26. polished diamond(?)

The Duke wanted to lure her to pick up his own pace, but she directly ignored his taunt and maintained her own pace, she also made sure that Aki didn't overexert himself and that he should close his mouth or, he will get exhausted faster and to maintain his own pace, after a round around half the ground designated for individual practice, she told Aki to rest and quickened her pace, she was getting on the groove.

In the end, the Duke did 10 laps around the field while Yuki did 8 laps before going back to her sword practice.

The Duke never ran here as he could do it in the treadmill so, it was very rare for the soldiers to see him here, somehow just him being here and spurred the whole army to give their 120 per cent to it and everything worked out in the end... Of course, the rumour of the Duke running around with a cute loli on his back had spread in an hour and many had directly or indirectly tried to come and get a peek at this rare sight...

Yuki was unaware of this and was diligently practising her sword with Aki on the side watching his Onee-chan with glee~

Maybe because she had seen the Duke fight it out with a demonic zerg today or, she was really in the zone, but her practice sword felt unusually light and she also a felt her body responding to her more than usual... she didn't become complacent though, she still routinely did her basic movements with elegance and strength.

The Duke had also brought out his prized partner, Alexandrite, the Rapier which was passed to him from the last duke and has followed him till this day.

Seeing her this close, again confirmed that, this child was born to hold a sword, if she continued to put effort, by the time her body had fully grown, absolutely no one among her peer could touch her in pure swordplay!

Watching her practice, he simply asked a question, " I think a side sword which is light and flexible would suit you better?"

Yuki heard his offhand question, it was time she took a small break, " Like your Rapier?", she said with light gasps, she was a bit out of breath, she wondered if it was because she slagged in the last two days?

The Duke gave her a nod.

Yuki gave him a look and said, "I don't like to have a compact form and I believe another sword is up to my preferred style."

"You are not ready for it though", he had a guess about this sword that suited her wide and dynamic movements but also held the power at a very close range.

Yuki lowered her eyelids and gave him a 'what do you think I'm practising for' look before it changing to a 'you're probably getting old' look... as it may, the Duke was able to decipher it and he almost punished her for questioning his ability.

Yuki let out a sigh, before explaining to him in the most basic language, her tone held some pity for him, " A Rapier, in the end, is a side sword, while what I want is absolute strength. I believe my style is not good for the traditional swords like that. But, as a girl, it will also be hard for me to use very heavy swords so I'm steadily practising to get the feeling into my body." she was explaining to him only because he was the best swordsman she had seen yet and that was something she could give him her respect for... She gave the sword she was holding to the Duke.

The moment he held it something ticked and his eyes brightened over, it was heavy, heavier than his own sword!!

This diamond was already polished, all he had to do was put it on the showcase...

"Do you want to learn from me?", he spoke with a certain strength in his voice.

Even the guards and soldiers who had come up to take a sneak peek were surprised by his words, the Duke no- the Imperial General, the God of War teaching you personally, even the best of the best didn't get the chance and she was just a child, a cute little loli with a cold face... They were so jealous!!

Yuki didn't know about their inner turmoil still, she gave a nod before shaking her head and spoke frankly, " The way I'm now, I won't be able to keep up with you. So, the day I can freely wield a real sword, I'd like to learn."

The Duke who heard this first froze up before laughing out loud, indeed a WINTERDALE!

They would never back down and would never run away from their weakness, facing them, they grew... persevering through it, they become legends!!!

….....

The week passed by just like that and if something had changed, it would be that the soldiers had made it a point to reschedule their practice hours and match the little girl.

Every morning, you could see all of them running around the fields with the little girl in the back following them, they would run 10-12 laps in average while she would take 8 to 9 rounds around the field, after a small break where they all drank some juice, they will continue with her sword practice.

She may be little, but her in-depth knowledge of sword was in the same range as some of the war veterans!

Why do they know this?

Well, as early as on the first day she came out for a run, the Duke had called for the blacksmith who was famous for providing the necessary pieces of equipment for the whole of Sun Army. After talking around an hour with her, he had starry eyes and this was the same man, who liked to shout vulgarities and profanities at any person who handled a sword without knowing about them, even the nobles weren't an exception, he could do that because he was the best craftsman in the whole of the empire!

One time he had even ridiculed the second-in-command after the Duke because he couldn't tell the difference between two different long swords that he made for him and he was a Marquis while the merchant himself was just a commoner.