[8]

Maria awoke to the same splitting headache she had become familiar with. So much so, that it had long become something to remind her that she was alive and well.

Grimacing slightly, she raised herself from her position as she held onto the bed sheets. Recovering from her usual morning headache, she looked around the room from the giant bed in which she laid upon.

For a moment, she thought she was back within the castle walls, however, that wasn't so. Her memory came rushing in within a lapse of a moment.

Se was located in the guest room of the duke's household; simply because the party wasn't set till two days past her arrival, which would be tomorrow.

The room was elegantly designed and, although not as highly so as the one within the castle, it still held up. The bed sat in the middle like a queen, a heap of fluffy white and glistering pink, in which Maria speculated they had specially decorated before her arrival with her favorite mix of colors-pink and white.

The floorboards were the spectacular and lusciously shining copper brown wooden floor she had become familiar with, and the walls were tanned a bit whitish.

Spying the figure at the other side of the bed, Maria's eyes grew a bit in size at the sight of that expressionless face staring at her.

"Are you alright, Milady?" Ais asked from the couch she sat.

"Yeah, is it already daytime?" Maria responded.

"The sun has just risen." Her knight pointed towards the window.

Maria's eyes traced along that slender finger and looked at the risen sun, the orange hue covering the sky and painting a stunning picture amidst the vivid garden just beyond the glass window.

Nodding slightly, Maria hopped off the bed, "I guess it's about time."

Her white nightgown fell loosely against the copper floorboards as it glittered amidst the morning afterglow. Her peach blonde hair matched with her plain dress and the beautiful scene illustrated the image of a princess.

However, her next action directly contrasted that image.

Maria immediately began to strip naked, removing her nightgown as it ruffled against the floor, followed by her underwear.

Her hands flashed briefly as a new set of clothes began to appear in her hand. Certainly, they did not come from thin air, but instead from the white ring ingrained with a small purplish-black crystal at its center. This was a 'Space Ring' her father had given her in preparation for her departure-which could be activated with a trace of mana-and was used to store items.

She first changed her undergarments before taking out a set of outfit composed of a white skirt and a frilly shirt of white, then brought out a pair of tanned leather shoes.

Finally, dressing herself, she was content. The skirt reaching to her knees and the shirt covered her shoulders.

Maria unfolded her hair behind as it fluttered amidst the sun and glistered in its pinkish color.

Then, controlling her mana, a small film of hazy light coated her body. This was a small trick she had been taught by her uncle Thomas. A way to clean yourself and anything on you, he had called it 'Cleaning Magic', a chantless and elementalless magic art. A person just needed to know how to control their mana to use.

Facing the orange hue of the sun, Maria truly looked as if she had been blessed by a god or goddess. Shining and smooth skin, fluttering peach blonde hair, and a beautiful outfit composed of white to top it all off.

She turned towards her guard, "Let's go."

***

"No, no. You have to put your muscles to work. Instead of moving your entire body, try moving only your muscles and limbs to get the same thing done with as little amount of energy wasted."

"Try again."

Maria nodded, shifted her body, and held her sword with both hands gripping firmly.

She moved her right leg, slightly shifted her waist, then struck forwards in a horizontal manner.

A clank rang out as Rain's wooden sword blocked her advance.

He nodded, "Much better, that should be the strength of a C rank at the least. A bit of practice and you would learn how to fully control your own strength."

"Now counter this with the same concept." He added as he delivered a strike.

This time, Maria didn't move her body and step back as she would have done before. She instead shifted her body a bit, successfully evading the attack, then slashed forwards with her own.

Rain effortlessly raised his weapon and blocked the attack as the clank of wood against wood rang.

"That's it, you're learning in the right way," he seemed to smile "However, can you keep this up to a flurry of attacks?"

His wooden sword seemed to disappear and become nothing more than hazy beams of brown.

Maria didn't dodge this time, there was no way her less experience self would be able to do so.

She didn't need to see the swords, the beams of brown were more than enough. She chose to block the attacks.

Her sword began to move as she traced the path of the strikes, countering each strike as clank after clank resounded.

However, as she continued, her heart rate began to increase at a hurried pace.

Becoming agitated at the thought of failing to block an attack, this led to a situation where she felt she was dancing with fire as her breathing slowly grew more erratic. Although it was barely noticeable, it seemed the eyes of her mentor couldn't be fooled.

His attacks abruptly stopped as his purplish gray eyes blinked once.

"Looks like I'll have to teach you to control your heart rate first. Remaining calm is key to any situation."

"That was barely noticeable," Maria stated plainly.

"Who asked me to teach them after getting beaten?" Rain responded just the same.

"Me," Maria muttered, a long drag on the simple word, under her breath.

"Umm, sorry princess, but I couldn't hear you just now. Could you speak up a little higher?" The boy tilted his head slightly and inched a bit forwards with calmness.

Maria splendidly ignored it, and spoke: "Let's continue then."

"Fine by me." He answered back and held his word.

The two continued training as Maria was constantly lectured and trained in the basics of wielding a sword. The author would love to elaborate, but no one is really here for a training montage.

This was the only chance she currently held and, although she much admired magic for its uniqueness and beauty, she didn't think it could beat the allure of a sword.

There was a vague feeling in her body, telling her to swing a sword, as if she had done just the same in her past life. However, whenever she tried to draw on that memory, all she would get in return was a blank canvas.

In frustration, she focused on swinging her sword.

'She had a talent.' Rain couldn't help but think within his heart as he continued to guide her. Whatever was taught to her regarding swordsmanship, would be quickly picked up.

Ais also shared the same notion from the corner in which she watched the training of the princess, her job was to protect her so she hadn't interfered when the princess wished to wield a sword. She had been the one that had been by the princess the most, and although she wasn't a hundred percent certain, she was fairly certain that the princess had never wielded a sword until now.

However, when she looked at the boy with the mystical pair of eyes, she realized an amazing fact; he was simply a genius in swordsmanship.

She remembered the time she had walked into the training room and saw his figure dueling against a training puppet with two swords in each hand, meaning that was his main fighting style, duel swords. That also meant he had beaten Maria, using a single sword, which wasn't what he usually wielded. And now, he was even training her.

Although Ais remained motionless and expressionless, a myriad of thoughts drifted through her mind. From the outside, no one would be able to figure out what she was thinking.

'Maybe they would be able to help me.'

***

"Okay, that's enough for today." Rain said and held his sword in place as he looked towards the girl.

Maria crouched with heavy breathing, her body covered in sweat as her clothing stuck to her body. She didn't remember the last time she had moved around that much.

"I...can still...go on." She managed to utter with heavy panting.

"I would also like to do the same," Rain plainly stated as he shook his head "But could you go take a bath? Not only are you sweaty, you also stink."

Maria's mouth briefly hung open, before clamping down in disbelief "You…"

"Used the same words you used on me?" The boy asked with a mysterious smile.

"You're a person who holds grudges?" Maria asked.

"And you aren't?" Rain answered.

"Good point." Maria stood up and handed back her wooden sword.

"You know, I'm quite curious at how this training puppets move." She looked towards where Ais stood and glanced at the puppets behind her.

"Are you interested?"

"A bit." She answered as she turned to leave the training 'hall'.