The rune atop the wyvern knight statue lights up.
Hikari catches her breath.
She was sweating buckets after the duel, the shielded wyvern statue standing still before her.
The stone, having fulfilled its legacy, powers down.
"Shield."
Hikari collapses onto the ground.
Her head was half-fried after receiving teachings from all the wyvern statues.
Scenes from the last fight were still fresh in her mind.
She lets it play.
The wyvern knight wielding the tower shield.
She expected a shield-to-shield headbutt.
A battle of pure endurance, which she herself loathes.
But instead, the shielded knight showed her incredible agility.
Suddenly backing off whenever she stepped in for a thrust, then counterattacking within the split-second window while she was still regaining her footing.
What looked like brute-force shield-to-shield combat turned into an extremely delicate dance of timing and distance.
Hikari closes her eyes.
Her headache was sharp.
She knows she should be working out right now, but she was just so exhausted.
She reaches for a cannonball fruit while lying flat on the ground.
One rolls away; she reaches for another.
It doesn't rot in the tower, so she'll look for it once she wakes up.
Munch… Munch…
She wearily bites away at the cannonball fruit with uncharacteristically small mouthfuls.
Heck it. She'll skip the workout.
She tries to sleep, but her brain is too excited to do that.
Her body was too weary after the constant training.
How many sticks? She stopped after fifty, she thinks.
Her lady's probably hopping mad at her by now.
But she has achieved so much in the tower.
And the wyvern statues still had so much more to show her.
Especially the fat one's last move with the wyvern cannon.
A charged shot of wyvern flame that melted through stone.
She wants to learn that. But first, she somehow has to get her hands on a real wyvern cannon.
Then she has to march with it.
And train with it day after day, pumping fire through it.
Perhaps her practice sessions would give the paltry forge at the RazenHeir estate enough firepower to forge her bigger throwing daggers.
But she has to forge a proper wyvern cannon first.
Perhaps she should ask Ria if there's a forge big enough.
She doubts it. If it's so hard to forge her a claymore, it's definitely too much to forge a wyvern cannon for her, which even she had trouble carrying.
She spread out her arms and legs.
Her vision fades.
The fatigue catches up to her. She goes to sleep.
…
Munch. Munch.
There's enough cannonball fruit left for a journey back to the RazenHeir estate.
Or perhaps the fortress of Escher, wherever her lady is right now.
She'll harvest more on the way back down the tower.
She swings her sword and warms up her muscles.
There is only one statue remaining.
A woman in robes.
Horns growing out of her head.
Wyvern wings folded behind her.
A half-wyvern.
She looked like a sorcerer.
This is the last statue she must earn approval from to complete her journey.
She's excited to find out what it has in store for her.
She steps onto the tile.
The wyvern statue powers up.
Hikari feels its mana flow through her.
…
"Where?"
Hikari wakes up in an unfamiliar place.
People. She sees people all around.
Wearing plain light brown robes.
It's very unlike the vast, empty arena she'd found herself in whenever she attempted a statue's trial.
A cave lit by braziers.
A patch of sunlight shining through a shaft above.
Braziers lit the areas where sunlight couldn't reach.
An underground city with busy streets filled with people carrying baskets of produce.
Merchant stands selling textiles and dried meat all along the cavern walls.
A patrol of guards doing their usual rounds.
Lightly armed with a stick and shield.
"There you are. We are late."
"Wha-"
A young girl suddenly appeared in her view.
Black hair, golden eyes, wearing a light brown robe that covered her from the neck down.
Hikari felt odd that she was the same size as her, shorter by only half a head.
Indeed, she noticed that many of the regular people around her were taller than her.
"Don't what me. The important ritual is today. You know the headmistress is going to give us a good caning if you skip out."
The girl grabbed her by the wrist and tried to drag
Hikari saw her own arm, thin as a twig, instead of the muscular, bulky arm she was used to.
She followed the girl to a gate.
Fully armored knights guarded it.
The burning braziers reflected off their smooth bronze armor.
A knight stepped forward.
His shoulder plates were trimmed with silver, indicating his rank.
"Passes." The knight's voice sounded funny as it echoed inside its helmet before escaping through the visor slits.
The girl fished out a stone from her pocket and handed it to the knight.
The stone glowed with golden mana as the knight held it.
"Next." The knight turned to Hikari.
She stared back at the knight blankly.
"Did you forget to bring your pass again?"
The girl turned to the knight and looked up at him with pleading eyes.
"Please, sir, we are in a hurry. The ritual is about to begin, and we can't afford anymore delays."
The wyvern knight shrugged and stepped aside.
"Thank you!" The girl quickly bowed and dragged Hikari along.
Hikari followed the girl through a vast hallway.
The decor was immaculate.
Smooth marble floors contrasted with the rough roads outside.
Patches of sunlight shone on the intersections.
Hikari glanced up through the grating.
Her eyes were briefly blinded by the spots of light shining through the steel mesh.
Statues of wyvern knights lined the hallway, each bearing a plaque and a unique set of arms.
Lanterns housing golden crystals lit the hallway.
They reached a wyvern statue holding a shield and a spear.
The girl turned right. Hikari followed.
They reached a garden filled with lush green vegetation and flowers of a myriad of colors.
A huge shaft hung above them, letting sunlight through into the underground and allowing a garden to grow in the otherwise dark caverns.
"Now's not the time to admire the flowers. We got work to do."
"Ok."
The girl dragged Hikari into a room.
A workshop of sorts. Cupboards, workbenches, Glass jars of strange liquids.
The decor wasn't as grand as the hallway.
The girl set the stove at the end of the room.
"Oh, Viloria's tits! The stove isn't even started! Quickly now."
A bag of coal and a shovel were resting in the corner of the room.
"Yes."
Hikari dragged the bag of coal to the stove and fed it shovelfuls of coal until it was full.
She closed the compartment but was unsure what to do next.
"Argh. Must I do everything? Bring the herbs. Don't tell me you need me to remind you to bring the ones with red markers."
The girl dropped what she was doing and hurriedly cranked the lever installed on the side of the stove.
"Yes."
Mana. Hikari senses mana flowing through the circular stove.
The stove heats up, radiating a subtle warmth.
"The herbs!"
The girl barked, noticing the stove had caught Hikari's attention.
"Yes."
An open doorway led to a warehouse.
Bags and crates lined the shelves.
The bags with red markings were not difficult to spot.
Hikari pulled a bag and hugged it.
It was so bulky that it blocked her vision.
She walked backward, turning her head to see where she was going.
Hikari had to move carefully to avoid tripping over the trays and workbenches arranged randomly around the room.
"Quickly, put it down."
The girl hastily tried to untie the knot at the top.
She fumbles.
Annoyed, she snipped it right off with her scissors.
"Oh! Viloria's tits! The leaves haven't even been separated from the stalk."
"I help."
The girl hastily dusted off a pair of baskets in the corner.
"No time, just tear it off."
Hikari nods.
She began combing the leaves through the stalk.
The first ones were easy, but it got harder as the moisture trapped inside made her hands slippery.
The girl sitting opposite her gave up and started using scissors.
Hikari had stronger fingers, so she worked twice as fast.
"This much should be enough for the first batch, but we need more. Keep this up."
The girl quickly checked the stove's temperature.
It will have to do, whether it's ready or not.
A pot was already sitting inside the chamber.
She opened it.
"Stains. It's fine. Just the leftovers from the last ritual. No time to scrub it."
She filled it up with water and poured in the first batch of leaves.
"Where is it?"
The girl rushed onto the next task.
She searched up and down the row of cupboards, pulling out drawers before slamming them shut again.
"Ah! It's that one. Help me. I can't reach it."
"Yes."
Hikari rubbed her hands against her robes to dry them a bit and scrub off some of the tiny herb leaves.
A well-decorated chest rested on a shelf too high for the shorter girl to reach.
Hikari touched its cold marble sides with her palms.
It was heavy. Even though she could reach it, her arm was at too awkward an angle to move it.
"Here. This will help."
The girl brought her a stool.
Even with the extra height, Hikari had to be very careful moving the heavy crate.
The girl didn't rush her.
Pressing the chest steadily against her blossoms, she carefully stepped off the stool and lowered it to the ground.
The girl flipped it open.
Hikari thought such an elaborate-looking chest would be securely locked.
Five golden knives inside. They barely occupied a hundredth of the chest's available space.
The girl placed them onto a tray and brought them to the workbench.
"Continue doing the herbs! We still need more!"
Hikari went back to separating the leaves from their stalks.
She had barely made a dent in the giant harvest sack wider than her shoulders.
While performing her monotonous task, she watched the girl work.
The girl laid the golden knives out on a workbench.
She doused them in a strange transparent concoction before wiping them with a clean cloth.
Putting on her mittens, she opened a compartment on top of the boiling pot.
Steam rose from the pot below.
One by one, she placed the golden knives on the stovetop.
Suddenly, the door opened.
"Oh! Good morning, headmistress! We were just getting ready for the ritual."
The girl jumped timidly as an older woman walked in.
Plain robes covered her from the neck to the ground.
An amulet shaped as a wyvern head hung around her neck.
"Getting ready? The ritual is about to start. I expected you to be ready by now."
The woman said in a stern voice.
"Terribly sorry, Headmistress! We'll pick up the pace."
The woman shook her head and walked to the stove.
Hikari continued plucking away at the herbs.
She lifted the lid off the pot.
"They have just started boiling, haven't they?"
She shook her head.
"Terribly sorry, Headmistress."
"It will have to do. I can delay the others, but we have to get at least one ritual started."
"Terribly sorry, Headmistress."
"Leave it for now. We'll discuss this later. Get started on the next batch."
Two girls entered the room, pushing a trolley.
Putting on their mittens, they loaded the boiling pot straight onto the trolley.
Hikari plucked away at the herbs as she watched them leave.