this situation.

10 seconds left before battle.

“Lady Aella, I really, really didn't want to do this. Don't give me a hard time please, alright? I don't want to hurt you.”

3 seconds.

2.

1.

“DUEL!"

Immediately, I release my mana pulse. It's a bit uncanny feeling so much mana escape me at once, but the thirty seconds of accumulation have proven effective. The ground is likely shining purple now.

“What is this…?”

Sebas, if you have time to be outwardly questioning my strategies, then you are clearly not taking this seriously. I start to run towards him and use my weapon as a pole vault to jump high. As I fall in his direction, I use my strengthened arms to swing the quarterstaff like a club, gripping one edge, and rotating in the air twice over.

Sebas parries the first swing, but my momentum doesn't stop, so he's forced to duck under the next one. I roll on the ground behind him and reorient myself.

“My lady, since you seem so set on doing this, I'll end this quickly. Forgive me in advance.”

A swing of his sword is easily dodged, and I manage to knock Sebas’ knee with my attack, which forces him to kneel.

Mind if I bash you over the head?

I swing the quarterstaff.

But only hit the ground. Huh? Did Sebas teleport? Is that the magic he chose to use? Where is he? He's off the ground, since my mana pulse can't sense him.

Wait, above?!

I hold my staff upwards in a horizontal position, gripping my hands on the positions across its length as if it were a handlebar. It's like I'm performing a bunt, but the ball is above my head. Of course, that ball ends up being Sebas' wooden sword clacking against the staff. He uses the swinging position to press his weight onto me, and I end up having to roll away, but I only do a short dodge so I can swing back at him again. He meets it with his sword.

It's interesting what limitations can do during a fight. If I was more vicious like in the wild, I would have hit him again, but I can't risk it. I'm sure Sebas is wondering how he'll use his remaining teleports again as well.

I curl my toes and feel the dirt gripped under my feet. My mana pulse is still strong, and it hasn't shown any signs of wavering. I'll use this to make my movement erratic. I go on instinct and follow a set of mana channels in the ground. Mana channels from nature are pure and free, and do not have set patterns in their design. This means that the path I am taking is causing me to zigzag like a crazed rodent. But that’s good. It throws Sebas off.

Left, right, charge straight only to spin back. I'm not attacking just yet. I'm just a squirrel dodging its fate as roadkill. Zigzag. Scurry. Scamper.

He swings. Now! I slide below and thrust the quarterstaff vertically upward, and it hits his chin like an uppercut. He reels from it. The Duelos Barrier neglected the damage, but the surprise remains. Grabbing the edge of the staff, I swing it like a club once more towards his back, but I stumble as it kisses thin air.

I'm suddenly lifted up by my scruff and my orientation flips as I'm tossed a considerable distance. Trying to throw me out are you?

Stabbing the staff into the ground, I decide to let it stick there as I abandon it for my fists and palms. My enhanced arms are useful for my fisticuffs too, don't you know? As Sebas approaches I can feel his intention to adapt on the fly. I strike a palm toward his chin again, thinking he would go for another swing, but he instead circles around me and goes for a jumping slash. I can't dodge in time and feel the force against my back. Damn you, you bastard.

If the rules of the duel didn't prohibit me from grabbing your weapon I would have snatched it there. I channel my feral energy and jump on my hands, using my legs to horse kick Sebas right in his gut. He stumbles backwards and hits my staff, so I run up and latch onto him.

The tomato man was simply practice, this time this embrace has a purpose. I ignore Sebas' wiggles and maneuver myself in a way where I can balance on Sebas' shoulders. Before he has time to react, I touch my toe onto the tip of the quarterstaff, which is still standing upright stabbed in the ground. The touch activates the mana blast I stored and Sebas feels the full brunt of it as I use the force of the blow to shoot upwards and away to the other side of the field. I am staffless, but I have hit him hard. He's coughing up a storm.

“You… Lady Aella… w-what are you…? You're… scary in battle!”

I would disagree, but whatever. I charge at him again, using my left shoulder to purposely take a blow from the wooden sword. I hit him with a right hook to the jaw. I'm focusing my attacks on there, since that's worked so far.

I jump back pretty far from another swing, and I sense Sebas throw his sword at me like an axe. I duck out of instinct, but then I realize that was a mistake. He teleports to the sword tumbling in the air behind me and grabs it again, swinging downwards to land another two blows before kicking me away.

Clever, clever. But you've brought me back to my weapon in the process, you bastard Sebas. Let's clash.

Various clanks ring out across the field. I can hear the knights jeering and cheering. For who or what, I know not. I only know the focus of meeting Sebas’s swings as we match each other in close combat.

“Get him, young lady!”

“You bastard are you gonna lose?! I bet on you!!”

“He's open at the right leg, yeah!”

“Sebas, toss her!!”

The meaningless commentary continues as I take a blow to the leg, and he takes one to the arm. I crouch low into a squatting position and use my heels to spin in the dirt, tripping Sebas and causing him to let go of his sword.

That's the opportunity I need to win.

I waste no time. I continue the spin, stiffening the quarterstaff against my lower back, and slapping him with each end of it as I rotate. I then catch his head on one end as I stop my spinning and flash him a wicked smile.

Grit your teeth, bastard. Using the quarterstaff as a seesaw, I jump on the end opposite of Sebas, causing the staff to shoot upwards and damage his jaw one last time as he gets knocked onto his back from the force. I sense his Duelos Barrier dissipate and the Duelos Mage calls the match.

The bastard has been conquered.

“Y-you… I've never seen such battle spirit in a child before… I’ll… I’ll untag you now… Yeah…”

He seems a lot more deflated than before. Where is that confident energy from earlier? I feel my neck get a little looser. Theeeere we go. That's how I like it. I walk towards Sebas, who is still on his back on the ground, and slowly hold my quarterstaff towards him. No need to keep him literally and figuratively in the dirt any longer.

“...Huh?"

I wiggle the staff. C'mon grab it.

“Oh, thanks… thank you, Lady Aella.”

I pull him up a little bit, and he ends up kneeling out of reflex. Hm. I have an idea. Using the quarterstaff I perform a false knighting ceremony just for fun. Touch the shoulder there, and then there….

Perfect. You, who have untagged me and escaped bastardom through your trials in dueling, I have dubbed thee Sebas the Unbastardized, the pioneer of the Knights of Aella, something something something, serve me well, something something.

Yeah that's enough of that spontaneous roleplay. I hand the staff to a random knight before lowering myself down to Sebas and holding my finger to my lips. Keep quiet about this now, okay?

Wimberley approaches us and I can hear the confusion in her voice.

“Lady Aella… what was that all about?”

I shrug. My most powerful and unsatisfying answer. It's quite useful. Besides that though, I think I want a sandwich now. With tomatoes in it. The good tomatoes this time please. I start to walk away and hear Wimberley catch up.

The last I hear from the knights is Sebas's own reaction as I head back inside.

“Did she just knight me? For what? I… shouldn't cross her again… Definitely should not…”