The day’s event was naturally set in the garden, though the area seemed more like a training ground as it was far away from any pots or planters. The foreign participants on the scene appeared quite apprehensive—a far cry from the previous day’s event—while the imperial men and women were wise to what was in store. Judging by the wide-open space, even His Majesty’s musclebrain had likely already realized that sword training was on the schedule for the day. Meanwhile, the relatives of the foreign guests gathered at tables a safe distance away.
They’re going to witness imperial women’s skill with the blade, and they’ll definitely be talking about it long after they return home. With any luck, sword fighting might catch on abroad too.
If foreign women truly wished to woo imperial men, they would have to adapt to the imperial lifestyle like other women in the empire. That would mean being less shy about taking up the sword. And if all went well, Lyse hoped that other imperials reincarnated into other nations would have an easier time there.
“All right, everyone, we’re going to do a little something different today! Ladies, would you please hand them out?” asked Kirstin.
At her command, court ladies began distributing swords to everyone. The men thought little of it, but the foreign noblewomen seemed to grow even more agitated.
“This one should fit you well.” A court lady picked out a thin, light blade for a petite young woman, but she was too terrified to even hold it in her hands.
Kirstin, as cunning as ever, said to her, “If you wish to live in the empire, then you shall master the sword—especially if you’re nobility.”
“But I couldn’t possibly fight monsters...”
“No one is forcing you to fight monsters. But if you are ever in immediate danger, you ought to be able to defend yourself until help arrives,” she explained.
The young woman turned even paler. It was only natural for her to be frightened after hearing Kirstin make life in the empire out to be so dangerous. She was playing it up on purpose, however—if this young woman was going to give up on marriage, Kirstin would rather she do it now than later. The young woman glanced over to her relatives. They, too, must’ve heard what Kirstin said, but they kept quiet. This was her decision now.
Lyse heard chatter from among the other ladies. “What are they thinking? I don’t know what I’m going to do...” they muttered.
Kirstin had expected such reluctance. She had no intention of forcing them to join first, so instead, she turned to the men. “Shall we begin with the gentlemen? Let’s get you all into pairs to gauge everyone’s skill level first,” she instructed.
At this, Lyse and the imperial bachelorettes stepped forward. The men were shocked.
“Erm, are we going to be fighting the ladies?”
“But of course. Not only are we well trained in sword fighting, we ladies-in-waiting are also expected to do battle against monsters,” one of the court ladies who looked particularly slender and petite casually replied.
But that was no more than an illusion. Beneath their uniforms, both the imperial court ladies and female knights alike were toned, if not outright muscular. The men were about to get a taste of that fighting them, but they’d only get to see for themselves after getting married.
“Fret not, everyone. If I were to marry a foreign man, I would be the one protecting him from monsters. Stand back and observe,” boasted a female knight—one of the matchmaking participants—which stunned the foreign ladies into silence.
Lyse approached one of the foreign men, yet he seemed terrified to have her as his sparring partner. “P-Pardon, Miss Lyse, but...”
Kirstin approached the two of them and put her hand on Lyse’s shoulder. “Lyse here can hold her own against our male knights. If you wish to marry into the imperial family, you should become strong like her. Couples protect each other here in the empire,” she said, giving Lyse her seal of approval.
But this hardly seemed to convince the man.
“To kick things off, how about a tournament against me?” Lyse suggested.
The foreign men were hesitant to agree, but the imperial men lined right up. Lyse proceeded to take a couple of easy victories. She disarmed one opponent with a single strike and toppled another to the ground. Her last opponent was tenacious, but he ultimately lost the duel when he found Lyse’s sword pressed against his neck.
The foreign men were naturally left dumbfounded by the demonstration. The foreign ladies could hardly believe their eyes either. Everyone sitting at a distance had their mouths agape too. Yet none of them could deny what they’d seen. Lyse’s opponents weren’t pulling their punches either. The loud clanging of steel on steel made it plain to all how hard they were swinging at each other. But above all else, everybody could see it in the imperial men’s faces—they’d given the fight their all and were shocked to be beaten. Following their defeats, the foreign men tried their hands at a few duels only to be defeated and disheartened in a similar fashion.
“Don’t worry. I’ll protect you from monsters until you master the sword too,” whispered one of the imperial noblewomen to her opponent.
“I’d have nothing to fear with someone as strong as you at my side,” he replied. He and his fellow men knew they’d be in safe hands if they were to marry women from the empire.
To Lyse, it looked like Kirstin’s plan to warm the guests up to the sword was working.
Yet are we really convincing them, or are we just seducing them into this?
Whatever the case, this should increase their safety in the empire. On the other hand, the foreign noblewomen didn’t want to duel and they couldn’t be forced to either. However, they were receptive to the imperial men teaching them how to hold a sword. Not only did it make for a good excuse to be physically intimate, it also gave pairs time alone to chat and see if there was a spark between them.