Iron gates rose.
The carriage traversed past the city guards and rattled over a floor of cobblestone. Maria glanced through the window, watching the crowded streets make way for them. The very presence of the Blue Pheonix, the insignia of the kingdom, upon their vehicle was a valued deterrent, not to mention the four guards that stalked it. Since that day, there had been a ramp up in security. . .no one could get too close for comfort. It kept them away from commoners, a clear divide between social ranks, but she was soon to be 16, soon to be an adult, and soon to run away. That was the promise.
"It's been awhile. . ." She muttered.
Two months exactly. Of course, at the time, she had came alone, and that was only for the sole purpose of studying under the Clovers; as she had been doing sporadically since she met the eccentric family. And, now, she returned for both Arthur's arm and The Hunt.
"All of a sudden, you look more tense than me?"
"My test starts tomorrow, how can I not be?"
Ha, he chuckled to himself, his eyes looking at her as if she were a cute little cat.
"I already passed mine~"
She kicked him, "We already know you're just tagging on for fun, stop flaunting."
". . ." A certain guard wondered what the two were up to now.
The carriage stopped momentarily, then advanced once more. It passed into the inner workings of the city, and soon rolled over before a mansion. Gates cracked upon and rose and two knights welcomed the carriage inside.
It trekked through a small trail that passed under overlapping trees and reached a half-circular area at the estate's doors.
The trio descended, neither of them surprised by the grandeur of the building before them. Soon, they reached the steps of the place as a door swung open to reveal a middle-aged man and a fairly young woman.
They were both dressed in black from top to bottom. Black hair, the woman's long and fluffy, reaching down her simple, black, one-piece dress. The man had a short, but well-kept head of hair that matched well with his casual wear of a black shirt and black pants.
In their plain clothes, they looked refined.
Maria smiled, "Good afternoon, Master."
"Gah," Arthur replied.
"Afternoon," Lambert Clover responded, ignoring the boy, "Sorry, we could only gather this much of a reception."
"It's alright," Maria said, turning to the woman, "Good afternoon miss, how's Rain? Still locked up in the training room, I imagine?"
Claire sighed, "He takes after a certain someone."
"Honey, why do I feel like you're insulting me here?"
". . ." Maria and Claire ignored him.
". . ."
A hand patted his shoulder.
"Feels bad, man," Arthur laughed, walking between the group and entering the estate as if it was his summer home.
It was good too, because the couple had already turned to soothing each other.
"Don't worry sweetheart, I'll make it up to you later~"
"Oh? How so~?"
"Well. . .you know?" The woman winked.
Maria quietly dodged the lovebirds and skittered into the mansion, wondering if all nobles had a screw loose.
"Oh? Ais, pleasure to see you again, why don't you come with us for a bit of a chat?"
". . .it's my honor."
'I should have followed the two. As well.' Ais regretted.
The interior of the mansion was designed of chocolate-brown wood. It had 2 floors in total, though each floor contained enough rooms to make up 2 peasant houses, and then some. Maria walked through the hallway, quite sure that her guest room must have remained untouched, and unhurriedly followed after Arthur's back.
Soon, they reached a large door to the right, to which Arthur unhurriedly kicked open.
"Say hello to big brother!"
The room was wide. It's entire floor was made of a wooden surface, cream in color, a shining as if it was regularly maintained. There, at the closest edge of the room, a boy sat, sweat dripping down from his black hair, a dark blue sword on his lap, as he looked toward the door.
". . ."
". . ."
The two boys briefly stared at each other.
"Oh, it's just you," The boy blinked, "You arrived and are already clamoring? I wouldn't expect anything less. Fitting."
Arthur's brow twitched.
"
A ball of flame manifested itself and combusted through the air.
The boy moved instinctively, rolled backwards, and jumped into the air.
"First form,
A wave of water rolled around the boy's figure, his sword came together, it was like an ocean wave, and smashed into the ball of flames, quenching it into nothing but steam as he softly landed.
"You've gotten quicker with your Combat Art," Arthur remarked with a mock applause.
A mystifying pair of purple eyes stared back.
"You crazy pyromaniac. Are you trying to burn my house down? I have you know we're not so rich as to create a new one from scratch," He drew his weapon, "and I'm not so merciful as to let you off."
He was like the spitting image of his father, save for his oddly colored pair of eyes and his much younger appearance.
"If I burn it down, I'll build you a new one," Arthur said as a dance of red light appeared behind him.
"What a crazy pride, you really want to taste my blade that much?"
"Bring it on. . ." The prince lazily yawned as his hand ran through his long hair.
"Fine by me. . ."
The boy scoffed, "Alright, let me test my third form on you."
". . .would you boys stop for a second? Are you two untamed rats? Do you have no manners? Could you please spark more intelligent actions than that of slugs?" Maria spouted, walking into the room.
Her words were harsh, but it had the intended effect.
"Humph," Arthur said, shaking his hand as the light behind him disappeared, "I suppose a barbarian isn't as competent as slugs. That's to be expected. I'll forgive him."
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
"Why are you speaking so high and mighty all of a sudden? You give me the creeps, please return to being a scholar in name only," The boy shivered slightly.
"You little sh*t. . .I'm a Tier 3 mage with 6 spells under my belt at 18 years old, I might as well be a scholar, or no one else could count."
"Are you really flaunting your magic? Really? Can a shorty like you even fight a real battle?"
The prince scoffed, "I won't fall to the point that I may attack your appearance, really, a pretty boy swinging a weapon around? That's just hilarious, no? Oh well, being jealous simply because you're incapable of using magic sure must be nice, at least."
The prince flaunted his 'eloquence'.
"Why you. . .I'll cut you."
Arthur waved him up, "Bring it on."
Maria sighed.
She was reminded of the relationship between her father and her uncle. . .two blockheads that each respected only those in their field. Swordsmanship vs magic. An unending battle since their younger days.
'I'm obviously the tallest one here,' She thought.
Her delusions were strong, she was, in fact, 2 inches shorter than the two, who were 5 feet 7 inches tall.
She clapped her hand, "Would you two like for me to take out my own weapon and join you?"
"Be my guest," Arthur replied.
The other teen shrugged, "There's no difference between beating you and beating him."
A vein twitched.
"You're really. . ." Maria began, grasping into the air as a white light danced.
"Trying your luck, Rain."
A radiant sword with a red grasp and a silver blade appeared in her hand.
"Very well," She said.
"It's a battle royal, and you're both dead."
The trio stared at each other.
'. . .Rain can realistically only activate 2 or 3 of his Combat Arts before his abysmal mana capacity catches up to him. Those eyes of his might be a problem though. And. . .Arthur. . .he'll probably try and attack both of us at once. So, let Rain waste his mana, and charge this big brother of mine. . .' She thought.
'. . .keep her at a distance. . .bombard him till he cannot counter. . .' Arthur thought.
'Allow them to waste their energy while mildly helping Maria. . .and then strike. . .' Rain thought.
They all thought, and they all fell into action.
"
"
Flames spurted onto the floor, waving forward like an advancing as if to devour everything on the floor, leaving scorch marks in its wake.
"Really?" Rain scoffed and merely dodged to the side.
He took his weapon and advanced closer, only to be surrounded by fireballs on all sides.
He spun his body as a wave of mana rolled over.
"
Water met fire.
-BOOM-
Maria looked at the glittering rope that bounded her movements.
A wave of light washed over body, she guided her mana, and forcefully tore the rope off of her body with her hands.
Just in time, she jumped back as a hand stretched out.
"
A dozen balls of flames witzed through the air.
It had been a long time since she first summoned her weapon. She had trained with it, became familiar with it, and it allowed her the ability to cast Light magic instantly.
The air rang with flames as the balls struck against the hazy barrier, both shattering on contact.
She hadn't mastered it, it was no surprise that it shattered right on impact. But that was good enough for her.
She dodged the remaining fragments of the attack, and advanced closer to her brother.
A spear of fire met her head on as she swung her blade.
The trajectory of the attack was forcefully canceled, impaling it into the floor.
She continued swinging as more spears rained from the air.
Finally,
"First form," She crouched, took one leg back, and slashed.
"
Her weapon took on a burning light, a trace of compressed mana cut through the air.
-Schitz-
The remaining spears were sliced in half as sparks of flames drifted.
Rain landed as flames and water fell from the air.
"Third form,
His weapon swung. One, two, three, as blue lights swirled around the blade, before. . .
With the final swing, he compressed the gathered mana and swung his blade.
A blue light struck forward.
Halfway between the distance between the two, it suddenly swirled, rumbled, and became a clean wave of water.
"Dratz, why are you two tag-teaming me??"
Arthur was forced to pay attention to his left.
He waved his hand as a mass of red light shot into the air, flew forward to meet the attack, and quickly condensed into a fireball twice his size.
The flames completely consumed the wave, releasing steam and decreasing in size, advancing forward.
It was too close to fully dodge, Rain thought.
The boy jumped back, imbedded his weapon with mana, and spun it infront of him.
"
His weapon spun with such ferocity that the waves of water gathered became a shield at his front.
-Boom-
The explosion ripped through his arm and his shirt was blown off, torn as flames clashed with water.
"Perfect!" Maria took that chance as she finally appeared before her brother.
She wasn't going to give him an opening for another bout.
Her mana rumbled.
"Second form,
'1.'
She swung, passing her blade past his shoulder.
A burst of light swirled around them.
'2.'
She swung.
The light increased, blinding everyone within the vicinity.
'3.'
She swung, it was like a sun had descended within their midst, Rain was forced to shield his eyes with his weapon.
'4.'
She swung, Arthur stepped back.
"You're dead."
'5.'
The combo ended.
Her blade struck straight to his neck.
The light cleared with the final strike.
"Fufufu. . ." A cynical chuckle rang.
His hand was at hid left there was a small shield, it was like crystalized flames, blocking the advance of her blade.
". . .that was fun."
At his back was a dark blue blade that had stopped in its advance. It was unable to move an inch closer to his neck, and the individual holding it, had been completely tied up, from head to toe, with a glittering rope that hadn't been lit ablaze; but it was enough.
"You think I would leave my back unguarded? You two really are two years too early."
Maria blinked to find a fireball right in front of her face.
"Well. . ."
Maria receded her weapon and calmly took a step back.
"You win."
"Tsk," Rain backed away as the glittering rope unraveled from his body, "I'm never going to hear the end of this."
. . .they all had scorch marks on their clothing. . .
The flames receded from the area, as fire and water turned back into mana. Floating into the air.
"Ah, I'm too good," Arthur laughed.
Maria and Rain felt like they could kick him.
"Tch."
"Just leave him alone."
At a certain location, in a certain room further away, Ais sipped tea with two adults.
"It's lovely, don't you think?" Claire asked.
Ais nodded, "Indeed."
Appearing before them, was a circular table displaying the situation within the room on its surface.
Lambert clover laughed, "That boy, he was holding back."
. . .the Prince hadn't been forced to move a single step until the princess's last attack.
"The princess has mastered the two forms of Albion's Light fairly well; she didn't use her Artifact's runes, but her swordsmanship could still use some polishing, and she has almost no intent to harm anyone," Ais found herself speaking more than usual, her frozen face calmly iterating her thoughts, then glanced to the black haired boy, "A shame. Give him a sword and he could do anything he so wishes with it. If only his mana slate was anything but F ranked."
It was rare to find someone with such a weak potential for anything relating to mana. Although he had no future prospects in Magic, Combat Arts and the path of a Combat Knight seemed open to him. He had the basics down pat, the resonance of the materials your weapon was made out of, its elemental purity, with your movements, your mana, and the mana within the air to create a pseudo-magic affect. It had its advantages and disadvantages, just like Magic. However. . .
"An F ranked mana slate. Combat Arts are already a massive restriction compared to magic, not only do they require precise movements that must be done in the heat of battle, they're also less versatile than magic, a significantly skilled person might only be able to successfully utilize 3 to 5 arts in the middle of battle."
"You're looking down on my son a bit too much there, no?" Claire said, like a proud mother showing off, "Combat Arts are chantless, you wouldn't know what came until it hits, and they require far less mana than magic. Even discounting those two points, Rain handicapped himself before the battle even begun, he didn't use the power of his eyes, was unable to use his fourth form in that setting, and didn't use his second blade. After all, his strength lies in being a dual-wielder."
The personal guard replied in monotone, "Oh?"
'Could he win against Maria? A Combat Knight beating a Magic Knight?'
Even if Maria currently only knew 2 spells, that was inherently a greater advantage than someone who knew none. She could heal and defend herself without wasting any movement in battle. Besides, she was also a mix between a Combat Knight and a Magic Knight, she had her 2 forms of Albion's Light. Furthermore. . .there was still her mana blades.
The two pair of eyes crossed. Black against dull gold. Neither refused to move from their position, and Claire merely snorted and returned to sipping her tea.
Ais didn't know what to make of that, especially so when she hadn't spoken about the true victor in the battle. Arthur, she thought, was simply a monster. Not only did he pick up magic like rocks on the ground, not only was his mana pool on par with Maria’s, not only was he able to chantlessly throw out flames, but. . .
‘He may have one of the best minds for battle.'
Although prideful, his skills more than made up for it, and confidence was also an important asset. He attacked only with the intent to restrain and he didn’t throw out anything dangerous, keeping the power of those he did to a minimum. They all held back, but he restrained himself the most.
Lambert Clover smiled, “It doesn't matter who held back the most, this year’s hunt is certain to be interesting.”
Ais perked up at that statement, “I don’t think I’ve heard. Who is the hunted?”
“Gushin Mao - Kent's Strongest Adventurer.”
“. . .” Even her expressionless face seemed to contain a trace of speechlessness.
She silently prayed for the three, much less catch and subdue him, she wondered if it were possible for them to even touch him.
“Honey, don’t scare her like that,” Claire butted in, waving a hand, “The rules for this year’s hunt has changed.”
The hunts were a rite of passage into adulthood, for nobles especially. It was an unofficial test to decide if a person was fit, and if they were to be allowed, to adventure on their own. This world was more dangerous than it looked, but it was almost impossible to restrain individuals if they really wanted to run away -- and there were many, many, children who quite liked the idea of an adventure. And so, every 2 years, Kent welcomed a test. Pass it, and you were 'allowed' to 'run away'.
'I do not understand.'
Ais thought to herself.
Why did the princess want to adventure so badly?
She closed her eyes and sighed, driving back old memories.
This world was not pleasant. . .
And, soon, they would meet real opponents.