I.

"Come on! You're big, Madoka," Leopride said as they dueled. The weight of his practice sword crashed against hers. The impact caused her grip to slip and her sword went flying. Madoka felt a surge of pain in her legs as her world went reeling to the ground. Leopride's sweeping attack got her. "But I am bigger. You should focus on your movements instead of taking strikes head on."

The word "big" made Madoka uncomfortable when compared to her for odd reasons. She climbed back up on her own and refused his hand for help. The pieces of her practice sword lay strewn about in the grass like old, unearthed relics.

"Wood's broken," she muttered as she stared at it. Leopride laughed, though not out of old malice.

"What are we on, now, the sixth wooden stick broken?" He laughed. Then he signaled her to wait and walked off to his carriage. Madoka wondered what the Cherish-man was up to this time. He approached with an object in his strong arms, covered by a piece of cloth. "You swing like a brute, so I brought you a gift from my Homeland. Practice with Lord Zeron."

He placed it in her hands and Madoka felt the weight lean on one side. She wobbled a bit but managed to stay balanced.

"What is this?" Madoka shook the cover off it.

"A hatchet. Or axe," Leopride told her. "Once you are strong like me you will like it better."

The hatchet's head gleamed in the sunlight, though it was ordinary in a way. It was also half of Madoka's height. If she was being honest, it looked like it belonged to someone else.

"A-Are you sure a slave like me should own something?" Madoka trembled at the realization. She was not allowed to have things to herself.

"I am sure the princess will insist you keep it," Leopride chuckled. "The steel is forged from my homeland as well. It will break people, but it will not break itself."

"G-Good to know," Madoka was a little taken aback by the gift, as heavy as it might be. "I will take care of it with all my heart."

Leopride furrowed his whiskers and brows, then chanted something beneath his breath. Madoka stepped back as she knew what he was doing. With a grunt, magic made the ground tremble beneath her feet. More stone formations than last time emerged.

"These will help," he laughed. "I will return soon, I suspect these will be broken by the time I come back. Goodbye, Madoka."

"Goodbye, Lord Leopride," Madoka bowed. He waved back as he walked to his carriage.

She tried to swing the axe, but found its weight much heavier than anything she had held before. Elise chuckled at her new gift.

"Ho? He gave you this?" Elise inspected the axe. Madoka could only hang her head low for she imagined a Royal would simply take away a slave's possessions. It was unheard of for one to own things. Elise was no ordinary Royal, however, who chuckled. "He is such a savage, I know. Have you tried to use it?"

"I, erm, yes," Madoka stammered sheepishly. She hefted the hatchet up. "Though it is a little too heavy."

"Hmm," Princess Elise looked at Madoka's shaky grip on the weapon. "Maybe you don't have enough strength stat points in your character build to equip it yet... I mean. We just have to train harder then."

"H-Harder?" Madoka gulped. She already had her schedule full, but the princess grinned.

"Even harder," she laughs. The sunset complimented Elise's beauty well. It was Summer, but Spring still danced delicately between the days despite everything being sunny. It will soon be warm and the food harvests will be different. Madoka would have to break all those rocks sooner than later before the Sun brings its fury on the earth.

Still, the axe was quite taxing to hold. Madoka thought back to what Lord Leopride's movements and forms were training. She guessed, as a commoner with way less fighting experience, should just go on about her duties and continue her workouts day by day.

"Hello, Madoka, are you in there?" Elise's voice broke Madoka's concentration. She did not budge from her workout routine, merely remembering that she was in the middle of a conversation with Elise. Elise raised her hands in a circle, forming more bubbles that splashed on the ground. "Look! I'm a human sprinkler, now."

She began to splatter large water bubbles out that watered the dying grass beneath them. Elise laughed, Madoka sighed. At least this new spell of hers only makes a mess and does not set anything on fire.

"What is a sprinkler?" Madoka asked, trying to be engaged. These days, she's managed to hold the axe and complete her first two forms Leopride showed her.

"It's ahh, a little water pump that goes pszt pszt pstpstpst and - crap!" The princess lost her concentration and apparently the bubble popped and splashed all over her dress. She hung her head low. "Oops. Sorry, Madoka."

"What am I to do with you?" Madoka instinctively went for some cloth to clean the mess, but when she returned she saw a horrifying sight. The princess was wiping herself off. "No, no, no! I am your servant, princess."

"Soon, you won't be," Elise said. "We'll stand as... friends I hope."

"Hmph," Madoka wiped her off and guided her with her hand. "We already are friends, princess. Though you should really remember your place above me."

The princess stopped with a dark look in her eyes.

"What's wrong? Are you feeling sick?"

Elise shook her head like a bright candle light, as if to fend off the darkness in her eyes. She smiled, the hurt receding from her face.

"I'm fine. You really need to accept apologies," she laughed.

Madoka considered it, but did not understand what accepting an apology for doing her duties truly meant. "V-Very well, princess."

"Good. Take me away, my friend," the princess instructed her. Madoka led her to be cleaned and changed. Dinner was next, then cleaning the dining hall, cleaning her, dusting the hallway windows... Oh so much work to do.

"As you wish, Your Highness," Madoka said instead.

It was late but the night was clear unlike Madoka's thoughts. She finally managed to get time by herself. Without the axe that she rested against one of the stone formations, she would practice her forms by herself. The axe certainly was what she wanted to practice, but she did but couldn't use it now and woke the whole estate up. She could swing it with some effort but there was something she knew she was missing with every swing she performed. When she attempted to break the stone pillars earlier, her attacks simply bounced off. She was secretly amazed by its sturdiness, for it never broke against the rocks.

While quickening her breathing exercises, she jumped from one formation to another. The tips of each were no wider than one of her feet and falling off or losing balance would be a painful lesson to learn. Swiftly, she kept up the pace until she grew tired that night.

II.

She jerked awake, feeling cold and hot at the same time. Instinctively, Madoka felt herself all over, before reaching between her legs and stopping. She cursed herself and got up to get her sheets and herself cleaned. Damn nightmares. Her time in the Palace with nobles was not always the easiest to live with. Madoka turned down the hallway to her quarters after cleaning herself and her dripping bed sheets.

She'll have to ask Elise to conjure those soap bubbles later.

The moons hung high in the sky, their lights just a little brighter than the canvas of stars above. Distant, but kind gods waiting and watching her. As she crept through, a whimper sounded from the princess's room.

Madoka dropped her sheets in her room and nearly bolted to investigate Princess Fiara. She cracked open the door as if to avoid something sinister, peering in with aid from a sliver of the kind moon's light. The princess was flailing. A sickness?

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

"Please," she gasped and grasped her sheets. The room became illuminated as the princess flailed again. Elise was using magic in her sleep, her sobs and muffled screaming accompanied with the low hum of the arcane energies threatening to tear apart the room into a mess. Immediately Madoka rushed to her side, seeing the core's circle begin to swirl inside her chest. "Don't do this! Please! L-Let go of my neck, Dad! I-I'll promise, I'll call you Dad from now on! Mom! H-help me!"

She was choking and her eyes were closed shut; but she suddenly latched onto Madoka's shoulders with a surprisingly strong grip. Madoka was horrified that she couldn't break free, but also did not know what to do. "Elise! Princess! Wake u-up!"

The princess stopped her flailing but still held tightly onto Madoka, breathing and crying.

"D-Don't kill me," she breathed. How was she even able to do this in her sleep? Madoka had to think quickly. She felt like her arms were going to be ripped off under the sheer pressure of Elise's grip. The humming from her glowing magic core stopped.

"I won't!" Madoka solemnly swore to her sleeping princess.

"Don't let me die here," she choked. Madoka struggled to raise her hand, but she wiped Elise's tear stained cheeks with her sleeve. "I-I'm so alone here."

"I promise, Elise," Madoka answered. "I will not leave your side."

The grip was loosening. Yes, that's it!

"M-Mom, I'm s-sorry," Elise started choking again, letting go of Madoka. "I'm sorry I was b-born."

"You don't have to apologize, Elise," Madoka hugged her. The heat emanating from Elise's magic core burned her up, but she held on tightly.

"B-but—"

"Quiet, now, princess. It's late and it's time to sleep."

Madoka pulled away as the princess's posture slackened. Her sapphire eyes opened briefly, searching rapidly in her sleep for a way back to close. The moonlight illuminated them, though they were very much vast universes of their own. A pair of celestial oceans Madoka could dance in. But they were shut again as her glowing core flickered and faded like the last embers of a firepit.

She toppled back onto her bed, now a completely disheveled and chaotic mess of sheets and blankets. The night was somehow soporific despite the storm that passed through, with nothing but the two girls and the two kind gods watching over them. Madoka smiled at her sleeping princess. She sat next to the bed leaning over her princess, stroking her hair for what seemed like a long time and holding her hand.

It was not long before exhaustion overtook the maid. Her knees were a bit sore from sitting on them for a long time. Madoka chuckled to herself, she didn't want to think of the marks the princess's supposedly noodly arms left on her. She decided she'll fall fast asleep tonight, just in case.

III.

"Madoka?" Elise's voice penetrated through Madoka's stirring like a ray of sunlight. "Why are you here?"

"Mmm," Madoka yawned, before realizing she was in the presence of her princess. She jerked awake and bowed her head. She also found herself still at the side of the princess's bed and must have tipped over on the floor. She smoothed out her dress and her hair. "Good morning, Your Highness."

"You look beautiful down there, but next time you can crawl in the sheets with me, okay? Come on, get in! Get in!"

"Your Highness, I..." Madoka hesitated.

"I don't bite, I promise! Not too hard, anyways."

That phrase alone made Madoka worried. She remembered that Elise nearly strangled her while she was sleeping. Tentatively, she got under the sheets and blankets by her princess's side just as she promised. Elise attempted to snuggle in her arms but stopped.

"Gah, my head feels like it got shaken, like, a brick hit me!" Elise clutched her head. Her hair was a complete mess as well. "A-And my room! What happened last night?"

Madoka looked and saw the aftermath of Elise's magic. Clothes and curtains were cluttering the floor. "A-Apologies, princess. You had a night terror and called my name."

"A... night terror?" Elise looked confused for a moment, but sat slowly up again. "That wouldn't be right. Are you sure you just couldn't resist a sleepover with me?"

"N-No, it's just that," Madoka noticed something on the princess's hand. A stain? "What's that?"

"What's what?" Elise inspected her hand and noticed the strange mark. "Yo, what the hell?"

The odd marking slithered down her sleeve out of view. The princess felt it, recoiling from the shock of the marking's movements as if she got stung. Madoka and Elise looked at each other with odd expressions.

"Ach!" She shook her hand. "Was that a bug? Oh hell no! Ach!"

She snapped her arm out in an attempt to shake out the bug, but nothing showed itself. "Ach!"

She slipped her sleeve down revealing a mark on her skin, clearly moving on its own. It writhed and made the princess wince. The two girls looked at her arm - spellbound in a strange fascination.

"It's kind of like a dragon tattoo, huh?" Elise remarked. She winced as the marking's jaws clamped down on her arm before wiggling further up her shoulder. "Not that you would know what a tattoo is, anyways."

"Does t-that mark, or ah, 'tattoo' hurt you whenever it moves?" Madoka was almost too afraid to ask. "Forgive me, princess. I forgot to mention this: You used magic in your sleep and the commotion made me enter your chambers to calm you down."

The princess rested her arm back down and squeezed Madoka's hand.

"You saved me from myself," Elise smiled. "And you will keep on saving me, Madoka. This pain is nothing. Like being zapped by violent static or a fork in an electrical socket. What more could I ask for?"

"Your Highness?" A maid's voice called from outside the chambers. Madoka yawned. "Lord Leopride has arrived with the object you've requested."

"Really?" Elise sprang up, suddenly awake at the news. "Let's go, Madoka!"

"So soon," Madoka calmed her down with a look. The princess stopped in her tracks. "We must get you changed and this room cleaned."

"Gah!" Elise pouted and then let out a long breath. "There's no stopping you."

"Precisely, Your Highness," Madoka smiled. She was worried still, about that living mark that marred her skin. Was it truly alive? Did it come to life when she used magic? There was no use asking, for the princess herself did not know. As she stripped the princess down, the tattoo moved along her shoulder blades.

An odd skin condition, Madoka attempted to scrub it off but it caused the princess pain so she stopped. After she was done tidying both Elise and the room, they marched down to meet Lord Leopride in the foyer. He bowed to them both, giving Madoka his homeland's salute. The gesture made her uncomfortable as it should not be done to servant-slaves like Madoka. Furthermore, he had a large object in his hand.

Was it a spear? Madoka wondered.

"I have something for you, Princess Fiara," he said, nodding his head at the item in his hand. Elise looked excited.

"Finally!" She looked at it with joy. "Thank you, Uncle Leo!"

"Now, now," Leopride chuckled. Then he dropped the object in the ground, startling a nearby maid. Princess Elise appeared to be in disbelief. Madoka chuckled at his actions, for she could tell what the Cherish-man's intentions were. "Your first workout, Princess. Take it away. Madoka, you can allow this, yes?"

Madoka simply remained quiet, but Leopride laughed.

"Nae waaah!" Princess Elise looked at the object. It was shaped like a staff, with two large objects at both of its ends. "Why are you two ganging up on me? A secret alliance?"

"So," Leopride spoke to Madoka as the princess dragged the object to the room where the pair of girls worked out. Elise called it a gym, she remembered. "You look like you have a question to ask me, no?"

"I was never good at hiding my questions, I suppose, Lord Leopride," Madoka chuckled again. Leopride shook his head.

"Ask away, do not be afraid anymore, little one," Lord Leopride laughed.

"Why are you so loyal to the princess," Madoka asked. "She has caused a lot of trouble for King Fiara."

"Aye, that she did," Leopride said, his eyes distant in thought. "I was once a suitor for her. She called me 'cute.' It was the first of many surprises she had for me."

Madoka could envision the princess being an unbridled mess for any suitor, but for Leopride especially. Something about him made her heart flutter, Madoka had no clue what emotion she felt when looking at the Cherish-man. A strong man like that should be more than enough to get anyone besides her.

"She went on to save my life in a way," Leopride continued. "A small conflict happened within my homeland and Fiara's soldiers. My homeland exists within Fiara and is allowed to 'cohabitate and be self-autonomous' within Fiara's borders. Don't know what those words mean? Ha! I didn't either."

"The princess mentioned and explained the terms to her father, who allowed us to live freely in the jungles under his protection. Were it not for her intervention, I would have been eliminated with the other nobles of my homeland."

"I see," Madoka said. "The princess is truly an unpredictable and intelligent woman."

"She rejected my courtship many times," Leopride chuckled. "And she calls me an uncle she's never had. Since I owe her my life, I support her upon the King's and Lord Zeron's request. Though, I found myself willing for free. I am sure you know the feeling, given how the princess is, no?"

Madoka felt her cheeks go warm and tried to hide her embarrassment at his comment. Leopride laughed.

"I mean no harm, I cannot return to winning the princess, given her situation," Leopride waved his clawed hands.

"Madoka!" Elise's voice echoed loudly from the east wing. "Help me! I need your strong arms to lift this thing!"

"It seems that you have been summoned," Leopride waved. "Be seeing you, Madoka."

Madoka opened the door and bowed to him on the way out.

Now then, Madoka huffed up the stairs. She was going to make the princess pay for raising her voice and causing a disturbance. Though, secretly Madoka knew it would be worthless. Elise yelled when she wanted to and there was not much the maid had for stopping her.

IV.

"HrAAAAGH!" Elise roared after what she called a deadlift. The staff of a spear was modified with large rocks conjured by Leopride at both ends of it. It was a gift. She breathed loudly after dropping the heavy thing to the ground, which matched her voice's volume as it clattered. The other maids present simply sighed. The princess, however, seemed oblivious to the commotion she was causing. "RAAAH! WOO!"

"Elise," Madoka closed her eyes. She did her training a while ago, but accompanied the princess because she was told to. She was knitting up a fragment for one of her torn dresses. Often when she looked after the princess trained or watched her study in the library she would knit or do her training quietly to avoid going into "idle mode," as the princess called it. Dissociation was another thing she called it, though Madoka thought nothing of it.

"Sorry, Madoka," Elise dropped the bar, making even more noise. "But this is something I gotta do to lift this guy."

She tugged at the weight beneath her feet. Madoka had never found anything more unladylike - the act of screaming like a savage. Even her doing manual labor like this was enough to hurt Madoka's head as she tried to get used to it. Elise grunted even louder as she lifted it once again.

Later, Madoka and the princess were outside. The weather was warm, so the princess would sit in the sun more. The tattoo was slithering around her right arm, but it did not seem to bother the princess anymore. She approached her maid with a new "good idea," one that Madoka as her slave could not refuse anyways. She was emboldened by Madoka's reminder that she is her maid and therefore cannot refuse, so the princess nearly dragged her out to the practice yard.

"Dodge this!" Elise charged her magic and conjured water up in a small stream. Madoka was not quick enough, so the water splashed harmlessly on her. Madoka understood why she came up with this. It was an excuse to train her magic and help Madoka train. It was still frustrating to get her outfits wet but the princess was adept at using water magic already.

Or Madoka would say, if she knew how magic worked.

"I'm just using mana to harness hydrogen atoms with oxygen and then.... Oh, I've lost you," Elise tried to explain how her magic worked. "I tried explaining it to one of Brother's mages the other day. He looked as confused as you."

"Brother? The Prince is here?" Madoka asked, almost dodging a water projectile from Elise. The water splashed on her shoulder.

"Yeah," Elise sighed, conjuring up more bubbles. "Or was. He left this morning. I tried to glean all the information on them. The mage said water magic isn't well known in whatever College he went to. I think it was Crosstella Magic College...? Whatever. If only Father sent me there instead!"

"It's still impressive that you're learning magic on your own..." Madoka mused. "Even if it is a little scary."

"It's taking too much time," the princess complained. Madoka was getting more accustomed to the incredible speeds of the water beams Elise shot from her fingers. "I needed to learn how mages of this world work... even if they are from my enemies..."

"Enemies?" Madoka remembered that Elise sees her brother as an enemy. She best not bring it up now.

"It's nothing," Elise said through an obvious forced smile. "Let's move on. Tomorrow I'll use two fingers to shoot water beams!"

"T-Two?" Madoka followed her, carrying Leopride’s gift with both hands.

"Yeah. I have to catch up to you somehow!" Elise twirled. The way the sunlight and her misty water magic wrapped around her body made it difficult for Madoka to look away, a bewitching spirit basking in rainbow tinted mist from ocean waves and the emerging sun. She realized the princess was leading her to the stone formations.

"I think you have enough strength points in your stats— er I think you're strong enough to break these," the princess inspected Madoka's body. A little too closely, making the maid shift uncomfortably away. Elise giggled. "You just need a little... passion!"

"P-Passion!"?"

"Yeah," Elise pointed at her axe. "Can you strike it into the ground for me?"

Madoka raised her axe, admiring its plain blade glinting in the Summer sun before dropping it into the earth. The princess looked at it in thought.

"You're doing that without grunting, or anything," Elise remarked. "Wow."

"I just don't see how the loud roaring is helpful," Madoka complained. She nearly poked herself with the needle in her hand by being startled by her princess's intermittent yelling the last time.

"Passion, my dear Madoka," Elise repeated herself in a silly accent. "Need I remind you that you screamed for that extra bit of energy to defeat Lord Leopride the first time?"

"S-Stop, that's embarrassing..."

"Here," Elise sighed. She then marched up to Madoka's axe and roared as she lifted it. Was that not because of her training? Madoka was about to complain but then the princess did something incredible.

"Watch! RAAAH!" Elise raised the axe over her head and smashed one of the stone formations to pieces in one fell swing. The very same rocks Madoka was trying to break for a week now. Madoka's axe was not damaged in the slightest. She handed the weapon back to her with a satisfied look. "Simple as that, you got this! Sorry for blowing one of these up. They're probably for training..."

Eh?!