The clashing of blades resounded throughout the wide square.
The sun burned high in the sky, illuminating two figures engaged in a ferocious battle.
They both wielded silver swords and moved speeds no normal human could keep up with.
Clank!
One of the fighters, was a young man with brown hair and brown eyes. He wore a light red training outfit that seemed easy to move around with.
And on the other side, was an even younger man with black hair and silver eyes. In contrast to the other, he wore a flexible black outfit with silver accents.
Ting!
After a resounding clash, one of the figures was pushed back.
"Haah....haaah." The black haired swordsman raised his trembling arm to face the incoming opponent.
He managed to block the next attack but with a lot of difficulty.
'Jeez, why does he hit so hard.'
Raising my sword, I decided to be on the offensive this time. I ran towards my opponent at my maximum speed and prepared a diagonal strike towards his shoulder.
Clank
The sound of reverberating steel echoed throughout the training ground.
"You're going to have to try harder if you want to hit me, Kael!" With a yell, the man pushed me back before rushing at me again.
But this time I would have a surprise for him.
As the man was about to attack me again, I exhaled and focused all my attention within my body.
"I told you..."
I raised my sword as a fluctuating blue film covered my entire body.
"....not to call me Kael, Henry." With a sudden increase in speed I dodged the blade coming vertically down and slammed retaliated with a swing towards his side.
Taken aback by the turn of events, Henry was forced to quickly block and skidded back a few meters.
I wanted to give chase but I suddenly fell to one knee as the flimsy blue veil dissipated.
'I thought I could handle it for a bit longer.'
"Hey, aura is against the rules!" With an aggrieved expression, the brown haired man complained about my use if aura.
"Haaa, he only said you couldn't use aura, not me. And besides, you're an entire Tier above me." I retorted while trying to catch my breath.
"But eve-.... wait, since when could you use aura?" Snapping out of his anger, he questioned my latest progress.
"Recently." I was too tired to elaborate.
Clap
As Henry was about to start ranting again a powerful clap reverberated throughout the training ground.
"That's enough, you two!" A stern voice called out to us.
When I looked to the side I saw a tall man with a robust build. He had brown hair and a stoic face.
It was the Knight Commander, Henry's father.
"But I was abou-" the robust man kicked Henry in the side, throwing him against the wall.
'He should have just been quiet. How does he not understand it yet?'
This sight was quite familiar to me so I didn't even blink.
"I told you enough!" After potentially killing his own son, Frederick's glared turned to me.
'Is he mad I used aura?'
I could feel a bead of sweat pour down my forehead as I thought about Henry who got slammed into the wall.
'I just wanted to shut him up. He talked too much.'
"Your aura is getting better. Keep using it. The more you use aura in battle, the more natural it becomes." Keeping his stoic expression, he gave me a compliment.
He always looks stern and harsh, but he gives credit where credit is due.
"But it's not good enough yet. Try it again."
Familiar with the routine, I sat down cross legged on the floor. Focusing on the mana within my body, I stopped moving.
The wind tingled my skin as I was completely absorbed into the exercise.
After a few seconds another thin veil of blue mana surrounded me.
I felt my muscles bulge with strength and my sense expand all around me. It was truly an exhilarating feeling.
Grkh
Slowly, the undisturbed veil started fluctuating and shaking. The power I felt was slowly weakening.
"Maintain it. Remember, precision over power." With short and probably encouraging words from Frederick, I focused on my aura again.
Sigh
Slowly but surely, the fluctuating veil started calming down. It surrounded my body tightly as a body suit.
"Good." The Knight Commander seemed to be impressed as well.
"Now get up" with a commanding tone, he told me to get up.
"Haaah," I could feel the sweat gathering on my forehead. It got so heavy that it dropped down and started stinging my forehead.
But I didn't stop.
Slowly getting up, I picked up my sword carefully entered a fighting stance.
"Hmmm, you can stop now." With a sigh all the mana gathered around me dissipated like the wind as I fell to one knee.
"It won't be good if you're too tired to follow along with Amy's lessons." With that declaration, he told me to clean myself up and head towards my next lesson.
He then headed to his unconscious son and started admonishing him.
'Truly a weird father-son relationship.'
I thought powerful awakened would act more.... different.
I frowned as I thought about the man who was training me.
'He might act like this but he is still one of the strongest in the nation...'
'A Tier 8 awakened...'
'A Monarch..... It's going to take a while before I reach such a level. If I ever even reach it.'
For now I should worry about my current condition.
'My aura is coming along slowly. It won't be long before I have it under control completely.'
I grimaced as I thought about the next lesson I would have. Not about being awakened this time…
It's been a month since I became that witch's knight. In the meantime a lot changed.
For one, I started training under the Knight Commander everyday. It would be pretty bad if a knight didn't even know how to fight properly. But even I didn't expect personal training by the Knight Commander.
I was taught the basics of being an awakened and especially a warrior.
Awakened are divided into two categories. Mages and Warriors.
Warriors fight by strengthening their bodies with mana and using weapons to become more lethal. Till now all the awakened I've met have been warriors.
Mages on the other hand are different. Unlike warriors, mages use "spells" To fight. They can range from fireballs to earthquakes or anything. It is dependent on the spell and the faster.
The reason why there are less mages is for a simple reason. There are not many places where ordinary people can learn magic spells. The best places to get spells are through academies, noble families or mage associations.
Granted they don't give these spells out for free.
On that note, there is also a third type of awakened….
"Aghh! Kaelith, Help!" Shivers ran down my spine as I heard Henry's screams.
I guess Frederick isn't done with him yet.
Oh well, that's what he gets for running his mouth.
"Okay! I get it, I'll shut up! Just not the wall again—"
Ignoring the screams that I heard on the background, I went to my room to get dressed for my next lesson.
***
Shortly after leaving showering I was walking in the hallway of the Dawn mansion. The interior still looked like it did before. Extravagant.
The gold and red theme represented the Dawn house very well.
After I became Vera's personal knight, I got a room in the Dawn Estate for myself. It's not really a fancy room. Albeit, that's what I want to say. In comparison to my old house, it is a luxury.
As I made my way towards a specific part of the estate I took notice of the people in suits working here.
The men wore black and white suits while the women wore a black and white maid set. Last time I was here I was so preoccupied with the meeting and the events that happened that I didn't even pay attention to them.
When I walked past them, they bowed to me with respect.
'I'll never get used to it.'
Because I was the personal knight of the Heiress of the Dawn Family, I was technically above them in social standing. Especially because I am the first knight Vera has ever had. If I were to disappear, not just anyone could take my place.
Though I'm not proud of it.
As I was contemplating I reached my destination.
Knock knock
I softly knocked on the door.
"Come in." I heard a mature voice come from the other side.
After I opened the door I was greeted by a maid. She had had long brown hair that hung in a clean pony tail. She stood at about 175 cm tall with bright green eyes. She had a completely empty expression, as if she felt nothing.
After seeing me come in she stood up and did a graceful bow by pulling up her maid dress for a moment and bending her legs.
"Good afternoon, Sir. I'm glad to see you are doing well." She respectfully greeted me with textbook decorum as if she practiced this a hundred times.
"Thank you, Amy."
Amy Unise. The head maid of the Dawn mansion.
She seemed to be in her early 30s but I know that wasn't true. Unlike how she appeared, she was in her late 40s.
When Vera introduced me to her, she laughed for quite a while at my assumption.
Just thinking about that woman....
"Well then, let us get started with today's lesson." Amy's voice pulled me out of my thoughts.
I wonder what we're gonna do today.
Etiquette lessons. Because I have no background in the political sphere, there are many things I have to learn as Vera's knight.
This can range from learning how to dance, how to properly treat guest, who and who to approach cautiously and more.
She also teaches me about things like history, and social events that I have to know about.
'I just really hope it's not something like dance classes again. Those truly sucked.'
I sat down on the chair in the center of the room as I prepared for Amy's explanation.
As she saw that I settled down she took a book in her hand and prepared.
"Today, I'm going to teach you about this country, the Felora Kingdom."