There are three surefire ways to win the heart of a knight. Either best them in a duel, cook them a meal fit for the Royal Family, or hand them a Lightstick. Your best bet is to start by learning the difference between a lime and a pear.

  —A Dauwenian tavern joke

  Children were quite miraculous, Lycoris realized. She had experienced several terrible nights of sleep, and yet after just a single proper night of rest, she bounced back bright-eyed and bushy-winged the next morning like nothing had ever happened.

  Her old life was a blur, but none of it had been anything approaching restful, so she had little experience with that font of energy. And she wasn’t the only one, considering the other girls inside the tower were just as lively… aside from Vanessa.

  Raine apparently was up late last night reading through her own notes and making a list of books to requisition for the tower’s personal library, yet looked completely unbothered when Cecily called out to her that breakfast was ready. Cecily had woken up early when Athena arrived to check on Lycoris and immediately set to helping her out with preparing breakfast. Vanessa… had probably stayed up the longest, done the most laborious and nerve-wracking—from her perspective, at least—work out of anyone. She was also the oldest, which only further fueled Lycoris’s understanding that children had an endless font of energy.

  While side-eyeing the eggs drizzled with a blatantly red sauce and “jam” covered toast, Lycoris’s knee bounced with slight impatience. For the first time all week, she felt like she could go for a morning sprint. It was a shame that it was still raining out.

  One side effect the Lunar Tear had was that it made her feel like a bit of a zombie, once the enchantment wore off and her focus started to wane. Considering she’d only been using it for sleeping, that meant her mornings up until now had been quite lethargic.

  Plus, Lycoris was particularly excited about today. She hummed with a spring in her step as she walked towards what Raine had called “The Colosseum.” A few steps behind her, walking like a prisoner being dragged out to execution, was the redhead herself—with no signs of the energy she woke up with. Lycoris had only been able to “convince” her to tag along after asking her for a demonstration of the water-repellant magic she’d used the prior evening. Unfortunately, Lycoris couldn’t follow a thing she was saying, and they agreed to go over it in finer detail another time.

  Of course after casting the spell on herself and stepping out into the rain, the girl realized that Lycoris had innocently tricked her into removing the greatest barrier to being dragged off to fencing practice.

  And of course, right beside her was Cecily, who was smiling and walking with an anxiously excited gait. She’d never done any sort of sword fighting before, so most of her nerves were from being uncertain of what to expect, rather than worrying over her appearance or mannerisms.

  Since Vanessa was already older than compulsory education demands required, she was being treated as a student pursuing higher education instead, though much of her work was extracurricular self-study rather than the usual elective classes. Thus, she had a completely different schedule from the three kids, and she was tending to Mira today besides.

  It was no wonder why Rosa had seemed even more exhausted when Lycoris came into her office, and had been relieved when it turned out that Lycoris came to her with a “normal” request instead.

  Today was fencing day for Lycoris and her two companions.

  More precisely, it was a day reserved for learning the ins and outs of dueling as nobles, distinct from the art of practical warfare. Given the little that Lycoris knew and had seen on occasion, they would be using some form of straight sword rather than actual longswords. Hopefully they would have the opportunity to do structured drills and exercises with each other rather than jumping into actual sparring. Part of the problem with entering into the academy in the middle of the academic decade was that Lycoris felt herself having to catch up on top of being behind where she should have been even for her first year of schooling.

  But Lycoris would have been perfectly content even if she was thrown into the deep end, in this case at least. She was more excited to get to do what she did best again, and smelled opportunity besides. Studying was all well and good, but she’d gotten used to being able to ask her mom for a duel whenever she was available.

  Raine was a wash, she clearly had no interest in swordfighting and was only tagging along as it was a compulsory part of their education, but if Lycoris could mould Cecily into a duelling partner, she might be able to get some use out of that languishing training hall in her tower.

  “I sure hope the instructor is good,” she mumbled to herself, suddenly slowing down and rubbing her chin.

  It wouldn’t do if she had to take over herself, but it had quite literally been one of her jobs before, and the only thing she ever held any confidence in. Lycoris had already rocked the boat quite heavily in just a week, so she didn’t want to have to step in and handle things herself. Especially since her idea of training was… probably very different from what went into fencing. She didn’t need Dahlia to tell her that discretion would be a smarter move.

  “I feel like you two will get along just fine, Lycoris,” Raine answered the unasked question with a tone that made it quite clear she’d rather be asleep still.

  “I’m surprised you’re even tagging along, honestly.”

  “Bold of you to say that after dragging me out of that comfortably warm tower,” she blandly remarked, “Someone’s got to be the punching bag, I suppose.”

  The three of them reached the massive, multi-level gymnasium in due time and entered through the front into the reception area, where a polite receptionist was talking to some older students.

  There weren’t that many students present this early in the morning, but Lycoris’s presence—or perhaps her choice of retinue—immediately drew attention regardless. Fortunately Raine took the lead and started walking them down a side hallway, seeming quite familiar with the place for someone who had as much interest in swords as a wolf did eggplants.

  “This way, Your Highness.”

  When the other students gathered around saw this, they nodded knowingly. Perhaps they assumed that Lycoris had simply commandeered the girl to lead her to her destination.

  The building was furnished remarkably similarly to the cloud generator facility that Lycoris had raced through and the hospital she had visited after, at least compared to all the other buildings on campus. It carried a freshly-renovated or recently built quality to it, or possibly it was just well-maintained. The shiny plastic tiled floors were all spotless, and the walls were a smooth white with painted stripes running along their lengths to guide people to their destinations.

  There was little in the way of furnishings or distractions between them and their destination—a changing room much like the one in front of the myrh fields. The only major difference was the interface for requesting a change of clothes tucked against the wall at the back of the room, rather than outside in the hallway.

  They still didn’t have any uniforms for the Aphtangloa, but Rosa had assured her the prior night that the academy was aware of the issue before Lycoris even started attending and simply needed some extra time to be corrected in the system. She also politely extended her apologies for any troubles that may have arisen as a result.

  For the time being, Lycoris and Cecily both selected Drimus for their sparring clothes, and Raine selected the Vanas colors. It mattered far less in Lycoris’s eyes, since the padded white dueling outfits were much more subdued than the track jacket, with just a little symbol over the heart rather than being brightly colored. Probably because they didn’t have to worry about visibility on the field to avoid being accidentally ran over.

  From the changing room, Lycoris’s group continued down the hall, up another floor, and then came out into a large training hall quite similar to the one inside the Elysium Sanctum—only larger and with sections of soft padding as well as the ceramic tiled floors. It was almost amusing that Lycoris couldn’t tell which was larger, the one reserved for a single (or now pair of) individual, or the one meant to serve an entire grade of student.

  Lycoris’s group was among the first to arrive at the training hall. Much like the previous day, so long as one spent at least a few hours on self-improvement and instruction under the teacher’s attention, it didn’t matter when they showed up. There was probably some etiquette or social cue that they should be fashionably late or that there was a certain time meant for different tiers of nobility to occupy the facility… but Lycoris didn’t know who to ask about such things with Dahlia missing, and was overeager and wanted to get started right away besides.

  She didn’t even wait for the instructor to show up before rushing over to the set of swords laid out against one of the walls, scratching her chin thoughtfully. Just as expected, there were only duelling swords available. It was unfortunate that her training as a knight only really covered the basics like arming swords, longswords, and greatswords—for standard bladed weapons at least. Spear-duelling children would have been a rather bizarre sight, she had to admit, and the knife was hardly a weapon for honest engagements.

  Running her eyes over the options available, she thought about what would be the closest to her prior experiences. The closest thing here would probably be the saber, as it was less of a fencing weapon than the other two.

  “Do either of you have a pre…ference…” she trailed off as she turned around to the other two girls.

  Cecily was standing there patiently waiting for her, but Raine had already wandered off to one of the walls at the edge and sat down, having somehow pulled a book from somewhere. Which left Lycoris wondering why she even bothered to get changed. Or come along in the first place. Surely she could have just walked back inside, enchantment or no… It did explain how she could’ve easily missed Raine yesterday. The girl probably had found the least aggressive myrh, rode it to some remote location, and then sat down to read in peace.

  “I won’t ask the obvious question of where that book came from, but I thought you made mention that you came here to fulfill a certain required number of hours for P.E. Raine.”

  Lycoris grabbed a trio of sabers off of the shelf behind her and walked over to Cecily, airily handing one to her hilt-first. They were child-sized, so she held no concerns that they’d be too heavy for her friends. It did mean that even three of them felt as light as toothpicks to Lycoris, though. And even just holding one, while it felt proportionally accurate relative to her arm, gave her a strange sense of wrongness with how little reach she had.

  It would probably be frowned upon, but for once she actually yearned for her trick-scythe, rather than a sword.

  “Maybe I can sneak into the senior sections later and ‘borrow’ some other types for my own personal training hall later…”

  “Why is your tower so empty anyways, Lycoris?” Raine looked up at her from her tome, seeming nonplussed about the casual admission of theft.

  “Probably because it’s new to the campus. We don’t even have proper exercise uniforms yet. …That said, it wouldn’t surprise me if Mama specifically told Auntie to leave the training hall and library empty… she was kind of obsessed with keeping me from swinging a sword around for whatever reason.”

  Raine blinked slowly, as if processing Lycoris’s casual flippancy when referring to her family. After a moment of thoughtful silence, she tilted her head, “Perhaps it’s because she wants you to make those decisions yourself. …Also you know that it’s still just going to be fencing equipment no matter what age group it is, right? I’m not sure they have actual weapons… maybe. I haven’t looked into it for what are probably a multitude of obvious reasons.”

  “Oh. Well, I might as well ask around anyways! I mean the place is called a colosseum after all!”

  Lycoris wasn’t going to let something like that get in the way of her good mood. She held out a saber for Raine to take, though when the girl went back to reading her book she instead reached forward and delicately gripped her wrist to pull her up.

  “A-Aaghk! Hey!”

  “At least until you fill your time quota for the day. You never know when swordfighting will come in handy!”

  “…I would never get involved with a formal duel anyways,” Raine sighed and relented, setting her book down and following Lycoris over to Cecily, staring reluctantly down at the saber in her hands as though Lycoris had given her a wriggling eel.

  “What I’m about to teach you will serve as foundational for survival skills too! Or, at least… insofar as using any sort of bladed weapon can lead to one’s survival.” Lycoris lips spread into a wan smile.

  She spent the next several minutes teaching Cecily and Raine how to hold a saber, but for some reason she couldn’t shake the feeling something was off. Admittedly, she never actually learned formal posture for duelling, and was just going off vague memories. Not that she didn’t know how to duel, that was an important skill for knights as well. But those duels were far more dirty and reminiscent of actual warfare than fencing. There was no such thing as “below the belt” in a proper duel as far as Lycoris was concerned.

  Holding her right hand behind her felt strange, when she was more used to using it to hold a shield up, or to punch people, or toss up dirt, or as a second hand on her hilt. She knew the general stance and the reason why, and could explain that most of dueling was in footwork and keeping as little of one’s body exposed as possible—those were both concepts that did transfer between formal duels and actual war.

  It was harder to be fatally cut or stabbed or shot if there was less to target.

  Watching on with satisfaction as the two of them practiced stepping forward and back with their swords in second position with relish—or displeasure in Raine’s case—Lycoris stepped back and set her own saber aside.

  “Where… do you think… you’re going?” Raine huffed, despite the fact she quite literally couldn’t be out of breath. Her shoulders drooped as fatigue overtook her after just a few minutes of effort.

  “I told you, didn’t I? I’m going to go look for some other armaments.”

  “Battle… Junkie…”

  “When do we actually get to duel, Lycoris?!”

  “Are you sure I’m the eager one here,” Lycoris chuckled weakly, before addressing her friend, “Whenever the instructor actually arrives. I don’t want to do any sparring without a proper spotter, and they could probably offer some advice besides. Plus,” she smiled with just a tint of smugness, “it would be pretty one-sided. I think working on the basics for now would serve us better.”

  Left unspoken was the fact she wasn’t at all confident in having a proper formal duel without it devolving into “mud-wrestling” as Mizar so eloquently put it once upon a time. Not to mention the strangely unsettling feeling she had, like her fingers were slightly numb. …And of course there was the fact that she was rather eager to go find some armaments that weren’t as ridiculous as a massive battlescythe crossed with an axe.

  Thus, Lycoris bade the two of them farewell for the moment and began weaving her way through the halls outside the still-empty training hall, attempting to trace their path back to the reception desk.

  She didn’t even have to go all the way before she encountered a pair of “teenage” Vampires, idly chatting with each other as they walked towards her. A Mano and a Sefer, both of them stopped in their tracks as the little princess walked up in front of them and smiled upwards. Nervousness played across their faces and their posture shifted to be slightly more rigid.

  “Good morning, would it be too much for I to trouble you for directions?” Lycoris daintily asked.

  The Mano shook his head and spoke in a mild daze, “Not at all, Your Highness.” Then, remembering himself a moment later, folded his arm over his waist and bowed, “It would be my honor to help.”

  Wow, he almost seems like a bigger version of Arnen… Lycoris thought. Though, his hair was an Athena-like blue, rather than light red.

  His companion also inclined his head respectfully, “Where is Your Highness seeking to go?”

  “M-Mmmm… Well,” Lycoris fidgeted a little, rubbing her heels together as she looked away with a touch of shyness, “I um… would like to visit whatever amounts to an armory here. Or, failing that, if you happen to know if the senior classes have more… militaristic armaments available anywhere…?”

  The scene of a child asking a pair of almost-adults where the capital W weapons were kept would have made any right-minded individual in Dauwen Kingdom completely lose their gourd at its absurdity. It was entirely natural that she’d feel so bashful about it, even if she was potentially more skilled with a sword than either of the boys she was addressing.

  But while the pair exchanged a brief glance, they gave away nothing in their tone if they thought it was out of the ordinary. “Hmm, there’s the storeroom for the arena. Maybe that’s what you’re looking for, Your Highness?”

  “We could also take you to our training room, but it would just be the same basic fencing swords that you no doubt should have available in the first decennaries room. Just uh, bigger.”

  Lycoris’s eyes lit up at the mention of the storeroom, and she nodded eagerly. “Please, show me to this storeroom. It sounds like just what I’m looking for!”

  The two exchanged another look and a shrug.

  “We’d be glad to, but… might I ask why?”

  “I’m a little curious myself.”

  “Ahaha…” Lycoris resisted the impulse to scratch the back of her head. Instead she forced her hands over her waist, and put on her most innocent smile, “I’d like to expand my horizons, and see if there isn’t anything worth borrowing for my personal armory—with permission, of course! ‘Tis no more complicated than that.”

  “Fair enough.”

  “I guess you really do have some measure of Drimus in yo—OOF!”

  The Sefer cut his friend off by elbowing him in the gut, causing the rest of his sentence to turn into a wheeze.

  Lycoris chuckled with a touch of awkwardness on her brow, “I take no offense, I hear it oft enough. The matter probably isn’t helped by our academy’s lack of training attire for the Aphtangloa.”

  The two boys laughed good naturedly, though it was hard to tell if it was out of nervous politeness or just because they found it amusing or sympathetic.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  ＊

  At first, Julian was a bucket of nerves. Seeing a tiny Exaltare just casually walk up to him and Nemo had nearly given him a heart attack. She acted just as dainty and sweet as the little menace that joined the academy a few years ago too, which didn’t help matters. Plus there was the rumor that the two of them had instantly become friends, which was a surprise considering how Her Highness seemed to think of Lady Dahlia’s uncle, but maybe the young ruler was just being magnanimous. Or was plotting to out-scheme the Idra, which seemed absurd but… if anyone could…

  It’s just a stereotype anyways, it’s not like they all are conniving bastards. Just that Carmellia… He frowned, pushing the memory aside. It wasn’t the time to brood on such things.

  It was quite fortunate that Her Highness’s request was a simple one, even if it immediately caused a red flag to rise in the back of Julian’s mind. It was all just training equipment, but the thought of leading a little battle-hungry monster to a stockpile of weapons felt like trouble. Everything would be way too big for a girl like her anyways… but then again, that scythe of hers was meant for a grown adult too.

  Neither of them had any reason to deny her request though, and it wasn’t like they were in any particular rush to get to the training hall. So Julian shrugged at his friend and the two of them started leading Her Highness to the basement.

  Thankfully the Princess kept her distance from them, walking a few steps behind with that same pretty little smile and daintily holding her hands in front of her. Even though he knew how terrifying she could be, it was difficult to see anything but one of the most adorable little girls looking at their backs with innocent good cheer. Honestly, it’s hard to imagine that she’s the same girl who made such a splash during her first appearance at Moonsend… and in Court.

  Julian hadn’t been there in person, but he’d watched the broadcast after the fact.

  So far she had kept things cordial, and neither he nor his friend wanted to give her a reason to get upset.

  After a few minutes of walking, and heading down a flight of stairs, he felt the tension weighing on him lighten a little. Whether it was because he had adjusted to being a princess’s escort or just because he was feeling more confident, he picked his earlier conversation with Nemo back up.

  “So, any ideas on who you’re bringing to the solstice party?”

  “I still have a couple of months!” Nemo instantly fired back.

  The guy was somewhat hopeless when it came to romance, even if he put up a posh front.

  “Besides, I’m more worried about this year’s exams. Whose bright idea was it to make those happen every spring…”

  “What’re you worried about, don’t tell me you’ve been slacking again on your science presentation,” Julian had to resist the urge to stop and turn on the spot to scold his friend. “I warned you that it’d take months before you’d start seeing any results.”

  “It’s not my fault that Idra harlot ruined my control group! I just haven’t had the motivation to start over…”

  “Uh-huh,” Julian deadpanned. “Just bite the bullet and get it started man. If you need to ask the professor for an extension then that means her scheme will have worked and you’ll lose face in front of the class.”

  “‘And I don’t want to associate with someone who can’t even handle the minor setbacks,’ I know, I know. So? What about you, Mister Perfect? Got all your ducks in a row already then? Is that why you’re confidently prodding me about romance in front of… er,” Nemo trailed off, clearing his throat and rubbing his waist where Julian had elbowed him.

  “I uh… was thinking about asking Minerva.”

  “The Wolis girl?”

  “Listen, I know that they’re an Idra vassal family but honestly who isn’t?! She’s very nice!”

  “And has an ‘ample bosom,’ yes. I know your type.”

  Julian cleared his throat rather loudly, his eyes briefly flitting to check on the girl behind them, “You know what I’ve changed my mind, let’s actually talk about literally anything else.”

  Thankfully, she didn’t seem to be paying all that much attention to their conversation, instead appearing enamoured with the bland paintjob on the walls. It was freshly re-coated last year, so there wasn’t anything she could find obvious fault or amusement with, but instinct told him she was just politely disinterested in their business. A blessing, that.

  “Alright then, exams it is. What do you think your score is going to be this year?”

  “Hmm… probably two hours, depending. Hopefully not any longer than three… Selin’s been on a real mean streak these past few years.”

  “Don’t even get me started on that guy.”

  “Oh, the two of you know him as well?”

  Julian nearly jumped out of his skin when the girl behind them suddenly spoke up.

  Nervously, he twisted around and gave her a wry smile, “Yes, he teaches history to those of us in our tenth decennary here.”

  “What is your take on him? I’ve spoken to him a couple of times now, personally.” Every time she spoke, she gave the impression of trying ever so slightly too hard to sound as formal as her mother, which only served to amplify the childish charm she so expertly wielded.

  Honestly, that’s probably more dangerous than giving her whatever sort of blade she wants… “Ah, I uh…” Julian floundered as he realized he’d let his thoughts start to wander to useless places.

  “He is a wise man, but I find his demeanour distasteful,” Nemo replied, suddenly turning the demure poshness back on the moment it came time to speak to someone more important than himself. “He thinks himself invincible, and us targets for his whipping cane. I’d avoid him if you can help it, Your Highness. No doubt there’s nothing good that could come from you crossing words with him.”

  “Hmm… I admit I was somewhat distraught after my first encounter with him, but that was no fault of his. I would call him earnest, personally.”

  “I would describe him as ‘tough but fair’ myself, I suppose,” Julian finally added, recovering enough to speak to the child. Nemo would undoubtedly tease him later, but it was entirely understandable to be a little flustered in front of an Aphtangloa.

  She nodded at his remark, then seemed to slip back into thoughtful silence once more.

  An awkward mood dominated the atmosphere once more as the two of them were reminded of her presence, and couldn’t find the drive to pick up their conversation while she was still there.

  At least their destination was just around the corner.

  ＊

  After reaching the stairs and heading down to a different floor, the pair of boys had resumed their conversation from before she showed up, though it was just about inconsequential things in their lives. At least they seemed confident enough to talk about festivals and girls and schoolwork in front of her.

  And yet of course, when she finally found a topic she could jump in at, they both immediately clammed back up afterwards.

  Lycoris always felt mildly self-conscious when other people did so, though perhaps that was part of why other people ended up so nervous around her. Like she was emanating some kind of… awkward sympathy aura.

  I’m not that pitiful, am I?

  She let the question hang in her mind as they rounded a corner down a… not a dingy hallway, but the sub-ground level floor had dimmer lighting that gave it a more sinister feeling. Maybe Lycoris was just developing a phobia of tunnels… walking just behind the pair of young adults felt awfully similar to a certain other occasion she’d been escorted, enough so that goosebumps were forming on her arms.

  The atmosphere was completely different, given the two boys were nothing like the trained assassins she’d encountered. They had a roughness and exuberance to them that she honestly couldn’t believe Vampires were even capable of possessing. All her life, she’d thought every Vampire was a soulless, unholy monster. But once more she was made to reflect on the fact that they were just (relatively) normal people with normal lives.

  They eventually came to a halt in front of a nondescript door, turning around to nod and bow to Lycoris.

  “Here you are, Your Highness.”

  “I hope that we were of benefit to you.”

  Lycoris stepped toward the door and tested it with her keycard, briefly inspected the interior once it slid open, and turned around to nod and offer a small curtsey to the pair, “Of course. Thank you both for taking time out of your schedules to assist me. If there is a small favor you would like of me in turn, I would hear it now.”

  The two exchanged an awkward look, then the Mano subtly smirked toward his friend. Before he could even open his mouth, the Sefer shook his head and raised a finger.

  “Don’t you dare voice that thought in your head, Nemo.”

  “I bet she could set you up with—”

  “Nope, no. Nuh. Shush! I’m not going to make the Crown Princess play CUPID for me!”

  “Your loss,” Nemo shrugged. “I don’t suppose we could ask for an I.O.U. at all?”

  Lycoris once more gave an awkward chuckle, catching herself wishing Dahlia was here to help her navigate this conversation. Or just to serve as someone who could talk to her like a normal person. A very fancy normal person, but still…

  “I fear not. But perhaps our encounter itself could become a vignette worth using in some manner? Not that aiding me is some grand task, mind.”

  The faces of the two boys lit up as they both smiled and nodded at the suggestion.

  “I see! Thank you for your wisdom, Your Highness. But I’m certain my friend here would love it if—”

  “I’m sure there will come another time that we meet, until then.”

  Before she could even bid them farewell, they both rushed around the corner they’d led her around. Or rather, the Sefer gripped his friend by the arm and dragged him off before he could embarrass him any further.

  At least they found some way of defusing the tension that I seem to exude… Lycoris sighed as she turned back around to peruse her newfound trove.

  The interior of the storehouse was far messier than she had expected. Different pieces of training equipment were haphazardly placed all over, with no particular rhyme or reason to how they were arranged. Spears leaned against the wall, a stack of swords had spilled over onto the floor, some leaning on a mannequin that had fallen over as well. A container of chalky powder sat square in the center, right next to several weights that were neatly stacked up, with a loose targe leaning against them. More shields were hung up on the walls, though most of them would function as tower shields with how small Lycoris had become relative to their size. There were all manner of bladed weapon, even some exotic curved swords that she didn’t recognize, in almost every length she could ask for.

  Inhaling and expelling the awkwardness from her encounter with the duo, Lycoris carefully walked into the room and approached the swords as though gravitationally attracted to them. Most of them were poorly maintained and their edges dulled, though that was probably partially by design.

  I guess even Vampires don’t want to cause unnecessary injury to each other when sparring. Even a dulled blade could still cause lasting harm… not that it would be much of a concern to a Vampire. Maybe that’s why all of the weapons in here were made with metal, rather than wood.

  Lycoris picked up a nondescript longsword and lightly bounced it in her hands. It hadn’t even been a whole year since she last held a proper blade, but the shape of it felt nostalgic in her palms. Even though it was decidedly too big for a child, it felt as light as a feather in her hands, like she was swinging around a really long and thin branch.

  She gripped it properly and gave it a practice swing through the air, and… felt a shiver run through her arm. She gave it another swing, though it was more like she was just shaking it up and down.

  Something was wrong.

  Lycoris couldn’t place what it was, but there was an overwhelming discomfort from the blade, like she was holding a sword for the first time despite intimately knowing the ins and outs of swordsmanship. Sure the blade was an awkward length for her, like she were swinging a greatsword around one-handed, but even when she put both hands on it, that strange feeling didn’t fade.

  It wasn’t because of the weight, either. Obviously it was far lighter than it should have felt in her hands, due to her unnatural strength. But she had trained with wooden blades too, and the idea of a sword being lighter than it looked wasn’t alien to her.

  If she had to describe the sensation, it was like she had suddenly sprouted a sixth finger on her hand, and was trying to figure out how to articulate the digit at the end of an otherwise familiar arm.

  She frowned deeply, put the sword back and picked up another one. Almost immediately she felt the same strange sense of something that shouldn’t have been there, but was. Like her memories and instincts were playing tricks on her.

  Grumbling as her mood began to drop, Lycoris looked around, reaching for another…