Rogan raised his guard up the moment the princess launched a surprising barrage of attacks. Never in the slightest did he expect she would immediately try to attack him this mercilessly. Her speed and magic were beyond what he had expected, not to mention her firebolts packed a serious punch.

But that was not the most troublesome, her movement speed was. It was absurd that she suddenly was able to do such actions. And she even taunted him, it almost made his jaw drop.

At first he couldn’t go on an offensive fearing that he would hurt the princess.

But that changed when she almost hit him with attacks that could definitely wound and injure him with no hesitation. She was serious about this.

If he kept on defending, it wouldn’t be much of a fight, as what he figured the princess wanted. Thus, he discarded his barrier and gripped his sword with both hands.

He swung his sword horizontally shooting an arc of light, then subsequently followed by a vertical swing. He poured the lowest amount of mana in the attacks, so they shouldn’t fatally hurt the princess. Though it violated his feeling of not hurting her in some way, she still requested this.

That being said, those two arcs of light were moving with high speed that not any normal soldier would be able to dodge all of them. However, to his surprise, the princess evaded his attacks with surprising agility. She adeptly ducked the first one to keep her footing and immediately twisted her body with a little jump to the side to evade the second one.

Rogan’s eyes widened, the way she fluidly evaded those attacks, those actions weren’t the movements of a novice. Instantly after evading his attacks with calmness, she fired a pair of firebolts, shooting forward with frightening speed. The speed of her firebolt was faster than they normally would, but he was still able to barely evade the two of them by leaping to the side.

After he evaded though, he felt chills the moment he saw the princess was already in arm’s reach. He saw it, her eyes. Her eyes were not of the innocence she always had. Those eyes were the eyes of a hunter, cold and direct.

A sword of ice was now in her left hand and moving to slash him at his vulnerable neck. Rogan blocked it with his sword and as expected it easily shattered, they were as fragile as the daggers she just used. He thought he had succeeded in defending himself from her attacks, but that was a mistake.

“Wha—”

The middle of his blade was suddenly entrapped by a translucent crimson object, gripping it tightly. He realized immediately that it should be the barrier spell, he was sure of it. He couldn’t pull away his sword, it was then he noticed her right hand moving forward, towards him. He knew instantly he shouldn’t let her hand be pointed at him.

Right before she was able to fully raise her hand towards him, he used his left hand to push and deflect it, at the same time a burst of flames passed by his ear, heat passed by his skin and his hair waved violently.

Holy shit!

It was her firebolt. He felt nervous upon realizing she was intending on casting it at point blank range. Before he could counter attack though, the princess turned her body and the next he felt a kick on his back. No, it was close to his neck.

The force of the kick was shocking and it sent him flying in the air, at the same time he felt the hold of his sword stopped. His grip on the weapon was firm, if she didn’t let go he would have dragged her with him.

No, that’s not — was she intending to kick me on the head?!

Since when did she start learning some sort of martial art? Such a question was in his head. The kick was so fluid and impressive, like it wasn’t the first time she had done it, add to that her movements in this battle. Athletic.

He regained control mid-air and he slid a little when he landed.

And she reacts too quickly!

No one would have expected something like that from the princess. Her reaction speed was almost at the level of an elite knight that it was absurd.

Worse yet, the moment he landed, the princess was already on the move, she wasted no time at all. Rogan immediately swung his sword several times, sending the same number of arcs of light.

It was at that moment that a crimson barrier appeared in front of her, it just appeared from thin air. The barrier protected her from his attacks, then the one barrier split into, hovering to her sides as if they had a mind of their own.

Of course Rogan was confused, that was not how barriers were normally used. Nor did he ever see someone do something like it before.

Rogan fired his magic again, but the barriers moved on their own to block his attacks. But he did notice something, the princess looked at the attacks first before the barriers began moving. Even so, the fact that she was able to follow them and then designate her barriers was ridiculous.

And I’m fighting her while she’s in a dress?!

She rushed forward again and several fire bolts suddenly came storming towards him. He gritted his teeth and cast a barrier large enough to protect himself from the barrage. It was then he realized that they were all weak.

As the flames dissipated, on the other side of the barrier he saw the princess. In her hand was a ball of flame, and when it shot forward, a strong force crashed into his barrier. The next moment, his barrier cracked then shattered while pushing him back.

His eyes widened in surprise, she overpowered his barrier.

The princess’s other hand was already preparing another bolt of fire. Rogan quickly stepped back and turned the flat of his blade to face the attack. He expected a powerful force just like what she did with the barrier, and when her attack of flames collided, his expectation wasn’t met. It may have made his arm shake, but that much he had expected. The princess didn’t gather as much power into that attack it seems, but a normal person might have been scorched to near death.

Subsequently, the princess gave him no breathing room and attempted to attack again.

I should have used a dull blade!

He wouldn’t have been so concerned if he did so. But there was no dull blade nearby to use, nor did he expect the fight would get to this level. He swung his sword forward, he intended on stopping right before her skin, however, the princess blocked his blade with her arm.

Not bare, but there was a barrier engulfing her arm, from the elbow to the hand. They pushed each other’s attack.

“I can’t defeat you in direct confrontation.”

The princess said.

“So, um, time to surrender?”

“No.”

With that brief word, smoke suddenly emerged from her hands, white smoke quickly spread out, covering his eyesight. Next, Rogan felt the lack of resistance from his blade.

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“Huh?”

Rogan couldn’t see anything in this thick smoke.

Another trick…

He couldn’t hear her at all. Not her footsteps or anything. He also couldn’t find any unnatural motion in the smoke.

Where is she?

Light gathered in his palm, after pouring large enough mana into it, he unleashed the ball of light into the ground. A pushing force was unleashed in all directions, instantly dispersing the smoke away.

He gripped his sword tight and swung it behind him. Then his motion came to an instant halt.

He grinned.

“Got you, your highness.”

The edge of his blade stopped right before her neck.

“If you got any more closer, I would have been doomed.”

Of course the princess’s eyes were wide in surprise. She sighed and eased her stance.

“I lost.”

Rogan withdrew his sword and returned it to its sheathe.

When everything was done, the princess began to breathe heavily.

“Princess?”

“I’m just exhausted.”

She slouched a little as she was sweating profusely. Rogan stared at her. She looked quite attractive when she was trying hard.

“You were holding back, weren’t you?” she asked.

“What made you think that?”

“You didn’t use your lightning magic.”

Rogan wondered how she knew about that and then recalled that he used the lightning element to his armament magic during the mock battle when she was watching.

“Besides, you weren’t even using your spear.”

“Hehe, and so it would seem.”

The princess lowered her gaze and furrowed her brows. Truth be told, despite how fearsome she was just earlier, she looked quite adorable at the moment.

“Princess, are you actually upset?”

“Forget it—”

Suddenly the princess began to falter on her legs when she tried walking. Her legs trembled and she lost her balance. Rogan immediately caught her.

“Princess, are you alright?”

“Just… my limbs hurt.”

“Let me bring you to somewhere comfortable.”

Rogan proceeded to carry her gently. He used his one arm to carry her under the legs, and one on her back.

“Uh…”

She looked up at him before looking away. Rogan could only smile in amusement. She was soft and tender. It was hard to believe she was the same person that moved with great swiftness and shocking power a moment ago.

“Thank you…”

She leaned the side of her head to his chest armor. Rogan could feel his heart beating faster not because of the physical activity he just did, but for some other reason.

Damn, not good. Can’t help it, I’m a man! Ayana, forgive me.

He tried not to look at the princess and went straight towards the shade of a nearby tree. Not that he had any intimate relationship with his friend Ayana, nor did he ever confess, but they had been friends for some time, and he developed quite a fond feeling for her. So perhaps he was giving himself a bit of limitation.

“What’s wrong with milady?” Mera immediately rushed towards them.

“I don’t know.”

Rogan gently lowered and put down the princess as he replied to Mera. When she made contact with the soil, she grimaced in pain. She held her leg and massaged them a little.

“Hm, the physical enhancement caused quite a toll on your limbs.”

Vernon was the one to give the answer to everyone’s question. As Rogan thought, she was using physical enhancement, but have overdid it.

“Normally you shouldn’t get any pain. But princess… you didn’t apply the technique properly.”

“Apparently…”

“Let me call a physician.”

“No need. I’ll treat myself.”

Green light then shone from her hands and held them out right before her legs. Rogan found himself surprised again, he didn’t know what level of healing magic she was casting, but counting other spells she was using, it was already so impressive that she was able to adeptly cast healing magic as well.

Of course they no longer had any need to vocalize their surprises.

“Your highness, where did you learn to move like that? Athletic, and the way you fought.” Vernon asked.

Rogan was also curious. He expected she would only be barraging him with magic spells at a distance, but he never expected she would try close combat. And not just any close combat, she had moves, skillful moves. No novice would be able to easily control their movements when trying to move that quickly with enhancements and to use it, along with magic, in combat.

She even attacked him physically and also dodged his attacks.

“... I have a lot of personal time.”

That was all she answered.

What does that even mean?

In no way she learned all that by herself.

Rogan thought Vernon would press further, but unexpectedly he merely nodded his head.

“I understand.”

If he had no intention of asking any further, then Rogan decided to do the same.

Rogan unconsciously stared at the princess as she started healing her arms, they must be also in pain. Upon realizing he was staring a bit too much, he leaned back and looked away for a moment.

“Still, you almost had me there, princess. Really surprised me, there was a chance you might have defeated me.”

“...” She looked up at him with a nod before continuing to attend to her healing.

“I too am surprised, I expected you to be defeated after three attacks at least.”

“I would have if Sir Rogan took it seriously from the beginning. No, he didn’t even use his full strength from the beginning.”

Again the princess furrowed her brows, giving the impression that she was infuriated. Rogan felt like she was truly serious in the fight and wanted to take him down. That alone was already a terrifying prospect, there was a couple of times that her attacks may have been deadly if he didn’t escape.

What if I really died?

He decided not to delve into it any longer.

“I have to reflect on my performance.”

Her manner of speaking was almost monotonous as she spoke before standing up. She must be done with the healing.

“I’ll take a bath.”

The servants looked at each other before chasing after the princess who didn’t wait for them.

“Is she mad at me?” Rogan whispered to Vernon.

“I think not. After all my observations, I can say she is truly thinking.”

Rogan was a bit doubtful about that, she was acting a bit cold. But, the interactions after that fight with her indeed didn’t feel like she was mad.

“Milady doesn’t want to be disturbed when she is thinking.”

Mera chimed after hearing their whispered conversation. As she vouched for it, Rogan nodded his head in belief, it would be a bit scary if she was indeed mad about losing — which would not be a good characteristic, but to be honest, she might look cute when acting like it.

All of a sudden, the princess halted in her tracks. Rogan immediately froze fearing that she might have sensed his thoughts — although that was impossible. Even so, ladies have weird intuitions as he had often experienced with Ayana.

“By the way, how’s Allie?”

Rogan felt relieved at her question but was puzzled at the sudden topic. If he recalled correctly, she was the person who attempted to assassinate, poison, the princess. When the knights heard about it, some were furious, while others were only relieved that the attempt failed. Rogan was on the latter side.

But if the princess had been treating them more kindly as she just did recently, a lot of them might have been more than furious. The princess has been kind with the knights lately, the princess would definitely have a motive by doing that, like getting on the knights’ good sides.

She didn’t ask that question directly to anyone, thus if any of the three knew about it, they should answer.

Vernon was the one to respond first.

“... My apologies I have not any updates about her, but she should still be in the dungeon, as you requested.”

Princess Estelia then shifted her gaze to Rogan.

“Uh, I heard no news in particular, given that she is imprisoned.”

“Ever since her imprisonment, has there been news of any suspicious activity? Intruders and such?”

Rogan shook his head.

“Nothing of the sort.”

“The patrols in the city have not bore any fruit either, what are they planning…?”

Rogan knew who she was referring to, namely those that were targeting her.

“They’re still too quiet… Mera, any new employees in the palace? I am not exactly one involved in the palace staff affairs.”

“N-No, there has been no new staff this month, nor did any leave. I heard the palace planned on becoming more strict during hiring, and opted to favor noble blood in the future.”

“Vernon, anything to add?”

“My apologies, but I no longer have any major information regarding the palace system ever since I was transferred to you.”

Vernon no longer worked for the king, thus he no longer had a direct information source of decisions regarding the inner workings of the palace. Furthermore, he had been working more personally with the princess and had less exposure to everything else.

“That’s fine. If you haven’t heard anything, it could mean no major changes happened. They must have decided to abandon Allie.”

As one would expect, no one would risk their life raiding or infiltrating the palace to rescue one prisoner. However, why did the princess sound like she was making sure?

“Or they believed she’s dead as well…”

The princess lowered her gaze for a moment.

“Vernon, take a look and visit Allie. Give me a report on her situation, condition, and her environment, her observable behavior, the treatment she had, and your assumption on her mental state. Afterwards, meet me in the room we use during my lessons.”

Rogan was baffled by the specific information she wanted. Then she continued.

“I want an unfiltered report.”

Rogan already had an idea how she would be treated, and perhaps that was why she wanted a clear and true report from Vernon. If she had specified that order, then, there might have been an instance where they filtered the truth of the matter.

“... Understood, I will follow your command.”

“Now go.”

Rogan wondered if the princess would be able to handle the truth of Allie’s treatment, she had always been an innocent and pure person. One could even call her a saint.

“Let’s go.”

Then they continued onward to follow the princess.