Chapter 4-4:
Emma
I DON’T REMEMBER MUCH OF MY LIFE BEFORE I arrived at the orphanage. I was there before I was aware of it; according to the director, I’d been abandoned at the facility when I was a baby. I didn’t really care—I wasn’t interested in my parents anyway.
I loved to move around, and I was fond of climbing buildings and trees. I didn’t mind running either. Unfortunately, it often got me into trouble. I was scolded frequently and told to sit still.
The director scolded me, and even Isabel, who entered the orphanage after me, would admonish me for my actions. I was told that I might get injured, but I didn’t get hurt…much. Sure, I might get a few scrapes when I fell from decently high places, but that came with what I loved to do. I wanted to use my body and challenge myself with something.
But as I grew, I felt more unsatisfied. I had already climbed the roof of the orphanage and could scale the tallest tree. I ran out of things to do. That was when I met Lady Serena.
For some reason, I had been selected as a squire candidate, though I didn’t care much because the orphanage bored me. I was taken to the duke’s residence, and every day was like paradise. There was a tall ladder made of logs, a bottomless swamp, and even a steep cliff. Just looking at them made my heart pound with excitement.
I had tasks like running around while carrying heavy items or finding a small jewel that had been thrown into the forest. Sometimes I had to dodge spells as I ran across a bridge or balance a basin on my head. The tasks challenged the limits of my stamina every day, and I was never bored.
When Lady Serena saw me happily clear all her training, she decided to give me a special training regimen. I had to run across a long cloth that floated above the water. This was especially tricky since the cloth would sink the moment I touched it. I had to immediately take my next step before my foot was submerged.
By nimbly moving ahead, I was able to run across the cloth. It took me a week to master the skill. When I reported my success, Lady Serena seemed elated.
“That’s amazing, Emma,” Lady Serena said. “Even I meant it as a joke at first, but…”
She looked slightly taken aback, but surely I was just imagining things.
She even gave a me a dog—an energetic puppy. It was fun to exercise with my pet. Isabel and a few others looked unhappy for some reason, but I had no complaints whatsoever.
Wait, I had just one—studying. I didn’t like it at all because I had to sit still. If there’d been no studying, I wouldn’t have wished for anything more. Even so, Lady Serena was the best master I could have ever hoped for. She would always come up with crazy ideas, and I would have so much fun.
I especially loved sword training. A knight who served the duke’s house was our teacher, and simply put, I had to be good enough to beat them. This knight was strong. They were apparently formerly one of the best in the nation. My attacks wouldn’t hit at all while they easily landed blows on me.
“You’ve got talent,” the knight said to me.
And so, I was taught various ways to wield a blade. It was fun to learn swordplay, but I didn’t think that I would ever be able to beat them. Eventually, I had an epiphany. If one sword wasn’t enough, I should just wield two. I had two arms anyway.
So I practiced. Whenever I had time, I held the blades in my hands and swung them around. They were heavy at first, and I struggled to move my arms. However, the difficulty only made it more fun. After about a year of hard work, I managed to become nimbler and challenged the knight once more.
“Dual blades?” the knight asked. “I’ve heard rumors, but this isn’t the proper way of the sword.”
The knight looked displeased, but I didn’t care. So what if this wasn’t the proper way? I just wanted to win as soon as I could. The moment the match began, the knight launched a flurry of attacks. I was quicker due to pure speed, and normally, the knight would dodge my attacks precisely with as little movement as possible.
That only happened because I was using one blade. But now, I had two. I whirled around like I was in a dance and rhythmically clanged my swords against theirs. The knight defended my attacks with an expression of seriousness that I had never seen before. Finally, I saw an opening, and I thrust my blade forward, stopping just short of my opponent’s neck.
“I’ve lost,” the knight said.
Yes! I thought. Finally, I could best the knight in a match. But…what will I do starting tomorrow?
✦ ✦ ✦
Sometime after my victory, I became Lady Serena’s official squire. I visited the king, but I didn’t really care about stuff like that. Then she brought us the wonderful mission of defeating a snake monster called a serpent at a lake.
I knew that I could rely on her! She would always bring me fun things to do, and I would never get bored.
We all trained hard to defeat the serpent. My role was to climb atop its head and shove two blades into its eyes. It seemed like a difficult and fun task. Every day, my heart pounded with excitement as I hoped for the serpent to appear.
About a week passed since we’d arrived at the lake, and finally, the serpent emerged from the waters. It was a colossal snake—I had never seen such a gigantic monster in my life. Lady Serena and Isabel became bait to lure the serpent onto land, and Richard attacked from behind. Alice joined in with Lady Serena to use magic and keep the serpent busy while Oscar unleashed his arrows. Lewis, our healer, was on standby.
The serpent was more agile than I thought and didn’t show many openings. I carefully tried to find a pattern in its movements. Just then, Lady Serena’s spell hit the serpent’s face. The explosion temporarily blinded it, and I took my chance. I jumped onto its torso, then hopped across its body as I aimed for the head. I wore only the bare minimum of armor. It was made from lightweight mithril that didn’t hinder my movements. It was wonderful.
When I finally landed on the serpent’s head, I unsheathed the two blades from my back and thrust them into the monster’s eyes. It emitted a loud shriek and flailed uncontrollably. I swiftly removed my weapons and jumped down. The serpent still put up a good fight—it was sturdy, and though it was blinded, if it could so much as scratch us, we would be greatly injured.
Lewis would heal us all back in no time, though. The serpent desperately tried to retreat into the lake, but it had lost its sense of direction and could no longer do so. In fact, Lady Serena provoked it, and it slithered further onto land.
“Just because you’ve become so big that other snakes won’t look your way, you thought to try to harm human ladies?” Lady Serena taunted. “Have you no honor? And only those with holy powers can excite you, it seems. What a perverted taste you have. Ah, shall I introduce you to a brothel that nobles frequent? It can accommodate all your tastes, I’m sure. Perhaps they can prepare an earthworm or two for you.”
She went out of her way to mock it in the ancient language it spoke. I was in awe of Lady Serena. The furious monster followed her voice and was lured more landward, but our attacks weren’t all that effective. However, I was used to battles of endurance. Once a year, I’d stayed up all night to brave through Lady Serena’s endurance training that would eat away at my mind and body. This battle was a breeze compared to that.
I could continue fighting, but my weapons gave up first. My mithril swords were tougher than steel, but as I used them to hack away at the tough scales again and again, the blades grew dull and useless. I had to replace my weapons repeatedly. My friends also frequently replenished their armaments throughout the fight. Whenever we received damage, we had to replace our armor as well. Had Lady Serena not prepared an impressive amount of gear for us, we might have lost.
Lewis’s healing magic wasn’t enough, and we went through the barrel of healing potion as though we were bathing in it. The serpent’s movements gradually grew more sluggish. After our battle continued for about half a day, it finally ran out of strength.
“You damned demon…” the serpent muttered.
According to Alice, those were its final words. It wasn’t wrong. Lady Serena indeed was a demon—I had never seen anyone as beautiful, cruel, and powerful as her. She certainly had to be one, but this dear, precious demon was the one I served.