Sword Magic (Part 1)

The next day, it was time for academics. The instructor was just a normal woman, a commoner would be the more accurate word. That being said, she had quite a high standing in society and was popular. Due to her excellence, she was chosen as my tutor. Furthermore, it would seem that she was also the one who was teaching the children of other nobles.

She was also the one who taught Estelia in the past when she was still young. Although, Estelia had forgotten most of that and the refresh lessons did help a lot. This time though, I was taught geography.

She showed me a map which had several countries laid out while introducing those countries to me. She didn’t teach this subject before I became Estelia, that time she was more focused about our own kingdom, Wisteria. Teaching Estelia about traditions, regions, and also had her memorize the names of nobles.

Since the memory had become hazy because Estelia forgot a few of them, I will have to review. That aside, as my instructor introduced to me the other countries surrounding, I took a mental note of the four kingdoms which I found interesting.

Myra Kingdom was due northeast, it was where my oldest brother currently was. A country who values chivalry, honor and dignity. They were seen as… well along the lines of proper human beings.

Then the bizarre one, the Tornridge Empire to the east, a city of barbarians, they were seen as here. It was mainly because of their history of being aggressive, violent and so on. In the establishment of their nation, they invaded other countries through brute force, plundering and raiding anything that came their way. It now became a fairly large nation.

Due west lies the Valaies Holy Kingdom. A country where the church was the top of the hierarchy and ruled by religious groups. It was a place where they worship the six gods. the God of Light, the Goddess of Darkness, the Deity of the Stars, the God of Inferno, the Goddess of Water, and the God of Nature. That was a lot of gods, I tell you. Basically, the Valaies was a religious nation.

To the south was the Eventon Republic which lied by the ocean. Where ocean traffic was profound, and businesses filled the streets. Might as well describe it as a country of merchants.

Then, what about our own kingdom? Well, it was sort of a mix of them. You see, we were at the center of those countries, therefore, foreigners in the past would constantly visit Wisteria. Then because of their influences, we became a kingdom where the characteristics of those aforementioned countries mixed in with us, although, with the exception of the Tornridge Empire. There were times in history when they tried to conquer us, but ended in failure.

For our religion, the church of the six gods also exists here. However, our main religion was to worship the Deities of Serenity and Compassion. Two gods, the former being female and the latter was a male. It was quite a romantic religion if you ask me.

Is everything in this country all about romance?

I mean, the origin of this country were also couples.

Whatever…

After that, it was time for arithmetics. The math I was taught were only basics, addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, although the values I had to solve were not that simple. Even so, I managed to ace them all. My teacher nodded in satisfaction as she saw my results.

I expected there to be more complex topics in mathematics, but it seems such things like algebra, geometry, something like that, wasn’t part of the curriculum, or this world just didn’t have such complicated things just yet. Perhaps there was indeed high level mathematics I have yet to know that people do.

But, I didn’t delve into it more since it wasn’t important.

Then after that, lessons were done for the day. When I stood up and strode forward, I held back a groan that threatened to escape from my throat.

The reason? My body was sore. I had muscle pains all around my body. This was the aftermath of my exercise last night. That being said, I expected to experience this. I just need to hide the fact that I was feeling pain.

Something trivial as this was easy to bear.

When I approached the door, my attendant for today opened the door for me. The maid was a woman in her thirties, light brown hair and brown eyes, her skin had a fair complexion.

This person was no fun. I enjoyed it more when Mera was with me. I like her more. Perhaps because she was a youngster like me. In any case, it was hard to get along amiably with older women.

Therefore, I didn’t get any chance to tease my maid.

“I shall be having a walk.”

I said as I headed for the first floor. I had no plan actually, I just wanted to walk around to exercise my legs. Then, a thought came into me.

The knights…

Since I was going for a walk anyway, I decided to visit the training grounds of the knights. There must be something I could do that would be worthwhile.

I headed straight towards my destination. My maid quietly followed behind me.

As I was getting closer to my destination, I could hear loud shouts and cheering. A faint sound of metal clashing metal rang out. I was curious as to what was going on.

When I reached my destination, I hadn't approached the people yet since I decided to take a peek first.

There, in the open ground, two knights were clashing, their swords clanged with every hit. Knights, men and a few women, watched the fight from the sides. Cheering on which side they think would win or which they were rooting for. I even saw my brother amidst all of them.

When I looked closely, I recognized one man that was fighting. It was a young man named Alan. He was fighting someone who appears to be a few years older than him. Also, they sort of resembled each other.

Alan appeared tense, but the other man had a mocking smile. The latter was easily intercepting and blocking Alan’s attacks.

Just then, something odd happened. Alan’s blade shone, he took a step back and swung his sword in the air. An arc of light emerged from the swing of his sword, headed towards his opponent. However, the latter’s blade also shone and quickly swung it down, forming an arc of light.

Both their attacks clashed. However, Alan’s arc of light was instantly overwhelmed and his opponent’s attack kept on charging forward. Alan quickly held out his left hand, and a translucent barrier of sorts emerged from his hand and spread out to cover his front.

His opponent’s arc of light crashed into his barrier, it didn’t take several seconds for Alan’s barrier to break and sent him flying. He had a pained expression as he flew in the air, losing his sword, then he hit the ground. It was a defeat.

His opponent walked closer to him before scoffing. He sheathed his sword.

“Little brother, you're weak. When I was your age, I was way stronger than you are now. Pathetic.”

Alan slowly sat up and lowered his head, avoiding his gaze. His hands clenched.

“Why did you even join the knight order? If you are this weak, you might as well be called a disappointment.”

Alan lowered his head even more.

I approached closer.

“Now now, Alzen, he’s still young, and you’re older. Is it not to be expected that you would be stronger?”

My brother, Estevan, walked towards Alzen as he spoke, waving his hand around.

“I held back, your highness. And the strength I used was when I was the same age as him. That was why I could tell that he is weak. His swordsmanship wasn’t that impressive, his Sword Magic was feeble. Was his training wasted all this time?”

“Surely it is not. I saw some improvements from him, so don’t be too cold.”

My brother was still smiling as he spoke. But I could tell that he was a bit bothered by this situation.

Right about then, the knights began to notice me.

“The princess!”

I held out my hand instantly before they could genuflect. I didn’t need that now. Alan flinched when he heard that I was here. However, it seems he couldn’t bring himself to turn to look at me.

How cute. Was he worried that I was disappointed?

He must have realized that I saw everything and was afraid to look me in the eye. I smiled internally. This kind of moment was useful.

I rushed on my steps and stood in front of Alan who was still lowering his head from shame.

“Hello, Alan.”

I saw his hand tremble when I called out to him.

“Please don’t ignore me.”

I said with concern. He hesitated for a short while before slowly looking up at me. I shifted my eyes towards his hand.

“Oh no, your hand is bleeding.”

I kneeled to even our level. The palm where the barrier emerged from was bleeding. I held out my hand towards it, but froze, seemingly unknowing of what I should do. I frantically looked around, and saw the stunned knights as they watched me.

“H-Healer! We need a healer, he is… he is bleeding.”

I frightenedly said as I looked around. Only then a female knight rushed towards us.

“Pardon me, princess.”

I stood up and moved back, giving space to the healer. She held out her hand, a glow of green came from her hand. The wound on Alan’s hand began to close.

Interesting…

“It’s just a small wound, there’s —”

“Shut it, Alan. Don’t complain.”

The female knight immediately shut him down. After that, the wound was completely sealed. The knight stood up and straightened herself.

“It is done, your highness.”

I sighed in relief.

“Thank the Lord of compassion and Lady of serenity that you are here to help. I am grateful.”

“...U-Um, not at all, your highness. It is my duty to help and protect after all.”

“I see. But I’m still glad someone like you is here.”

I immediately approached the sad looking young man sitting on the ground.

“Everything better? Let me help you up.”

I extended my hand. His eyes went wide as he looked into my eyes then to the hand I was offering to him. He was reluctant.

“Come on.”

I urged him with a bright and innocent smile. He averted his eyes a couple of times before accepting my hand. I pulled him up, but it was mostly his own strength that helped him go up. I was willing to use my own strength, but it seemed he didn’t want me to exert any strength since I was the princess.

“T-Thank y-you for your h-help, your h-highness. You have m-my utmost g-gratitude.”

He stammered around. He must be flustered due to what I did for him.

“Do not worry about it. What matters is that you are alright. That is enough for me.”

“Princess…”

He looked like he was in disbelief.

Meanwhile, I only looked compassionately at him with a gentle smile. Like a saint helping her fellows.

But I smiled differently in my heart.

“Estel,” my brother called out to me, so I turned around to greet him with a smile. “What a surprise you came back here again.”

“Um, well. I had nothing else to do. So I thought of visiting here.”

“Is your class now finished?”

“Of course, brother... By the way brother, judging from how I saw things are. Are you having mock battles?”

“Indeed. It’s a good way to enhance one’s skills and abilities. Having an actual opponent is often better than fighting dummies.”

I have witnessed a glimpse of their magic. However, that was only it. I required more information. If the knights here can use such bizarre abilities, then it could mean that there were also others out there who can do the same.

I need to watch more and analyze.

“Are you already finished?” I said as I tilted my head while clasping my hands. “If not, then, may I please watch?”

Brother pondered for a moment before speaking.

“That is fine. You have nothing else to do, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then, you can watch. There are still four more pairs left, so there are plenty you can watch. Come.”