"Hiyah!"

Claang!

With a thunderous ring, sounds of steel clashing with another steel reverberate across the lonesome room. Facing an immobile piece of worn-out armor I tightened my grip on the hilt of my sword and performed a heavy strike.

Claang!

Another one...

Claang!

And another one!

Cling claang!

Strikes after strike I let out a flurry of slashes that chips away bits of steel from the armor until all my muscle screams out of pain.

"!!!"

Running out of breath I pant nonstop as sweat pours across my face.

"Four thousand... three hundred... and sixty-two" As I call out the total number of my strikes, my hand suddenly loses its strength indicating that I've already reached my limit, and unconsciously let go of my now dull sword.

Thuud...

My name is Rey Argent seventeen years old, and a proud son of a well-off merchant family... —or so what I've used to introduce myself with. I am what you call a free-spirited person who likes to go outside of this walled city to go hunting for wild games, which is fair enough an activity my mother usually doesn't approve of.

Due to unpredictable circumstances, my family not long ago moved from a not-so-shabby house in the commercial district to a grandiose manor with the addition of my father and mother being elevated to nobility with the title of a court baron.

After cooling myself down, I muster up my remaining strength to pick up the now dull sword from the floor and put it with the rest of the broken weapon that's to be melted today before walking out of the training hall towards the bathroom.

Rinsing the sweat out of my face, I look straight at myself in the mirror and to be honest there's not much to look at. In my opinion, I am what you call a pretty average guy, my face is not that noteworthy, and my height though not much significant is taller than the average for my age.

That much said there is something that I am quite different from the norm and is the reason I always stand out.

I was born with white platinum hair and blue cerulean eyes, traits that I inherited from my mother. Though not that weird, having white hair is a characteristic that's very uncommon in the empire and would certainly earn you some curious eyes.

Creaaaak

Upon the sound of the door opening, I turn around only to see a black-haired woman in her mid-twenties wearing a familiar maid uniform while carrying a basket full of towels in her hand.

"Ah! Good morning, young mas—"

"—There you go again... sigh... how many times do I have to tell you, Maya, just call me Rey. I'm not really comfortable being referred to as young master, just Rey got it?!"

The woman who just barged in was indeed Maya, this household's only housemaid at the moment, or specifically, my younger sister's personal maid slash helper... And even though she's been with us for half a year now, as you can see, she still hasn't gotten used to us.

"Ah... understood. Good morning Rey, and sorry for the intrusion. I didn't know you were already finished with your training. I've bought the towels and your uniform for today"

"Got it just leave it by the corner"

"Understand, –oh by the way the craftsman just came by earlier and delivered your hunting bow"

"That's good news. Now if you could excuse me I'd like to take a bath now"

*****

"Phew, that was refreshing"

After a good bath, I immediately put on my uniform which consisted of a white inner polo, a deep blue coat with gold trimmings and an insignia of a sword with a winged dragon embedded at the shoulder pad, a similarly colored slacks, and lastly a blue-white diagonally striped patterned necktie.

Rey Argent [https://i.imgur.com/L6go7IM.png]

After adjusting the tightness of my necktie for the final time I then put on my black shoe and headed out.

Leaving the bathroom and closing the door I was then crossed by another woman in the hallway. This time the person is adorned with a similar white platinum hair like mine, but instead of a pair of cerulean eyes, her eyes burn brightly with a pair of fiery crimson eyes.

"You finished early today? I was kinda hoping to join you" The woman greeted me and tossed me my academy-issued sword.

"My body kinda given out, sorry"

This woman in front of me is my older sister Roxan, and she's what you call your not-so-very-common girl. While the woman of her peers would focus on activities that would have ties to bolster one's femininity by wearing elegant dresses, and perfecting their etiquette as well as tea-making skills, she's kinda...

"So how many did you manage to accomplish today? Did you finally break the thousand milestones?"

—tomboyish to say the least...

"I'm getting there" I lied. "though I'm quite concerned you'd only increase my quota if I did"

"When I was only twelve years old I'd already reached the thousand mark. That's the key to improving yourself, by breaking your personal records one after another"

"That's the captain of the prestigious first wyvern regiment of the mage order for you" I sarcastically complimented.

Looking at the clock it seems that I'm indeed a tad bit early today it's only just a quarter to seven and since it's Friday, my class activities are not going to start till ten.

During weekdays except for Friday, I usually stay at the academy dorm where my daily routine usually starts with my training which begins at four in the morning and ends at seven, depending on my mood I usually do a rotation of sword, spear, and bow strikes, and when all my muscles are all aching I always switch it up with a simple marathon or horseback riding across the Academy ground. After that, I have to, of course, attend some classes that start at nine, and end my day by doing all the assignments.

Friday, on some occasions Thursday, is the day that I usually go home after class and spend some quality time with my family. There's not much to tell in detail aside from that I have to give my father a weekly report of my progress in my academic studies. Overall the following two days of the week are my favorites.

Saturday is when I have to attend my club's activities which is the dueling club, it's very self-explanatory, the club heavily focuses on contact dueling with one another. We often use training swords but sometimes we also do jousting which is a bit dangerous but aside from that what I'm really looking forward to is Sunday.

Sunday is the day that I always reserve for myself. I usually go out to the winding woods outside the metropolitan area and hunt for some games. The hunts usually go for the entirety of the day and when I get home you can guarantee that there will be a whole cart's worth of things that I manage to hunt and forage.

Anyway back to the present...

As I still had plenty of time before class, I followed Roxan back to the training hall and watched her do her thing.

As I said earlier my big sister is a bit tomboyish, but it's not entirely in truth. To be honest, even though her actions may benefit that of a man, her aura of femininity and elegance didn't really actually leave her... well almost...

Holding a Rapier in her hand Roxan elegantly executed multiple thrusts at the armor puncturing numerous holes in it. Observing her movement, her speed and dexterity were indeed very remarkable, it was something I wish to achieve myself in the future.

"Shoulder!" Roxan shouted as she penetrated the armor's shoulder plate.

Rapier is my sister's preferred weapon and it is primarily for thrusting and slashing, built for fighting lightly armored opponents. Putting a hole in a plate armor especially if it's made out of steel is in no way an easy feat, but for someone such as my big sister who's blessed with inhuman strength, it could still be achieved.

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"Hiyahh!" With a final thrust on the chest plate, the rapier then dug deep into the armor and went out on the other side.

Turning my attention back to my sister I noticed that she didn't even break a single sweat, but the armor she was attacking as well as her rapier was already left in a totaled state. Letting a soft sigh Roxan then let go of the rapier and held out her hand straight toward the armor before beginning to chant words with the voice of an aria.

"Flame strike!"

As Roxan finishes her short chant, small ash-white flames shoot out of her hand and strike the armor melting it in a matter of seconds.

–magic... that is what my sister just did.

In this world, there is something called an aether. Theoretically, it is said to be a mysterious particle that's invisible to the naked eye yet is present almost everywhere you go, all living things absorb this particle into their body, and depending on the individual one can be immune to all diseases, be granted incredible growth, and in some part of the world it is believed that it also grants longevity.

Nothing much is known about the aether further than that, but it is universally acknowledged that mana is something that is a derivative of the aether. Mana is said to be the foundation of all magic and only a chosen few were gifted by the goddess to have the ability to refine aether to mana. For those who were blessed with such abilities, they were universally called mages, using their unique trait these mages could conjure many things such as fire, water, earth, and wind, on some rarer entities they could even summon holy light and darkness itself. Due to that, mages are widely sought after by every nation and are an indispensable asset for a country to have.

There was a saying that while the nation of the old world flaunts their power the amount of their wealth and the size of their empire's territory, in today's time a nation's power and might can only truly be measured by the number of mages that they're in service of.

Moving on to the next is an even rarer entity than a typical mage and for what power they possess are the spirit mages. These mages were so important that they were usually positioned at the pinnacle of society and some were even worshiped as kings and gods...

Spirit mages are people who are born with the ability to refine aether to mana as well as possess a spirit within them. Commonly spirit mages can only obtain their spirit at the moment of their birth when they somehow attracted a wondering spirit wisp and decided to live within their soul. Mages usually don't know whether they have a contracted spirit within them until the time of the spirit's awakening which is on average during their fourteenth to sixteenth birthday.

Being a spirit mage can be a life changer for an individual as no matter what their origin is, as long as they didn't have any major criminal history, they will be automatically considered as a national treasure and will be treated with utmost respect and reverie.

It is a very common tradition in the empire to throw a one-week imperium-wide festivity every time a new spirit awakens, After that a grand ceremony will then be held at the imperial palace where, In front of the masses, the new spirit mage will be recognized by the high empress and be welcomed to the mage order which was directly under her majesty's personal command.

One of these spirit mages was my older sister Roxan, though I don't know much detail I heard that she's quite the oddity even among the spirit mages. I was told that her spirit awakens at the very young age of just nine making her a prodigy and the youngest spirit mage in history.

"So how's your life at the mage order?" I ask out of nowhere.

"Hmm... Nothing much. You know training here and there, city patrol during the night, sometimes a rapid deployment at the north when the keeper of the northern frontier needs help with a hoard of ravagers, and of course guarding the royal throne room" Roxan answers as she keeps hitting another armor with a new set of rapier.

"Speaking of the empress, had you interacted with the imperial family before?"

"Not that much, though I did escort Her Majesty every once in a while but as a soldier, you weren't allowed to speak in any way unless asked upon, normally Her Majesty will just give an order and we'll just follow it. Princess Ashley though on the other hand... yeah I've interacted with her many times before, she's a spirit mage like me and serves under the same company in the mage order... Ughh... I don't really want to talk anything about that girl as much as possible"

"guess that's one of the perks of being a spirit mage huh?"

High empress, Imperial King, Imperial Princess, and Imperial Prince... These are the four entities that comprise Emmeria's imperial family and sitting on the top of the hierarchy was of course the high empress, the supreme ruler of the emperium.

The empire although ruled under a centralized imperial system, is primarily run with the concept of meritocracy where one's worth is measured by individual talent and perseverance no matter their social standing.

While nobility still did exist, due to the empire's history of countless civil wars instigated by powerful feudal lords, they were now deprived of much power and only a select few were granted the authority to have their territory and own a private army.

Be as it may the Imperial family still did recognize their nobilities and their contribution to the empire so they were allowed to keep their noble titles, a surmountable amount of wealth that the household accumulated, as well as the privilege of having a yearly financial support from the government for their house's services to the empire.

"Impressive as always" I whispered to my head complimenting Roxan's skills as she totaled another armor target.

Roxan upon seeing my reaction grows a wide smirk and teases me.

"Hmm... jealous much?"

"I wouldn't say jealous, It's more like envy, in a good way of course" I retorted.

"Same thing different word, Just why don't you just admit it"

"You're saying that but remember, I've already beaten you four times in a row already"

"Oh come on, you're still holding into that?!"

"I'll hold onto it for as long as I live" I shamelessly declared.

Sorry sis but that victory is a bragging trophy that I will cherish and hold for the entirety of my life.

"T-that was just a fluke!!!... you cheated!" Roxan snarls at me.

"I cheated? You have spirit and magic at your disposal, I had to be crafty and use my everything to my advantage"

"Yeah, and digging a pitfall trap A DAY before the match is being crafty?! How about fighting fair and square?! Where's your honor!"

"The weak have their own way of fighting, If it paves the way to victory against a spirit mage, then honor be damned" I amusingly chuckle for a little bit making Roxan further annoyed.

"Arrghh!! I hate you!... sigh... Anyway! I'm done here how bout you? I saw Rain was making breakfast earlier. Let's go!"

"—wait you're gonna tear my uniform!" Roxan then bolted out while firmly pulling my hand.

With that, I was helplessly dragged by Roxan to the kitchen where another sister of mine could be seen. Rain Argent, the youngest out of the three of us and could be said to be the most precious treasure of this household.

Like mine, Rain also has white platinum hair and cerulean eyes, her age was currently fifteen, two years younger than me. While she's indeed the sweetest out of us three, don't let cute doll face fool you as in addition to that Rain is also a mage that has a high affinity to all elements including light and dark, though whether if she's a spirit mage or not time can only tell.

"Morning, you two sure are lively today" Rain greeted the two of us.

""Morning"" Roxan and I greeted back.

"So, what's for breakfast?" Roxan asks.

"Well, since you're not around that much, I thought Maya and I could make some of your favorite, pancakes!"

"Yes! Now you're talking, nothing says a better breakfast than pancakes itself, especially after a good training!" Hearing what's on the menu Roxan immediately sat on the shoddy-looking table located at the corner of the room.

"L-lady Roxan you shouldn't eat on that table, that's for the servants" Maya panicky reminds Roxan only to be brushed off.

"I don't mind it's just the four of us here anyway"

"You could at least help us set up the table firs— sigh... never mind you'll just break all the glassware anyway" I let out a soft sigh before deciding to help Maya set up the table.

"You know we could really help additional personnel by now, this is a really big property you know, we can't expect Maya to do everything" I commented.

"Mom said she was already looking into it. We just received this manor from Her Highness last month, and it's not like it's easy to get a quality worker. They have to go through numerous rough screenings, especially for the guards" Roxan replied.

"How did we even get this thing so suddenly anyway? It's not like our old home back at the commercial district is bad... did you perhaps pull some string behind?"

"Don't give me that crap now" Roxan replied as she happily receives her portion from Rain "You know me well that I'd flat-out reject it even if her majesty offer me a castle"

"No kidding, I also heard that you've declined Her Majesty's offer of becoming a viscount after a successful military campaign overseas" After Maya and I finished setting up all the silverware I sat down on the table in front of Roxan and took my portion of pancake. "Do you really hate being a noble that much? You sure do like making an uproar at the palace, you're all over the newspaper during that time"

"Listen before all this nobility and whatnot, we're just a family of merchants, commoners to say the least, and that's how I intend to live my life, no complacency and full struggle. I don't plan on becoming someone's political tool and being a conformist inside the imperial castle... especially when that crazy girl is wandering around! Seriously... I'd rather spend my time in a military campaign than deal with Princess Ashley" Roxan after answering then stuck a mouthful of pancakes into her mouth.

"sigh... you never change... here, a letter arrived earlier, it's for you" I then handed Roxan the letter.

"Thank you~"

After finishing up her breakfast, Roxan then opened up the letter I gave her and upon reading its content her expression suddenly took a drastic change.

"Maya, please prepare my armor, I need to go the palace"

"What did the letter say, sis?" Rain worriedly asks.

"A bandit raided one of our settlements, depending on the situation this might be a call for another military campaign"

"Please don't speak something so casual as that" I commented

Time flew by really fast during our breakfast and before you know it, it was now time to head to school.

"Well, time for me to go, don't wanna be late" I declared and fixed my sheathed sword into my belt.

"Well then take care, remember I know many names in the academy so don't you dare slack off. —Oh before I forget, here take this, Mom told me to hand this to you two" Roxan then handed me and Rain a piece of silver brooch that had the shape of a shield, and inside of it was an insignia of a double-headed eagle with a blue and black rose on its two talons.

"This is?" I ask dumbfoundedly.

"Our family crest, as you know Mom and Dad was elevated to a court noble by Her Majesty and they both set you and Rain as the heirs for the two titles"

"Wait an heir? why me? shouldn't you get the priority"

"—We'll talk about it later, you should go"

"Oh right!"

"Goodbye brother"

And with Rain and Maya sending me off I left the manor and headed over to the academy.