“A magic sword! Those are blades that only the royal family has been allowed to wield for generations!”

“Yes, but there is no true law saying that it cannot be done.”

“Magic blades! The swords of fate! What a lucky girl.”

Most of the nobles gazed upon the sword with admiration, while some of them gazed upon Thera with envy and jealousy.

Thera keenly felt the stares of the people digging into her back. It was quite unpleasant. She concentrated her focus upon the blade.

While the nobles chattered among themselves, the blade in Thera’s hand grew shorter, more curved and streamlined. The hilt also morphed to accommodate the blade.

Finally, light burst from it as it completed its shape, and runes carved themselves along the length of the blade.

King Rheims released his hand. “This blade is now yours. Let it be known far and wide as the thorn of Briar Rose.”

It now was the perfect image of a katana. Thera lifted it into the light to examine it, with the sharp edge still pointed downwards. In her previous life, she had been trained how to distinguish a good blade.

The weight and size were perfect for her, since traditional two-handed swords were far too bulky to be of any real use. The rippling and shine were also good.

She wished to test the cutting power of the blade, but doing so in the middle of the ceremony would be considered rude.  

While she remained focused on the katana, King Rheims spoke once more.

“This sword is a magic sword, as you may have guessed. Its shape has been set, and its master determined. No other can now wield this blade. It will remain ever sharp, and will not bend or break.

Its special skills I leave to you to discover, as there were no records of either its powers or its name in our treasury. The longer it remains with you, the more it will grow in power. Use it well for the good of the kingdom.”

Thera sheathed her sword, and bowed her head to acknowledge his words. Then, she attached the sword to her belt.

The correspondingly deafening cheer from behind did nothing to distract Thera from her katana. She placed her left hand upon the hilt, running her thumb over the decorative metal emblem at the top. This…was this a rose bud?

King Rheims nodded. He had been surprised by the shape that the sword had taken the form of. But, it couldn’t be helped. Magic swords always took the shape of whichever weapon was most suitable for its master.

There were even some rumored magic swords that had become spears, shields, or hammers. For Thera’s best weapon to be a blade, even if it wasn’t traditional, meant that the king had not chosen wrong.

The General once more cleared his throat. This time, the cheering and applause took a longer time to calm down.

King Rheims motioned his hand again, and a page appeared at his right hand, holding a velvet pillow upon which rested a ring of keys, which were attached to it with silk ribbons. Untying one of the keys, he presented it to Thera, who knelt once again to receive it.

“This is the key to Rose Mansion. Guard it well.” (King Rheims)

“It is accepted, My Liege.”(Thera)

“Good.” He sat down upon his throne again, and motioned to the General to continue reading.

Thera knelt through the speech.

“Moreover, for defeating an army of no less than thirty emperor-class vampire spiders, you have been awarded the privilege of permanently being able to request a private audience with the king, and..”

The General paused, and seemed to choke, but he continued nevertheless. “A-and private lessons from the king’s greatest warrior, the Ranger.”

When he finished, the nobles cheer no longer sounded like an applause. It was a roar of exclamations, shouts, laughter, applause, there were even several people who were crying out objections, but those were quickly silenced by the plain-clothed king’s-assassins.

No, they didn’t kill the nobles, for a noble cannot be killed without due process of law. They were simply put to sleep by a blow to the back of the head, and dragged out of the way.

Thera pretended she didn’t notice such a thing happening behind her. It has nothing to do with me~. She thought. Besides, a twelve year old girl noticing trained assassins would be too suspicious.

The General had probably choked while trying to contain his laughter. As it was now, his face was red, and his shoulders trembled from the effort of holding back his hearty laughter.

“Master Thales will escort you to the office where you will receive the title deed for the mansion.”

King Rheims nodded, and waved his hand, dismissing Thera.

With that, the audience was finished. The king and queen stood up from their thrones and left through the doorway behind the thrones.

“Come with me.” Master Thales said, amiably, leading her through a door into an hallway.

Once she was out of the public eye, Thera looked at Master Thales, sharply. “You knew this was going to happen! Why didn’t you say anything?”

“What? And miss out on seeing the look on your face? It’s payback for the trick you pulled on me at Madame Rothema’s.” He replied.

“That was no trick. It was because you didn’t care to find out how much I’d grown before giving your ultimatum.” She denied. “I simply chose not to inform you.”

“As did I. Therefore, we are even.” He said, a smile twitching at his mouth. Thera disagreed, but voicing such a disagreement seemed to be a defeat on her end. Therefore, she could only wait until later to even the field.

As Thera followed him down the hallway, she asked. “So, which is your title? Master Thales, or the Ranger?”

“Both. I received two titles. My real name, as Madame Rothema knows, is Gerard of Derondale.”(Thales)

“Isn’t His Highness worried that I might be used in order to further either my parents’, or some other nobles’ agendas?”(Thera)

“As he has received reports of you from both me, and the General, he is quite confident in you being able to hold your own against all but the sneakiest of nobles. The fact that you are aware of this matter only confirms our conjectures.” (Thales)

“What!? I actually confirmed something!? I was supposed to be a mysterious person whom no one could see through.” Thera joked straight-faced. “I should go buy a cape and mask to make it complete.”

“The real mysterious people who can’t be seen through have the perfect mask, so lifelike that you would think it was real: which is what we are trying to make for you.” Thales replied, seriously, stopping before a door.

“How is drawing-the-whole-kingdom’s-attention-to-me going to give me the perfect mask?” Thera inquired, head tilted.

“You’ll see.” Was the reply he made before opening the door.

“Yes, I suppose I will.” She said, absentmindedly. Then, she stopped in the doorway. Inside the office, reclining on a red velvet chair was the king himself.

“Well? What are you waiting for? Come in, Briar Rose.” The king said.

Thera approached, hiding her annoyance, and curtsied deeply.

“Does His Highness always hand out the deed to his kingdom personally?” Thera asked sweetly.

The king snorted. “No I don’t. Call it mere curiosity if you will, but I wished to personally meet with the rumored genius of geniuses.”

“You flatter me. I am simply an ordinary person.” Who was reincarnated here from a different world and knows otherworldly martial arts. But Thera left out that part.

“And how might an ordinary person have destroyed over thirty emperor-level vampire spiders with a simple spell?” The king retorted.

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“It was simply my previous observances that saved me.” Thera replied.

“I was trying to test out one of my spells on a vampire bat, but I overestimated and he started dying.

 So I quickly used [Heal] on him, but he died right after that. Then I was curious as to whether I was too late with [Heal], or whether it was something else, so I found a cave filled with vampire bats to try it out.” She explained.

“Is that something a normal person would do?” King Rheims asked, glancing at Master Thales. Master Thales shrugged. He was not a magician, after all, so how would he know what was normal for them or not?

“Anyways, I confirmed that [Heal] was the reason by aiming it at the cave-full of bats. As expected, the majority of them died near instantly.” She concluded.

“What do you mean by ‘most of them’? Moreover, it was ‘expected’?” King Rheims pursued.

Thera made a face.

 “Forgive my inappropriate use of words. I did not mean to say ‘expected’. What I meant to say was ‘suspected’. The whole reason why I went to test the healing spell out was because I ‘suspected’ that it would work: and it did.

Most of them dropped dead, but [Heal] has a certain radius corresponding to the user’s power, you understand. So, those outside of the radius escaped the first spell with their lives. They were not so lucky the second time.”

King Rheims nodded. “I see. So what you’re trying to say is that anyone who had made the same observations as yourself would have been able to defeat that miniature army of vampire spiders?”

“They were also highly wounded from infighting after their tamer was killed.” Thera offered.

He considered Thera’s words for a moment. Then he sighed.

“You can drop the soldier act before me, girl. In public it is all very well and good, but in private you may drop the honorifics.”

Thera sighed in relief and sat down in a chair. “Thank you. Flowery court speech is certainly not my forte. But, let’s cut to the crux of the matter: what do you want of me?”

“I could not simply wish to look at the country’s greatest genius?” (King Rheims)

“If you simply wanted to stare, then you certainly had enough time to do so during the ceremony.” She replied, dismissing his explanation with a wave of her hand. It seemed like two rulers were meeting each other rather than a king and his subordinate.

“So what is it? I have no patience for word games.” She asked.

He nodded. She was even more intelligent than the reports showed: a good trait for one of his nobles.

“I actually wanted to ask you the same question. What do you want?” he asked. “Money? Fame? Soldiers? Power-”

Thera quickly raised her hand. “Stop!” Her face betrayed her displeasure.

“I have already received more than enough money today. I would have preferred to remain unknown for the rest of my life. I have no desire for an army position or personal troops. And power I can acquire on my own efforts, so don’t even think about giving me any expensive or rare elixirs.”

She leaned back, sighing.

“In other words, I am perfectly content with my life. As for my goals…let’s just say that I wish to enjoy my life as it is now? I’m sure you know that a genius rarely has a normal childhood. Honestly, I just want to stay home with my family and grow, for now. Mostly because….”

Thera’s voice faded, and a rather solemn thoughtful expression was present upon her face.

“Because what?” King Rheims prompted.

“Because-I have no physical proof- but I suspect the kingdom will encounter turmoil in the future. Therefore, I wish to appreciate the good days as they come, so that I can face the days to come with no regrets.” Thera finished.

It wasn’t instinct which told her this, but history. Kingdoms had a certain cycle of rising and falling. Thera’s kingdom had risen, and had risen quite high in the past thirteen hundred and seventy-six years.

However, no kingdom can last forever. The philosophies of the nobles had changed from one of working for the good of the people, to constantly seeking pleasures and entertainments.

Not all nobles had this philosophy, but a good deal of the younger generation of nobles, did. This fact indicated that, within the next ten years, something tragic was certainly bound to happen.

King Rheims’s face turned glum.

“You suspect rightly. Over half the nobles in my court are corrupted; their services bought by one country or another. With scouts at our borders in several places to test the waters, it is only a matter of time before we encounter another war. And then there’s the matter of the huge amount of spies and strong martial practitioners who have gravitated here due to rumors about the genius among geniuses. I even sent my son away overseas in preparation.”

He sighed.

“Huh.” Thera replied, rather surprised that the king was telling a mere child such information.

He smiled, painfully. “It may be that very same way of living that you treasure which I will not be able to protect.”

Ah. So that was it. Even the king doesn’t have a carefree life. Having to deal with plots and sub-plots and fake people all the time must really take its toll on a man.

Thera lifted her head and promptly frowned.

“Who asked you to protect it? Buy me time and I’ll be able to protect it on my own! My king, after all that happens under heaven and above earth, you are still only just a king.” She said with a sniff. She stood up. “I do believe you mentioned a mansion deed earlier?”

Master Thales tilted his head to the side. This was unlike Thera’s usual self. Sure, if she continued at such a pace, then it was only a matter of time before she entered the black ranks, but she could still meet with someone stronger than her and die. The world was like that.

For Thera to blatantly say something so fragile as the future, as if it were a pillar set in stone, seemed to intimate that either she had a failsafe, or she had a personal reason for saying so.

King Rheims nodded and handed her the deed.

“I’ve instructed the General to guide you to the mansion.” He said.

She looked it over once, nodded, and excused herself.

After she had left, Thales wondered whether to ask her to explain her actions, when he heard a laugh.

He looked at the king in surprise.

“Hahaha! That’s right! That’s right. To think I would have to be reminded of my duty after all these years. Mine is not to shield my citizens from the path of war. It is to stall until such time as they are ready to fight the winning battle.”

He turned to Master Thales. “I am the leader of this country, it is true. Yet, in a sense, I am also the double. I am the double of my people, and I stand in their place whether upon the battlefield or in the castle. If we win, then I and my generals display the honors of my people. If we lose, then it is my and my generals’ blood that will spill in their stead. How could I forget this?”

King Rhiems stood to his feet.

“Well, in any case, shall we begin? The counter-measure, I mean.”

Master Thales smiled. Ah, so this is what she meant. He bowed gracefully.

“By all mean, Your Highness. With your permission, we shall begin.”

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