The carriage came to a stop, and all three came out, with Edmund coming to the front and stopping right in front of the two of them, looking straight into Ariadne’s eyes.

‘Duchess, this is really important; I don’t get why you just let her do whatever she wanted, even though she was learning healing.’ Edmund looked at the duchess, confused.

‘She is my friend, peasant; I’m not going to force her to do anything she doesn’t want to do. What is your point? I have better things to do.’ Ariadne crossed her arms.

‘Hum, ok, I understand. After our training, I’m going to show you the refrigerators we will sell. Sorry for the question, duchess.’ He turned around and started to walk to the side, going around the mansion.

‘Your highness, I’m sorry for everything; I should have been more focused on learning. Can I pass my time with you as a friend, not serve as your maid?’ Eliza stepped forward and turned around, facing Ariadne.

‘You will always be my friend Eliza; even if you wanted to stop learning and just came back as my maid, there would be no problem; don’t concern yourself with the peasant.’ Ariadne smiled.

‘I think he stopped because he saw that you consider me a lot; as a real friend, not a maid, Edmund wouldn’t push for me to do anything if I didn’t want to.’ Eliza looked at Edmund as he vanished from the corner of the mansion.

‘I don’t know. For what I can see, if it has to do with the demon lord, he will do everything in his power to get what he wants.’ Ariadne passed Eliza and entered the mansion.

When the sun was in the middle of the sky, Alon was showing the training field behind the mansion for those who wanted to be soldiers. The idea was to reinforce the villages.

'Well, let me introduce myself again. I’m Alon Agron, the captain of the duchess army. In the next few weeks, we are going to train the basics but your real training will start in your respected villages.’ He walked left to right, looking at the man.

The mixed bunch showed him conviction in their eyes, like this was a kind of last chance. It was around a hundred men that volunteered to be soldiers, which, according to Alon’s calculations, made their army almost two hundred strong at this point, but they could protect themselves from any number of monsters the kingdoms threw at them.

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‘Behind me is one of the lieutenants, Bartel Adler. He will show you everything you need to know, from how we talk to how we act. It is an ever-changing way of fighting, so pay attention and be open to change at any time. Yes?’ Alon looked at them with serious eyes.

Bartel came forward and looked at everyone the same way Alon had before him; he noticed that they had the most young men among them.

‘Right now, I just want you to see to your left those two over there, Edmund and the duchess Ariadne. Just watch.’ He pointed to his side, and everyone’s gaze followed.

Ariadne was walking toward Edmund with her sword, making a path on the ground like every time they train. She didn’t say anything to him, but she was grateful for what her abilities could do. Compared to Edmund, it was nothing, but he says to her every day that she is getting better, and in a way, it made her happy. It was strange because, outside of this moment, she didn’t like Edmund much; he was a nuance that helped her, but a nuance none the less. The way he talked to her made her remember the nobles that mocked her at every opportunity they had; he didn't know his place even though he was her slave and she was his master.

‘Duchess, you need real combat experience so from today forward, I’m going to hit you like we are fighting to the death. In the dungeon, you will face something you can’t even dream of.’ Edmund prepared himself in an attack position.

‘Peasant, are you trying to use this to kill me? I will allow. Come with everything you have; teach me how is a real fight.’ Ariadne stopped and assumed a defensive position.

The soldiers came closer to look at them, but the first thing they noticed was the strange sword they were using. They were interested in how the two of them would fight with such swords; they only trained basic forms to protect themselves. Bartel stopped the man from getting any closer to the two of them.

‘We are too far, lieutenant; we can get closer.’ One of them spoke from the back.

'No, you can’t; this is too close to my liking but I wanted to show you guys what your leader can do.’ He turned around and smiled at the man.

Edmund jumped forward and attacked Ariadne’s side, her eyes following his movement already positioned her sword not to block but parry swinging toward the sky, making the young man’s sword spin with him still holding it, and Edmund used the momentum to come crashing down into the duchess from above, but again she saw him making the move, and again instead of trying to block Edmund’s attack, she swang upwards, clashing her sword into his. This time, she felt her feet crack the ground under her.

‘My turn.’ She thought to herself.

To others, it felt like she was giving into Edmund’s blow, but quickly she positioned herself following her sword movement, and as Edmund came down, Ariadne attacked his side using the momentum Edmund's blow had given her. The moment it was about to land, he completed a loop, and instead of his sword meeting the ground, instead the two blades clashed and Edmund was launched to the side.

‘What just happened? I just saw them doing something completely impossible. How can someone move like this? It was like a drunk man with a giant sword,’ a young soldier in the front spoke.

‘This is the duchess and her slave Edmund; respect them; don’t look down on him because he is a slave.’ Bartel crossed his arms.

‘Now that you've seen the show, start the training.’ Alon Yelled.