A Day with Olivia and Cornelius
Leticia Castle in the Royal Capital of Fis
It was the morning after their triumphant return to the capital. Olivia had gone on a walk through the castle when she turned a corner in a corridor and ran into Cornelius.
“If it isn’t Major Olivia,” he said. “You’re up quite early. You must have slept well last night.”
“I did. The bed was so soft and comfy! Um, ser,” she added with a hasty salute. Cornelius smiled and returned her salute. If this had been Otto, he’d definitely have told her off right away. Whether you talked to Paul or Cornelius, the nice thing about grandpa generals was that they didn’t get hung up on formality.
Cornelius, meanwhile, ran his hand once through his white beard that reached down to his chest. Then, he asked if Olivia would take a turn with him. Olivia, who had only been killing time until breakfast anyway, agreed without hesitation.
They walked for a while, chatting about nothing in particular when Cornelius began nodding to himself as though he were impressed.
“What’s up?” Olivia asked.
“Ah, well...” he began. “I thought that, despite seeming entirely unguarded, you are in fact so ready to meet any attack it’s astonishing.”
“Huh,” Olivia said dubiously, looking herself over. “I don’t really think about it...”
“In that case, it must be—you were raised by an individual called Z, were you not, Major?”
“Yep, that’s right!”
“Z must have been an excellent teacher.”
Olivia let out a little laugh, smiling in spite of herself. Strangely enough, hearing Z praised made her heart swell with pride.
“Oops, here we are!” Cornelius exclaimed. He stopped, looking at the great door on their left.
“The training room...?” Olivia cocked her head as Cornelius slowly opened the door. No one was training so early in the morning, of course; the space was deserted.
Cornelius took two wooden training swords that stood propped against the wall nearby then tossed one to Olivia. Olivia had no idea what was happening, but she caught the wooden sword.
“Major Olivia. Would you go a bout with me?”
“With you, Lord Cornelius? I mean, I don’t mind...” Olivia replied. “It’ll be okay so long as I do my best not to injure you, right?” Her opponent was the marshal in charge of the Royal Army. Not only that, he was a grandpa, after all. Even Olivia understood that she mustn’t harm this man.
Cornelius chuckled. “You’ll try not to injure me, will you? Fair enough. I am over seventy years old, after all. I would appreciate you going easy on me.”
“Okay,” Olivia said. Cornelius, apparently enjoying himself, smiled as he raised the wooden sword to point it directly at her. Olivia was genuinely impressed. Every motion an opponent made, down to their stance, was a way to measure their skill, and Cornelius’s movements were thoroughly polished, even beautiful. That was to say, her opponent was a warrior of considerable skill. He might be a grandpa, but he clearly wasn’t called the Invincible General for nothing.
Olivia gripped her own sword, holding it at her side, and faced Cornelius.
“I’m going,” she told him.
“Any time you’re ready.”
Olivia kicked off, running in an arc to get behind Cornelius. He stayed perfectly still. She raised her sword to cleave at his side—
“Why? You could have counterattacked then.” Just before making contact, Olivia’s sword stopped. Cornelius lowered his own sword with a crooked smile.
“You mustn’t go overestimating this old man, now,” he said. “You were simply too quick. I didn’t have time to move.”
“Really?” Olivia asked.
“Really.”
Cornelius’s eyes had definitely been following her. Seeing something didn’t guarantee being able to respond to it, of course, but Olivia had caught a glimpse of something in Cornelius that made her think he was fully in control of the situation.
“Hmm. I’m not sure I understand, but oh well. Can we end the bout now?”
“I am satisfied,” Cornelius said. “I now understand exactly why the Imperial Army is so afeard of you, Major Olivia. Truly, the Royal Army has been given a treasure. Now,” he went on, “as thanks for humoring me, what do you say to breakfast together? My treat, of course.”
“Really? Yay!” Olivia exclaimed. The breakfast the leader of the Royal Army would enjoy was sure to be a feast. As Cornelius smiled gently at her, she tugged on his arm and pulled them away from the training ground.
To Olivia’s utter dismay, Cornelius’s special breakfast order turned out to largely consist of vegetables.
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