Mera, wearing a shirt, pants and boots, moaned in pain, wheezing terribly as she kneeled on the dusty floor. Sweat beaded her brow, her shoulders going up and down. Her entire body ached. But her pain was worse and more focused on her stomach after getting punched.

  Currently, she was in a training building. Some of these buildings had been vacant as the knights were sent out to defend the kingdom from the Empire’s invasion or assigned to different posts. Only a few among the soldiers left here were the ones often using them. That was why Mera, and with Vernon, were able to freely use the training hall as they pleased. And they have been frequenting here, almost daily.

  And Mera’s spar with Vernon was just paused. As one would expect, it was her utter loss. Vernon did not hold himself from hitting the young lady.

  “You didn’t enhance your stomach,” Vernon curtly said.

  “I… I was too late.” Mera was sending her fist against Vernon, and thus she had poured her Physical Enhancements on her legs and arms. Only a little to the overall body. However, when Vernon’s attack came, she failed to enhance her vulnerable spot.

  “You need to grow your reflexes. Still, if a common man strikes you like that, I doubt you’d be hurt.”

  Indeed, Vernon also used Physical Enhancement, so his attacks were far from common. As talented as Mera was in this department, even she had limitations, for now at least. She had to concentrate her mana at specific body parts just to send tremendous damage, not doing so would weaken her strikes. And she needed powerful strikes to hurt Vernon.

  “However, you won’t be fighting a common man.” The old man pulled her up by the back of her shirt, forcing her to stand up. “The beasts, the imperial knights, they are far from common.”

  “I-I know.”

  “Keep pushing through. Pour mana into your hurt area to reduce the pain and continue fighting.”

  Mera nodded and did what he said. Pouring more mana into it, her stomach tensed up, and she could actually feel the pain subside a little. She held out her fists and took a step forward, thrusting her hand forward. Vernon blocked with his arm, and Mera felt like she was punching wood with how hard it was.

  The goal for today was not to defeat Vernon. No, it was to apply the basic combat techniques she had learned. Like how to punch, how to move her legs, and how to respond to incoming enemy attacks, with the best result of getting to land a direct hit on him. But that, of course, didn’t mean that Mera wouldn’t get hurt.

  Physical Enhancement as her main ability meant that she would take most of the brunt. One who gets dazed with a single strike would not be a fit to the role. As Mera resolved to train Vernon’s path, she must do whatever was required of her. Even if there was pain. To become someone who shields the princess, this was necessary.

  “Duck,” Vernon said.

  And Mera immediately ducked, at the same time, the old man’s fist went over her head. Once that passed, Mera struck her fist again at Vernon.

  “Mera, don’t just mindlessly attack. Visualize and strategize.”

  Mera struck low, and when Vernon lowered his one hand to guard, she struck from the side.

  “Big mistake.” With Mera’s guard open, Vernon head-butted her.

  “Ggh!” Mera staggered back, shocked and confused by what Vernon did. Her vision twisted around as sharp pain radiated from her forehead.

  He can do that?!

  She never expected that he would use his head. Wincing in pain, she placed a hand on her forehead. Good thing she had a small amount of mana applied on it, otherwise her skull might have split apart.

  “You left yourself open. Did you not think a melee combatant would not use every part of their body?”

  “That’s not fair, sir Vernon…”

  Vernon could only sigh. “That’s a lesson learned. At least you tried to strategize, me being generous. But your hand was too low, and you overestimated your reach, causing your defenses to split open. Don’t just think of sending your strikes, consider your limits.”

  “What do you mean? If I consider my limit, then I could never beat you.”

  “Your goal was not to beat me, but to land a direct hit. Remember your goals, consider your limits, and be patient. A clean opportunity will arrive eventually as you make them.”

  But that’s impossible!

  Mera pouted as she rubbed her forehead. It was just basically impossible for her to do that. Vernon was too skilled for her to ever land a hit. But then again, she understood what he was trying to say. Perhaps failing here would prompt her to remember the lessons. Indeed, perhaps she was never meant to win.

  Still, it was demotivating to lose.

  “Let’s go again, now.” Vernon said. “This time, observe your enemy first. Their physique, their stance, their composure.”

  Mera groaned and raised her fists, despite the pain burning in her forehead.

  Okay, okay. Melee combatants may use every part of their body.

  Mera scrutinized her opponent and recalled what she knew about Vernon. He was a master martial artist, so he could definitely and proficiently use all his limbs to attack. Meaning he could strike with his arms, legs, and she didn’t forget to add the head. She had to watch out for attacks from those.

  However, main strikes came from Vernon’s fists, which were his primary weapons. Those were the highest priority to be on guard against. The legs he would likely use in limited situations or as responses. The same for his head. Mera visualized how she’d attack, and how the opponent could possibly respond.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  After a moment of thinking, Mera engaged and lunged towards Vernon. The latter blocked her fist, and at the same time Mera punched low, coming at his chest. Her strike was swift, not even a common lowly soldier could hope to evade that. However, Vernon shifted his body sideways, evading the strike by an inch. At that moment, Mera had an intuition about how Vernon would strike back.

  She was too slow to move yet, slow to follow his attacks. Her reflexes and body wouldn’t allow for that. However, anticipating where he would attack was different. And there was a faster way for her to defend herself.

  She shifted her mana towards her stomach, just as a fist from the old man slammed against it.

  “Hm?” He seemed impressed.

  Mera couldn’t help but smile, feeling pleased with herself. However, that was a mistake.

  “Don’t feel pleased just yet.” Vernon swiftly spun and kicked Mera in the back.

  Mera rolled down the floor, and she was left squirming and groaning in pain. Vernon walked up beside her.

  “Good, you’re learning. But you let a good outcome get to your head. The fight doesn’t end until one is down.”

  “Y-Yes.”

  Mera couldn’t help it. She was just beat up so much that a good result of her anticipation got to her head too easily.

  “But a good job is a good job. This is good. I bet you can give a low end knight a good spar.”

  Mera was quite glad to hear that, knights were skilled fighters. If she could give one of them a good fight, it was a sign of progress on her part. Mera poured mana onto her back to reduce the pain. She slowly got up, and Vernon helped her.

  “Am I progressing so slow, sir Vernon…?”

  “No, this is fine. Your combat experience will need work, but your raw prowess, your magic, is very promising. You have a lot of potential.”

  Mera did hear many times that she had a good affinity for Physical Enhancement. She was not good at spellcasting, but at least she had something else she was good at.

  “But do I still have a long way to go?”

  “Of course. You don’t learn proper combat in just weeks.”

  “... Is that so? Then… how did the princess learn to fight skillfully so fast?”

  Mera remembered how Princess Estelia was able to spar with an elite knight like Rogan. She was so amazing, to think she could match a high level knight. And, how she was able to defeat those imperial knights, it was both amazing, and quite puzzling. Mera never saw the fragile princess train before.

  Vernon was silent for a moment, as though he was having a hard time answering. “... She is a strange one, I suppose. She isn’t normal. Even the king himself was suspicious about how she became that way.”

  “He was?”

  “He asked if I trained her, which I didn’t, of course. And I never use weapons such as daggers.”

  “Daggers… What happened to the daggers found in her room?” During the cleanup, amidst the rubbles, they found daggers in where her room should be. They were shattered, but other parts were intact.

  “The king has them. Apparently, he found her wearing a full geared outfit during the battle at the palace.”

  “... Why didn’t she tell us about it?”

  “I don’t know… You never knew anything about it?”

  “I… No, I knew nothing.” Mera didn’t mention when the imperial soldiers swarmed the palace. Where the princess was killing everyone that got in their way.

  “I see. Well, the king kept it a secret for now.”

  “He didn’t tell the two princes?”

  Vernon shook his head. “There’s no point doing so.”

  “I see... I wonder if milady is safe.”

  Even now, there was no news about her. Nothing at all.

  “I believe she is,” Vernon said. “Anyway, time to rest up. Go to a healer. We’ll continue shortly after lunch.”

  “Y-Yes.”

  Mera grabbed her towel and rubbed her sweat and cleaned her dirty face. Being still in pain, she had to maintain her mana on her body, lest she go squirming. Vernon was a kind old man, but he just doesn’t hesitate to inflict pain when training. Mera let out a tired sigh before following Vernon outside.

  They made their way back to the palace's front entrance. When they arrived, the area was quite busy, filled with civilians working on the repair of the palace. To put it simply, the top floor was being rebuilt. And it was far from being over. Incidentally, the walls surrounding the palace were being repaired and reinforced as well.

  Knights were also posted all over the perimeter to keep watch over things.

  “Oh, Miss Mera.” One of the young knights called out. “Rough training, I see!”

  “You should really try to be a little forgiving, old sir,” said a middle-aged knight. “She’s a young lady.”

  Vernon shrugged. “I’m doing what I can.”

  Mera smiled. “Everything’s fine. If it helps me become helpful in the future, then I’ll do it.”

  “Well, did you at least get to land a painful hit on him?” asked the young knight.

  Mera shyly shook her head. “No, I did not.”

  “Ah! Damn. Well, you’ll get him next time.”

  “Alright, can you please heal her?” Vernon said. “As you might notice, she is wounded and in pain.”

  “Got it,” said the middle-aged knight. “Better sit down, young lady.”

  Mera walked over to a grassy area and nimbly sat down. Ever since she started training, she had noticed she had been moving way better than before, like slightly more nimble. And it was quite nice to realize that. The knight crouched beside her and held out his hand, green light emitting from his palm. Mera felt the pleasant and comforting warmth of the healing magic.

  “Right, I’ll be going ahead, Mera,” Vernon said.

  “Understood.”

  Vernon went on ahead inside the palace.

  “I take it you’re gonna train again later in the afternoon?” asked the old knight.

  “Yes.”

  “Been training pretty hard,” said the young knight. “May I ask a direct and personal question?”

  “Sure.”

  “You’re a maid. You don’t need to fight. I don’t get why you have to work this hard. So why?”

  Mera lowered her head. “Simple. I am the princess’s maid. I want to be useful to her. That is all. And now, to achieve that, I must become strong. No normal maid can stand beside her.” With how things were, with people always going after the princess, and now a war, being a mere simple maid was not enough.

  She must be useful in the most crucial things. Being a human shield was not enough. And it displeased her so that she only got to think of this now. She should have done this ever since she knew that people were after the princess’s life. Perhaps things would have been different. If only she had started earlier, Mera wouldn’t have felt she needed to catch up.

  Indeed, maybe one of the reasons why she was doing everything she could to become stronger was to catch up. Afraid of being left behind. No, that would definitely happen if she ever remained the same.

  The knights smiled.

  “I admire your loyalty, Miss Mera,” said the young knight. “I imagine the princess would have been glad to hear your words.”

  Mera smiled. “... Is there any news about her?”

  The two knights reluctantly looked at each other.

  “Nothing new,” said the older knight. “Situation has changed, and so have some… operations.”

  Mera slightly tilted her head. “What do you mean?”

  “We don’t know much, we’re stationed here after all.” The young knight scratched the back of his head. “But as far as we know, manpower’s shifted, and there’s no news on the princess.”

  “... Oh, I understand. It is wartime. How’s the war progressing?”

  The older knight stopped his magic once Mera was fully healed. “Not very good. The Empire has taken control over a good chunk of the territory at the border. But nothing too grim yet.”

  “Yeah. I’m afraid that all the preparations we did might not be enough. We were caught off guard,” added the young knight.

  Mera heard about something like that from Vernon. That the princess’s plans were far from finished, and it could cost the kingdom dearly.

  “But I’m sure we’ll hear good news eventually,” said the older knight as if to comfort.

  Mera nodded and placed a hand on her chest. Hearing about the state of her home kingdom made her feel anxious. Maybe if she became a bit stronger, she could assist in some way.

  Mera stood up. “Thank you for the healing.”

  “You’re welcome. We’ll be here in the afternoon. I’m sure you’ll need healing again.”

  Mera smiled wryly.