“Hi mom.” Mary cried, practically flying off Elwood as she threw herself into her mother’s arms. While she hadn't noticed how much she missed her parents while abroad, seeing them waiting for her arrival made her squeal in joy. She was really looking forwards to a few months of the life the capital offered. Adventuring was fun but nothing was able to beat the feeling of home, something Starshadow seemed to agree upon as he let out a greeting in the sky. Mary seperated herself from her mother and received a hug from her father as well.
She could see the curiosity in her parents eyes as they looked at Taimanu so she decided to introduce her best friend to her family.
“Mom, dad, this is Taimanu of the Moonlynx tribe. She is the daughter of the chieftain and my friend.
Tai, meet my parents Diane and Branston Falconbridge.”
“A pleasure to meet you young lady.” Her parents greeted Taimanu who responded in kind, though she obviously intimidated by the huge mansion in the background. The aura her father gae off could have something to do with that as well, so Mary glared at him.
“Stop intimidating my friend dad!” While her father didn't stop immediately her sentence had the desired effect of snapping Tai out of it as she had been trained her to resist such things just like Mary. Sadly as of yet both of them lacked the ability to train their team to do the same as they didn't have the manapools of their fathers.
“I'm sorry but I had to test your friend. Beastkin that leave their tribe are rare and only the children of their leaders get trained to resist such attacks while the rest are not so it was the best way to test if she is who she claims. I was told it’s a safety measure to ensure the continued reign of the leaders. I do have to commend your friend though, suppressing something like that after a single sentence is quite commendable.
Now that we made sure you actually are a beastkin noble please excuse my rude welcoming but I do have to make sure my daughter is safe. Come in, lunch will be ready in two hours. Mary you can show your friend around the house. The maids will get your luggage in your rooms, I assume you’ll want her to be near your room?” Mary nodded, tugged at her friends arm and started showing her her home.
First she went to show her the room she would stay at in the next days and showed her how to use the stuff in the bathroom. Afterwards they went into the library, something that Tai wasn't all that interested in as her friend lacked the patience for learning new knowledge Mary had.
Afterwards they had a short visit to her mom’s laboratory and the dining hall. The actual mansion wasn't really interesting, the outside was.
“Where do you want to go first, the maze, falcons or the training grounds?” Mary asked.
“Maze.”
“Let's go. The maze spans over the biggest part of the property, using up over half of the available space. It’s really easy to get lost if you are unfamiliar with the setup, but if you keep two facts I'm not allowed to tell you in mind it’s next to impossible to get lost. Alternatively you can also get a token from the guard captain that will always show you the way to the closest exit to the maze while allowing them to track your whereabouts. Back when I was a kid I always drove my maid in near insanity when I hid somewhere within. But most importantly there is one spot I spent most of my mornings on. I was there every morning since I joined house Falconbridge except three before joining the academy.
Only minutes after entering the maze Mary led Taimanu to the fountain she used to watch the sun rise so many times.
“Welcome to the best spot of the entire property, nothing is quite as relaxing as sitting here and watching the sky slowly get brighter while listening to the water splashing down the fountain.” She explained. “I think I’ll have to increase the ambient mana in here while I am home.” She thought to herself.
“I can see why you like the place but are you sure it’s possible for me to get lost in such a small maze, you know we got trained in traversing them if we ever had to go after a minotaur?”
“I am. The maze will constantly change its layout once someone without a token enters. Alternatively all of my family is included in the enchantment which will automatically open a path to the outside should we so desire. Without it you will never get out, the enchantment will change its layout to trap anyone else within.”
“And why do you have something like that?”
“It’s a security measure as the easiest way to enter our property is through the back and so you have to go through the maze. Anyone who enters it that way will be detained until the guards can take care of them.”
“So it's a trap to keep any that would mean to harm your family detained disguised as a decadent part of your mansion? Are you sure it's ok to tell me?”
“Yep, my dad tested you and said you are ok so I can tell you small secrets like that. Anyways, we can go have fun with the maze later, we only have a little more than an hour left until lunch and I'm sure you don't want to miss that!”
“I'm ok to go without every once in a while, my tribe didn't even eat lunch.”
“You don't want to miss this one, the stuff in the academy doesn't compare to food prepared by a real chef.”
“Your family has its own chef?”
“Of course, my dad is a powerful noble and my mom one of the empire’s most accomplished researchers in magic.”
“Shouldn't he be more than a baron than?”
“He was but the emperor wanted to prove a point and so he lost his previous title with his land.”
“How powerful are we speaking about” Tai asked.
“As powerful as they get. My dad was the sixth grand duke of the empire. He was solely responsible for governing the whole northern front with only very few other nobles that he used to hold the most important cities.”
“That's why there are so many commoners from the north, there are just no nobles living there?”
“Now that my dad isn't responsible there are lots of new nobles up there, but they don't have kids that are old enough to attend yet.”
The rest of the tour was over fast and they arrived at the dining hall just in time for lunch. The meal’s quality was just like Mary remembered it to be. Tai seemed to agree as she did not way a single word while eating and had a continues expression of bliss on her face the whole time.
“How was your journey?” Her mom questioned afterwards.
“Quite enjoyable. We didn't meet anything too dangerous after the first week.”
“And what happened in the first week? How dangerous was whatever you encountered?” Her mom queried with a dangerous glint in her eyes.
“We had a runin with an elder treecat after leaving the academy and had to make a small detour to get its bounty. Nothing to worry about really.” Mary answered.
“Normal monsters don't have a special bounty! What are you omitting to tell us?” There was a certain tone in her mother’s voice, a tone she knew all too well.
“The treecat may or may not have been legendary in the east. It’s confirmed to have killed at least seven powerful teams by itself and was suspected to have killed at least double that number.”
“And you killed it. Congratulations.” Her father said with a grin. He probably knew of the encounter ever since they entered the city to claim the bounty.
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Her mother was glaring at her for taking the risk of even trying to kill it as she did not believe anything would manage to sneak up on her. A reasonable assumption as long as she stayed above ground. Once she entered a cave complex or sent Starshadow to scout the surroundings detecting enemies got a lot harder. Luckily her dad came to rescue, saving Mary from further interrogation.
“So what do you plan to do with your friend?”
“I’ll show her around the capital. She should get to see the bright sides of our culture as well, not just the small province towns we entered so far. I'm thinking of the theater, the palace garden, the grand plaza and more stuff like that.”
“Perhaps you should go in the craftsmen district as well, she can get some gifts for her tribe.” Her mom suggested. “You can also try and get new armor as yours will soon unfitting for an adventurer of your power.”
“That's a good idea, if you don't mind Tai was going to introduce me to her tribe as well. She always has these stories about them and I want to see a real beastkin tribe for once.”
“Go right ahead, though only for a small visit.”
“Only to see her off, I plan to do some research with mom in the next months, I got several new ideas to test out with actual equipment rather than the sorry excuse for a lab that I had access to as a first year.” That seemed to wash away the rest of her mom’s anger of not being informed she had had a fight to the death.
“So how is your schedule?”
“I was hoping you could come with us to the courtyard dad, Tai is an ice mage as well and I'm sure you could give her some suggestions of how to improve herself.”
“Sure I don't have that much to do right now, I wouldn't mind helping your friend. At least if she is willing to?”
“Yes. Yes. I definitely am.” Tai squealed.
“Great than that's settled.” Mary said. “I can't wait to show some of your new guards how much they still need to train.” She grinned.
“Go easy on them. They are good lads.”
“I always go easy on them I don't even use magic.” She said with an evil grin.
They went towards the training grounds together afterwards. While her father and Tai went towards the magic range Mary started observing the few guards training right now. With the way the personal guard of her father was structured there were always several guards training throughout the day, a fact Mary had abused ever since she had first been able beat some of the less skilled guards in single combat. Like always she first looked for newcomers, they always were the most fun as they underestimated her as the ‘noble brat’. She was legendary among the whole guardforce for teaching the, the error of their thought.
It seemed she was in luck as one of the training guards was new. He looked quite skilled so this should prove fun.
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Emeric really liked his new workplace. He had only been a normal city guard for most of his life with no prospect of advancement so when the offer for a better job came he had been delighted. While he had been a bit hesitant to work for a noble he had been told that this particular noble had the best reputation in the city.
Taking the chance was the correct choice, it had been the best decision of his life. He and another forty nine people had started a hellish training regime. In the first three months they only had physical exercise, determining the best combination of weapons and training how to use them. Afterwards the real training started. The captain of the baron’s guardforce took over and made sure the next five months of his life were miserable. Ten hours of physical exercise a day and an additional three hours for education with only a single day off per week. It had been hell but the pay and food were good enough for him and eleven others to suffer through all of it.
Out of their group only two had been selected to enter the personal guardforce of the lord while the rest were offered work somewhere else, guarding one of the many enterprises their employer had all over the continent.
Now, even though the captain stopped personally training them a ridgid training regime had been ingrained in his very bones and he, together with the other guards was training at least a few hours a day.
Today was such a day once again, he and a few others were training while the rest were doing their duties. He had heard today was the day the daughter of the house would come back, she was well liked with the older guards even though there was a small amount of fear mixed within. He really wondered how that strange combination of feelings came in play.
Suddenly he heard the sound of magic hitting the training dummies so he and his partner stopped their training to see who joined them. They were quite surprised to see the baron himself standing there with a small beastkin nearly hidden by his large frame.
“Do you know her?” He asked.
“No, never seen her myself but perhaps the young lady returned with a friend.” He looked at the old guard, the doubt clear in his eyes.
“A noble that works with anything other than a human, are you kidding me?”
“Have you seen the other guards you idiot? House Falconbridge doesn't care about race at all!” His partner snapped at him. “And don't let anyone hear that attitude, they are picky about something like that. Let's get back to training, I still want to get some training before you are done.” He wondered what the man meant by that but ultimately let it slide as they continued their practice. Within a minute of restarting his partner suddenly stopped, bowed to someone behind him and retreated.
“He is all yours Lady Falconbridge.” Turning around Emeric could see a stunning looking young girl standing behind him who must be the daughter of the house. He bowed as well.
“How can I help you Lady Falconridge?”
“You see, there is a small thing every new guard has to do with me, I'm sure you wouldn't mind it would you?”
“What would you have me do?” He asked, sweat forming on his back.
“Oh that's easy, you just have spar with me.” He could do that, he would have to make sure to go easy on her, she was just a young girl after all. She already chose her weapon, a normal longsword capable of being wielded with both one or two hands, a good choice for someone small. He himself prefered fighting with a shield and shortsword. While that put him at a disadvantage in reach most of the time he could make up for that with the added defense.
They started three meters from each other, weapons in front of them. He offered to only use his sword but she refused saying he would need all the advantages he could get. He was a little angry at the noble, he saw how they fought and no self respecting guard would lose even at a serious disadvantage. He probably was able to beat her with only his shield.
As they started he waited for her to attack like most nobles would. With no attack coming he went on the offensive, slowly advancing forwards and keeping an eye on his opponent's shoulders.
Once he was in range he tried a weak shield bash to see how she would react. The bash was avoided by small step to his left, right in his shield and out of the reach of his weapon. As he overextended himself he got a painful hit against his legs as she ripped his shield out of the way.
“You’ll have to do better than that, that was a rookie mistake!” She teased and danced back out of his reach back to her starting position. Once he signaled his ready she immediately went on the offense. A thrust against his head was stopped by his shield while he simultaneously thrust out as well, hoping to catch his opponent off guard. He didn't connect though and had to rotate his body to avoid her getting on his blind side again. That was harder than anticipated as the girl was surprisingly nimble, always moving away from his sword, making it hard for him to attack her at all. If this were to continue it would only be a matter of time until he lost that round as well, so he prepared for a lunge.
Once he saw her moving in for another attack he charged forwards. Just as he was about to hit she jumped out of the way to the right, narrowly evading his shield and slashing at his back.
He started the next round with a cry, running at her as soon as the round started hoping to power through her defense with an overhead swing. The attack was narrowly avoided once again, but because he didn't overcommit this time he didn't get hit by her counter. It was really frustrating, normally his big stature gave him an edge against most opponents but the baron’s daughter used her small frame to hide behind his shield whenever possible. Following the movements of someone you didn't see was really challenging.
Suddenly he could see her sprinting at him so he stopped his musing and braced for impact while stabbing his sword in her direction. It didn't connect and shortly after his shield was ripped down. This time he was hit two times the edge of his shield impacting his shin and the longsword on his shoulder.
Thirty minutes later his whole body hurt. He plopped down on his butt from sheer exhaustion as he had given his all in the fight. Not once did he manage to land a hit on her. It seemed the baron’s daughter and him were leagues apart, she always seemed to know what he wanted to do in advance and prepare accordingly.
Suddenly a hand appeared in his face. He took it and was faced with the girl who used him as a training dummy for that last thirty minutes. She smiled at him.
“You are really good, I even had to cheat two times to avoid getting hit.” He groaned.
“Cheat?”
“I'm a mage so I just did some basic body enhancement to get the little extra speed needed to get out of the way.”
That soured his mood even more, he lost but not against a dedicated warrior but someone who was primarily a mage.
“Don't fret about it, that's something most of the other guards had to go through as well. See it as a learning experience. There is no way you will be able to beat all opponents by yourself so do it with others. I lose most bouts against more than two guards even if I go all out.”
With a last encouraging smile she left to join the baron and the beastkin when he heard someone approaching.
“Good job keeping up with her as long as you did. Most of us didn't even manage fifteen minutes when she first challenged us.” His training partner said. “Let's go to the barracks, the rest of the day is freetime for you. Captain made it a practice after you get beaten up by the lady you have a whole day to relax. Afterwards you go through hell as you are not allowed to lose against your charges. If you thought the basic training was hell, the real fun awaits!”