The wheels of the carriage crackled against the cobblestoned ground as the hoofs of the horses that pulled it slowly began to tap across the road of Kent and move inwards. Every civilian who saw the carriage moved to evade its path in peace, not because of its luxurious design which signified it as either a noble's carriage or a merchant's, but because of the insignia that was imprinted onto its side, and the flag that blow atop its roof. A blue phoenix took flight against a white background-the insignia of the kingdom-something only the army, royalty, and people with ties to the royalty were allowed to wear with proudness.
In the end, it would be almost a crime if the people failed to make way for the carriage.
The carriage seamlessly drifted with the knight's protection as it advanced towards the southernmost inner area of the city. Finally, after the trotting of horses had reverberated through the city roads, it came upon a mansion.
Coming upon that mansion that shined so luxuriously as to sape the light from all the other noble building's, the carriage stopped in front of the gate. It waited patiently before the gates began to crack open with the small reverberating sound of moving metal.
Finally, two knights-that most definitely belonged to the owner of the mansion-welcomed the carriage inside.
Going through the small trial that passed under the overlapping trees that blocked off the sunlight and only let a small cove of it through, the carriage reached a half circular area just in front of the mansion's doors.
Stopping; the knights finally rested easily as they descended down from their horses, lined aside the carriage's door that faced the mansion, and opened the enclosure in an efficient manner.
Maria and Ais descended down the carriage-neither of which surprised by the grandeur of the mansion, after all, they had lived within a castle ground.
However, Maria could still admire it as, although it didn't compare to the royal castle's visage, it held its own charm.
Walking steadily as her guard followed behind, she reached the door that had swung open as two figures welcomed her. A middle-aged man and a fairly young looking woman.
They both held a head of black hair; the women's long and fluffy and reaching down her simple one-piece dress, and the man's a short and well-kept hairstyle that matched the casual wear of a black shirt and black pants he wore.
However, even in their plain clothes, they each looked refined.
Maria's eyes had already turned a trace of gold as her eyes scanned over the two figures.
'Hmm?' She struggled to erase the surprise that flashed across her features.
The woman was not worth noting, but the man was something else.
[Name: Lambert Clover
Strength: A
Speed: A
Mana: F
Skills: Swordsmanship (S)
Overall: S]
Although his mana stat was extremely lacking beyond belief, it seemed his skills in swordsmanship had brazenly compensated for that. So much so in fact, that he managed to attain the overall rank of S.
'S rank swordsmanship.' Maria looked at the single plate.
She had read that skills undergo an almost extreme boost in power and application once they reached the rank of S. It was said that in the case of swordsmanship or any weapon arts for that matter, once a person reached S rank in it, they would be able to awaken and use the soul of the weapon to fight.
And at that point, it wouldn't matter if they faced a mage or a group of archers, a swordsman would not be so easily driven back.
However, although she had read and heard of it, she had never truly seen a person using the power of an S rank weapon art. The power of
Just as she was in deep thought, the two adults walked over and introduced themselves.
"Hello princess, my name is Claire Clover." The woman revealed with a bright smile.
"And you can call me Lambert, I'm the Duke of this city." While the man nodded calmly with a light smile.
Maria gave a small greeting before introducing herself and Ais to the couple.
Just as Maria began to wonder just when they would invite her in, the man, Lambert, coughed awkwardly.
"That boy didn't even show up to his own invitation..."
Claire Clover glared briefly at her husband before looking towards Maria in a calm manner "I'm sorry princess, the boy seemed to take after a certain someone and is still within the training room, would you be okay with being led there?"
"Alright." Maria nodded as she began to walk forwards.
"Great! I'll call a servant to lead you!" Claire smiled brightly "In the meantime, my husband will arrange a place for your carriage and guards."
***
The interior of the mansion was mostly designed of oak wood; from the walls of the corridor to the tables and picture frames, they were all a tint of copper oak wood.
Being led by a servant of the couple, Maria and Ais walked in silence before finally reaching a truly gigantic door of the same copper brown color of the interior of the mansion.
The servant gave a small bow as he opened the door, "This is the place princess, however, as I'm not allowed inside, I'll be taking my leave."
Maria nodded as she pondered about the loud clashing sound she heard from the other side of this door. If she had to put it into description, it sounded much like the sound of an axe against a tree, however, it wasn't quite the same.
Wondering about this sound, Maria immediately entered through the doorway as Ais followed along.
However, as soon as they entered, the scene before them immediately caught their attention.
A single boy wielded a sword in each hand as he danced in battle along the wooden floor.
Each time the boy would jump forwards and clash in close quarter battle, his opponent would retaliate as it blocked the venture and produced the clear sound of wood against wood.
However, what he was in deep fight with wasn't a human but a doll in the shape of one. It's figure wooden in all its glory, jointed to form the movement's of human bone, and faceless as if to hides it's emotions.
Wielding a single sword as well, it moved with unheard precision as it blocked the advance of the boy with as much speed as it's movement brought. However, even that was enough.
'What is all this?' Maria wondered as she looked on at this show of swords.
The wooden body of the puppet moved in effortlessness as it struck its weapon towards its foe; the young boy with fluttering black hair answered in full as he parried the wooden sword with his own and countered with his other sword.
The body of the boy moved in flurry across the wooden floor of the innards as a flurry of sword strikes were sent towards the puppet.
However, the puppet answered as systematically as always, moving its segmented arms that grasped the singular sword in its hand, it effortlessly blocked all attacks as the sound of clanking wood followed.
Finally, without any advance, the boy seemed to notice the presence of the two girls as he jumped back to evade an attack and whistled sharply. In response to this, the puppet stopped its motion in place and walked back to the corner of the room where it silently stood amongst the few others, making a total of five such contraptions.
As the boy began to walk over, Maria was able to get a better glips of his figure since he ha stopped hopping around the place.
His daunting hair of black matched well against the casual wear of black much like his father.
However, those eyes of his, looked...purplish gray. Maria couldn't fully describe it, but that was the best combination of colors she could foster to create the tint within the boys glistering eyes; a purple highlight mixed amidst a seemingly gray background, the two blended together to create those mystical pair of eyes.
Her eyes glazed over, not with love nor adoration, but with a golden tint as she called upon his Sacred Text.
[Name: Rain Clover
Strength: A
Speed: A
Mana: F
Skills: Saint's Eyes (U), Swordsmanship ©
Overall: A-]
[Saint's Eyes: The eye of a saint sees all. Due to the mysterious powers they hold, the eyes allows the person to see the fine details within anything from stationary objects to moving individuals ex.breathing, muscle movement, heart rate, composition and much more.]
'A skill just as unique as my own.' Maria couldn't help but raise her eyebrow at this.
The boy finally stopped aways from Maria as he sized her up.
"How are these moving?" Maria asked, intrigued as she stared at the puppets in the distance.
"Something about a mana circuit, I don't fully know," The boy shook his head before tossing over the wooden sword in his left hand "however, catch."
Maria caught the item, held it at face value, and looked at the crude wooden figure in silence for a moment.
"My lady-" Ais immediately spoke up.
"No, wait," Maria shook her head as she swung the sword and let it trace within the air in an arc.
Satisfied, she smiled. Somewhere, inside herself, something had called for her to wield a sword since the time she had appeared within this world. She knew instinctively, it must have been something she had wielded in her past life. Something that lingered upon her body even now.
"Let me do this." She said as she stepped forwards.
***
The two faced each other within the center of the room as each held a stance with the blade in hand.
Maria held the blade with both hands grasping its hilt; her right leg produced forwards slightly while her left leg in slight opposition.
The boy, Rain, took up his stance while wielding the sword with only his right hand; his right leg spaced forwards and his left backwards, he held his sword in front in an horizontal manner while his body stood in a slightly crouched position.
"Ready?" He asked.
"Ready." Maria gave a small nod.
A second passed, then the two figures lunged forwards.
Maria quickly held her sword in small slant as she met an attack head-on.
The boy then lightly jumped back.
However, as he did so, Maria took this chance to take a step forward as her sword traced an arc within the air.
Rain shifted his body and effortlessly dodged the attack.
His pair of mystical eyes blinked once before he spoke, "Not bad."
Maria was about to answer back but instead found his blade already lunging towards her.
She lightly shifted her body to avoid the attack but...her legs caught within the entanglement of her dress.
She fell against the floor as the sword left her hand and clanked with the wooden floor.
The boy immediately stopped his attack and stretched his left hand forwards before asking, "Are you okay?"
Maria looked up, gave a light smile and pulled herself up "I'm fine...however, hold on a moment."
Patting herself, she grabbed the helm of her dress.
The sound of ripping fabric spread within the room as both Rain and Ais, who stood by the puppets, watched on as Maria torn at the bottom portion of her dress.
In the end, this resulted in a single piece dress that went down just above Maria's knees before stopping in her ravaged mess.
Throwing the piece of cloth away, Maria equipped her fallen sword before facing the boy once more.
"Ready."
Slightly surprised, Rain recovered with a small nod, "Round two."
The two faced each other once more with the same stance they had taken before.
A short while passed before Maria lunged forwards.
Unhindered by her clothing, mostly, she was able to use her A rank speed to the full effect.
In but a moment, she had already traversed the short distance and swung her blade.
The boy answered in full as he blocked her blade, before parrying with his own.
The two interlocked in a battle of sword strikes as the clanking of wood against wood reverberated across the room.
Each time Maria swung her weapon, the boy's sword would move not a second less to eclipse her attack.
'Those Eyes.' Maria wasn't stupid, she had already realized what was going on.
Quickly formulating her a thought within her head, she decided only an unexpected move in this situation would serve to leverage and advantage towards herself.
While their blade clashed against each other, Maria took a small step backwards.
'Now!'
Blocking an attack with the slant of her sword, Maria kicked forwards with her right leg.
However, the boy had already expected this too, Raising his left hand he shielded his face.
His weapon moved as it stood at her throat, he gave a small grin, "You lost."
Maria slightly grimaced, however, she too lightly grinned "Let go, or do you like to look under a girl's dress?"
He finally realized the awkward situation he was in as he quickly stepped backwards as his hands removed their grasp.
Looking towards her, he regained his calmness, "So, the rumors are true, you do have an overall ranking of S minus."
"You tested me, where your parents also aware?" Maria held back her leg and asked without any true merit.
He didn't answer.
"Nice to meet you princess Maria Springfield," The boy held his hand forwards "you may call me Rain Clover."
Maria grasped his sweat riddled hand, frowned a bit, then spoke, "Good to make your acquaintance. However, could you go take a bath?"
"Not only are your hands sweat riddled, your body is also dyed with stench."
Rain's mouth instantly opened with disbelief, he looked at her, then at himself. Finally, he slowly lifted his shirt up and took a whiff.
"Right...I've been in here since morning...." he released a low murmur.