Azura’s copy lamented. 37 seconds. That was how long he was in the capital before the princess ‘graced’ them with her presence. “Hello students of Grand Forge, it warms my heart to see so many familiar faces among you.” The ship had landed in a landing bay within the guard walls surrounding the castle. Still a few hundred feet from the castle's main structure. The princess greeted them with clear cheer in her voice. She was short even for a 12 year old, and had blonde hair that went down to her waist. Her eyes were a lively blue, and were glowing with amusement. Several guards in thick plate armor stood near her, only 1 lacking a helmet. Lux was tall, easily over 6 ft, and black hair much messier than his own. His armor was clearly more decorated than the others, having gold and blue details and a few medals on it.
There was a chorus of greetings from the students, of course anyone who had met the princess before was dead silent. Of course the princess wasn’t perturbed in the slightest. “I’m sure you all are quite restless after the long flight, so we’re going to start with the training area, of course you’ll be given some time to warm up before any battles happen.” There were mixed reactions from the students. On one hand excitement for the spars, and the genuine need to exercise after being cooped up in the airship. On the other hand these spars would be very important for their future, and it was important to make a good showing. “Please follow me, I will be your escort for the vast majority of your stay.” He knew he wasn’t the only one who paled at that. He also knew there was no way the princess hadn’t noticed, and her smile brightening ever so slightly was enough to confirm that.
Despite his reservations he followed along with the rest of the students. “What kindred twisted display do you think she has planned for the spars?” He sighed at least he had Gareth, Cynthia and a few other nobles to share his misery with this time.
“Hopefully it’s nothing too crazy, well at least not for everyone. She seems more the type to only single out a few of us.” That was true. Almost everyone adored the princess, since she usually put on the guise of an incredibly kind and caring princess, but some people she decided to reveal her true self to, he couldn’t help but wish he hadn’t fallen into the latter category.
“Most likely I’ll end up fighting first, and you guys will get to see one of my secrets, although it’s not one I particularly understand.” He still didn’t know where that power came from or why it affected him the way it did, but once he had accidentally discovered it in the capital the princess had made a habit of forcing him to use it.
“Better you than me, my animal spells are a major hit with the princess, and I sorely regret ever allowing her to see them. My father was quite pleased that the princess enjoyed my spell work, but he doesn’t know the kind of mo-person she really is.” He pretended to miss Gareth’s near slip of the tongue. It was one thing to talk bad about the princess at Grand Forge, but quite another to do so with her and her knights right nearby. Lux would probably pretend he didn’t hear so long as it wasn’t threatening, but there was no guarantee for the others.
“Maybe it won’t be so bad with her attention divided?” It was clear she was drawing at straws, but he appreciated Cynthia’s attempt to be optimistic. He was about to say something in response, but they had made a mistake he hadn’t considered they had grouped up. Making themselves an obvious target for the princess who was walking over to them now after pointing at the training area for the rest of the students to head towards.
“Wow the young lords of house Silver and Lione talking with Princess Violet, can’t say I was expecting you 3 to get along.” Well Gareth didn’t like him very much, but he didn’t dislike Gareth, and he definitely didn’t dislike Cynthia so he supposed they did get along rather well in noble terms.
“I don’t know if I’d say we get along, but at the very least they are worthy of respect” He resisted his urge to roll his eyes at Gareth’s reply, it was a pretty typical response among nobles that don’t like each other, but it did provide an opening for the princess that he quickly tried to seal off.
“I’d say we get along fine so long as it’s in a combat environment.” He presented it as a joke, but he knew Gareth and the princess would both get the actual message. They both laughed lightly. He sighed, keeping a united front was going to be difficult if Gareth kept saying things like that, but he was confident the other noble would adapt quickly.
“True, I’d say we worked together rather well during the first trial.” He smiled and nodded. IT was true, but more importantly the less faults they gave the princess to try to exploit the more peaceful their trip would be. He had no illusions that they’d pull it off completely, but they would do their best at least.
“Well I am certainly looking forward to seeing how much stronger you’ve gotten since the last time I’ve seen you. Don’t forget our little game Azura, I’ll be upping the stakes so make sure you don’t hold back. I know you’ll make a good showing.” He resisted the urge to respond negatively. Even though she meant that more in the vein of he’d be revealing some stuff he hadn’t wanted to than that he would do well in whatever game she had set up this time.
“I am honored by your confidence, your highness.” She laughed lightly into her hand. Probably to hide her mischievous smile more than because it was polite. She knew how much he disliked her, and definitely enjoyed the fact he couldn’t even show a hint of said dislike in public. With that the princess curtsied, and went into the training room where most of the other students had already disappeared to.
“Aren’t you guys being a little melodramatic? She seemed fine to me, nice even.” He sighed. Katy never really was one for picking up the subtleties. Rather ironic given her choice in spells was almost entirely around deceit and fooling the senses. He supposed she was just more geared towards combat then conversations, but still.
“Perhaps if you missed all of the subtle byplays.” She rolled her eyes. He could practically hear her thinking he was overthinking it, but she would see. Actuallygiven she was always upset with him for keeping his secrets it was possible she and the princess would actually get along. He shuddered at the thought. If he tried too hard to avoid that outcome they would both catch on and almost guarantee it, so he’d have to let things play out and hope it didn’t happen. Not his favorite course of action given his luck.
“Whatever, let’s just go warm up, I’m actually looking forward to this.” Katy walked towards the training room to link back up with the others. He sighed, Gareth and Cynthia sharing his reaction. He enjoyed the solidarity for a few seconds before they began following after her as if walking towards their execution.
***
Azura was a lot more wary after the ambush. He had misjudged the plan of the enemy commander, but he and Jackson had been able to overcome it easily enough. Well easily as in there had been no major injuries. He wanted to ask about Jackson’s magic, but he didn’t really have anything to offer in exchange or at least no magic the man would both have the time to learn and would be useful given his skillset. So Azura settled for simply watching more closely next time.
“I don’t really sense anything near us anymore, but your senses seem to be sharper than mine, you notice anything.” He did not, and that was precisely what had him on edge.
“No, not even rank-1 monsters. As far as I can tell the area is completely empty. I think I was able to adjust my sensory spell to catch onto hidden monsters as long as they’re cloaked in specific ways, so hopefully we can avoid another ambush situation.” It wasn’t perfect, but the spell would pick up most normal means of staying hidden, some higher rank monsters had unique cloaking abilities that functioned differently than the common ones, but he didn’t know enough about them to prepare for them specifically.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“The commander is regrouping, with any luck they’ll decide we aren’t worth the effort.” He wasn’t holding his breath. The monster giving up after 1 failed plan seemed unlikely, especially given monsters didn’t really understand the sunk cost fallacy. Then again monsters were practically infinite, so it didn’t really matter much to them how many of them died. “It’s a little optimistic, sure, but not unlikely. Monsters seem to have a form of loose hierarchy. In general the strong rule over the weak, so a lot of them will leave you alone if you show your strength.” He probably noticed my skeptical look.
“I doubt it, every monster who saw our strength died, and I don’t think the commander is short on disposable minions in a place like this.” Maybe he was a bit paranoid, but given his luck he had no doubt that this wasn’t over yet.
“Fair point, but there is no point stressing out about it either. If they come we’ll just have to be ready.” Like he was ever not ready. His father had burned him enough times that he never truly let his guard down. Even in the school surrounded by friends he was always at the ready for an attack.
Jackson slowed down as the bone graveyard came into view. It was too sudden a change to possibly be natural. A solid line where the forest suddenly stopped, and the desert-like area with bones of many shapes and sizes jutted out with no rhyme or reason. Some looking like full skeletons, others just random bones on their own. “Well, you ready for the fun part, or do you want to camp here for the night and try to rush tomorrow to get through the area in one go?”
He considered Jackson’s question. On one hand the bone graveyard was going to be the most dangerous stretch of his little journey, so it would be best if they could avoid spending a night there, on the other hand it was hopelessly optimistic that they could get through it in a single day rushing or not. There were going to be a lot more monsters there, not to mention the likelihood that the commander made their base somewhere within. “Best we get started now. If we leave now we have a higher likelihood of actually getting through it tomorrow instead of getting stuck in there tomorrow night, and we don’t have to rush, which would only add to the dangers within.”
“Yeah that’s probably the right call.” Jackson sighed and squared his shoulders. “Well if we’re going to go let’s go, we’re burning daylight.” He mentally noted how unhappy his guide looked as they entered the graveyard. It wouldn’t take long for him to understand why.
***
The princess had given them an hour to warm up and prepare for the matches, and Katy was actually getting pretty pumped up. She was by no means as excited as Lily, but she always enjoyed a chance to show off how much stronger she’d gotten. Of course no one was surprised when Azura was the first one called up, although the whispered conversation that she could barely hear even with her enhanced sentence caught her interest.
“Of course this spar will follow the normal rules for your visits.” The princess sounded excited, and she wondered just what kind of rules he was under.
“Seriously?! Look I don’t mind doing another spar later, but you can’t seriously intend for me to use that with all my classmates around?! Someone is going to get hurt.” Azura sounded urgent, and she wondered just what it was she was forcing him to use. He had some powerful spells, but his whole thing was control, she couldn’t think of a single spell he used that would put the audience at risk.
“No need to worry Lux will be your opponent, I’m quite confident he can keep the audience safe. Besides these are all mages that made it into Grand Forge or trained nights, I’m sure they can handle a little magical backlash.” Azura looked angry, which was beyond unusual. She had seen him be angry before, but he never looked it in front of the person he was angry at.
“Lux is more than strong enough to keep me in check even in that state, but there is no way he can guarantee the safety of everyone in the audience and himself at the same time. Something is going to get through, and someone is going to get hurt. I know you know that.” The princess was calm even under the whispered tirade of Azura. The other students were starting to notice the scene now, and she could see the others with spirit contracts that granted better hearing, straining their ears to hear what was going on.
“Perhaps he couldn’t if you were the real deal, but for a copy there shouldn’t be a problem.” Azura growled and shook his head. She already knew what his response would be. Afterall she had dealt with his copies enough to know the only real weakness in the copies was their limited magic, and thanks to Grand Forge he had taken some major strides in correcting said weakness.
“That won’t affect anything until I start running low on magic. I’m full tank right now, and the thing you’re trying to get me to use not only has access to more magic power, but it can access my stored mana too. This isn’t going to end well. There is a reason it’s not a spell I ever use.” She would be lying if she said she wasn’t curious. Frankly she was willing to take the risk just to see whatever spell he has that has him this worried. Obviously the princess felt the same, because she didn’t even seem fazed.
“According to the calculations I ran it should be fine.” The princess was perfectly calm in direct contrast to Azura who wasn’t even trying to hide his emotions. That was probably the part that had her the most concerned. Azura always hid his emotions. For as long as she’d known him he would never let something get him riled up in public like this, and yet hear he was visibly fuming.
He sighed and relaxed. “Very well, but you better take responsibility when this inevitably blows up in all of our faces.” The princess smiled brilliantly and nodded. Azura slowly walked to the giant circle in the middle of the training area. The circle was drawn in white paint, and gave them a lot of space for their fight. Lux was already waiting on the other side of the circle. The princess was visibly excited for whatever Azura was about to do.
“For the record I am sorry she always forces you to do this.” Lux spoke calmly and politely as soon as Azura entered the dueling circle on the opposite side. They were about 100 ft apart, with another 20 ft before the edge of the circle.
Azura sighed. “At least I won’t be hospitalizing a bunch of knights this time.” He won’t be what?! Just what was this secret? Azura hospitalized a lot of knights? He would never do that on purpose in a sparring match, and it was super unlike him to create a spell that he couldn’t control. She was even more curious now than she was before.
“If it’s any consolation most of them made a full recovery.” Most?! He left some permanently injured? That’s not an easy thing to do given how powerful healing magic was nowadays, just what did he do? Even a lost limb could normally be reattached or in some cases fully regenerated. In the middle of the royal palace there was no way there wasn’t a healer capable of doing that on the grounds.
“I know at least 3 of them definitely didn’t, and most of them probably would have died if you hadn’t stepped in. The princess was very lucky that you arrived before it turned into an event where she sent several knights to be slaughtered for her amusement. I had hoped that she might have learned a lesson after that event, but it appears not.” He sounded more resigned than anything, the odder thing was she noticed the excited smile on the princess never faded. Everyone in the room could hear their conversation. After all they had to talk pretty loudly since they were so far apart, but the princess didn’t even appear fazed.
“She learned to send 1 stronger opponent instead of a lot of weaker ones. No need to worry, I won’t allow you to hurt anyone.” That was an odd way of wording it. That made it sound more like Azura himself would be trying to hurt everyone rather than a spell that he couldn’t control. She was probably just overthinking it, a side effect of spending so much time among nobles.
“I hope you’re right. For both our sakes.” A sudden magical pressure filled the entire room. It almost made her choke with its sudden arrival. It felt familiar, but different too. Her eyes widened as she realized the pressure was emanating from Azura. Glowing lines were expanding from his chest, not where his heart would be, but the exact center of his chest. Even weirder, was that they weren’t forming symbols or anything, they were just jagged lines spreading throughout his body. They went up both sides of his face and then formed a crown-like symbol with a diamond shape in its center on his forehead. His hair slowly turned pure white, and when he opened his eyes his pupils had turned into slits.
“What is that?!” She wasn’t the only one to shout in surprise. Her eyes hadn’t moved from the spot where he had been standing. Trying to understand the transformation he had just gone through, but it took her a second to realize he had completely vanished. What? Where did he go? Her question was answered by a loud bang. As if the world's biggest hammer had just hit an impenetrable wall. The fight had begun, and for the first time she thought that perhaps Azura had kept a few things secret for a reason.