This world has four months and four seasons in a year, and each season represents four elemental spirits.
There are 90 days in a month. Winter is a water month, spring is a wind month, summer is a fire month, and fall/autumn is soil month.
Today is the middle of the wind month to fire month. So the weather is getting hotter.
It was still morning, but the heat was so intense that it woke up Felicia, who was still asleep.
"Good morning, Lady." Next to Felicia's bed, Rachel was sitting and sewing. Felicia looked out the window; it seemed like almost half the day had passed. And when she realized that, she immediately got up from her bed.
"Oh no! I'll be late for sword training with Theo! Why didn't you wake me up?" yelled Felicia.
Felicia can usually wake herself up early in the morning, but on some occasions, like today, she has difficulty getting up.
"Lady, you used up too much stamina yesterday. You not only used your god's blessing twice, but you also had to walk across town until late afternoon."
Felicia also walked quite a distance from the hall to the church and a long walk in the market district. As a result, Felicia was so tired that makes her woke up late. Probably, if the weather hadn't been so hot, she wouldn't have gotten up until noon.
Rachel put down her stitches, closed the curtains, and locked the door. As for Felicia, she went straight into the pool. Felicia's room was quite spacious. There was a small pool on the right side of the room that could fit five people. Rachel had cleaned and filled the pool with hot water since morning, but the hot water had adjusted to room temperature since a few hours had already passed.
Felicia usually bathes for an hour, but she had to hurry, so she only bathed for 10 minutes and got dressed. She was wearing short clothes with leather armor on her body.
"Here, Lady."
Rachel gave the rapier to Felicia.
Felicia looked at it for quite a long time. The rapier was a gift from Waldo when they were about to part ways.
Once again, Felicia looked lonely, making Rachel feel sad and guilty.
"Lady, there's no need to hurry; when we arrive, perhaps Allen is still training with Mr. Theobauld."
"Watching is also part of learning!"
They rushed to the training ground.
When they arrived, Allen had already started training with Theobauld.
Since it was a hot day, Allen and Theobauld wore slave clothes, a thin sleeveless shirt, and thin black shorts. Felicia could see that they were sweating so much that it soaked the floor, and seeing that, she was confused why Allen was still wearing his scarf.
Allen and Theobauld, were not using wooden swords anymore. Felicia could see that Theobauld was already struggling with Allen's speed, so he was forced to use his sword-soil for defense. And she also noticed that Allen gradually got used to his dual blades.
"Looks like I'm way behind Allen," said Felicia, who sat down and watched their training.
When looking at Allen's face, Felicia recalled what she had said to him yesterday.
'How am I going to talk to him?' she thought.
Felicia had dictated Allen's way of life and made fun of him excessively by calling him "monster," "not human," and even badmouthing Allen's mother. When Felicia thought about it again, she felt very guilty.
"Allen's face yesterday; maybe he was mad at me." Felicia accidentally said it in her mouth, and Rachel could hear it.
Rachel smiled a little,
'I am glad Allen is here. Lady kept her distance from others and used her noble-peasant ruse to avoid them. People also only saw her as the Earl's daughter, not the real her. But Allen didn't even care about Lady Felicia's social status; not only that, but Allen's way of speaking was also very frontal in front of her, so it was more like he was too rude. I actually can't stand his attitude toward the lady, and I'm sure the lady does too. But it's better than being formal. I felt like lady finally has a friend of her age."
"Let's take a break, you should stretch your muscles."
"Thank you, Master."
Allen wiped his sweat, then looked at Felicia, who was sitting at the end, look at him too. Their eyes met.
"Hmm? You're finally awake, sleeping princess. It's very nice to be a princess, huh? You can laze on your bed forever," said Allen while walking toward them.
Felicia, who had been planning how to approach Allen, had forgotten all of her plans. Her head exploding, she went straight to Allen and pointed to his body. [ILLUSTRATION]
"WHAT?! Whose fault do you think I overslept?! It's because you made me use my god's blessing twice! You peasant, you slave, you child, you should be more respectful to-"
"Blah...blah...blah... I can't believe you really blame others for your laziness. Consider it a result of your obsession with helping people," Allen said flatly, not wanting to hear Felicia's lecture, which was certain to be long and demeaning to others.
"Hey! Listen to me!"
Allen walked straight past Felicia, sitting in Felicia's usual seat. Rachel somehow spontaneously poured tea into the glass.
"Stop talking sh*t and be stronger," Allen said as he sipped the glass.
"Cih... I knew it!" Felicia then turned around, and started her training with Theobauld.
"Lady, you really need to try to attack my vital part this time. That way, you'll move more freely. You shouldn't be afraid to attack your opponent. Anyway, you can use your god's blessings to heal me if anything untoward happens. Well… It won't happen anyway-"
Felicia immediately thrust her rapier into Theobauld's face. Theobauld was surprised because Felicia tried to attack his head. Previously, she had only targeted his hands and feet.
"Well done, lady. You're getting better."
"Yeah, fortunately, I have good eyes, so I can copy some of Allen's moves."
"I hope you didn't copy everything; your bones and muscles will break."
Felicia repeatedly stabbed freely into Theobauld's body. There was no hesitation in her attacks.
'I can't hesitate anymore. I must become stronger. If I become stronger, something like yesterday won't happen again.'
Yesterday's incident shocked her. Felicia realized that yesterday, Allen was not wrong at all. What is wrong is Felicia's weakness. Allen didn't even move until she was injured. If only she could punish those kids by herself, they wouldn't have had such a horrible experience. Felicia, in the future, she would punish the guilty people in front of her in her own way. Not with the power of the nobility, status, or by relying on Allen.
"I will learn a sword not only for myself but to save others, not to hurt them!" she said.
Felicia kicked Theobauld's leg, which Theobauld didn't expect at all because Felicia had only been attacking with her rapier up until that point.
As a result, Theobauld retreated backward. On that occasion, with all her strength, Felicia used her rapier to stab Theobauld's body.
Theobauld swatted it away with his sword, and Felicia's rapier slipped out of her hand and was thrown upwards.
Felicia fell, sweated, and tired.
"Too bad, lady. Your last attack was easy to read, so it didn't reach me," said Theobauld.
But instead of getting angry and cursing as usual, Felicia laughed.
"Hahahahahaha! I finally can do it..." said Felicia, smiling.
"What?" Theobauld was confused.
Felicia pointed to the floor, where there were traces of sweat that had begun to dry.
"I finally managed to get you to move from your spot!"
Theobauld apparently did it unconsciously. He remembered that he didn't even need to move all this time to avoid Felicia's attacks. But this time, he was forced to move. Felicia's feeling of not hesitating to hurt him made him feel a little threat.
"GAHAHAHA, then congratulations, Lady, you can finally move on to the next step," Theobauld said proudly.
Felicia smiled, then stood up.
"Humph! This kind of thing is easy for an honorable noble like me! "Shortly, I'll be even stronger than Allen!"
Felicia picked up her sword, which was lying on the ground, and put it into its sheath.
She walked over to Allen, who sat looking at her.
'Allen, I don't know what you've been through, but I'm going to show you that you don't have to hurt others to achieve your goals.'
"What?" asked Allen, who had been looking at Felicia, who was just standing there looking at him.
"Nothing," Felicia said as she took a seat next to Allen's.
Allen was now looking at Felicia in confusion. Thinking about what Felicia said in front of Theobauld.
"You're such an idiot," he said.
"Again, you say that-"
Before Felicia could finish her sentence, Allen cut her off.
"A sword that can save others? Not hurting others? How stupid..."
Allen looked at his hand that was holding the blade. The pads of his hands were already a little swollen. Because he had always swung a sword since he was little.
Until now, he had never forgotten...
The feeling of bulldozing others with his sword...
Starting from goblins, then orcs, and finally humans...
He never liked that sensation. The sensation that clung to his hands as he cleaved through the flesh of living beings
Then there were their faces, as well as the faces of those who loved them, when he did that. He despised it and never wanted to become cold-blooded like this.
But what else could he do? He didn't know what to do if he didn't do it. His anger was uncontrollable. His life had been ruined since the humans broke up his happy life inside the dungeon.
A sword that saves others? There is no way it could happen. Swords have always been used to cause harm. A sword is just a weapon to kill and take the lives of others. There is no one who doesn't get hurt when they decide to learn it. One day, they would use it to attack anyone who was trying to take something away from them.
"No! You idiot! I'm a noble, you know! I can do anything! If I say I can do it, that means I can do it! Nobles are honorable people who won't break their promises! I won't let you hurt others with your sword. I will definitely solve the problem before it becomes a problem so that you don't have to hurt others anymore!"
Felicia was gleaming in Allen's eyes at the time. Maybe it was because of the sun, or the heat that made him crazy, or sweat that made her glisten—I don't know, maybe not all of them. But one thing was for sure: Felicia's words could reach Allen's heart.
And just a little bit...
Just a little bit...
Allen felt a little confident in what Felicia was saying. He thought that this person might actually be able to do it.
"That's what I call an idiot, you stubborn," Allen said while doing a chop to Felicia's head.
"Ouch!"
Allen left, heading to Theobauld, asking to duel once more.
Felicia held her head, which hurt a little from being hit by Allen,
"What the hell is he trying to say?" said Felicia as she sipped the tea in front of her.
Rachel immediately panicked and shouted,
"Wait, Lady! That tea is Allen's!"
*SPUUURT
Felicia immediately spits it out and puts the cup on the table.
"Cough cough!"
"Lady, I'm sorry!" Rachel handed her a handkerchief and wiped it over Felicia's mouth.
Felicia remained silent, not answering Rachel, even though Rachel was ready to be scolded.
"La-lady, what's wrong?"
Felicia's face was bright red up to her ears. She covered her mouth with both hands.
'What should I do? What is this? What? What should I do? That is my first indirect kiss.'