Chapter 3: Further Tribulations and Secret Dates
AT the signal to start, Lord Dominic channeled his mana into his muscular arms. His rugged, chiseled body grew obediently to his will, waves of power causing the air around him to waver.
“Firebolt!” he called in his deep voice.
A sphere of compressed fire manifested in his hand, blasting toward its mark, flames rolling off it as it went.
The knight opposite him made no move to retreat, leaping headlong into the projectile instead. He shifted his grip on his great two-handed sword with nimble ease, unleashing a mighty swipe and batting the explosive away.
I swallowed hard as Lord Dominic batted the fireball out of the air, but the knight unleashed a follow-up stab at the mage’s shoulder. He stepped back out of the tip’s path before it reached him. His opponent matched his retreat, swinging time and again.
“Wind Wall,” the mage calmly incanted.
A translucent barrier manifested at his fingertips and absorbed the impact of the incoming blade to bring it to a perfect stop. I could hear the knight grit his teeth, his gauntlets slightly clanking as he strengthened the grip on his blade.
It was a battle of sword against sorcery. At a glance, the knight had the advantage, as not even Lord Dominic could use magic with the same defensive efficacy of a shield. He could only accept the blows, and the knight kept his guard up as he pressed Lord Dominic into a corner. Slowly but surely, the wall of wind was crumbling to the warrior’s onslaught.
I could see victory alight in the eyes of the knight—of young Edward Norden.
“Hahh!!”
Edward mustered all his strength into a finishing blow, but Lord Dominic extended his offhand to the youth’s side.
“How careless… Twister.”
At his words, a cyclonic blast of wind entirely different from his prior barrier erupted from his hand. Edward, caught completely off-guard by the attack, was sent sprawling awkwardly to the ground several feet back.
“I-I concede,” came a weak voice from the heap of metal.
“Never forget,” Lord Dominic scolded with a smile, “that mages have two arms.”
The mage helped Edward to his feet. Now that they were side by side, the sheer size of Lord Dominic was even clearer. I got chills looking at him.
Beside me, King Ricardo gestured at Lord Dominic. “Is he a guardsman?”
I shook my head. “He’s the head of our Ministry of Magecraft.”
While the marquis was technically wearing a mage’s robe, it was easy to overlook such a detail for his bulging muscles. His biceps seemed to dance as he turned to face us.
“Well, King Ricardo, Prince Vincent? Was that to your liking?”
The king nodded with a grin. “Yeah, that was fun.”
The two of us were in the observation area of the training grounds, where we stumbled across the pair’s practice bout.
Marquis Dominic Marshall and Edward’s father, the knight captain Count Zachary Norden, had decided to explore the possibility of training knights to take on mages. Currently, they were testing the use of manacite-imbued weapons and armor. Given that Edward had deflected the fireball, it seemed possible.
Last night, Father had gotten too worked up and fainted again, and Mother was still dutifully at his side. That didn’t change the fact that I would be seeing to King Ricardo’s needs, and I was in the process of showing him around the palace.
King Ricardo thought about the project for a moment. “We’ve been looking at means of combating monsters, but we never considered enemy mages.”
“Mages are indeed rarer,” the hulking mage nodded. “Most would count them a nonfactor in warfare, but we cannot guarantee it will always remain that way. The recent prevalence of manacite may well change that.”
“Yeah… If we had to fight a mage like Mariabel, well…”
Lord Dominic visibly tensed at the mention of the queen’s name, but he seemed intent on pretending he hadn’t heard.
King Ricardo shot me a broad smile. “Urhalla has all the best soldiers, doesn’t it?”
I could tell he wanted more information on our military. It would be rude to ask directly, so he was hoping I would get the message and offer the information proactively, no faux pas required.
“Yes, I suppose so.” I paused before I could say anything else.
The Royal Knights were in charge of palace and capital security, and each domain had a battalion of knights on top of that. The size, composition, and outfitting of each force was a military secret, though the official number did not always reflect the reality of the situation.
I frankly didn’t know how much or how little information I should be revealing. I was trained in what to say should a foreign power ask that question, but the details were eluding me at the moment—not to mention I doubted I could recite the details of each individual force in the first place. While I had attempted to memorize that information before bed last night, I was far from the point of perfect recitation with my mind addled as it was.
What mattered most, however, was that this was a test from King Ricardo, and I had to avoid being branded an ignorant child at all costs.
“Well?” he smiled amicably. I knew that expression well from my childhood—he’d smiled in just the same way when we sparred, trouncing me until I cried. My smile strained.
“If I may be so bold,” came a proud voice and a clatter of metal from beside me, “allow me to explain the glory of our fair knights!”
I turned to find Edward standing at my side. There was no way for him to know my present circumstances, but the sight of the Nievan king had him greatly enthused.
I readily nodded. “Yes… Please do.”
“Excellent. I shall start with the founding of the Royal Knights. It was some 150 years ago, and at the time Urhalla was…”
I let out a sigh of relief, retreating behind the knight’s broad, metal back. I didn’t know if my ease was warranted, however. If King Ricardo aimed to test me, such an intervention could count against me.
While I remained composed with my topical remarks and additions to Edward’s tale, that feeling of inadequacy continued to haunt me.