Thera sat down on the couch, sniffling; her bottom wasn’t sore anymore. It had been healed long since. But, the mental trauma was still there. She was also irritated at the three men who had chosen not to help her in her time of need.

Her mother had calmed down considerably since then.

“So, she was actually completely safe?” (Helen)

“Absolutely. I personally made certain of it. Besides, the ward stone wouldn’t let any of them within a three-yard radius of the stone. She was perfectly safe firing spells at them from within the safety zone.” The General assured her, using Thera's earlier words, as if he had been the one to plan everything out instead of Thera.

Typical of a military man. They excel at taking credit for someone else's hard work. Thera thought grumpily, still holding a grudge towards the man. Not only had he been the harbinger of Mother's Asura, he shamelessly used Thera's own words in front of her. he had forever lost any chance of earning Thera's respect.

“There’s only one thing I want to make sure of.” The General added.

He turned to look at Thera. “What spell did you use? They were all completely turned to dust by the time I recovered.”

Thera simply ignored him and sipped her tea. She knew better than to tell this shameless person. Who knew if he would just turn right around and claim her solution as his own?

"Thera?" The General asked again, noticing her change of mood. Had he done something wrong?

"Thera, I also wish to know. Can you tell me?" Margie asked.

Thera also ignored Margie. Her chatterbox of an older sister would only turn around and tell everyone, including this ungrateful person.

"Why won't you tell us? Come on, is it such a huge secret that you can't even reveal it to family?" Sir Maverick asked.

"While I would have been willing to tell you beforehand, I am no longer willing to tell you now." Thera finished her tea. "Even though I am still a child, I am not stupid. Why should I reveal my actions in front of shameless people?"

"Exactly who are you calling a shameless person?" The General asked, looking around the room to root out the obstacle.

Thera opened one eye and replied. "Whoever just spoke is the shameless person. Moreover, over half of the people in this room have earned my ire."

The General shut up, and sighed. It seemed he was right. Somehow, he had gotten on Thera's bad side.

Master Thales chuckled. It was as he had thought. Thera was holding a grudge.

"Oh come on, Thera! What have I ever done to earn your ire?" Margie asked, coaxingly.

Thera glanced at her. "You? Nothing. But you're a chatterbox that can't hold a secret even if you were slapped in the face with it. It is because you can't hold your tongue that I can't trust you."

"Ouch~ You've got me." Margie smiled and laughed lightly. She wasn't bothered, since Thera would surely tell her if she asked later-after the uninvited guests were gone.

"Surely, I wouldn't do such a thing! Why don't you just tell me instead?" Sir Maverick asked.

Thera raised an eyebrow. "Because you're even worse. Not only will you reveal everything, you'll go brag to the world about how your daughter performed such a feat. I wouldn't be surprised if you turned this day into a festival to commemorate!"

*cough cough* Sir Maverick choked, as Helen laughed loudly. "For someone who's been gone for five years, she knows you so well!" Helen teased.

"As for the maids and James, since they are father's subordinates, they can hide nothing from him. So I cannot tell them either." They all nodded completely understandingly.

"Oy, you people! You're supposed to be on my side!" Sir Maverick warned, feeling strangely alienated from them.

Thera placed her tea cup down. "And so, I r-ee-aa-lly don't feel like telling you anything."

"Wait, not even me?" The General asked.

"YOU MOST OF ALL!!" Thera scowled, then quickly withdrew to her play house, creating a barrier that forbade anyone entrance without her permission.

-------------------

It wasn't five minutes later that Helen and Master Thales followed her. As expected of intelligent people, they noticed the loophole in her words.

Noticing the barrier, Helen decided to try talking. "Thera, I remember hearing you say your reasons for not trusting Margie, the General, and your father. Yet I never heard you say your reasons for not trusting me or Master Thales. Could it be that you somewhat trust us more than them? Could you trust us enough to tell me and Master Thales how you managed to do such a thing?"

The reply came back. "Mother can come." The Barrier shivered as Helen was given permission to enter.

Master Thales called up. "What about me? Can I hear it as well?"

Thera, finally showing her face, looked down from the second floor window, and extended her index finger. "Upon one condition."

"Name it."

Thera narrowed her eyes. "The General is to be the last person in the entire kingdom to hear this story."

Master Thales laughed. "Done!"

The barrier shivered, allowing Master Thales to enter as well. Thera was quietly sipping freshly-brewed tea of her own making.

----------------------------------------------

“Oh that? I used [Heal] on them.” She replied.

Helen and Master Thales was unusually silent for the next few seconds.

“Stop joking, Thera, and tell the man what you really used.” Mother said, sternly.

“I’m not joking! Emperor-class vampire spiders aren’t vampiric for nothing! That very strain in their nature which makes them so bloodthirsty, also makes them extremely vulnerable to holy magic. [Heal] is the only holy light magic I know, at the moment, but if you used [Baptism]’s holy water, it would be just as effective, I’m sure.”

There was another long silence.

“Vampires are vulnerable to holy magic?” Mother asked.

“Yes they are- Wait…You didn’t know that?” Thera asked, confused.

Mother put her hand to her forehead, as if nursing a headache. Then she started laughing.

“Of course, of course! It all makes sense now!”

Thera was alarmed as her mother continued laughing for a long time.

When Thera's mother finally stopped, she spoke.

“It seems I misjudged you, Thera. I’m sorry. I thought you were jumping into the thick of things and trying to be a hero. I never imagined that you had grown up so fast as to be able to make logical decisions.”

Thera sniffed. “Fine. I forgive you.”

Master Thales, who had been quietly drinking tea this whole time, suddenly spoke.

“Well, for one so young, you sure are full of surprises, Thera.

The question of the Vampires’ weakness has been an age old problem. The king even issued a proclamation that whoever found the vampires’ weak spot, would receive one million gold coins.

While it wasn’t really a weakness, one man found out that vampires abhor the smell of garlic. Soon, every village and town was surrounded by bundles of garlic, and every villager was compelled to eat garlic at least once a day for ten years.

The lucky man received a thousand gold coins for his discovery of a counter-measure. If the edict is still in place, you may end up being the richest person in the kingdom, aside from the king.”

“Don’t even joke about that sort of thing! Didn’t I spend five years away from home in order to avoid garnering attention?!” Thera replied, flustered.

Crap. I won't be able to avoid the government this time! It looks like the future is going to be an uphill battle from here. She was certain to be invited to the capital, where the greedy nobles and officials would try to gain the upper hand over her. Ahead was a battle where, if she lost, she would becoem someone's subordinate-a detestable position.

“And now you’re out in the public eye, where everyone can keep an eye on you. Relax. As long as you don’t reveal your rank and class, no one will know that you’re the rumored genius. Actually, this is considerably safer. [Heal] is a low-level healing spell that even a child can do, so popular opinion will be that you just got lucky.”

Thales said, thinking that she was still worried about the undercover black Class factions that might still be on the lookout for her.

“I’m glad YOU’RE enjoying this.” Thera sniffed. The only thing she could do was appeal to receive a position or a title which wouldn't lose to the upper class nobles.

“Relax. Everything will be fine.” Master Thales sipped his tea. “Oh, that reminds me, Madame Rothema saw everything from her mirror. She sent you some ‘special’ extra homework."

After Thera accepted the magic bag-that seemed heavy despite its weight-reducing capabilities- Master Thales cleared his throat. “Now that that’s settled, I should go. It seems I need to make yet another report to the king. I’ll see you at the castle, Thera.” Turning away, he grinned, holding back his laughter.

Thera said farewell and watched him leave.

-------------------

After receiving Rothema and Mother’s three days of emergency etiquette training, Thera was fussed over so badly, that she almost went crazy.

It took all her willpower NOT to tear out the headache’s worth of pins stuck into her hair to hold up her fancy hairdo, and throw off her suddenly-high heels, which were made in the latest fashion.

She was met at the citadel’s gates with an open-air carriage to escort her by way of parade to the king. It rode up the main street, which was freshly strewn with flowers, behind the large music band made of drums and trumpets, heralding her arrival.

While this would have thrilled any ordinary person, for Thera it was just one big growing headache. Now that she was in a parade, her features were exposed. Well, actually, due to Helen's good makeup skills, she didn't really look like herself, so there was at least one bright side to it all. Still, she would have preferred not to be involved in all this ceremonial hogwash.

But, of course, she couldn’t say that, for it would be rejecting the hospitality of the kingdom. Then the nobles would start putting their heads together and question whether Thera were part of a political party-not that they wouldn’t already be doing that as they were trying to rope her in. Once it was clear she wasn't part of any faction, they would try to rope her to their side, threatening to expose her for being unpatriotic-or in their words "fomenting rebellion'.

Naturally, her procession wasn’t un-noticed by the people of the city, as they began to crowd together along the sides of the street to watch the parade. Consequently, thousands of eyes were upon Thera.

Having never knowingly been the focus of so many people at once before, in her life, Thera felt dis-oriented and rather dizzy. Thera placed all her hope upon her poker face that she had been developing for the eleven years of her second life, smiled and waved at the people she passed.

By the time she arrived at the castle, she sighed. Politics was the worst.

Of course, the castle was huge, and a smartly-dressed announcer led Thera to the Throne room, which felt like it was at least a mile away from the entrance, although, Thera was actually sure that it was much larger.

The large corridor leading to the throne room was richly gilded, and furnished with priceless portraits of the ancestors of the current royal family. A few were even strangely interesting, like the queen who wore an ornate eye patch.

When they reached the throne room, Thera inwardly moaned. OF COURSE every available noble in the kingdom had gathered for the ceremony. As soon as she walked in, there was a hushed chorus of whispering as everyone sized her up.

“Thera of Rose Manor” The announcer belted out, before leaving Thera by herself. She stood in the entranceway, looking once to her left, and once to her right, and then straight ahead.

She could hear snatches of conversation around the room.

“Thera of Rose manor”

“Oh, my! That’s the handsome Sir Maverick’s daughter, isn’t she?”

“I heard that she intercepted the village eraser.”

“Intercept? My dear woman! Not only did she intercept him, she also caused his death.”

“Oh? Do tell!”

“Is that little doll really all that?”

She took a deep breath and ignored them, choosing, instead, to count the number of guards within the room.

Altogether, there were two hundred visible armored knights lining the walls in the room, one hundred men who were proficient with a weapon, seventy-five plain-clothes king’s assassins-meaning they worked for the king, of course- fifty informants, and twenty-three spies from other countries within this very large throne room.

Thera had also spotted the General and Master Thales by the king’s throne, as well as Mr. and Mrs. Murlough among the nobles.

“Precisely the person I wished to see at the moment…Come forward, young magician.” A voice came from the back of the room. Thera focused her gaze on the man who sat upon the tall throne, and finally stepped out onto the rose-red carpet.

King Rheims was a rather elderly man in his late forties. Most of his hair was hidden by an ornate crown. A five o’clock shadow graced his jawline. He reminded Thera of her old mentor, with a patience and calm demeanor that was as tranquil as a lake whose surface had no ripples upon it; yet underneath slept a vast and terrifying power: a nightmare for those who disturbed its resting place.

Next to him sat the queen, a lovely beauty with soft brown waves of hair peeking out from a lace veil, upon which rested her crown. She watched the proceedings with apparent great interest, although there wasn’t really much to be interested in, according to Thera’s opinion.

Thera’s pace was neither hurried, nor slow, yet she arrived on the other end of that vast room somewhat quickly.

Once she arrived at the steps up to the dais, she stopped and made a low curtsy.

“Indeed, I hardly believed that such an amazing feat could be accomplished even by any one of my generals, much less a child just barely eleven years old. Yet, the report has been checked by means of a truth spell. Therefore, there can be no mistake.” He motioned to the General, who held a scroll in his hand.

The General cleared his throat.

“Thera of Rose Manor, for discovering the fatal weakness of vampires- and consequently of emperor class vampiric spiders, His Highness, King Rheims, has decided to honor his ancestor’s edict, and award you with one thousand, and six hundred gold coins.”

While they would have given Thera the full million, even if it emptied the royal coffers, Thera had explicitly refused to accept so much money, as it would only invite trouble from thieves and foment jealousy.

The nobles applauded, with another frenzied bout of whispering. The General cleared his throat again. The applause died down.

“Moreover, for apprehending and helping in the execution of the traitorous madman, Darwin: commonly known as ‘the village eraser’; His Highness, King Rhiems, has decided to bestow upon you a military title of your own choosing. Based upon your title, you will receive the mansion that is most appropriate for its image.”

The applause was deafening, as was the frenzied whispering behind the scene. While some would wonder why she was not going to receive the full million, the title would explain why the monetary reward was diminished.

Thera recalled what she knew of military titles. They were more decorations than anything else, given to people who accomplished great deeds for the kingdom. Yet, any person who had such a title was, by no means, weak. Each person was absolutely strong in one sense. It could be anything, anything at all.

The real prize was the mansion, as it was a sign of being one of the kingdom’s core members, second in rank only to the royal family.

The king had many mansions, and each was a symbol of his great power. To give one of his mansions away meant that he was also bestowing upon her a portion of his power. This was a privilege that not even a million gold coins could buy. It was also a sign of his express confidence in her abilities. Thera being a lower noble, this was one of the highest honors any noble could be given.

When the applause died down, Thera lifted her head, which she had bowed in thought.

“I wish to be known as Briar Rose.” She said.

“And so you shall.” King Rheims nodded, standing from his throne, he held out his hand towards a servant, who had come up swiftly from the side, bearing a sheathed sword upon a velvet cushion. Grasping the sword hilt, he drew it from its sheath.

It was a traditional two-handed sword, with a gilded hilt. The blade itself was unadorned, though, oddly enough. This caused the nobles to be somewhat surprised. Usually, a bestowed sword would have an inscription carved upon it in runes.

Thera herself was unaware of such a custom at the time.

“You may approach the throne.” King Rheims commanded.

Thera walked up the steps, and knelt on her left knee at the top of the dais.

He touched the flat of the blade on each of Thera’s shoulders, and upon the crown of her head while saying the following words:

“Thera of Rose Manor, daughter of Sir Maverick, I, King Rheims, hereby dub you ‘Briar Rose’. Your duties according to this name are to be wise, sweet and gentle towards the innocent, and to be just, dealing out punishment sharp as thorns to the guilty. This I bestow upon you, do you take it?”

The king held out the sword by the hilt, with the blade pointed down towards the floor. Thera rose to her feet, and grabbed the blade hilt below the king’s hand.

“It is accepted, my liege.” She said. And with that, the blade below the hilt began to glow, and change its shape.

Gasps rose up from the noble crowds. And one man cried out.

“It’s a magic sword!”