Amelia Thornheart

Chapter Twenty-Two: Grandmaster Grandpa

“How’d this happen, then?” Serena asked Amelia, lightly kicking the stone encasing the complaining demon.

“This weirdo,” Amelia made sure to emphasise that word for extra effect, “Came up to me like some homeless beggar and tried to get me to go with him to some traveller’s bed or whatever! Shameless!”

“Is that so?” Serena intoned, drawing her marbled sword, “Which bit do you want me to cut off first, Aiden the Drunk?” The blade glowed red as aura coursed through it, causing the trapped demon’s eyes to shake in panic. There was an older demon with Serena who was watching the events with an amused expression on his face. He looked old and gave her a grandfather vibe, but Amelia’s instincts told her he was on par if not more dangerous than Serena was.

A Speaker of at least one Word, for sure.

“T-traveller’s Rest!” The trapped demon cried, “Traveller’s Rest! It’s a new pale ale from the Sabanis Dominance! I thought we could get a drink while we waited for you to do whatever you were doing! And…” The trapped demon eyed the blade nervously. “It’s Aiden The Drinker, remember!? Unbeaten and unrivalled!?”

“Hmm…” Serena tilted her head, a mock expression of thoughtfulness painted on her face. “I’m not sure you’re deserving of that title anymore. Just last night, the pair of us put away one, two…” Serena counted on one hand, “... three bottles of green loqua, and the same amount of blue.” She waved the three raised fingers in the face of the demon called Aiden The Drunk.

“You… you drank loqua? Without me!?” Aiden protested before flicking his eyes between Amelia and Serena. “But… how are you both not hungover? That should- oh.” He cut himself short, a moment of realisation as his eyes settled on Amelia, who strode over and crossed her arms as she towered over the encased demon.

It sure felt good to look down on others like this! Amelia made a mental decision to avoid positions of power when possible. Although… would it be so bad? A ruler who looked this cute would automatically do amazing, right?

“So you’re the one who’s supposed to be doing a profile on me, huh?” She said, trying to inject as much disapproval as possible into her voice. “Well, I’ll be sure to send Centralis my own report on the conduct of their employees! I even have a witness!” Amelia gestured to the sweating gate guard who looked like he was going to bolt at any moment.

“Wouldn’t be so sure of that,” Serena said with a smile. Amelia saw her looking with amusement at the nervous guard. “Did Officer Adachi mention he was with Intelligence? Mention my name?”

“Uh…” she mumbled.

“Yes!” exclaimed Aiden. “Yes, I did! I told her we were friends at the academy!”

“Alright, fine!” Amelia clicked her tongue. “He may have mentioned something along those lines, but you should have seen how he approached me! He was all so arrogant and confident! Like he’s never been rejected by a woman before! It pissed me off, so I…” She trailed off, realising this wasn’t making her sound very good at all. “... put him in the ground…” she mumbled.

“I see…” Serena said. Amelia watched her eyes feeling a hint of regret rising in her stomach. Thankfully, Serena seemed more amused by the situation instead of being angered. It looked like Aiden The Drunk really was an old friend.

“Anyway,” Serena continued, “Amelia, this is Grandmaster Gu, Lord and Director of the Kenhoro Officer Academy. He has kindly allowed us to use the private training facilities for our lesson, and he will be observing our progress. His skill and insights will be invaluable to the both of us.”

Oh? This old demon was actually someone amazing! Amelia bounced up to him, giving him her best version of a traditional Manwese bow. “Nice to meet you, grandpa!”

“G-grandpa!?” Both Serena and Grandmaster Gu stuttered in unison.

“Thanks for letting us use your facilities! I can’t wait!” She flashed the old demon her second-best smile. The best one was, of course, only shown to Serena!

“Hrmph, well…” Grandmaster Gu mumbled, rubbing his beard and looking to the side. He murmured something strange about always wanting a granddaughter, but Amelia chose to ignore it. Everyone was a little weird, right? She was happy to forget an old demon’s idiosyncrasies if he could help teach both her and Serena!

“If you three are done becoming a family, could someone please get me the hell out of here!” The trapped demon cried in frustration. Amelia rolled her eyes. So dramatic! She agitated the aether inside her. The movement of her reserves and her ability to manifest spells was noticeably easier than when she had first arrived. Her intuition - backed by stats boosted by thousand-hour grinds - was becoming more reliable and more straightforward to understand by the day.

The aether obeyed her command and the stone flowed like liquid off Aiden. He rolled to his side, groaning in relief and Amelia made the extra effort to smooth the pavement. It didn’t look quite the same as before, but it was good enough. Maybe it would become a tourist spot! A place where the students would whisper stories in excited tones. Tales of when Amelia Thornheart - House Halen’s most powerful maid - defended Serena Halen - Cascadia’s prettiest demon - from a lecherous drunk and his antics!

Yup! That was how she would tell the story in the future!

Aiden gathered himself. His clothes were dusty and dirty, and it was kind of Amelia's fault so she reached out with a cleaning spell and made him look new. The demon looked over himself in wonder before turning his eyes to her. “That was your magic?” He asked, and Amelia nodded in reply.

“You’re welcome!” She said before offering her hand to him. “Sorry about all that, I was… surprised, you know?” Amelia wiggled her outstretched hand. “We can be friends, right!?”

Aiden eyed the wiggling hand suspiciously. “You’re not going to turn me into a fish or anything?” He asked with a raised eyebrow before shaking her hand.

Amelia giggled but didn’t answer his question. Could she turn him into a fish? She ran her mind over the countless demonic spells she had memorised, trying to remember if there were any that could polymorph another person. Before she could find one, Serena interrupted her thoughts.

“Grandmaster Gu. As you may have gathered, this is Speaker Thornheart,” Serena coughed lightly into her hand. “She can be a bit forward,” for some reason, Serena glared at her when she emphasised that word. Weird. “But she’s rather friendly. Shall we proceed? Officer Adachi, would you like to watch?”

“You’re inviting me?” Aiden asked, looking surprised.

“Well, I was hoping to speak to you about yesterday's events, and I figured you might as well be introduced to Speaker Thornheart before the festival.”

“Right… right. I’d be delighted to come along. If it’s alright with Grandmaster Gu?”

Grandmaster Gu rubbed his beard. “I don’t see why not,” he said. In response, Aiden gave a quick bow and fell in line as they marched towards the academy’s front door leaving behind the fumbling gate guard.

The building was almost entirely made of wood, with only a stone foundation and paper windows. Above the enormous front door was a huge wooden beam that looked like someone had attacked it with a sword. “What’s that about?” She asked, pointing to the damaged wood.

Behind her, Aiden groaned, Serena snorted, and the Grandmaster chuckled. “I’ll tell you later,” Serena said, “It’s a funny story.”

“Sure!” Amelia responded, trying to think of reasons why someone would carve sword marks into wood.

The group of them entered the academy with its flowing students and wide corridors. The paper windows let in a large amount of natural light, although Amelia could see aetherlights had been installed throughout the building. Given that the building was one huge fire hazard, it made sense not to have gas lamps.

As they travelled, the passing students all bowed to the Grandmaster; even the older-looking demons who Amelia guessed were teachers bowed deeply. Students and teachers alike wore coloured belts. Many were gray but she often saw students with red belts and some with orange. All the teachers seemed to wear yellow belts.

“What do the belt colours mean?” She whispered.

“The highest rank aura they can manifest,” Serena whispered back, “Red is the first and easiest, followed by orange and yellow. Yellow is the minimum requirement to become an academy instructor.”

“None of the instructors can Speak?” She asked. All the instructors they had passed had yellow belts, but none had the telltale green signifying fourth-level aura.

“Some can,” Serena answered, “But Speakers don’t advertise their capabilities so freely. Yellow is the highest aura they’ll admit to publicly.” Amelia nodded at that reasoning. It was in line with what Serena had told her about Speakers previously. Amelia reinforced the existing mental note she had made about not being forthcoming regarding her ability to Speak any Second Words. Serena had, on more than one occasion, very firmly explained how important it was to keep that secret until Cascasia had truly incorporated her as a citizen of the empire.

After a few minutes of walking, they eventually entered a large training hall. Half of the floor was sand, while the other half was a wooden platform raised a quarter step above the ground. The room had a high ceiling and no windows. It was lit by several rows of aetherlights circling the wooden walls.

“There is an enchantment on the room,” said Grandmaster Gu as he closed the door behind them. “Unless you break the walls themselves, no sound will escape.” He brought the group to one side, which was lined with racks of wooden swords and weights. “Well then, Speaker Halen. You are her instructor. I’ll observe… for now.”

“T-thank you, Grandmaster Gu,” Serena said. Amelia couldn’t help frowning at her stuttering. Was Serena nervous? Did she want to impress the Grandmaster herself? Well then! She would do her very best as a disciplined and hardworking student to make Sensei Halen look as good as possible! Sadly, she wouldn’t be able to openly flirt with her girlfriend, but she was sure the pair of them could catch up that very night.

“Take this,” Serena said, handing her a four-foot wooden sword with a small circular guard. “Hold it out like this,” Serena demonstrated by holding her arm out to her side as straight as an arrow. Amelia copied the motion obediently. “Does it feel light?” Serena asked, and Amelia nodded. Her sword was taken from her and Serena handed her another, slightly heavier sword.

Putting her arm out again, Amelia found she could barely feel any difference between this and the last one. “Still light,” She said to Serena, who took another wooden sword and swapped it out with her current one. This repeated for another five or six swords until Amelia started to feel the slightest stress on her shoulders when holding out the weapon.

“This one feels slightly heavy,” she said. Serena nodded, taking the sword from her. She looked thoughtful for a second and then took a previous sword Amelia had already determined to be too light and gave it to her.

“Christ… starting with the number eight,” Aiden muttered from the side.

“Use this one. It might feel light now, but when you’ve been swinging for an hour, it’ll put your untrained muscles to the test.” Serena flashed a glance at the pair observing them. “We’ll go through some stretches to warm up. Here’s how you should hold your sword in both hands,” Serena demonstrated, instructing Amelia how to move each finger individually to wrap the handle properly.

After her grip was sorted Serena had her hold the sword while moving through the katas she knew. This time she was instructed to exaggerate her stances so her tendons and muscles would stretch and relax as she progressed through the sequenced movements.

Amelia noted that unlike on the bridge of the Vengeance, Serena wasn’t barking orders at her. She was - if anything - speaking softly to her. Amelia wondered if that was because they were in a much more private setting or because there was a super important grandmaster watching.

Or was it because they slept together?

She hoped it was that reason.

“This is shomen,” Serena demonstrated, striking down her sword in a perfect downward slash. “It’s the vertical strike. Try to perform it now while in hachiji-dachi, the natural stance.” Amelia attempted to copy the strike as instructed, but it was… messy. Her perception was incredibly high but all that meant was that she could see even more clearly how bad her rendition of shomen was.

Serena had her make another dozen strikes before she began correcting her. “Tense your lats when you make your strike; try again.” Amelia followed as best she could, and the moment she got the hang of one change another adjustment was made.

“Your shoulders are raising upwards. This happens when the lats are relaxed at the start. They should always be slightly tensed.”

“Your grip is too tight. When you grip something too tightly, muscles in the forearm will hinder your movement.”

“Breath out a little when you strike; breathe in when you prepare.”

As the instructions came, Amelia sank deeper into her focus. Any urges to be cheeky or tease Serena vanished as Amelia became fully determined to master this one strike. With every suggestion Serena made, the path Amelia’s sword made looked steadier and steadier. Her game character knew Words regarding martial arts, but that was only because Amelia had spent spare points unlocking them. She had never actually geared out her demonic mage as a melee build to try it out.

Amelia had raw power. In the sword and especially in magic. What she didn’t have was experience. She was certain her focus on magic in the game had created a natural magical intuition regarding using aether in this world, but the same could not be said for swinging a sword. Every improvement she made to her swing was something she earned through focus and effort.

It was because of that Amelia - the demonic combat mage - was falling in love with the sword.

“Well done,” Serena said, a small smile on her lips. It seemed the previous nervousness had vanished and her girlfriend was in full Sensei mode. “Now we will cover keisa-giri. This is a diagonal cut from the shoulder to the kidney. It looks like this,” Serena demonstrated the strike and Amelia thought it looked perfect. Would she ever be able to duplicate that? To strike so cleanly with no wasted movement?

“You need to change how you move slightly when you make this strike,” Serena explained, guiding Amelia’s body through the motions slowly at first and then at increasing speed. Like before, Amelia would make several dozen attempts before Serena would point out a single thing to fix, and then Amelia would focus on that until Serena was satisfied.

After an unknown amount of time, Serena took Amelia through her katas which she had used to practice her stances. This time she would swing the sword as she moved into each stance, making either shomen, the vertical cut, or keisa-giri, the diagonal one.

There were still movements in the kata that had sword movements Amelia hadn’t learnt but she was instructed to skip them and continue on. After running through the movements a few more times, Serena taught her how to block an incoming vertical or diagonal attack. It took a while for Amelia to get used to the angle but eventually she became comfortable with it.

Next, Serena took her through three-step sparring, which were formalised ways of attacking and defending in pairs. One side would take three steps, striking in a pre-defined way while the other would back away, defending with their weapon. Then the roles would reverse and the defender would attack. At the end, both individuals would step back and bow to each other.

Amelia grinned as she blocked an incoming strike from Serena. This was fun! There was so much to learn and it was so tremendously satisfying to learn it! She would make her own stone sword when she got back to the inn that night and keep practising.

“Alright,” Serena said after they had finished and bowed to each other. “Let’s take a break and have some food. It’s been two hours.”

“Two hours!?”

“Yes. It’s lunchtime. How do your arms feel?”

“They feel good. My shoulders are aching a little, though!”

Serena nodded, “The shoulder muscles are small and easily exhausted. I imagine they’ll be sore tomorrow. Try and resist healing yourself. I think I remember that magical healing can reduce the efficiency of muscle training.”

“O-okay!” Amelia didn’t want to heal away muscle soreness unless it was so bad she couldn’t move. She wanted to feel the soreness the next day. It meant she had worked hard and had improved! The pair of them joined the Grandmaster and Aiden who were nibbling on steaming buns that made her stomach rumble.

“This brings me back,” Serena said taking a bun and handing one to Amelia. They were hot but not so much they were uncomfortable to eat. Amelia figured she could probably eat lava and be okay but that didn’t mean she would be comfortable doing it. “I lived on these in the academy,” Serena mumbled with a dash of affection in her voice.

Amelia took a bite and found some meat inside. “They’re good but a bit bland. Could do with some spices, I think.” She said.

“They are intentionally bland,” the Grandmaster piped up. “It’s an old tradition. The idea is that all excitement and focus should come from the sword and the training. Delicious food would only distract the mind.”

Amelia nodded. “That makes sense, thanks grandpa!” She gave him a cheerful thumbs up.

“Ack! Ack!” Serena choked on her food before swallowing audibly. “Ahem, excuse me,” she said, patting her chest. “After we’ve eaten, we’ll go through some very light sparring before heading back to clean up,” Serena paused, “Although… we wouldn’t need to…”

“Sure!” Amelia chirped. She could just magically clean them of any dirt and sweat once the training was over. “I’d like to explore the city a bit more, if that’s okay?”

“We’ll go through the market on the way back to the docks. I need to see what’s going on with the repairs.” With that, the four of them ate in silence for a moment. Amelia tried to focus on the training, but her mind wandered to other things that had happened that day.

“So…” she began, “What’s the sword marks above the entrance about?” Her question caused a ripple of amusement and mirth in the group.

“It’s a joke,” Serena said as she swallowed her last bite. “It’s a jest played on the first-years by the seniors. Here and also in the academy back in Asamaywa.”

“A joke?”

“Right, so what happens is some fresh-faced trainee from Centralis earns their placement here or in another academy in the East, where all the best swordsmen and women are,” Serena nodded her head at the Grandmaster, who tilted his in response. “They arrive, and they see these mysterious sword marks on the wood. ‘What’s that?’ They ask.”

“Then a senior appears and tells them, ‘That’s the hidden technique of the ancient master who built this academy centuries ago. Only the person who truly understands the sword can decipher this ultimate technique said to strike down Speakers!’ Ha!” Serena laughed.

“Why’s that funny?” Amelia asked. “It sounds cool!”

“Because those sword marks are changed every year - often by the winner of that year’s academy tournament. The sword marks mean nothing! I added my own back when I won at the end of my third year, before graduation.”

“You added a smiley face, didn’t you?” Aiden said, grinning.

“That’s right! If you tilt your head like this,” Serena tilted her head awkwardly to the side, “It looks like a smiley face. I even added a little tongue! The Grandmaster made me change it a little as it was too obvious.”

Serena, Aiden, and Amelia all laughed at that, and even the Grandmaster gave a hearty chuckle.

“It has some value,” Serena explained. “It gets the first-years riled up and focused. Some of them go through the entire first year without it being explained to them! Sometimes we would take bets to see when a certain person would realise the joke or not. Ah… good times…” She leaned back on her hands, smiling.

"Took two semesters before somebody told me," grumbled Aiden.

"You were told earlier, but you were drinking so much you kept forgetting!" Serena said, laughing.

“You youngsters aren’t the only ones having fun,” Grandmaster Gu said, standing up. “When I last went to see my brother, I think this was two years ago now…” The old demon straightened his posture, looking dignified. “My brother was late returning from a trip, so I was met with all the instructors to welcome me to the academy. They led me to the front gate, and I stopped like this,” The Grandmaster tilted his head up with a mock expression of surprise. 

“‘By the fell gods, what heights has my brother’s sword reached now? What next, will he split the very heavens apart?’ Ha! And then I left the instructors there, and I swear they spent the entire evening second-guessing and arguing!”

The four of them burst out laughing. Amelia grinned in happiness. She loved this! A group of people just sitting about having a good time. One girlfriend, one grandpa, and possibly a drinking buddy. They made a good group and Amelia knew she would fondly remember this for a long time.

“Serena,” said the Grandmaster as he sat back down. “How long will you be in Kenhoro?”

“Likely no longer than a month, maybe three weeks. The Greatlord is sending us extra pairs of horns to assist our ship repairs.”

“The pair of you should make use of this hall daily. I’ll make sure it’s available.”

“Ah - it’s very kind of you but-”

“I will also personally give you daily training. Let’s see if we can secure that blue aura.”

“I happily accept,” Serena tilted her head, “Thank you, Grandmaster.” Amelia found the quick turn-around amusing. Private tutoring from a Grandmaster must be extremely valuable for Serena to change her mind so quickly. She was also delighted with this arrangement. She could train in the sword every day! How much better would she be in a month!?

“You broke into blue?” Aiden asked, his eyes widened in surprise.

“Just about,” answered Serena.

“That’s incredible. You always were an unbelievable talent, but to hit blue. I mean… well done, friend.” Aiden raised a cup of water as a toast.

“What about you? Ever thought you return to training?”

“Ah, I’m afraid not,” Aiden said, glancing awkwardly at the Grandmaster sitting next to him, “I was told there was an infinite number of ways to swing a sword, so I decided I would also prove there are as many variations of beer!”

“You idiot,” Serena said.

“Mister Adachi,” the Grandmaster intoned, “Although you may have lost your way, you’re welcome to attend our future sessions. Who knows, perhaps a sword will find its way into your hand again?”

“Ah… We’ll have to see, I guess…” Aiden rubbed his chin awkwardly.

“Shall we resume the lesson?” Serena asked, fixing her eyes on Amelia.

“Uh, sure!” Amelia jumped up. She was excited to continue, to experience that satisfying feeling of progress again!

“If it’s okay with you, Speaker Halen,” grumbled the Grandmaster as he clambered up. “I would like to take over the remainder of today’s session.” He cast his pair of eyes over Amelia. They were almost as crimson as Serena’s. Almost.

“Let’s see what you’re really capable of then, Speaker Thornheart,” said the Grandmaster, pulling a much heavier sword from the wall and gesturing for Amelia to join him. There was a glint of something in his eyes. Amelia swallowed, suddenly feeling nervous, before shuffling over obediently.

Maybe this grandpa was scary, after all.