Takanari quickly took the remaining wands from her pockets and put them on Nozomu’s hands in complete silence. “Go to Suna and don’t open your mouth again! I am being serious here, Takanari Sumomi!”
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The little girl turned pale and rushed to Taisetsuna as if the effect of the chocolate suddenly vanished, and she was, once again, the shy and cute Takanari that everyone loved.
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Nozomu approached the stairs and showed the five wands he had, with the three shining buttons, “Takanari brought this from the caves where the Goblins took her and her sister. She grabbed this when they were distracted and the Guild Master told us it would be better if she sold this to you, and maybe your Mages could replicate these and it could be useful for the country. This sort of wand creates Water Tornados, the force of it depending on which button is pressed. The bottom one is useful for washing clothes or a body. The second button would knock out everyone here, and the first one would make a hole in the walls, and probably tear this Castle apart until the Magic ended. The Magic in them is also automatically refiled after some time, to be used again.”
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The noise from the Nobles increased in volume, with many asking for further explanations, while others were saying it was impossible. The Princess leaned forward and asked, with her eyes shining, “That little girl brought that from a cave full of Goblins? Where is that cave? And how did she survive? Goblins tend to eat their prey, and only a few strong Parties of Adventurers ever managed to come out alive from a cave where Goblins thrived.”
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Nozomu made an awkward smile, “Taisetsuna and I, we went to the mountains near Ourelona yesterday because her parents came to the Guild begging for help. None of the Adventurers there helped, so we went alone and when we got there, her older sister was being sliced alive, and she was curled in a ball on the ground, with two Goblins poking her with sticks. Suna here lost it, and I followed her lead. We managed to get the girls, we killed I don’t know how many of the hundreds of Goblins that came for us, alarmed by the noise we made, and the older girl guided us to the exit through a tunnel the Goblins used when they were dragging them inside.”
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The noise of the Nobles around increased with whispers and some disguised accusations of lies, and Princess Mere wrinkled her upper lip, “You know, young Nozomu, mocking or lying to a ruling Princess such as me can give you a lot of trouble.”
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Nozomu handed the wands to an older mage dressed in a dark blue robe, who carefully held them without touching the buttons before returning to his position near a group of Mages on the left wall."I did none of that. The Princess asked, I answered. If you doubt my words, feel free to step down from your throne and challenge Taisetsuna for a fair, unarmed fight. I heard while we were coming here that our Miss Koyaga Azusake was the only one that ever defeated you, and Suna here easily rubbed the floor with Miss Koyaga two days ago, when she got angry at her. Two times in a row. One of those times, with three people trying to restrain her."
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The Princess looked at Taisetsuna, who turned pale and stuttered, “H-he is exaggerating! I-I just lost control!”
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The Princess wrinkled her nose and faced Nozomu again, “Perhaps I should challenge you instead, to teach you a lesson. I don’t like being lied to...”
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Taisetsuna immediately shouted, “Please, Princess Mere! Don’t do that! Nozo can’t control his strength and movements properly! He might inadvertently kill you! We have been training partners since we learned how to walk, and I could never defeat him!”
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The Princess signalled one of the Royal Guards and spoke while smirking at Nozomu, “I am not properly dressed for a fight, so I need to ask for a replacement. I hope you don’t mind.”
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As soon as she stopped talking, the Royal Guard put on the ground his shield, spear, chest plate and metallic gloves. With astonishing speed, he rushed in Nozomu’s direction and threw a straight punch at his face. Taisetsuna disguised a smile, knowing what was about to happen.
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In seconds, the Royal Guard hit the floor, and the noise echoed in the walls. An elbow to his solar plexus broke a few ribs, and the sound of bones cracking made the Princess gulp. A kick to his right temple knocked him out, and Nozomu jumped back to get to his usual defensive stance, and that was when he realized what he just did. “Oh, shit… I did it again, Suna…”
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Taisetsuna spoke to the Princess, breaking the silence in that room while she was pouring Healing Magic over the Guard, “I tried to warn you… We were trained by someone that was once known as Takara Sunakawa, the ‘One-Man-Army’, and Nozo was right, you shouldn’t underestimate someone you just met.”
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The Princess gulped and pointed her right index finger at Nozomu, “He said he was a simple cook’s helper. How would I know our country’s most famous general trained you? He is still alive?”
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“Yes, he is still alive, but he now lives a peaceful life, away from battles and soldiers. Nozo is indeed the cook’s helper in our Guild, as I am a waitress there, but that won’t stop us from entering the Adventurer’s Academy.”
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The Princess slowly stood up and sat again, as she was speaking, “You can use Healing Magic… That’s absurdly rare for a Cat-kind… Can young Nozomu also use Healing Magic?”
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Taisetsuna answered while helping the Royal Guard to get up, “No, he is quite useless with Magic, but his white Unicorn can use Electric and Healing Magic, so he has that part covered. My red Unicorn can use Healing Magic and Fire Magic, like me.”
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“You can also use Fire Magic…”
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The Princess then suddenly slapped the arms of her throne with a sudden realization, “You both have Unicorns? For real? How did that happen? I only saw a Unicorn in the Academy, and he almost killed me!”
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“Totally by accident, actually. We were training in our usual place, a big open field near the forest, and maybe the noise we were making annoyed them, because the white Unicorn attacked us first, followed by the red one. As you noticed, Nozomu is very good at close-range fighting, and while I was throwing Fireballs at the Unicorns as a distraction, he punched their heads until they fainted, while avoiding their Magical attacks and those dangerous pointy horns. We talked with them while they were tied to a tree, and we became friends. Well, at least I became friends with mine, because ‘Rampage’, the white Unicorn, likes to annoy Nozomu and laugh at his expense.”
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The whispers coming from the group of Nobles increased again, and one middle-aged man with a prominent belly and a big and long moustache that went down to his chest took one step forward and spoke, “Princess Mere, this is all very entertaining, but you should consider that these youngsters keep on lying and showing a complete lack of disrespect for you, and your title! You are a fool if you let this continue!”
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The voices from the Nobles increased in tone, and Taisetsuna spoke after receiving a slight nod from the Princess, granting her the chance to refute the accusation. “We didn’t do such a thing ever since we entered through that door. We just answered with the truth to every single question the Princess made. If I’m not mistaken and remember the rules of Royal Etiquette correctly, you are the one who is being disrespectful to the Princess by speaking without being addressed or requesting to be heard, not to mention calling her a fool. At this point, the only thing that the rules dictate upon your disrespect is that you make a deep bow to the Princess, apologise for your mistake, return to your place, and be silent for the rest of the day. If you don’t immediately bow and apologize, I will request Princess Mere to be the one to teach you proper manners, in a more painful way, as the Royal Etiquette dictates in these cases.”
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The prideful Noble smirked, “Who are you to scold me, girl? You are just an orphan commoner, and I am a Count!”
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Taisetsuna faced the Princess and saw her nodding with a serious look. In a split second, Taisetsuna was in front of the fat Noble, lifting him, and with a quick rotation, she threw him to the stairs near the throne, five meters away from where they were. She approached and bent his right arm in the next second, making him scream. She then forced the Noble to raise his head towards the Princess by pulling his hair and shouted, “Apologise this instant, or I am going to break every bone in your body until you do it! A Count is not above the rules regarding Royal Etiquette! You should know that!”
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The fat and screaming Noble apologised so many times in between his tears and snorts that the Princess frowned with disgust and looked at Taisetsuna, saying, “You may release him now, Taisetsuna. My Guards will escort him to the dungeon and give him a book regarding Royal Etiquette because he might have forgotten a few things.”
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As one of the Royal Guards was taking the Noble that kept on pleading for mercy, the Princess faced the now silent group of Nobles, “The rules are for everyone, as the young Taisetsuna mentioned. Since they arrived, you have been annoying me and disrespecting me with your incessant mumbling and whispering. In my father’s time, that alone would grant you to be beheaded. I am way more lenient than my father ever was, but don’t assume I won’t resort to more drastic measures if this continues. We have here two youngsters that remind me a lot of myself when I was in this same room, telling my parents I wanted to apply to the Academy of Adventurers. Many of you may remember that day because you were here as well. I shut up all the voices that tried to dissuade me, including my father’s threats of disinheritance with my many accomplishments in the Academy and in our country’s army. Young Nozomu was right. I had been underestimating them since they entered, but you all saw how easily he defeated my very well trained Guard, and the speed and strength of Taisetsuna.”
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The Princess faced the awkward group in front of her, all of them already thinking that they ruined their reputation with all the mess they created since they arrived. “Taisetsuna, are you aware that to apply for the Academy of Adventurers, you will be tested and if you do enter, you have to pay tuition and other expenses?”
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Nozomu answered when he saw Taisetsuna signalling with her head for him to explain, “We are aware of that, Princess. That’s why I created the pizzas and the chocolates, and I spoke about requesting a licence from any Cook that wanted to learn my recipes and methods. A share of the sales we are making at the Guild goes to me, and I am hoping we will be able to apply for the Academy soon.”
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“I see… Neither of you considered joining our army? Because we could use you both, at our borders.”
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Nozomu slowly shook his head. “That never crossed our minds. One thing is fighting and killing Monsters, another is killing people because that could happen if we were in the army and a foreign army approached our borders. We might be drafted to the army as all Adventurers would be in case of an emergency, but according to the Guild’s rules that I read, we can deny being drafted.”
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“Every time that happened, years ago, an Adventurer was considered a coward, and he would have difficulties applying to Quests.”
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