Claire stood behind the newly renovated mansion and crossed her arms over her leather chest plate.

She looked out over the massive dirt training field. Adrian had cleared out a large amount of space. It was wide enough to fit around a thousand soldiers if they just stood in a basic marching formation.

But true knight training was completely different from simple marching.

It required wide stances, deep lunges. It required broad, sweeping sword swings that needed at least a few feet of free space in every direction.

With four hundred and twenty four men, she wondered if this space was enough to train them properly. If they started swinging wooden swords blindly, they would end up cracking their neighbors in the skull.

’I need to focus on physical conditioning first.’ Claire thought as she measured the distances with her eyes. ’No weapons until they actually have the stamina to hold and train with them properly.’

The recruits got there early the next morning. All four hundred and twenty four men piled onto the dirt field, looking pretty anxious while they waited for instructions.

Claire checked out the crowd. That was when she spotted someone tiny walking right alongside the giant adventurers.

It was Aria and she had ditched her normal frilly dress. Instead, she just wore a plain white shirt and some boy’s shorts.

Honestly, Claire had no idea how to handle this.

Claire rubbed the bridge of her nose. She had spent years training full grown adults at the Royal Knight Academy. She had absolutely no idea how to train a five year old.

’Should I just let her play around in the corner?’ Claire thought. ’Or do I actually push her like the rest of them?’

She looked at the little girl’s determined face.

’I should be forgiving.’ Claire decided. ’I will just let her do what she wants and pull her out if she looks like she might get hurt.’

"Alright, listen up!" Claire shouted. Her voice echoed across the open dirt. "We are going to start with a run around the perimeter of this field. Do not stop until I tell you to!"

The men nodded and fell into a loose jogging formation.

Claire didn’t give Aria any specific orders, but the little girl immediately joined the back of the pack. Her short legs pumped as fast as she could manage as she tried to keep up with the massive men.

Then, something strange happened.

The teenagers, the middle aged men, and even the rough looking experienced adventurers noticed the tiny girl running beside them. A few of them looked down and smiled.

They purposefully slowed their pace down. They stepped aside and let Aria pass them so she could feel the thrill of being in the front of the pack.

"Look at the young miss go!" one of the younger men cheered.

"Don’t let a five year old beat you, you lazy bums!" an older adventurer laughed as he jogged alongside her.

The men started cheering for her as they ran. This strange chemical reaction infected the entire platoon. The soldiers felt a sudden surge of motivation. They puffed out their chests and ran even harder, keeping a steady, protective pace right behind their lord’s daughter.

The speed wasn’t exactly fast, but Claire simply watched them go. She decided not to stop them. It was excellent for their morale.

Aria kept running. She had the soul of a grown adult, but her body was still that of a fragile child.

Her lungs started to burn. Her small legs felt like blocks of solid lead. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

’I have to get stronger.’ Aria thought, gritting her teeth. ’I was hunted and killed in my past life because I couldn’t run fast enough and depended entirely on my magic. I won’t be a victim in this life... and I also have someone to protect this time.’

Thirty minutes passed.

Aria ran until her legs just stopped working. She fell forward and landed right in the dirt.

Two tall adventurers quickly stepped out of the line. They picked her up and brought her over to Claire. They placed her in the shade and then went right back to running.

Claire looked at the tired child in surprise.

She was afraid that Adrian would scold her for letting Aria run until she collapsed, but seeing the girl’s dedication changed Claire’s view of her entirely.

Back in the Knight Academy, trainers had to force the noble kids to run until they collapsed. It was never voluntary. Those kids always stopped the moment their legs started hurting.

It was the same for the children of knights.

But this tiny girl just ran until her muscles failed without a single word of complaint.

’She has the mindset of a true knight.’ Claire thought. ’I need to speak with Lord Adrian later and tell him that I with to take full responsibility for her training from now on.’

Claire looked at one of the passing runners.

"You! Go fetch the butler!" she ordered.

The man nodded, sprinted toward the mansion, and returned a minute later with Damian trailing behind him. Then the recruit immediately jumped back into the running formation.

"Bring me my medical supplies from my quarters," Claire told the butler. "The green pouches."

Damian bowed and quickly retrieved the items. Claire had asked her father to send these special herbs before she left home because Oresfall completely lacked proper medical supplies.

Claire mashed the leaves together to make a paste and sat down next to Aria. She scooped up the green paste which wasn’t exactly sticky and began rubbing it over the girl’s calves.

Aria frowned. "It stinks."

"It gets the job done," Claire replied simply.

Aria just let out a sigh. The medicine was actually cooling her tired muscles down so she didn’t complain anymore.

Claire grabbed a bit more paste and reached for her thighs. But Aria’s hand moved fast, grabbing Claire’s wrist to stop her.

"I will apply it myself," she said as she looked up at Claire, her expression unreadable.