“You are not even a man yet. And neither am I a woman. Are you afraid of the rumors seeing us together ‘in the middle of the night’? Duhhh~ We are 10 years apart!” Maxineirah shoved his words away.
She did not mind being rumored because even from her past lives up until now, she never cared about what others said.
“What if I say, I do mind? Do you not know how the Duke and the Young Masters look at you? How do they treasure you? They will probably throw me in the den of alligators if they were to know that you want to meet me secretly in the middle of the night. Do you not pity me at all? I will turn to shreds to become the alligators’ feast if they were to find this out.” Creston tried to conscience her and see if it works on her since what he said is not far from impossible.
“Uhm… That would be too scary but I do not think they will do that. Just torture to the brink of death, maybe.” Maxineirah thought so hard for a moment but was able to say those cruel words as if nothing.
Creston halted and threw his head in Maxineirah’s way as he eyed her in disbelief. He felt like he would either lose his hair or will make his green hair white at a young age just by talking to his Young Lady.
Creston was now pissed and suddenly thought that he wanted to pull Maxineirah’s hair out or slap her to get her senses back but he restrained himself and reminded himself that she was still his client.
But if she was just not a Duke’s daughter, he would have erased her existence long ago from the land.
He massaged his temple as he said, “I will tell the Duke about you myself, then.”
Maxineirah started to convince Creston but he pretended as if no one was talking and continued his practice.
Maxineirah was not fazed at all as she replied to his words.
“I just want you to teach me to handle the sword secretly.” Maxineirah said and Creston felt her sincerity.
Creston stopped and sat. He wiped his head, which was full of sweat. He was huffing and that was all that could be heard that moment.
“Do you really want to learn the sword that badly?” Creston asked and Maxineirah nodded in reply.
Maxineirah could have just learned it by herself since she had ‘some’ experience with the sword but she forgot almost all of it for it has been a long time since then.
“Fine. I will try to convince the Duke but do not expect too much from me. I am just a lowly Knight.” Creston surrendered in defeat.
“You are not lowly at all! You are young and a Knight at that age. And moreover, you are the Vice-Captain of private Knights of one of the Empire’s Heroes’ House’s, the Zachronos!” Maxineirah tried to ease his tension.
“Are you commending me or are you bragging about your House?” Creston teased because he did not want Maxineirah to think he was down.
And Maxineirah knew that.
“Both!” the young lady laughed.
Creston Halnois let the week pass before he finally told the Duke about Maxineirah wanting to learn the sword.
Creston was able to convince the unconvinced Duke and the method he used was only known by the Duke, the Young Knight who proposed the idea and the Butler listening to the conversation, as usual.
Creston also suggested to include Maxwell, Drenschville and Grenchant in the practice though there was some commision to be paid by the other two Houses. How could they complain when it was Maximus’ will to collect.
Maxineirah was grateful that her plea was finally heard -even if she was limited in training- so she followed Creston’s wish not to visit him again at night although she was very curious as to how her Knight convinced her firm father who did not even budge to her own request.
Right at the time of the day, Drenschville and Grenchant were earlier than usual. Maxineirah, Maxwell and the two visitors were gathered in the training ground. The Knights who were trained there kept on looking at them.
They eyed Maxineirah favorably while they eyed the two visitors in the opposite way.
Albinio, the Captain of Zachrono Knights, was in front of them. He was wearing a dirty white colored shirt that shows a bit of his bare chest. He walked back and forth in front of them, his eyes not leaving to scrutinize them.
The four of them stood up straight as their eyes followed the Captain’s pace.
Finally, he stopped. The Young Lords and Young Mistress were startled and looked straight in front of them in panic. Albinio looked at his left and covered his mouth with his hand to stop his laugh from coming out. They look adorably cute!
The Captain calms himself down before clearing his throat. “Eyes up here, lad.“ he said so four pairs of eyes looked upon him. They were so cute that he wanted to pinch their cheeks one by one but he knew he should not, so he tried to look more serious.
‘Is he mad because he will be teaching us children?’ they all thought in a trembling voice in their head. But what the Captain felt was far the opposite.
“You should know that I will not be treating you as nobles whenever you set foot in this training field, the same goes for whoever the enemy you face in the battleground in the future. They will not care about your status, some may not even know you completely. Any complaints?” Captain Albinio did not just say it but also warned.
“But-“
Grenchant was about to complain when cut by Drenschville who elbowed him and the Captain added, “THOSE who have problem with the rule, I am saying this but you should give up immediately!” Albinio said strictly that made Grenchant shut his mouth.
“The only words that I should hear from you are ‘Sir, yes, Sir!’ or ‘Sir, no, Sir!’ with a loud and clear voice that everyone around will hear. Understand Cadets?!” Captain Albinio asked in a loud clear voice so even if the children were shy to shout, they did.
“SIR, YES, SIR!” they all responded in agreement that they even had to close their eyes and had their faces blushed in embarrassment.
Their voices echoed in the place. Some of the Knights silently giggled in adoration while doing their own training. Having new Cadets around was really fun.
“Good! Now, go get some bails with water and some cleaning tools because you are going to clean the East Mansion.” Albinio commanded. Grenchant and Maxwell looked at each other in confusion while Drenschville and Maxineirah understood why.
“But-“Grenchant and Maxwell were about to complain but was elbowed by the two children who understand and covered their voice with the loud and clear,” SIR, YES, SIR!” and immediately pulled Grenchant and Maxwell away -who have no idea why they should clean- to obey the looking strict Captain.
“I thought we were going to practice sword play?” asked Maxwell as they were waiting for the bail to be filled by water.
“Why did we end up cleaning a Mansion?” Grenchant seconded.
“This is part of training.” Maxineirah responded.
“For some stamina and strength.” Drenschville added.
“Why do the both of you look like you know something?” Maxwell asked, which made the two of them silent.
Maxineirah and Drenschville did not know why the both of them knew.
‘I thought I was the only one who knew. Did he also…?’ Maxineirah thought.
‘I thought I was the only one who knew. How did she do it?’ Drenschville also thought.
Their curiosity was the same but their guesses were different.
“Go faster! The time is running, Cadets!” Albinio shouted from outside of the cleaning warehouse.
“SIR, YES, SIR!” they all shouted in unison as they were startled by hearing his voice and moved at a fast pace. They forgot their chit-chats and did not make the Captain wait any longer.
They all went out with different cleaning tools in their hands. They get the tools they often see from the maids when cleaning and wear aprons.
Maxineirah and Maxwell were both holding a bucket of water and a cloth for cleaning on the other hand.
Drenschville was holding a broom and a dustpan.
And Grenchant held a long broom to remove the cobwebs.
“That works. Now, get to the East Mansion and start cleaning. There should be no dust in sight. Four of the full pledge Knights will be monitoring you. No PRATTLING. Understood?!”
“SIR, YES, SIR!”
“GO!”
The four children ran towards the East Mansion guided by the Knights selected to observe them. Those four Knights were selected by Duke Zachrono himself and would report to him at every end of the day.
If Maximus were to foresee a possible danger, he would immediately take Maxineirah away from the training field and forbid her to hold a sword ever again without hesitation.
The children started cleaning at a fast pace. Even if their teacher, Albinio was not there, their observers were present so in order to not be reprimanded, they did what they deem to do.
The sun set high until it reached its zenith. Even with how hard they work, with their small limbs, they would not be able to finish cleaning even half of the mansion and only cleaned one of the eight rooms.
They were all called to take a break before lunch was set.
Kathelina came rushing together with the other maids. They brought pitchers of water and cups and towels for the Knights, especially for the children who were lying down in the comforter prepared for them.
They could not raise a single limb because they felt tired and numb. Of course, they would also feel sore all over their body tomorrow…
The Knights could see themselves on the children and could not help but to pity them and at the same time, felt the creep crawl up to their spines. They would not want to get back to their old days when they were weak, the first time they started their ‘training’.
They even vomited because of tiredness in the past.
Well, now these children know how hard it was before they could even touch a wooden sword.
They will need to run laps for they do not know how many times. Push-ups, squats, and other exercises.
The Knights trembled as they remembered that. They looked in other directions to stop themselves from reminiscing about their past sufferings. All they could do was to silently pray for the children to not die in the process.
Since it was Albinio who was their teacher. Calm and kind and fatherly but the strictest person they ever met.
Albinio was loyal to Zachrono House. His mother was a former maid in the same house so he spent his childhood and the rest of his life serving under them. He knew the Duke for a very long time, same with the other servant Heads, the Butler and long time servants who grew up with them and some even have their parents or family as former servants.
They all felt family to each other. They have seen everyone who has come and gone. They watched the ups and downs of the house and wept all together for ages.
Above that, the Great War commenced where everyone thought that the Viscountdom (the House was a former Viscount House before it became a Dukedom) would perish in a blink of an eye.
But who would have thought that instead of perishing, because of their former young successor’s -Duke Maximus Zachrono- unrivaled strength, he brought victory and the glory of being the Empire’s one of the treasured Heroes and raised the House’s status from being a rugged Viscountdom to a new Dukedom House.