Katerial was indeed a small and underdeveloped town in comparison to the Holy City. Houses here looked crude and simple but their construction seemed solid, with stone being used as the primary material. There weren't many buildings taller than a single storey and the few that were, were almost exclusively shops, inns or some other service providers. This made finding them relatively easy. There was a single chapel, placed more-or-less in the middle of the town, between the market square in the south-east and a decently sized fortified manor that doubled as the king’s castle to the north of it. What impressed me the most was the sturdiness of the thick stone walls, which bore scars from, what I could only assume to be, various monster attacks. Second somewhat surprising thing for me was that nearly everyone in the town had a weapon on them and most wore, if not proper armour, then at least some more protective clothing. Children, too young to bear weapons and the elderly, too sickly to fight, were the only exceptions, although many youngsters still carried slings and bags of rocks with them. When I asked the king about it, he simply shrugged, as if it was something completely normal. And it probably was, given how much everyone emphasised on how dangerous this region is. Even I myself felt more reassured by having a sword at my hip and I don’t even know a portion of what this world has in store for me yet. Here, not paying attention to your surroundings or skimping on equipment could be, and probably is, the difference between life and death. I guess this is why Gurthan, despite his situation, was so willing to invest a considerable amount of money into my gear when we met.

Despite all the rough and tough appearances, the people here seemed to be generally kind and they respected their king, moving away from the front of the carriage and waving at us as we passed by. The king often looked out the small window and responded in kind. Whenever he did, there would be someone who spotted me sitting inside the carriage with him and immediately started asking others around them if they had any idea who I might be. The news will probably spread pretty quickly in such a small and tight community. I wonder what their reactions will be once they hear I possess no magic, though. Being a literal godsent without a gift from the aforementioned gods just seems like a cruel joke that I wish I was not playing on them. But that whole thing will be an issue for another time.

As we entered through the gate of the fortified manor, we ended up on a big courtyard. There were a couple of soldiers training by the walls who now rushed up and formed a line to salute the king. One person, a girl looking slightly younger than me, stood out among them. Instead of standing at attention like the rest, she was approaching us rather casually. She had long, blonde hair and a cold stare. She was about my height but her posture was hard to gauge due to the armour she was wearing. It had some fantasy-style decorative elements that added to the appeal of it, and to the person inside of it, as it was likely originally intended, more than to its functionality but it was still surprisingly practical and protected everything it was supposed to protect. She was carrying quite a large shield on her back and had a sword with a richly decorated hilt at her side. I squinted a little, looking at it, but ended up suppressing my thoughts. It was a world with magic in it, there might be a practical implication to any and all of this that my narrow old-world mind simply couldn’t dare to comprehend. I can't jump to conclusions.

-Welcome back, my king!

She clenched her fist and tapped her chest in a form of a greeting but then stopped in her tracks as she spotted me exiting the carriage behind Gurthan. I could feel her gaze pierce through me, as if she was trying to analyze everything she could about me. I found the way she stared at me fairly unpleasant but when I looked up to meet her eyes, she quickly turned to look at Gurthan.

-Ah, Liyanne, my dear. It is good to see you again.

-You too, father. But who is that man riding with you?

-This is Sir Edward, one of the summoned Heroes that I told you about earlier. He was allowed to come here to help develop the Frontier as my aide.

A surprised murmur erupted among the soldiers when they heard it. I didn’t know how much they knew about the whole “Hero” ordeal but I assumed they knew that Gurthan was on delegation to the Holy City. This alone was probably enough to brand me as a VIP. The girl did not accept the king's words this eagerly, however, as she sized me up and down once again, this time with a very critical look on her face. I could feel her judgemental stare ripping me apart, however after what I endured at the cathedral, this wasn’t much at all. Yet it still made me feel strangely uncomfortable.

-A Hero? Him? I thought they would look more strong and noble.

-You are being disrespectful, my dear daughter...

-You're likely talking about my friend here, Lucas. He does fit that description quite well. He’s the musclebrain kind all the ladies fall for, after all. I’m more of the brainy one in the group. But nice to meet you too, princess.

I shrugged as I interrupted the king, taking a step forward. I took no offence in Liyanne’s stance towards me. I knew I didn't look much like a great man on the surface, having a rather weak posture and usually relying more on my speed and technique, rather than brute force of my attacks. Between Lucas and me, I'd likely be more of the scumbag mastermind while he's the good-looking hero persona, so... She wasn't quite wrong in being suspicious of me there, frankly speaking. I would also probably doubt myself too if I was in her shoes.

-If you're a Hero, which God's blessing did you receive?

I glanced over at her, dropping the carefree act and taking on a serious expression. This was the one question I hoped she would not ask. I quickly glanced over at the king and other soldiers nearby but I couldn’t read Gurthan’s expression at all. Well, since this girl seems to be his daughter, I’m assuming she’s already in on a lot of things, and the soldiers… I’d probably end up working with them a lot, so it might be better to come clean now. I highly doubted if this was how the king wanted things to go but at this point I needed to act fast and nothing else was coming to my mind.

-That's the funny part, I didn't. But let me explain first, please. Apparently, something went wrong with the ritual and more people than originally intended were summoned. I just happened to draw the short end of the stick here. But before you'll start filing complaints about it and accuse me of anything, why don't we have a sparring match? You seem like you’re versed in the way of the sword, so I’d like to show you that I don't need magic to be a formidable opponent for you.

I added that suggestion seeing how the girl was about to explode. She clearly took some offence in me saying I wasn't blessed, or perhaps it was my smug attitude again. Maybe she was even thinking that I tricked the king in some way and sees this as an opportunity to expose me and my supposed evil scheme? Either way, I saw the corners of her lips go up a little when I made my suggestion.

-And if I don’t accept the duel?

-Then you’ll just have to acknowledge my ability and status as a Hero as it stands. If you win, however, you’re free to do whatever you want with me. The rules are simple. First to get knocked out or surrender loses. Anything goes as long as it doesn’t kill or inflict permanent or lasting damage. You’re free to use any magic or Skills you want as long as you keep that in mind.

-Alright. Ready your weapon. I will not go easy on you.

She turned away and took a few steps back, pulling her sword out on the way. All the soldiers immediately scattered to give us space, a lot more than I would expect to get for a duel like this. Should I expect some wide-range attacks from her? Or was it just a common practice “just-in-case” something massive and destructive was to come down during the fight? I was just scaring myself even thinking about the terrifying possibilities, so I decided to ignore my own brain screaming at me how bad of an idea that was and focus on what’s in front of me: a shieldmaiden who, despite agreed on the rules, is likely ready to kill me on the spot if only I were to let her. I drew my sword and raised my shield, taking up the same stance I did when fighting that bandit leader earlier. I noticed the king staring at me with some concern, so I gave him a nod that I knew what I was getting myself into, even though I didn’t. The old man, acknowledging that there was no way to prevent this confrontation now, let out a heavy sigh.

-If you are set, so be it. But let me warn you, she is significantly stronger than that bandit you won against earlier.

I figured as much myself but I still took the king's words to heart. I wasn't convinced I would be able to finish this quickly and a drawn-out battle could be working against me as well. I will have to stay on my toes and look for any opening I could use. This fight likely won't be easy to win and any mistake could lead to a swift defeat.

-You think he's gonna do the thing?

-Ha, no way it's gonna work against her.

I smirked at the comments of two guards that accompanied us on the journey. Seems like my shield rush attack will become my signature move whether I want it or not.

I redirected my attention back to my opponent. She turned towards me, her shield hanging unnaturally low, as if it was there only to cover her legs. Her sword arm was extended, the tip of the sword pointing to the ground to the side of her. It wouldn't be a completely wrong stance if she used the shield properly but it still wouldn't be optimal as it quite heavily limits your range of attacks. Her footing wasn't half bad, she had her knees bent slightly, her feet were apart and her weight was shifted towards the leg up front, so at least she got that part down mostly right. I had no idea, however, how much that would help her with the other errors of her stance still at play. It seemed to me that she wanted to play it aggressively, likely willing to quickly and decisively prove me to be just a phoney and not worthy of the title of the Hero.

I smirked, hoping it would cause her to lose some more of her composure, and dashed forward as soon as we got the signal that the fight officially started. This time, however, I had a different plan. Getting into her striking range, I suddenly stopped and jumped back. As expected, the girl cut with her sword right in front of me. The speed at which she delivered that strike, however, caught me off-guard. The strike was so fast I barely noticed it. What I did notice was the impact on my shield. The princess leaned in during the slash, far more than I would expect. This gave her just enough range to have the tip of her sword scrape my shield. Yet, the power was enough to knock it off to the side slightly. I didn’t have time to contemplate her inhuman abilities, though. I thrusted my sword forward, under my shield. The strike bounced off the low-hanging shield of my opponent, however. I stepped to the side, just narrowly avoiding a top-down slash at my left shoulder. The next two attacks luckily stopped on my shield. The speed and strength of those attacks was far beyond me. I could hardly keep up with monitoring where her sword was. At this point, I just let my body act on its own. Thinking about each step clearly will not work here. I twisted my wrist, delivering an overhead slash. This was not a duel anymore. At this point, I was fighting for survival. A single mistake was all it would take for me to lose my head, literally. If I wanted to have a chance at victory, I had to adapt. I had to have the same mentality. I couldn’t be afraid of potentially hurting my opponent just because it’s a friendly duel. I just had to assume there was a good enough healer here to patch us up in case of an accident. I had to take this seriously.

We continued exchanging swings. All were either dodged or blocked with shields. It slowly started to turn into a chaotic melee. Both of us started to get tired, and likely bored too, of the same exchanges that yielded no clear victor. Eventually, I jumped back to get some distance, catch a quick breath and analyse the situation once more.

The girl was standing in the same position as she was before. She didn't look as winded as I expected her to, despite delivering quite a few fast and strong attacks against me and tanking a lot of mine. However, when looking at her, something felt wrong. It took me a second to realise - her lips were moving ever so slightly. She was constantly murmuring something under her nose. I was almost sure she was chanting something, but what...

Without giving me any more time for thought, the girl jumped at me again. The distance between us wasn't great but she still covered it way too fast. I managed to block the slash of her sword with my shield as I took a step back. Second and then third strike came in almost instantaneously after the first, giving me no time to readjust or recover. She was way too fast for a human, especially with how strong she was hitting. Somehow, I managed to bring my sword arm up, behind the shield. I raised my blade as if I was about to perform a downward slash from the left. However, I knew this attack would be easily blocked, like any other. I had to stop her from chanting and to do that...

...instead of performing the slash, I stepped forward and simply punched forward with the hilt. Thanks to the unexpected angle, the attack went over the lowered shield and next to the sword she intended to block the attack with. The blades did clash, however I simply pushed forward with my fist until it connected with the girl's face. I felt a little bad for it but it was a serious fight and she was the one actively trying to kill me here.

The punch was enough to knock Liyanne down to the ground, however not for long. She almost immediately started standing up but it was easy to observe that her movement seemed more sluggish now. She opened her mouth only to spit out some blood, likely from the bitten tongue. She was still bent on fighting, so I brought my sword down on her almost immediately, giving her as little time to recover as possible. She raised her shield just in time but the force of the attack, in combination with her still shaky balance, was enough to make her trip and fall to the ground once again. I kept on the offensive, smashing my blade into her shield whenever she tried to get up and actively working on breaking through or around her defence. After a minute of trying to resist, in a weak, barely audible voice, she yielded.

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I took a step back and one of the soldiers immediately rushed to the girl's side, putting his hands over her and chanting something. Soon, Liyanne stopped spitting blood and started to move her shield arm around, checking her range of motion. Could it be that I broke her arm with my relentless attacks? Her shield didn’t look like it was any good with redistributing the shock force, the whole shield was basically a single sheet of metal with her arm strapped directly onto it, without even any padding, so it wasn’t unlikely. Once the healer was done with her, he stood up and walked up to me, giving me a quick once-over before speaking.

-Are you injured anywhere, Sir?

-Not that I can tell.

-I'm sorry, I only know limited healing magic and I need to be aware of an injury in order to heal it. Are you sure that everything is in order?

-I'm a bit sore but that will pass, don't worry about it.

-Please let me or another healer know as soon as you discover any injuries or start feeling any discomfort.

-Will do.

The soldier saluted and went back to quickly check on the girl again but she motioned him to leave her be. Instead, she pulled herself up and started to walk in my direction, sheathing her sword. I did the same, straightened up and opened my mouth, however she beat me to being the first one to speak.

-Splendid fight. I guess you managed to figure out I was using magic?

-You can't really fight without observing your opponent. There were a few giveaways.

-Like?

-You were acting extremely defensively, even when you held a clear advantage that you should have pushed. Plus, this speed and strength isn’t exactly normal for a human being, no matter how well-trained you are, there had to be something else at play. Finally, I could see your mouth opening and closing in a manner that didn’t mimic your breaths. So, what type of magic were you using, some sort of enhancement?

-Strengthening. It boosts my speed and strength, just like you mentioned, but is also difficult to maintain as it requires constant chanting and mana supply. Charging at an enemy sometimes results in the spell breaking, rendering my blows basically powerless.

-That feels off. Have you not trained your strength and constitution?

-Strengthening usually took care of that. I never felt the need to train like that.

-Big mistake. What if you need to fight in an environment that blocks or weakens your magic? How do you intend to fight stronger opponents then?

-Maybe you're right. I guess not having magic can change your way of thinking a bit. And that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily wrong. You do seem to know your stuff, at least when it comes to swordplay, so how about we train together? We could learn a lot from each other, I reckon.

She extended her hand to me, a kind smile on her face. All of the malice and bloodlust from earlier disappeared completely, replaced by compassion and what looked like a newfound respect towards me. I shook her hand without hesitation, giving her a warm smile in response.

-Of course, it would be an honour. But I already had enough fighting for one day, so I would rather take the rest of today off and start in a day or two.

-That’s understandable. My father will likely want you to meet the people and learn the layout of this place too, so I'm going to stop holding you up now.

-You father... king Gurthan, right?

-Ah, right, I never formally introduced myself, did I? My name's Liyanne, I'm the second princess of this kingdom and a Paladin of the Holy Alliance. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance and an honour to have crossed swords with you.

-Edward, a magic-less Hero and, going forward, an aide to his majesty, king Gurthan. Also, likewise.

I mimicked her slightly overdone bow. She gave me an amused smile, said a simple “until next time” and turned around on her hill, walking away. A couple of soldiers saluted me and followed suit after her. I watched her go for a few seconds before I walked back to the king.

-So, Edward, what do you think of my daughter?

-If she can use her magic, she's a formidable opponent. But she's still lacking a lot of fundamentals. She has a lot of potential to become stronger. Far stronger.

-Do you truly think she can still improve?

-Everyone can. It might just be more difficult for someone who already got used to making all of those mistakes. Habits are usually hard to overcome but not impossible.

-She always wished to achieve something grand as a warrior. Fighting against the demons was what she always wanted to do. When I told her about the Holy Alliance’s plan to summon Heroes for that purpose, she was ecstatic. She dreamed of joining forces with one of them and standing against the Demon King ever since. That is likely why, having finally met one who, not only, and no offence, Edward, does not look the part of a Hero but also failed to receive a godly blessing, it must have been hard on her.

-It's understandable, no harm done. If I saw myself claiming to be some sort of an all-powerful being and not even have basic magic, I wouldn’t trust myself either. Well, I guess to achieve that dream, she's aiming to rise in the ranks of their Paladin Order?

-More or less, yes. If you could help her improve, while it would surely mean a lot to her, and me personally, it would potentially help our whole country as well.

-Prestige and all that, huh? Well, she said it herself, there's a lot we can learn from one another, so I will definitely be willing to give her a few lessons. I am the teacher of the other Heroes, after all, I should have no trouble handling a king's daughter too.

I let out a short laugh. The old man smiled at me, more in a polite way than an amused one. I guess I should refrain from such humour in the future then.

-You are confident in your ability. That is a good thing. Anyway, I will leave you now in care of one of the maids, she will show you around and get you a room. I have some matters to attend to. I will let you have tomorrow off to get used to living around here but after that, I will have a task for you. Magically gifted or not, you are still the Hero of this country, so you still have some obligations to perform.

-As long as it isn't something outside my scope of ability, I'm happy to help.

-Thank you.

The king turned around and motioned to a young woman standing to the side. She was wearing an outfit very similar in appearance to a Victorian maid outfit, although slightly simpler in design. I thought this world was set closer to the 14th or 15th century from our world but I guess some aspects may come from the future or be stuck in the past in relation to that date. This excited me slightly. It means this world has a prospect of being a lot more interesting, combining tropes from our history and, thanks to magic, perhaps even expanding into alternative histories we could only write stories about. Perhaps alchemy was a thing here, and not just in relation to making potions or creating metal alloys but in its true essence, transmuting one element into another? All in due time, however, as the maid walked up and bowed down deeply in front of us.

-Mearyl, please show Sir Edward around and find him a bedroom. I believe some proper food should also be in order.

-Of course, my king.

I gave a respectful nod to Gurthan as he turned and walked away. The girl glanced at me and gave me a warm smile. Her brown hair contrasted nicely with her pale skin and deep, green eyes. She had a small posture, barely reaching my shoulders, but showed a lot of confidence in herself and seemed like a rather cheerful person through her mannerism.

-I am Mearyl, one of the castle maids. If you ever require anything, Sir, please just let one of the maids know and we will see to it immediately.

-Thank you, I’ll be sure to rely on you.

-Do you feel up for a walk or would you want to rest a bit first? That fight against the princess must have been tiring.

-It didn't last that long, so I'm not that tired. I would be thankful if you could show me around the castle first.

-Of course, Sir. Right now, we're in the courtyard of the castle, this is where our soldiers usually train, since, for the time being, we're still lacking a formal training field and barracks. However, once we secure the funds and materials for them, the king is planning on turning this place into a nice garden, just like the one over there, behind that short wall. And over there, you can find the stables...

Mearyl turned out to be quite talkative and was more than happy to mention everything she knew about every place she was showing me. She also gave extensive answers to any question I had. I learned a lot of useful information and after just one tour, I felt like I knew my way around the castle a lot better than around my own block back in my world. Which could actually be true since I usually just used my own paths to wherever I needed to go and didn't explore the area that much.

Despite the castle not being that big, it still took us a few hours to walk around it, mostly due to all the stops and explanations Mearyl made. Once we reached one of the castle towers, she spent well over an hour pointing at various interesting places around the town beneath us, as well as some of the landscape and landmarks around us. I started to regret not having a notebook with me, remembering all of this might prove difficult. I almost felt like a student back at the university, when I was still eager to learn and was struck with a wall of information I won't ever need again until the day of the exam and not once after. I was still extremely grateful to her for all of her insights, however.

Once the sun came down, the maid showed me to a room, which the other maids prepared in the meantime, so that I could finally drop my shield which I was forced to carry around this entire time. After that I was invited to join the royal family for dinner, which, despite being relatively simple for modern standards, was a godsend in comparison to the chewy meat we had as our travel rations for the past fortnight. Now I was able to enjoy a proper roast and a selection of vegetables that could leave even the grandest of mediaeval feasts looking like pleb houses, and it wasn't even a big feast. This made me really curious about what other types of foods I still have to experience. So far, there were a number of them that resembled those on Earth, like carrots, leaks or potatoes, the latter of which were actually unknown in medieval Europe. This once again showed that I should not be drawing any parallel comparisons and assume things based on what I knew about the history of our world. Yet, there were quite a few vegetables that I couldn't quite compare to anything I knew from my world.

After the feast, Mearyl led me to a bathhouse, so that I could properly wash off the sweat and dust of the road. As I was soaking in hot water, I realised that, despite certain conveniences clearly existing, like the fact that I was sitting in a pool which clearly had heated up water for comfort, I can only expect stuff like this when I'm in the towns, and likely only the bigger ones. As a Hero, it sounded like I will be mostly travelling, so many comforts will just not exist for me. This is something I'll really have to prepare mentally for. It's not like I can't do it, the journey here took over two weeks after all. I guess I can take having no comfort and amenities as a given and just treat any I come across as a rare chance to use them. This should greatly boost the comfort I'll be getting from them. Still, I'm definitely going to be missing a lot of conveniences of the modern world. I wonder how difficult recreating some of them with magic might be. After all, most innovative designs come not necessarily from developments in technologies but a better understanding and ideas for application of already existing ones. For that, I will have to learn a lot about the technological state of this world and the principles of magic and its utility. This castle does have a small library, so I may browse through it at some point. Or I could ask the princess for a lecture, she ought to know a few things, being royalty and a Paladin and all that. The other question is: do I really want to push this world into a potential spiral of technological development? Or, more precisely, if I even can do it in the first place? Still, the concept definitely got me excited. After all, while I might be strong as I am, magic's still a huge factor and without it I doubt I can stand up to the Demon King, let alone help defeat it. This means I have to look for alternative solutions to be of help to my students and the people around me. I might be magicless, but I was still given the title of a Hero and a chance to prove myself. I have to at least try and make a name for myself so that I'm not being skipped out in history books when the other Heroes are mentioned.

Realising that I've been soaking in the bath for quite a while now, and that I almost fell asleep in it, I quickly got out and dried myself. After changing into some cleaner clothes, I left the dirty bundle with Mearyl, who took it to wash it, while I headed towards my room. It was already fairly late and I had plans for tomorrow, so I headed straight for the bed. It would be a real shame to sleep in, after all.