“I want you to show me your blood caliber again.”
After Kyou and the others left, Saya continued to assail Jubilia with questions and demands as they occurred to her. She wanted to know what she was, which naturally led to inquiries concerning nobles and their blood calibers. Crow had mentioned that they were powers unique to nobles, but she knew nothing beyond that. Jubilia’s slender, red sword and Lernaean’s mysterious power that had injured Nagi were both blood calibers.
“That’s... I can’t possibly bring it out here,” Jubilia muttered as she took a look around.
“Then you can show me somewhere else.”
“I suppose the palace guards’ training ground should be vacant at this time.”
“Okay, so let’s go.”
“Erm, you aren’t supposed to leave this room.”
“Didn’t you agree to answer all of my questions?”
“That’s certainly true, but—”
“Did your commands include keeping me from leaving this room?”
“It is forbidden to bring you out of the royal palace, Lady Saya. It’s too dangerous.”
“Isn’t this training ground within the bounds of the palace?”
“It is.”
“Then it should be fine, right? You can just say you were acting in accordance with the chairman’s command.”
Saya realized she was special to the other nobles, probably because she was the older sister to the Sovereign. Apparently, they weren’t capable of forcibly restraining her. That was why Lernaean had used Nagi’s life as collateral to get her to obey. Even though they were imprisoning her here, they were doing so under the guise of protecting her. It seemed that it wasn’t possible for Lernaean to order her to be confined to this one room. Using the chairman’s command as a shield to force the issue was likely to succeed.
Just as Saya had planned, Jubilia caved and brought her out of the room. They didn’t meet a single person on the way there. Both the room Saya was being held in and the training ground were apparently quite deep within the palace. She was on the lookout for any windows she could use to escape along the way but, unfortunately, found none.
Indeed, Saya had been thinking of how to escape from this place the entire time. However, something within her had begun to change.
There was her little brother, Kyou. Then, there were nobles, whom she knew nothing about and had never even attempted to learn about until now.
Saya was far too ignorant of both herself and the world. She felt that this needed to change, and what better place to acquire such knowledge than this very palace? All things considered, maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing that she was here right now. Having said that, her feelings of revulsion from being held prisoner hadn’t faded.
Above all else, she wanted to see Nagi. Her heart continued to waver between wanting to know more and yearning for him.
The training ground for the palace guards was a large, open space. In this area of the palace, the ceiling was about three times higher than those of the other rooms, which were already higher than those in the Garden to begin with. Regardless, there were still a few rooms in the royal palace that were even bigger.
There would be no problem swinging around a sword or spear in such a large room. The walls were soiled and scuffed—likely a result of countless sparring matches.
“Oh, the stains...”
“My apologies for not cleaning this room thoroughly enough. I really shouldn’t have brought you to such a place.”
“That’s not my point. I was just wondering what kind of training would leave marks all the way up there.”
Dark, messy stains went up the walls to a ridiculous height.
“A noble is able to jump to such heights with ease.”
“I don’t feel like I would be capable of the same, though.”
Saya didn’t possess any transcendent physical abilities like Jubilia did. Her strength was actually lacking compared to Nagi.
“That is simply because your powers have yet to awaken. Young nobles gain the qualifications of an adult upon obtaining their blood caliber. During this time, they also draw even more strength from the Amrita in their bodies.”
“In other words, I’m not an adult yet?”
“You’re not recognized as one in noble society, but...” Jubilia hesitated to speak any further.
“But?”
“This applies to the common noble. I don’t know how it works in the case of royalty. Most nobles aren’t even capable of conceptualizing royalty, aside from Lord Kyou. I am the same in this regard.”
“Does Kyou possess a blood caliber?”
Jubilia was shocked at how Saya showed no hesitation in referring to the Sovereign so casually, but she immediately regained her composure. Saya was the Sovereign’s elder sister, and Jubilia knew he would want Saya to address him accordingly.
“I don’t know. I forgot to mention something important. Blood calibers are not meant to be shown off to others. Nobles avoid letting others know too much about their blood calibers. Doing so might endanger their lives; after all, there was a time when nobles constantly fought among one another.”
“Blood calibers are the only weapons capable of wounding a noble, so it’s better to keep them a secret from the others in case they become your enemies?”
“Precisely,” Jubilia affirmed with a nod.
Suddenly, something dawned on Saya. “Oh, was it rude of me to ask you to show me your blood caliber?”
“No, that’s not the case. You have already witnessed my blood caliber, and I serve as your guard. It is not something for me to hide from you. However, it would help if you refrain from asking other nobles the same thing. It’s just, how to put it... It’s terribly rude.”
“Got it.”
“In any case, I know nothing about Lord Kyou’s blood caliber. Will seeing mine be enough to satisfy you?”
Saya nodded.
“Please take a look at the ring on my thumb,” Jubilia said, holding out her right hand.
The ring was a heavy-looking thing that extended from her first knuckle to the second. Judging by its dull luster, it clearly wasn’t meant to be ornamental. Saya could tell at a glance that it served a far more practical purpose.
As Jubilia bent her thumb, a blade snapped out of the ring. It was slightly longer than her thumb, the tip of it peeking just past her nail. Saya gulped as Jubilia pushed the tip of the blade into her own index finger. Blood began to flow.
“At this rate, the wound will seal itself. Therefore, you need to excite the blood before that happens. Excitation: Blood Blade!”
The flow of blood coming out of Jubilia’s finger grew more vigorous and took on the shape of a sword.
“This is my blood caliber.”