“Is this really necessary? Don’t we have other people waiting for us?” Bryson complained loudly towards his sister Sable who was currently standing in the training area with Kristel.

“Like I said before, they can wait. They need the rest anyways.” Sable said cooly as she drew out her greatsword with a blade nearly as wide as she was and even taller than her. Bryson could feel the magic emanating from the thing, he wasn’t sure how she was able to move it around like it was weightless. Bryson never did understand why she used a blade with such a head, but it clearly worked for her.

“Wait, is that your actual weapon? Not a training one?” Bryson exclaimed once he recognized Sable’s weapon.

“Why not? We’re both professionals, Kristel’s been trained by a royal guard. It will be good practice.” She said dismissively as she waved her blade around. It looked even more comical as being a year younger than Kristel she looked even smaller with the sword.

“Only for two months.” Bryson said exasperated, “What if you hurt her?”

“Aren’t you protective?” Sable said accusingly.

“Because she’s fighting you!” Bryson said completely flabbergasted over this strange turn of events.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means that you are a dangerous fighter?” Bryson said only getting more confused as this conversation went on.

“You think I’m that good?” Sable said taken aback.

“Uh, yes? I’ve seen you fight.” Bryson said. What is happening? He thought internally.

“I will be fine Lord Bryson. I will not disappoint you.” Kristel said giving him a deep bow before drawing her own longsword out. Unlike the training sword she was using earlier it was made of a fine magma meteor-forged steel longsword.

The hilt wrapped in comfortable leather was carved out of fine Wrabuth ironwood and lined with traces of mithril to reinforce it. At the pommel of the sword laid a small orange gemstone embedded in it. The blade of the sword had several engravings etched onto it to magically enchant it. It was just as well made and custom suited as Sable’s sword was.

“Where did you get that?” Sable said recognizing how special that sword was.

“Lord Bryson gifted it to me.” Kristel said rather proudly.

“You gave her that?” Sable said with a scowl on her face.

“Why wouldn’t I? She needs it? It was the same time I was finding her a hairpin.” Bryson said feeling as though he was never getting an answer to his confusion.

“You gave her a what?” Sable screamed.

“A hairpin. Mother bugged her old one.” Bryson said with a helpless shrug.

“Wait, what?” Sable said blindsided by this revelation.

“Duchess Coldwater put a tracker in my hairpin?” Kristel said surprised.

“That’s surprising.” Florence said blinking in recognition of this strange fact.

“Oh! So is that how she followed us to that weirdo’s home?” Lottie asked.

“Yeah. Mother told me. Which is why I needed to replace the hairpin.”

“Still! You personally gave her both the sword and the hairpin!” Sable accused, getting back on the main subject. A subject that Bryson still didn’t know about.

“I had to. It’s an expensive custom magic sword, they don’t just hand it out.” Bryson said his hands still raised up to his shoulders wondering what was wrong.

“But you didn’t need to give her the hairpin!”

“Why is that the thing you’re so focused on?” Bryson asked.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“Because! Shut up Bryson!” Sable shouted back as she turned her attention back to Kristel who stared back at her with grim determination.

“Seriously? Why is she asking like this?” Bryson asked turning to Florence.

“It does make sense why you wouldn’t know. You’ll realize why later.” Florence said.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Bryson asked only to be answered with silence.

“Fine. But are you really going to let them fight? With real weapons?” Bryson asked after a moment.

“I’m not happy about this.” Florence admitted, “But I have seen them both fight, they should be able to be safe as long as I intervene. Besides, do you want to get in between them right now?”

“No.” Bryson said begrudgingly agreeing with her.

“Once they tire themselves out I will stop them.” Florence promised him.

“You better.” Bryson grumbled.

***

Afa lounged in her throne room as she flicked through her viewscreen with a wry smile on her face. She giggled to herself as she watched the armies of the damned prepare themselves for the combat to come.

Yes, train your little soldiers. My heroes will crush them all. She giggled to herself. Don’t worry that brat Bryson will be joining your forces in a few years. She thought gleefully before remembering the current state of Bryson soured her mood.

I feel as though he’s ruining all my plans. It’s as if those girls all like him or something. Afa thought as she began to view where Bryson was and was confused over what she was seeing.

It appeared as though that Sable Coldwater was about to battle… Kristel? That’s a peculiar sight to behold. Afa couldn’t understand the purpose of this. This looked different from what Afa had in mind.

Kristel around this time should have been caught by Bryson Coldwater and turned into his personal slave now. But Kristel was not in chains, in fact she looked extremely well off currently with all her nice clothing and fancy looking sword. She wasn’t supposed to look like this, at least not yet. She needed to look pretty, but pathetic. Not this strange determination that she had currently on her face.

Though Kristel’s current opposite was another sign of concern for Afa. Sable was using a massive sword to fight. If that thing she was using could even be called that. It lacked a sharp tip instead it was flat and the blade was as wide and tall as she was. It was a ridiculous sight to behold.

Sable Coldwater was supposed to be an elegant fencer who heavily relied on ice magic using wit and cunning to face her opponents. Not some dumb lumbering oaf that smashed through her problems.

“What is happening?” She asked out loud.

***

“Ready?” Sable asked. Kristel responded with a quick nod.

“Then don’t wait for me.” She said before surging forward to strike Kristel.

Bringing her weapon down like a clever Sable aimed to squash Kristel who was able to parry the strike. The barrage didn’t stop as Sable continued to hack and slash at her, Kristel in response struggled to keep up.

“What’s the matter? Bryson said you were good! Fight back!” Sable shouted at her.

Kristel seemed to suddenly get more determined and after a massive swing from Sable, Kristel ducked under it. Expecting some sort of pushback from Kristel, Sabel was not expecting her to avoid it outright. The force Sabel put behind the swing sent her stumbling forward and Kristel was now behind her.

Sable looked back in shock just as Kristel landed a nasty thrust kick into the small of her back sending her sprawling into the dirt.

“Ergh.” Bryson grimaced watching on the sidelines.

“Mmm.” Florence said starting to debate whether or not this was the appropriate time to step in. Though she doubted that Sable would accept it.

“Hey Sable! You were swinging wildly! You need to remember to have proper form when striking! Especially against a real opponent!” Lottie coached.

“Shut up brat!” Sable yelled back as she angrily got up and raised her blade at Kristel again.

Only this time instead of charging forward the sword began to glow. There’s no way… is that a spell? Bryson thought watching.

Sure enough out of the massive sword erupted a cone of flame. Immediately Kristel leapt out of the way, barely avoiding getting singed. In response, Sable then casted out several arcane missiles hammering everything but Kristel.

“Stand still!” Sable screamed as she took the opportunity to charge forward as Kristel tried to regather herself.

“Did she just use that slab of metal as a wand?” Bryson said in disbelief.

“She is very adept at spellcasting.” Florence said nodding her head.

“It makes sense. Using her sword as a wand would mean she wouldn’t need to switch weapons in a fight. Still at her age to be able to do this is insane.” Bryson mumbled.

“Aren’t you better at magic then her though?” Lottie asked Bryson.

“Huh, uh… I guess.” Bryson said.

“Also isn’t your entire family really good with magic?”

“They have high levels of mana, yes.”

“So isn’t it normal for her to be able to do this?”

“In a sense, yes. But I think your sense of normality has been extremely corrupted by who you hang out with.” Bryson pointed out.

“Maybe.” Lottie said with a shrug, “But I hang out with you so it’s cool.”

“Would you stop chatting!” Sable shouted out, momentarily taking her eyes of Kristel to glare at them. Her mistake.

Kristel came soaring next to Sable and smashed into the flat of Sable’s blade with her armoured shoulder and knocked the smaller girl down to the ground for the second time.

“Grraahh!” Sable shouted in frustration as she landed onto the floor. Quickly she raised up her sword and out launched a bolt of fire that was quickly cut down by Kristel who then surged forwards and disarmed Sable.

Sable simply looked up wide-eyed in astonishment as Kristel stood there with her blade pointed directly at her face mere centimetres away.

Did Sable just lose? Bryson thought in disbelief.