After finding a Messenger and sending him to Ourelona to deliver his message, Nozomu walked along the main street side by side with Taisetsuna, with the two Unicorns peacefully following them, and as usual, gathering all the attention.
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He opened the Guild’s door for her and made a slight bow while grinning. “Dame Taisetsuna, go ahead if you please.”
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“Moron…”
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Taisetsuna blinked a few times to get her eyes used to the lower light inside the Guild, and they both looked around at the tables that had Adventurers, as they walked towards the reception desk.
As they were walking, Nozomu noticed a weird grin on the lips of a young boy, a Lion-kind, with dark yellow hair and short, round ears on his head. His tail was twitching behind him, and it pointed the tip at the newcomers as if to show that the owner was interested in them.
Taisetsuna kept on walking, avoiding looking around the moment she saw him, and Nozomu made a slight bow and a nod as a greeting to the Lion-kind boy, who kept on grinning.
The receptionist greeted them and went to get the Guild Master when Taisetsuna introduced Nozomu and told her the purpose of their visit.
When the Guild Master arrived, he immediately hand-shacked Nozomu and Taisetsuna and signalled for them to follow him to the kitchen to talk with the cook. They both followed him, with Nozomu taking a last glance at the grinning Lion-kind, and wondering why he kept on staring at him.
…
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After taking one last batch of freshly made pizzas out of the oven, Nozomu placed them over the counter at the centre of the kitchen and smiled at the Dog-kind cook. “I guess these will be more than enough for lunch. You just need to put them inside the oven for one minute to heat them up, and they will be ready to serve.”
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“Meaning that I can save the preparations I was doing for tonight’s dinner! Nice! I can make more dough for tomorrow and more tomato sauce with the free time I just got!”
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Nozomu nodded as he pointed to the bowl of chocolates he made as a demonstration. “I suppose you can also make more of those because the moment your Adventurers taste them, they will love them. Don’t forget to warn them about the side effects on Beast-kind that the pizza and the chocolates have.”
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“Of course, I don’t want fights in the Guild!”
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Nozomu bid his farewells, and the Guild Master escorted him and Taisetsuna to the main room, as he was saying, “The moment we start selling that new food, I will make an accurate report of everything, to separate your share, and I will send it to Ourelona, in your care, as the licence contract stipulates. I am sure it will sell very well because they are so tasty.”
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“I believe it as well, considering that in Ourelona it’s a tremendous success already, and even the Nobles at the court of the Princess loved it so much.”
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“Yes, I can see why. Not only is the taste amazing, but the side effects are quite interesting. That’s probably the main reason for the success, actually.”
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Nozomu muffled laughter, as Taisetsuna was turning bright red, remaining silent so that they did not ask her what she thought about the pizzas.
At the reception desk, Nozomu and Taisetsuna hand-shacked the Guild Master and went towards the exit.
As they were walking between the tables to get to the doors that led to the outside, the Party with the young Lion-kind was still seated there. Two Human men, three Dog-kind women, and the boy who looked the same age as Taisetsuna and Nozomu. He was seated while facing the exit, with his back to the reception, and he seemed not to have noticed that Nozomu and Taisetsuna were approaching.
The moment Nozomu went past him, he suddenly stretched his leg in front of him, trapping Nozomu’s left leg and making him lose balance.
As he was falling, Nozomu looked to his right and saw the Lion-kind boy making a weird smile. In the next second, Nozomu’s body moved on its own. He put his left hand on the floor, rotated his body, put his right foot at the back of the neck of the grinning boy, and made him hit the table hard.
Nozomu then made a somersault on the floor and stood up. When he turned around, he saw the boy, his hand on his dripping blood-splattered brow.
While his Party members were laughing, he got up with a jump, only to be restrained by an angry Taisetsuna, who twisted his right arm and forced him to lean on the table, face down.
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She asked, in between growls, “Where do you think you are going, dumbass? I saw what you did. You think you are funny, right? You saw us entering, and you immediately thought it was a good idea to pick a fight. You’re out of luck, kid; I eat jerks like you for breakfast! And as for Nozo, he would use you for a toothpick! You really have no idea with whom you tried to mess with!”
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“Let me go, you coward! You caught me off guard! There was no way you could get me if I was facing you!”
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“Like you tried to make Nozo fall, coward? It’s not funny when the joke is on you, is it? Here, let me give you a nice souvenir.”
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Taisetsuna pushed hard and the boy screamed when his shoulder was dislocated. She let him go and slapped the back of his head. “That’s for you to learn not to mess with people you don’t know, moron! You are supposed to be an honoured Adventurer, not a bully!”
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As he was looking back at her with his face mixed in a grimace of pain and hate, the man in front of him faced Taisetsuna and spoke with a serious face. “I am sorry for my friend. He is new, and we are still training him on how to behave. You can let him go now. I will take it from here.”
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Taisetsuna released the angry Lion-kind that attempted to turn around to face her, only to have the man push him down with two powerful hands over his shoulders. “Where do you think you are going? Sit down before I smack you!”
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Taisetsuna kept on staring back as she walked towards the door while pushing Nozomu’s back. She closed the door and mumbled, “Stupid fool… Lion-kind are the worst. They’re always looking for a fight to show off their strength or skill as fighters... Dumbasses, all of them…”
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“Let it go, Suna; we don’t need to come here that often, and we may never see him again. I am still surprised by that movement I made. This muscular memory, as you call it, sure is handy! Did I practise that movement a lot? Because my body moved on itself.”
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“Yeah, we both did, actually. It’s a useful move if someone tries to swipe your legs during a fight. Let’s get out of here to see if we can have lunch in another City, just in case that dumbass comes looking for us.”
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Nozomu tapped the side of his white Unicorn, and they walked to the Magical Circle building to visit the next City on the list.
…
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Almost at dinnertime, Nozomu and Taisetsuna entered the Guild in Ourelona, and while she quickly joined Koyaga near the reception to take care of the drinks for the thirsty Adventurers, Nozomu went straight to the kitchen.
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As he was walking past the smiling woman, he asked in a whisper, “Can we talk after dinner in your room? It is about the Princess.”
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Koyaga slowly nodded as she raised her left eyebrow, wondering what he wanted. She was then called by the people at a nearby table and rushed to get there.
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In the kitchen, Seta Azusake was taking out pizzas from the oven, and he smiled while pointing with his head to the stove. “You came back just in time. Start by filling the plates. How did it go?”
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“Well, I kind of became a Knight for services to the country. It seems that the rescue I did with Taisetsuna to get Takanari and Asadate from that cave made quite an impact.”
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“Really? That’s awesome! Then I need to call you Sir Nozomu! Fill the plates, Sir, if that is not too much of a bother for your lordship!”
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“I will do that, but only because I am kind and magnificent! And I will grant you the extreme honour of being near me! Hehehe!”
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Seta laughed and tapped Nozomu’s back, congratulating him on his title.
In the main room, Taisetsuna was telling Koyaga what happened in the Castle, and she had her mouth wide open for a split second. She then faced the room and made a loud whistle.
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When everyone stopped talking and looked at her, she announced in a loud voice and with a big smile, “Taisetsuna and Nozomu were made Knights for services to the country! If you dumbasses went with them to that cave to save the two Cat-kind girls that were kidnapped by Goblins, you could also be a Knight! Dumbasses! They have only been in this guild a few days, but they are already Knights! Raise your cups, bunch of morons!”
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All the Adventurers grabbed their big cups full of ale and cheered for Nozomu and Taisetsuna, and they all congratulated them.
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Taisetsuna made a slight smile and asked when the sound of the cheers diminished, “Is this a good time to say that after Nozo and I graduate from the Academy of Adventurers, the Princess said she is going to give us the titles of Baronet and Baronetess, together with some of her lands?”
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That announcement made them go silent for two seconds, and then the sound of more cheering almost took the roof down.
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It also started a rampage of drinking contests in between the cheering, and Nozomu asked when he arrived with the wheeled car full of plates of food. “What is happening here? So much noise!”
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In no time, Nozomu and Taisetsuna were carried on the shoulders of two tall Adventurers, who took them in a running spread across the room, with the Adventurers tapping their backs and congratulating them.
…
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After everything was cleaned, Taisetsuna went up the stairs, wondering why Nozomu was seated at a table, waiting for Koyaga to finish. He only explained that he needed to speak with her, leaving Taisetsuna curious.
When Koyaga closed the last window, she held his hand and pulled him to her room without uttering a single word.
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They both sat on the edge of the bed, and she sighed before asking. “What do you want to ask, Nozomu? Did she tell you we met at the Academy?”
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“Not only that, but that you were also lovers. That came as a surprise because I wasn’t counting on that. She seems to still love you, you know?”
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“Really… I thought she had already forgotten about me and moved on. I still love her as well, but things are like they are. She is the ruling Princess, and she can’t be with me. I am an Adventurer at heart, and I can’t settle down with a job as one of her Royal Guards.”
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Nozomu tapped her hand as he said, “You could be a Royal Guard or a Captain, and still join forces with a Party of Adventurers occasionally, you know? And living in the Castle would give you plenty of opportunities to be with the Princess, even if it had to be in secret. It’s better than both of you being separated.”
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“You say that because something happened between you and the Princess, right? I noticed the last time you arrived after meeting her, you were all smiles. And today as well.”
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“Yeah… It kind of happened… That’s also why I want to talk to you. We… I mean, you and me… as ‘yuuu’ buddies, we need to stop doing that. I can’t be with you and thinking about her, and I can’t be with her if I am ‘yuuu’ you.”
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