Another day, another class.
Today is my swordsmanship class. And I really like my outfit today, hehe ~ I feel like a proper knight with this tailcoat, white trousers, and knee-high boots. The maids also tied my hair up!
And guess who my trainer is?
"Greetings, Brother Heli!" I greet cheerfully as I run towards him. He smiled at me.
"You look amazing again today, Ali," I only giggled. He never fails to compliment me every time we meet.
"You flatter me, Brother. You look so handsome yourself!" I replied. I wonder why Brother Heli decided to be my swordsmanship class teacher? He's already so busy with his prince duties.
"I will take that compliment as it came from my beloved sister," he's getting good at lip-service.
"Ahh, that's right, brother. I brought a wooden-sword with me!" I spoke, and Ande walked with the sword in her hand. She handed it to me and I thanked her before she left.
"That's great, Ali. So… shall we start with the basics?" I nodded repeatedly with a smile on my face. I'm kinda excited, but I'm sure this class won't be an easy one.
"Before we begin, I will tell you first about the etiquettes. The rules, and the basic safety protocols. And then we'll proceed with the weapon familiarization. You have to familiarize your own weapon, the parts of the swords, the correct grip and hand positioning. After this, we'll start with the proper stances and footwork drills. These are all important if you want your movements to be clean and perfect. Then I will demonstrate the basic slashes and thrusts, I will show you how to do it—step-by-step. I will also teach you the most basic defense positions," I blinked a couple of times…
I wonder if we can do all that in two hours? Err well, we do have two sessions in a day. Morning session, and afternoon session. I guess I'll see Brother Dae later this afternoon for the next swordsmanship session.
"Are you ready, Ali?" I stood straight and folded my arms behind me as I raised my chin.
"Yes, sir!" I replied. My brother only laughed at me and nodded his head.
"You look really enthusiastic about this. I shouldn't disappoint my dear sister," Shouldn't I be the one saying that?
"Good luck," Ahh… that was Asher. Where is he?
I roamed my eyes and didn't see any blonde-haired, red-eyed magician here.
"Ali?"
"Oh, right. Let's start, brother!"
Maybe he's watching from afar.
***
I'm tired…
"How's your first swordsmanship class?" I flinched when I heard Asher's voice by the balcony. He stood there with his right hand on his hip.
"Extremely tiring…" I had to do that basic slash for like two hundred times and Brother Heli said he was going easy on me. I bet the knights under his commands had to do thousands of it…
"Well, you wanted that," he walked towards me and poked my forehead. Thanks to him I finally feel relaxed. The pain on my body started to fade away…
"But, what are you doing here, Asher?"
"What else? I was appointed as your magic teacher," W-woah…
"Your expression says everything about your feeling about this," I am finally learning magic!
But, how is he supposed to teach me? Sir Abel already told me a lot about magic, but when we tried to execute all the magic skills I failed greatly. All because my mana is overflowing and is unstable. Sir Abel was willing to be my instructor before, but he can't leave his post every day just to teach me. He's the Magician of the Magic Tower after all. So we had to stop with it.
I still try to feel my mana every now and then, and I can say that I can really feel how it's overflowing from my body. A huge amount of mana particles leaves my body everyday. That's why it is dangerous and has to be watched. Because if my overflowing mana was not taken care of it'll create a dangerous creature that may risk everyone.
"Well, you still have an hour before your magic class. You can rest," Asher said, heading towards the long couch near my bed to take a seat.
"Thanks… oh, Asher. May I ask you a question?"
"You're already asking," what a jerk.
"It's just—did the divine light take everyone's soul when it struck the empire?" I asked. He did say that some souls were sent to Raini, while some went to the underworld.
He stared at me for a moment.
"I see that you still haven't moved on from that topic," Yes, that's right. It's too interesting to let go.
"Well, let's say that some really went to embrace Raini, and some were sent to the underworld. However, there were people who were there just for the sake of trading—in short, they were not involved with the Zariah Empire's sins. The only ones who got their souls taken were the citizens of the empire. The people who weren't related to the evil nobles and royalties were sent to Raini, to give them a chance to reincarnate. While the roots of the catastrophes are stuck in the underworld…" Ohh, so the Gods really did clean everything. Including the ones who did not sin.
"Then, what happened to those who were just there for trading?" I asked.
"Their memories about the empire were removed. They just woke up one day, curious why they were lying in the area of nothing,"
"Area of nothing?" He nodded his head.
"The divine light erased everything. Even the empire itself," the whole empire…
Wow…
"Well, that's what Creo told us," Huh? What does he mean by that?
"Not only mana, curiosity's overflowing from you as well," right, that's why he should just tell me everything.
"Unfortunately, we were not yet alive when the whole Zariah thing happened. We only heard it from the Primal Luminars," Primal Luminars what now?
"The Five Primal Luminars, Creo and the others," So they've got their own group name?! They aren't just 'The Gods' or something?!
"Wow, so they're called the Primal Luminars?" He nodded his head again.
"All people who had a contact or an idea about the empire had their memories of it removed," The Primal Luminars really did everything just to hide the history of the Zariah Empire.
"I see… also, it's quite surprising to know that you haven't been born yet when it happened. But you've been living for hundreds of years, right?" He didn't answer. Maybe he hates the idea of me repeating how long he has been living?
"This destruction happened fifteen thousand years ago. It's already been that long," did he just tell me that it is possible that he's already a thousand years old?
Wait…
"Thousand years ago…? But, we're still in the 700's, right?"
"Ah—" he then disappeared right away!
What the heck did I just find out?!
That Asher, he must tell me about this! Oh, what if he altered my memory so I'll forget about what he said? Dang it, that is really possible!
"Tsk…"
Dang that jerk of a magician!
I thought we'll have magic class?!
***
In the end, my magic class was postponed because my magic instructor did not arrive. AND GUESS WHO THAT MAGIC INSTRUCTOR IS?!
Dang it…
"Ali? Are you alright?" I gave Brother Dae a smile and nodded my head repeatedly. He's really observant.
"I'm alright, brother. Oh, what are we going to do today?" I learned slashing earlier from brother Heli. I wonder what brother Dae has in mind.
"I heard from brother Heli earlier that you practiced basic slashing and thrust. He also pointed out your mistakes in stance and grips, yes? Since this is only your second session for this class, we can't have you spar with one of the knights. Hmm… we should continue your basic slash and thrust," What…
Whaaat?!
"Oh, and I should teach you the defense positions as well, and how to… overwhelm your opponent,"
Ahh, err—what's with that ominous smile, brother?
"So, shall we start?"
"Y-yes!"
Hah…
Why did I request to learn swordsmanship in the first place?
This is so tiriiing…!
***
"Exhausted?"
"You finally showed yourself to me," I gave Asher a death glare and he just smirked. What the—is he actually planning to alter my memory?!
"Did the princess miss me so much that she's waiting for me until midnight?" That's because you have to explain yourself!
"Why would I miss the Almighty Astra? I simply want an explanation," I replied, rolling my eyes.
"Well… if you're gonna alter my memory, you better do it when I'm asleep," I mumbled. As much as I want to know more about the history of the whole world, I don't want to make him uncomfortable by forcing him to tell me everything.
"I spent the day deciding whether I should do that or not. After all, you'll eventually learn about it in the future. But… I guess knowing about it now is much better than waiting for years," Eh? Does that mean he'll tell me?
"So… I looked for this," he materialized something, and tossed it to me.
"A book…?" And it's really old.
"Wait, don't tell me this is—"
"No? I didn't steal the book in the cathedral. That's a different one. Let's say… it's equivalent to a bible in your previous world," equivalent to a bible? Then… everything is written here? Everything from the ancient world?
"I'll give you time to read it during our magic class. As long as you finish all my tasks early," I looked at him with a smile on my face.
"Thanks, Asher!"
He really can't resist my plea! Waaahahaha!
"You can't read it right now, it's already late," he said—grabbing the book from me, and suddenly it disappeared.
"I'll hold onto it for now. You can just call my name if you want to read it," I nodded at him repeatedly. I can't contain my happiness!
Why am I this happy?
I don't know!
The thought of Asher helping me with everything makes me sooo happy. I'm really glad this guy is here. What if he wasn't there to save me that time, and I ended up becoming the Alina of the novel I've read? Thank goodness Asher exists!
"Aww—"
I complained when he suddenly covered my face with his hand, and pushed my freaking face to force me to lay down!
"Sleep," he said. I gave him another smile before I spoke.
"Good night, Asher!"
"Yes, sleep well… and sweet dreams,"
***