“So… Today’s the day,” I said as I stared at myself in the mirror.

Even though I’m turning eighteen today, my expression should not belong to someone celebrating this special occasion and I can’t help but place my hands on the mirror as I stare at myself or at least at what can be seen because my long messy hair covers most of the vision of my deep blue eyes.

My white nightgown manages to cover my trained body that I’m so proud of, but don’t misunderstand me, it’s not like I feel superior for having a good physique, no, it’s more about the fact that I’ve been training for the art of the swords ever since I started walking.

Yes, it’s about the discipline, the hard work, the memories, and all the things that come from following the path of the sword, those are the things that make me so proud about myself reaching this point in my life, yes, I should be happy for the all the hard work I’ve done since I was little and yet I can’t be more unhappy even if I wanted to.

And the reason for that has to do with the things that come when you turn eighteen, new responsibilities, new liberties, and worst of all, it’s the time to get married.

Being part of a noble family comes with a lot of benefits, you practically have your life completely solved, however, in my opinion I think that all the positive things that come from being part of a noble family aren’t worth considering the price you have to pay for it, especially if you’re a woman... All gets reduced to arranged marriages.

Yes, even though this wasn’t a common thing before the great cataclysm suddenly we’re back to the old customs, just to prevent another cataclysm from happening, and of all the things that we can get back the worst of all is the one that has to do with fathers treating their daughters like cattle.

My father is not an exception to that rule, he has been waiting impatiently for the day I finally turn eighteen to get me a husband, I know I shouldn’t be surprised by his attitude considering my grandparents made a deal with him to marry my mother.

Still, that doesn’t change the fact that I feel completely disappointed that all the hard work I’ve put in to get to this point will be worthless once I get married, that’s the thing I hate the most about getting married.

I’m not angry because I will probably be forced to marry an old man, or the fact that I will have to move out of my house, no, it’s the fact that my sword lessons are going to be over and soon, all the training will be replaced with wife things, and even though a lot of aristocratic women aspire to marry an old rich man with the hopes of him passing away for them to celebrate getting their inheritance, I must say that even if the outcome sounds good, it’s not my cup of tea because I have a secret that my parents don’t know about me.

And suddenly my thoughts were interrupted the moment someone knocked on my door.

“Allee… Are you awake now?” Asked a feminine voice and I couldn’t help but smile sadly.

“Yes Mother,” I answered before I rushed towards the door to open it and find an older version of me but better dressed, she was wearing a very fancy red dress.

“Happy birthday my dear,” my mom couldn’t wait and she suddenly hugged me, I couldn’t help but smile and hug her back, I couldn’t bring myself to make her feel down with my attitude, so, I faked a smile.

“Thank you, Mother, I really appreciate your words,” I mumbled before the hug stopped, my mother was the one who stopped it.

The woman who brought me to this world stared at me with a serious expression.

“What’s going on?” She asked me with clear concern showing on her face.

“What? No Mom, there’s no—“ I tried to explain myself but she quickly shot me down.

“Don’t try to lie to me, young lady… I know you too well,” she said sternly. “Come on… If you don’t tell me what’s on your mind I can’t help you,” my mom tried to get information out of me in any way.

And I couldn’t take it anymore, I sighed defeated as there was no way I would’ve been able to make her forget about it, once she gets obsessed with something there’s no way for her to get her mind out of it.

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“I don’t want to get married!” I said angrily before I took my sword and ran away from where I was standing.

I don’t know where this force came from, but I knew I had to get away, I was angry with everyone, the world, society, and my parents too, and I was bitter towards my father especially.

I needed something to distract my mind, so, it didn’t take too long until I reached the garden and I started to work on my movements with the sword, I’ve reached a point in which my movements are almost too perfect, but there’s always room to improve, so, I continued practicing.

But then I heard a very low sound of rustled leaves and I quickly launched myself towards whoever might be trying to do something to me but I quickly stopped myself when I realized who was in front of me.

It was an older man around the age of my mother, he had short blonde hair, a beard, and blue eyes.

“Sir Louis!” I said before gulping. “Master!” I was worried, there might be a problem and right now I was just hoping he wouldn’t think bad of me for almost attacking him.

“I see that you’re early with your training dear Allee… That’s good, however!” The man suddenly said before he moved as fast as he could with his sword in one hand.

And for a fraction of a second, I lost him from sight but then he appeared behind me, and now his sword was restricting the movements of my neck which made me drop my sword.

“W-What?” I mumbled as I couldn’t believe what was happening.

“Don’t worry lady Alleena… You have great potential in you, you just need more time to polish your abilities,” he said with a smile on his face, he was so calm even though he did something amazing.

I closed my eyes before I sighed.

“I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, after all, you are the hero of destiny, the one who is destined to defeat the demon king,” I said with a sad smile and it was time for him to sigh now.

“Please don’t call me that…I’m no hero,” the man said in a serious tone.

And he had a reason to act like this, the man in front of me… His name is Louis Draxler and despite his humble origins, he managed to become not only the strongest warrior in the entire kingdom, he also gained the title of "The hero that will defeat the demon king", or at least he was named like that since the day he was born, everyone knows his story.

However, the moment the woman he loved was taken by another man he decided to use his privilege as a hero to ask the king to break that marriage as a condition for him to defeat the demon king.

But the king didn’t fulfill the only request he had to defeat the demon king, so as an act of vengeance he decided to not defeat the demon king and instead, he ended up in this town and got a job as a security guard and as swords master.

“Miss Alleena… What is troubling you?”, the swordsmaster suddenly asked me, and I couldn’t answer that question.

I wanted to run away from this, I was feeling ashamed of myself, so I did the only thing I usually do when I feel stressed, I visited the family’s most valued possession, a gift from our ancestors, a huge rock with a sword completely buried inside of it, no one knows what’s the meaning of this, the only thing for certain is that this thing is invaluable, still, that didn’t stop me from trying to pull the thing from the rock, this was the best stress release exercise because it was impossible to take the sword out of its pedestal, but then, something I didn’t expect happened.

“I got the power!” I said in a loud tone surprising not only me but also Sir Louis as I suddenly pulled the sword out of the stone. “Oh no!” I said completely worried as I tried to get the thing back to where it belonged.

“Miss Alleena… What are you doing!?” I looked up and I saw the older man who looked as if he had just seen a ghost, the two of us know that nothing good will come out of this action.

“Sir Louis… I was just… Uh,” I didn’t know how to explain this, but the moment the older man saw the sword in my hands he knew what was going on.

“Miss Allena, you know this sword in a stone is a relic from your family, right? Your father’s going to get angry,” the man sighed. “That’s only if we tell him about it,” Louis added before he placed the sword where it belonged. “It will be our little secret,” the knight promised me and I agreed with him without thinking twice.

I was about to tell Sir Louis another thing, but then one of the housemaids approached us.

“Lady Alleena… Sir Lous, master has ordered us to find you, he’s looking for you two, but especially you lady Allee,” The maid managed to say with a shy expression and I couldn’t help but gulp.

I knew this moment was finally going to happen I was hoping for Father to at least let me celebrate my birthday but it seems like he didn’t want to waste any time.

“Tell him I’ll get properly dressed and I’ll join him as soon as I can Annie… Thank you,” I said with a calm but assuring glance at the maid who was a few years older than me.

And yet she was so shamelessly crushing all over me.

“She’s crazy over you… You know that right?” Asked Louis with a smirk and I couldn’t help but not.

“Of course, she’s not the most subtle person,” I giggled before I got ready to go back to my room. “Now, if you excuse me, Sir Louis… I need to take care of something,” I said sarcastically before I disappeared.

It took me ten minutes but I managed to finally join my parents who were discussing the thing that I had been afraid of ever since I turned eighteen, I wasn’t paying attention as I knew my opinion didn’t matter on this.

“Alleena!” Suddenly my father’s words got me out of my distracted state of mind.

My father is truly a wonder of life, in different circumstances to be honest, he would’ve been in jail or worse, dead, that's what I fear, or at least that’s what I think due to his choices in life, he has managed to become rich thanks to the regime of the demon king.

“Like I was telling you, your future husband has been decided already… And that is the continent king of course!” My father said happily as he knew the fortune and prestige that this would bring to his house. “When I saw the letter I couldn’t believe it, I mean, he’s older than me and I’m already sixty but despite that, he’s the man all the families want their daughters to marry, and he chose you!” My idiot father was nothing but scum, I was having a hard time resisting the urge to cry and I wished for something to interrupt this, anything would do, but I knew it was pointless to wish for something like that.

And then, it happened, something I thought was nothing but a foolish wish…

“Please, someone stop this crazy man!” A maid surprised us as she called some guards to stop a young wizard walking towards where an older couple was discussing something.

“What’s this nonsense? Who are you, young man? Explain yourself!” Sir Louis was on the verge of pulling his sword to take matters into his own hands to deal with the intruder.

But all those thoughts were interrupted the moment the younger man pulled a magical staff out of nowhere completely surprising all of us, including the guards who were with us, considering none of them had dealt with a wizard in their lives, they were too shocked to act.

“Lord and Lady Sanstach, please hear me out… Alleena…Your daughter, she’s the hero of destiny!” Declared the wizard completely surprising all of us with his words.

I had the same reaction as my parents, I had no idea about what was happening right now, but still, this was the perfect chance for me to run away if I wanted to.

Curiosity #2: Sorcerers have a weird reputation in this world, you either admire them or they make you feel scared, there's no point in between!