"Still not fast enough…"
After witnessing the awe inspiring destructive power Mac brought to the table at the Rosewood dungeon, Anastasia had taken a leave of absence and returned to her family territory for some self-improvement and much needed training.
(Is it because I'm rusty?)
Anastasia was standing in the middle of an empty field, around her chunks of earth were missing and patches of new grass was lit on fire. All a result of her training.
The knight captain's only armament at the moment was her trusted shield, otherwise she wore loose fitting training clothes while her long golden hair was tied into a ponytail. With her shield, Anastasia focused the raw mana of the air, ground and water, bending the natural power of her world to her will. With a stomp, Anastasia injected the ground beneath her with magic, and at once spikes the size of a person sprung up all around her before exploding in shards, pelting the surroundings with stone shrapnel.
Standing in the middle of this field of destruction completely unharmed, Anastasia's figure was lit up by a translucent golden barrier which covered her entire body, this barrier was one of the many reasons Anastasia's shield cost more than a small mansion, and as the danger passed it became invisible once more, obscuring its user in the dust of the previous explosion.
(Too slow…)
Emerging out of the cloud of dust like a blur, Anastasia flew through the air like she had a rocket engine strapped to her back as she rapidly switched direction, zipping around in the air for a few seconds as she landed on another patch of ground shield first like a small meteor, cracking the ground as she injected it with magic. Instantly after she landed, multiple walls of compacted dirt sprung up around Anastasia, temporarily obscuring her from her imaginary foe before they all exploded outwards, pelting the surroundings in yet more rock shrapnel. Standing in the centre of the crater she had created, flame now surrounded the knight captain as countless balls of red fire orbited her. Bringing out her free hand, Anastasia squeezed as the torso-sized balls of fire surrounding her compressed into fist sized ones, their fire turning from orange to blue before they launched outwards, zipping around the sky in erratic patterns before impacting pre-selected targets and exploding. Leaping into the air once more, this time launched by a pillar of rock, Anastasia's figure was joined by a pack of spears made from compacted rock floating around her. Reaching the zenith of her jump, Anastasia launched the spears towards imaginary targets in front of her, and as she landed she injected yet more mana into the ground, creating another field of rock spikes which soon exploded.
"Miss, the Madam is calling for you."
As the cloud of dust and rock shards cleared, Anastasia found herself joined by a servant of her house. The maid stood with perfect posture amid the scene of destruction, her pure white maid dress and lace adorned bonnet carried not even a speck of filth as she spoke in almost a whisper and her presence was barely detectable.
"Ah, is it that time already?"
"Not yet, Miss. The Madam simply worries about your training and would like to involve herself in correcting your posture."
"I… See."
Getting a chill up her spine when she learned her mother wanted to 'help' her, Anastasia nevertheless accepted the offer without hesitation.
"Then let's get going, shall we?"
"After you, Miss."
At the maid's words, Anastasia reoriented herself before launching herself in the direction of the Victoria family mansion with another pillar of rock.
"..."
Glancing after the disappearing figure of her master, the maid uttered a quiet sigh unbefitting of one of her stature.
"If she would just put this amount of effort into finding a husband, the Madam wouldn't be so worried about her."
Uttering an idle complaint to no one in particular, the maid soon faded from sight as she also headed back to the mansion, leaving a desolated field which had gained a few new craters behind.
Landing outside the back gate to her family manor with a tumble, Anastasia didn't worry about her dirty clothes as she scanned the surroundings for her mother.
That was her first mistake, as appearing unladylike invited immediate intervention.
"Sh!-"
Noticing the sword hurdling towards her head at the last second, Anastasia created a shockwave of air to deflect the blade away from her head, as it passed it left a shallow cut along her cheek, but that was the least of her worries at the moment. Grabbing the sword that was tossed at her and yanking it out of the ground, Anastasia surveyed her surroundings, but found no trace of the attacker.
"My my~"
That's when a very familiar voice spoke right into her ear, sending Anastasia leaping as she hurriedly put some distance between herself and her mother.
"My my~"
Anastasia didn't even get to land back on the ground before she was assaulted, as her mother had predicted the knight captain's panicked movements. She followed her into the air, spinning around in the air and delivering an axe kick to her back and sending her flying into the dirt.
"You're still as slow as ever when people get into your personal space my dear, let me work on correcting that habit of yours~"
Riding the force of her own kick, Anastasia's mother landed on the mansion's outer wall and bounced off of it, landing with perfect posture on the ground some 5 metres away from her daughter where she took a stance with her thin-bladed one handed longsword.
"Urg, fuck."
"Language, mind your manners."
"Yeah, yeah."
Having landed hard, Anastasia took a moment to get on her feet again, taking a stance against her mother as she extended out the sword past her shield, keeping the blade pointed towards her opponent's eyes.
Anastasia's mother was a woman in the golden years of her life, her formerly golden hair had lost some of its luster, and now contained some streaks of white. That didn't make the woman any less dangerous however, as her blue eyes were still sharp, and her ever flawless skin remained unblemished, safe for a few scars she had obtained doing some of her 'rowdy' years as a mercenary.
"Looks like you're taking it far too easy~"
"Fu!-"
At some point while Anastasia was examining her opponent's stance, her mother had simply disappeared from sight, then when she suddenly spoke right into her left ear Anastasia panicked and made the mistake of swearing in front of her mother again.
Barely getting her shield up in time, Anastasia was sent flying but quickly used magic to reorient herself mid-air with a series of bursts of compressed air as she landed with her shield up, ready to face her mother as she knew from experience that she wasn't going to let up any time soon.
"See? You can do it if you try~"
Noticing the improvement, Anastasia's mother complimented her daughter as she rushed forward and once again planted her in the dirt with a kick.
"... Oh my~"
Instead of getting up again, Anastasia remained down as he had been knocked out cold.
"Arg, fuck."
Waking up in a familiar infirmary, Anastasia found her wounds healed, but a killer headache still remained.
"John, you here?"
"In a moment, Miss."
Hearing the voice of the family healer, Anastasia laid back down for a few more moments as she heard the old man approaching.
"The Madam really did a number on you this time, be sure to conduct training like that in moderation."
"I'll try, but you'll need to tell my mom to calm down. I'm not risking another beating."
"What was that Miss? I didn't hear you?"
Playing up his old and frail character with a warm smile, John avoided putting himself into harm's way as he gently grabbed Anastasia's hand.
"Hmm, you're mostly put back together."
Sensing through the entirety of Anastasia's body with magic, John checked on the condition of his patient and quickly discovered a bruised ankle.
"Oh, there is still something I missed, pardon me."
Moving a free hand over the affected area, John closed his eyes for a moment as a warm, healing light started flowing out of his hand and into Anastiasa's leg. Within a minute's time, the treatment was completed, and her leg was healed.
"My head also hurts."
"Of course, pardon me. Must really be getting old."
Continuing to maintain his jovial old man routine, John focused his attention on Anastasia's head, channeling healing light with both of his hands that somewhat lessened the defeated knight captain's headache.
"Ah~ That's the stuff."
"Always happy to be of service. I recommend you get lots of water and rest for the rest of the day, Miss."
"Sure, I'll rest up after cheering up Mari."
Getting back on her feet, Anastasia went back to her room to change out of her dirty clothes into a light dress before heading for the room next door. Stopping just outside the door, Anastasia took a short moment to steady herself as she plastered on a smile.
"Mari, are you awake?"
Opening the door, Anastasia found her little sister, Mari sitting up in her bed, her short golden hair catching the evening light that came through the window as her formerly bright eyes looked quite dull and dim.
"Ah, good evening."
Speaking in a steady measured pace to try and hide the pain she was in Mari showed a thin smile radically different from her usual one as she welcomed her older sister.
"I heard you got knocked out by mom again, what did you do this time?"
"I don't really know, I just think she was unhappy with the direction of my training."
Ever since Anastasia had returned from the Rosewood dungeon she had been slightly obsessed with the wide range of destruction Mac's weapons brought, so she sought to replicate it through magic. Of course, seeing another one of her dear daughters step away from martial arts towards magic like their older brother had saddened Anastasia's mother, so she sought to demonstrate the need for martial might, in her own spartan way.
"Yeah I could hear that all the way up here from the 3rd floor. What did you do? Swear at another noble?"
"Oh, it's a bit of a long story…"
As Anastasia hadn't been home since the start of the martial arts tournament, she realised she hadn't told Mari about her newest headache which took the form of a manchild from outer space.
Starting her story from the martial arts tournament, Anastasia told her little sister about her new headache, how Mac had defeated her at the tournament, the way he had reappeared above the capital a week later and about the destruction he had wrought against the monsters at the Rosewood dungeon.
"Woah, sounds like you've really found yourself an interesting man, sis."
"Like hell I'm courting that imbecile, the amount of power he holds aside he's supremely annoying to deal with."
Her face flushed with embarrassment as she remembered that man's crude words back at the colosseum, Anastasia missed her little sister's knowing smile as she continued to deny the accusation levied.
"If anything I want to stay away from that guy, if he starts up with those crude comments again I will have to kill him!"
"Aha ha ha ha!"
Seeing that her older sister was at least somewhat aware of the interest she tried very much to deny made Mari laugh like she hadn't done in a few months. In that moment her genuine, toothy smile returned to her face, but just a few seconds of laughter made Mari break into a coughing fit as the colour drained from Anastasia's face.
"Mari! Are you okay!?"
Rushing to her baby sister's side, as she noticed how pale Mari was, Anastasia started rubbing Mari's back as she continued coughing.
"Ack! Agh! I'm- Ack! Fin-"
Attempting to reassure Anastasia, Mari failed to keep up her ruse as she coughed up blood, it was only at that moment Anastasia noticed how hot her little sister was, she was breaking out in a fever.
"Mari you're burning up!"
Feeling panic set in, Anastasia hurriedly grabbed the bell which sat at Mari's bedside table and rang it, the small bell producing a magical signal which alerted the entire mansion.
"Why didn't you tell me!?"
Continuing to rub her little sister's back as she continued coughing, Anastasia felt some misplaced anger build up inside her, but she quickly suppressed that as Mari's well being came first. Within seconds of the bell being rung, multiple servants rushed into Mari's room carrying blankets and medical equipment for John which followed moments later.
"She's burning up, and coughing up blood!"
Informing John of what was wrong, Anastasia grabbed Mari's hand in reassurance as the healer started examining his patient.
"Oh dear."
Muttering a few words in response to what he found, John closed his eyes to focus as he brought his hands over Mari's stomach. As the healing magic light started flowing out from John's hands and into Mari she started screaming, but Anastasia had already predicted this and held her sister down as her upper body frailed in response to the pain.
"Miss! I'm trying to help you!"
Continuing to heal Mari, John was assaulted by her free arm as she frailed and scratched at him, continuing to scream as the healing of her year old battlefield injury brought nothing but agony.
"Restrain her!"
With scratches on his face which had started bleeding into his eyes, John nevertheless continued healing as other servants helped restrain their master.
"NOOO! I HATE THIS!!!"
Restrained by several servants and Anastasia, Mari cried out as tears and snot stained her face, her expression transforming into one of pure hate directed at everything in the world.
"WHY CAN'T YOU JUST LET ME DIE!?"
Sitting by her sister's bedside, Anastasia still held her hand as she allowed silent tears to flow. Although it had been about an hour since Mari passed out in exhaustion as her treatment completed, Anastasia still couldn't forget her little sister's expression as she cried out in pain.
(Why can't I let you die? Because you're my beloved little sister, my sunshine.)
It had been just over a year since Mari had been injured in a fierce battle against monsters, but Anastasia still remembered the sight of Mari's bloody plate amour, she still remembered the blood curdling scream her mother had uttered when she learned Mari would never walk again, but most of all Anastasia still remembered her own sense of uselessness. No matter what she did, Anastasia couldn't help Mari, she couldn't ease her suffering.
"It's okay, you did the best you could."
At some point Anastasia's mother had appeared, she pulled her oldest daughter into a hug as she reassured her that this wasn't something she could control.
"... When did she start getting worse and not seeking help?"
Pulling herself together, Anastsia looked to her mom as she started asking tough questions.
"... About a month ago."
Remembering the sight of her daughter deathly pale, with blood running out of her mouth made her expression bitter, but Anastasia's mother still decided it was time for her other daughter to learn the truth.
"I didn't want you to worry, but Mari's condition is deteriorating. John said there's no path which leads towards recovery, and when I dragged the royal healer here she shared that conclusion."
Looking down at her daughters, one distraught with sadness and one she would soon have to bury, Anastasia's mother somehow managed to remain strong.
"Mari has reached a point where she doesn't want to suffer anymore."
A feeling of deep hopelessness seemed to overwhelm both Anastasia and her mother in that moment, as the two of them looked at Mari Anastasia realised she still hadn't tired everything.
Granted this last option wasn't preferable, there was no way Anastasia was ready to watch her little sister die.
"Mom… What would you do to cure Ma-"
"Everything. I would give everything and anything."
With steadfast determination only a mother could muster, Anastasia's mom hardened her face as her daughter's tone of voice had turned serious.
"I might have a way to save her… But it might mean turning our back on the kingdom."
"Then we shall do so with dignity."
At this point both Anastasia and her mother had reached a point where the methods no longer mattered, if there was a way to save Mari they would secure it.
Returning to her own room, Anastasia grabbed the backpack she used for personal effects when deployed as a knight captain and emptied it out onto her bed. As the pack's contents came spilling out, Anastasia's eyes immediately locked onto a metal necklace she had reluctantly accepted at the Rosewood dungeon.