Laura S. Arseid

"Regardless of one's background or social standing, one should always be able to live with pride in him or herself. Thus, if you truly did make light of yourself and your own abilities, that is an act of shame for which you owe yourself recompense."

- Laura to Rean Laura S. Arseid is one of the main protagonists of the video game tetralogy The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel. She is the daughter and only child of Victor S. Arseid, Viscount of Legram and warrior known as the Radiant Blademaster. A diligent student of the sword who seeks to perfect her craft, she ends up joining Thors as a way to improve her skills. As heir to the Arseid family, she is a practitioner of the Arseid school of swordsmanship and in combat uses a great sword much like her father.

She is voiced by Mariya Ise in the Japanese version and Marisha Ray in the English version.

Appearance
Laura is tall for her age and gender, standing at roughly the same height as Rean, making her the tallest female member of her class. She has long blue hair that she always keeps tied back in a ponytail. She wears the standard Thors Military Academy uniform in the first game.

In Trails of Cold Steel II, she wears a formal jacket, lengthy black socks, knee-high laced boots, shorts, various shirt layers with a button black vest.

Personality
Laura is known at the Academy for her pride, dignity and composure. She is not easily provoked, and tends to take everything in her stride, making it noteworthy when she is bothered by something. She is single-mindedly determined to do everything in her power to become stronger. She views every new challenge and encounter as an opportunity for her to learn and become a better swordsman, joining Class VII simply because she liked the idea of a greater challenge. She values friends such as Rean, a fellow student of the sword, for the opportunity to grow as swordsmen together, and respects anyone who shows great strength.

Besides training to get stronger, Laura also enjoys swimming, being a member of the Swimming Club. She describes it as a habit of hers, as she would frequently swim in the lake back in her home Legram. She doesn't even mind swimming during the winter, saying that while the water may be cold, it also makes for excellent training. She is taught by her father to think outside the box, as there are other ways to improve her strength than practising with her sword all the time. In addition to being very strong, Laura is also a very capable student, ranking 17th out of the entire academy during the midterm exams.

Due to her determination to become as strong as possible, and her upbringing as a noble, Laura can sometimes come across as overly formal and intimidating. However, this is not her intention, and she shows a willingness to teach and become friends with those weaker than her, such as Monica. whom she teaches to become a better swimmer. Laura also completely lacks the arrogance generally found in nobles, Jusis included; she is very kind and polite, never thinking any less of her commoner classmates and generally treating everyone she meets with equal deference. In general, she believes that regardless of one's upbringing or social status, one should be able to live with pride in both themselves and the path they have chosen. As such, she dislikes it whenever someone expresses doubt in their own abilities, like Rean does initially.