The first light of dawn spilled over tiled roofs and dew-wet lawns, painting everything in a warm, living gold. Birds swooped between the trees, their song blending with the rhythmic creak of gates and the distant murmur of servants beginning their daily work. The estate, a place of quiet discipline and order, pulsed with new life beneath the morning sun.
At the heart of it all stood the Verdant Mansion — a structure of proud elegance, ivy cascading down its walls like green waterfalls. And within one of its many rooms, a little girl stirred from slumber.
The soft rays of sunlight brushed against her cheeks, the golden warmth tickling her awake. Her lashes fluttered, and her sleepy murmur broke the stillness.
"Hm..what time is it?" She whispered as she looked around her room, for the clock. The clock mounted high on the wall adjacent to her bed showed the time, ten past seven.
She was jolted awake, throwing her duet around and rushing towards the bathroom.
The time that was decided was seven in the morning, her father had firmly told her to be present at seven. Now that she was late, she didn't know what Thomas, her Swordsmanship teacher, would make her do.
Brushing her teeth in a rush, she almost broke one. She washed her face with cold water that was always present in her bathroom. Wearing a shirt and track pants from her wardrobe, the little girl left her room and started running through the hallways of the mansion and a minute minutes later she arrived at the training grounds where she saw the middle aged man.
Thomas had a frown on his face, he had thought long and hard enough on what to make Sophia do to train her body and make it possible for her to learn basic stances. But what he didn't have in mind was the comfortable life Sophia was living, he was sure that she would wake up late or not even show up at the training grounds but, his assumptions were thwarted as he saw the girl running towards the training ground and stop right before him.
'Huff–huff….' The little girl was out of breath, her chest heaving with every shallow breath.
"At least you came." Thomas said as he felt a bit bad for the little girl. Although she was only five years old and wanted to learn swordsmanship and magic, her body was not yet developed.
"I'll give you five minutes to rest." Sophia, who was trying to catch her breath, immediately collapsed on the ground. She had just woken up and hadn't even had anything to eat yet, running through the mansion had burnt up a lot of energy and this break given by her teacher was necessary.
-Five Minutes Later-
"Alright, I'm done. What do I have to do?" Sophia, having rested a bit, said as she got up from her sitting position. She looked around the training ground, spotting a stack of wooden weapons at the side and some lightweight gear too.
"First, let me explain what you lack and how to improve upon it." Thomas said, he followed her eyes and looked at the wooden weapons. It was obvious to him what Sophia wanted but it was not the right time.
"First of all, your current body is absolutely not suitable for swordsmanship. Your stamina is also lacking. We'll start with increasing your stamina and strengthening your body muscle, to be able to wield a sword. After this we will work on the basic stances and once you are done with the basic stances, you will be able to learn real swordsmanship." Thomas said, explaining the plan that the Duke had laid out and in his opinion, this was the only option for the little girl to start her swordsmanship journey.
"Alright, I guess I will stretch a bit and run for now." Sophia said as she moved towards the track that was around the training ground.
"Good. You will run until I say so or until your body feels like it is about to collapse, don't slack off even a little bit if you really want to become a swordswoman in future." Thomas said as he looked at Sophia.
He had trained a lot of noble kids but most of them were around the age of ten, Sophia was the first one that was younger than the others that he had trained.
"Phew….." A bit of stretching later, Sophia crouched and got ready to run at the gesture of Thomas."Go!"
---
Thud-thud-thud.
Sophia's footsteps echoed across the training grounds, her pace steady, her breath even. She had wondered what her first day would be like but didn't expect that running was the only thing she would be doing. She knew that she lacked the necessary stamina and that was one of the reasons she kept running around the hallways of the mansion.
"Good, keep up the pace !!" Thomas shouted from behind as Sophia kept running.
Thud-thud-thud.
Sophia kept running along the track, her pace not faltering even for a second, her eyes burning with determination to overcome her lack of stamina.
-Half an Hour Later-
From a distance, Damien watched as his daughter kept running for half an hour and soon he saw the look of determination replaced by a weariness on her face. She had reached her limits but was pushing herself, even if her body was tired, the determination to continue was still in her eyes.
"Stop." Thomas shouted as his eyes kept following the little girl's movements. He had seen enough in this half an hour to know that she would not disappoint him later on. Her determination was something he had not seen in those noble kids that he had trained. Those kids only trained to keep up the facade, Sophia was one of the few who was determined to become genuinely strong.
He wasn't sure if this determination was only for today or it would become a constant in her life, but he would help her as much as he could.
"Huff–huff–huff–thud." Sophia, out of breath, collapsed on the track as soon as she heard Thomas's voice. Her legs were hurting, she was tired and wanted to go back inside her comfy duet and sleep for the whole day.
Thomas, who looked at the collapsed Sophia, walked towards her and stopped.
"You did great. If you keep this kind of determination, you will be able to learn real swordsmanship soon." Thomas said, encouraging the tired little girl.
"Thanks, I'll go back, if there's nothing else to do." Sophia said, as she got up from the ground, her legs wobbling for a bit before steading herself.
"Who said that you can go?" Thomas said as he looked at the terrified face of the little girl.
"Wh…at do you mean?" Sophia asked even though she knew that whatever she would hear would be a death sentence to her tired body.
"I mean exactly what I said. You will have twenty minutes to relax. After that we will start with strengthening your upper body." Hearing this, the little girl once again collapsed on the floor, despair gripping her heart. She had never done something intense like in her previous life.
"O..kay."
---
At some distance from the ground, Damien who was now accompanied by Isabelle looked at his daughter, who was laid flat on the ground. He knew how tough training can be, especially for kids whose body hadn't been developed yet. But this training was necessary for Sophia who wanted to become a swordswoman. The magic training didn't require a lot of physical activity, it solely depended on mental ability and one's own talent.
"Is she going to be okay?" Isabelle asked, worry etched on her face, she also knew how tough training can be, her brother had been through a lot to become the head of Sinclair Household.
"She will, she must do this in order to become strong, so that no one can bully her in future." Damien said.
---
"Now that your resting time is over. Let's start with training your upper body." Thomas said as he came back carrying a bunch of wooden swords. There was a broad blade type sword amongst the bunch.
"Try lifting this sword." Thomas said as he handed her a wooden long sword. Sophia wanted to try the broad blade but knew that it would be hard for her to lift it so she took the wooden long sword, lifting it with ease.
"Good. Now I'll show you some practice stances, these will help in strengthening your arms, shoulders, core and back muscles, which are necessary for learning sword techniques." Thomas said as he took out the sword sheathed on his waist. It was similar to the long sword but was made of steel.
Thomas took a position, his feet spread apart, one at the front and one a little bit behind, knees comfortably bent, his one arm holding the sword. He took one step forward with front leg, extending the sword arm first and pushing off the rear leg while thrusting the sword in a straight line, the air blew outwards.
He took the same stance again but this time with his back straight and holding the sword in both of his hands. Raising the sword above his head a little bit and then bringing it downwards, in a vertical slash, as once again the air blew outwards.
He took the same stance one final time, his sword ready for a horizontal slash, he twisted his upper body while doing the horizontal slash, increasing the power behind it.
Sophia, who was intensely watching the stances was excited, she had never held a sword in her hands and this would be her first time. Seeing the moves that Thomas did, she was imagining how cool she would look while performing the same moves.
She had noticed how each muscle was performing during the three stances and knew what she had to do, but what she did not know was that her body would not allow for her to exert the same force that Thomas had shown.
"This is what you will be doing after you complete your running exercise. I don't expect you to do the same as I did on the first try but I at least want you to master these three stances." Thomas said as he sheathed his long sword.
"Yes!!!" Sophia excitedly went ahead while holding her wooden sword, she took the first stance as shown by Thomas, The Sword Thrust. She remembered how the muscles moved and connected each other to perform the stance.
She placed one of her legs at the front and one a little bit behind, her knees slightly bent. She held the sword in both her hands, as holding it in one hand was something she could not do yet. Holding the sword a bit closer to her body, she launched herself forward with her rear foot and placing her front foot ahead, she thrusted the sword with both her arms extending it as much as she could.
Thomas was surprised at her thinking process, she knew that holding the sword in one hand would create an imbalance, thus she held it with both her hands and a bit closer to her body, creating the perfect balance needed by her body.
"Clap-Clap-Clap. Good, you did well on your first try." Thomas was really impressed by her stance and perfect body-weight distribution, it was like she had remembered the exact stance that he performed and simply imitated it while accommodating her body limitations.
"Now I want you to perform the Sword Thrust, Overhead and Horizontal Slash, each a hundred times. Also don't slack off on the body-weight distribution, if you do, your muscles will be seriously injured." As soon as the words left his mouth, Sophia's heart clenched at the pain her body would be in doing the stances a hundred times.
"Can't I do all of them like forty each?" Sophia asked, she wanted to reduce the repetitions but her request was immediately shot down. "No." Thomas said as he looked at the little girl's dejected face.
He didn't want to be so cruel with her on the first day but the Duke had told him to be as strict as he could with his daughter even though he didn't have the heart to let his daughter suffer. Damien wanted Sophia to experience the hardships.