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Chapter 2: Familial Piety
🕑 Added 2023-11-02 06:38:19 +0000 UTCMy family, the House of Shadowstep, is a newly elevated noble family from the countryside. Our nobility began with my grandfather, who distinguished himself in a war forty years ago. I have five siblings, four brothers and one sister. Besides me, the oldest brother, Zach, was also born on the day of the Killing Comet, making him twenty years old now. The age gap is quite substantial.
Zach, the eldest child and the heir to our house, is already twenty years old. He has achieved the rank of captain, leading three hundred soldiers, and is engaged to the third daughter of a duke. He, too, was born on the day of the red comet, just like me.
On the other hand, Richard, the second son, is now eighteen years old. I've heard he has secured an apprenticeship as a civil official, excelling in mathematics, and is engaged to a daughter of a count, with plans to succeed their house. By the way, he is the only brother from the same mother.
However, the family's good fortune ends there. The eldest daughter, Fiona, who is fifteen years old, has been accused of cheating and now resides in our house as a freeloader. She lives in a state of perpetual melancholy, resembling a widow.
The third son, Alucard, serves as a soldier but is shunned because he deserted in battle. I rolled my eyes at the fact that he was just fourteen years old and wasn't the only one who fled the fight. Nonetheless, a shame was a shame, and that mistake has hindered his career progression.
The youngest son, Daniel, is only six years old. He's an adorable little child, but he keeps avoiding me, which makes me quite sad.
According to the web novel, I am supposed to attend the Royal Academy of Althemer in two years. I should be an average girl, but due to my connection to the second prince, I was ordered to kill the heroine and the third prince. Afterward, I was simply cast aside, and my family was destroyed.
Alright, the royal family seems like bad news. I must be cautious not to get involved with them, especially the second prince. I think I'm going to stay here and become a knight. With my talents, I'm confident I could qualify as a knight or even a mercenary. After all, this world has monsters. Alternatively, I could follow in my brother's footsteps and become a civil official.
"Hmm? You want to become a knight?" Zach tilted his head when I asked him to tutor me in matters of knighthood. This was a rare opportunity as both the first and second brothers were at home. The second and third brothers had a school holiday for a month and would return to the capital in a week, while my first brother was on a mission in this county. We bordered the northern jungles, after all. "Hm... why? I don't think it suits you. Ninety percent of the knights are male, so you would have a hard time fitting in."
"I see. But Brother Richard is busy. He's going to the capital next week. Should I ask him?"
"You'll be going to school in two years. Military education isn't mandatory for women, but etiquette is. So, I suggest you learn from your brother first."
"Okay." With my path to becoming a formidable warrior thwarted, I turned to my second brother.
"Hmm? Why would a woman need to learn math? Etiquette lessons differ for men and women. Learn from this book and this book instead," he replied in a cold tone. Despite sharing blood ties, he was distant with me.
"I want to learn math and become a civil official," I replied with a downcast gaze.
"I see, a commendable attitude. I like it," he nodded his head as if assessing me. "I thought you'd be like any other woman who only pays attention to their looks. But just wanting it isn't enough. Here, try these exercises."
As a modern person from Earth, these simple addition and subtraction problems were too easy for me. Even though I had spent most of my time in the hospital, I was still a high school student at the time, and my academic performance was decent due to having nothing to do but study during my hospital stay.
Despite this, my proficiency in math impressed Brother Richard, but my grasp of history and language was abysmal enough for him to issue a stern warning. "Listen, I'm glad you have some brains in your head, but if you continue to neglect your etiquette, you'll share the same fate as your third brother. Please work on them while I return to school."
When a child reached the age of ten, there was a magic inspection held by all the churches in the empire, occurring either annually or monthly, depending on the region's population. Our county was scheduled to have the inspection every season, which would take place a month from now. I couldn't remember Elidranthia possessing strong magic, but the system notification stated that I had dark magic within me. Did she simply choose not to learn it? I wondered why.
"I've told you, the answer is no. I won't teach you swordsmanship," Big Brother Zach replied curtly as I requested his help during his break with his teammates in our barracks.
"Why? Please, brother..." I pleaded with him, just as I had with Richard a week ago. Most of my brothers had already returned to the academy, leaving just my sister, him, and my little brother.
"Hah... listen here, Eli. It's not that I don't want to teach you. Women simply can't be knights," Zach sighed in exasperation.
"Why? A few women have become mercenaries or soldiers, so why can't I be like them?"
"Here, let me lend you the training sword that I use. John!" He signaled to his subordinates, who handed him a dull metal blade. When the weight was transferred to me, I staggered. The sword felt very heavy, like a bag full of groceries. I'd heard that a sword could weigh two or three kilograms, but I didn't expect it to be this heavy. Those YouTubers were lying.
"See, you can't even lift it properly. By the way, this is a one-and-a-half-handed sword."
"I could! See? I'm lifting it now," I protested.
"You need to wield it. Hold it at the end," Zach said. I did as he instructed and managed to lift it, but I couldn't hold it for long, and the sword fell back to the ground.
"I could train. I'm like this because I'm still small. Shouldn't we start with a wooden sword first?" I tried to make excuses. But Brother Zach sighed again.
"Sorry, Eli, but I can't do that. Women need to be dainty. If you train in swordsmanship, you'll build muscle, and your father and your prospective husband would be upset with me. I told you that 90 percent of the knights are male, right? More than half of them have a buff body like gorillas. Just because there are female knights doesn't mean you have to be like that."
Huh? What kind of sexist culture is this? Women need to be dainty? So, if I participate in sports, I'll be looked down upon for being unattractive? Oh, yeah, I forgot that even though this is a fantasy world, it's still based on medieval customs.
"Brother! You dumbass!" I cried, glaring at him with menacingly. A pulse of anger resonated within me, and my brother instinctively stepped back and grabbed his sword from his waist. I really wanted to hit his handsome face at least once, and fortunately, I had a perfect tool right in my hand.
I leaped forward, slashing at him with all my might. The sword felt as light as a stick in my hand. The overwhelming desire to hit him at least once filled me as I swung my sword. However, it proved futile, as he skillfully allowed my blade to slide past his, narrowly missing his face. Suddenly, he launched a counterattack, swinging his sword diagonally. I quickly sidestepped to dodge and chased after him with my sword.
My assault continued. After he deflected my horizontal swing, I tried a vertical one. Yet, he merely sidestepped and attempted to kick me. I jumped back to create distance, narrowly evading his kick. Was this some kind of beastly instinct? As I slashed at him again, I felt my feet and hands go numb. Sudden exhaustion overcame me, and I faceplanted onto the ground.
"Hah... hah..." My breathing became ragged all of a sudden. I had only made four or five slashes. I had believed this body to be healthy. How could I be out of breath so quickly after swinging a sword? When I looked at my brother, he sheathed his sword and let out a sigh of relief.
"Wow! Captain, she gave you quite a challenge, didn't she? That swing was so fast, I doubted you could block it for a moment," one soldier commented.
"Maybe she has a skill blessing?" another one added.
"Well, I'll admit she has some talent. However, it's not enough. A soldier must have stamina for at least thirty minutes of engagement..." Zach delivered his judgment. I sat and looked down in dismay as a sense of disappointment welled up within me.
"Don't feel too down, Eli. While becoming a knight may not be for you, you could consider a career as a military official. Handling paperwork seems more suited to you," he said, turning his face away. I lay on the ground, gazing up at the blue sky, pondering his words.
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"That was fucking dangerous," I cursed in my mind as I sneaked a glance at my little sister, who lay on the floor of our training hall, looking utterly exhausted and having abandoned all etiquette. But I had genuinely thought I was going to die just a few moments ago. When she gazed at me with her red eye, my instincts took over, and I instinctively grabbed my sword without hesitation. It was reminiscent of the time I had been stared down by a class B monster during my first disaster campaign, where almost a third of my team had perished.
What's more, I had been so overwhelmed by my instincts that I had actually swung my sword with an actual blade back at her! If something were to happen to her, I would face even greater shame than my third brother and might have to bid farewell to my position as the captain of Shadowstep County. Even though we were born almost on the same date, she was far more intimidating than me.
I needed to regain control. How could I, a commander of over three hundred men, be so scared by a ten-year-old kid with a blunt sword to boot? I was getting a little too high-strung lately. The appearance of the red comet had made the monsters in the woods more active, and there had been some skirmishes with bandits recently.
Perhaps I should buy her some pudding as an apology when we got home. Now that I thought about it, she had managed to dodge two of my strikes, hadn't she? She might have the potential to become a specially talented soldier. However, I didn't want to teach her until after her magic exam. Mages were highly valued in the empire, and if she had the aptitude, it would be better for her to focus on becoming a mage rather than a regular soldier.
And so, the day of the magical exam arrived, and once again, I was left astonished by her results.
