"Simond," Mally, his big sister, called. Standing at 5,5 feet tall with a beautiful appearance, Mally looked at the short, little Simond and rubbed his head before she wrapped a bag of food in the kitchen.
Simond smiled as he looked up to his sister. He enjoyed being rubbed by her. She was kind and played with him a lot of times. And she was a powerful warrior as well, of which he really admired. Everyday, he would train with her in the art of sword. Yesterday, they went to the nearby river to hunt for some pigs, Simond wondered where they would go today.
She grabbed her sword made out of simple steel but there was Simond's name carved on the handle. He had played a prank on her and carved his own name there. Simond thought she would get mad, but she simply laughed it off.
"Where are we going, sister?" Simond asked excitedly.
"We are going to the river nearby, Simond. But we won't hunt for pigs because Levina is going with us."
Levina, his little sister who was six years old peeked from the corner of the door and smiled. She was a cute little sister and Simond loved her dearly. As a man and a brother of two, it was his dream to protect both of his sisters.
"That's good. We can train by the river all day."
Mally laughed. "You're still ten, Simond. No need to train every day."
"But I want to be a powerful warrior like you." Simond pouted and hugged her legs.
"You will be strong when you grow up. Even stronger than me."
"Really?"
"Of course."
Simond laughed. "At that time, I will protect you. We will fight in battle together. The three of us."
Mally smiled sweetly and lowered herself to kiss his forehead. "I am waiting for that day to come."
But it never came.
It never came.
That was because she died.
The front door opened with a soldier standing rooted with the dark storm filling up the sky behind him. Heavy rain poured upon the rooftop. Lightning flashed and thunder struck.
"Is this the family house of Mally Fairburne?" The soldier asked.
"Yes, that is true," his mother said. "How can I help you?"
The soldier went silent for a few seconds before taking a deep breath. "Your daughter died on the battlefield with honor." He took a sword wrapped in red cloth on his back and handed it to his father. "This is her sword."
Simond watched with widened eyes as his parents broke in tears. His sister had died? But sister Mally was powerful. A great knight that led a platoon of braver warriors on the battlefield. She did not die. She couldn't.
His father unwrapped the cloth, and shown on the handle was Simond's name. It was the same sword she used. She never replaced it with anything else. And that was when he realized that his sister had truly died. Tears filled his eyes and he couldn't contain them as they poured out of his eyes.
…
Simond opened his eyes as he lay on his bed. He felt like he had a dream of something earlier, but he couldn't remember. Most dreams went forgotten, so he did not think about it much. He stood up and went out of his room only to see a group of female soldiers from Red Rose Platoon coming out of The Jovial Harlequin.
He clicked his tongue and confronted them. "What are you women doing here?"
"It's you again," Mareona said. "Last time I didn't hit you hard enough. Are you going to ruin my date again?"
"But Mareona, we just finished our date."
"Shut up, Aldred."
Simond stared at them without fear even though he was alone. "This is the front line. I am telling you many times that you shouldn't be here."
"Why are you such a jerk?" Mareona asked. "So what if I am here?"
"The battlefield is no place for women. You all should quit being a soldier and stay home."
"I really want to kick your balls right now," Mareona said. "You think you can bully us all you want?"
"I am not bullying you. I am telling the truth. It's better for men to fight while women stay at home. You're weaker than us. One man can do better than ten of you on the battlefield."
Mareona grabbed his shirt and stared at him in the eye. "You fucker. Why don't we have a duel to the death right here now huh!? Let's see who's weaker."
Simond grabbed her hand with powerful strength. Mareona was shocked that the man could pry her hand so easily. She felt like her hand was being wrapped by a powerful snake, unable to move even by an inch.
"This is your proof." Simond released her hand. "Now go back to your home and never step foot in this place."
Aldred was annoyed by how arrogant the man was. "Hey, I don't think it's your place to tell women what they can and should do."
Simond looked at him. "You know nothing, boy. Grow some hair before you can talk to me."
"You want to see some hair?" Aldred pulled down his pants and showed it to him. "What about this? Satisfied now? Why don't you suck it as well?"
Mareona and the other women laughed. Aldred's thing was so small that they barely could see it.
Simond was not amused. "You're a man. Treat yourself with respect or you will regret it in the future, boy." He left the area and went to look for his men.
Aldred pulled his pants up, and snorted. "Some people are just plain bastards, aren't they?"
"Yes, they are," Mareona agreed.
"Why don't we go out of the fort and have some training sessions together?"
"That's a good idea," Mareona said. "What do you think, Bartrem?"
Bartrem sighed. Aldred was a gold rank which was stronger than him, so he felt like he shouldn't be the one who led the platoon anymore. In fact, if the army knew Aldred reached the Gold Rank, they should promote him to High-Knight and could lead up to 250 knights each with their own platoon. "We can train together if that's what you want. Though, I hope you won't distract my soldiers from their training."
"Such a disciplined man. No wonder you have a fierce reputation among the soldiers," Mareona said.
"How can my men survive without such training? They'd be dead in their first battle if not for that."
Aldred nodded. He had lived with them for a while now, and most of their time was spent on training and eating. That was it. They wore their armor, strap weights on their body and jogged around for hours. Aldred had never seen the other soldiers do that.
"We can train hard together," Aldred said.
Mareona nodded. "My girls seem to need a little harder exercise as well."
"I forgot to tell you guys," Mary said. "Remember when I said that the empress is sending a lot of her men here?"
Bartrem nodded.
"Well, great news, she will come along with them."
"That's good," Aldred said. "Maybe she can kick Pharder out of this fort."
"She can do that, but the result won't be good."
Aldred shrugged and looked at the system notification that he had been ignoring.
[You have entered Gold Rank. Processing reward…]
[Processing success. Please choose your reward]
[Shape shifting]
[Martial Art: One Punch]
[Magic Art: Gravity Control]
'Hmmm… Which one should I choose?'
