“Andrew, princess needs your help. Could you stay a while longer and train with us a bit?” Nick smiled widely as he asked.

The princess didn’t grasp what was going on at all, but Andrew immediately understood. Nick was giving him a chance to improve his relationship with Zia!

From Nick’s perspective it was convenient as well. There was a pervert they wanted to beat up and a friend who would appreciate such gesture, so why not kill two birds with one stone?

Only after they started to practice, Zia understood why Nick invited Andrew. Although her best friend was strong and extremely fast, he didn’t have any experience with swords. Andrew, on the other hand, started to train with sword approximately at the same time as prince Taio.

Andrew also agreed with Nick’s plan of evading any techniques and speedily counterattacking when a simpler move was made. It would have been his choice as well if the fight was against him. Even more, he thought that Taio wouldn’t make any complicated moves and will try to win as simply and elegantly as possible. Despite that they didn’t neglect the practice of evasion and retreat.

At this point Nick and Zia finally appreciated the beauty and effectiveness of the footwork they had practiced all this time. Their idea was to use it for faster movement, but originally this was a Qi sword master’s movement technique and was basically tailored for Zia’s needs.

Thus the next days were spent mostly in the Royal woods with the three of them practicing.

Contrary to Andrew’s and Nick’s fight in arena, this time the seats were full. Prince Taio decided that it would put more psychological pressure on Zia and make her easier to submit into marriage if more of ‘her own people’ would watch the fight. He would gracefully win, present his heart and she would find it impossible to resist. Of course, if Zia knew his thoughts she might have just puked.

Both royal family and the Styx kingdom’s delegation were present in the spectator seats. Of course, the two trainers were present as well, but, contrary to many others, they were not worried at all. Both were eating snacks and enjoying the show while the two lovebirds Steven and Conny nervously sat next to them.

“How confident are you that she will win?” Conny anxiously asked Nick.

“No idea. But there is no need for you to worry. She won’t marry that guy anyway. Zia is your sister and you probably know her better than I do, so you understand that even if she looses, the prince will be in a lot of pain.” Nick smiled back.

In the arena both Taio and Zia approached each other. He wore a beautiful leather armor and Zia was in her usual attire, except her costume this time was black. The arena master came up to them and presented wooden practice swords.

Taio received his sword and made few elegant movements while Zia clumsily grabbed the sword by the wooden blade then, in even clumsier way, dropped it on the ground and picked it up while blushing all over.

‘Good girl!’ Nick and Andrew both nodded.

They made her practice this scene for the whole afternoon. Both of them agreed that the fight started back in the throne room and this was an excellent feint to perform.

Zia grasped the grip of the sword with both hands, then changed her mind and took it in her right hand, then waved a little, performing few shallow slashes.

Most people in the spectator seats shook their heads. Although this was their princess and they wanted her to win, she was obviously a total newbie when it came to swords.

The arena master also shook his head and after a soft sigh announced the beginning of the duel.

“Princess Zia, I …” Prince Taio tried to say something beautiful only to get interrupted by Zia.

“Shut up and fight!” She angrily barked while clenching her teeth. This part was predicted by the trio as well. What should happen now was – the prince would make an elegant swing towards Zia.

The beginning went according to plan – Taio made a beautiful swing from his right to left, but then Zia, probably out of a simple reflex, dashed in and bumped him in the chest.

In contrast to the shoulder bump Nick made back then, she charged in head first. Still, the effect was similar. The astonished spectators watched Taio’s feet lifting up as he flew through the air few meters back and landed with a bang on the arena floor.

One must give some respect to the prince, he had been practicing diligently. He instinctively made a short roll and jumped back on his feet. But now there was no more elegance in his demeanor. His hair was disheveled and the leather armor, dirty. He had been totally humiliated in the eyes of few thousand people and there was no way to stop these news from spreading. A twelve year old girl head-bumped him to the ground!

He glared at her angrily and saw a smirk on her face.

‘You little bitch, I’ll show you the consequences of disrespecting me!’ He cursed to himself and trusted his wooden sword straight into her chest.

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Obviously it wouldn’t be deadly, but still should hurt a lot, maybe even cause a broken rib or two.

The laughter in the crowd stopped as the spectators held their breaths. But Zia didn’t think much of it. As the simple thrust reflected in her eyes, she felt it was exactly the same as she practiced with the boys during the last seven days.

In a reflex she made a quick backhand motion slapping the sword away, then in the flowing motion spun around taking a step toward Taio who now had his back towards her and slapped her sword on his head without holding back at all.

Taio’s eyes opened wide to immediately shut right after as he felt first on his knees and then face down on the arena floor after loosing consciousness.

It was the common knowledge that the duels between swordsmen were short, with a very few exceptions, but even then it felt like this one ended too abruptly. There was a dead silence in the arena and Zia herself couldn’t believe what she just did.

But then a cheeky smile bloomed on her face as she raised her sword high above her head and shouted, “Anyone else wants to bully this little girl?”

The roar of the spectators was heard even in the suburbs of Aurora. Everyone stood up as they clapped their hands and cheered on their little heroine.

“She really pulled it off!” Nick and Andrew laughed and bumped their fists.

The arena master tried to announce the end of the duel, but his voice couldn’t be heard. Then he waved towards his assistants near the entrance and they brought the unconscious prince away.

When the crowd began to disperse, Zia went to the stands and everyone rushed to congratulate her. She proudly approached her parents and asked, “How was I?”

Queen Hua was still laughing and the king shook his head while smiling, “When did you learn your mother’s ‘Butterfly’ move?”

“I’m still long off from really learning it. Although we trained a lot these days, I feel like it was just a fluke because that guy lost his calm too easily.” Zia explained, but then suddenly got serious, “I will start practicing sword from now on. Father, where can I get a good sword?”

“What, you haven’t practiced the sword before?” Someone nearby suddenly exclaimed.

King’s eyes lit up when he recognized the voice. He turned towards a tall thin old man in a gray robe and said, “Oh, sect master Marozzo! It’s our honor for you to witness Zia’s first sword fight. Indeed, she started practicing her first moves just a few days ago. Although I would’ve never guessed that the first thing she learned would be Hua’s ‘Butterfly’.”

“Not bad for a beginner, not bad at all.” The old man smiled at Zia, “As expected from the daughter of the Sun kingdom’s strongest Qi sword master and the sword prodigy princess Hua.”

Zia looked at her mother in confusion. She knew her mother was talented and knew sword, but this was the first time her hearing this title. Queen Hua could only shrug in return and caressed Zia’s hair.

“Master Marozzo is the sect master of the famous Sword sect.” She introduced.

“I have read about it. Isn’t it just a small sect in the western mountains where a bunch of old men swing swords every day?” Zia wasn’t impressed at all.

“Hahaha!” The old man started to laugh, “Actually princess is right. That’s the best description of our sect I have heard in years. But if you aren’t impressed by that, what if I told you I was your father’s teacher?”

“Oh, then you should really be quite good with the sword.” Zia seriously nodded.

The royal pair started to laugh along with master Marozzo – sometimes their daughter was really too cute and adorable.

Few polite sentences later Zia invited her friends and sisters to feast on pizza in the “Sunshine” and the king invited master Marozzo to have a meal together as well.

“Teacher, you should have warned me about your arrival – I would’ve received you myself.” King said when they were finally sitting at the table and servant was pouring tea.

“Why bother? Sometimes it’s interesting to watch things while unnoticed. Don’t tell me you don’t do that yourself from time to time?” The old man smiled back at his student.

“True.” King nodded and then changed the subject, “What do you think of Zia?”

“It was an excellent move and she has quite good reflexes as well.” Master Marozzo thought a bit and answered, “It’s just a shame she’s only starting to practice now, otherwise she might become as strong as both of you.” He pointed at the royal pair across the table.

“Teacher, you have misunderstood. She started to practice Qi when she was eight, it’s just she never practiced the sword before.” Queen Hua smiled as she proudly told about her daughter.

“Huh? Then why didn’t you teach her sword? What’s wrong with you two? With both of you as teachers she might even conquer the world!” The old man angrily questioned in a bit exaggerated manner.

King knew him for decades and didn’t mind much, “Teacher, you see, we can’t really teach her. When she was born we both wished for her to lead a calm and happy life and vowed to not teach her anything regarding fighting.”

“What’s the big deal, then just hire someone to do it for you! She might be a real gem!” The old man was still fuming.

“Master Marozzo, you know it would still be the same.” Hua shrugged, “Vow is a vow and we can’t do anything about it. Also we can’t do anything about her destiny that introduced to her teacher when she was eight.”

“Then who is teaching her? Don’t tell me you let that old monk near your girl! She might shave her head and disappear one day!” The old man clenched his fists and there were fires in his eyes. Apparently this ‘old monk’ was some kind of his nemesis.

“No, actually it’s a child. In fact he’s younger than she is.” King replied and then told about Nick while the servants were bringing food. He was still telling the story when the empty plates were brought away and some exquisite alcohol was poured in crystal glasses.

The old man became more and more excited as he listened.

“How can a seven year old clean Qi pathways of another child? And to develop an underwater Qi technique? What kind of nonsense is that? And dark blue Qi color? I’ve never heard of it in my entire life!” He was mumbling under his nose while the king told the story.

“I think we’ll make a good apprentice out of him.” Old man stated at the end.

“Hahaha, no way!” The king laughed and queen laughed along side of him, “There is no way he would agree. Teacher, you know I mean no disrespect, but there is nothing you can offer that would interest him.”

“I want to meet him anyway. Let’s go!” Master Marozzo stood up and wanted to leave.

“Teacher, you haven’t changed at all.” The king smiled, “The kids are still celebrating Zia’s victory. How about you rest today and we meet them in the morning? In fact, you can watch their practice. Both of us have watched it before as well, it’s actually quite interesting.”