"Get up, M'lady. We got not time to rest here. You still have study the doctrines at the afternoon and circulate your gracia at the evening.", Alphonse said with a straight face.
He was holding a wooden sword on his left hand as he pointed its tip on Freya's head. His facial expression was blank, but his mind was in disarray.
'This is the fifth wooden sword she broke this morning! She really improved drastically this past six months. She is gonna be a monster when she awakens her star soul!', Alphonse thought, his black eyes was fixed with Freya's deep blue eyes as the girl on the ground stared at him fiercely.
Freya stood up and brushed away the dirt on her pants that Liza, her maid, has given her when Freya told her that she will train with swords. Her hair was tied in a bun to avoid getting it dirty and to not let it be a hassle for Freya to move.
"Let's go one more, Sir Alphonse. I think I can still shatter another wooden sword.", Freya said.
"That's the spirit, M'lady...", Alphonse smiled, then get a wooden sword from the rack that was hanging from the wall.
"Wait..!", a woman's voice made Alphonse stop for a moment. It was a familiar voice that annoys him, but on the other hand, relieves him a little.
Liza, Freya's maid came rushing to the training yard wearing a Paladin's armor while carrying a towel on her hand.
"You have to take care of your face all the time, My Lady. Ruin it, and all the boys will never fall in love with you when you grow up.", Liza said with a motherly tone while wiping Freya's face.
"Okay, Liza, that's enough. Can't you see we're training here? You always wipes Lady Freya's face everytime she falls into the ground. Can't you just watch from the back and stay right... Woah! Woah!"
Alphonse was trying to get Liza out of his way because he was getting annoyed by her for doing this for the fifth time. Then suddenly, Liza took the sword wooden sword from his left hand and tried to hit him on the neck while glaring at him.
Fortunately, Alphonse responded really fast. If not, his neck will definitely have a slice mark, seeing that Liza attached her aura on the wooden sword.
"Don't compare Lady Freya to the trainees we always drill to death. She's the Saintess and she was especially appointed to me by the Commander. You don't have the right to make her look ugly, you goateed gorilla!", Liza said while she gripped the wooden sword tightly, aiming at Alphonse's neck.
"Okay, okay... sheesh! I'm just joking with you!", Alphonse calmed Liza down.
Both their swords were attached with their auras. And seeing them from up close, Freya stared at them with probing eyes, especially on the way how the two Paladins wield their weapons.
'It is my first time watching two Paladin captains have a go at each other. This is an eye opener for me!', Freya thought excitedly.
"...Now that I think about it. Haven't you been slacking in your training, Vice Commander? Why don't we have a go at it, huh?", Liza said after she gestured on Freya to get back.
'Ugh..! She's deliberately trying to get Lady Freya out of the way to vent her anger on me! What did I even do to irritate her?!', Alphonse gritted his teeth, seeing Freya sitting on the stone chair beside the sword rack, and put force on his wooden sword to make Liza step back a few feet away.
"I was training with Lady Freya and busy dealing with the Paladin's matters recently that's why I've neglected my training.", Alphonse said, spinning the sword on his left hand.
"Isn't that just an excuse, Vice Commander? You can train whenever and wherever you want to if you think to do it. I can't wait to tell this news when the Commander gets back.", Liza said with a smirk on her. She is standing still while holding the wooden sword over her head, adjusting it towards the direction Alphonse go to.
A nerve popped out of Alphonse's temple after hearing Liza's words.'This woman! Always making troubles for me! I can't wait to beat you up.', he thought.
Alphonse huffed a breath and said, "Why are you so moody this days? Are you on your period? Or are you... falling for me?", he scratched his goatee while giving a lascivious smile.
'Mind games, a nasty ploy to execute while facing your opponent. Sir Alphonse really does live up to his Vice Commander's seat... Now, what will Liza do after she heard that?', Freya was having a conversation with herself while she watched the show about to be unfold.
Liza curled up her lips with disgust and rage, then ran straight towards Alphonse with full momentum, "Don't get too ahead of yourself, you goateed gorilla!"
Their swords met, this time with more power despite wielding a wooden sword. Liza's ferocious attacks were blinding and elegant in Freya's eyes. It was like watching a sword dancer on a festival, but Alphonse never faltered.
His swordsmanship was focused on defense at first sight however, he is watching and memorizing your every move to make a solid counter attack the second you made a mistake.
"Getting irritated, aren't you? Or is it really just irritation? What about infatuation for me, eh?", Alphonse continued his mind tactics as he parried the super fast swings of Liza.
"You're daydreaming again, Vice Commander. I'm just getting started!", Liza said as she poured more aura on her wooden sword.
The wooden sword of Liza was enveloped with blue aura and her sword's speed drastically increased, making it hard for Alphonse to parry all of it.
Alphonse grunted everytime he missed to parry a wild swing, or rather, he couldn't even see the sword coming towards him. Liza's sword attacks were extremely fast for him to handle without also using his aura to not just protect the sword, but to enhance it's usage.
'Tch..! She's definitely not gonna forgive me about what I said. Maybe it's time get a little more serious.', Alphonse thought. Then, he also enveloped his wooden sword with his blue aura.
Freya watched how Alphonse's sword parried the swift attacks of Liza, with his blue aura becoming bluer than Liza's. A moment later, Liza clicked her tongue and she struggled to hit Alphonse's body as his sword always sticks on her sword everytime he parried a strike.
'He is using his aura's nature to overpower mine. Earth nature auras can be really annoying when they're used for defense, much more, this man is the one who's using it!', Liza thought, now getting pushed by the counter attacks of Alphonse.
"Getting tired now, aren't you? Just forgive what I said earlier and we can call it quits.", Alphonse convinced Liza with a smug face.
Seeing that she cannot continue her assault for long, Liza finally thought to use her last move. 'Destroying his sword is an achievement for me. I'll just confuse him with this last one!'
Liza's swings became even faster, even Freya can barely see her swing her sword anymore. They were all blur in other's eyes, but Alphonse followed most of the swings with his eyes, parrying them.
Then, Liza's last move came, a powerful vertical slash with half of her power, never minding what will happen to Alphonse if her attack reaches him. 'Don't disregard a woman's dignity, goateed gorilla!', Liza thought as she swung her sword down.
Alphonse anticipated the last attack but, he didn't calculate how much power was put on it. And so, his sword cracked from the force of the swing and the ground beneath him sunk.
He managed to parry it away! Then he attempted to counter it with a fast spinning move that will aim for Liza's neck. His concentration made his world slow down just as he spun while holding his sword.
Liza, still swinging her sword down, was on his vision before he attributed to counter her, but when he spun and performed a backhand swing, Liza was nowhere to be found.
'Huh?', Alphonse almost thought, then suddenly, a sword aura touched his throat and the world turned back to normal.
All the adrenaline rushing on Liza's head made her counter Alphonse's spinning backhand swing with a sudden upward cut from below!
She learned this technique from a wondering swordsman from Mirai, the Eastern Continent. At first, she thought that the technique was crazy because of its difficulty to perform, but eventually, mastered it and turned it to her own hidden arsenal.
Infused with aura, Liza's sword strike was unstoppable at this point and Alphonse had no choice but to take it.
Liza's wooden sword sliced through Alphonse's leather jacket and left a vertical wound on his chest. The strike was meant to incapacitate the opponent by blinding them if they didn't have time to react just like Alphonse.
Fortunately, their height difference was large, if not, Alphonse would've to regrow his beloved goatee.
"Heh! Nice dodge... I'll prefer the non-goateed Sir Alphonse tho.", Liza chuckled then turned away to put the wooden sword back to the rack beside Freya.
Alphonse was shocked and didn't want to move from where stood. He just wanted to contemplate how did Liza pulled that move off.
'She deliberately stopped the momentum of her powerful vertical slash then turned it to an upward cut! That must have put a strain on her arms.', Alphonse thought, clicking his tongue.
"Say goodbye to Sir Alphonse, Lady Freya. We will have to stop the morning training due to the event you must attend to this afternoon.", Liza helped Freya up then opened up an umbrella from her storage ring.
"Oh, yeah... I forgot about that. Thanks for reminding me, Liza.", Freya said and turned towards Alphonse.
"I'll see you later, Sir Alphonse. It turns out that I have some special matters to attend to."
"Y-yeah, see you later, M'lady."
Their goodbyes were simple and short as Alphonse didn't want to let Freya lose more time to prepare for what will happen later.
Alphonse watched Freya skipped as Liza matched her pace, walking back to the Monastery. It made him laugh when Freya was shocked to see the nuns rushing to her, carrying her back to her room to prepare.
"Open the gates!!"
"You, squire! Back to your stations!"
"The gates are opening, sir!"
Alphonse heard the orders and shouts of the guards on the gates of the city. The clanging loud sound of the moat bridge still annoyed him.
Vider is the capital of the Church of the Holy See and it will forever shall be. Non-believers coming here was disrespectful as they don't have anything to do here, but the Church still welcomed them and even offered their whole army food to continue conquering the untamed northern regions.
As the Vice Commander of the Paladins, Alphonse will have to bury all his negative feelings towards these visitors.
'The Empire was being greedy for more power and resources. I hope their heinous acts will not turn to them someday and take the Church with them.', Alphonse gripped the wooden sword on his left hand until it shattered to pieces.
He started to walk away from the training yard and also get ready to welcome the army of the Regulus Empire.