We started to fight. As our weapons clashed, we pushed each other back, but in just seconds, I overpowered her and pushed her scythe away. I threw a kick at her, making her slide a few meters away. I saw she easily regained her balance and readied herself to launch at me. She did exactly what I thought — I easily dodged it, but I saw her smiling. I realized she had turned her scythe's direction as I dodged. I used my sword to deflect her scythe and pushed myself back to a safe distance.
"I am sorry for thinking that the princess would lack experience," I said, and saw her get angry at my words.
"So you are like those people who think a girl would lack experience in battle?" she said as she started moving toward me.
"I never thought like that. In my own party, there's a girl named Athena Lior who has shown me, in just a short amount of interaction and fighting together, that she has more battle experience than me."
We started to fight again as I asked, "Why aren't you using any magic right now?" as she continuously dodged my sword swings.
"Same question — why aren't you using your teleportation power right now, or any spells?" she replied as I dodged her scythe swing.
"I was just making the fight fair," I said, as I finally landed a clear swing and cut her stomach. Blood poured down from her wound as I stopped and saw her covering it with her hand. "I think it's better to use a healing spell to cover the wound fast," I said.
Blood continued to flow a little, and her hand was fully red. I sighed and used the healing spell to heal her. Minutes passed, and her wound healed. I also sat down on the floor.
"You can't use spells, right?" When I said that, her head lowered even more. I sighed when she didn't reply.
"Your brain can't understand spells, right?" I said. I thought, To use a spell you need to understand it — like to use fire spells you need to understand fire, or to use ice you need to understand how ice is made.
I lay down. "What techniques can you use?" I asked. The princess also lay down and I heard a loud sigh. "I can only use techniques that require physical strength," she replied.
I started to hear some laughter. "Ha ha... there are so many princesses and queens who can use their bloodline magic so perfectly, but here I am, with a very high level of mana but without any understanding of it, no matter how much I try."
I started to laugh after hearing her words. "That's a nice introduction of yourself," I said.
****
"The princess wants to marry Winter..." That's what the prince said. I looked at Kite, who was sleeping in the bed next to mine. How can this man sleep so silently?
I moved out of my bed and walked toward the door. I remembered the prince saying this would be me and Kite's room for now. After he was gone, I inspected the room: there were two beds, a desk with a lamp on each side, and two cupboards.
I exited the room and walked down the corridor. I walked past the room where Athena was staying. As I continued walking, I saw the general. I walked up to him.
"Where is Winter right now? I want to talk to him about something important," I said. The general pointed in one direction and told me to take a left. As he went away, I thanked him and followed his direction.
When I took the left turn, I saw Winter carrying a girl. Before I could say anything, Winter spoke. "This girl is the princess that I'm supposed to marry. Let me put her in her room first, then we'll talk," he said, and started to walk again. I followed him.
We both saw how luxurious the princess's room looked as he put her in bed. I saw her stomach had a scar, and I looked at Winter, who was also covered in dust.
"Did you two fight?" I asked. Winter nodded.
We exited the room and went to my room. We heard some noise from Athena's room but ignored it and continued walking. When we entered my room, we saw Kite reading a book. When he saw us, he closed it.
"What trouble did you bring yourself into this time?" Kite said in a way that made me believe Winter always got into trouble. We both lay down on the beds.
"I can't tell you both everything, but I can tell you this: my story is just started to get interesting," Winter said. He looked at Silver. "Don't worry, I didn't forget our promise. I have asked the prince to buy two memory spells, one for me and one for you. Also, I have a question to ask both of you and Athena: would you like to work for the prince instead of being adventurers?"
"What do you mean?" I asked "I mean, the prince has offered that we can work for him. We could earn even more than we ever could as adventurers, and he would back us up," Winter replied.
I looked at Silver. He thought for a second and nodded. "I want to see the contract first before agreeing."
As we were talking, the door opened and we saw Athena standing there, with the prince behind her. Athena went near Winter, grabbed his collar, and started shaking him while babbling angrily. The prince stopped her. She stopped and lay in the bed.
The prince looked at us. "So, Winter, did you ask them?" he said.
Winter looked at us. "Except for Athena, I have told both of them, but they want to see the contract first."
The prince took out the contract from his pocket dimension. Kite and Silver started reading it. Athena also tried to see it but couldn't. Kite gave the contract to Athena after finishing.
Kite then looked toward the prince. "How much are we getting paid? But more important than that — why us? There are many guilds stronger than us, so why did you choose us?"
The prince laughed. "To be frank, I didn't need you guys. I only needed Winter because my sister wants him. But Winter said he would only agree to marry her if his friends' futures were also secure." This shocked all three of us a little.
One day passed. Silver, Athena, and I all sighed after reviewing the contract. In the morning, Silver went to wake up Kite for training but saw Kite was already up.
"Not right now. I usually do my training between 10 and 11, so just leave me here," Kite said. I left him and went to train alone in the training room the general had shown me.
When I arrived, I saw Athena fighting with someone. When I looked at the person's face, I realized it was the princess. I sat on the stairs and started to watch their fight. After a few minutes, I realized the princess only used physical power and no magic. Athena's defense was very good, but the princess was overpowering her. Finally, the princess ended the fight with a spin kick that sent Athena flying a few meters away.
"And the winner of the fight is the princess," I said. Both of them looked at me, realizing I was there. I walked to them and helped Athena stand up.
"Athena, your defense was good, but the princess's attack and speed were even greater," I said. I looked at the princess and bowed. "Greetings, princess. I like your fighting style with your scythe. Could you spar with me when you're fully recovered?"
I saw the princess smile. "I hate formal greetings, so I request you never do that again, please. And I could spar with you right now if you want."
Her words made me worried, as I could see the princess was injured after sparring with Athena. "Sorry for my rudeness, princess, but I don't think you could fight at your full power right now."
My words made the princess laugh a little. "Let's just have a light sparring match. I still have some energy left. So, do you want to spar?"
Before I could think, my mouth spoke. "Yes, but I will go easy on you."
After some time, we were both ready to spar. I saw the princess eating something before her body glowed a little green. I realized she had eaten a healing bean. I readied my sword and launched myself at her, but to my surprise, the princess was gone. When I looked up, I saw the princess above me. I turned mid-fight and blocked her scythe with my sword, but the impact smashed me into the ground. I saw the princess smiling.
"You were saying you would go easy on me, but I think I'll be the one going easy on you," the princess taunted me.
I stood up and smiled. "Okay, sorry for my rudeness, but I will enjoy this spar now."
We started to fight again.