POV: Lerna Anselet

"Lerna, Dear!" Mother's voice shrieked from afar.

She scuttled through the empty spaces of the wheat field, lifting the skirt of her kirtle dress with her white bonnet wobbling and almost slipping from her light blue hair. I squinted at the blinding light of the rising sun behind her silhouette. I had my hands dirtied with soil and full with a bunch of harvested wheat. I wiped off the sweat from my forehead as mother approached me with a look of astonishment on her face. She panted heavily and gripped my left arm.

"You must come," she gulped, "there are two men in front of the house who need your service. Two of them!"

"It's still early in the morning," I groaned.

"Each of them were sent by different nobles, Lerna! Do you know how frightened I was when they told me that?!"

My attention was now fully set on my mother's words. We hurried our way towards the backdoor of the kitchen. I set the bunch of wheat on the kitchen table and trudged to the front entrance of the house. When I came by to the doorway, I peered at the two footmen that were standing next to each other with a wide gap in between them. The lackey on the left had an extravagant black and gold attire with his long cloak hanging above his ankles. The lackey on the right wore a more toned down uniform of a regular white tunic and black leggings. Behind them were each of their own carriages. I curved my upper lip and stared at both of them from left to right.

What is this bizarre situation?

The man on the left cleared his throat and straightened his posture before speaking, whilst the man on the right looked down at his shoes.

"Greetings, Mister Lerna Anselet!" he boasted in such a posh accent that threw me off. "The second prince of the Valbaran Empire, Prince Stalo Thiesteus, orders for your presence in the royal palace. He would like to talk about your skills and talents as a longbowman and possibly appoint you as his next royal guard."

"Why was I chosen?"

"Your brother, Sir Melvis Anselet, recommended you for the position to his princeship."

"Ugh," I gave him a look of disgust and he staggered.

I then turned to the man on the right and said, "And I believe you also have a similar request."

"Uh... Yes! Well... not quite as similar," He lifted his head up and fidgeted his fingers, taking small glances at the other footman, "but I think that the prince's orders are of higher priority than her ladyshi-"

"Who is requesting me on your behalf?" I gestured my palm to him and hasted him to get to the point.

"Lady Roanne Imrora, the daughter of Duke Bertrude Imrora," he muttered, "she is looking for someone to teach her how to use a longbow."

"Okay, I'll do it."

"Thank yo- wait... What?"

I turned to the other footman and stated, "Tell his princeship that I am declining his offer for the position."

"But Mister Anselet, this is a royal order from the prince," he stressed his words, "There might be ramifications if you decline a royal orde-"

"I don't care whether or not it is a royal order. Tell him I already have enough jobs tasked to me."

The right footman then glared at the left one who was fidgeting even more nervously at his fingers.

I went inside the house to grab my longbow and quiver before going back out again.

"Let's go," I tapped the footman's shoulder and opened the doors of the carriage.

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I was introduced a huge manor of two storeys facing a vast garden as I arrived at the Imrora estate. It was the first time I visited the house of the duke that governed most of the duchy's settlements, including Felsaberg. The nearest town to the Imrora house was Deliaway, and my town was a one-hour horseback ride from there.

Unlike Felsaberg, the population of Deliaway continued to grow as many citizens wanted to be near to the duke's estate. However, Deliaway was not as close to the Beca Peninsula of Valbara when compared to Felsaberg, and there was only one small river near the town that couldn't supply enough water for the commoners, serfs and farmers. Duke Imrora and the other lords had to undergo an outline for building a canal from the peninsula to the growing town. From what the other farmers in my neighbourhood told me, they completed the canal building a month ago.

Waiting at the entrance in front of two glossed, wooden doors was a woman with purple hair tied up into a ponytail. She wore a short white dress with the hems stopping just below the knees and a black outer corset around her waist.

I held my longbow with my quiver of arrows strapped around my shoulder and followed the footman from behind as he walked up to her. Her eyes reminded me of the same colour as Beca Peninsula's waters.

Then, I remembered from my father and mother's conversation that the woman standing in front of me was the ex-fiance of Prince Aesar.

"Your ladyship, please forgive me. I could not find a single knight around the duchy as most of the knights have been deployed for military training," said the footman as he bowed before her.

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"It's alright. Anyone with the skill would do just fine." Lady Roanne faced me and asked, "And what is your name?"

"Lerna. Lerna Anselet," I gave her a nod, and she returned it with a small curtsy. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Lady Roanne."

The footman went back to his carriage to park it near the horse stables. Lady Roanne told me to follow her to the barn at the back of the manor. The barn was near to a separate building that housed the servants’ quarters. As we walked to the barn, I saw a butler peaking through the windows from inside the manor. At first, I found it strange that he kept eyeing us, but then I saw another four maids behind him, mouthing the words 'who is that?' and another word which was 'lover'. I ignored them and entered the barn with Lady Roanne.

“I should've facilitated us with a proper target,” she laughed pitifully.

At the very corner of the barn were tall stacks of hay bale.

"Is it alright if we use this for the meantime?” she grabbed a small block of hay bale, and I nodded to her.

I taught her the basics of holding the longbow and positioning the arrow's nock correctly to the string. The first few hits ended up blunting the tip of three of my arrows because it kept hitting the ground.

"You're holding it wrong," I adjusted the position of her arms as she pulled back the string. "Now, I want you to hit the third block of hay bale on the fourth row."

"Okay," she took a breath, her fingers stiffening against the pull of the string. She released the string, and the arrow went flying to the sixth row.

"Damn it," she scratched her head.

"You pulled the string a bit too far because you didn't relax your fingers."

She missed another seven more hits and finally gave up. "This is difficult!" She whined and threw herself onto a large haystack.

"Don't worry, Lady Roanne. In time, I'm sure you will improve."

She chuckled to herself and sighed, "I used to be good at aiming with a similar weapon to a longbow, so I assumed I'd get the same results. Turns out it's not as easy as I thought."

"What do you call this weapon?"

"A gun."

"A gun?"

"Yes. Have you ever heard of it?"

"I'm afraid not."

"I expected that much. I doubt they've distributed it in the empire yet. It's superior to a longbow or crossbow."

The only common weapons I knew were distributed to the military and the nobles were swords, longbows, crossbows, spears, axes and maces. There was no such thing as a 'gun'.

"Sounds like something that's sold in the black market."

She laughed and said, "I don't really think so."

And then she paused. Her eyes widened with curiosity, and she sat up from the bed of the haystack. "Do you know of any black markets in Valbara?"

"Well, I have never been to one before. I've heard that they sell all kinds of eccentric items and weapons that aren't sold in the public, and that included the famous black market that was exposed by the previous duke of Telmethes."

"The Gourbin Dark Market?"

"Yes, your ladyship. You are correct."

I explained to her that the Gourbin Dark Market was a black market that operated in the slums of Gourbin, the main municipality of the neighbouring duchy known as Telmethes. Salt, grain and ore smuggling was a prominent activity after the imperial government strictly upheld merchant and shipping rights. High taxes that also came with these rights didn't benefit them either. Thus, most of the people who took part in the market could evade taxes. Along with unlawful selling and smuggling of commodities, there were also people who gave illicit services. Bandits, pirates, prostitutes, blacksmiths and assassins would roam around there late in the night. Among them, there were also people of superstitious backgrounds.

After the previous emperor enforced policing measures for each of the duchies and provinces, constables that were stationed in Gourbin reported their sightings of the black market to the reeves and earls of the borough. They dispatched a few knights to imprison the people involved in the market and burned down their buildings to debris.

"Do you think that market is still there?" she asked.

"Most likely not anymore."

She was contemplating for a while. I wondered why she was so curious about it.

We continued our practice and after a few more hits, She finally shot an arrow at the right hay bale block.

"Yes!" She jumped on her toes and we both grinned at each other.

After nearly 2 hours, we stopped the lessons and walked out of the barn, heading towards the front yard. She asked me to wait for her whilst she went inside the manor to get something. She came back out and handed me a small sack containing 40 Dranne tokens, which was ten times more the daily wage of a knight.

"Your ladyship, this is quite a lot," I uttered, "I am just a mere serf. I don't deserve this much payment."

"Please accept this much from me," she beamed, "you've helped me out a lot today."

"I am very grateful for your kindness, your ladyship," I bowed to her.

"I hope its more than enough to replace the arrows that I've blunted," she chuckled. "Would you mind coming by again tomorrow?"

“No, I wouldn’t mind.”

Another carriage arrived at the manor just as I was about to depart. A noble lady who looked like she was in her 50s stepped out with a formal dress and a fancy red hat.

“Good afternoon, Lady Roanne,” she curtsied to her.

I left them to their conversation and headed towards the carriage. The footman opened the doors to the cushioned seats. As I placed a foot on to the folding steps, I felt a small tug at the sleeve of my tunic. I turned around and saw Lady Roanne, looking up at me with something in mind.

"Can you do something for me when you get back to Felsaberg?"

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"Why on earth did you decline the prince's orders?"

I looked down at my mother's short stature with a grumpy look on her face. She placed her hands on her hips, holding a wet towel in her right.

A bowl of wheat grain was sitting on the kitchen table with its chaff set to the side. Father was grinding the grains in the mill, near to the hearth where a pot of stew was being boiled above the wood and fire.

I gently grabbed mother's hand and placed the sack of tokens on her palm. "It's 40 Dranne."

"40 Dranne!?" She shrieked and her palm started shaking. Father stopped cranking the mill and turned his head to mother in astonishment.

"Tha-that's more than what Melvis sends us each month," she said.

"I'll be receiving another forty tomorrow," I hung my longbow and quiver on a hook at the corner of the room.

Mother grabbed my arm and said with determination in her eyes, "Invite her for lunch on Saturday."

"Ma, that's absurd! She's a noble and we're commoners," I ranted. "Didn't you remember what happened the last time you invited Baron Wopley over for dinner?"

"I think she forgot he ridiculed our home, saying how filthy it was and that the food we offered was stale," father grumbled as he turned the crank.

"It doesn't matter what happened in the past!" She exclaimed. "We must strive to give a better impression of our name to anyone we know, no matter what their titles are."

My mother's arrogance and her need for social adoration started when Melvis was admitted by Count Hefner to be his page. Since then, she'd boast about my older brother's achievements to our neighbours, and eventually my own when I was admitted two years after my brother. Her strong sense of family pride would get her to do all kinds of things. When a noble would pass her way, she would take up the chance to converse and be all chummy to them even if it wasn't her place to do so.

"We're going to be humiliated again," I sighed.

She smacked me a few times with the wet towel and I covered my face with my hands in defence. "You've brought more humiliation to us the moment you decided not to be knighted!" She yelled. "And even more so after you declined the Prince's orders!"

She pointed her index finger at me and warned, "You better do as I say, boy. A lunch with the lady can make up for all your silly life decisions."

I scowled at her and stomped my way towards the front door.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"I'm going to the tavern. This entire house is suffocating me," I said as I slammed the door behind me.