DONG!! DONG!! DONG!! DONG!! DONG!! DONG!!

The sounds of the bells tolling woke Jasmine up. She let out a long frustrated sigh before leaving the bed, washing up and changing into a bright green qipao with a flowery pattern. After putting up her auburn hair so that it would not get in the way, she headed to the dining room.

Rickert was already present there, seated at the head of the table which was generously filled with various kinds of cheese, bread, fruits and meat. On Jasmine's arrival, Rickert put down the book he was reading and warmly smiled at her, lightly patting the chair on his right.

Jasmine returned the warm smile, glanced at the book and saw that its name was 'Devil's wit'. she sat down at his right side and politely said. "Good morning dad. What were you reading?"

"I was reading 'Devil's wit'. It is a fictional story about a little demon who lies, cheats and tricks his way into becoming the devil. It is rather interesting."

"So I should read it?" Jasmine said, her eyes twinkling with interest.

"Only when you are older. You can read it after you become an adult!" Rickert quickly said. The book had quite a few adult and gory scenes in it and it was not something a young girl like her should be reading.

Jasmine's shoulders drooped and she pouted. "Fine."

"Anyways, have a nice meal! Make sure to eat your fill because you'll only be able to get another hearty meal this evening." Rickert ruffled her hair and started helping himself to everything the generously filled table had to offer.

"Have a nice meal!" Jasmine replied before focusing on the food on the table. Even though she had seen the same scene the night before, after weeks of having to scavenge for food, the table in front of her looked like a dream. Only after a minute did she snap out of her daze and grabbed whatever was closest to her.

During the meal Rickert started explaining how her first four hours of the day would look. "So at six, we eat here together, afterwards you can change into something comfortable to move around in and wait at the back yard for your martial arts teacher to arrive. Don't be scared of his appearance, he looks tough but he's a very friendly fellow. After you practice martial arts for one hour, I will personally teach you etiquette for an hour. I will not teach you too dilligently as in reality only the basics are important. You will pick up everything else you really need to remember in time. As soon as you master the basic rules of etiquette, we will switch this hour with one hour of me personally teaching you strategy. As for the final hour, the first few months you will be learning Ashvahlen and it will be taught by one of my best friends."

Jasmine just nodded and continued stuffing herself with a large variety of the available cheeses. The moment she tasted the first cheese, she was determined not to leave the table before she had tried all fifteen of them! Cheese had always been one of her favourite things to eat and it had always been hard for her not to overeat herself when it was presented to her.

They conversed for a little longer after the meal until Jasmine noticed that it was nearly time, at which point she darted out of the room, changed herself and walked to the backyard where a rather ferocious looking man dressed in black shorts and a white shirt was waiting for Jasmine.

She estimated him to be in his late twenties, even though his long braided beard and bald head tried to convince her that he was much older. His bald head was covered in runic tattoos and scars littered every part of his body.

Noticing the little girl walking up to him, the man extended his thick muscular arm towards her. "Nice to meet you. Henry is my name. I am a berserker. Rickert said I should teach you some martial arts. I will teach you foot work today. Watch me." His loud, raspy voice reverberated throughout the yard.

From the way he spoke, it was obvious that the man was not from around here and the way he spoke nearly made Jasmine burst out in laughter. However the moment the man started moving, Jasmine was utterly astonished. The movement technique he was displaying was simply much too gorgeous, yet at the same time it felt powerful. The astonishment caused her attention to wane and thus she was not able to capture all the movements from the start.

After he finished showing what she would learn, Henry asked. "Good, right?"

"Very good!" Jasmine said, her mouth still half open.

"Okay, I will teach now! Point is to move with little waste. Little waste means effective. Movement depends on terrain. It flat and loose sand like here, we move like dance. It rough terrain? We move chest more than legs! Many terrains, many many differences! You will understand in time!"

Jasmine nodded and attentively listened to Henry. While it was hard for her to hear someone talk like this, it was obvious that Henry was trying his best to explain and thus she did not dare to not pay attention to him.

An hour quickly passed and after the initial explanations, Henry taught her by showing how the movements were done and then made her try them on her own. Every time she made even the smallest mistake, Henry quickly pointed out where it was and had her adjust until she got it right.

Sweat poured down Jasmine's back at the end of the hour and a wry smile sat on her lips. "I only learned two very small steps."

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She had lost count how many times Henry had said "Again!" and "No no no, Like this!", but she was sure he said it more than a few dozen times. Her movements needed to be small and without waste. Only when she completely succeeded with one step was she allowed to move on to the next one.

So far what she had learned was to quickly slide to her left and back, both basic steps to dodge attacks. Both were not terribly hard to do on their own but what Jasmine found hard was to keep her balance while she did that as Henry made her move twice in a row and after the first step, she easily lost her balance and found herself unable to complete the next step.

She quickly washed up and changed back into her bright green qipao again and joined Rickert in the ballroom. The next hour was spent learning about the various rules of etiquette she would have to follow if she meet the emperor, a marquis and anyone else with a higher rank than hers.

Afterwards, Rickert took Jasmine to the dining hall where she would be joined by Rickert's friend who had yet to arrive. To help her wait, Rickert gave her a book on the Ashvahlen language as that was the language she would be learning today, leaving her alone as he had many matters to attend to.

Half an hour later the door to the dining room opened and Rickert entered the room.

Jasmine looked up from her book and saw that a tall, slender women with blonde hair dressed in a long, vermilion dress stood just behind Rickert, only a few centimeters between the two of them. Her face was not the prettiest nor was it the ugliest. Her grey eyes were set a little further back in her head and her nose was long and sharp. Yet her shy smile and expression made her unusually charming which made Jasmine feel as if she could not quite size her up.

"Jasmine, this is Iris. She is a very good friend of mine and will teach you the Ashvahlen language. She is the most proficient person in the Ashvahlen language in the whole empire and also part of my retinue. The past few days she was undertaking a mission on my behalf and that's why you have not seen her before."

Iris visibly winced the moment Rickert said friend, something that did not escape Jasmine's eyes. A soft smile settled on her lips.

"Nice to meet you!" Iris shyly said as she stepped forward and held out her hand.

Jasmine reached out with her tiny right hand and politely shook Iris's hand. "Nice to meet you miss Iris!"

"Seeing as you two have met each other, I will leave you two alone now." Rickert said before leaving the room.

"Now that the 'nuisance' is gone, I will start explaining a bit about the Ashvahlen language before we start the lesson. The Ashvahlen language is one of the, if not THE, most ancient language on this continent." Passion filled Iris's voice the moment she started talking about the Ashvahlen language.

However, before she could continue, Jasmine asked. "This continent? Does that mean there is more than one continent?"

"You don't know?" Iris asked, a hint of confusion in her eyes.

"No?" Jasmine responded with a wry smile.

"Well, your clothes originate from one of the other continents so I assumed you knew. There are a few other continents that we know of, however the empire has no access to the sea and thus we do not have the ability to go there. Anyway, if you really want to know about the continents, you just have to read through the list of books Lord Rickert has given you. I will not say which book mentions the other continents."

"So where were we?" Iris paused and bit her lower lip. "Oh I remember! So, the Ashvahlen language is the oldest language on this continent and also the most widespread. This is because at one point in time the Ashvalen empire controlled the whole continent for a few centuries! However in time the Ashvahlen empire met with a few calamities and ended up losing its power."

"There still exists a remnant of the Ashvahlen empire to the north of the continent. Yet it is abandonded and no one goes there for it is considered a haunted place. Strange things happen there literally all the time. People go missing, strange voices are heard at night, et cetera. It is not a place people would like to live at."

Iris suddenly paused for a moment and laughed before continuing. "Excuse me, I got sidetracked. I just really like everything about the Ashvahlen kingdom. It's all so interesting to me! Anyway, the Ashvahlen language spread across the continent because the Ashvahlen empire had control over it for such a long time. Hence, every language in the current day and age is based on it and it is why most people still learn it to this day. Moreover, due to how polite the language sounds, it is often referred to as the noble language. Learning Ashvahlen will allow you to converse with nearly everyone you meet, no matter where you go even though most people do not speak it only a daily basis."

"The language is rather difficult to learn so one usually starts to learn it after their eleventh birthday or so. If you feel anything is too difficult or if you feel I need to slow down on teaching you things, feel free to speak up!" Iris said, finally stopping her explanation.

"Yes miss Iris!" Jasmine politely shouted.

"All right, let us get started on your first lesson. Today we will focus on learning all the vowels and consonants along with their sounds. This will not be all too hard as most of them are very similar to those we know. There are only three exceptions to this but usually they are not too hard to learn. The real difficulty with the Ashvahlen language is due to the way sentences are build. It is completely different to how we do it but we'll keep that for a later lesson."

A little less than an hour later the lesson finished and Jasmine's head was left spinning. Even though she had not learnt all too much in the past hour, Iris had nearly been talking non stop despite her shy demeanor.

Afterwards the lesson she quickly visited Rickert and asked him if he could buy a dictionary from her allowance and headed to the library. She quickly looked for the book 'History of the Ambiox Empire - Volume 1', checked it out with the clerk, took a random free seat in the library and started reading. Every now and then she would jot down a note when she read something interesting in the book.

Quickly a small list of years and accompanying events filled her notepad.

- Year 3075 of the Ashvahlen calendar: After the collapse of the Ashvahlen empire, many former dukes erected their own kingdom. The flames of war raged across the continent.

- 3161 of the Ashvahlen calendar: After eighty six years of war, Leonard Ambiox settled down near lake Valest.

- Year 3165 of the Ashvahlen calendar: four years later, Leonard Ambiox conquered the nearby tribes and formed a small territory of his own. 

- Year 3169 of the Ashvahlen calendar: On one of his various conquests of nearby tribes, Leonard Ambiox died of dysentery. His son Deodrick took over his throne and continued his conquest.

- Year 3188 of the Ashvahlen calendar: After 19 years of conquering the nearby tribes and stabilizing his power, Deodrick decided to establish the Ambiox kingdom.

When she finally crawled in her bed that night, Jasmine sighed and muttered. "So that was the first day of my new life, huh..."