Without Nozomu or Taisetsuna noticing, the Guild Master was hearing them, together with the smiling Takanari and an old, bald Mage. A noise of someone clearing his throat called their attention, and the Guild Master said, “To answer your question, in one week from now, it starts the first batch of tests. One week later, there is another. If you don’t have money to pay the tuition, you will have to wait for the next month, but you will miss one entire month of classes. It’s still doable, but you have to study harder than the others.”
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Nozomu nodded with a smile, “I think we will make it, considering that tomorrow I need to visit a few Cities. The Princess said she was going to send some messages today, and she gave me a list of places to go that will keep my mornings occupied for the rest of the week. I hope that is not a problem, considering I was supposed to be working in the kitchen.”
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“With all the money you are earning for the Guild with your food, I think we can manage without you in the morning. Come, let’s go to the Circle to go home.”
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Nozomu smiled and thanked the Mage for the travel, making him bow back, looking a bit surprised because normally no one thanked him. They would normally pay and leave. He smiled as he placed the key on the column, and after rotating the disks to their proper positions, the Circle on the ground began to shine, and the Mage waved back at the group.
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Dome closed, Dome opened. Nozomu looked around and saw the familiar City of Ourelona with fewer people on the street, and less noise than from where they came.
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As they were walking along the main street, they became puzzled by so many people running in the direction they were going, mostly common folks, with only one or two City Guards in the mix.
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The Guild Master frowned after they went past a curve because there was an enormous crowd gathered on the street, in front of the Guild of Adventurers.
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He increased his pace, wondering what was happening, with Nozomu carrying little Takanari in his arms and following Taisetsuna, who was right behind the Guild Master.
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While they were moving among the crowd, and trying to get to the Guild, the noise of fighting reached them. Udo Eskola, the powerful and well known Guild Master, shouted, “Out of my way! Now!”
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Everyone on his path rushed to the side, because the moment they looked at who was shouting and saw his anger, no one dared to stand still.
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After the edge of the crowd, there was an empty space, and in front of the Guild, there were City Guards seated on the ground, wounded or with their clothes slashed, and a group of Healers taking care of them. Near the frame of the door and glancing inside through a small gap, the Captain of the Guard was near two of his Guards, looking worried.
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Udo Eskola approached him and asked, “Captain, what is the meaning of this? What is happening?”
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“Now you arrive? There was a huge fight inside after lunch, and people called the Guards! When we got here and tried to break the fight, the Adventurers attacked my men, saying we had no business inside the Guild! Miss Koyaga is there, fighting the Adventurers that are still standing, and every time a Guard tries to help her, she knocks him out as well, shouting that she is the law in the Guild and no City Guard may enter uninvited! She totally lost it!”
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The Guild Master blinked and pushed the Guard to the side, opening the door with a kick. Inside, there were knocked out Adventurers and City Guards everywhere, mixed with broken tables and chairs. Taisetsuna and Nozomu entered right after him, and their jaws dropped.
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Takanari’s parents were helping Asadate Sumomi, tying an Adventurer that was laid on the floor, and fighting to get free, while Koyaga Azusake was sword fighting against one Adventurer, and her brother was fighting against another, using two fry pans as weapons.
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Asadate finished the last knot, grabbed a chair and broke it against the head of the Dog-kind Adventurer that was fighting Koyaga, knocking him out. Koyaga rushed to help her brother, and they easily overpowered the last Adventurer standing and tied a rope around his legs and arms.
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The Guild Master asked, doubting what he was seeing, “Koyaga! What happened here?”
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She got up, let her brother finish the knots, and faced the group that had just entered. “It was about time for you guys to arrive! Nozomu, you dumbass! What did you put in those chocolates? Every Beast-kind here went nuts! In the beginning, there was a lot of laughter with some of them telling a bunch of secrets they knew about each other, but it quickly escalated into a huge fight! And then those stupid City Guards came, to make the matter even worse! They know they aren’t allowed inside, and yet, they came! The Adventurers used them as punching bags! I had a lot of trouble stopping Adventurers from killing those stupids!”
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The Captain of the Guards entered, and was near the open door as he shouted, “You attacked my men as well! Don’t make up excuses now by saying it was only the Adventurers that-“
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He immediately went silent when Koyaga took a dagger from her belt and threw it at him, piercing the door behind, missing his left ear by millimetres. She shouted, and her voice resonated on the walls, making Takanari cover her ears, “You shut up! Get your men and take your guys from my floor! Take with you the broken tables and the chairs and go find a carpenter to either fix them or make me new ones. I need chairs for today’s dinner!”
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“Hey, you can’t order me around! I am the Captain of the Guard!”
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“Did I stutter, boy? You either obey me, or I am going to give you the worse beating of your life in front of your men! Move your ass over here, bring those jerks close to you, and clean my floor! Now!”
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The Captain and all the Guards outside that could move rushed to obey Koyaga’s orders. All of them knew she never made empty threats. There was a reason why the Adventurers didn’t mess with her too much. Her fame as a fearsome fighter was well known among everyone that lived or worked in that City.
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The Captain carried one of his Guards outside and returned with a few citizens that he called to help him. In mere minutes, all the injured or knocked out City Guards were taken out, together with the broken tables and chairs.
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The Captain asked as he was leaving with a pile of broken chair legs, “Miss Koyaga, do I say the carpenter that the Guild will pay for his work?”
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“No, tell him to open a tab on Nozomu’s name. It was his food that caused all this. It’s him that is going to bear the costs.”
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Nozomu was near the counter, and he was about to protest, only to have a furious Koyaga Azusake grabbing his right ear and pulling him near her face. She stared closely into his eyes, and whispered in a low crisp voice, that made him fear for his life, “After dinner, you will go to my room. You are going to be properly punished for all this, and you are going to make sure I forgive you, even if it takes all night, understood?”
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Nozomu couldn’t even nod, so he just whispered, “Yes… I can… do that, sure.”
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Koyaga slapped his forehead and let him go. “Good, as long as you understand, dumbass! And you, Udo, what the heck were you doing to be out all day while I had to deal with this mess all alone?”
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“We went to meet Princess Mere, you know that. Of course I couldn’t leave the moment we got there! Takanari had to sell her wands and Nozomu made some contracts to sell his food, and he made a thing in the Royal Kitchen that had a strange effect on a Dog-kind Noble, and…”
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Koyaga pulled Nozomu’s ear again, and asked, “Why ever since you started working here, I don’t have a day of peace, you moron? Are you doing this on purpose to annoy me? What did you do in that kitchen? Something worse than what happened here today?”
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To distract Koyaga, Takanari said, “The Princess also made me and my sister Countesses! She gave us a manor full of servants and maids, a lot of lands, and a ton of gold! We have to go see her tomorrow so that she can send us to our new home!”
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Asadate Sumomi put her hands on the shoulders of her younger sister, and stuttered, “T-Takanari… W-we are C-Countesses? How can we be...”
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“The Princess told me we could visit her from time to time and she would teach us how to act as a Noble. She is so nice, sis! We had tea and biscuits, and she made me laugh so much!”
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The Guild Master told everyone to sit because he wanted to know in detail what happened in the Guild in his absence, and in return, Koyaga asked what they did in the Castle, and how the Princess was.
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Udo Eskola looked around and frowned. “Almost half of the chairs are missing, and a lot of tables. What the heck happened here, anyway?”
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Koyaga shrugged, “I told you, it was because of the chocolates. By the way, Asadate, how many have you knocked out? I got ten.”
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“Fifteen for me. I won, right?”
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Koyaga took two copper coins from a pocket and gave them to the smiling girl. “Darn it, I thought I was going to win our bet.”
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She then explained to the puzzled Guild Master, “We made a bet during the fights. Asadate was deadly with the chairs, you know? She had one on each hand, and she ran after every Adventurer that was fighting a City Guard or another Adventurer and smashed the chair on their heads. She even managed to tie them down, grab another chair, and continue her onslaught while I was still fighting the first Adventurer that dared to go against me. Some tables broke during the skirmish, but at least no one died. A lot of hurt pride for sure, but no deaths.”
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The Guild Master slowly nodded, not believing in what he was hearing. The quiet and young Cat-kind girl was so easily corrupted into a nasty fighter in just one afternoon by Koyaga, that he feared what would happen if she stayed in the Guild for even one more hour.
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He told Koyaga what happened in the Castle, including the events in the Throne Room, the kitchen, and the garden, with Taisetsuna showing off her amazing control over her Magic.
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Koyaga glanced at Taisetsuna and asked, “Do you think that was a good idea, Guild Master? It wouldn’t be better if she kept a secret that she can use so many different types of Magic? It could get her in trouble if the news spread before she joins the Academy.”
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“No, I know that the Princess will take care of everything. I bet that by this time, she is warning the Nobles to keep to themselves what they saw, with a warning that she might go after their heads or lands if they babble. Every time I visited her in the Throne Room, I saw her annoyed with the behaviour of the Nobles in her court, but this time, she was pissed. I don’t remember seeing her so angry, not since she was under my command, in the Army. You should have seen her when she told the Nobles to deliver the chewing gums they had. She had so much Magic around her, that I swear I felt the ground trembling! I am sure that if at that moment someone didn’t obey her, he would die on the spot, just for you to know how worried she was with Nozomu’s creation.”
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Koyaga frowned at Nozomu, who raised both his open palms. “In my defence, I wasn’t counting on that sort of side-effect in Beast-kind. Chewing gums is a good idea. I just need to test other ingredients and find a combination that doesn’t affect anyone.”
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Seta Azusake tapped Nozomu’s back and spoke as he got up, “That’s only a matter of experimenting, right? What about if we went to work on that and we also started preparing tonight’s dinner? Chewing gums are indeed a good idea. I wouldn’t mind using them during the day, considering I am always tasting food and I only wash my teeth after lunch and after dinner!”
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Nozomu rushed to follow the big and smiling Bovine-kind man, with Taisetsuna baffled. “They are really going to do it… Miss Koyaga, I think your brother is becoming as crazy as Nozomu…”
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“Yeah, I am starting to think the same. My younger brother used to be so quiet, and now… Dammit, that idiot is tarnishing my sweet brother…”
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Laughter followed Koyaga’s words, overpowering the complaints of the Adventurers that were tied on the floor, asking to be released.
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