Julius attacked first. His attack, a thrusting peirce of his fencing sword, nearly skewered Caspian through the chest. He could feel the blade grazing his shirt, swift and powerful. The tip, which was rounded, tore a large gash in his clothing, leaving his a large hole that revealed his skin.

The next attack was another thrust, but it seemed to come in even faster than the previous one. Caspian could do nothing but backpedal as several lightning swift thrusts sought out holes in his defense. Tears appeared along his clothes from near misses. Caspian felt the wind being almost casually displaced from the speed of each attack.

He's faster than I thought.

Caspian gritted his teeth hard enough to almost draw blood. Julius's sword thrusts were coming in faster and faster, until his arm and sword appeared to almost be a blur, mere flashes of silver light.

Fencing swords were not used for slicing into an enemy's flesh. Their primary use was parrying and thrusting. The idea was to parry an attack, and then counter with an even swifter attack. That was, as Caspian knew it, the fundamentals of fencing, which he thought was a prissy sport for rich nobles with too much time on their hands.

Julius was proving him wrong. The young man stayed glued to him, doggedly pursuing him with a tenacity that astounded Caspian. There was no parrying here—there was no need for him to. Caspian didn't have a sword. Even so, with each thrust of his fencing sword, Julius's attacks picked up speed.

"What's the matter, plebeian?" Julius mocked. "Are you having trouble keeping up with me? Ha! Maybe I should give you a handicap!"

Caspian snarled as several strands of hair were sliced off his scalp when Julius nearly stabbed him in the head. The scent of freshly polished steel hit Caspian's nose. The blade retracted, then Julius spun around and attacked with a thrust from the opposite direction. He moved so swiftly that Caspian didn't have time to counterattack.

This... could be bad.

He moved backwards, his feet shuffling, zigzagging as he backpedaled away from the larger boy, who chased after him like a dog chasing its own tail. More attacks came in, brief flashes of light, which he did his best to dodge. He couldn't avoid them all, though, and the sting of several cuts made his nerves flare.

Sweat drenched his forehead, stinging his eyes. Yet he didn't blink—he couldn't blink, lest he miss Julius's next attack.

The world blurred out of focus. A sense of tunnel vision came over Caspian. Everything that he was became focused on Julius to the exclusion of everything else.

There has to be a weakness in his technique.

Every fighting style had a weakness, a fatal flaw that could be exploited. If he could just find the one in Julius's technique, then he could beat this sickeningly burly fool.

Maybe I should use ma—but, no. If I did that, my secret would be exposed.

Unfortunately, Caspian couldn't find any weaknesses—not like this. If he'd had his sword, this match would have been more even, and he could have done something. But, unarmed as he was, Caspian could do nothing to defend against Julius. He was stuck between a tree and the tip of a blade.

A tree? That's it!

Their fight had taken them off the cobblestone path and into the copse of trees. Caspian pressed his back against a tree, feeling the cool bark jab into him through his clothing. Julius came in, thrusting his fencing sword forward, which appeared as a flash of silver.

Ducking, Caspian felt the blade pass over his head, ruffling his hair. The loud thunk! of the tip piercing the tree rang out, as did Julius's cry of shock.

Now's my chance!

Caspian didn't hesitate. He slammed both of his palms into Julius's stomach. The attack was swift, brutal, and decisive. The blow rang out like cannon fire.

Julius's scream was choked back as blood and spittle burst from his mouth, painting the tree in crimson splatters. Caspian swiftly moved out from underneath the teen. Spinning around, he leapt into the air, and performed a flying spin-kick to the back of Julius's head. A resounding thwunk! echoed across the park, as Julius's face dented the tree.

"You little bastard!"

Roaring in anger, Julius spun around and tried to hack at Caspian. His moves, no longer graceful and swift, were easy to dodge. Caspian slipped around each attack, which had become more akin to the awkward motions of an untalented brawler than a trained fencer.

"What's the matter, Julius? You were so confident before, so cocky. Where has all that bravado gone?"

Grinning, Caspian's eyes gleamed as the other teen roared. The attacks came in quicker, but the movements were even more uncoordinated. Hacks were telegraphed. Thrusts lacked poise and precision. Left. Right. Left. Left. Back. Spin. Caspian flowed around the flagrantly predictable attacks with ease.

"Hold still, you damn—guag!"

After avoiding another awkward thrust, Caspian grabbed onto Julius's outstretched forearm, stepped forward, and slammed his palm into the underside of the larger teen's chin. Teeth clacked together, the noise almost painful to hear. Julius stumbled back, but Caspian, who still had a fierce grip on his forearm, pulled him back and pummeled him in the face. Only then, when Caspian felt his opponent's nose break under his assault, did he let go, allowing Julius to stumble backwards and fall onto his rear.

Caspian glared down at Julius, whose broken nose had crimson ichor flowing from it, running down his face and dripping off his chin.

"Concede your defeat and apologize to my friend."

Julius glared at Caspian, his eyes hazed with rage. "You haven't won yet, you damn bastard child! Chrolux, Chronus, restrain him!"

The two goons who followed Julius like a pair of monkeys rushed for Caspian, who tensed and prepared to fight these two as well.

They would never reach him.

"Freya! Please help me punish these people!"

She appeared before them. Her body, wrought in ironclad mail, carried with it a deadly sort of elegance. A helmet sat on her head. Forged from gold, gleaming in the light, a pair of white wings sprouted from the helmet's back. Ice blue eyes gazed upon the two with frigid hostility, as if the next move they made would be their last. Gripped within her left hand, a shining spear glowed with power, repressed, yet easily felt by those around her.

"W-what sort of foul trickery is this?!"

"Where did this woman come from?!"

The two boys appeared confused. Caspian couldn't necessarily blame them. However, unlike Chrolux and Chronus, who didn't seem to know what was happening he, at least, had a hunch.

Freya. A legendary spirit of the Nordic Clan, a warrior spirit of incredible power, though not on the same level as Odin or Thor. Elincia had asked for Freya's help, and this woman had appeared.

It can't be...

She took a step forward, chainmail clinking together. Chrolux and Chronus took a step back. Their eyes widened in fear. She raised her spear, as if to pierce their vile hearts. They ran away screaming.

"Where are you cowards going?!" Julius shouted at the retreating boys' backs.

"It looks like it's just you." Caspian turned back to Julius. "You wanna keep going?"

Julius glanced up at him, then at the armor-clad figure marching toward them. One second passed. Then another, and another. The chink-chink of clinking chainmail grew louder. Sweat appeared on Julius's forehead. His eyes grew wide and round, and his breathing turned into frightened pants. Finally, he scrambled to his feet and bolted.

"This isn't over, peasant! Just you wait! Come the time of the tournament, I'll be sure to put you in your rightful place!"

Caspian cupped a hand to his mouth and shouted back. "I'll be waiting to beat your fat ass in the arena, then! I'll gladly show you and everyone else that being a noble means nothing when it comes to combat!"

As Julius disappeared in the distance, Caspian turned to the Elincia, who stood beside Freya. Looking between the two, he frowned.

"Thank you very much, Freya." Elincia smiled at the woman clad in steel. "You were a big help."

Freya turned to Elincia, offering the elven sorceress a smile and a bow. She then disappeared, her body turning into mana particles that dispersed, vanishing into the atmosphere.

"Elincia?"

"Are you okay, Caspian?"

"Yes, I'm fine." Caspian closed his eyes. "You do realize that this is going to cause all kinds of trouble, right? Julius and the other two will talk, and if that happens..."

Elincia's eyes widened. "Oh, you're right! I-I'm sorry. I was just... I was so mad at those three for how they treated you—and then those two were going to attack you during a duel. I guess I just lost it."

Opening his eyes again, Caspian smiled and placed his hands on Elincia's shoulders. "It's okay. I'm not upset. I'm just worried. Those people can make your life miserable. Being a sorceress won't help you there—and I don't want to think about what will happen once everyone learns about the events that have transpired here."

"What if... they never got the chance to say anything? If they don't get a chance to talk about what happened here, then it's okay, right?"

Caspian didn't understand what Elincia meant at first. However, following her words to their foregone conclusion, he realized there could only be one possibility.

His eyes widened.

"Surely, you don't mean to..."

"Loki?" Elincia called.

Like Freya, he appeared before her. Swept back black hair was covered by an iron helm with curved horns. Dark green eyes peered out from behind thin slits, glowing with mischief. A lithe, almost feminine frame, was covered by green fabrics--a long-sleeved shirt and overcoat that billowed out around black leather boots clad in plate armor. Unlike Freya, who held a spear, this one gripped a staff.

Loki bowed before Elincia, who smiled.

"There are three people who picked a fight with my friend and I. Could you please erase their memories of this encounter?"

Loki inclined his head, then stood to his feet. Caspian realized that, despite his thin frame, this man, spirit, towered over him and Elincia. He felt like an ant standing before a goliath.

Not a second later, Loki vanished, his form blinking out of existence like the illusions he was known for crafting.

"Loki will find those three and erase their memory before they can tell anyone of what happened here," Elincia said. "And don't worry, he's already aware of who I'm talking about. Benefits of being a spirit, I guess."

"I thought as much," Caspian murmured. "You don't just call upon a spirit's power. You actually summon them."

In all the years that Caspian had known her, he'd never seen Elincia' use Spiritual Evocation. He'd always assumed it was because Sylvia had told her not to, but now he wondered if there might have been another reason. Perhaps she couldn't.

Is this the result that comes from being an elf whose formed a pact with a spirit clan?

Caspian decided not to think on it too much.

"Yes," Elincia admitted. "I can't call upon spirits and let them inhabit my body like a human sorceress. However, I can call them to my aid, though they can only stay long enough for a single attack, and I can't summon more than two spirits a day."

Caspian understood. If Elincia summoned spirits onto the physical plane, then it was different than the Spiritual Evocation of a normal sorceress. She was likely using her own mana to summon a spirit, rather than embodying a spirit's power and infusing it into herself. That meant that her power was finite. It had a limit, and two summons must have been hers.

"Let's not worry about that now. Since you can only summon two spirits a day, we'll be careful not to get caught in this situation again. Let's go somewhere more crowded."

If they were in a crowd, anyone who wanted to start something would have to wait until they went somewhere that was deserted. No one would be foolish enough to pick a fight in the middle of all those people.

"Right!" Elincia agreed, grabbing Caspian's outstretched hand.

Together, the two made their way back toward Main Street, where most of the population was likely located.

"By the way, Elincia, what happened to those two crepes I bought?" Caspian asked with feigned casualness.

Elincia's cheeks lit up like a fireworks display as she looked away from him. "Oh, um, I dropped them..."

"Uh huh... then, tell me, what's that on your face."

Using his free hand, Caspian pointed at the white cream stuck on her left cheek. With a teasing grin, he wiped the cream away, stuck his finger in his mouth, and sucked it clean.

"Mm, vanilla blueberry, if I'm not mistaken."

The blush deepened. Caspian grinned. It seemed that Elincia was still something of a glutton for sweets.

***

Caspian and Elincia wandered Main Street for several hours after that. Various sounds surrounded them on all sides, a cacophony of symphonic joy from thousands of bustling people. Scents wafted around them, filling the pair with hunger. Even Elincia's stomach growled, and she'd already eaten two whole crepes stuffed with sugary sweetness.

Holding hand, they checked out the shops, visited the stalls, and tried a bit more of the food. While they wandered, Caspian pointed out some of the places that he knew.

"That's Callahan's shop. He's the blacksmith who provides the academy with all of our weapons. Before they invented citywide mailing, the old man made me deliver order issues here every time we needed new weapons, or when our weapons needed to be repaired."

"Who's the old man?"

"Oh, that's just what I call the headmaster. Anyway, that's the library. It's not as big as the one in the academy, so I don't go there often, but they have more fiction books than the academy library."

"Do you think we can go there sometime?"

"Sure thing. They have a lot of historical novels. You'd like it there."

Elincia nodded as she took a bite out of her cotton candy. Caspian shook his head. Even after consuming two crepes and several other street vendor goodies, she still had room for more sweets. After munching on the fried squid that he was holding in his free hand, Caspian continued his tour.

"That's Madam Delawares Custom Clothing. Our uniforms come from there. And over there is Hanzel's High Performance Paddings, which is where all of the academy's sparring equipment comes from."

"This city has a lot of modern stores for such a rural place," Elincia commented. "I'm surprised Ruudon has such a large city."

"Most of Ruudon is rural, just like you'd expect. Axium is the only city that can truly be called a city in this province. From what I've read in the history books, it used to be a really small town with barely three-hundred people living here."

Axium was a fairly recent city, having only been granted the status of a major city-town within the past 20 or so years, which was about the same time that the railway had been built in this province. With easier accessibility, more people came to live in Axium, turning the once tiny town into the bustling urban center that it was now.

Although Caspian suspected that the reason Axium was located here and not somewhere else was because it had been built around Arcadia's Knight Academy, which acted as the focal point for the entire city. The only other major attraction that this city offered was the colosseum, which sat several hundred meters from the academy.

Midday eventually morphed into late evening. The world of vibrancy became a world of low-tones; dark reds and pink hues traced arcs through a twilight canvas, saturating the world in a serene glow of warm colors.

During this late hour, the spirit crystal lamps lit up, continuing the sun's job of illuminating the streets for those who still wanted to enjoy the evening. Pubs became crowded with people. The clicking of mugs and incessant chatter echoed to him and Elincia from outside. Caspian surmised that most of these places would remain merry with exuberant gaiety throughout much of the night.

"Do you have a place to stay?" he asked Elincia, who suddenly appeared embarrassed. Even in the dark, he could see the pinkness that stained her cheeks. "You don't, do you?"

"I... well... Sylvia told me that the sorceresses who attend the festival have a mansion somewhere around here, but..."

"But you never found out where that is before you left, right?" Caspian sighed. "You know, for one who belongs to a race that's supposedly timeless, you're awfully impatient."

Elincia pouted. "You're not much better. You're even more impatient than I am. And besides, you also belong to that 'timeless race.'"

Caspian was a half-elf. His ears, which he always kept hidden, were the biggest indicator of his status, but he also carried the natural grace that all elves were born with.

He knew nothing of his father, though he did know that his mother had been an elf. While his memories of his mother were hazy at best, he did know that she would always go quiet when he asked about his father. Caspian guessed that his birth had been the result of his mother being raped. It happened often enough.

"I suppose so." Caspian didn't allow himself to dwell on his own identity for long. "Well, I suppose there's nothing to it. We'll have to find a place for you to stay."

Caspian didn't like the idea of Elincia being on her own. Back when they were kids, he'd always been the one protecting her, whether it was after they'd gotten into trouble for doing something stupid, or like that time when he and Elincia had been kidnapped. The idea of leaving her alone made him uneasy.

Elincia didn't seem to like the idea much either. "Do I have to find a place to stay? Can't I stay with you?"

It was an appealing idea. The more Caspian thought about it, the more he liked it. However, there were several major problems.

"I... don't think that's gonna work. I live in the student dorms at the academy and, well, you're not a student, and it's a male-only school. I don't think they'd let you in unless we pulled the sorceress card. Even then, they're not going to let you stay with me."

"Oh..." Elincia's shoulders slumped, and if her ears hadn't been disguised by an illusion, he imagined even they would have been turned downward in depression. "... I was hoping that you would spend the night with me, you know, like we used to do."

Elincia sat on the bed, dressed in a translucent silk nightgown, which left little to Caspian's imagination. She sat in erotic repose, her legs tucked only halfway underneath her desirable derriere, her arms pressed together. The expression on her face, eyes half-lidded in lust, and lush red lips pursed in delicate sensuality, would have turned any man into putty.

"Caspian," she breathed, her cheeks flushing a light pink. "Won't you please stay the night with me?"

"Caspian?"

"..."

"Hello?"

"..."

"Gaia to Caspian. Come in, Caspian."

"Wha..."

Caspian blinked as something suddenly appeared in front of his face. He took a step backwards, until he realized that the "thing" was actually a hand. Elincia's hand, which the girl waved in front of him.

"E-Ele, what...?"

"That's what I would like to ask." Elincia's expression contained worry. "Are you feeling okay? You completely spaced out on me."

"O-oh, yes. I'm fine."

Calm down, Caspian. Ele didn't mean it like that. She simply wants to stay with you like we did when we were kids. Nothing more.

"So, um, Caspian." Elincia looked down and drew circles on the floor with her toes. "Would you—I mean, can you stay with me? At least until Lady Sylvia arrives."

Caspian already knew what was going to happen. He'd never been able to deny Elincia when they were little, and time didn't seem to have changed a thing. Even now, he felt himself slowly come around to the idea. It wasn't like he'd been truly against it anyway.

"S-sure."

Elincia's eyes sparkled. "Really?"

He took a deep breath and smiled. "Really. It's Saturday anyway, so I don't have classes tomorrow. I'm sure it will be fine if I stay the night in Axium."

Christo would no doubt pester the crap out of him when next they saw each other, but for his friend, Caspian didn't mind dealing with the annoyance.

Speaking of, I wonder where Christo went. I kind of ditched him, didn't I?

"Thank you." Elincia's relieved smile told Caspian that he was doing the right thing. "I... even though I came all this way to see you, the truth is I'm really nervous about being here by myself."

While Elincia was an adventurous spirit, she didn't actually enjoy crowded places. When they were younger, he and his friend would always explore Casadina, the capital city of Arcadia. However, they had also been together during those times. He remembered the one time that Elincia had been separated from him. After desperately searching the city for several hours, Caspian had eventually found her, crying her eyes out as she wandered the streets.

He didn't think she would cry if they were separated this time, but he'd prefer it if they stayed together.

"I understand." Caspian tugged on Elincia's hand. "Come on, let's find a place to stay."

"Right!"

As they walked hand in hand, searching for a place the spend the night, the starry canvas appeared brighter than usual, as if to illuminate the pair of childhood friends reunited.