Monday, five days before the School Competition.

“What nice weather today as well. Let’s hope we have it all month long.” Andrew rode his bicycle as he made his way toward his campus. He was studying at the Abilities Research Institute as his life goal was to study the abilities and make progress in this stagnant field.

He maneuvered around his fellow students to reach the part of the school where he had a lecture. As the Abilities Research Institute (ARI for short) was relatively small, the students were sharing buildings and amphitheaters with other schools. Well, they still had their own dedicated facility.

Andrew arrived at his destination and got off from his bike. He locked it at the nearest bike rack. With swift steps, he entered the building in front of him and climbed the stairs. As he was walking in one of the corridors leading to a turn, he had a thought. ‘Oh right, if I remember correctly-’

“CHASEEER!! YOU PIECE OF JUNK! GIVE ME BACK MY GODDAMN MONEY!!” BAM!

‘...Rachel should have a lecture around here too.’ As he turned the corner, Andrew witnessed the scene of a faint-blond haired girl giving a roundhouse kick to a vending in the open space.

The girl seemed to be of the same age as him. She was dressed rather fashionably in a light jacket over her bluish shirt. A jean shorts guarding her lower body of any accidents as she raised her leg to deliver her blow to the lump of metal and technology. Her long hair swayed before dropping due to the lost momentum.

The people around gave her a shocked expression. Still, they had to go to their respective classes, so they had no time to spare for someone who got their money swallowed by a vending machine.

The angry girl seethed as she saw her blow did nothing to her opponent. She then closed her eyes and calmed down. When she was silent, her delicate features stood out. From her rosy lips to her thin eyelashes. Regardless, the painting was ruined the moment she opened her mouth again. It looked like she reached a definitive conclusion. “Alright! I going to blow you up!”

“No, you won’t.” Andrew approached and lightly head chopped the girl that was around the same height as him. However, rather than being angry, the girl smiled upon seeing him.

“Ooh, Andrew! You have something here too!”

“Yeah. Here take this. It might not be as cold as what you could get from the machine but it’s better than you destroying it.” Andrew also smiled and took out a small bottle of ice tea from his bag.

The girl, Rachel Adams, grabbed the bottle and began to drink it. After emptying half of it, she exclaimed. “As always you’re a lifesaver! You always have something to drink or eat for me.”

Andrew smiled faintly as he grabbed the girl’s bag that was on the ground. “I had enough experience with my little sister. Whenever we would go outside, I was the one in charge of taking care of her snacks. Even if she started to distance herself from her brother since she entered high school, I still have this habit.”

The two of them began to walk among the flow of students. Rachel was playing with the bottle by tossing it in the air and catching it as it fell. “Your little sister, huh. You mentioned her a lot before but I never had the chance to meet her. How is she doing since she went missing and came back?”

“A lot better. Still, I think something changed about her. It’s hard to put it into words, but it’s like the air around her. It’s like looking at a mature adult in the shape of a teen.”

“Hmm, is that so.” Rachel pondered upon hearing those words. She recollected everything she heard about Andrew’s little sister. As if she was a genius who reached enlightenment, she bumped her fist in her palm.

“Maybe she already done it with her gir-”

“Don’t you dare finish this sentence of yours, please. I don’t want to imagine my little sister doing this even if this is with Sanya. Besides, she is still too young for this.”

“Hahaha, I’m kidding. Just kidding.” Rachel waved her hand to brush off her half-serious remark. She then grabbed Andrew by the arm and giggled.

The sudden change of pace and turn of actions made Andrew’s heart skip a beat. He looked on the side with a surprised face. “W-What?”

“It’s just you are quite the lucky man recently. Your sister returned safely to home, the facility approved of you helping the management of the School Competition with the reason being that you want to see up close other abilities. You also got yourself such a beautiful girlfriend. Everything in less than a month.”

Andrew was motionless for a few seconds, but he soon smiled faintly. It was true that the past couple of weeks seemed like a blessing. “You might be ri-”

“FUHAHAHA!! What beautiful girlfriend?! You are just a gorilla in disguise!”

“...Okay, that’s it. Today I kill a pervert who fantasizes about lesbians.”

“It’s called yuri, you little dumb.” When the couple turned, they were faced with a grinning youth glaring at Rachel. His spiky ruffled blond hair swayed along with the red earring each time he took a step forward. Soon the man named Hayden Carter arrived next to them. He and Rachel kept glaring at each other, but no real hostility was present on their expression. It was just two friends bickering at each other for fun.

“Yuri this, yuri that. You just want to look at teenage girls, you disgusting boot-leg golden S*nic.”

“The hell you just said, failed Pik*chu. Can’t even use Discharge and act so high and mighty.”

“Wanna have a go?!”

“Bring it on! I will even skip the first lecture to teach some respect. Be grateful!”

The two grabbed each other by the collar and began to drag themselves toward a door leading outside. However, before they were able to do anything a pair of hands landed on their shoulder. The two of them stopped in their progress. “...Nobody is gonna skip anything. You really think I gonna let you fool me again. I know the two of you hate project management courses, but unless you want to fail this year you have to go.”

““...Tch!”” The two rascals clicked their tongues at the same time. They had been caught. Still, they raised their voices in protest. The first to speak was Hayden. He gritted his teeth and looked at Andrew in plead.

“Please, man! It’s more than boring! The teach has his eyes glued to the slides, reading his notes. I bet he didn’t even notice that half of the students were not even here.”

“Yeah, yeah!” Rachel on the side raised her arm in agreement

“Plus I have to take care of this annoying dumb! She starts to sleep the second after the lecture begins. She even snores! I can’t!”

“Yeah, Ye--The hell you just said?” Rachel stopped cheering and turned with a blank face in Hayden’s direction. Her eyes narrowed, giving off a dangerous glint.

Andrew sighed and smiled wryly. It was not like he could not sympathize with his friends here. The project management lecture was famous on the campus to be free time in the schedule. As such, students would either come at the start of each lecture to get the sheets then leave or create a group where each member would alternatively go at one lecture to sweep up enough copies of the materials for the whole group.

Even so, it was no excuse. Andrew was the type to think there was something to learn from anything at any time. Even if it was a single minute out of the entire lecture, it was fine as long as it was worth it. He didn’t expect his friends to follow his philosophy, but there was still a test at the end. Hayden was fine even if he skipped. He was quite smart on his own and he generally scored nearly perfect in his main subjects. However, the same could not be said for Rachel…

“Er, why are you looking at me like I'm hopeless. Hey, answer. At least say something!” Rachel pointed at herself as she cried out like she had been wronged.

Regardless, Andrew just sighed and leaned close to Hayden’s ear with a low voice full of resignation. “...It’s the first time the two of us have completely different courses. I can’t watch over her this time, so please.”

Hayden also sighed out as he glanced with the corner of his eyes at the girl. “I got it, I got it...It’s very a mystery how she even got allowed into college.”

Rachel unable to watch it anymore interrupted them. “Hey! Hey! You’re bad mouthing me, right?”

“Anyway, let’s go.” Andrew turned his heels around as to escape his fuming girlfriend. The other two followed as well.

A few seconds later, Hayden spoke up calmly. “Oh right, has your sister totally recovered since she came back home?”

“Yeah, everything went back to normal. She even seems more energetic than before. She was already kind of tomboyish before, but it amplified since then. She even began to call me ‘big bro’.”

“Mmh” Hayden slowly nodded a few times in silence.

Another moment of silence passed before he once again spoke up. “I was thinking...the next time she brings home her girl, can I come over?”

“...”

“...Woaaah.” Rachel grabbed Andrew and got a bit away from Hayden with a look of disgust on her face.

“W-What kind of reaction is that? I’m just asking. Just asking, you know?” Hayden scratched his head while averting his eyes. Meanwhile, Andrew's face was blank as he thought about how to answer.

In the end, he looked at Hayden in the eyes. “Hayden.”

“Yes?”

“You’re a good guy. We’ve known each other since high school. Even if you sometimes spurt random strange things, I always thought of you as a close friend.”

“Y-Yeah?” Hayden was bashful to receive such words out of nowhere. Still, he waited. Then Andrew delivered the finishing blow.

“That’s why I don’t want to visit you in jail.”

“...”

“...Pff.” Rachel grabbed her belly as she restrained herself from laughing.

Andrew was obviously joking. He knew his friend was not this type of person. The main reason he didn’t reveal any information about his sister, not even her name was to prevent any type of attention. It was still unknown what was the motive behind her running away from for a whole week.

That is why he was reluctant to introduce his friends to her.

Soon after, the group reached their parting point. Andrew gave a thumb up toward the disheartened Hayden who weakly did the same.

/----/

* w *

“...This is bad.”

Talia muttered as she glanced at the map in front of her. She was clad in iron armor with a deep-blue insignia of a dragon on it. However, the sturdy armor was not enough to hide the nervousness that was clouding her face.

Other figures stood next to her in this dim-lighted room made of cobblestones. Two to be exact. One was a brown-haired girl wearing a black mage robe with a purple flower on it. Her natural nervousness seemed amplified by the situation. This girl, Zesty was trembling as she held closer her wand to her body.

The other figure was holding her chin as she looked at the map with a carefree expression. She was petite with an armor made of leather and a wide pirate hat with a feather on it. A big yellow cat symbol was embroidered on her back but it was partially hidden by her flowing black hair. Two crude pirate guns were hooked on her belt. That girl, Ellen whispered after thinking for a long time.

“We’re screwed, right?”

“Hawawawa--!”

“...The situation is quite hard, indeed. The Golden Bread Nation took over the entire northern region and the western mountains. They also took over the maritime pathways, leading to a shortage of supply. The reinforcements are trying to break through the enemy, but it seems they can’t even make a move without being noticed. No matter the terrain, there will always be a trap waiting for them.”

Talia frowned as she kept looking at the map. Due to the meticulous and cunning actions of the Golden Bread Nation, she was forced to such a corner that she had to ally with the Yellow Cats and the Kingdom of Flowers, who were originally foes.

At first, when she just rose to the throne, things were not like this. Her country, the Azure Empire occupied over 50% of the continent, making her the first power in the world. Her army was easily the strongest that could be deployed. The most noticeable force was the Dragoon Squadron feared across the lands for its might. It was made up of wyverns tamed by the finest knights of the empire. Their strength was literally the reason the empire was an empire.

However, everything changed one day. On this fateful day, one of Talia’s minister proposed to form an alliance with one of their neighbors using marriage with the first princess as the method. Of course, Talia flatly refused, but both the neighbor country and the ministers continued to push forward the idea. This stubbornness almost got the best of Talia as she was about to make a law to prevent anyone to mention this proposal in front of her ever again.

However before she was able to make such a tyrannical law...the neighbor country got wiped out. In the span of a week, the whole royal family was either executed or imprisoned. An investigation showed the reason was a sudden coup d’état by the army commander.

At the moment, Talia had not thought too much about it. The problem was that things began to spiral out of control very fast. More and more countries started to fall and even provinces of the empire asked for their independence. With uprisings here and there, Talia had to command the army on several fronts. In normal circumstances, a few weeks would have been enough with the Dragoon Squadron.

Yes, it should have been easy. Only if an ancient dragon didn’t show up and commanded the wyverns to follow it to conquer back its lair in another continent. Following this, the Azure Empire quickly became reduced just to a kingdom. Still, this was not the most shocking matter for Talia.

The now-independent lands started to merge with one small country named the Golden Bread Nation. In less than two months it became the biggest nation on the continent, swallowing pieces here and there. The one called the Golden Queen launched a full-out offensive against the remaining countries with for objective to be the sole ruler of the continent.

The now Azure Kingdom had to cooperate with the potential allies. The sole independent nation, the Kingdom of Flowers and a group of pirates, the Yellow Cats.

Talia recalled the past with a bitter expression. Nevertheless, her eyes were still glued on the map trying to come up with a plan. Just as she was about to ask Zesty if she could perform a ritual to maybe reverse the situation or ask Ellen if she had a way to help with her fleet…

“Y-Your Majesty!” A knight slammed the door open and cried out to Talia. The blue-haired girl frowned and turned her face in his direction.

“What is it?”

The knight’s complexion was far from being the best. He looked like he had a nightmare. However, the years of training and discipline (though he didn’t knock before entering) allowed him to explain the situation. “The Golden Bread launched a piercing offensive against our frontline and breached out! They are marching toward here!”

“What?!” Talia opened her eyes wide in shock. She quickly ran toward the nearest wall of the fortress she was staying in and climbed to stand next to her soldiers on the allure. A crowd began to form as they watched on the horizon. Far in the distance, columns of smoke were rising and loud explosive sounds resonated indicating the use of cannons.

Ellen and Zesty soon joined Talia and upon seeing the situation looked up at Talia. “What are we going to do?”

Talia clenched her teeth in frustration as the noise caused by the cannons began to die out. “...I don’t know.”

Shortly after, the faint sound of marching began to resonate. Inside herself, Talia knew that an unstoppable wave was coming to trample on the remains of what she had. For the first time in a long time, she felt powerless. Nevertheless, she gathered her courage and raised her head to the nearby troops. “Listen brave soldiers! The battle has still not ended! Raise your arms to avenge your fallen comrades!”

Her words were like a gunshot near the ear. It woke up the dazed soldiers and knights. Here and there shouts filled with braveness. Spears, swords, and wands were raised in accordance with the volume of their voices.

Seeing the courageous subordinates, Talia swallowed down her nervousness as she glanced with determined eyes at the now visible Golden Bread Army. The incoming tsunami full of color seemed to expand across the whole horizon. The battle was more or less already set in stone. Regardless, Talia unsheathed her sword resolutely. “Let’s go!”

...The battle lasted less than an hour. In the end, the Azure Kingdom was defeated, Talia was made into a prisoner and taken to the Golden Queen’s palace, the Croissant. She was currently inside the ruler’s bedroom handcuffed on the king-size bed.

A few moments later, the door opened. Talia shot a glare at the one who entered. With a frown, her expression turned sour. “You…”

“Phew, it was a nice conquest. I quite enjoyed how my last tactic worked out, don’t you think so too?”

The one who entered was clad in golden radiant armor and was wielding a staff with jewels decorating it. After taking a few steps she stood in front of her bed and looked at Talia with a smile. Her green eyes expressed how much fun she had.

“Sanya, you...How did you do this?” Talia asked the question upon seeing the girl in front of her. The current ruler of the Golden Bread Nation stood in a nonchalant manner. Instead of answering, she started to undo her armor and was soon only in a long white dress. She sat down on the bed and put her hand on her prisoner’s cheek.

“To defeat you? Easy. First of all the Yellow Cats betrayed you. I promised Ellen a treasure called ‘Photo Collection of Fluffy Paw’ and she readily became my ally. As for the Kingdom of Flowers, I have since long spies in the upper echelon. Controlling it was fairly simple.”

Talia’s expression became bitter. She could not accept that she had been defeated by Sanya so easily. Contrary to her thoughts, reality was cruel. Sanya licked her lips as she watched her prey. Her hand caressed Talia’s cheek before going to her neck. At the same time, Sanya went up on the bed, mounting the squirming Talia. The golden ruler approached her grinning face next to the flushed ear of the defeated queen.

With a gentle whisper, she said. “You lost.”

.

..

....

“Ah, geez!” Talia threw the handful of cards that she had on the table and leaned back on her chair.

“...We were wiped out.”

“Yeah, but I got a treasure so I fulfilled my role as a pirate, right?”

The four girls were at Talia’s house in the living room. On the table where they were sitting was a board game depicting a continent and different paws. There were also cards and dices here and there.

The situation was simple. They decided to play at Talia’s house after school and Talia’s father being a fan of role-playing games and board games she proposed to play one of his favorites, ‘Continental Conquest’. It was quite a popular game where players had to randomly draw a territory they had to defend or expend. They could then roll a six-faced dice which would determine the sum of the number of possible actions they could do plus the number of cards they could draw.

Despite its nature as a board game, the logic behind the actions and topology of the map was renowned to be realistic. This meant that the strategist skills that one could have were projected during a game. This was precisely what made Talia frustrated.

‘I know I’m the worst among the Ylas at making strategies. I’m far better at fighting. Still…’ She glanced with the corners of her eyes at the girl on her left. Sanya was sitting there tranquility with a cup of milk tea. Her serene expression was a total contrast with the aggressive approach and overwhelming control of the situation that she had displayed in the middle of the game. Talia didn’t know why but Sanya turned into a cold-hearted cunning schemer like it was second nature for her.

However, what she didn’t know was the reason for such an annihilation was extremely simple. Sanya was jealous of the marriage proposal that Talia got mid-game. The first time, she could endure it...However, after the second time, she felt she had to make things clear for all. That Talias was hers.

In the first place, she had started with a small territory so her chances of victory were small. However, with a new goal in mind, this could not go on. So first she had caused uprisings in regions of the continent using agents that she had deployed before absorbing them. Then, she destroyed Talia’s major force, the Dragoon Squadron with an ultimate card labeled ‘Call of the Ancient Dragon’ which rendered every single dragon troops useless. Finally, she just had to pull a few strings before closing her hand on what was hers...

Regardless of the outcome, even Sanya was a bit surprised by the ease she had when controlling her forces and laying out her plans. It was like every step in the process she had in mind was natural to her. The thing was that it was not only today that she felt such ease to think nowadays. Her mind was more or less clear all day long, allowing her to be more focused.

Sanya noticed her lover’s glance and shot back a smile in reply. However, this sunny smile sent a shiver down Talia’s spine.

The girls discussed for a moment about several points of the game they had just done. Suddenly, the sound of the front door opening was heard. From the familiar steps, Talia was able to deduce that it was her brother.