The sound of collision repeatedly assaulted my ears, likely in an attempt to make me go crazy and hate it even more. Sometimes the sound of wind whistling rang out instead. Yet even more often was the dull sound of hitting leather and metal, along with stifled cries and sighs.
The sword fighting training isn’t something I love dearly, especially since the cries and grunts of pain only came out of my mouth. The regular sighs escaped my opponent, clearly defining my level of talent. With time I needed longer and longer breaks to wipe out sweat pouring down my forehead and at least partially regulate my breath. Though if I took too long with either my opponent started assaulting me again, using training as excuse.
After good two or three hours of sparring, my opponent finally let out a deep sigh and lowered her weapon.
“Rel, with only this level of strength it will be an embarrassment to show yourself at the entrance exam in few months.”
Her only answer were my deep gasps of air, as I sat down on cold pavement. A regular statement I heard already hundreds of times. No matter how hard I worked, how well I performed, there was not a single praise I’ve heard in the six years since my family started training me. Neither the first four years spent training the body, nor the next two years wielding the sword seemed to satisfy my father’s expectations.
It’s especially true when I’m constantly compared to my two older siblings: eldest brother, who will be twenty this year and second sister, who celebrated her sixteenth birthday few months ago. Both of them are rare geniuses in the way of sword, comparable with war veterans and prodigies of old. While my brother is not as skilled in sword fighting as our sister, his talents as commander and personality of noble knight earned him great reputation within the kingdom.
On the other hand my sister is absolutely unmatched with sword in hand, though martial arts aren’t her weak point either. A true battle genius and supposedly great instructor, though looking everyday at my bruised body I have to say I’m doubting it.
Then there’s me: third child of family, probably most normal of them. As in, I didn’t start breaking records and crushing legends with little effort in whatever I started doing up to now.
After few minutes my breath calmed down enough to let me relax a bit and sound out few words of my own.
“Sis, you could spare me the usual sermons and bruises at least today, don’t you think?”
“Hmph, just because it’s your birthday today doesn’t mean you can skip on training.”
“Then what about lectures?”
“Training willpower.”
My brow twitched few times, since I honestly didn’t expect such an answer. Though that’s probably the reason my family isn’t organizing the usual party: having the person in question bruised, swollen and unable to walk properly wouldn’t help with our reputation.
Just as I was lost in my thoughts, my dear sister flicked her finger at my forehead, which hurt way more than it should, to get my attention. The next half an hour I spent listening to all the errors I did in today’s training, as well as what I should train on my own. The hardest part was to appear as if I seriously listened, since every time my face relaxed and my thoughts scattered I would be met with a flick of death aimed at my head.
“So, how does our young adult feel like? The entrance exams are barely few months away.” she asked after finishing the headache-inducing sermon.
“Firstly it’s just Adulthood of Body, so it’s not like I’m already an adult. Secondly there’s still Awakening Ceremony before the exams, which is as important, right?” I replied grumpily, looking at her with a frown.
“Tsk, who cares about this stupid ceremony, since you will be a knight anyway. Dad clearly said that unless you acquire Achromatic Core or reach first World Ring, you have to go to Royal Knight Academy as well.” she clicked her tongue, then turned her head away.
Today I’m celebrating my twelfth birthday, having reached Adulthood of Body. It basically means that my body stabilized itself, while my blood veins and mana channels reached their maturity. Now I can train in advanced techniques, such as Aura Manipulation or Magic. And I can be corrupted with money, alcohol and women. At least that’s how my teacher explained it to me few months ago. Yet at this age it is still my family that answers for my behavior and is obligated to provide me with resources needed to reach maturity.
After fifteenth birthday I will reach full maturity, otherwise known as Maturity of Self. At this age I should reach the required level of intelligence and wisdom that would allow me to survive by myself. From then on I would be fully responsible for my own actions and would be required to make all decisions for myself.
Based on the knowledge from Beyond, I can also call myself an adolescent now; after fifteenth birthday I would be a young adult and after twenty five an adult.
The Awakening Ceremony is performed once a year and though theoretically we reach Adulthood of Body after twelfth birthday, only after passing through the ceremony can we be acknowledged as such. That is because the Ceremony isn’t just a custom or law, but a necessity. From the moment we are born, our bodies gather mana from the world, slowly running it through our bodies, refining them and creating mana channels. But after reaching Adulthood the amount of mana gathered inside us is so great that we need to learn to control it. If not, the mana inside will run wild and explode, killing us.
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The only way to prevent that is to refine the mana into Mana Core. After creating it, all mana will be refined and further strengthen us. Without the help of Runic Formation that is used in the Awakening Ceremony it is impossible to control the unrefined mana. During the ceremony we have to guide the mana and create our cores, without any outside help or else the mana won’t condense and simply overfill us and kill very quickly.
While it sounds scary, actual deaths during the ceremony are really rare. So rare in fact, that they are barely mentioned during our lessons about forming the core.
After being lost in my own thoughts for quite a while, I regained focus and looked at my sister with even deeper frown.
“Are you okay with such treatment? That we can’t live our lives as we want and have to fulfill some drunk dreams of an old man!? Just because he is fixated on some stupid goal doesn’t mean I wi..” my raised voice was quickly interrupted with a loud slap to my left cheek, which has thrown me to the ground good two meters behind.
“DON’T YOU DARE SPEAK IN SUCH A WAY ABOUT YOUR FATHER!” she roared at me, not even noticing that she hit me with armored hand. “His dream is something he inherited from our late grandfather! And which person doesn’t want to witness their family at the peak of power, filled with honor, being able to feel pride in being born and raised in such a family!”
I slowly raised myself from the ground, shocked at the power I was hit with. Feeling a lot of blood in my mouth, I spit it out next to me. It was actually way more than I expected. I could also feel that my cheek will be terribly swollen tomorrow. Slowly I raised my gaze to my sister, not being really that happy about being interrupted.
“You know very well how stupid that wish is! This is the era of magic, where only might of magic artifacts, runic formations and royal magician squads can protect our countries! Nobody cares anymore about traditional knights and pure swordsmanship! The world of magic and its potential, countless techniques from Beyond, there’s so much yet to discover! Not everyone is addicted to beating people up and shiny medals like you and dad, Lucy!” Though I wanted it to sound better, probably half of it is barely recognisable because of my cheek, which is swelling way faster than I thought.
After my outburst, continued by my deep breaths, but otherwise complete silence, my sister only looked at me with a sad look, like “such a shame you don’t understand how great it is to stick a sharp sword into someone’s gut”. It honestly made me even more mad, but blood once again gathered in my mouth, so I left that thought alone for now.
“Is that re-” she paused for a moment, still looking at me as if I was the weird one. “Nevermind, it’s nothing. Training’s over for today, I’m going back.” She said, turning away and leaving. I can’t say I felt sad because of that.
My father, from the time of his childhood, dreamed of becoming the best knight in the kingdom. Our grandfather probably influenced him, since he managed to raise the status of our family from mere Citizens, to Knights, to Low-class Nobles. He wanted to one day reach the highest rank of nobility thanks to military merits strictly as a knight, because he was less than talented mage. Our father carried on his dream, allowing our family to reach Middle-class Noble rank. Yet the only reason our rank was increased was because of his faithfulness and loyalty, as his swordsmanship was less than ideal.
The problem is that he is so fixated on this dream that he prohibited my siblings and me from being mages, instead forcing us on the path of knights. Daily training for many hours, lack of friends and time to fool around, dull lessons about etiquette and noble behavior. From the age of eight I didn’t have a proper contact with people my age, at most talking to my classmates during sparse school days, sister’s disciples or had a rare break day during which I tried to relax in bustling places full of people. From the moment I graduated from basic school at the age of ten my application for Royal Knight Academy in the capital was sent. Basically i had my place reserved there for two years already.
I tried to dust myself off the best I can, before dragging both wooden swords and my protective armor to the warehouse. I changed my clothes there into some comfortable pants and sleeveless shirt. Going through few passages and corridors, I arrived at the place our head maid resided, hoping she can help me with my cheek.
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After few hours of pain, having my head bandaged and not allowed to eat any solid food on my birthday party, awkward stares from my father and sister and hugs, well wishes and congratulations, I left for my room, in my hands few packages.
Walking through the house for few moments, I soon arrived before familiar door. I opened them with my elbow, walking inside and dropping packages on my desk. Since my sister left before I got the presents, I brought here three of them. From my father, my mother and one that was sent by my brother. Yet clearly on my desk was an additional package, really small, at most the size of my palm. Curious, I opened it and saw something that stunned me quite a bit.
On a beautiful azure pillow embroidered with golden thread lied an earring. A gold pin to pierce the ear, a thin chain at most a centimeter long and an emerald crystal sphere. Top of the emerald was covered by golden cap, holding it in place. Though quite simple, it was enchanting nonetheless.
What’s more, I remember seeing it before. The first time I laid my eyes on it was when Lucy wore it. I instantly liked it and pestered her few times to tell me of the other one, seeing as she wore only the right one.
After a while I carefully lifted it from the pillow, getting an even closer look. I spent a good few minutes looking at it, not even realizing the fact that I’ve yet to pierce my ear. When I felt satisfied enough, I once again glanced at the box and noticed a piece of paper resting under the lid. I picked it up and slowly unfolded it, resting my eyes at the neatly written words on it.
“Congratulations for reaching adulthood, Rel.
I’m sorry for today’s outburst. It is as much a wish of Our Father as it is mine to see Our family rise to the peak.
I hope You won’t hold it against me. I also can understand Your sentiments. Yet I know of Your progress in the way of the sword and hope You can reach the level not yet known, instead of focusing on such fickle thing as magic.
I remember how excited You seemed when You saw my earring for the first time. You’ve also asked about the other one few times. The truth is, I feared my hair getting tangled onto the left piece. Though not long after I realized I can surprise You with it instead.
Anyway, I wish for You undisturbed health, unlimited growth and refinement of heart. Who knows, maybe after calming that character of Yours, You will be able to find the one for You.
With familial love,
Your Big Sister Luclya.”
… Ignoring the unnecessary remarks at the end, I felt moved by this note. It was the first time someone more or less praised my efforts in training, and I even have a proof at paper. I carefully folded the note, placing it into the drawer. The earring I put back on top of the pillow and closed the box again. Then I looked at the rest of the packages, getting myself ready to open them.
Today passes 6th of February. There are still seven months until Awakening Ceremony.