“Why Father? I have already told you! I don't want to get engaged. I want to enter the Royal Knight Academy.”

“Clara, I have already told you. We need their strength in order to survive the demon invasion. So I need you to marry their son! This is my final decision!”

In a house, which was rather small for an aristocratic family, on the edge of the noble residential district, two people were arguing after dinner.

On one side was a blond man in his prime who stood over 180 centimetres tall. His broad chest and shoulders, as well as his thick arms, indicated that he was not afraid of physical activities. And indeed, the uniform he was currently wearing showed that he served the Valkyria Kingdom as a knight.

Opposing him was his ten-year-old daughter Clara. Like her father, she was also quite tall for her age, as her height measurement was well over 140 centimetres. Her long, blue dress, adorned with accessories, and her waist-length, blonde, curled hair literally screamed to the world, that she was a young noble lady. Usually, she was someone full of pride, but her current appearance proved otherwise, as tears were forming in her eyes due to the fight with her father.

It was not that she was particularly opposed to getting engaged. She was a noble, after all. It's her duty to marry and give birth to offspring at some point. The problem was the family she was supposed to marry into. Since the policy had changed as the new King Loki ascended the throne, many higher aristocrats had been taking in commoners with a magical talent to use them as sacrificial pawns during the coming demon invasion.

This, however, rubbed Clara the wrong way. Nobles had to be proud and strong, and they had to be the ones doing the fighting and protecting, not the other way around. So she did not like the idea of hiding behind commoners for safety at all. After all, that was her late grandfather's way of life, always fighting on the front lines and helping those in need. Although he had died when she was very young, she was still able the remember clearly, how her grandfather had taught her about noblesse oblige.

Her belief only strengthened further when she found out about the cause of his death a few years ago. At the suggestion of some commoners, her grandfather, at that time the Knight Commander, was sent to another world to fetch some random guy to help defend the country against the demons. To make matters worse, it was even the fault of those commoners, who had risen to the top because of the former king's laws, that the plan had ended in a failure, resulting in her grandfather's death.

Clara could no longer understand the world.

Why would the king allow some plans made by weak, uneducated commoners to be carried out? Why was a commoner in charge of this plan?

Why should they hope that some random guy from another world will become the saviour of this one?

Why did her grandfather participate in such a plan? Was he forced to? Why did he have to die for that? Why was her family also demoted for that failure?

And why would her father insist on connecting with a family that has no pride as a noble at all and hides behind commoners? Isn't this the same as trampling on her grandfather's teachings?

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Clara can't let that happen. She was still very young when her beloved grandfather, whom she looked up to, who had taught her about noblesse oblige... so this is her only remaining memory of him. She had to protect it at all costs. So, she was determined to enter the Royal Knight Academy to become a knight, and eventually, a commander herself, to fight for those who couldn't. But at the thought that her feelings couldn't reach her father, all she could do was cry.

“I hate you! You are no longer my father”

With tears dripping down her face she stormed out of the house. Not caring that her actions were completely unbecoming of a growing noble lady, she just kept running as far as her legs carried her.

Only half an hour later she come to herself again to notice that she was in an area of the capital she had never been to before. It seemed to be a market square for the common folk. The stares she received from passers-by indicated that her dress, full of accessories, was sticking out like a sore thumb. Fortunately, or unfortunately, her mental state had more pressing matters than worrying about the commoners around her. So she walked over to a bench by the side of the main road and sat down to catch her breath and to calm herself.

Looking around her, she noticed that there were already a few guards, disguised as civilians, in the vicinity to watch over her. Though her family was demoted, she was still the daughter of a viscount. Of course, her father had sent guards to follow and protect her from the shadows. They would probably take her back home sooner or later, but for now, it seemed that her father had ordered them to let her calm herself down at first. But still, the anger at her parent did not subside.

“Stupid Father... *sob* I miss you, Grandfather Rick... why did you have to die because of weak commoners?”

Although she was known to be especially wise for a ten-year-old child, she was, in the end of the day, still a child. There was no way she could understand what was going on in her father's mind, that he had to abandon his, and his father's way of life to protect his child and his family. That an alliance via marriage with a stronger family would increase his house's odds of survival. So, Clara could only inwardly reprimand her father for betraying her, and blame the commoners for failing the ritual and thus killing her grandfather as result.

'There's no way a commoner can fight against demons... As expected, I don't like them at all..'

And her image of them certainly didn't improve, as she surveyed her surroundings. In her eyes, all the people passing by were so weak, that most of them would lose even against her, a ten-year-old girl, in a one-on-one fight. While some of them did indeed look physically strong, she doubted that they could fight properly with a sword or cast any powerful magic. After all, brute strength was not everything. Besides, their appearance and behaviour also bothered her. While some of them wore dirty or too-revealing clothes, others had bad manners like eating while walking, something that was considered vulgar in the noble ranks.

The only exception was the little girl, probably two or three years younger than her, who just walked past Clara. Although her red, dress-like clothes were quite simple from an aristocrat's point of view, they still were of high quality when compared to the attire of the other commoners. The girl's clear, red eyes, which matched her red hair, and the well-formed, somewhat childish, yet nonetheless cute face literally drew the eyes of everyone around her. Clara was no exception.

'Fufufu, her face literally screams “I'm a country bumpkin!”' Clara thought, delighted at the expression on the younger girl's face as she explored the town. Unfortunately, her joy didn't last long.

“Dammit, shitty brat, hurry up!” The reason was a vulgar man, who was probably the girl's father. He had suddenly pushed her, causing her to fall to the ground, when she walked too slowly in front of him.

“I'm sorry.” The red-haired girl stood up immediately, not losing the happy expression on her face.

'Is this how commoners treat their own?' Clara couldn't help but be shocked at how commoners would treat their children.

This thought only made her heart ache, for she had always been treated like a treasure by her father. The blonde was well aware, that her entire family and even the servants adored her. She was treated like a princess despite 'only' being the daughter of a viscount. So she couldn't help but feel a bit of sympathy for the child when she saw the difference in treatment they both received.

“I should return home soon and apologise to Father. But before that...” Clara got up and stealthily followed the father-daughter pair (temp.), curious about their relationship and why they behaved as they did.

After stalking them at a safe distance for a while, as dusk fell, the man suddenly yanked at the red-haired girl's arm and dragged her roughly into a dark alley. The expression on his face, which Clara managed to catch, was very close to the greedy, lustful, selfish, and vulgar ones of some of the nobles she had met at social gatherings before. So, concerned for the younger girl's safety, she followed them into the alley.

'I have a bad feeling about this.'