Born From A Divine Gamble

Up to the very end, Nessa hadn"t figured out what the full name of her friend was but she found that it didn"t really matter.

Before she ever came to this school, she would have thought that the name of those she met would be the most important part of how she saw them but it turned out that it hadn"t been the case at all. What had mattered in the end was the heart of all her friends and the efforts they put in to help her rather than their social standing.

She found her time in school very useful but also very entertaining. She would never have expected it to be the case. It had been its own separate little world but now, it was time for her to go back to being the daughter of Duke Hasting. For now at least, she had to leave the carefree fun behind and bring her attention back to what really mattered to her.

Knights sent by her father were there with her to escort her back home and Juniper as well as their four slaves rode with her in an elegant carriage. The merchant girl had asked if she could travel with them for a short while since she was going further north too and Nessa had agreed.

Despite being lowborn, Juniper was usually charming and polite so Nessa didn"t expect her to cause any trouble and it gave her someone to speak with on the long road home. Her destination was Ashenhill city which was only a few days east from Folcourse where the Hasting"s castle stood.

Both of them were sat as elegantly as possible in the rocking carriage and enjoyed a beverage prepared by herself. It was a mix of minty herbs from the north of the kingdom and some other refres.h.i.+ng herbs from southern Windbow. The drink was called crystal-berry tea but there were no berries nor tea in it. Still, it was delicious and very refres.h.i.+ng for the heat of the carriage. She provided some for her two slaves Cherry and Myrtille as well because they did a good job in helping her put her armor in here.

She left wearing a proper dress like the lady she should be but once inside the carriage with Juniper, she blocked the windows and changed into her new armor with the help of her two servants. She didn"t mind exposing most of her body to Juniper and the servants but she wouldn"t accept a knight to see her changing. By changing now, she would be ready to intervene if something worth fighting showed up and she didn"t cause a scene at the school gates.

She found that it was a bit difficult to hold a cup with the armored gauntlets but removing them now would be a ha.s.sle. Also, the heat was suffocating but with how long it took her to put the suit on, it would just be foolish to wait until she needed it to start putting it on. She just had to bear with it and endure, the rest of the knights did all the time so why would she not be able to?

"Still, I have to say, Emp did a really good job with that armor. I"m sure you will gather many more admirer now than you already did." The merchant girl complimented with a smile.

"Thank you, I think so too. I am lucky to have such good friends."

"I agree, the n.o.ble court is usually a much more cutthroat environment than what we experienced in that school, or so they say. This group was filled with softhearted people and made for a very enjoyable stay."

"Yes, I was more used to people trying to gain my favors relentlessly than this relaxed environment. Is it also like this for the merchants?"

"We all compete with each other to make more profit and beat our opponents so I"d say it"s similar but my father didn"t think so." Juniper mused. "He was feeling that the n.o.bles were much more dangerous to deal with and that was why he decided to invest in my stay in that school. He wanted me to be prepared to deal with them and maybe one day, have our own house ascend to n.o.bility."

Such a development wouldn"t be surprising. It wasn"t all that rare for a n.o.ble suddenly finding himself lacking in money to tie themselves with a prominent merchant family.

Alternatively, sometimes, a gap formed in the n.o.ble ranks and a territory found itself masterless. The king would then either give that piece of land as a reward to someone worthy or offer to sell it to whoever presented the biggest amount. In that case, the Gla.s.sart family with their ma.s.sive fortune would have a good chance of winning it and the t.i.tle of lord that went with owning a territory.

"Sadly, I don"t think that our group was very representative of the n.o.bles as a whole. The biggest driving forces of our group were Emp, Mable, Brenia and Ivar, all of them were rather kind and patient and the rest aligned themselves with those at the top."

"You"d describe Brenia as kind and patient?" Juniper giggled.

"In a way, yes, she would beat back down anyone that didn"t align with the friendly environment we had going. She might not have been exactly like that herself but she was indeed an agent of those things for the others."

"I guess you do have a point. A few strong figures imposed themselves on the other and those wanted peace and candidness so we got what we got. It was fun to live this way but it doesn"t make for good practice I"m afraid."

"You don"t have to worry too much, I think you are doing splendidly already. As long as you don"t attempt to sell gla.s.s to everyone you meet, I think you"ll keep a good reputation for a long time with the n.o.bles." Nessa tried to rea.s.sure her friend.

"That"s a hard thing to ask me, you wouldn"t ask a bird to stop flying would you? In any case, I think that the connections I made there are more valuable to me than what experience I"d have gained otherwise. I"d have paid ten times more to get in if I knew I"d meet those I got to connect with beforehand. Like you for example. I understand you can"t give unfair advantages to my family just because I am on good terms with you but I suspect my life will be much easier once you become the d.u.c.h.ess of the northern grove."

Juniper was showing a large smile of perfect white teeth and she decided to answer with a smile of her own. Nessa agreed with her reasoning even if the way she said it made it sound like she was using her. That was how real life worked after all, you made friends and connection that would help you further your own goals.

Nessa took a long gulp of her drink before she spoke again.

"You"re saying it as if it was a given but the struggle has not even begun."

"It "is" a given! You have the support of the Muracier, you are talented and you know what you are doing. On top of all that, you"re the eldest living child of the duke. You should be the obvious choice over your brother."

"Things don"t always go as we wish they would however, any number of things out of my expectations could happen."

If things always went as they were meant to be, she wouldn"t have to take the seat of her father after all. She would have had many elder brothers to do it in her stead.

She didn"t have any strong desire to own the duchy, she just understood what she had to do in order to keep her last brother safe and make sure her family wouldn"t crumble around her.

Juniper raised her cup in an encouraging way.

"Well, I will drink and prey for everything to go well. Speaking of going well, it was Emp that told you to kill something on the way there, yes? Do you really think you"ll be able to find something worthwhile? Emp knows what he"s talking about, I"m sure, but he might not know what sort of creatures live in these parts. He never went north of Bêtéclair after all."

"Trips never go without incidents, there"s always a beast with eyes bigger than their stomachs or some Cursed-blood looking to slit the throat of another Hasting. I"m sure I"ll encounter something." Nessa answered calmly.

Her father had sent a great amount of his knights to bring her home safe because he feared nothing more than to loose the few children he had left. As such, the trip should be more than safe. However, it didn"t mean that nothing would happen, Nessa just had to react faster than the knights and take the lead.

That being said, nothing should happen so soon in the trip, they could still see the walls and towers of Bêtéclair in the distance behind the carriage. The chances of foolish monsters or intrepid cursed-blood going so far south were rather minimal.

This meant she had plenty of time to enjoy the drinks and the company of her friend.

They chatted further about the school, their homes and what they expected the future to be like. Juniper had a positive att.i.tude and expected life to carry her far and high while Nessa remained apprehensive.

By no mean did she want to waste all the help and efforts everyone provided for her but she had witnessed so many setbacks in the past, she struggled so hard just to learn the royal sword dance and knew the temperament of her father so well. She didn"t expect things to go smoothly at all, she knew she would still have to work harder than ever and stay strong for her objective and plans to bear fruits.

Juniper did her best to keep her spirits up by talking about all the good things that happened up to now for the both of them and often changed the subject to more lighthearted things.

Vanessa was thankful for that, it distracted her mind for the hards.h.i.+ps that were to come. She just couldn"t help it after all, the moment they stopped talking, she would loose herself in all sorts of disastrous futures and outcomes. The bad events were easier for her to imagine and she"d play them all in her head.

The trip would have been awfully long and stressful if not for the presence of the merchant. Juniper knew better than to speak about love interests too as she knew Nessa relatively well. She understood that not only did Nessa not bother with looking into a man, if she failed in her attempt to become the next d.u.c.h.ess, the right to choose would escape her.

Good memories and different sorts of arts were the topics instead. Dance, music, gla.s.swork, jewelry, painting and even dresses were spoken about in the carriage over the next few days.

At times, the carriage would stop to let the ladies get some fresh air and let knights feed the horses and give them water. The first time the carriage stopped and Nessa came out of it to stretch her legs, all the knights stared at her.

"Lady Vanessa, might I ask what this... Armor, is for?" The knight in charge of the rest asked her.

This was an unconventional form for a plate armor so his hesitation on its nature was normal. However, what he implied with his words wasn"t. What he was implying was that she had no business to wear an armor or worse, that she was playing around like a children with it.

She was slightly upset by the way he formulated his question but she had prepared herself for this sort of thing, she didn"t let the annoyance show on her face.

She took a proper look at his own face but didn"t recognize him, he must have been employed in the last five years while she was away. He wasn"t particularly handsome either but not ugly at least, an ordinary man with a talent for the sword probably.

"To protect myself of course. What else could I possibly do with an armor?"

Now it was her turn to insinuate things. She didn"t trust in their protection alone so she prepared something else. Every knights around showed a grimace briefly.

"My lady, I swear you are safe with us. I"m sure your father would like to see you wearing a proper attire rather than a parade armor."

"This is no parade armor sir knight." Juniper jumped in the argument from the side. "This things is all made from high quality steel and crafted by two masters to a.s.sist lady Vanessa into battle. Both it and the blades were made as a set and every piece is enchanted."

The knights took a long moment to find an answer, they didn"t know on which feet to dance. Obviously, they all knew her father would be upset to know she wasn"t acting like a proper lady as she should but they couldn"t really speak against her either as she was the treasured daughter of their lord.

They couldn"t force her to remove the armor, they could only attempt to reason with her.

"My lady, It pains us that you would put so little trust in the knights loyally serving your lord father. What"s more, if I may be blunt, I do not think that an armor, as good as it may be, will be enough to turn the tide if we were ever to be overrun by an enemy."

"I am not the weak lady you think I am, sir. I changed, I can fend for myself. Also, no, in the future you may not speak so bluntly if it"s only to spout s.e.xist remarks."

The knights all looked skeptical, they didn"t think Nessa could have gotten all that stronger in five years. She once was a refined young lady who didn"t do much physical exercise aside from dancing and had no prior experience with a sword. The knight leader would have probably told her that swinging a sword for practice against other students didn"t make her fit for a real fight but he had just been told to shut up.

Juniper once again made a remark on a mocking tone to drive the nail of Nessa"s argument deeper.

"Lord Aminui, the Muracier ancient, acknowledged her talent with a sword himself. He said her technique was so impressive it was a delight to look at and that she would be able to hold her own against his own grandson the next great general. In fact, I heard him pity the fact she would be the next d.u.c.h.ess of the northern grove because he"d have liked her to join his grandson in marriage in order to annex her technique into the family."

Nessa herself didn"t know about that last part. It was a good thing she wasn"t the sort to be easily embarra.s.sed. She knew that the old Muracier would have liked to get a hold on the sword dance but she hadn"t known he would be willing to go so far as to push for a marriage.

In any case, none of this would happen because as the d.u.c.h.ess ruling over the border of the empire, she wouldn"t be able to leave her territory for something as silly as a marriage. That was the meaning the knights should have registered from this but she feared they might keep the rest in mind instead.

"In any case," She followed. "I fully intend to show my abilities properly before we reach Folcourse. As such, I demand that you let me fight if we encounter a threat on the way. This isn"t a request, this is an order."

"Understood my lady." The chief knight bowed.

This was the only acceptable answer in those conditions even if he didn"t agree at all. Nessa had the feeling that they would not follow her words as well as they should. Emp was right.

Despite all her training and efforts, they only saw a spoiled lady with an exaggerated opinion of herself and her abilities. She needed to show them with blood that she wasn"t kidding and truly knew how to handle herself in a fight.

She spent the following night in her personal tent erected by the knights themselves and their squires. Because of her status, Nessa enjoyed a very wide tent with enough s.p.a.ce to walk around in it and dress herself properly. The whole thing was held up by a pillar planted in the center of the tent and some rugs were unrolled all over the place to make it more comfortable. It was a pretty complex structure to erect for just a single night but the knights wouldn"t dare let their lady rest in anything less.

Juniper had her own personal tent too but much smaller and hers was prepared by her own two slaves.

Every nights from then on were spent in that place with her worrying on whether or not she would manage to convince the knights of her resolve and talent or more importantly, convince her own father.

Then, by day, she"d get the help of Cherry and Myrtille to put her armor back on and would resume her trip in the carriage. The caravan didn"t move all that fast so there should have been plenty of time for her to find something to prove herself against but there was a slight problem.

The knights just wouldn"t let anything get close. The moment something was spotted, they"d rush out and kill it immediately. By the time Nessa would hear the commotion, it was already all over.

She got more and more upset as the days pa.s.sed but the knights always had a convenient excuse. She ordered them to let her fight if they encountered a threat but they could then easily argue that this or that wasn"t a threat at all for them. She could already bet that if they ever were a.s.saulted by something seriously dangerous, they would do their best to get her away from the fight too. They would say that her father ordered them to keep her safe at all cost and his orders trumped hers completely.

"Maybe you should change your tactics?" Juniper proposed one day while enjoying a new beverage brewed by Nessa.

"What do you propose?"

At that point, Nessa was very open to any sort of suggestion.

"Maybe you could order them to leave the next creature to you or maybe you could ride in front? They can hardly hide things from you if you"re right there in their midst."

This was a wonderful idea, she should have thought about it by herself much sooner. She might have been enjoying her relaxing time with Juniper a bit too much to think about just getting out of the carriage.

She was about to apply the idea when the voice of a knight called for her.

"Lady Hasting, we found a threat for you."

Finally, she thought. Maybe she wouldn"t have to spend all her time outside monitoring the knights after all.

"Did we misunderstand the knights after all?" Juniper wondered aloud while Nessa stepped out of the slowing down carriage.

Outside, she couldn"t hear the sound of fighting but she did hear the sound frantic steps.

She followed the knight with a frown that only deepened as they got to the place she was being led to. Two knights were hara.s.sing a giant twin-headed beetle who didn"t know where to place its attention. The knight in charge was waiting nearby with its arms crossed.

"Here, lady hasting, we found the perfect opponent for you."

Nessa felt her face turn green in anger. This was a perfect opponent for her, the weakest of all the creatures living in those woods? It was a good thing that she currently wore her armor and helm because everyone would have seen clearly how angry it made her.

She stepped in front of the knight and looked upward to him.

"A beetle? Are you mocking me?"

"No, of course not, I wouldn"t dare mock my lady."

That"s what he said but his face wasn"t so respectful. It was clear to her that he found it rather funny. Of course, he couldn"t guess her strength so it would be normal to present her a creature that wasn"t too dangerous first but this was just exaggerated.

Clearly, he expected her to get bullied by the beetle for a while and then he"d be able to prove that her place wasn"t here with a sword in hand.

She was simply furious and barely kept her usual calm.

"Listen, you clearly misunderstood what I asked of you. I didn"t think it would be so hard to understand my simple commands. First you don"t know what an armor is for and now this, you"re having me worried for everyone. Are all the knights in service of my father like you or are you the only one with an empty head? One would explain why we keep loosing to the cursed-blood while the other would make me seriously question how the people to put in charge are selected."

All the fun underneath his sober expression was instantly erased by her words. The nearby knights were also stunned by her sharp comeback and let the beetle go in their shock.

The beetle took the opportunity to rush towards her. She couldn"t see it because of her helm but she didn"t need to, the sound it made was enough. Her sight was the least useful of her senses for fighting, her technique revolved around sensing her opponents, listening to their movements and attacks and answering with the right steps. She didn"t need to see it to know exactly what it was doing, the music of its movements was clear to her.

Maybe it was baited by her high pitched voice?

She pulled out the blue rose sword she named Lockstep and in a single fluid motion, she slashed off the big horn standing in between the two heads of the beetle. She then raised her leg and stomped her foot behind her, driving one of those two heads into the ground. The other one was writhing in pain in between her and the knight but she ignored it as she stood in between the two heads, exactly where the horn should be.

She spoke clearly over the screeches of the creature.

"Someone put it out now. I have no intention of letting this weak and disgusting thing be the first creature figuring on my hunting card."

Most of the knights were still paralyzed from this whole series of events but one of them still had the wits to do as she asked and plunged his sword through the body of the insect.

"Thank you Alan." Again, she didn"t need to look to know who moved. "As always, you"re the quickest to move."

It wasn"t because she didn"t know the guy in charge that she didn"t know anyone here either, they were all truly underestimating her too much. With her sword still drawn, she spoke to the man in front of her on a still angry tone.

"I will view this time as an honest mistake but if this happens again, I will consider this an offence towards me. This is the last time I will ask you politely, find me a worthy opponent."

The body of the creature ceased moving and she removed her foot from the top of its head. Like the rest of its sh.e.l.l, the horn was brittle, hollow and full of sickly colored ichor. It was flowing from the wound and slowly forming a disgusting pool at her side. This also meant her sword was dripping from that thing"s juices. She didn"t want to put in back in its scabbard like that so she whipped it in the air.

The liquid left her blade and splashed onto the face of the knight leader who didn"t wear his helm. If it had been Emp instead of her, he"d have simply scolded him for not wearing it but her anger made her choose this method instead.

The man who hadn"t moved an inch since she started speaking earlier winced in surprise as the foul liquid plastered his face.

"Oops, how clumsy of me. Aren"t knights on duty supposed to wear their helms?"

The man clenched his teeth in frustration but kept his mouth shut. He had been humiliated enough for now and knew better than to talk back.

Her satisfied smile remained hidden from the knights as she put back her sword in its rightful place.

"Beautiful things can be deadly too. I "will" bite back if you mock me and my determination again."

Everyone stared at her back as she left in complete silence. She walked back to the carriage and climbed back in, letting the servants close the door behind her.

She felt slightly better to have gotten some sort of revenge on them now but still had lingering anger. She removed her helm with a frustrated sigh as she slumped down on her seat.

"It"s okay Nessa, you"ll still get many occasion before you reach home. Those guys just don"t want you to get hurt." Juniper tried to comfort her from the opposing bench.

"I know, I"m not that angry at them, I think I gave them a well deserved warning. I"m angry at myself instead. I lost my temper and insulted them even though I know I need all of those knights on my side. I"m such an idiot."

"It"s okay, anyone would have gotten angry to be disrespected like that. He said it was a threat for you after all, with all the efforts you put in your training, it"s normal that you were upset. I think you handled it pretty well instead. If you"re going to be the d.u.c.h.ess, you can"t have the guys working for you talk back and snicker like that. You"ve got to put them back in their place like you just did."

"I just want them to show me the respect they would my father. I don"t want to fight with guys that are supposed to be helping me."

"You just need to show them who you are. Don"t let it get to you, we both know you"re doing your best. I"m sure that when they see what you can do they"ll come around. The whole point of finding something big to fight is to shock them enough to open their eyes, right? I think you did fine just now. If they truly get what you"re trying to do, they"ll feel more bad about today than you did."

Even though she was trying to save the northern grove, it didn"t mean everyone would view it the same way. Juniper was saying that if she showed everyone what she was truly made of and had them understand her goals, they"d understand why she got so angry just now.

It would be hard however, she was certain that they wouldn"t have done the same with Emp or even Brenia. She didn"t look like a warrior, her armor did but they all knew the lady who hid underneath. For everyone, she was the pretty lady that liked tea and dancing but she wasn"t just that. She needed them to understand she could also be the one to administer the territory, that she could stand by them in a real fight, that she could replace her father when the time came.

All she wanted was a chance to show them and instead of giving her that chance, they gave her the easiest prey they could find as if they were following the whims of a seven years old kid.

If only the knights here could be as open minded as the guys in her cla.s.s and the Muracier she met, she wouldn"t have any trouble getting something to beat. She might not even need to kill anything to prove herself in the first place.

Women knights weren"t all that common but they weren"t unheard off either. Kaisla Grovgar was well known example in Highsteel and many more stood anonymously in the ranks of the knights from everywhere.

Yes it was hard and dangerous and yes they didn"t have to take the roles of fighters but it didn"t mean that they couldn"t do it if they put the efforts in. Anyway, she wasn"t trying to be a knight, she didn"t even have the shape or physical strength for it. What she needed to be was their leader, it just so happened that a leader hiding at the back like a coward wasn"t a good leader in her father"s book and neither was it in hers.

She stayed for a while more in the carriage in an attempt to calm herself down and afterwards, she decided to wait some more inside. Now that she had given the knight a chance to find her an opponent, she should had least give him some time to think about it and find a creature.

It might be easier to go out like Juniper proposed but if she did now, it would further insult the knight. He didn"t give her a good impression at all but knights were important warriors in the defence of the north and she needed all of them in order to secure her territory. Stripping him of all his authority right now just to find a creature to kill wouldn"t give a good impression on any of the other knights.

Their group pa.s.sed towns and village but unluckily for her, not a single monster more showed up in their way. It was a rarely seen safe journey for a Hasting, anyone other than her would have been extremely pleased but she could only feel disappointment.

How come the one time she wanted some creature or hidden enemy to attack them, nothing showed up?

A day away from Folcourse her hunting card was still left desperately empty.

"I guess you don"t have much of a choice now, either you"ll have to go in without a kill or you have to stop caravan here and go hunting before finis.h.i.+ng the trip." Juniper laid out the two options she could see to her.

Nessa thought about it seriously and decided to go for the hunt. She really didn"t want to show up in front of her father with nothing on her hunting card to prove she could fight.

The knights were reluctant to stop the trip for a hunt and had clear orders from her father but with what happened before, they had a hard time refusing her and so the forces of knights were split to follow her in the woods.

They hunted until nightfall but Luck still didn"t smile upon her, not a trace of any worthy foe could be found.

"We"re too close from Folcourse now, we"re not going to find anything my lady." One of the knights told her.

The man was right, even if she spent days more looking for a prey, she wouldn"t find anything. She had to resign herself to the obvious truth.

It was with a sour mood and an apprehensive heart that she rode into Folcourse the next day. Juniper parted with them at the gate with a deep bow for her and a second proper bow to the knights with many thanks for protecting her on the way. Then, Nessa made her way home.