On a house in the middle of a country called Vridyan
A small child was receiving her classes while waiting for her father to come back.
"You must focus on young lady Beatrice," said her teacher while tapping her desk lightly with her nails.
Beatrice a young lady of the house of "la ronde" a teal haired girl with the same colored eyes that was playing with her pencil while looking at a window ignoring the word of her tutor.
"Sorry miss Nancy but I'm just too excited to see my dad today to care about this old story you mention almost there everyday, you know it's been 2 years since he last deployed after all"
The teacher sighed at her words.
"you need to focus on this, as the heiress of the la ronde house you're expected to be great "
She giggled at her words.
"Come on not even you believe that, and anyways you always make everything boring by going back to the 400 years war start for some reason"
She crossed her arms while she was pouting, still looking at the window.
"Miss Beatrice" she said while putting her hand on Beatrice's shoulder "you need to understand how important the war is for the development of our country after all…"
Beatrice interrupted her by jumping of her seat, the chariot with her parent has just arrived and she could see it clearly,
Beatrice ran off to the lobby to receive her father
"You can continue the lecture tomorrow, I'll be going to my father right now"
She said as she was getting out of the room, running as fast as she could yet cautiously so she didn't cause any trouble to all of the servants around.
After some minutes of running she finally got in front of the lobby door when it opened she put on her brightest smile
"Welcome back father, we've been waiting for your arrival for days"
She then got close to him and gave a him a big hug waiting for him to say something in return, that's when he took out a small notebook and gave it to his personal maid, Grace she then started reading the note he wrote almost instantly
"I'm back Beatrice, have you been behaving well?" Said Grace reading the note of Beatrice's father
"Father is this some kind of joke" while pouting and erasing her smile she said at him, she looked really angry after all it's been almost 2 years since she last saw him "this kind of joke is not good I'm going to get angry"
That's when Grace stepped in the conversation.
"Lady Beatrice, I have to tell you something you father can't tell you right now"
"What do you mean" said Beatrice while moving to Grace's side
"Well, he wants to tell you this, but he can't tell you about it, more like he won't be able to tell or say anything anymore"
Beatrice looked at her with a confused stare, nothing she was saying was making any sense
"Beatrice" Grace continued "your father lost his voice in the war, I know You've been taking classes on basic magic principles right?"
Beatrice nodded as her answer
"Then you must know what happens when someone overuses their magic"
"Yes" Beatrice answered lowering her head, trying to hide her now saddened reaction "when someone overuses their magic their casting tool like their voice or hands gets hurt, slowly the caster will lose their ability to move their hands or their ability to speak"
Grace hugged Beatrice, no more words were needed, after some moments Beatrice backed off Grace's hold and looked at her father with a big smile
"Well at least father saved a lot of people out there, you must be tired from your trip so I'll leave you to rest for today so I'll excuse myself for the time being" holding back her tears and forcing a smile she left to her room, finally there she locked the door and started crying, throwing herself onto her bed, after hours of crying she looked around her bedroom, looking for an old box she had stored
"It's been a while since I've opened it" looking inside the box there were some of the letters her father sent while he was still deployed, about his fights, the happy moments he had with his squad and how much he wanted to come back and have tea with her "can't believe I've so much of this piled up" under the letters a small bracelet of leather with a topaz was laying there "his old catalyst" this was a catalyst for his father, he received a much better one when he was promoted to court mage and asked her to keep it, after all it had so much memories with it that he even went as far as to say "parting with it would be like cutting my arm off" so he asked Beatrice to keep it and give it to any child she had that wanted to be a mage.
"Maybe I should've said that I'd be that mage" was what she thought, while putting the catalyst on her wrist, she didn't know how to cast of course, she never thought about joining the battlefield either, for that you'll need to surrender yourself to the écoile militaire which was giving away your life for your country, after all you get deployed as soon as you graduate at your 16 years.
"Right now I don't think it matters too much, I'll sleep for today" she retired to her bed expecting for everything to be just a bad dream.
Next day in the morning, Beatrice, her father and Grace went to the city of la ronde, her father wanted to get a new pen and maybe just go around the place with his daughter, she was going around looking at every place she could, it was the first time she came to the city she was the princess of after all.
As they were going inside the bookstore, a man with his child approached.
"Lord Niro de la ronde, my captain, how are you doing these days?" The man was a bit familiar with her father, which surprised her. She had never seen a soldier before. What made her more curious was that the man didn't try to shake her father's hand after everyone in the city did so.
Niro started to write down as he was excited d to see an old friend, but the other man stopped him just shaking his head "don't waste ink on this old man that can't even work for his family, I'm not worthy, I just wanted to greet an old friend that's all" he tried to excuse himself from the scene but Niro grabbed him by the shoulder, stopping him in place.
Both of them looked at each other's eyes, the man started crying and Niro just hugged him.
Something made sense to Beatrice in that moment, just like her father that couldn't talk anymore, this man couldn't move his hands anymore, after all of his service the only thing for him after the war is a live without being able to play with his child, or hug their loved ones, something inside her just couldn't bear to see this anymore, she was determined to make a change, not only for her, for the families all over this country and the next families that would be formed in the future.
After arriving home she excused herself even though she said she would love to play with her father
"Sorry father, but I have something to ask mother real quick"
Almost running to her mother's study she finally got to her door, she knocked three times before entering.
"Mother it's me"
A lady on white dress lowered the book she was reading standing up with her teal hair and eyes lighting up the room approached her, her mother Christine de la ronde, a soldier that was feared as the blue demon, on her days she took the small city of la ronde with the help of a squad of only 10 people, by order of the queen she was crowned as the feudal lady of la ronde even though she was just a peasant, now retired due to the loss of her dominant arm on the war.
"Beatrice, what happened?" she looked at her really confused "you barely come whenever your father is home, what happened"
Beatrice with a serious face told her what she just saw at the city and how frustrated and sad felt
"And that's the reason you came? To cry to your mother?"
Beatrice shook her head
"No, I came here to complain and ask you a favor"
"Oh" Christine rested her head on her hand while looking at her "and what would that favor be?"
"Until this day, and everyday I've always said this war is dumb an we shouldn't keep going" she screamed but calmed herself to not be rude to her mother "I always thought it would end with father's help one day, but now he will never be able to perform a spell again or even read a book for me before bed, and that doesn't apply only to him, there's a lot of mothers young people out there sacrificing themselves and their bodies just to be on a dumb textbook, and I'm sick and tired of it!"
"Oh and what do you want to do about that?"
Beatrice looked at her mother with a serious face
"I want to end this war, I want to kill the old man that is causing so much people to fight and lose their bodies for their countries, so mother please train me on the way fo the sword so I can qualify to the écoile armoire"
Christine was amazed at her daughter request, and had a mischievous smile on her
"Oh you sure you're ready for the training of the blue demon?".
"I don't know if I'm ready, but I know that I won't give up until you decide to train me".
"that's what I wanted to hear" *she handed her a small wooden box" "this is going to be your best friend after this day"
Beatrice opened the box revealing a rapier with a weird purple glow
"What is this?"
"That, well that's the my sword, a magicite rapier that will help you, I'm not great at magic but this will certainly be of better use to you"
Beatrice knew that the magicite was one of the best ores for weapons, after all a weapon made of magicite could be used to help cast magic either by using hands or voice without using the usual catalyst that the mages use
"Are you sure I can keep it?"
Christine just patted her head
"I'm too used to handling it with two arms, so you can take it either way I'm already retired so I won't need it anymore"
Beatrice smiled at her mother and bowed down to her
"Thank you mother, I swear on my name that I'll avenge father and end this war, or I will be casting away my name as the heiress of "la ronde" house "
"That's the spirit but please just don't do anything dumb, there's a difference between being dumb and brave"
Beatrice retired from her mother's study and went to sleep.
The morning came fast, Beatrice was still sleepy but ready for anything, her mother was expecting her in the backyard where she had dummies set up for practice.
"I'm going to say something really important, you are weak, and I don't expect you to be strong, you won't be able to use the rapier as I did once" Christine then unsheathed a rapier that she started to wield sloppily "as you can see I can barely move my rapier, but you're going to do what I can't"
Beatrice looked at her confused
"How am I supposed to learn something that you can barely do while you teach me?"
Christine had a smug smile
"I don't know to be honest, but I know that I can teach you the basics for it, you'll need to develop it by yourself, after all I did the same thing when I was your age"
Christine sheathed her rapier and patted her head
"You're the daughter of Rino the court mage and Christine de la ronde after all, you'll be the greatest fencer and probably a great magician if you do your best at the écoile"
Christine felt determined, she unsheathed her sword and tried to wield it using only one of her arms
"It's heavy but I can manage"
"Ok now you will slash and poke this dummy 200 times a day, after that you'll run 3 laps around the mansion and we'll increase it whenever you feel it's too easy, I'm going to make you faster since you're more small than how I was when I was your age, so I don't think you'll be strong as I was but faster"
After that day every day was training day for her resting every 3 days so she overexert herself for 6 years focusing on her speed so she could be faster than anyone and deadly without using too much strength for her every night felt like hell, and sometimes she asked herself if she could make it to the écoile like this.
6 Years passed in a blink of an eye, she remembers waking up at 6 am and training with her mother until 8 pm, only resting to eat, even the tutors were laid off since they decided she would be a soldier so she wouldn't need more house schooling she would learn everything at the écoile.
One day before parting to the écoile she was having a last tea time with both of her parents.
"I can't believe how big you are now, pls stop growing before you leave me behind girl" Christine looked at Beatrice who was already almost as tall as her
"I expect myself to be as tall as father so don't think that I'm stopping anytime soon mother"
Beatrice puffed her chest proudly believing everything she said would become real pretty soon
Her father gave his notepad to Grace, who started to read it.
"A lady like you would look more pretty being smaller, but I guess you're already looking forward to being as tall as me, I will cheer for you and your growth" Grace was smiling at the young girl, she patted her head and told her.
"Can't believe the crybaby that used to cry every night until her father was back is now this big, and so strong too"
Beatrice brushed the hand of grace off of her
"Grace I'm not a kid anymore, I'm a soon to be soldier"
"I can see that, so today I have someone that you need to meet" Grace snapped her fingers and as if someone just teleported out of nowhere a blonde girl came to their side "this girl over here is your personal maid, I trained her myself"
The blonde girl that was even smaller than Beatrice bowed and presentes herself for Beatrice
"I look forward to serving you young lady Beatrice, my name is Alice, I've been trained to be your shield and support whenever you need me"
Beatrice was amazed at the girl, after all that was the first girl of her age she ever met.
"Nice to meet you Alice, please just call me Beatrice, I want us to be more than servant and master, please be my friend"
Alice blushes at her words she never expected her mistress to be like this, after all she has seen the relationship between Christine and Grace and it's not what she expected
"If my lady wishes that I'll be your friend".
"Nooooo" Beatrice pouted "you need to call me Beatrice not lady, ok?"
Alice nodded her head as much as she could still nervous about this interaction
"We're going to be together for a long time after all, so it's best if we take down the formalities"
Beatrice extended her hand for a handshake which Alice answered still nervous
"Ok I understand, Beatrice"
Beatrice hugged her after that and they finished the tea time between their parents and her, the night came, she reviewed her luggage checking everything thrice, she had everything ready for the day of tomorrow, after all this could be her last time seeing her room or her home at all
"The écoile huh?" She whispered to herself "will I really be okay there?"
Beatrice was of course scared and insecure, she was accepted into the écoile after an examination of her skills but that didn't mean too much, after all she was called the strongest candidate but that doesn't mean much when half of the kids that go to the écoile only go to socialize and find a partner or just to have fun, after all some of the nobles are homeschooled and never interact with too much people their age.
Beatrice sighed while clutching the catalyst on her arm
"It's ok, I know it's not going to be easy, even my mother and my father couldn't do it" she remembered how hard both of them fought, the years she spent by herself on the mansion by herself until she was 4 when her mother finally retired, all the stories of that place.
"The battlefield, 4 years, in 4 years I'll be stepping into that hell"
A shiver ran down her spine, but she still didn't back out, she checked the box of her rapier and took it out
"Needle, you're the only friend I can count on today to sleep with me" she talked to her sword, when she was younger she named it and brought it everywhere, it was like a teddy bear for her.
"Whenever I handle you I feel like I can do anything needle, let's conquer the écoile and then the battlefield" hugging her sheathed rapier was one of her ways of calming down, she even went as far as to sleep with it, and tonight was no exception.
"Sleep well my needle tomorrow is going to be hard"
She started to get sleepy as soon as she laid down with her rapier on hand, drifting off to the land of dreams.
Next morning.
On their way to the écoile Alice and Beatrice were really quiet, even though they said they'd be friends they don't know what to say, Beatrice was expecting her to break the silence but she was really nervous about their arrival to the écoile, and Alice was even more nervous of being alone with her lady by the first time.
"Well my lady are you hungry?" Trying to break the awkward silence Alice spoke up
"I made some sandwiches for the trip" she tapped the basket that she was carrying with her
"Well I wouldn't mind having one to distract myself a bit"
With that said Alice nodded her head and opened the basket.
"Go ahead miss"
Beatrice reached out and took one started to eat and felt how her nervousness was disappearing
"Thank you Alice this is delicious"
After that they just started to talk about the landscape that was around them, they forgot all of the things that were bothering them basking in that moment of peace.
After 4 days of travel they finally arrived at the écoile, they got off the chariot, Alice carried the luggage for her and her lady and both of them walked to the entrance where they were greeted by the dorm lady, she was in charge of both of the dorms, she led them to the dorms and to their rooms
"You will stay here lady de la ronde, it's small especially since you will have a roommate, she's in the library right now but you'll meet her soon"
Beatrice looked a bit confused
"Wait, Alice isn't going to be my roommate?"
The old lady chuckled lightly
"Oh no my lady, titles don't matter on the écoile so both of you will be treated equally, and that's why she gets her own room, with that said, I leave you to unpack"
She left almost dragging Alice with her, Beatrice was still a bit confused but she started to unpack, putting her stuff on her side of the, when she got to unpack the needle she took it out of its box.
"After today you're coming with me everyday"
She hugged her rapier as she always did, that's when she heard a voice.
"Am I interrupting something?"
A girl with red hair and almost as tall as her was looking at Beatrice really confused.
"I can come back later if you need some time alone with your rapier"
Beatrice reacted immediately to her words
"Oh sorry no, hmm well"
Beatrice was beet red, she didn't know what to say or how to react at her words
"It's ok don't worry I won't ask too much about it"
She sat on the bed at the other side of her room.
"Hmm" she said while looking at Beatrice "that hair and those eyes, are you the daughter of the blue demon?"
Beatrice looked confused, after her mother was not that well known.
"You know about my mother? I thought only people that were on the battlefield knew about her"
The girl smiled and brushed her hair aside
"Well I know a bit about her, my mom talked about her whenever she had the chance"
"Really? Were they close?"
Beatrice sat herself next to the girl beaming while smiling. She was really curious after all, her mother never said anything about her time on the battlefield.
"Well yes, both of them fought in the "la ronde siege" with other 8 soldiers they freed that city"
"Tell me more about that"
"Well I only know the basics but apparently there were 200 soldiers of Branchetto"
"So they were from Branchetto and not rebels?"
Branchetto, the country at the east, 400 years ago they killed the envoy we sent to send the gifts from our king to their king for their crowning ceremony, they sent back only a letter with his corpse as a declaration of war.
"Yes they always say they were rebels to not alarm the people of the kingdom by letting them know some soldiers slipped through our borders"
"Ok so you know more about that?"
"Well only basic details my mom told me, apparently the blue demon was just going in and killing squads by herself while the others cleaned the mess she made with magic, to lure more people in to that trap until there was no more soldiers in la ronde"
"Wait, she killed 200 people by herself?"
"She had some help luring people in and didn't fight them all at once but you could say that"
Beatrice just had her mouth agape, she couldn't believe the story she was hearing, for her it was amazing
"Well you know, it's not the best achievement but she deserved the title of feudal lord after that, after all a woman that can split a man in too with a rapier is a perfect ally"
"Wait, you're just making up things right?"
The girl just shrugged and cross her arms
"Well I also told my mother that same thing, but she insists that the blue demon slice a man in half once, from head to toes and another one sliced from the waist up"
Even though it looked like something impossible she remembered how her needle is sharpened from every part except her handle so it maybe could be true after all her mother was pretty strong and wielded the rapier with both hands
"Well I kinda get why she was called the demon if she was able to do that"
The girl got confused
"You actually believe that?"
Beatrice shrugged
"I don't think it was impossible, after all my mother fought with a weird style"
The girl just sighed and shrugged off anything
"Well anyways is nice to meet you, the name is Eris II de Vridyan it's a pleasure to meet you"
She extended her hand
"And I'm Beatrice de la ronde, wait you just said de Vridyan?!"
"Of course the heiress to the throne as of today"
Beatrice got nervous and tried to kneel before her but Eris stopped her
"Usually I like when people know their place and kneel before me, but since our mothers were both friends, I'd like to be your friend too"
"That'd be great, hope we can get along well your majesty "
"Please call me Eris, you understand that right Beatrice?"
Beatrice smiled at her before nodding her head.
They kept talking about their favorite things to do and how much they were annoyed by their tutors all night until lights out, both of them went to sleep as soon as that happened, after all tomorrow will be their first day of school.
Morning came, 6 am as always Beatrice got her training equipment on, she took needle and ran to the training grounds to start her morning routine, as she was opening the door it made a loud squeaking noise, waking up Eris by mistake
"Oh it's 8 am already?"
Beatrice bowed an apology
"Sorry Eris, it's still 6am, but I have to go and do my morning training right now please go back to sleep I will wake you when I'm back"
As soon as she finished talking Beatrice ran off the room leaving Eris confused and speechless
"6 am is too early, she might be a bother if this is a daily thing"
Eris said to herself as she went back to sleep.
Beatrice arrived at the training grounds after jogging for 5 minutes. She started to get ready to start her morning routine, and that's when she saw Alice arriving too.
Alice brought a towel for Beatrice and also a small table where she started to make some quick breakfast just some sandwiches since she didn't have any fire around, while she waited for Beatrice to finish her training.
Beatrice started the usual routine, now she was doing 800 slashes and stabs, after that she'd run until she felt tired as soon as she started with her routine she heard someone calling her out
"Hey~"
She looked around but couldn't find where the voice came from
"The blue haired and the blondie, what are you two doing?"
A guy appeared from a tree, he jumped down from it apparently, he brushed the leaves away and introduced himself while doing small bow
"Hello my name is Feyr or at least I think it's pronounced like that"
Both of them looked at him dumbfounded, but still introduced themselves.
"Oh so royalty, nice to meet you miss de la ronde"
Beatrice shook her head
"Call me Beatrice titles don't apply here so I don't mind"
She smiled at him offering a handshake
"Alright" he shook her hand "thank you Beatrice, by the way I can see you're training"
She blinked twice at his remark, she didn't answer it was a weird question for her, after all he saw what she was doing.
"Well I also wanted to train too but dummies aren't that Interesting so I lost my drive, I was wondering if we could spar a bit"
Beatrice smiled she was trying to spar with someone for so long so she could test her skills
"Oh then what are we waiting for, get your weapon out and let's train"
The guy immediately ran to the tree he jumped off of and brought back with him a buster sword it was almost as tall as him, basically dragging it around with him.
"Are you sure you want to use that? Looks like you can barely wield it"
He grinned, he took off the sword of the sheath and got himself into a stance, the usual soldier stance for great swords holding above his shoulder.
"So are you ready? Or are you scared now?"
Beatrice unsheathed the needle and got prepared, she took a stance stretching her left arm while wielding the needle on her right, keeping it at her side.
"When do we start then?"
"Count of three then"
There was a big silence around them, both of them counted in unison
"1,2 3!"
Beatrice took a powerful step boosting herself so fast Feyr could barely react, putting his sword in front of him blocking the stab he was about to receive.
Feyr pushed her back punching his sword with his left hand, Beatrice backed away to not be hit, both of them were where they started the match, this time Feyr took the initiative walking slowly towards, lowering his sword to the ground dragging it again, when he got almost at arm's length of her, he lifted his sword with a big swing making a mess lifting all the dust around making a big cloud.
Beatrice covered her eyes with her free hand trying to evade de cloud that's when Feyr made a swing at her cutting the cloud in two, but Beatrice reacted to his swing stabbing the sword 3 times in quick succession making him lose his balance, his sword made him fall and that's when Beatrice put her rapier against his neck.
"It's my win Feyr"
Feyr just sighed and got up from the ground
"I guess I should practice more then haha"
He picked up his sword but when he pull the handle, it broke in pieces where Beatrice stabbed it
"Huh?"
Feyr was confused, his sword could cut boars easily but It was broken by some pokes
"I'm sorry!" Beatrice quickly apologized "it's my fault, I stabbed it on the places I thought it'd be the weakest"
Feyr couldn't believe it, he was just confused and nothing that Beatrice told him made sense, so he just walked away and said.
"I'm not losing our next spar I look forward to sparring with you again"
He left after that, he left what was left of his sword on the floor, Beatrice wanted to make it up to him one day, after all she broke his sword even if it was an accident she wanted to get another sword for him, but then Alice tapped her shoulder.
"Miss your mother told you to not slack on your training you know"
Beatrice then realized she still had to finish her routine for today, after all this just showed her she still had a long way to go against another swordsman.
After some time Beatrice got ready for her first day, she finished her routine swiftly but still had to go her classes, luckily she even had time to take a bath and get ready for everything, on her classroom she took a seat on the highest part of the class, next to the window so she could keep herself awake with the help of the sun.
Next to her a girl with a pink hair approached her
"Uhh I'm sorry uhh, can I like, sit next to you?"
Beatrice looked at her a bit confused.
"Yes you can, you don't need to ask though"
The girl sat beside her and got really quiet, it was like she was a statue after sitting.
"Are you feeling well?"
Beatrice asked the girl that stopped moving out of nowhere
"Oh yes I'm sorry, I'm just a bit nervous, I've never talked with a noble so I don't want to be executed, please don't sentence me to execution!"
The girl started to tear up as she talked with Beatrice fearing for her life
"Well you don't have to be that nervous or think that I'm going to sentence you to death just because you stopped talking"
The girl cleaned her tears with her sleeve "thank you for being so kind to me, I don't deserve this kindness"
Beatrice was even more confused now "well I didn't do anything"
But when Beatrice was about to say anything, the teacher entered the classroom, making everyone go quiet out of nowhere, the teacher started to take attendance and that's when she realized she barely got here in time and forgot to wake Eris up.
As soon as her name was called Eris entered the classroom
"Forgive my lateness, something happened teacher I apologize"
Eris walked up to sit beside the pink girl who froze up again now being between 2 nobles.
"Beatrice, can't believe you forgot about your friend like that I'm disappointed"
Due to her tone Beatrice didn't know if she was being sarcastic or actually being honest with her, so she just lowered her head as if trying to apologize.
The teacher kept taking attendance and then started to write his name on the chalkboard.
"Ok young ones, my name is Flen, don't need to give you my full name because is a mouthful and you probably will only call me teacher, this old man is 120 years old so please go easy on me"
He then took out a crystal ball from on of his sleeves and put it on a table in the middle of the room
"some of you know about this, but some of you don't so I'm going to do a brief explanation about how this work"
He then touched the glass ball making it glow with 3 colors, green, blue and red
"This is the elemental ball, some of you maybe already know your affinity with elements, some of you don't, there's 5 basic elements out there, fire, water, wind, earth and runic which is also known as the element of life, still runic is an element that is pretty rare and there's only like 30 users of runic out there in the world"
He then went back to his desk leaving the ball on the desk
"Today we're going to check the element of everyone so we can assign you to the correct classes, of course you will be stuck with me for theory and some other stuff but still we need to know your element, and also please tell me if you don't have a catalyst so we can provide you one"
After he said that 15 hands were raised up, including the girl that sat beside them, after Eris saw the girl raise her hand she looked really angry at both the girl and Beatrice.
"Oh don't worry we already took into account peasants, you don't have to raise your hand"
Beatrice didn't know if he wanted to laugh at the peasants or just check if anyone actually needed a catalyst, but that was really awkward for her and everyone that raised their hand.
"Ok everyone start come to the center and touch the ball"
The nobles already formed a line in front of the ball, Feyr was the first of the peasants waiting for his turn, and Eris was the last of the nobles, Beatrice forgot to stand up with Eris and got in line as the last one.
Eris took her turn, the ball turned full red, she was a user for fire.
"As expected of someone from the royalty, the fire magic runs on my veins" she said before returning to her seat
After that it was Feyr turn
"Well here goes nothing"
He touched the ball which gave a weird purplish color
"Teacher what is this no one had this color"
The teacher stood up in awe
"You my boy, you're a special guy, you're a runic user from now on, you will receive special classes from now on, please come with me after the test is over"
Feyr was confused but he just went back to his seat.
Everyone kept just going getting the just one color on their test until it was Beatrice's turn.
She touched the ball which revealed two colors
Green and blue letting her know she could use two elements: water and wind.
The test finished and Feyr was signaled to follow the teacher, when the teacher and Feyr excused themselves from the classroom that's when Eris hit her desk.
"Beatrice we need to talk"
Beatrice was really surprised by her
"What happened? Did I actually make you that mad for not waking you up?"
Eris shook her head
"Then why?"
She pointed to the pink haired girl sitting beside her.
"You let this peasant sit with us even though we're royalty, and you're here talking with a lowly peasant"
Beatrice tilted her head in confusion
"Didn't you say that titles didn't matter?"
"Of course that goes for us nobles, not for these guys, they should be in their place"
The pink girl started to stand up but Beatrice stopped her.
"No Eris, everyone should be treated equally, one day we will need to protect each other on the battlefield and we need to learn to be together"
Eris got even more furious against Beatrice's remark.
"That does it"
Eris threw a white glove to Beatrice's face
"I challenge you to a duel, I will teach you your place"
With that done they just left the classroom to go to the practice arena where they'd have their duel, everyone followed them no one wanted to miss the fight.
They arrived at the arena, everyone took their seats while the girls got in position for the duel. The rules simply say that the fight continues until one of the fighters can't keep fighting or yields to their opponent.
The servant for Eris came to her and opened a small wooden box which contained two bracelets with a ruby on them, those were her catalysts, she then took a stance stretching her arms in front of her and crossing her hands while keeping them open
"So she's a caster of hands" Beatrice thought to herself "or is she bluffing and going for cantos?"
Beatrice remembered some words her mother told her
"Remember that a mage is going to try and trick you, if they take a stance showing their arms you don't know if they'll use their voice to cast or their hands, the best option is make them fall and scream, go for the legs, or just kill them in one swing"
Of course for Beatrice the second option was not an option at all, she wanted to just humble Eris so she also took her usual stance getting herself ready to start.
Their servants abandoned the platform, and they started the count for the match.
After 3 seconds Eris started to chant with her voice
"Oh fire, envelope my…" but before she could finish her canto she felt a sting on both of her thighs making her scream and fall to the ground.
She didn't pay enough attention to Beatrice, or more like she couldn't even see how fast she moved, Beatrice took a powerful step to boost her forward and as soon as she got close she stabbed her thighs to make her fall just like her mother told her.
"I see" Beatrice looked at her while Eris was down still in pain "you know one of the peasants you call inferior to you actually deflected my attack, so as you can see the power of everyone is different, I hope you learned something today Eris"
Beatrice sheathed her rapier and extended her hand to Eris
"So you want to keep going or do you yield"
Eris looked at Beatrice, she looked at her with a look Beatrice couldn't describe but at least this gaze wasn't one with hostility, it was more like a warm gaze.
"Alright I yield" Eris shook Beatrice's hand, Beatrice helped her up and let her lean on her shoulder.
"Should I take you to the nurse Eris?"
Eris nodded "please do my dear friend, but please take it slow the pain on my legs is a bit too deep"
They then walked together to the nursery so she could take the care she needed.
But something seems weird for Eris' servant.
"It's a bit weird she usually can burn her wounds with her medical knowledge"
But he only kept that thought to himself.