A/N: Hey everyone, author here! First off want to give CPT Ratchet a shout out for PRing the chp again. Also some of you may have noticed, but I finally have gotten a cover art! Huge thanks to shadowik.2010 for drawing such an amazing cover art. Well once again if you enjoyed the chp leave some comments reviews~ and with that, I'll leave you with an enlarged picture of the cover art before the story
http%3a%2f%2fi.imgur.com%2fnXMOwwM.jpg [http://i.imgur.com/nXMOwwM.jpg]
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“It’s a pleasant surprise to see you here, Azrael. Here to get a weapon?”
As Han Byul was speaking, Azrael just stayed there in a daze. Seeing his face, she couldn’t help but giggle.
“Hee hee, ah Zer you’re also here. Are you by chance an acquaintance of Azrael’s?”
Seeing Han Byul come into the shop, Zer moves forward to greet her. He also didn’t miss the exchange the two just now. Seeing Azrael like this was a contradiction of how he saw his friend.
“Yo, Byul. It’s been a while. How have you been?”
“Just busy with school as expected. Also you sure are cold, never coming to greet me even though we are in the school.”
“Haha I have always been busy. Az, Winst, and I have been training every night after all. Oh yeah, you’ve never met Winst before have you? This guy over here is Winston Wozeal, the heir to that famous Wozeal house. Winst as you know this is the second princess of the Rhostaz Kingdom, Han Byul.”
As the two were catching up, Zer noticed Winston in the back and called him over to introduce him to his childhood friend. Even though he was surprised at the sudden introduction, Winston walked over curtly and does an elegant bow towards Han Byul.
“It is an honor to meet you, milady. I am Winston Wozeal, the first son of the House of Wozeal.”
“No, the honor is mine sir Winston. I have heard many tales of your family’s grandeur.”
To which Han Byul herself gave a cute curtsy. After the proper greetings had been given, Han Byul looks at the trio with interest. Turning around, she looks toward Zer and begins to speak.
“Well I am pleasantly surprised Zer. Back at home you never got close with any of the children our age except for me. When I heard the rumor that you were always seen hanging out with two honors I just scoffed at it as a ridiculous rumor. I see now though that I was wrong.”
“Yeah, well these two are nothing like those little pricks back home Byul. It’s actually a lot of fun hanging out with these two. Like I said earlier the three of us practice every night.
Even though we’re teaching Winst here from scratch, it actually is quite enjoyable to see his drastic improvements. Practicing with Az is also great. Even though his swordsmanship isn’t up to par with me, he’s better than me at magic and our spars are always close.”
Hearing this, Han Byul raises her eyes in surprise. Ever since they had been young, Zer had always been the genius and no one could match him whether it was in swordsmanship or magic. The only person who was close to him in anything was her in magic so they used to practice all the time together. Hearing that Azrael wasn’t much worse than Zer in swordsmanship and even better than him in magic truthfully surprised her. She thought there would be no one in the whole continent that was better than Zer.
“Ho… for there to be someone that good. Azrael your talents really are quite something to match Zer. Haa, my headaches for this upcoming school tournament just increased. Anyways, why don’t the three of you join me for tea next weekend? Zer I’ll send the formal invitation to you later this week.”
Hearing the sudden invitation for tea with the princess, Azrael and Winston look at her with surprise. Even though Winston had been to a lot of fancy parties and spent a lot of times nobilities, this was still the first time for him to get an invitation for a private session with a princess not to mention Azrael.
Hearing the invitation, Zer was also surprised. From what he knew the princess hated social gathering events like tea parties and rarely held one. He turned back to Azrael and Winston to see what they thought. After receiving a nod from the both of them, he turns around and gives Han Byul their confirmation.
“Sure we’ll be there. We’ll see you next weekend then.”
“Excellent. I will look forward to seeing all three of you next weekend. Look forward to the dishes.”
Hearing the reply, Han Byul shows a dazzling smile. After saying goodbye to everyone, she leaves the shop. At this moment, Winston decides to begin his attack!
“*whistles* Az, it looks like you got serious competition with Mr. Ladykiller over here”
Hearing this, Azrael couldn’t help but roll his eyes. Seeing this, the other two bursts into laughter. After laughing for a few moment Zer finally got control over himself and looks over at Azrael.
“I’m really surprised though. If I hadn’t just seen that just now, I would have never believed it. You really do like her don’t you?”
Seeing Azrael blush, Zer couldn’t help but chuckle while Winston was just shaking his head in amazement. While the trio were having a good time like that, the shop attendant finally arrived with the weapon. Seeing it, three excitedly move toward the desk and admire it.
On both edges of the spear was a flat double edged blade that had been dulled. The blades had a length of two foot and diameter of six inches. At the location where the blade and shaft connected on each end, there was a guard placed to prevent the wielder from accidently cutting themselves by moving his hand too close to the blade.
The shaft was around two foot long and made out of some grey alloy that seemed at first glance to be heavy but when lifted was quite light. In the middle of the shaft was a mechanism that allowed the spear to detach into two short swords. This was a design that Azrael had asked for because he was now proficient with swordsmanship and it would be much more advantageous to fight with two short swords then a spear in small quarters.
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Picking the weapon up, Azrael makes sure there’s nothing nearby and slowly starts swinging it. A downward slash followed by an upward one, a slash to the left then right, he tested the weight and balance of the weapons by going through multiple swings.
After he had completed the testing, Azrael nods his head in approval. The spear was lighter than it appeared due to the almost weightless alloy and it had a perfect balance to it. Even though it didn’t meet the standards of the one he had in his previous life, this one was perfect for what he needed right now.
“This is a good weapon.”
“Of course it is. Just who do you think ordered it?”
Hearing the praise for the weapon, Winston puffed his chest out in pride. Seeing this, Azrael and Zer couldn’t help but chuckle. In Zer’s face, interest could be clearly seen. Inwardly laughing, Azrael hands the weapon over to Zer.
“Zer your curiosity is written all over your face. Here, try it out man.”
Being a little embarrassed at being seen through so easily, Zer says his thanks while taking the spear. Stepping back a couple of steps and making sure the area around him was clear, he begins swinging the spear and going through different attacks. After doing numerous tests Zer hands the spear back over to Azrael.
“This weapon sure is interesting. Even though the attacks are similar to that of a spear, you can also it almost like a sword with the long blades…”
“Maybe I should switch from swordsmanship to this spear too..”
Hearing Winston, Azrael and Zer burst into laughter. Seeing the two laughing, Winston’s face is filled with confusion. After calming down, Zer begins to explain why they laughed.
“Winst, this weapon isn’t nearly as easy to wield as you think. First off, you would have to become quite proficient with a spear to use this. If you made one mistake and one end of the spear hits you…. Well you know what would happen.
Also, another thing about this spear is that it can both defend and attack at the same time. As the spear is blocking an attack, it could quickly change the direction to the side and then counter attack with the open blade. This, however, would take years upon years of practicing to master. Even though it may sound easy, it takes a lot of training for your body to become used to such sudden change in movement.”
Hearing Zer explanation of the spear, Azrael silently nods his head.
‘As expected of Zer. He only practiced with it for a brief moment and he could already tell the advantage and disadvantage it had.’
While he was silently thinking that, Winston droops his shoulder in defeat at using this weapon. It wasn’t surprising. Even though the spear had many advantages, it also took that many years of hard work and practice to become proficient in it. Even though Azrael knew everything to know about the weapon, it would still take years of practicing with it again to get back to his former proficiency.
“Master Winston, does the weapon live up to your expectation?”
From behind the counter, the attendant finally speaks to see if the weapon was made to his satisfaction. He knew how powerful the house of Wozeal was and he did not want to anger them by providing an inferior product. Even though the shop was swamped with orders, they had focused mainly on this weapon to make it with the utmost care and effort because of this.
“Yes, it was made very well. Thank you for your efforts.”
Hearing that Winston approved, the attendant inwardly sighed in relief. After saying their thanks to the attendants the trio step out of the shop and back into the city. With a big grin on his face, Winston turns around and looks at the other two.
“Since it’s almost noon and the weather’s so nice let’s go eat at an outdoor restaurant. I know a nearby place that’s really good.”
Not having much plans for today and starting to feel hungry anyways, the two just nod and follow Winston as he walked along the street. After walking for about ten minutes the three arrive at a restaurant that had numerous tables set out in a yard in front of the building.
After being received at the front by a waitress, the three were led outside to their table. The table that they were led to was a exquisite wooden table that showed the pained effort the carpenter put into it. Very expensive looking cushions were placed on the seats to ensure that the customers were comfortable.
Winston let out a sign when he sat down in his seat. After Azrael and Zer took their seats, they began looking at the menu. While they were trying to decide what to eat, however, two people were led to the table beside them and began to make loud noise.
“Honey, what do you want to eat?”
“I want to eat some pho desu~~”
Curious, Azrael turns around to see two people looking at each other lovingly from across their table. The male had short dirty blonde hair with light blue eyes and stood at about six feet two inches tall. The lady beside him stood in stark opposite with her long black hair and cornflower blue eyes. She had a short stature of four foot ten inches. Both of them had on uniforms from Sinara Academy.
“Awww.. you’re so cute Cynthia~ *poke*”
“Desu~ desu de *poked*. Honey~~”
Just as the guy poked the female in the cheek, the girl named Cynthia pouted her cheeks and attempted to look mad. Azrael, Zer, and Winston, seeing this overly pink atmosphere, was in shock. The male, finally getting out of the pink environment, notices the three looking over at them in shock.
“Can I help you three?”
“..Huh? Oh no sorry. We just noticed you two getting seated beside us and that you were from the same school as us.”
Being surprised at suddenly being called, Winston quickly recovers himself and makes up a story on the spot.Hearing the horrible excuse, the male actually believes it and just simply nods his head.
“Ah, I see. You must be fellow schoolmates. My name Wright Estein and this is my girlfriend Cynthia Leqean.”