A Swordswoman's dream

“I told you, it’s just a scrat– OW!”

Yuuji, who regained his composure a few moments after being shouldered by Amilia and Boryana, complained. His leg however exposed his lie.

While the injury wasn’t life threatening it’d take a bit to recover, according to Amilia.

“It’s fine! As long as no one else is hurt!”

“If it wasn’t for my ignorance..”

A downcast Boryana murmured, her eyes glued to the ground. To anyone who’d look at her face, they’d think she’s being too harsh on herself. But to those who know Boryana well and know her life, they’d understand why she’d be angry with herself.

A few years prior to the current events, 4 years to be precise, a young girl with short purple hair stood in front of an old man.

“Dear daughter, your results have arrived.”

At these words, the young girl clenched her fists. She already knew what the old man– her father would say.

The words that came out of her father’s mouth were exactly as she expected. No change, not even in tone.

“If you don’t want to continue down this path, me and your mom support that decision. We’d still be proud of you, our daughter”

‘Shut up!’ and ‘No, I wanna keep going!’ were all Boryana could think of at the moment. Of course she couldn’t tell her father to shut up. Her father, Raphael Rüdiger, was more than worried about his only daughter after all.

While his family is known for their great swordsmanship and for their long service for the kingdom, he did not wish to force the sword onto his daughter in fear of her hating him and the sword.

Raphael’s eyes were filled with sincerity. After all, who’d lie to their one and only daughter?

“I’m sorry, General. I’ll do better next time.”

Boryana, pursed her lips after speaking those words. At this gesture, her father sighed. Not out of disappointment but out of worry. Yet he still allowed her to pursue that dream even if it seemed stupid.

After these words, Boryana went back to her academy dorms.

Those dorms were for The Royal Guards Academy. An academy specifically erected to train and bring forth young knights to act as royal guards.

They had a mock battle a few days after the results, as part of their classes.

Classes in the academy went over multiple topics; Magic, Healing, Swordsmanship, and History.

As for the mock battle, it was a one-on-one sort of battle to train students at fighting someone on their level which should be harder than killing monsters and slimes.

For this mock battle, Boryana was facing a boy with red spiky hair. And to tell the results of the battle–

“Is that all you’ve got! Are you sure you’re not some random girl pretending to be one of the Rüdigers!?”

The boy joyfully yelled at the knocked down Boryana, his wooden sword aimed at her throat.

“McAllister! Enough!”

A harsh voice reputed the boy, who was in extremely high spirits.

“Are you ok, Boryana?” The same voice called again this time with a gentler tone.

“Yes, General Marcus. I’m ok.” Boryana replied back with a voice so low, you’d need to be next to her to hear it.

Their teacher was none other than Marcus Dominics. The tall, muscular, and long-bearded man was crouching down next to Boryana to check on her injuries.

“You really don’t need to do this, Little Boryana. I know your father well he al–”

He didn’t get to finish the sentence. Boryana’s eyes grew wide and a frown formed on her face, clearly agitated by those words. Those words she doesn’t want to hear. Those words that she pretty much knows. Those words that keep praising her even when she’s nothing but a failure.

‘Stop. Stopstopstopstopstop’

Boryana’s mind kept repeating those words and it only showed with her pursing her lips and clenching her fists in anger and frustration.

Marcus was not dumb enough to not realize it and so he did what any sane and considerate person would do.

“For now, all who finished their battles, please head back to your rooms. There will be a test in 2 days. Make sure to rest and practice well.”

And thus a few hours passed. Boryana was going back from the cafeteria when she heard a familiar voice which sounded like it was talking to someone.

“To tell you the truth, Raph.. She’s overworking herself to not disappoint you.. She puts in effort yet it all somehow ends up amounting to nothing.. I feel bad for her… Yes, I’ll try talking to her again. Thank you, Raph.”

And just like that, 2 days already passed and it was time for the test.

The rules were simple. no magic, no underhanded tricks, just pure swordsmanship.

Boryana’s opponent was, ironically enough, the one she had a mock battle with. Thomas McAllister. The son of a well-known merchant that decided to abandon his father’s specialty and become a royal guard.

“Look who it is! Miss Failure! Are you here for a more humiliating loss this time?”

The boy had a mocking smile on his face as if he already won. At that gesture, Boryana tightened her grip on her sword and calmly replied “I’m not going to lose to the likes of you.”

With both students ready, General Marcus signaled to start.

At that signal, a battle lasting 30 minutes began. Wood shards flew everywhere, showing that no one had the desire to lose. Neither Thomas nor Boryana spoke on this battlefield leaving only the sound of swords clashing against each other to be heard.

But after what felt like an entire day, the battle was over.

“To think, a failure of a knight like you would scratch my face. Not bad, Weird cat.”

At last, Thomas came out victorious. He ended up smacking Boryana’s sword out of her hand and it landed perfectly next to her.

“And the winner is– Thomas McAllister!”

The announcer yelled happily in his magic device that looked like a microphone. With that, Boryana started heading out of the battle ground.

“You did well, Boryana. Next time you’ll defini–”

Marcus cut off his words at the sight of Boryana’s face. Boryana’s eyes were tearing up and her face was frowning. Her lips quivered out of frustration and her face was as red as it could be.

Silently, Boryana headed into the hall and back to her dorm room.

Boryana ended up staying in her bed all day. She didn’t grab her lunch, She didn’t grab her dinner. She stayed in bed crying and sobbing all day.

Her roommates, who were around 5 other girls, felt sorry for the girl. They witnessed how hard the girl trained.

“I’m worried about her..”

“Yeah.. She shouldn’t feel this upset. This is a loss to one of the best warriors in the kingdom.”

The girls whispered amongst themselves.

“Boryana, we’re going to go take a shower. Stay safe please.”

Boryana who was in her bed under her covers didn’t bother even making a simple noise to respond. The girl did nothing but cry and cry and cry.

After the sound of the door getting locked finally reached her ears, she started hitting her pillow weakly.

“Why am I such a failure..” She paused for a moment.

Her voice was weak and hands were shaky. She felt completely destroyed and humiliated.

“Why can’t I be like mom or dad?” She paused again “Weren’t they both the greatest in their positions??! THEN WHY AM I–”

Suddenly, a purple light started to pour into a spot in front of her.

After a few moments of that spectacle, an ear-deafening bang was heard.

With such a big explosion, the dorm alarms went off. Marcus rushed over to the spot as his duty implies, only to find that it’s Boryana’s room.

Anxiousness washed over him. He instantly ran inside the room after pushing a few students out of the way.

The room was filled with electrical shock marks. Some of the walls were scorched and some were scarred.

“No way..” Marcus murmured quietly.

A teary eyed, messy haired Boryana sat on top of her bed and looked back at Marcus.

And thus, Boryana got herself a magic crystal. It didn’t take long for her to be transferred to a special program for unique students with crystals.

“Hey.” a voice called out.

“Hey!” the same voice called out.

“From Earth to Jailbait, do you copy?” The voice called out a third time.

Boryana’s thoughts were interrupted by that voice that had no consideration for her state of mind.

“I told you before! I’m not Jailbait!”

Although sounding angry, Boryana couldn’t help but laugh.

“You’re weird huh.. Did you hit your head when you fell ?”

“Yeah. Yeah I did. I’m extremely glad I hit my head” Boryana replied while laughing off her problems.

That voice, Yuuji’s voice, the person she was so worried that she failed because he was hurt. That voice didn’t hate her. That voice didn’t hold any malice or any disappointment. Only now, Boryana realized that not all battles are to be won. Only now, Boryana realized that she wasn’t alone and that even if she fails people would back her up.

‘I’m glad she’s no longer feeling down.’ Yuuji thought to himself as he smiled out of relief.