Louise walked out of the castle grounds. A meandering path before her, slicing the garden into two halves.

She had grown tired of having to talk to the nobles. It was an opportunity to build connections— which wouldn’t benefit her in any way. It was her brother that would benefit most from it. She would not likely become the queen anyways.

Will followed Louise from behind.

From afar, they looked like the perfect couple. Will being the prince in white while Louise remained being, well, the princess.

Neatly cut hedges with plenty of white hibiscus growing from the thorny branches. Large pots with flowered bonsais of an unknown species. Coral shards that glittered in pink and purple.

The pavement was built with interlocking red-brown bricks, a dusky blue outline at the side. Tree canopies would shade their path every few meters. Greens gem growing from the bark. Wild sky krill drifting by every once in a while.

Louise looked at Will spacing out.

‘He’ll tell me what’s wrong when he’s ready.’

They passed a dark gothic gate bound by two megaliths. Down the slope of a hill, there was a park.

At this time, they had already exited the royal grounds, entering the inner sect. Louise looked behind and then smiled at Will.

Next was to find...

“It’s her.”

“Her— who?”

“The one I told you about, the person associated with the people who took Curtis away.”

Louise narrowed her eyes. In the park, two people were crossing blades, surrounded by a group of supposed trainees.

Right, in addition to finding Ellis, they were supposed to take a detour to meet with that person named Tia.

After thinking about it, Louise came up with a plan of approach. “Now, let’s go probe her strength.”

Two blades connected, the sound of striking metal shrilled in the air. Greene was pushed back a few steps. That small mishap of hers was enough for Tia to flank her side.

Greene dropped to the floor, Tia missed her aim. In retaliation, she let out a high strike which Tia avoided gracefully by bending her body, taking a step backwards. Greene rolled over and sprang up on her two feet.

Both of them locked eyes, panting-- no, it was only Greene was. Tia didn’t even break a sweat.

“Let’s stop here,” Greene lowered her wooden sword. Now that she had personally experienced it, she now knew Tia’s strength wasn’t just a rumour. “I concede defeat.”

“Thank you for the fight,” Tia bowed.

The trainees looked at them with mouths agape. Of course, some had seen this sort of scene played out with other knights before, so they were already used to it. Tia was, after all, the prodigy that people regarded as a true monster.

The trainees would train with different instructors over the week, but they would have one main instructor that was in charge of measuring their progress. Similar to how one class would have a homeroom teacher but be taught by more than one teacher.

Greene was their temporary instructor. With this chance, she thought to have a simple one-on-one mock battle with every trainee to find and point out flaws that they could work on. In actuality, that wasn’t the main reason behind the mock battle-- the truth was, Greene had no experience in teaching. Mock battle with the trainees was just easy for her to kill time, of course, there was Tia too.

Greene brought them to this idyllic park full of greenery. A flat area with a circular flat space acted as their duelling ground. In this way, they wouldn’t need to see training dummy posts everywhere.

Since Tia couldn’t be considered a genuine trainee, only attending classes part-time, she never really got along with the others. Tia didn’t use the living quarters provided for the trainees. She didn’t want to be away from her only family, her father.

That thought had been bugging Tia for a while now.

Perhaps it was Tia’s strength that caused them to not treat her as a peer, but more like a divine being. More so, most of the trainees were males, looking at her as if a revered goddess. Not though Tia liked or cared about.

Then Will appeared.

“You.. why are you here?”

“Let’s have a duel,” Will shrugged.

“Tia, is that your acquaintance?”, Greene couldn’t help but ask. His aloof expression did not deduct points from his striking face. His charming white hair took her breath away.

“A, a friend,” Tia croaked.

Will smiled at her, and she smiled at him. A bead of sweat ran down her cheek.

“So?”

“I accept!” Tia had her back straightened.

“Knight Greene, I’ll be borrowing your student for a bit, if you don't mind.”

“Yes, I don’t mind. Actually, I’m interested to see how the fight would turn out. Who are you anyway?”

“Will Everett, Princess Louise Rozel’s instructor and guard.”

“I see,” Greene kept nodding her head. Even when she moved away to assert some space for the duel did she not stop doing that..

‘Princess Louise Rozel’s bodyguard?!’

In the eyes of the trainees, all they could see was Greene falling into a mentally dilapidated state.

“I don’t get why you want a duel but, don’t kill me, I didn't do anything wrong..” Tia spoke in a low voice.

Will shrugged, “I don’t intend to. I’m here to probe your strength, by the princess’ order.”

“Then.. how about a bet?”

“Bet?” Will thought about it for a moment, or rather, he was acting as if he was thinking. Tia thought his actions were cute and weird. “I’ll leave my bet conditions to the princess, looks likes she wants you to tell her the entire story of what happened to Curtis.”

“That condition I can accept… if I win..”

Tia scanned the area, she couldn’t see this so-called Princess anywhere.

“You’ll be making cookies with me!” Tia had been planning to conduct a baking party with Ellis and Ruth for a while now.

Will looked at Tia blankly for a minute.

‘He’s staring too much.’

Tia blushed. If it was Hermit, she would have said something but this was Will.

Will wasn't staring at her, he was being bombarded with wind messages by Louise who went ballistic.

“I think I get it, then it’s a deal. But if I lose then Louise would also be joining, any objections? Not thought I could let that happen...” Will shivered.

“The princess too.. That’s fine!” Tia accepted the terms. It would be good if she could find out what kind of princess she was.

Will passed Tia a dagger.

“Huh?”

“It’s a grimoire, we’ll be fighting with a real blade,” Will took out another dagger.

‘So it comes in a set.’

“I'll explain the rules. First is that whoever inflicts the opponent with a small wound, wins. Hitting clothes or making a slight graze doesn't count. Second is that whoever goes out of bounds, stepping onto the grass that is, will be considered a loss.”

“Understood. This dagger-- grimoire of yours.. It’s a magic tool?” A real weapon. Tia stared at the jewel-like ice dagger, her eyes sparkled at the iridescent light bouncing off the blade.

“It is. No worries, in this duel I’ll be limiting myself to three spells,” Will spun his dagger,“ {Reflex Augment}, {Strength Augment} and {Distort Presence}. As for the effects, I think you can guess for yourself. I won't use any abilities from my grimoire and also, don't hold back. It’ll be your worst mistake if you think the handicap does anything to weaken me. So use whatever you can.”

Tia nodded, knowing that Will was the one with the upper hand despite his handicap.

And the duel began.

In conclusion, Will handicapped himself to 3 spells, take it or leave.

Tia knew it wouldn’t be easy, if not, he wouldn’t set so many beneficial conditions for her--or could it even be called beneficial? She was free to use any method whatsoever.

Tia, spinning the dagger to have a feel for its weight held it with the blade pointed backwards position. She lowered her stance, Will stood there with his dagger pointing at her, and Tia disappeared from the starting zone.

Looking at it from the sidelines, the fact that Tia was capable of using a short dagger wasn’t the only thing that shocked Greene and the others. The fluidity she showed when tempering with the dagger and her dash towards Will, which made it feel like she had held back her strength against Greene.

Dagger shifted forward, Will took a large step backwards with her body leaning to the right, extending his front foot out at an inclined angle, Tia swung her dagger to the side. Being late at noticing the trap Will created, she tripped on his foot, lost balance and Will parried the strike.

Tia’s hand turned numb, she retreated a distance.

Without going for an assault, Will just stood there as Tia regained herself.

‘Quirky.’

Sure, Will did not possess the spirit talent, however, it was made up for with {Strength Augment}, {Reflex Augment} and countless years of training. Compared to foes Will had faced before, Tia couldn’t compare. Though, he understood that at her current age, she had a lot of potential.

When it came to enemies back in his world, utilization of petty trap spells, underhanded methods and coordination within a group was necessary to deal with those humans.

Tia looked at Will with a flushed face. Anger, flustered, embarrassment. This guy was going easy on her easily!

Tia made her move.

This time Will didn’t try to dodge.

Daggers blurred, and sparks flew. A flurry of attacks that rang like an assault rifle.

{Chain Blitz}

Full throttle.

Tia was going to give it her all.

‘For the sake of the COOKIES!!’