Biggest thanks for Ace-Triad helping me with SPAG edit, he actually completed the SPAG edit on the first day... and proceeded to extend my original 2k fight between Eclair and Weiss into a fully choreographed duel that's worth a chapter's length. Most will be shown in the next chapter.
Also special thanks to Angel Wraith for reading my rough draft and provide important feedbacks.
The new cover art is commissioned with artist Somete Paint who I met on Reddit, you can find their art on their twitter account twitter dot com / sometepaintnew, Give them some love if you are interested in their art style.
More author note at the end for people who are interested to see me blabber some more.
The count's personal workshop is situated on other side of his garden across from his keep. It's comparatively smaller than his throne room, but still has all the workstations a weapon and armor smith needs and more such as forges, anvils, grind wheel and some armor racks. All kinds of weapons, from dagger to war hammers line up the wall, neatly arranged from small to large.
The head smith, Adrianne Avennici has dark brown hair like most typical Romalian, but her skin is heavily tanned unlike her usual fair skinned countrymen. That, plus the calluses on her hands shown a life time of hard work near a forge. Apparently, she got the position of the Count's head blacksmith not only because her father's position as the Count's steward. "My team and I will have these scaled padded into the inside of your armors while you rest, heroes."
"Thank you, but don't work yourself too hard for us." Naofumi gives the blacksmith a grateful nods while he looks at the armors and weapons hanging by the wall. "Work on Ren's team first, he'll leave early tomorrow. I'll be leaving with the Jarl's supply caravan."
"Right, message received." Adrianne puts on a pair of thick working gloves, clamps down a piece of the scale with a tong. She holds it beside her heated forge while drum on the scale with the hammer in her other hand to make it a bit more malleable for armor padding. "The Jarl's messenger mentioned you are going to pick some weapons and armors?"
"I'm well set with my armor, I'll let the rest of my team pick whatever they need." Naofumi turns to look back at his party.
"Same for me." Ren gives a short nod to his followers as well.
Mein looks around at all the finished product around the forge, a small frown creeps up her face. The lord of Whiterun County has a very typical Midgardian armory just like the architecture of his keep. A fancy way to say everything is large. 'The only thing better than an axe is an axe the size of a door', as the old Midgard saying goes.
"Nothing to your liking? I hope it's not the fault of my craft." The lightness of Adrianne's tone tells Mein that she doesn't take offense to the princess' non action.
"No, not at all. It's just... everything is too large." Mein picks up one of the smallest sword on the wall, the blade is still about twice as wide as her arm. A broadsword like this is fine for a common adventurer, probably even appreciated if they have the strength and stamina to wield it. But it's simply too heavy for the finesse of Aldori style.
"I know what you mean. Boys and their oversized toys, am I right?" Adrianne lets out a hearty chuckle as she hits the scale with her hammer. "I don't regret become my Jarl's personal blacksmith. But sometimes I do miss running my shop, where I get to make all kind of weapons. Not just the oversized Midgard weaponry."
"That shop was yours? The one near the gate?" Mein puts the broadsword down on the counter to look at the Romalian smith.
"I can unlock weapon of same making, so long as it looks different!?" Naofumi's exclamation makes both the princess and the smith turn their head. He's holding a steel reinforced wooden shield in one hand, and wearing an identical one on his right arm.
"Let me see..." The Sword Hero takes off a Midgardian styled steel broadsword off the wall and hold it in his right hand. The Melromarc styled steel sword turn into the identical copy in his left hand not soon afterwards. "You are right."
"Sure was, Queen's Blade was her name. My husband still mind the counter." Adrianne shakes her head and sets the treated scale down. She obviously see fit not to comment on the two heroes' shenanigans.
A young apprentice about six summers old wraps it up with thick cloth and takes it to the back where the rest of the blacksmith works.
"Tell you what, anyone of you who can't find a weapon to suit your fighting style, take a weapon off the wall anyways." The Romalian smith wipes her hands with a rag before picking up a second dragon scale and holds it towards her forge. "You can take it to my husband and change another piece from the shop. And if you need thing custom made, talk with Cattelya. She works at the forge of Queen's Blade."
Chapter 37: All Game, No Sports
The count's garden is filled with short red, blue, and light purple mountain flowers, making the taller royal purple lavenders stand out. Not exactly a well arranged Melromarc style garden, but showing off the primal nature of his Midgard descend just like the rest of his town and castle.
The princess looks above their head. The previous silver moon seems to have turned red since their audience with Lord Balgruuf. The color of the Wave of Catastrophe, not a good omen.
"We'll retire to our guest rooms now, Sir Sword Hero." Sir Beckter without his armor doesn't look much different than your typical middle aged sellswords at a first glance: muscle bound and with enough gruff hair on him to be mistaken for a demi-human. Still, his courteous gesture drilled by fine Melromarc knighthood isn't something to be found in common mercs.
"That's fine..." The boy shuffles on his feet. He turns his head away, not looking back at the knight directly. "All of you did well today. Dismissed."
Not exactly the most inspiring or gracious of the speeches, but all of his followers seem to be flabbergasted at his response. The spear fighter is the first one to response as he jumps on his feet and pushes Sir Beckter on the shoulder. "Did you heard that, Sir Beck? Sword Hero complimented us!"
"Don't get ahead of yourself, you hooligan. We still have a long trip back to capital tomorrow." The knight gives the younger fighter a hard shove on the head, but the smile on his lips belies the same mirth he has. He turns back to bow at the Sword Hero for another time. "We bid you fare night, Sir Sword Hero."
With that, Ren's party members turns around towards the guest quarters. The Sword Hero shuffles on his feet on the hard oak wood plate form, his voice almost a whisper. "How do you do that?"
"Who, me?" Naofumi looks around for a moment before setting his sight on the younger hero. "How do I do what?"
"Being you, I guess." The Sword Hero's brows twist into a deep knot. Privately, Mein doesn't believe he has any right to be annoyed at being difficult to other people, legendary hero or not. "You give a big speech about trusting your companions... how do you do that? Lead them, I mean."
"Yeah, I sprout a lot of bulls back in our fight, didn't I? I guess it's a spur of the moment thing." Naofumi takes his helmet off, he scratches the back of his head while looking down. "To be honest, I was never that good with people. It's fine if it's in front of a monitor where nobody knows nobody. But face to face... I wasn't a leader... or even a team player, no."
"Your party is already bigger than mine, and stronger." The Sword Hero takes a slightly more aggressive tone at the start, till he ends it with a draw out sigh. "You obviously did something right."
"Don't sell your team short, Sword Hero. You dishonor not only your team, but us, your opponents as well." To Mein's surprise, the one who defends Ren's team is none other than Farkas. Then again... he did point her Naofumi to go help Raphtalia back in Beloukas' place. "I may be crippled, but I am still a Greyback warrior with my class-up. It's no small feat to stop my charge cold."
"They are strong in spite of me." The Sword Hero sits down on the ground, his right should hangs over the guard of his propped up sword. "It was easy thinking I'm dead... and everything is just my imagination. I just do what I did back in Brave Star Online and leave my team to their own devices. But if I'm wrong... I can't do it. I'm going to lead those guys to their deaths."
"It's something we all have to learn, I guess. Being responsible for our companions. These legendary weapons are strong, but the waves are even stronger. We can't defeat the wave with only the four of us." Naofumi sits down right besides the younger hero. He looks up at the stars twinkling under the red moon. He's probably thinking back on how bad the situation in Lute would have turned out, if Count Winchester didn't show up in time with his demigryph knights. "Did you have siblings back on your earth? A good friend? Try to think of your companions like your sibling, or your friend. Don't make them do things you don't want your friend do."
The Sword Hero stays quiet, his eyes stares into the sapphire jewel of his legendary weapon for a good long while. Mein briefly wonders if the boy heard a single word her Naofumi said when Ren replies back. "Yeah... I can do that, I think. I better catch up on my sleep too, if I'm going to wake up early tomorrow."
"Are you going to be okay? Need me seeing you off?" Naofumi stands up together with his younger compatriot.
"No, you don't have to baby me." The boy shakes his head. His face hangs low, not meeting Naofumi's eyes even as he slinks away. The boy's back looks too small for one of the four summoned heroes, especially with his black dress cloak. "I'll figure it out, I have to."
"You shouldn't worry about the Sword Hero so much, Master Naofumi." Mein puts one hand on Naofumi's shoulder just as the older hero looks like he's about to go after Ren. "As one of the four summoned legendary heroes, he can't have someone else keep holding his hands for him."
"I know, I know... I worry because I understand what he's going through. It's... never easy dealing with people. Not for me, at least." Naofumi puts his helmet back onto his head, he looks down at Raphtalia. The demi-human girl is wobbling on her feet, barely keeping her eyes open. "Are you tired, Raphtalia? Do you want me to carry you?"
"I'm fin- Argh!" The child tries to prove her point by taking a step forward. She ends up doing the exact opposite when she trips on her feet. Kyubey quickly bends down, reaches over and grabs her with his one good arm.
"Small steps. One foot before the other." The rabbit demi-human whispers into Raphtalia's ears, the girl nods back, but it's hard to tell if she's trying to reassure the rabbit man or the Shield Hero. Kyubey holds his hand with Raphtalia and stands back up to look at Naofumi. "I will make sure Raphtalia goes into her room safely, Master Shield Hero."
"Thanks, I'm going to have a moment with Mein." Naofumi's word makes the princess stop breathing for a moment.
With the Shield Hero specifically calling her out, she can't retire to her own guest room like everyone else. All Mein can do is watching helplessly as everyone else start their way to the guest quarters, while wondering what the Shield Hero wants to talk with her in private. He can't have already figured out her true identity, can he?
"That wasn't nice, what you said after our scuffle with Ren." Mein would like to point out to her Naofumi, what they had with the Sword Hero was most definitely Not a mere scuffle, but she's more nervous about what he's going to say afterwards. "I understand Éclair's artifact is probably very important. But to say it's more important than a mere demi-human, especially in front of her father..."
Ah, so her Naofumi wasn't happy how she puts an artifact above a life. As much as it kind of went against the kind, helpful adventurer 'Mein of Samphor' persona she's been cultivating till now, at least he didn't figure out her secret yet. "Under normal circumstances, I agree with you, Master Naofumi. But house Seatto's heirloom is one of the most powerful artifact on this land after the legendary weapons. It's one of the reason why they remains the Lord Paramount of Ivory Pass, even when they are not liked by most nobility. It simply can't fall into the wrong hand."
Naofumi looks directly into her eyes. His mouth hang open a little, like he doesn't exactly understand what she's talking about. "No, that's not what I meant. It's the way you said it. how it's more important than a demi-human..."
Oh, OH! That's what her Naofumi meant. He thought she meant it's only above the lives of a demi-human.
"No, NO! That's not what I meant either. It's more important than the lives of pretty much everyone, except a hero like you." The princess in disguise takes a step back without thinking. "If the artifacts and I both fall off a cliff, you should go grab the artifact."
Not exactly what she's really thinking of course, since she definitely wants her Naofumi to place her wellbeing before a magical artifact. But she needs to repair her image in her Naofumi's eyes for now.
"Yeah, I figured you didn't mean it that way. You aren't mean to Raphtalia. But if even good people like you act like this... how bad would the real racist be? Can I even change anything?" Naofumi rips the helmet off his head, toss it onto the hardwood floor and scratches his hair in frustration.
No, she is definitely NOT one of the 'good' people.
The Shield Hero turns around to rest his arms on the railing of the wooden fence and looks up at the red moon. "Hmm... red moon... We have a song back home called 'Red Moon'."
"Really? What's the song about?" Mein walks a few steps up to stand shoulder to shoulder with her hero. It's good to change the subject, this talk about prejudice towards demi-human is making her feel uncomfortable.
"It's a made up song. The story behind is how sinful souls need to work to redeem themselves in heaven, or work for minimum pay in hell till they can be reborn. And when the red moon comes out, it's time for the sinful souls to be born anew." Naofumi chuckles as a smile forms on his face. "Kind of fitting if Ren is right, I'm dead and this is my afterlife."
"NO! You are most definitely NOT dead, Master Naofumi." Mein runs her arm around Naofumi's shoulder and try to comfort him with a firm shake. "Do you, I don't know. Want to sing it?"
Naofumi immediately looks down and shakes his head. "My singing voice is really bad."
"Oh, nonsense! Besides, it's the thought that counts." Mein retreats her arm, and places her hand right over Naofumi's.
"Alright, here goes nothing." Naofumi lets out a sigh and takes in a deep breath. He stays quiet for a few beats longer till he starts singing the presumed 'Red Moon'. "Red moon, red moon~ Cleanses the sinful and make them anew. Shining brightly in the night sky, waiting for the soul. Who will be reborn again tonight~ Who will be reborn again tonight~"
Naofumi's singing voice is a little hoarse, but it's not unpleasant to listen to. As for the song itself... there's no instrument to help carry the lyric, but both the tune and the words themselves gives the impression of it being a child's lullaby that's simply too sad for a child's comprehension. It's a sad, and somewhat strange composition, but not unpleasant just like the Shield Hero's singing voice.
To think, her Naofumi's world have a song that makes even the red moon sounds beautiful.
Mein feels like she understand a bit more of her Naofumi's world now, with the story and the song. "See. That wasn't bad, Master Naofumi."
The Shield Hero stays quietly as he stares at the red moon in the sky. The princess briefly wonders if she said the wrong thing again, and should have given him stronger praise.
"I don't know if I'm doing any good, to be honest." Naofumi opens his mouth again just as Mein is about to say something. "I mean, you are obviously one of the better person in this country, if you are helping take care of Raphtalia. But even you can't help yourself with the prejudice this country drilled into you."
So they are back to the topic of prejudice against demi-human again... Naofumi's words makes the princess unable to say anything. 'Mein of Samphor' is one of the better ones, but not her real self, no. She only helps take care of Raphtalia because she needs to keep up with her act.
"And there's myself... Itsuki was right. I would have helped perpetuate this country's abusive system, if I kept Raphtalia, Kyubey... and Lautrec as my slave. People could point at me, and say it's okay to keep demi-human in slavery because a hero does it." Naofumi hangs his head down and seems to suddenly find the grass patch over the railing to be very interesting. "Would I have freed them, if Itsuki didn't give me the push I needed back in that banquet? Or would I have taken the easy way out and never give two thoughts to my actions?"
"I know you would have freed them, Master Naofumi. You are the most responsible, and virtuous hero I have met." Mein presses her hand down harder on Naofumi's hand, and give another squeeze with more force. "I haven't met that many heroes in real life, but you are every bit as kind and heroic as the heroes from my favorite romance novels."
"Thank you for the vote of confidence. I... I wasn't like this back home. I was a loner, like Ren." The tip of the Shield Hero's right foot slides back and forth across the wooden walkway, his eyes wanders around for a little till they fix on her. "If I became a good hero, it's thanks to all of you. For having confidence in me, and making me finally take responsibilities for myself and others."
"You don't have to start out perfect, Master Naofumi. Your ability to change and learn to become someone better makes you the great hero you are." Mein moves forward and wraps her arm around the young man and rest her head on his shoulder. He both looks and feels thinner without his armor. "I only hope I can live up to being your companion... you may learn I'm not as good as I look at first glance."
The Shield Hero's body tenses up in the embrace of the princess. He awkwardly wraps his arms around her after a short moment, arms and hands tense. "None of us are. The important thing is you are trying your best."
Did she try her best though? Even now, she's still using him for her play in the Game of Thrones. And she doesn't even has the decency to tell him anything. Briefly, Mein wonders if now is the best time to tell him the truth. The red moon may be a bad omen in her world linked with the wave, but the song Naofumi sang a moment ago shows his world has a more favorable view on the red moon. Maybe this is a both a good omen, for her chance to be reborn.
"And Lautrec! I almost forgot about him! Who knows what he's up too after he ran off to start his mission for his Goddess!" Naofumi suddenly pulls his arm away from Mein, and the moment is gone.
"You are right, Master Naofumi. Although I don't think anything too bad happened with him. Not yet, at least." Mein pulls away and brushes a strand of stray hair away from her eyes. "People fear beastman, especially scaled kind by nature. If he done some foul deed already, the rumors would spread quickly."
"I hope you are right. But something tells me it'll end badly." Naofumi pulls away from Mein, gives his messy hair a few more hard scratches before bending over to pick up his helmet and plop it back. "Well, it's getting dark and I should go sleep. It's nice, not having to switch shift for once."
"I'll stay a little more to look at the moon. I bid you good night, Master Naofumi." Mein lowers her head as Naofumi nods to her. The Shield Hero turns around and retreats towards the guest rooms of Dragonsreach. Mein can't help but notice his back also looks much more slim without his armor even with his traveling cloak.
The Pope may not be trustworthy, but he is right about one thing. The heroes are mere young men... even boys trapped in a world they don't fully understand.
The princess in disguise walks around the courtyard after Naofumi disappears from the corner, looking for someone in a place of authority. She hears the sound of weapons clash before she sees anyone, curiosity leads her towards the front of the castle gate, where a training yard sits besides the fountain where the a wooden bridge wide enough to fit two filorial carts connecting the grant staircase to the castle gate.
She expected maybe some guards, or even the Count's brother having a late night brawl to let off some energy for expecting a dragon attack. She didn't expect his other two guest having a sparring matches. The red and pink of Cute Reichnott, white and blue of Weiss Schnee easily sets them apart from the creamy yellow clad Whiterun guards.
Not too far away, Éclair stands on the wooden bridge looking at the two girls whacking. Her potted helmets hangs low, and her normally straight back hunched over. It's clear the dishonored Seatto heiress isn't having a good night.
In other word, a good chance to strengthen whatever progress she made earlier this day.
With this in mind, Mein slowly walks up to the wooden bridge and stands beside the Seatto heiress. "You knew the Reichnott girl, didn't you? Want to talk about it?"
"Ah, your hi-" The undercover knight jumps up, but quickly catches herself. She begins to speak in a low whisper only audible to the two of them. "Lord Reichnott was father's advisor, he lived in father's keep with his daughter. Cute used to follow me around everywhere, watching me train to become a knight. She wanted to be a knight like me when she grow up..."
Ah, the feeling of losing someone important in her life, something that should be expected from the Game. This is why it's better to not build any real emotional connection with your potential allies, at least not anyone who has a place in the court. They can easily turn on you and become your rivals.
The princess only keep one of her ear open to Éclair recounting her life back in her father's keep. Most of her attention is focused on the two heiress sparring in the training yard. Despite the difference in their social stature, the merchant's daughter is clearly the superior fighter.
The daughter of Lord Reichnott's fighting style is as professional as her over decorated armor that has accessories and metal pieces hanging all over - which is to say none at all. Despite her gusto at swinging her sabers with surprising strength and speed compared to her petite figure, the heiress is clearly self taught and has no former training. Judging from her age, which isn't too much older than Raphtalia, perhaps mother's lap dog doesn't want to train her as a fighter early on.
That, or maybe the gullible fool is too busy putting out whatever fire he starts himself to worry about the proper education and training for his daughter.
On the other hand, the daughter of Schnee obviously had proper training in using her rapier. It remains to be seen if she had actual good training or not, but proper training simply judging from her fast but even paced foot work. Or how she twist her wrist and arm to deliver most power behind her otherwise light weapon without sprain herself.
For a brief second, Mein wonders if Weiss is also using Aldori style considering its prestige and favoring fast, light weapon. There are certainly some techniques that looks close enough. She quickly dismisses that trail of thought when the Schnee dances away to dodge a double over head hack from Cute.
If there is one word to describe Aldori style, it would be 'ATTACK'.
If one wants a slightly longer and more elaborate explanation of the philosophy behind the style, it would come out as something like this: Find the weakness of your opponent, attack it with overwhelming offense and force them onto defense and then defeat.
Not to say the style encourage one to throw themselves onto opponent's blade, but to dodge an easily exploitable attack of the enemy to prioritize self-preservation first definitely goes against the style's 'offense is the best defense' mindset. And the Reichnott's double overhead chop is definitely easy to exploit, considering how she throws both of her arm back behind her head before delivering them.
"...when I was picked to foster under the royal family, it was like a dream come true. I will be knighted directly by her majesty the Queen, and her wise sage king-consort." Besides Mein, the Seatto heiress continue to pour her past and heart out to an audience that's only half listening.
It's as sad as her lack of self conscious that she's not so much as a squire under the Queen, so much as a political hostage to ensure her father stays in line.
"But now... now I'm not sure. The king went behind everyone's back to summon all heroes. Father... and so many of my people dead. I don't even have anywhere to return to." Éclair looks down at the moon reflected by the water of the fountain. "I miss my home. We aren't the richest, but we had enough and father made sure our people are well taken care of. Our knights are modest and humble, but honorable and steadfast. It's nothing like my life now, I don't know who I should serve anymore."
From the way Éclair describes her youth, it almost sounds like Lord Seatto's realm was a paradise on earth. Mein can relate to it, even if she's willing to bet her entire jewelry stash it's not true.
She had looked up to her father as a child. Father was a hero, both metaphorically and literally. But it's almost a disservice to say he was only a hero in her eyes. In fact, he was more like some kind of... super human who can do anything.
During the Plague of the Wailing Death in her youth, mother had all but give up on fighting against the plague and moved her strategy to how best mitigate the damage. It was father who brought the newly invented cure from Faubley and saved countless lives.
The image of the Wise Sage King who ended the Plague of Wailing Death has nothing in common with the barking old fool who summoned all four heroes, and continue to antagonize her Naofumi like an idiot.
"You know what they say about The GAME. It is 'All game, no sports'. " Mein whispers back to Éclair, earning a tired chuckle out of the dishonored knight. She puts one hand on Éclair's shoulder and looks up at the sky. "I didn't always act in good faith in mother's court, to say the least. But I also admired your family's strict adhesive to honor. It's not easy to take the highroad, when a court is filled with hungry balloons trying to devour whoever they can exploit."
Not exactly true, of course. But not a lie either. Any queen's court needs to have at least some faithful lords who will blindly throw their lives away to defend her. House Seatto fits the role of human shield rather nicely.
"But sometimes, honor comes in second if you want to see justice served. You have to learn how to play smart, and present your case in a way that the people in power will listen to. Especially when your enemies all fight dirty."
Eclair's head hangs down the railing at Mein's advice. No doubt, she doesn't always appreciate good advice on how to act properly in mother's court.
Mein rests one of her hand onto Eclair's shoulder. "Believe me, I know how you feel despite our obviously different upbringing. Back when I was young, I overheard a conversation between my parents. Mother wants to marry me to my Faubley uncle, and have another child to be her heir. I guess she didn't like how much I read my romance novels compared to how much time I did my studies."
The Seatto heiress' face is unreadable due to her pot helmet. But judging by how her face jerks up to look at Mein, she is clearly disturbed despite the faked attempt at levity by the princess at the end. Good, that means her attempt to drive the knight further away from mother is a success.
Mein has to admit, it's rather cynical, borderline despicable to exploit Éclair's moment of vulnerability and draw sympathy for herself. And the story she shared doesn't measure up to what the dishonored knight is going through in the slightest.
Here, Éclair lament the loss of her family, home, and dream, while Mein herself complain about being married off to her filthy rich uncle by her mother to live an easy life.
"I'm so sorry to hear that, your highness. I... I had no idea." The knight quickly whips her head away, it somehow looks like she is ashamed. "Here I'm complaining about my life, when I at least knew my father loved me and died to protect our people with his honor intact, and your mother had tried to bargain you for political gain..."
The princess in disguise feels her face heating up. She underestimated how sincere the knight is. "No, that's... quite alright."
"How did you deal with it?" Éclair's voice shakes a little, belying the mental state of the fallen noble. "Knowing you were raised as a political bargaining chip?"
Mein pulls her hand away shifts her weight a little to make her arms feel a bit more comfortable. She lets out a scoff, telling something that's not quite a lie. "Who says I did?"
"...Oh." Comes Éclair's eloquent response. The two of them return to silence, each lost in their own thoughts until a saber flies right into the wooden railing in front of them.
Mein looks forward, seeing the young Reichnott fallen on her behind in the training yard. Her other saber a good five paces away from her left hand. Her male servant and body guard quickly skits his way into the yard to pick the weapon, and helps his master stand up.
The Schnee girl has a cocky smirk on her face as she looks at them, the merchant's daughter obviously send one of Cute's saber towards them on purpose, that damned Bitch!
"You been watching our spar from start to finish, hedge knight." Weiss returns her rapier back to her waist with a flourish of her hand. "What did you think?"
Mein immediately turns to Éclair, alarm going loud in her head.
Don't take the bait, don't take the bait!
"Well, your fencing looks pretty like a dance." The smirk on Weiss' face grows deeper till Éclair finishes her response. "But they aren't very practical."
Of course, the Seatto heiress would reply in the most sincere manner.
The smirk on Schnee heiress' face quickly freezes into a disgusted frown. "Fancy yourself a master at arms, do you? You want to put your money where your mouth is and come down here, hedge knight?"
"No, you already had one fight, and your style rely on excessive movement. I won't take advantage of you, there's no honor in a duel when it's not fair." Éclair pulls Cute's saber off the wooden railing with ease. She walks down onto the training yard to hand it back to the young girl. The Reichnott doesn't seems to appreciate the gesture much, as she practically snaps the weapon out of Éclair's hand.
"Cute was barely a work out for me. And what does a hedge knight like you know about honor?" Weiss puts her hands on her waist, her eyes narrowing at Éclair's back.
"I'm- I may be a hedge knight, but I aspires to follow the Order of Silver Hand." The Seatto heiress quickly catches her mistake before she can give her true identity away. She turns around and begin to walk away. "Even if you don't mind a disadvantage, I will still do the honorable thing. Challenge me tomorrow after a rest, if you want to."
"It figures you look up to those old relics of House Seatto. You are all talk and no bites, just like those useless bucket head." Weiss is obviously trying to taunt Éclair, although the effect is undeniable as the knight stops her feet.
"What did you say?" Éclair slowly turns around, Mein can feel the heat coming from her glare without seeing her eyes.
"You heard what I said. Those knights, and old fool Seatto himself can pontificate all they want about honor . The fact of matter is: They are useless." The smirk is back on the merchant girl's face again. "They can't even survive the first wave where it's at its weakest. Chivalry and nobility is way past their time now, the future belong to those of us with coins. Who moves the resources, and the world forward."
"You want a duel? You got one." Mein pulls her sword out and walks around the bridge towards the arrogant Schnee. "I don't aspire to be a Silver Hand, I'll take your challenge."
Privately, the princess agree with the Schnee about House Seatto and their knights are idealistic idiots. But the merchant girl is now talking about a barely disguised rebellion about how lowly merchants are more important than knights and nobles. As a member of Melromarc royal house, she is bound to defend their honor and puts this lowly commoner back in her place.
Plus, the Schnee heiress somehow has a bigger ego than Mein herself, that's simply not going to fly around her.
Éclair's arm flies up to hold Mein back. The knight's voice is low, hiding barely contained anger similar to Naofumi when confronting the Sword Hero. "She asked for me."
"The Schnee girl is a fencer, not an adventurer or a soldier. she'll try to dazzle you with her fancy sword play." Mein walks with Éclair with a hand on her shoulder to the spot opposite to Weiss. She whispers into the knight's ear the tip her coach taught her when she first started fencing before walking out of their dueling ring. "Look at the whole, defend the one. React to her constant change by not change."
The favored weapon of Vice-Captain Zellus was the katana, but he definitely lives by the philosophy of Aldori style. Still, just because coach Zellus prefer on the offense doesn't mean he doesn't know how to protect himself. And he made sure he hammered the lesson into the princess before even teaching her Aldori style.
Mein doesn't know how good Éclair's swordplay is. But while the Sword Hero's fighting style is better suited for adventuring, she's willing to bet the knight's style is better suited to the chaotic battle field than one on one fencing. Some direction on how to take a fencer in one on one duel should only help.
But as the saying goes, "no plan survives contact with the enemy." And right now, the enemy certainly looked intimidating.
Weiss drew her personal rapier, with her left hand. Looking closely at the weapon, the blade bore a unique design with some kind of runic inscription, with six different glass vials containing clear liquid - held back in a revolving mechanism, with what appeared to be a crossbow's trigger and metallic stopper, ready to propel the liquid through a long, fluted barrel running parallel to the blade.
Damn that Schnee wench! Damn her for making one of the most beautiful rapiers ever forged! When even the first princess of Glorious Melromarc is forced to pick up the weapon of her fallen enemies on the battle field!
It might rival the likes of the legendary Lambent Light, Radiant Light, let alone the fabled Silvery Eternity. Well, it would, if not for that ridiculous gimmick at the hilt. She might as well hang a chandelier off it and light a torch at nighttime. Obviously a design inspired by the trick weapons of cowardly Faubley.
She wants to have a sword like that!
Combined with a clear knowledge of fencing, Eclair was fighting an uphill battle. At this point, the undercover princess could only hope.
Éclair gives a nod back to the princess as she settles into her stance. Feet properly apart, as she holds her sword up with both hand right on the center.
Weiss on the hand has her feet close together, as her snow white rapier points straight at Éclair, threatening the knight's entire body.
Behind her aggressive stance, the Reichnott girl is cheering her on. "Now you are going to get it! Big Sister Weiss is really STRONG!"
Éclair didn't react to Cute's taunt. Good, she is completely focused on her opponent and tuned the rest of the world out.
Her composure proves to be wise, as Weiss suddenly launches herself forward.
Aiming her pure white rapier forward, the heiress thrusted straight towards the hedge knight's helmet, parried at the last second when Éclair's steel Midgard broadsword came down to intercept her assault. "Do you honestly believe a plain steel sword is a match for my Mithril Myrtenaster?"
The princess get the impression Weiss isn't talking about their respective weapons.
The white rapier circles like clockwork, deflecting from Éclair's head, to her left shoulder to left thigh, and finally towards her lower body on the right from the Schnee's subsequent starboard spinning slash. Éclair's voice is as steady as a rock. "Yes."
"Because to be plain... is to be reliable."
A second thrust was redirected from Eclair's right, forcing Weiss to break away from the confrontation momentarily.
Weiss then kept Éclair on her toes, lightly slashing to the right, then the left, then thrusted right again, forward, left, left again, spun around to her right before finally lunging forward. (1)
Too bad Éclair was disciplined enough to redirect each strike with minimal motion.
Now it was her turn - she would cross blades, knock the rapier aside, follow up with an upper slash, then hammer down on a chop to force a block from the Schnee. (2)
Breaking away, Weiss forced her back with a couple jabs, before accelerating forward. She backflips over Seatto's low sweep to the right, before backstepping off of the following left slash from the knight's sword.
Éclair's downward swing was blocked by the high guard of the white rapier, before the knight simply flipped both their sword arms over, weapons pointed to the ground, before elbowing the pale-faced heiress with the armored sword hand, and finally shoving Weiss aside to stumble away. (3)
The hedge knight redirected a thrust aimed for her face, slamming both swords towards the ground, skidding back from the force of Weiss' momentum …
… Before Éclair threw up the blade lock towards the roof, and seized on the moment to attempt a thrust that was parried aside. (4)
With the two advancing towards each other, Weiss saw her high slash shoved down to the ground once more, with the knight tucking in under the following slash to the left. (5)
Blocking another high slash, Éclair then hammered the broadsword down like a club to force Weiss back, something that could be felt by her trembling body. (6)
Spinning to her right, Éclair twirled her sword for a downwards chop, forcing Weiss to backflip away, before proceeding to propel forward through an [Air Glide], sending her up through the parried impact, gracefully spinning in the air.
Dodging another downward chop to her left, Weiss slashed to her left into a lunge, propelling herself up from the parry of Eclair's rising slash, before spinning to her right into two more lunges. (7)
Éclair then spins into a right slash, forcing Weiss to duck, before a diagonal left overhead, forced Weiss to crouch and tuck in, before the knight places both hands on the blade and pushes Weiss back, before a side roll allowed the Schnee to dodge Eclair's push kick. (8)
When the two swung their blades, the two weapons made a crisp clang, leaving Éclair's steel sword with a small chip where the rapier made impact.
A weapon of much superior material despite its lighter weight. If Mein has to make a guess, there is at least some Mithril in the merchant girl's blade even if pure 'mythical silver' won't give off its snow white coloration. Either that, or Weiss' training allowed her superior arm strength given how solid steel rapiers were relatively heavy when wielded with one hand.
The Schnee pivots her body around at lightning speed, trying to catch Éclair off guard on the opposite side.
The result was the same, as Éclair quickly brought her arm and sword up to block another strike from Weiss.
Weiss then defaults to her signature stance - shoulder tucked in, dominant arm bent towards the face, wrist bent, holding her blade straight at the opponent, as she circles towards the hedge knight. It serves as a high guard to protect her face and allows her to thrust at a moment's notice.
Éclair, in contrast, guards herself with the blade resting on her off hand, ready to thrust.
As the two resumed their advance, Weiss ran forward, slid, and backflipped away from Eclair's downwards chop. (9)
Weiss then dashed forward into an upwards slash before backflipping again and crouching on the ground, deflecting the knight's lower left slash with her own lower right slash. (10)
Weiss spins left, thrusts, spins right, right slash, thrusts again, then finishes with an upper slash, sending Éclair off balance on the floor. (11)
The two of them continue to exchange blows as a crowd of guards starts to gather. Weiss is obviously the much faster combatant, but her excessive body movements allows Éclair to catch up by only moving her hand to bring up her sword at the last moment.
While the two heiresses go at each other, Mein catches a certain figure walking up from the grand staircase. The Count's Romalian steward is slowly coming back to the keep with half shut eyes. He's the perfect candidate she is looking for, and the crowd of guards watching and commenting on the ongoing duel gives her the perfect opportunity to blend into the background.
She quickly slips away behind the guards and walks up to the steward as he crosses the bridge. Taking out a ring from her inner garments, she quickly shoves it into the hand of the confused balding man. "A moment of your time, Sir Steward."
The eyebrow of the Romalian rises up to where his hairline would have been. He obviously wonders if this is an awkward attempt at bribery. As the steward looks down into his hand, his eye grows as large as a saucer. His head jerks up to stare at the princess turned adventurer standing before him.
Mein points at her cloth mask pulled over her mouth. It's not exactly the same cloth mask with a stylized 'silent' gesture like the Faubley Unspeakable uniform, but it carries her message across.
"I'll arrange it immediately." The steward nods his head and whispers to the princess. He quickly ducks his head down and picks up his paces as he enters Dragonsreach keep.
The princess turns her attention back to the dueling ring. It appears that the merchant's daughter is slowly losing her cool at her lack of progression.
Weiss was not to be undone, and so a v-shape formed from her diagonal strikes. "[Vertical Arc]".
Éclair scoffed at the pathetic twin strikes, easily parrying the telegraphed strikes.
Spinning like a top, however, Weiss spun to her right, slashing all the while. "[Treble Scythe]."
Grunting against the spinning motion, the knight found herself pushed back a little, still sticking the landing. She raised an eyebrow at just what trick she had next up her large, poofy sleeves. Whatever it was, the battle was beginning to intensify.
Weiss then jumps back out of Éclair's reach and twirls her rapier, from which a dozen rays of white light seems to explode out of her sword, spinning and lunging forward as she dashes at the Seatto knight before her, forcing the knight to . "[Screwdriver]."
This is quickly turning from a 'friendly' sparring match to a true duel. While it's not explicitly written, there's a general understanding that one does not use weapon arts, or offensive abilities in a spar with a friend. Especially not with a high level weapon art that's designed to kill.
"[Divine Grace]." Éclair's body is enveloped by a splendid golden glow as she finally deem the situation dire enough to activates her Paladin class ability to boost her parrying abilities. The Midgard broadsword in her hands seems to turn into a windmill as fast clunks and pops echo in front of Dragonsreach. Her posture not breaking by the end.
The next charge from the merchant's daughter saw her leaping above the knight's sweep, and hanging on the ceiling, corkscrewing her body right as she thrusts down on the ground, with Eclair backstepping out of the way as Weiss thrusted against a mid-stance parry.
The lower right sweep allowed Weiss to spin rightwards and leaps up to avoid it …
... before the finishing thrust sent the hedge knight back. (12)
Recollecting themselves, the two stared at each other as they now planned to leave no quarter from now on.
A haughty, spoiled brat, against a world-weary noble. Both fencers of noble blood, but the true duel had only just begun.
Around Mein, House Whiterun's guards of Midgard descent start to loudly cheer for Éclair, while booing Weiss.
End Note:
Originally, this chapter was all about Malty on how she interact with different people: Naofumi, Eclair, and Balgruuf. Although Eclair kind of stole her thunder at the end with her well choreographed fight with Weiss (that's still mostly to come). But I'm not complaining.
Because Poor, POOR Eclair. She's either forgotten by the fandom author, brushed aside because of her late appearance (or probably because she doesn't chase after Naofumi), or turned into a wooby by writers like Allen Blaster... and myself. She deserves her share of spot light.
On that front, while my chief editor (now promoted to also be the action director) Ace-Triad obviously deserves all the credit for their dueling scene, the idea of having a long running rivalry between Eclair and Weiss is from myself. Because I think a rivalry between them with RotSH's setting is absolutely perfect: Eclair is the humble heiress of a fallen noble, while Weiss is the prideful heiress of a rich merchant. And they are kind of at the turn of era where the old school chivalry and nobility is starting to give way to budding industrialist and tycoons. While I obviously give Naofumi the Captain America motif, the theme of the fear of obsolescence fit much better with Eclair.
Eclair's personal theme: Honor For All (Dishonored)
Guest review time.
To Guests:
There will be a bit more explained on the Goddess statue in Not Whiterun in a later chapter, because I'm a worldbuilding lore whore.
:P
Originally, there was going to be some actual political stuff between Malty and Lord Balgruuf in this chapter. It kind of got shoved down the next chapter with the massively expanded duel scene. Hope you are enjoying the story so far.
And while I won't give away how much role the Carthas Company will play in my story, I do try to make an effort that the things mentioned in my story eventually does play a role.
As our whole discussion with Arcane vs Science civilization. Well... obviously I was kind of over simplifying the possibilities when I said 'arcane civilization' in general, since there are many different ways an arcane civilization can play out, even down to how many people can actually use 'magic'. It could be that everyone can use magic as long as they fit the criteria (some kind of study/training), most people can use magic, or the minority can use magic. Since I was talking about FoZ, I get the feeling you are talking about this last case.
I hope I don't come off as dismissive on your opinion, because you give very good analysis with your point. But I think there is a blind spot your analysis is based on, which to be fair a lot of writers who do this arcane society meet a science outsider tend to also overlook. I believe magical law should be an universal law that applies to everybody, even to the people who can't readily use it with their body or a focus. The only time I can kind of accept Magic Law doesn't apply to those who can't use it is in a work that's like Harry Potter, where Arcane civilization and Science civilization both exist in the same world but one is hidden from the other, since in that case the 'Magic' Law is sort of an anomaly to science law that can only be discovered by those who are aware of them.
Going back to Familiar of Zero again, the world is established to have only an Arcane civilization even if they also have technology that's based more on our world (the musket). Back to my hypothesis of magic law should be an universal law that apply to everyone who can't readily use it. The oppression of the magic using elite class would inevitably cause dissent, and resistance movement to slowly build up within the oppressed mundane population. While most will have no choice but to simply suffer through the oppression because the nobility's obvious magic power, there will start to have outliers who start to try and find some kind of equalizer between two group, thus inadvertently progress the technology level by trying to make tools that even the mundane population can use to achieve the same result as magic using nobles.
One can argue the church, AKA organization that's designed to enforce and maintain social structure will put a stop to such action, which I agree. But each success they have at actually crush the opposition, and the years in between where no outlier try to bridge the social gap between nobility and commoner will inevitably start to great complacency within the organization therefore making the organization slowly rust away and eventually become too ineffective at actually crush all possible opposition.
In conclusion. I personally found the situation the author created for Familiar of Zero to be highly improbable if not flat out impossible, where the society is essentially kept in a stasis for over a few thousand years despite the obvious class conflict. Which to be fair, I'm sure FoZ's author wasn't trying to craft a believable world, they just want to craft an interesting situation (an outsider from scientific civilization misplaced into an arcane civilization) and tell a story with that situation. So I don't mind invoking suspension of disbelief to experience an unique story. But I do not believe an actual arcane society would progress like FoZ where it's been kept in status quo somewhere around Renaissance Era.
Considering who the POV character is in this story, I think it reads like it's from a racist is intended.
;)
To HeshGerlan:
Thank you very much for your review, glad you are enjoying the story so far and hope you will continue to have a good time.
Okay... your case isn't really what I was talking about. Since I was talking about the technology level progress of Arcane Civilization. Not how an open confrontation between an Arcane Civilization and Scientific Civilization would go if they are at the same overall tech level.
Regarding your opinion... I think it's safe to say the result is a can of worm since there are too many different way to interpret what qualify as an 'arcane' civilization. Is it a more esoteric modern magic system like Harry Potter, or a more classic one based on Aristotle philosophy like Familiar of Zero? Because I think Earth, Water, and Wind would probably be classified as kinetic, and Fire would probably be classified as energy.
But yeah... now my head is hurting probably like yours.
Editor's Note from Ace-Triad:
Hi, Ace-Triad here. Not only would I like to thank the readers for supporting the story so far, but I would like to make an announcement regarding one of the scenes in this chapter.
Given that I am a huge fan of RWBY's choreography, I requested Qinlongfei, the author, for permission to improve upon Weiss and Eclair's fight scene, which would have been much shorter.
As a result, we have decided to give you a two-for-one update on this chapter, with the duel between Weiss and Eclair ending the first part here, before its conclusion in the second update very soon.
I have also placed footnotes so that you can understand what I thought of when I wrote this masterpiece.
It borrows from the White Trailer in (1) and (7), the Volume 2 Train Fight in "No Brakes in (8-12), the Last Jedi Throne Room Fight in (3-6), and Scene 38 Reimagined in (2).
I hope you will enjoy what I have to offer!