The young lady of House Merrin...

* * *

I walk through Cleras, stomping my feet as always. This city is so loud and unsophisticated! Why couldn't the academy be in Ostrin?

I curse my luck as I walk, but decide to think rationally for now. I didn't think to do it the first time, but since I saw them twice, I might as well ask.

"System, show me those boys information..." I mutter under my breath just loud enough to be detected by the system, but not loud enough to be heard.

A few seconds later, that beautiful yellow window appears in front of me, invisible to everyone but me. Thank you for this cheat, god!

[Gram.]

[Gram, information restricted, age 15.]

[Arthur Ishviel.]

[Arthur Ishviel, information restricted, age 37.]

WHAT THE FUCK, GOD?!? ARE YOU PLAYING FAVORITES THAT AREN'T ME RIGHT NOW? AND HOW DOES HE LOOK LIKE THAT AT 37?!? WHAT SKIN CARE DOES HE USE?!?!

I attempt to hide my anger from my face, but fail. Great... both of them are restricted, a status I haven't even seen before! What am I supposed to do about that?!?

This day just keeps getting worse. I turn a sharp left, walking into an alley. Now I just hope some vagrants think I look vulnerable and try to rob me... please god, send me some practice dummies!

I keep walking down the alley, sadly getting my shoes and the frills of my dress dirty. This place sucks... can I get robbed yet?!?

"THIS FUCKING SUCKS!" I should really work on that swearing habit. If I swear this much, people might not believe I'm of noble blood. At this point, I'm just yelling... which seems to do the trick.

4 men walk around the corner. They look between each other before looking at me, now I just have to play the part! The overconfident and underpowered helpless lady!

"Oh... good evening gentlemen. I don't suppose any of you could show me around Cleras, could you? See, I'm a foreigner with a loaded coin purse, but no one wants to show me around!" I say, attempting to seem naive and foolish.

"Of course... young lady," A skinny man says, seeming to be the bait to their plan. He extends his hand while the taller man walks around me, seeming to prepare an ambush.

Finally, I can beat some people up!!!

A flash of purple streaks through the alley, the sound of knees scraping off the ground. I can see blue streaks shoot off of his palms before I hear the crackle of electricity and watch as the 4 men fall. Great, I've been saved.

"Oh... oh my!" I say, faking surprise as I turn around. I'm just annoyed that my fun time was interrupted.

At the end of the alley stands a boy with blue hair and purple eyes, a rare combination. He looks fairly rough, likely having been born in the streets. Yuck. Strangely, he gives me that same weird feeling as the boys from earlier. Goddamnit, is everyone special?!?

"I... thank you, kind sir," I say, faking a thank you. He just looks at me with cold eyes before scaling up the wall and onto the roof, running away as a streak of blue.

Street vigilante, huh? Guess kids do anything in the capital... although now I'm out of a fight and even more pissed. That stupid weird feeling... maybe it means someone's data is restricted.

"System."

Before even specifying what I want, it pulls up the tab. It better do it if I have to go through all this annoying...

[Vajra.]

[Vajra, information restricted, age 37.]

I silently stare at the window, my eyelid twitching slightly. Great! This kid is also 37... I guess everyone just looks decades younger than they should now!!! Am I the only one who looks my age?!?!

I take a deep breath and kick one of the me on the ground, attempting to calm down. This gives me good information. Anyone who gives me that weird feeling is restricted to the system, so I just need to find out why they're restricted...

I punch the wall in anger, needing to punch at least 1 thing. A significant amount of the bricks shift, releasing dust into the air. This sucks...

* * *

Arthur Ishviel POV...

Me and Gram finished the walk a while ago, a significant bit more awkward than earlier. Not my problem though. It's maybe 4 PM and, right now, all I have to focus on is myself.

I stand in the backyard of Clara's mansion, a blank book and pen in my hand. I know it takes incredible skill, but I figured that I should try to make my own sword style. I set the book and pen down, drawing my sword and acting out a few of the moves I thought of.

It's mostly slashes, but the space between them feels... awkward. My right hand is completely empty when I fight since I'm left handed, so I should probably do something to fix that.

The obvious thoughts are to get a shield, another sword or just hold my sword with 2 hands, but all those make me feel... bad. I look over at Gram on the other side of the backyard, he's also practicing... only, he looks to already have a solid technique.

How does he have a technique already and I don't? I don't remember Clara giving him one... whatever. Now is the time for learning, not jealousy.

Gram holds his sword with 2 hands, utilizing heft swings and large blocks... when did he get a sword?!? I only got a sword because dad gave me one, but he didn't have a sword with him this whole time! 

Gram has in his hands a large sword, almost copper yet more regal than copper. It looks like a wider and longer bastard sword that I can only guess he pleaded Clara for.

I look down at my own sword, suddenly feeling smaller. I swear, it's just cold out here! It isn't a shortsword, it's a perfectly-average-sword!

Anyways, back on topic. His sword style doesn't fit me or my sword, so there's not much to learn from him that I didn't already get taught in the extremely fast lessons from my father.

I draw my sword in my left hand, adopting my stance. It's just... odd. it feels wrong without something in my left hand, but none of the things I thought of sounded correct to me.

I sit back on the grass, thinking. The next idea I have is just using my free hand for spellcasting... it doesn't sound as terrible as the other options to me. I just have to learn how to cast a small fireball and then I can start working on a fighting style.

Raising up my right hand, I look at my palm. If I can channel enough of my mana here, I should be able to expel it out of my arm in the form of a fireball... easier said than done. My mana feels stagnant almost, as if weighed down. I can move it around my body a decent amount, but not fast enough to get it to be propelled out of my body.

I see why Clara said this was one of the things she would teach, because this is hard. I'll see if I can't figure it out myself before asking her.

At first, I see if I can just force all of the mana in my arm to go to a point on my palm, but fail. I can't maintain the pressure to keep it there. Then I try to simply skim a small layer of mana from everywhere in my body and put it in my palm. I have the same problem again.

Next, I try to just focus on compressing as much mana as I can into a small space like the veins on my wrists. I'm rewarded with... excruciating pain! It hurts almost as much as my few days with blight did, but that doesn't mean it just doesn't hurt.

I bite my lip hard, attempting to not let out a noise. I disperse the mana from my wrist, letting it return to flowing through my body. It still hurts very badly... lets not use that method again.

* * *