Chapter – 05
Pirancheva lived in the Eastern Marquis’s mansion and saw his daughter, Elina, only once.
Pirancheva wanted to ask her if she had played Freedom back on Earth, but she held back, worried she’d be seen as strange.
And just a day after Pirancheva started living at the Eastern Marquis’s mansion, Elina packed her bags and left for the County of Ilya.
Pirancheva was curious about Elina, but there was nothing to be done, so she decided to satisfy her curiosity later.
After about a week at the Eastern Marquis’s mansion, Pirancheva underwent training and tests related to basic physical strength for learning swordsmanship and the fundamental qualities required of a swordsman.
Through these tests, those with weak physical strength were built up first before being taught swordsmanship. Furthermore, since wielding a lethal weapon like a sword and learning killing techniques was involved, it was also to confirm whether the person had a sound mind and a properly formed character.
These tests weren’t completed in a single day but were conducted over a week.
For Pirancheva, who was now seven years old, these tests were meaningless, but she took them diligently.
While taking the tests, Pirancheva didn’t do them alone but alongside other children. They were told that Pirancheva was the youngest son of Count Amand, meaning a commoner, not a noble.
She didn’t live in the Eastern Marquis’s mansion either but lived communally with the other trainees.
The Eastern Marquis suggested that since the training was tough, she should at least live comfortably, but Pirancheva declined and took the tests under the same conditions as the others undergoing training together.
After a week of tests, Pirancheva passed with excellent results among the children training together, becoming a trainee.
Becoming a trainee in the Lawrence Marquisate didn’t guarantee becoming a knight.
Only one or two among them would become knights, while most trainees would either remain in the Lawrence Marquisate as regular soldiers or leave the empire to wander as mercenaries.
It was widely known that becoming a knight in the Lawrence Marquisate was that difficult.
In Pirancheva’s case, she would train and learn swordsmanship with them, but upon reaching the age of 12 for academy admission—in five years—she had to leave the Lawrence Marquisate for the capital, Versailles, and enter the Versailles National Academy. Therefore, she couldn’t complete the entire process of becoming the Eastern Marquis’s knight.
So, Pirancheva trained with the other trainees during the day and received separate swordsmanship training from a knight during the evening rest period. Thanks to the Eastern Marquis’s consideration, she also had time to train alone in a private training ground.
Thus, Pirancheva, having entered the marquis’s household and undergone arduous training, could check the results she achieved through numerical values in notifications, similar to a status window.
*Character stats based on the growth system.
Strength: 5
Stamina: 3
Dexterity: 2
Agility: 2
Concentration: 4
Quickness: 2
Endurance: 8
Luck: 5
Charm: 9
After finishing her training, Pirancheva looked at her status window, but it was hard to definitively understand her condition from these numbers alone.
However, if she mapped her status window onto the system of Freedom, she could make some inferences.
“With stats like these, it’s probably equivalent to the abilities of a boy around fifteen to seventeen years old?”
Although Pirancheva was seven years old, considering the years she lived on Earth, her maturity beyond her years wasn’t strange.
“In this world, since the worldview is the same as Freedom, with these stats in the game, you could hunt one goblin, barely handle two simultaneously, but if three rush you at once, you’d definitely die.”
If she fought them one by one, she could handle any number, but facing multiple simultaneously was impossible.
“Then it must be the same here. Since nothing’s certain yet, it’s best to use Freedom’s data as a reference for now.”
In Freedom, players hunted rabbits, raccoons, etc., in the beginner village to level up and raise stats. Once Strength reached 5, they could equip armor and wield weapons.
Then, with the help of items, goblin hunting became possible, so she thought her abilities were similar to the strength a seventeen-year-old youth could muster.
“Creating a Danjeon would greatly increase my stats, but if I make one carelessly, my plans could be ruined, so I’ll hold off for now. I need to find the point of intersection, the common ground between magic and swordsmanship.”
The reason Pirancheva was convinced there was an intersection between the Mana Circle and Danjeon was that she believed both mages and knights used the same mana but were divided based on the method of manifestation.
So, she was confident there must be commonalities in using the energy called mana.
If this were a game, she could create it instantly with the system’s help, but this wasn’t the game world; it was the real world. Therefore, she had to understand it with her own mind and put it into practice with her own body.
“Still, I’m not completely unaffected by the system, so I can grow faster than the people of this world.”
Pirancheva thought about the order of what she needed to do and planned to put her plan into practice.
“I have to go to the academy at twelve, so I have about five years here to learn swordsmanship. During that period, I must find that ‘something’ that is the intersection of the Circle and Mana Hole, and then build a foundation that allows simultaneous use of magic and swordsmanship.”
This was Pirancheva’s five-year plan. After that, she planned to consider whether to go to the academy or find another way.
“I can do it.”
A determination to definitely find it flared up like a flame in Pirancheva’s eyes.
“Hey!”
Three months had passed since she began training.
Small changes had occurred among the apprentice trainees, namely, forming groups with like-minded people and dividing into factions.
There were thirty children training with Pirancheva, divided into four groups.
Nine children gathered around trainee Midorant, eight around trainee Chedrin, nine around trainee Simid, and finally, those like Pirancheva who didn’t belong to any group and silently focused on their own tasks. Divided thus into four categories, they were training to become knights.
During a short break after training, Midorant and his gang approached Pirancheva.
“You have something to say to me?”
When Pirancheva asked, Midorant spoke.
“Join our side.”
Pirancheva knew what he meant and smirked.
“If the Marquis or the knights found out we’re forming groups, we’d be in big trouble, wouldn’t we?”
“If we were going to get in trouble, we would have by now. You don’t think the Marquis or the other knights are unaware we’ve split into factions, do you?”
Pirancheva thought for a moment, then nodded.
“I guess so. Still, don’t think I’ll mingle with you guys. I don’t even have enough time for training itself. I’m not interested in hanging out in a group with you.”
“Are you in any position to say that?”
“I’ll handle my own problems. So, if you don’t want to be humiliated, back off!”
At Pirancheva’s words, Midorant bit his lip slightly.
“You little brat…”
“Doesn’t the older kid feel ashamed, forming factions and threatening a younger one? If it were me, I’d be too embarrassed to even speak.”
Midorant’s expression twisted.
“Anyway, I’m not interested, so good luck with that.”
Pirancheva turned her back and walked towards the training ground, raising the middle finger of her right hand.
“That bastard…”
Midorant, scowling, said quietly to the children around him.
“We need to teach that guy a lesson tonight.”
Since there were many eyes during the day, starting a fight risked getting expelled, so they decided to deal with Pirancheva at night and left.
After physical strength training, Pirancheva learned body techniques. Unlike martial arts using fists or feet, this was literally about learning to use body movements freely and comfortably.
‘I never thought Pilates would help with learning swordsmanship.’
Realizing the body techniques were similar to Pilates, Pirancheva learned them diligently.
Having exercised consistently while playing Freedom on Earth, she adapted well to the training here.
After the day’s schedule ended, dinner time arrived. As they gathered to eat, Pirancheva could see who was leading which faction.
‘Midorant, Chedrin, Simid, those guys are the leaders. And those three over there are like me, not mingling with any faction.’
There were three others who, like Pirancheva, preferred focusing on training over forming groups, and they were all adapting well to the training.
“Pirancheva.”
Someone from Midorant’s group approached and spoke to Pirancheva.
“I already told you clearly. I’m not joining your group.”
“Meet us in the backyard after you finish eating.”
“The backyard?”
“Yeah. If you don’t show up, imagine what we’ll do to you. If you don’t want to get kicked out with broken legs, you’d better come.”
Pirancheva made a displeased face.
“So, you’re threatening a seven-year-old kid right now?”
“Think whatever you want. Anyway, if you don’t show up, I can’t be responsible for what happens next.”
After saying his piece, he left. Pirancheva glanced at him once and continued eating.
“I actually had something I wanted to test anyway. This works out. Status window!”
A window displaying her ability stats appeared before Pirancheva’s eyes.
*Character stats based on the growth system.
Strength: 7
Stamina: 6
Dexterity: 4
Agility: 4
Concentration: 5
Quickness: 4
Endurance: 12
Luck: 5
Charm: 10
Although three months had passed, comparing the stats to before, the numerical increase wasn’t significant.
But these were just visible numbers; Pirancheva could feel she had become much stronger than before.
“Looking at this, it’s definitely different from the game.”
In Freedom, raising stats was easy in the early stages.
Stats increased quickly just by hunting monsters, but reality was different.
“With stats like these, I can definitely handle two goblins, so I shouldn’t be unable to deal with those little brats.”
That said, she couldn’t confidently guarantee she could win a fight against them right now.
While it definitely shared the same worldview as Freedom, she hadn’t confirmed if it was identical in reality, nor was she sure her body would move as it did in the game.
Above all, Pirancheva was only seven years old now.
Her stats were clearly those of a nineteen or twenty-year-old, but she knew better than anyone that her current physical body couldn’t handle more than one goblin.
“First, I need to test my abilities against the children.”
She had been training but had never actually fought. Well, she had fought with kids in the slums before training, but that was just a brawl, and her stats were negligible then, so she didn’t think that experience would help now.
“I probably don’t need to resort to magic yet.”
Although she hadn’t created a Mana Circle, she could manifest primitive magic.
Just showing them she could use magic would make them run away, but since her purpose here was swordsmanship, not magic, she decided to forget about magic for the time being.
“If I can easily subdue the children, I should be able to handle at least one goblin.”
Some might say one goblin was no big deal, but considering Pirancheva’s age, it was actually quite impressive.
“I hope they don’t disappoint me.”
They weren’t words you’d expect from a seven-year-old, but they felt somewhat natural coming from her.
“Well, if it doesn’t work out, I can just use magic.”
