Duke Jeff’s training ground was located in a large space behind the main building. Magical tools that absorbed shock were heavily laid on the floor, while several layers of magic circles were installed for the same purpose. It wasn’t to protect the trainees, but more so to prevent damage to the training ground.

Their knights watched as the two dukes battled in a frenzy. The dazzling flashes of light were blinding and earth-shaking explosions were deafening. Whenever their swords collided, a gust of wind blew up to the very end of the hall.

Several layers of magic circles couldn’t even block off the waves of stone dust blown by their parries. Alec, Baron’s lieutenant, wasn’t even able to dodge from a piece of dust hitting his eye, and cried. It seemed like the training ground had to be closed off for two days to inspect for damages.

The battle that began early in the morning didn’t end late noon due to exhaustion. It was because Baron and Seira’s swords couldn’t withstand the impact of each other’s attacks, which were gradually getting closer to the real thing.

It was only after the dust had settled that the two of them were revealed standing opposite of each other. Seira’s platinum hair was in disarray, and Baron was neither looking his best – there were even a few torn clothes!

“Let’s continue next time,” Seira said with a soft smile.

To be honest, it was nearly impossible for her to beat Baron in a one-on-one battle. Although both of them were of pure bloodline, he was an alpha who manifested and trained his powers at a much earlier age than she did.

Nevertheless, she was able to give him a proper beating today. Thanks to her pregnancy-related remark earlier during breakfast, Baron in turn hesitated to counterattack too many times. He never missed a chance to fight with his sword, but he insisted they cancel the fight – to which both of them knew the results anyway.

“Alright, let’s continue next time then,” Baron said.

He didn’t really care that much about Seira’s tricks. Rather, he was more sensitive about other things.

The Duke of Jeff glanced at Seira’s sweaty white blouse and looked around. The fact that most of his knights were bloody alphas had never been annoying to him – up until today.

“I’m going back in now,” Baron said, hoping that Seira would catch on and follow him as well.

“Let me catch my breath for a moment,” she said as she raised her hand in level with her chest.

Unaware of his thoughts, Seira flapped the front of her blouse to let cool air flow in. Baron bit his teeth to avoid his face contorting. With a grunt, he stuck close and shielded Seira from prying eyes with his bulky body.

“Would you like me to show you around the arsenals?” Baron asked her.

Seira’s head raised and looked at Baron with sparkling eyes, “Really?”

“A new type of longsword which has a full curved blade came in. I wanted to show it to you,” he explained.

“I like the sound of it.”

Who wouldn’t be interested in Jeff’s arsenal, which focused on military technologies? It was said that their vast collection of swords started way back when the family was established.

Seira was already on her toes as she followed him around. The knights bowed as the two noble heads exited the training grounds. It was an act to show their deep admiration.

There were a number of nobles who secretly ignored Askan as they lost their prestige and power over the years. Despite such facts, there were still several of whom admired the family’s martial arts.

To them, Seira’s father, Nathan, was still a hero who saved the entire empire and that the predicament they are now facing was unfortunate and unreasonable.

Of course, Seira never really cared about what anyone thought. Just as there wasn’t something to lose if she ignored them, there wasn’t anything to gain for them if they did respect Askan.

She couldn’t afford to hope and care for trivial things while she protected the Askan land and raised taxes amid Calrad’s efforts to interfere and make her life difficult. Still, whenever she had to, Seira would smile out of habit as she passed them by.

If they were mesmerized by her appearance or not, she didn’t give a damn.

“Come quickly,” Baron said as his brows created a taut bridge in the middle. There were layers of wrinkles on his forehead despite his age, and Seira couldn’t help but stifle a laugh.

‘Was he always this cute when jealous? Whether it was a bard, a servant, or a noble knight… how amusing,’ she thought at the back of her mind.

Then again, she was better off minding her own business.

The Jeff family’s arsenal was located next to the armory. Various weapons and armors were displayed in a two-story high detached building, which was snugly secured with magic staffs and harnesses.

“I can’t just use my natural arsenal, but I tend to have things that I need right now.”

“You mean this is not all?”

“All things worth keeping or historically meaningful are here,” Baron explained.

In the innermost part of the building, there was the sword that Baron mentioned earlier. It was nearly a meter long, and was made of damebon like Baron’s greatsword. The special ore was one of the best materials to use because of how much energy flowed it contained.

“Can I touch it?” Seira asked politely.

“As you wish.”

Seira exclaimed as she swung the sword several times. She raised it, and as expected, good weapons felt different even when she was just holding them still.

“I’d really love to have one such as this,” she said without even realizing her words were spoken out loud.

Seira wasn’t greedy for things most noble women coveted – dresses, jewelry, or any other luxuries at that. She wanted good weapons. Ones that could help her fight longer without burning much of her physical strength from using her powers.

So far, she never had a similar level of weapon, let alone a damebon. Such things weren’t something she could obtain with her current financial situation. Perhaps it was only possible to hope for such things when one had special connections or their family’s prestige was high.

In fact, the simplest solution would’ve been to ask Nathan’s spirit. For the land where he died surely had Askan’s heirloom, the spirit sword Illuminum, buried with him.

However, Seira could not bear to do so.

Even though she talked to her father a lot, Nathan himself never talked about his death. Seira wasn’t sure he even knew he already left the physical world.

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