RECOLLECTION

"Mother, why do I have to hide in here?"

"So the demons won't find you, Mariana."

"But why am I the only one here? Why can't you hide with me?!"

So was how little Mariana cried while she hid herself inside a magical mirror.

Standing on the opposite side was a silver-haired woman with a golden crown nestled on top of her head.

"I'm sorry, my child. But your older brother and the imperial guards are fending off the demons by themselves. I have to help them or the castle will fall, or worse, your brother's life would be lost." said the woman with golden crown sincerely.

Princess Mariana banged her fists on the glass out of anger.

"Then why can't I help as well?! Take me with you! We can fight them together!"

The woman rest her palm on the mirror to calm the girl down.

"I admire your bravery, Mariana. But you will be helping us the most by making sure you are safe. So stay here, my child!"

Terrifying screams reached the woman and the Princess. Whatever was going on outside, it was getting worse.

"I have to leave, Mariana. I'll come back to get you once the demons are gone."

"WAIT! PLEASE DON'T GO, MOTHER! IT'S DANGEROUS!"

"Don't worry! Your father will be back soon with his army to save us all. Your brother and I will only have to hold on until he arrives, which is soon. So have no fear, everything will be fine!"

The screams getting louder. The woman with golden crown then made her way to leave the room.

"I love you, Mariana! Please, stay safe!"

"NO, MOTHER! PLEASE, STAY!"

Evelyn reached to the air and shouted in her sleep, "PLEASE, STAY!"

That shouting woke the noble lady up. She found herself in her bed in the Leonardo Estate.

Evelyn sat up and chuckled.

"(To think I'd dream of that moment.)"

The baron's daughter climbed off her bed and stretched her body. She could feel the small exercise was long overdue.

"(How long was I out?)"

Evelyn made her way to the window and looked outside.

The sky was dark blue, the surrounding was still and quiet. She could occasionally hear the birds chirping and the roosters crowing.

"(It's early dawn. Everyone is still asleep.)"

Evelyn walked around the room some more to release her stiffness. And then she realized something.

Evelyn was feeling healthy. Very healthy, in fact. Full of energy.

"(When I lost consciousness, my Angel's Touch spell should've been deactivated since my mana was depleted back then. And even if it's still active, I'm not supposed to feel this energized. Wait, don't tell me--)"

Evelyn closed her eyes and inspected her body through her sense. She gasped when she discovered what had happened to her.

"(THE CURSE IS GONE! BUT HOW?)"

Suddenly Evelyn remembered the Primordial Arts spell she casted in front of the Leonardo Mausoleum.

"(That Primeval Light spell. It's an ancient magic that summons the first light of the universe.)"

Evelyn looked at her reflection in the mirror.

Her pale skin gained more reddish color. Her blonde hair turned more vibrant. Her eyes looked livelier than ever.

Evelyn's entire complexion turned way better than before.

"(Could it be that the spell also eradicated the curse inside my body when it exterminated those demons?)"

Evelyn clumped both of her hands into fists. She could feel an enormous strength fueling her hand as she tightened them more and more.

She could feel every fiber of her muscles were flowing with enormous current of mana which strengthened her body.

This change invited a frown to her face.

"(Where do this huge amount of mana comes from? Even if the curse disappeared, I shouldn't possibly have this enormous energy coursing through my body.)"

Evelyn closed her eyes once again to inspect her body. This time she observed her mana vessel.

"O dear Einsof…" whispered Evelyn. "To think this body actually possessed a mana vessel with this much latent potential!"

After the curse disappeared, Evelyn could observe her mana vessel more clearly.

Mana is the form of energy in the world Einsof created. It is used to manifest phenomenon called magic. Or it could be used to strengthen one's self. 

Mages and warriors are known to utilize mana in their own way.

Mages would use mana to perform magic. While warriors would use mana to perform martial arts.

Mana vessel is something that every being possessed and that's where mana is generated and accumulated. The quality of one's mana vessel determines an individual's potential. 

Right now, Evelyn just discovered that she possessed a large mana vessel, one typically owned by the greatest of mages and warriors in the history of Bara Continent.

But most importantly, the rate of her mana generation which previously was akin to droplets of water falling one by one from a pipe had now increased many fold to be more like a flowing river.

"(This body is comparable to Princess Mariana's mana vessel. No! It's actually even better! Much greater!)"

Evelyn then took a deep breath.

"(I must not waste this opportunity.)"

Evelyn fell herself to the ground and started doing push-ups.

"(Now that my body is healthy with the curse gone and my mana vessel flourishing, I need to strengthen it. I have to regain my former strength back! Like when I was still living as Princess Mariana)"

Evelyn exhaled loudly as she pushed up.

"(NO! I have to gain even GREATER strength than when I was Princess Mariana!)"

And so, Evelyn Leonardo spent her early morning exercising.

Once the sun risen, Giselle made her way to Evelyn's bedroom to attend her unconscious master, or so she thought.

When the maid arrived at the door, she could hear thumping coming from inside. The sound made her really worried that Giselle immediately opened the door without knocking.

"My lady! Is something the matter?"

Giselle gasped at the sight in front of her. She found Evelyn dangling on the frame of her bed, performing hanging crunches.

"Good morning, Giselle!" said Evelyn. She grunted as she continued her exercise. "TWO HUNDRED!"

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING, MY LADY?!"

Evelyn got off from the bed and walked to Giselle. Her entire body was covered in sweat.

"Don't worry! I was just exercising." said Evelyn. "By the way, how long was I out for?"

"Two days, my lady."

"Two days? Shorter than I expected." said Evelyn. "Well, it was still wise of me to exercise immediately after waking up."

"But your body is weak! How come you're--"

"You are right on that one, Giselle! I can't believe how weak my body is! It was truly a disappointing exercise. Not what I expected." complained Evelyn.

"Pardon, my lady? What did you mean by disappointing?"

Evelyn grabbed a towel and wiped her sweat.

"There's only so far my willpower can take me. I could only perform a total of 300 push-ups, 400 hanging crunches, and 250 squats in a single exercise session. Truly pathetic numbers."

Giselle staggered as Evelyn's words shocked her so much, and not in a good way. The maid realized her lady was not understanding her concern.

Despite her maid's panicked reaction, Evelyn made her way to the door.

"Where are you going now, my lady?!"

"The training ground. I want to do some running. Meet me there with a fresh towel and nice cold water."

"But…. MY LADY!!!"

The mornings of the Leonardo knights were spent with training session in the training ground. After spending many years working their way up from being a squire to finally being a full-fledged knight, the morning routine ended up becoming tedious.

Their motivation to train was depleted even more after they encountered the lich in the last Leonardo Pilgrimage.

The difference between their strength and the demons' had made them lose hope of winning against the vile creatures.

The knights ended up thinking that only those with great magical powers like the Leonardo family could hope to face the demons.

"What's the point of training when our sword-fighting is useless against gigantic demons like those three-headed dogs?" said one of the knights as they all made their way to the training ground.

"Yeah! You need to have magical powers like Lady Evelyn to be able to have a chance against them!"

"That's right! You all saw her casted that spell that wiped out all those demons at once, didn't you?"

"Heh! To think it was the girl who spent half her lifetime in her bed that has the power to defeat demons instead of us who spent almost every of our waking hours training."

"She is blessed! She doesn't have to train hard like us. She only needed to flick her finger and cast a spell."

The group of knights stopped midway when they saw several maids and butlers standing in front of the training ground, looking all confused, worried, and in awe.

"What's going on? Why are they gathered there?"

"Let's check it out!"

The knights ran to the training ground to see what had caught the servants' attention.

To the soldiers' surprise, they found Lady Evelyn Leonardo sprinting laps around the training ground.

Giselle was standing on the sideline looking all worried.

All the knights' jaw dropped to the floor when they saw how hard Evelyn was training.

One of them went to a butler who was watching, "How long has the lady been running?"

"MY LADY! IT'S ALREADY WAY PAST 50 LAPS! PLEASE STOP NOW!"

Giselle's shouting could be heard as she called out to Evelyn. 

"IT'S 67! LET ME ROUND IT TO 100 SINCE I ALREADY DONE THIS MUCH!" shouted Evelyn back.

"MY LADY!!!"

The butler smiled to the knight, "Does that answer your question?"

All the knights scratched their head in confusion of Evelyn's action.

"I thought she was unconscious. Even if she had recovered, why in Einsof's name she'd want to push herself like this?"

"Our thoughts the same."

That last line came from somebody else. Not from one of the knights nor the servants. Yet from a voice they were very familiar with.

The knights turned around and found Bryce and Hannah standing behind them.

"SIRE! BARONESS!"

The knights group parted to make way for the Leonardo couple and bowed to them.

"Good morning, gentlemen!" greeted Hannah. "We're very sorry but you have to delay your training for a bit longer, just until we finished talking to our daughter."