Mariel: The Goddess of War

Mariel is 7 years old today. After Deric, Claudia and Mariel finished their breakfast. They drive a car together to Kehal Sword bureau where Mariel must begin her basic swordsmanship training.

"Hello, my friends. Deric and Claudia." Kahal comes down to greet his old friends and gives them a friendly hug, then they all come to the hall in the bureau where many pupils are sitting and waiting.

"Hello Mariel. Are you ready for today's training?" Kehal asked.

"I' m ready, Master Kehal." Mariel replied.

"Good! Today you'll be practicing with other 10 pupils, then I'll introduce you to everyone again." Kehal said.

Deric and Claudia hug their daughter and sit in the waiting room while waiting for Kehal.

"Alright, let's introduce yourself to everyone." Kehal led Mariel into the bureau. All 10 boys are sitting and practicing their Qi but when their Master Kehal comes inside, everyone immediately stops practicing and looked at Mariel.

"The first group, 3 pupils are 9 years old, named Kees, Carl, and Kale. They are fraternal twins." Kehal introduced the 3 of them who's only the hairstyle is different. The first person has shoulder-length hair, the second person has short hair, the third person has middle-parted hair, all wearing white shirts and black, blue, and brown pants, respectively.

"The next 3 pupils are 9 years old, named Cell, Kanti, and Sakal." Kehal introduced another 3 of them with similar looks. All of them have short hairstyles but wear casual clothes which are light tones such as light green, light blue, and gray, respectively.

"And another 3 pupils are 10 years old, named Mix, Magus, and Martial. They are the 3 brothers of the Milgard family." Kehal said. The 3 brothers are all wearing black clothing. 

Mariel remembers this family. In this village, the Milgard family is quite famous for fighting monsters from generation to generation. It is no surprise that the 3 sons of this family are sent to train with Kehal.

"And then the last one. Mariel should be very familiar with Segal, the eldest pupil of the bureau, who turned 12 years old just a few days ago. The most skilled pupil and he is the hope of becoming a shield-sword warrior in the future," Kehal praised, while Segal chose to remain silent. Segal is a tall boy with short hair and a solemn expression on his face while wearing a plain outfit, a crimson shirt, and white pants.

"Alright, let's take Mariel to guide her to the place and teach her how to train her Qi first. I will go talk with Deric and Claudia for a while." Kehal ordered the others and then left the hall.

"Welcome, Mariel. You're the first female pupil of this bureau. Do you know that? Come, we'll show you the place." The boys come over to talk and then guide Mariel to see the various places in the bureau, including Master Kehal's antique collection room, shared dining room, special training room, and more.

In the waiting room, Kehal makes a traditional tea for Deric and Claudia.

They talk and confide in each other about all kinds of problems. It's like remembering the past when they were a teenager until young adulthood, they separated and had families in other person's way of life.

"Is your back feeling better, Deric?" Kehal asked.

"Much better but try not to put too much strain on my body because the symptoms will possibly relapse." Deric replied.

"Good, I need to warn you because...your enemy still survives until today. Even after all these years, you still need to be careful." Kehal said.

"We understand that. We have prepared a backup plan as well. If it is urgent, we will immediately transport Mariel to the teleportation platform in the center of the capital of this district." Deric told Kehal their plan.

"If we make it in time, we will transport all of us to the capital. But if we don't make it in time, then we'll just send Mariel alone." Claudia said with a slightly sad expression.

"Over the past several years, we cannot be trusted because we don't know that these demon magicians of high rank who's possibly come back to attack us or not but at least you need to get ready about it. As for Mariel, I will teach her as well other pupils." Kehal added.

"Can I ask you one question? Kehal" Deric just remembered and hurriedly asked.

"Sure." Kehal replied after drinking a cup of tea.

"During the test, you sent Segal to fight with Mariel, even though there were other boys. It seems to put Mariel at a disadvantage in every way." Deric asked curiously.

"I confessed that I didn't want to accept any female pupil. I wanted to end it as quickly as possible, so I sent Segal to fight but...what I had seen is... The warrior's blood in Mariel who I hadn't seen in a long time. It made me realize that this young girl must have something special inside of her. So, I decided to accept her as my pupil." Kehal answered.

"Then Claudia and I understand it. Please take care of Mariel, Kehal." Deric said.

"Sure, no problem." Kehal promised them.

After this, they talked for a while and then they hugged each other and said goodbye.

Deric and Claudia drive away from the bureau. Kehal then walks into the main hall and finds that all 11 pupils were sitting and learning about controlling their Qi.

"Very well my pupils, practice for 2 hours, then start your sword training after that." Kehal said.

Basic training for Mariel on day one, it went well. Kehal began teaching her how to control her power. Mariel began to be able to determine the level of her Qi and magic power and how much she could use as she needed but she still used more than the limit because of her age. This makes it impossible to do many things at the same time very accurately.

At lunchtime, the pupils who had been practicing Qi Control until they were exhausted rushed into the dining room. Kehal's wife, her name's Midaran, and she was a very beautiful woman with long yellow hair. She scooped up cereal fried rice, poured hot soup into cups and distributed it to all the children with her smile. 

Mariel carried a bowl of fried rice and a bowl of soup to the seats at the end of the others. After sitting and contemplating it, she found that it had an appetizing aroma. 

(In my mind, I didn't expect that this simple-looking cereal fried rice dish, there could be the fragrance of various vegetables and many herbs. A fried rice that had been carefully fried with intention, almost every grain of rice shone brightly. This exposed hunger even further.) (Chai thinking)

"Try it, Mariel. It's delicious. I'd like to add several more bowls every day because it greatly increased your energy for practicing in the afternoon." Cell said.

Mariel shoveled the first bite into her mouth. It's like warmth, was circulating all over her body. Then the deliciousness spreads throughout. Tears almost instantly burst out. It's so delicious.

Mariel picked up the entire bowl and scooped up the fried rice and ate it all. She asked for another bowl, it made the other children laugh with delight. The soup was very good too.

After they finished their lunch, all pupils were sitting and talking about their stories for about an hour and then started practicing swordsmanship in the afternoon.

Others paired up to fight, using their swords to slash each other. As for Mariel, Master Kehal took her to practice individually with him as a sparring partner, they used swords to fight. Kehal held a sword with one hand and was able to attack Mariel who was almost on the defensive.

"Pay attention to the trajectory of the sword to come left or right. Your speed and intelligence will help you to absorb every attack. Don't forget this, stay focused!" Kehal said while looking very serious as he slammed his sword to Mariel nonstop.

"Oops!" Mariel was on the defensive and couldn't fight back. Her two hands that held the swords were swollen and red from the constant clash of the two swords against each other.

(Even though the pain in my hand was a lot but, in my mind, I felt very determined because this was a master swordsman who taught his pupils intently. The more you learn to teach, the more experience you get) (Chai thinking)

Several hours have passed. The other pairs of pupils finished their practicing together. They all sat together to watch Master Kehal and Mariel practice who had wounds all over her body and began to swell. There was a little bit of blood, but she still strives to receive the power of sword from the master who continues to pound her unceasingly.

"Give me a little more time. Just a little more." Mariel said. She tried to find Kehal's vulnerabilities, but she still couldn't find it.

"Take this!" Kehal slammed his fire sword power into Mariel's head.

But... Mariel suddenly changed her style from defensive to offensive. She Squat down suddenly and bend over to her left. Then she held the sword with both hands and slashed the sword to Kehal's right side of his ribcage.

"Ugh!" Kehal's eyes flashed for a moment, then immediately flicked his sword back, causing the two swords to hit each other sharply on Kehal's side.

"Clunk!!!!!!!!" (The sound of the two swords hitting each other so hard that it made a loud noise.)

The power of the sword made Mariel even stagger to the ground far away, lying exhausted. Kehal only staggered backwards.

Kehal kept his sword close to the left side of his body and lightly clapped Mariel as well as staring at her with affection.

"Very good, spent hours finding my vulnerabilities. You were intelligent. Come on, hurry up and treat your wounds, that's enough for you today." Kehal praised.

Mariel barely had the strength to stand up but there was a smile because Kehal's praise was a good encouragement that made the girl know that what she had done was right.

Kanti and Sakal carried Mariel to the infirmary where Midaran applied herbal medicine to Mariel, then she used her healing skill to heal and restore Mariel's body until the wounds gradually disappeared completely. The swollen skin gradually returned to its original state.

Mariel fell asleep exhausted after drinking a red bottle of recovery medicine. There are two types of this potion. The second one that you drink continuously is the yellow bottle of potion used for restoring Qi and magic power. 

The other pupils continued to practice in pairs until 4:00 p.m. when Deric and Claudia arrived to pick Mariel up and get ready to go home. Mariel had just woken up recently along with almost perfect physical condition.

"See you tomorrow, Mariel." Kehal said goodbye with a smile.

"See you, Mariel." The group of boys waved goodbye. They were also waiting for their parents to come take them home too.

Mariel smiled and waved goodbye to everyone through the left side of the car window. Meanwhile, the car slowly moved out of the swordman bureau until it was out of sight.

A pair of eyes looked at the car until it disappeared without anyone else noticing.

"It would be great if you were my sister, Mariel." Segal said.