A Flower to Fight

The next day, I woke up early, as usual, to practice magical breathing. Usually, as soon as I hear Dad leave the house, I practice magic. This time, he came to my room to wake me up before going to train.

“Princess, are you awake?” said Dad, picking through the door.

“I’m awake, Daddy,” I said with a smile.

“I wanted to ask you before leaving. What kind of weapon do you want?” said Dad, looking serious.

“Will I be allowed to practice swordsmanship?”

“We discussed it with your mother. We agree that it is good for you to learn to use a weapon. In the Academy, you will learn to use an Arming sword, but soldiers use magic more than anything. Magic is the strongest of all weapons. However, it is always good for you to learn to use a dagger, at least just in case. Your Mom will train you with that. Is there any weapon you have in mind?”

“I want to practice with a sword,”

“You are too small to be holding a sword, Cato. What about small knives? Mom can teach you to use them.”

I didn’t think of anything other than a foil since I have never used any other kind of weapon. I don’t even know what kind of weapons are in this world.

“Knives sound good, Dad. But, I was thinking maybe you can make me something like this.” I didn’t see any sword of the ones I know in Dad's shop. In fencing, I practiced with a foil, epee, or saber. Since a foil is the shortest and smallest one, I was hoping Dad could make me one.

“Come with me, Dad. I want to show you.” I went outside to pick the stick that I have been using to practice lately.

“Look, Dad, something like this.” I showed him the stick. This is embarrassing. He will not take me seriously.

“Mmm… I see. So, you want the blade to be round like a needle?”

“No, more like a rectangle that ends pointy.”

“How wide and long do you want the rectangle to be?”

“I don’t know exactly how long it should be for my size. But it doesn’t need to be wide. I will use magic on it so it won’t break.”

“How are you going to use a weapon like that? Swords are to be swung. How are you going to slash something with it?”

Dad is asking excellent questions. He knows what he is talking about. What if these kinds of swords are not useful? I cannot say that in my life before I used to practice fencing. And it doesn’t look like they have a weapon like the one I’m describing.

“A stick… did you dream about that Cato?” Mom was standing at the door with Camillus in her arms. Her gaze was right in my eyes. It was like she was looking right through me. What does she mean in a dream? Like a dream, where I played with sticks with Paulus or something?

“Yeah. Like a dream where I was playing with my older brother.”

“Listen to what she has to say, Paulus. It might work, why not?” Dad and I look at each other. None of us understood what Mom was saying.

“I see… It makes sense… Ahem, so, how are you going to cut with this sword, or are you going to use it like a lance?”

“To attack, I’m going to use the pointy end to stab and the rectangular part to defend.” I showed Dad a lunge and defending middle left and right.

“Okay, I see. I don’t think I have ever seen something like this. It’s like a short lance, or a needle dagger, but not really. Okay, I can do that. What about the grip, is it just like a regular sword, right?”

“Well, can you make the grip something like this?” I have no idea how to explain it. I cannot say like a pistol handle. It’s not going to make sense. I tried to show him how I want to hold the stick with the grip. “This way I would have a better grip to hold the… flower? Oh, and also a socket to protect my hand.”

“Flower? Makes sense, it does look like a flower if I add the socket.”

“Yes,” I said, excited.

“Okay, let me look at you for a minute. I need some measures.” Dad closed one eye and used his fingers to roughly measure my body.

“I will bring it when it is ready. Let’s see how it comes up.”

“Thank you, Dad. I love you.” I gave him many kisses.

I guess that there is no fencing in this world. The use of swords in this world is only for close combat when magic is not possible to use. It is just like guns in my old world. The better the guns became, the less swords were used. Since magic still needs incantation and a lot of practice to master, it is easier to fight close range with weapons enhanced with magic. However, overall, magic is more powerful.

…

I practiced fencing in middle school and high school, but I never won a tournament. However, I was in the top five multiple times. Back in the old world, Dad and Mom came to the first couple of tournaments I had, but after seeing me lose, they got tired and lost interest in watching me compete. In every sport or activity I practiced, my parents were always present at the first couple of tournaments. It was nerve-wracking because I knew they were watching, and I knew that if I didn’t win, they would never come again to see me compete.

“Cato, it's time, let’s go for a run and practice sword,” Dad said, coming to wake me up at 5:00 am to go for a run and practice with a sword. It’s the first time I've seen what my Dad does in the mornings. We run a 5-k every morning from Sunday to Thursday and rest on Fridays and Saturdays. I would keep running until I got exhausted, then Dad would carry me for a few minutes and let me run again. I couldn’t keep up with Dad, and enhanced magic was not allowed.

After running, Dad would swing a big and heavy wooden club, and finish training with a leg workout. No wonder he was so fit and muscular.

While he was exercising, I would train with the prototypes Dad had made for the foil. I would start with footwork, moving back and front, and combine it with leg training. Then, I would grab the flower and practice positions, defense, and lunges against a tree. We would finish in around one hour.

Then we go eat breakfast. Dad would eat like usual, but I would eat like a savage. Once I get to the academy, I’m going to have to restrain myself, or people are going to think I’m gross, but I don’t have to hold myself at home. Physical training, followed by magic training with Mom, was exhausting.

After dad goes to work, mom would start training me in magic. She taught me the skills I already knew from the book on the basics of magic, as well as what I saw her teach Paulus. First, concentrate magic inside my body to conceal my magical presence. Second, slowly bring magic out of the body. This two-step process is called magical breathing. It is about getting all the magic in and then all the magic out. It is a very exhausting process. 

Finally, she taught me to guard. To guard means to use magic as a shield around the body. It protects the body, but in a battle, you could still get injured, just as when Mom hit Paulus and flew across the yard. We can protect our entire body with magic. Through training, we can focus on specific areas, conserving magic and making those areas stronger than if we were covering our entire body.

Even though I knew those concepts from the magic book and had been practicing them, my knowledge was superficial. In my old world’s book, authors would usually be very clear about what's important, such as writing in the first sentence and then reiterating the same principle at the end of the paragraph. Also, the book would have a conclusion at the end of every chapter, or titles that immediately reflect the content of the chapter. However, this book of basic magic only had information in a very particular way. There was no clue about what things were important. It could be at the beginning, middle, or end of the paragraph. The author did not emphasize what to pay more attention to. There were no hints or clues on how to become better at magic. But every time I read that book, I would find new answers to things I didn’t know before.

Practicing with Mom makes things so much easier. I follow the directions that she gives me. When I was practicing on my own, I was trying to learn different types of magic. Even though I have been practicing for years, I felt like there were no real improvements. I was getting tired; I was using a lot of magic, but it felt like my magic was the same every day. Now with Mom’s teachings, I feel like my magical pool is growing, and I’m able to control my magic input and output better.

Practicing with mom and dad continued for a whole year. Over that period, Dad has brought me different foils and grips to try and have a feel for what I found more practical and comfortable. He made me an epee-style sword too; we call it a “Flower,” which is a longer and wider foil triangle shape blade with a bigger round shape socket. And the foil we started calling it “Little-flower.” I have grown so much closer to Mom and Dad over this year.