It was brought to my attention, some time ago, that maybe the subtle meaning of the change from Yvonne to Lia was too subtle. The meaning was Abigail's closeness to her, and when she began to call Yvonne "Lia," she was considered as a close friend. I'm saying this cause in this chapter there will be another change, but it does not refer to the relationship between Lia and Abby or Lia and someone else. It's the shift of Lia's focus in Hyria, from only to herself, defined by the fact that I rarely used her in-game name, to the whole world (more or less lol), meaning I'll start to use Aisha instead of her real names, just like with Matagi, Electra and Atlas.

As I was writing this notes, I decided to not end this second part with the meeting between Lia, Abigail and Elisabeth at Crassie, instead I'll incorporate and modify what I had planned for the beginning of the third part, otherwise the first and second part would have too much in common~

That's all the hints you get. Also, as promised, here are Miranda's image(s) and theme song:

Spoiler :

And more or less this is how she is in-game:

Spoiler :

Sadly, I didn't find translated lyrics for her song.

Lia and Matagi entered the Swordsmen's Atelier, making some people turn their head for a second, before going back to practice. Only one person didn't stop looking at them, instead, she also began walking toward them. Her manner of walking and aura quickly gave away the fact that she was the instructress of this atelier. As she reached the two girls, she began speaking.

"Hello ladies, interested in becoming a swordswoman?"

Lia remained impassible, just staring at her, while Matagi quietly took out an envelope from her inventory and replied

"No ma'am, we're here to deliver a letter to the instructor of this Atelier, Mrs. Melinda; could it be you?"

Melinda nodded, raised her eyebrows and extended her hand. Matagi quickly handed the letter over and with an expectant look she observed the instructress' changing expressions as she read the content of the envelope. When she seemed to have reached a conclusion, she sighed, closing her eyes, remained silent for a little and then looked directly in Matagi's eyes before asking

"Are you ready for it?"

Matagi smiled brightly while saying "Yes!" and nodding profusely. Melinda's eyes rested on Lia and then back on Matagi

"You do know that the request's only valid for you, right?"

"..AH."

Matagi was shocked by her mindlessness and worriedly looked at Lia, who was maintaining her usual calm.

"Don't worry about me. I'll wait for you."

Matagi jumped on her friend, almost causing them both to fall, and hugged her before she realized what she was doing. Matagi embarrassedly left her side while muttering

"I.. I'm sorry, you were just so cute I couldn't help myself eheheheh~"

Lia just nodded saying "Just send me a message when you're done." before turning around and leaving the atelier. Matagi faced Melinda once again

"When do I start?"

"Now. Follow me."

She followed the instructress to a door at the end of the training ground, inside was a wide room with wooden walls and a floor that closely resembled a tatami. There was nothing but two katanas in their scabbards, positioned at the center of the room. Melinda closed the door, took off her light armor, leaving her with just a shirt and long spats, and headed toward the two swords of the ground. Matagi followed her and once they were in front of each other, Melinda passed her a katana. As soon as she took it, a message popped up in front of her

Event Unlocked: The Chosen PathYour incredible swordsmanship impressed the instructor of Thyw's Swordsmen's Atelier enough to let you meet with an old acquaintance of his, Melinda. She has been following the path of the sword since she was able to hold one, just like her parents before her, and their parents before them. Melinda's family has been serving the King since time immemorial, their only goal to follow him till death, following his justice and furthering their abilities for him. You will be taught not only their sword techniques, but also their code of virtues.Effects:You will change class at the end of the trainingYour health, stamina and satiety will not diminish during this eventNo skills or magic allowedYour sense of time is distortedAll outside communication is blockedIf you log out during an exercise you will have to restart it

Dismissing it, both Matagi and Melinda took a stance and stared at each other. Some instructors, to further improve their disciples, would use weights, attaching them to various parts of the disciple's body. Matagi quickly realized they weren't going to use such crude methods, as the ominous presence of Melinda was weighing her down just like she was under a stronger gravity or had weights tied to her arms, legs and torso.

Sparring, sparring and sparring. Matagi did not know much time had passed, but it had felt like two weeks of non-stop fighting. Her body was theoretically still able to keep up with the training, but the strenuous exercise had began to eat at her mentally. Landing on the ground for the nth time, her chest quickly moved up and down as she panted.

"Take a rest, you've finished the first part."

Hearing those words, Matagi closed her eyes and wondered 'When was the last time I heard her voice?'

Thinking back, she noticed the instructress had been increasing steadily her presence, just barely so that she wouldn't have noticed, as she would just continue to feel like the first time she felt such an overwhelming aura. Having rested enough, she got up and she barely managed to remain so.

Melinda once again increased her oppressing aura, but this time it wasn't so imperceptible, she doubled the pressure. While staring at each other once again, trying to know their opponent's next moves, to plan ahead and be a step further toward victory, Melinda sprinted toward Matagi, who expertly parried the attack she expected. What she hadn't expected was that Melinda began to speak as they exchanged blows

"Courage. Do not let fear control you, use it as a guide to better yourself and defeat any opponent. Do not hesitate, your mind must be strong. Do not let others intimidate, you must follow only your Master's orders."

Without noticing, as the two continued to spar, a "勇 [Yū]" appeared on Matagi's neck. After a while, Melinda spoke again

"Rectitude. Your actions shall always follow your Master's ideals."

Causing this time to make a "義 [Gi]" to appear. This repeated for another five times, but the two never stopped fighting:

"Honour. Your honour is also your Master's honour. Always keep you head held high and never disgrace yourself."

"名譽 [Meiyo]" appeared.

"Respect. Life is precious, do not ridicule it."

"禮 [Rei]" appeared.

"Honesty. Lies taint the sword."

"Honesty. Lies taint the soul."

"誠 [Makoto]" appeared. Strangely, as she said that, Melinda's voice was overlapped by her own, with a phrase that was exactly the same except for one word.

"Benevolence. Help those in need."

"仁 [Jin]" appeared.

"Loyalty. Devote your soul and body to your Master."

"忠義 [Chūgi]" appeared, closing the string of Kanji encircling her neck. After glowing slightly, they returned to their original black color.

Opening her eyes and standing up, Matagi wondered when had she lost consciousness before Melinda interrupted her thoughts

"Congratulations, you've passed the training."

Your main class is now: Bushi

You have one week to choose either a Player or an NPC to serve. After you pledge your loyalty to them, you will be able to use the skills obtained with this class.

If you fail to find someone, you will earn the title "Rōnin," leveling your character and your skills will become harder but your class' skills will still be unlocked.

Stats "Fame" and "Notoriety" changed to "Honour."Depending on the nature of your chosen Master, fame could lower your Honour while notoriety could raise it.

Note: if the "Honour" stat reaches -100 or you break any of the other six virtues, you will receive the same penalties you suffer upon dying, though without actually dying. You will continue to receive this punishment once a week until your "Honour" stat goes back to 0.

You can now only use katanas as a weapon.

Affinity with Humans increased by 5%

Due to your connection to a player favored by this territory's Gods, and the fact that you obtained an hidden class which originated in another territory,

you annoyed the God of War Ares.Affinity with Ares decreased by 3%

Some extremely devoted followers of Ares could start persecuting you if they learn of such a thing.

The effects of the event "The Chosen Path" are now over.

When Matagi finished reading all the notifications, she prepared to leave, eager to meet her friend again, but Melinda wasn't done yet

"One last thing. If you are interested, I can introduce you to the King and see if he lets you be his protector."

Matagi shook her head and walked out of the room saying

"No thank you, I already have someone in mind~"

Once outside the Atelier, she noticed that it was barely dawn. Opening her friend list, she quickly checked if Lia was still online and contacted her when she saw she was still playing.

"Aisha, let's meet up in front of the fountain of Dionysus."

And with that Matagi calmly reached there, sitting on the edge of the fountain while waiting for Lia, who arrived a bit later. As they sat side by side, Lia told her how she went around learning the layout of the hunting grounds near Crassie and that she dinged level 69, while Matagi described her training, the various skills she acquired with it, that she was still level 56 but she obtained a hidden class.

".. But my class requires a Master/Lord, you know, just like how long ago the samurai served under a lord or something. I was thinking, Aisha, would you mind if I registered as my Lord? ..Well, Lady."

Aisha stared at her for a moment before replying

"..If that's what you want, go ahead."

Matagi smiled and took Aisha's hand, signaling her to stand up. Once she did, Matagi knelt in front of her and recited

"I pledge to become Milady's peerless sword, unmoved by anything, living or not, I shall open a path for my Mistress to walk on.

With this, I ask of the Lost One to acknowledge my vow."

The kanji on Matagi's neck glowed white for a few seconds before changing color. This time though, the kanji were not completely black, each character's strokes were alternately white and black, with two parallel purple strings all at the same position on each kanji.

Matagi raised herself from the ground at looked at Aisha in the eyes,

"So, would you like to come to my house this sunday?"