[NAME: Alexa Theresa von Wolgast]

  [TITLES: Holy Empress of Lotharingia, Grand Duchess of Wolgast, Defender of Perlenstadt, Hero of Lotharingia]

  [AGE: 19]

  [CLASS: Glyph Mage (Lv 25)]

  [MANAHEART STAGE: Reinforcement Stage, 5th Circle]

  [MAGIC CIRCLE MASTERY: Maximum (LV 15)]

  [STR: F + ]

  [CON: F + ]

  [SPD: E ]

  [DEX: E + ]

  [ACTIVE SKILLS: Rose Eyes Ω, Inspect II, Levitate II, Fly I, (Glyph Mage: Glyph Control VII, Boost Glyph I, Rapid Drawing II, Rune Scan III, Rune Dispel I)]

  [PASSIVE SKILLS: Civila Mandato Ω, (Glyph Mage: Improved Paper Glyphs II, Efficient Mana Channeling I)]

  Alexa smiled as she finished scanning her stats today. For the past two years, she had never gone idle in her pursuit of bettering her magic and her strength. Ever since the Battle of Perlenstadt and the war against Henry’s rebellion, it became clear to her how important strength was. Unlike most noble ladies, Alexa practically took lessons and training regimes comparable to that of aspiring knights.

  She practiced magecraft, swordsmanship, and other essential combat arts to better herself. Now, her body’s stats, alongside her magical capabilities, had been increased greatly. She even managed to gain a class, [Glyph Mage], before she was crowned. That class alone was a massive boon, as it unlocked so many useful skills for her.

  [Glyph Control VII] was now fully turned into an active skill, as not only did it allow her to know how to draw glyphs on paper and control their activation and deactivation, but it now also allowed her to control pens containing ink, alongside paper, and draw glyphs without even touching them. She could now use [Boost Glyph I] to amplify her paper glyphs with her magic circles’ mana, while [Rapid Drawing II] allowed her to speed up her drawing speed should she need more glyphs in an emergency.

  [Rune Scan III] was a powerful skill that allowed her to quickly decipher most spell and glyph circles once activated, and [Rune Dispel I] allowed her to break both glyph spells and actual spell circles created by mages, though there was still a lot of limitation on this one. She was already using it a lot whenever she went with Wilhelm, Alfred, and Phoebe on dungeon dives or demon hunting expeditions, where she could break spells or detect magical traps and disable them.

  Lastly, her two passive skills under the [Glyph Mage] class, [Improved Paper Glyphs II] and [Efficient Mana Channeling I], passively improved her glyph designs and her ability to channel mana into them should she need it. While she still indeed had a lot of room to grow…

  I’ve really come so far.

  She looked up at the training hall as she wiped sweat off her brow.

  Last week’s coronation had been too heavy for her. So much work was immediately piled on her desk that she could barely keep up with every task in the first week. While Wilhelm and his team fixed a great deal of issues plaguing the nation, Alexa still had so much work and cleanup to do. Not to mention…

  The demon horde.

  Her face darkened.

  This was why she resigned herself to training and practicing every weekend. While she was now the monarch of the nation, Alexa knew from reading the Iron Saintess novel that her final nemesis, the demon horde, wasn’t going to disappear any time soon. Technically, she could just send Phoebe alone to deal with them and eventually win.

  But Alexa knew it would be a nightmare for her close friend. She could not; no, she would not let Phoebe, the saintess, deal with it alone. It was why Alexa was preparing herself, so once she and her camp was finally ready to take on the fight against the demon horde, Alexa wouldn’t be a helpless damsel, like back during the Civil War, when she was almost fully reliant on everyone else’s strength to appear strong.

  She placed her sword, which she had been using, in its sheath. As she did, the door to her training room opened. Wilhelm von Eisen, her personal knight and most important advisor, practically her right-hand man, entered.

  “Alexa, I’ve been told that you’re here,” Wilhelm said. “W-wait, you’re actually…sorry…”

  Wilhelm averted his gaze, noticing that Alexa was in her training clothes, all sweaty. Alexa laughed lightly, shaking her head. “That’s why you shouldn’t get too comfortable opening doors around the palace.”

  “I didn’t mean…”

  Alexa calmly went for a chair in the training hall. It wasn’t actually a ‘training hall,’ more like a garden courtyard that she once used for leisurely reading whenever she was reading romance novels and the like. Bit by bit, she converted it into a dual-purpose room for herself. She used it to both study and practice magic, and sometimes, to swing her sword or run around.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

  As the future empress, she didn’t want to be a dainty weakling anymore, after all. She needed to get strong to protect everyone from the demon horde, and reading magic wasn’t going to be enough for that. Even Wilhelm, her knight, had been strengthening himself physically so he could match his brother Alfred, who was much stronger than him in physical terms.

  As Alexa took a sip from a canteen of water she left on the table beside her, she spoke up. “So, are you ready?”

  “That’s why I came here, yes.”

  Wilhelm steeled himself as he placed his hand on his sword’s pommel. “You know, having me as your sparring partner isn’t really that effective. I’m not a master at melee weapons.”

  “I know, but it’s just…” Alexa squirmed a bit. “Alfred is just such a scary teacher when it comes to this. It’s like he doesn’t know that I’m still nowhere as good as him.”

  “Well, that’s just how he is,” Wilhelm said. “He beats me up when he’s training me.”

  Both of their faces darkened. Since Alfred was the best at physical strength and swordsmanship amongst them, he had been the one training them all. Even Phoebe and Adele was receiving some lessons from the knight. Unfortunately, it was largely only Wilhelm that was keeping up with Alfred, considering Wilhelm was an actual soldier with great combat experience.

  Still, at the very least, Wilhelm was still no Alfred, and since he was ahead of Alexa, it was why she preferred having Wilhelm as her training partner. And so, she stood up.

  “But I’ve heard you beat him twice already,” Alexa smiled. “I’m sure I can learn a lot of things from you.”

  “It’s a bit weird being fellow students with you, but I suppose you’re right.”

  Alexa clapped. “Wonderful. Then, can I please have a few hours of training with you here?”

  “I already agreed to it,” Wilhelm chuckled a bit. “It’s an honor for me, Alexa.”

  +++

  “You two sure look like you’ve worked out too much,” Adele teased as Alexa sat tiredly on her office’s seat, her face winced. At the very least, since she had a bath, Alexa looked quite fine and clean. Still, Alexa could feel her muscles aching, and she wanted nothing more than a quick retirement to her bedroom to sleep.

  “Wilhelm hit me, Adele,” Alexa whined. “He’s such an ungentlemanly guy.”

  “You’re the one who invited me into that!” Wilhelm defensively countered, gritting his teeth. “Besides, it’s your fault that you insisted on us using actual swords. I’m not going to get cut when you’re getting all worked up after having a defeat streak.”

  Alexa pouted, crossing her arms. “As the Empress, I order you next time to let me win, just once!”

  “T-that’s…I thought you wanted to train to get stronger?”

  “But my ego is hurt now. It’s been months since I started practicing how to use a sword, and I still haven’t beaten anyone…” Alexa looked around, her eyes briefly landing on Adele. “Except for her!”

  Her lady-in-waiting’s face immediately darkened. “...Heh…heh, I’m really a mere stepping stone now, huh?”

  “A-Adele, I didn’t mean that!” Alexa cleared her throat. “I just meant…Wilhelm and Alfred aren’t letting me get any wins, is all. I’m feeling mighty unfine that my efforts aren’t leading me anywhere yet.”

  “...I’m still behind in everything.” Adele looked like she wanted to disappear as she laughed lightly to herself. “I guess at least…I’m the best at paperwork.”

  Alexa was now on the verge of tears as she continued trying to soothe Adele instead of her original goal of complaining to Wilhelm. “Adele, please, know that you’re always the most important in the team. Without you, I wouldn’t be able to sleep early in the night.”

  “Yeah, yeah…” Adele sadly patted the stacks of paper on Alexa’s desk. “You’re right.”

  “Anyway,” Wilhelm spoke up, breaking the melodrama between the two. “I’ve finished the talks earlier with Defense Minister Hindenburg. He told me that they really desperately need a surcharge in their budget soon. Things aren’t looking good in the front.”

  Adele regained her serious demeanor rather quickly, sighing a bit to herself. “I’ve already talked to people from the new government. They say that the empire still does not have enough resources to spare for any increase in the budget. In fact, we’re still trying hard to pay down our debt.”

  “That’s our major headache,” Alexa said, as she leaned back on her seat with a resigned exhale. “I really thought that Philip would at least leave us with a good financial situation before resigning.”

  Wilhelm finally took his seat on one of the comfortable chairs in Alexa’s room, relaxing his feet as he rested his back on it. “It is what it is. The reforms weren’t exactly cheap. Chasing all the corrupt officials in the empire, prosecuting them, and jailing them—all that costs money too. Even the damned election was expensive as all hell.”

  “Well, it was in the treaty,” Alexa said. “We couldn’t exactly just not do it.”

  “Still, setting up everything to let millions of people vote strained the Imperium’s logistics and administrative capacity,” Wilhelm said. “We simply don’t have enough bureaucrats, staffing, and money for all the new policies we have in place. Worst is the fact that many in the nobility have been evading taxes for two years now.”

  “Yeah, that’s a pain,” Alexa said. “And unlike Philip, we can’t forcefully enact whatever we wish anymore. The emergency laws he passed are now gone.”

  “Until we’ve dealt with the demon horde, until we’ve stabilized everything, the first few years of my reign won’t be an easy one, huh?” Alexa asked, as she looked to her side. The peaceful countryside outside of the Monile Palace was a serene, peaceful sight. Yet, she knew that now, her nation wasn’t fully out of its difficult times.

  She held her armrest tightly. “We cannot stay idle, after all…”

  She opened up her stat window again.

  [STATE OF THE HOLY EMPIRE]

  [THE PEOPLE’S APPROVAL RATINGS]

  [CIVILIAN SUBJECTS: -20/100 (+25) NOBILITY | 0/100 (+25) CLERGY | 20/100 (+30) COMMONERS | -90/100 (+30) SLAVES]

  [MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS: 45/100 (+25) ROYAL GUARD | 15/100 (+25) IMPERIAL ARMY | -55/100 (+30) DEFENSE FORCES]

  [ECONOMIC INTEREST GROUPS: -20/100 (+25) LANDLORDS | 5/100 (+25) BURGHERS]

  [CULTURAL INTEREST GROUPS: 10/100 (+25) THE FAITHFUL | 0/100 (+25) INTELLIGENTSIA]

  [POLITICAL INTEREST GROUPS: 0/100 (+25) REFORMISTS | -30/100 (+25) OLD GUARD]

  “We’ve made quite a lot of enemies in my rise to power.”