In the morning, Al had a chance to watch Tamarinne's practicing. After reading the newspaper, Al had some doubts yet admirations towards the idol. The way she put all her efforts and spirits into her dances and songs, it was very beautiful than anything Al ever saw. However, he knew there was a line he should not step further and he did not intend to do so.
After the practicing, Tamarinne and Al had a walk together. They were chatting as close friends. When they were walking near the sword training field, they saw the female elf, who was Charles's subordinate, was training with other students. Nearby, there was another young girl who was watching her very carefully with her respectful eyes. But from those eyes, Al could feel something more.
Back to the training, Iseria showed the students that even it was a training, she did not show any mercy. What made Al surprised were her six wooden swords flying around, which she used them as her shields and swords and she controlled them through her dance. It was beautiful, yet deadly at the same time. Her swords kept attacking the students while they were struggling to defend themselves and get close to the female elf.
In the end, all students were lying down on the ground exhaustedly. While Al and Tamarinne came closer, the young Suin recalled Iseria's dance and he could feel something different comparing to Tamarinne's. If Tamarinne's dances gave away joyfulness, the ones from Iseria gave him the feelings of sadness and even pain. When she was "dancing", Al could see the struggling from her eyes. On another thing, when her subordinate, named Alexa, gave a handkerchief, the female elf seemed to have a dilemma with Alexa's action.
When Iseria saw Al, she remembered who he was and she still had not figured out what Charles saw from him that interested the Knight Commander of Ezera. She did try to investigate from him and she had no idea why a dead man was walking. She intended to find more about him to see if he was a threat or not.
As for Al, he did not know anything about Iseria's suspicious and only admired her dance. Although he felt something off from her dance, he thought that the elves often lived for hundreds, maybe thousands of years so they could have been through many things. But the way she looked at Al troubled him.
"Good morning, Lady Iseria," Tamarinne did not notice anything and greeted the female elf.
"Good morning, Miss Tamarinne," Iseria greeted back, "And Mr. Al."
The way she called him made Al feel really uncomfortable, he said, "Uhm… I really appreciate if you don't be so formal to me…"
"Very well," Iseria responded while retrieving her wooden swords. "May I ask why you come here? I thought you only practice with guns," she questioned.
"Actually, I would rather practice any kind of weapons instead of focusing only one," Al answered politely, "Can I ask that do you often come here to train the others?"
"Yes. Even the Archdemon war ended, we always need to be prepared for anything," Iseria answered. She wanted to test the young Suin if he was worthy of Charles's compliment. She continued, "Since you are here, can I have a little test on you?"
At first, Al was not sure if he should answer her. Seeing her ability, Al wondered if he could pass her test but there was something he wanted to ask Iseria. Struggling, he looked at Tamarinne and saw her nodding. Tamarinne encouraged him and finally, Al had the brave to take the test. He thought if he could pass, then he could ask Iseria for his own.
Stepping back to the place where she was the center of the attack, Iseria controlled her wooden swords floating on the air. She stated, "The rule is simple. You will start at 30 steps away from me. You can attack me in any direction. You will win if you get closer to me than 2 steps away."
Wielding a wooden sword, Al prepared to attack. When he charged, Iseria moved her arms and sent one sword to greet him. Al struck it off just to see two other ones coming right to his face. When he dodged, the other three came at him at the same time. Iseria combined all her swords and attacked at Al.
For the students who were looking at the test, they were surprised that when they were struggling with one sword only, Al had to hold against six swords and he had not beaten yet. Nevertheless, they all thought that sooner or later, Al would fall down. Meanwhile, Tamarinne was hoping that Al would pass the test, however, when she took a look at Alexa, the young girl who was Iseria's subordinate, she could clearly see the admiration from her eyes. Alexa was like she was looking at something beautiful and she did not want to keep her eyes off it.
The test had been lasting for five minutes and yet, Al was still struggling. However, little did they notice, Al was getting closer to Iseria while defending himself. Apparently, Iseria was the first one noticing it. She saw that Al always moved and did not stop, and he always spent a short time looking around him so that no swords could attack him from behind. By keeping her swords in his sight, Iseria slowly admitted that Al was worthy but it did not mean she would let him pass easily.
In the end, everyone noticed the distance between Al and Iseria was shorten. But in a moment, Iseria drew back her swords and sent them up high. It was like she was giving up but for Al, he was being cautious. He did not know if he could use this chance to charge at her. Thinking no more, he rushed in and from the above, Iseria formed a green magic seal and from the center of it, a magic sword appeared and dropped to Al's head, which knocked him down instantly. It was so fast that Al could not do anything.
When Al woke up, he saw Tamarinne was holding an ice bag on the back of his head. He tried to get up but it hurt so much that he could only lay down.
"I'm really sorry. I didn't think I would lose control of myself for a second," Iseria apologized to Al. Recalling, at the moment when Al nearly got her, Iseria used her ultimate skill instinctually. Fortunately, the magic seal was formed from wooden swords so it did not create real damage. However, it still hurt a lot for Al and broke all the swords she used.
"It's okay… Ouch!" Al tried to move again when he held the ice bag.
Thinking for a while, Iseria thought it could be a chance to know more about Al but she had to be careful to make it not look like an interrogation. She started, "But your movements are really good. Can I ask where you trained?"
"I trained with my father back in Constella," Al answered and he did not suspect anything. He continued, "then around four years ago, I came to Perland and trained there."
"Your father must be a great warrior. I see him taught you so well," Iseria smiled, "If there is a chance, I would like to meet him."
When Iseria said that, Tamarinne startled and looked at Al's sad eyes. She then answered for him, "Al's parents passed away last year."
"Oh…" Iseria realized she asked things she should not. She then said, "I'm sorry."
"No, it's okay," Al smiled.
"But I think they are very proud of you," Iseria shared her smile with him as well.
"I hope so," Al responded.
"That reminds me. Perland has a different weaponry system comparing to other cities in Cidonia. Is it where you trained with guns?" Iseria asked next.
"You can say that," Al nodded. He continued, "I was training with many types of weapons, but guns are… something… special."
"I can see what you mean. When guns were first used in Ritania, people started thinking it would change the world. But thankfully, it didn't," Iseria added.
"It means there are many excellent commanders who can combine both guns and others very well. I'm not sure if it is a good thing but Perland seems to be good at guns than any other weapons or magic," Al recalled.
"Can I ask how and why you came here?" Iseria asked.
"I just luckily became friend with Tamarinne and Yuna," he asked and looked at Tamarinne, "Then I was curious about the stuff the Ritanian brought to Aakhen, so I ask Yuna if I could come to Reingar and study."
"How is it going?" Iseria smiled.
"Over expected," Al responded in joy.
"I'm glad you enjoy being here," Iseria started seeing the young Suin as a friendly person when she looked at the way Tamarinne and Al talking with each other. She then asked, "Once again, I'm really sorry for hitting you."
"Then once again, please don't mind it," Al said and they all laughed. But then he was a bit embarrassed when he looked at Iseria. He said, "You know, the way you move whole controlling those swords were really amazing."
"Thank you for your compliment," Iseria smiled.
"If possible, can you… uhm…" Al stuttered, "… can you teach me… how to control them like you?"
Iseria was surprised at his question. Her ability was not something a person could learn easily. She stated, "I'm not sure if I can teach you. It will take more than just magic to do so."
"Even with guns?" Al asked and it seemed his question was not cleared. He then fixed it, "If possible, I want to make swords fly as you do, but instead of using swords, I want to use guns."
"Hm…" Iseria stopped and thought for a few minutes. And when Al thought he should give up, Iseria responded, "Alright, I'll see what I can to teach you."
"Thank you," Al nodded.
"Just consider it as my apology," Iseria smiled and the three of them spent their time for a while.