Without leaving any chance to riposte, I aim for Vidarr first. He dodges my first hit but the sharpness of my blade leaves him a thin red cut on his cheek.

But he quickly regains his mind and gets out a short sword hidden in his pants. The blade is unlike anyone I saw. It looks like hundreds of needles assembled to make a deadly pointed sword.

"So did we," he responds with well-deserved arrogance.

Around him the students, whose faces are hidden behind leather masks get out their swords like they were waiting for his signal. Their blades are regular ones, but still very long.

Two of them jump simultaneously on me while Vidarr and three others circle around us.

'The priority is to not accidentally kill them or dismember them.'

Or else I can say goodbye to become a Royal Knight. I can say goodbye to my plan.

I block their hits biting my tongue to not grunt under their strength. We stay like this for a few seconds before I drop on my knees. Surprise they lose their balances for a second. I swipe the legs of the students with the shorter mask. Before making him roll over his partner.

I feel a sharp pain sting near my rib cage. I put my hand on the wound already feeling the thick blood running down my fingers. I only have the time to let out a surprise scream before the attack starts again, but this time the three apprentices are attacking me at the same time.

My swords slashes against theirs with a progressive rapidity. Every time I dodge I don't have the time to counter-attack that another hit threatens to pierce my body.

'They are each one stronger than the mercenaries I encountered!' I realize in disbelief.

Vidarr's sword scratches my cheek at the exact same place where I cut him. But the needles wound me at the same time and I feel dozens of grazes marking the left part of my face.

Another sword manage to hit my leg. Seeing the weapon of Vidarr getting dangerously close to my face, I feel a rush of adrenaline diffusing in my body.

I gather my remaining strength and jump on his blade. I read the astonishment in his eyes when I take an impulse on it. With the flat part of my swords, I knock the forehead of his two sbires and I hit his chin with my knee. He falls on the ground and I seize him.

"When I said I wanted a cordial relationship, it didn't mean I would be passive if you tried to kill me," I shout furiously.

"Why did you have to cross the road of Lord Eiran?!" he spits grabbing my wrists. "Why didn't you stay in your shabby little town?!"

"I am staying here no matter what you and the others will try so swallow your ridiculous pride and get over with it!"

I release him and get up feeling the world slightly spin. I look around and discover a long trail of blood. My blood.

When I turned back around, Vidarr disappeared and his friends too.

'How in the world do they manage to walk without making any noise in their current state?'

I walk painfully back to the palace and drag myself up the stairs. I knock brutally on the door number thirteen. After a minute of incessant knocking, I hear heavy footsteps coming towards the door.

"This better be urgent...oh! Raven," says Arlette.

She looks at my bloody appearance and the two swords hanging on my back.

"I didn't think they would attack you on your first night."

"C-Could y-you have the k-kindness to help m-me?" I ask fighting the drowsiness threatening to overpower my body.

She looks at me frowning her nose and putting her hand under her chin. Her eyes are lost in a deep thought.

"I think that Lord Zenon would want me to help you," she finally says looking happy about her conclusion. "In addition, if I heal you then the others won't be in trouble."

Arlette claps in her hand with an intense satisfaction, "It is a win-win situation that will benefit everyone!"

She pulls me inside and carefully closes the door, before making me lie on her sofa. My vision becomes clouded with black spots and around me, sounds become distorted. I feel a touch traveling on my stomach and chest.

"Don't mind me," says the daughter of the Marquess. "I am simply taking off your clothes."

I start to debate myself feeling a sphere of panic growing in my chest.

"I am not trying to molest you calm down!" she screams putting her hand on my rib cage.

A small white light emits from her palm as a sweet warm sensation coats my wound. A few seconds later, the stinging pain disappears to leave it place to a fresh soft skin.

"You are a-a healer," correct she nods. "I messed up the endurance test but Lord Zenon still gave me a chance to become his apprentice."

"T-That's nice."

"Stop uttering useless words I am focusing," she responds in a kind tone. "Again don't thank me."

A few minutes later, my wounds are all healed and the fatigue that clouds my mind is slowly fading away.

"Just a small question Raven. How did you get this cube? Only a senior wizard can create a such solid and complex weapon holder," Arlette asks handing me back my clothes.

"My father made it."

I take the cube and gently press it before putting it on the two superposed swords a faint flash fuses out of it before absorbing them.

She stares at it before lifting her head, "Okay now you can go. Don't worry I am going to gather some maids. No one will know what happened tonight."

I nod not knowing if it is a good or bad thing. I close the door behind me and let myself go against it.

"And I am only here since this afternoon I grunt softly."

⚔️⚔️⚔️

"Do you want to serve as an appetizer for the enemy? No? The hurry up Mhyrr!"

Covered in sweat I try to drain energy from a nonexistent poach in my stomach and manage to run a fraction faster. But the reality catch me back way quicker than I thought. I clench my jaw to not scream. The wounds that Vidarr and his friend inflicted on me are still hurting.

'I should have asked for some painkillers.'

Arlette may have healed my physical wounds but the pain is far from being gone. Only senior wizards who possess the gift of healing can take the pain away.

"Very nice Mhyrr it is so thoughtful of you to serve as the sacrificial lamb on the battlefield, maybe this will stop them for half a second?"

I clench my fist and focus on the circular path in front of me to not fall into the temptation to throw a sword at the Duke of Koa.

"That is stop seeing someone run like this makes my head hurt."

He doesn't need to tell me twice, I fall hardly on the ground. Around me some laughs echo but most of the other apprentices are focused on their training. I can feel the eyes of someone weighing on me since the beginning of the morning.

Vidarr is sitting on the benches a bruise on his chin, his arms crossed.

"I still don't know what Eiran possibly saw in you to make you his student," sighs the Royal Knight.

I close my eyes wishing that my mentor would hurry up. He has been called to a meeting with the Queen and Lord Koa benevolently stepped in to replace him.

'He is just frustrated because Lord Eiran didn't accept his son or daughter as his apprentice,' I tell myself.

This thought still doesn't make the training feel less rough.

"Alright then," says Lord Koa clapping loudly his hands. "Now that Raven has finished her warm up it is time for her first fight!"

I grit my teeth, that cursed Knight has exhausted me on purpose.

"Esper come here!"

I open my mouth to protest but when I see a boy with short black hair emerging through the small crowd, my heart skips a beat. His almost unnoticeable limping and the bruise on his head.

He is one of the five people who attacked me last night. I grab the wooden sword that serves us during the training and put myself in position. I cross his eyes and read the same determination as I.

"And attack!"

I plunge first at him my sword aiming for his head. He crouches on the ground falling for my ruse. My feet land on his mouth.

"You know Esper," I whisper so low that only he can hear me. "You shouldn't have attacked me last night."

He let out a scream of pain and hit with an extreme violence my abdomen. I grab his wooden blade to slow down his hit, but the shock is still very painful.

"Because you would have won."

I get out a small knife and throw it at his face. As expected he grabs it easily but lets go of his tight grip on his sword.

I punch him tightly on the border between his neck and chest. He falls on the floor and I point his sword against his neck.

"Raven Mhyrr wins her match against Esper of Xhenisa," announces a knight with whom I traveled.

"Objection!" protests another, "Mhyrr cheated she used a knife along with the sword."

"No one ever mentioned to me that I had to only use one weapon!" I protest angrily. "Besides during a fight, there is no fair or unfair! You fight to survive."

"Those are the words of a mercenary little Mhyrr," warns Djohrn. "A knight fights with honor."

He walks towards us and helps the son of Lord Koa to stand up.

"What do you think Esper?" he asks.

He steals a hesitant glance at me, "What do I think?"

I lift my chin in front of his emotionless eyes.

"I think that Raven won this match."

⚔️⚔️⚔️

Someone catch me by the waist. The hard pressure makes me wince as the locks of my hair brush the surface of the pond.

"I wouldn't want to bath there if I were you, especially not in that state," comments Arzen of Esmeray.