We ate breakfast with Arthur that day. Arthur was wearing a worn brown tunic and worn white pants. He had a small tuft of hair going to the left of his head while the rest were to the right.

Looking from afar, he looked worn out as if he didn’t have any sleep. In retrospect, Alex and I wore our uniforms and were well rested. Our breakfast was eggs and what looked to me like bacon but they were more reddish and tougher.

Asher and Chronos were playing outside while we ate our breakfast and talked about last night. Malakir as always was next to me on the table.

“Zed, I think you are well suited to the Ashura style,” Arthur said while eating a piece of the bacon.

“Ashura style?” I asked.

“Yes, it’s a style of fighting with the sword developed in the Lunaria Federation. It uses a small curved sword as its main weapon but it can be used with any other one. Were your movements last night natural?”

“I just went with the flow. Alex was slashing downwards and I just did the most natural thing to me.”

He nodded and said, “Speaking of Alex, next time don’t go easy next time. Its hard to tell how much you’ve grown if you do that.”

“Sorry master,” Alex said as he dropped his head down in a bow.

I stared angrily at Alex and when he noticed me he backed away a bit and said, “I didn’t want to hurt you!”

“Don’t worry, I won’t get you for this today,” I said going back to eat. Alex looked relieved and so glanced at him and I said again, “Today.”

That got him, he looked a bit worried thinking that I was going to get back at him someday.

After breakfast, we went to our first hour of classes and I ignored the teacher as always and Alex this time was doing the same. I didn’t know what he was doing but I knew that he also was not listening because our teacher shouted at us and kept his eyes on us the whole time.

The second hour was the same as the first, only this time she did not catch us ignoring her. She was going on and on about the Lunaria Federation and their inception when she said the word, “Ashura.”

I stopped ignoring her then wanting to know more about “Ashura.”

“The Ashuras were a clan that united the Lunaria Federation. Along with the clans Luna and Mahesva, they were able to unify the many islands that now consist of the Lunaria Federation.”

“Why we are talking about them is because they developed the first of a long line of mage knights. The Ashuras were famed for their military prowess especially their elite troops they called ‘Ashura’s Shadow’. Not much is known about this group only that they were the first to combine the powers of a mage as well as a warrior.”

“During that time, warriors and mages were considered different from one another. That there is no way to combine the two. The Ashuras showed the world that it was possible and proved their effectiveness. Right now the Rigel Kingdom has the strongest group of mage knights known as the Rammert Knights. Led by the father of our very own, Alex Rammert, they continue to protect the kingdom from any outside threat. Now, let’s talk about the Luna clan...”

Once she started talking about a different clan I immediately toned her out.

Could the Ashura style that Arthur told me be from the Ashura clan?

I continued trying to think of possibilities even until lunch at the cafeteria. We met with Sasha at our table and she looked a bit sad.“What’s wrong Sasha?” I asked concerned.

“It’s just, I really want to have lunch with my brother and you guys. I know you two started it out by fighting but once you get to know him, he’s a really nice guy,” she said quickly that I almost couldn’t understand what she was trying to say.

“Why don’t we eat at our place? That way Kaiser can eat with us and we can get to know him more,” I said compassionately.

“Thank you!” she exclaimed hugging me.

I patted her on the back and said, “It’s only natural that I do this for my fiancée. You didn’t have to make it sound like a big deal either. I would’ve done it if you asked.”

She released me and said, “You would’ve?” her face looked shocked as if I had just told her that I was going to marry her.

“Yes, plus I can’t say no to your cute face,” I said with a grin.She blushed and said softly, “I’m not cute...”“Who told you that you weren’t?” I asked with a bit of an edge to my voice.

“The girls in my class. They don’t know that Kaiser is my brother since he wanted to make sure that I wouldn’t get in trouble,” she said looking down with a sad expression on her face.

“You’re cute, you’re beautiful, you’re my fiancée,” I said these things while holding her hands and holding her face and turning it to look at me, “if anyone else says anything like that just tell them that you’re my fiancée.”

Her eyes moistened and she dug her head to my chest and I naturally hugged her. She cried loudly that I thought the people on the ground would be able to hear her.

She must’ve been bullied by those girls for her to cry this much, I thought.

Alex just sat there looking at us with an awkward expression on his face when I turned to look at him. He caught my eyes and he looked away blushing.

After Sasha calmed down, we ate a quick lunch since the period was ending soon and we went our separate ways to class.

I was determined to make sure that Sasha wouldn’t have to cry like that again and started planning some things.

Summoning class was the same as yesterday. Ralph left as he dismissed the class and Alex and I went back to our mansion. Some of our classmates were too tired that they couldn’t get up anymore so they stayed behind to rest longer.

Alex and I walked to the mansion as we were pretty tired. Our robes were sweated through and the breeze made us feel a little colder.

Arthur was outside sitting on the ground when we got to the mansion. He got up and said, “Don’t take a bath but change your clothes and rest. It seems you two have had a rough day. We’ll begin your lessons after we have dinner. Don’t worry about cooking, for tonight, I’ll cook.”

Alex flinched and looked like he had something to tell me but he didn’t so we went to our rooms and changed.

Since we were going to start sword training, I decided to wear a white tunic and loose brown pants. I went downstairs when Arthur said that dinner was ready.

Alex was already sitting down wearing a red tunic and blue pants. He had a defeated expression on his face and I looked at the table.

It was beautiful. There was a whole chicken bathed in a white gravy like sauce. A white soup filled with carrots, cabbages, and many other greens. There looked like there were enough to feed ten people.

I sat down and said, “Arthur did you make all of these?”

“Yes, I’ve had my fair share of travelling around the world so I’ve learned how to cook.”

“They look delicious,” I said grabbing a piece of the chicken.

Alex looked at me worriedly and I just ignored it and took a bite of the chicken. It looked delicious but once I tasted it, the chicken tasted terrible. I struggled to swallow since Arthur was now staring at me and he looked proud of himself.

I swallowed and struggled to say, “Its delicious you should be a cook.”

He laughed and said, “Thank you for your kind words but I like the life of a knight more. Eat up I made sure to have enough for you two.”

I glared at Alex and he shrugged his shoulders and put on a sorry expression. Alex and I ate very little dinner that night and explained to Arthur that we had a lot to eat at lunch. To which he said, “Such a waste.”

He then took the rest of the food with him to the kitchen. When he was gone I said in a hushed but edgy tone, “Why didn’t you tell me that his cooking tasted terrible!”

“There wasn’t any time to do it!” said Alex as if he was being confronted by a dragon. “You are going to regret not telling me about it sooner!” putting more anger in my words.

“I’m sorry!” he said shutting his eyes, “He’s always had terrible taste. I don’t think he even knows that his food actually tastes horrible!”

I glared at him and left because Arthur was going to be waiting for us in the training room when he was done.

When we got to the training room we waited for Arthur to come and I stood there glaring at Alex.

The tension in the air was terrible until Arthur came in. He saw the both of us standing far away from each other and shrugged.

“So Prince Zed do you know anything about Ashura?” he asked as he was grabbing the two short swords we used yesterday.

I repeated what I had heard about in class this morning. He seemed to be thinking about something after I was done as he stood there with his head slightly down and his arms crossed with the swords under one shoulder.

He looked up and said, “That is generally it.”

“The Ashuras were famed for their military but saying that they were mage knights is a lie. The Ashuras were purely a warrior group,” he said spreading his arms each holding a sword and shook his head a little.

“How do you know this?” I asked.“I have connections with the Ashura clan,” he said giving us each a sword.

“Alex continue the training plan that I had set up for you for the Stagaire. I will be working with Prince Zed to show him the basics of Ashura,” he said looking at Alex.

Alex just nodded and went off to the other side of the room and held the sword with his right hand above his head and back. His left hand was stretched in front of him almost guarding his body.

I wasn’t able to observe anymore as Arthur took my attention as he started talking about the Ashura style.

“The Ashura style is a close combat style of sword fighting. Mainly infighting as the style requires you to be up close to your opponent to be able to use it perfectly.”

He started teaching me the stance that I had to take for most of the moves of the style. It relied on me holding the sword backhanded or with a reverse grip in front of me while my other hand was bended behind me. My knees and torso were bent and looked like I was about to leap at any second. He told me to memorize this position and began showing me where I can attack and how I can attack the opponent.

After being satisfied he left me to continue practicing and went over to check on Alex.

Alex’s style was different than mine. His style consisted of a series of slashes and parries while mine were stabbing and piercing. His eyes looked determined and he looked really cool learning that style as I looked at him.

Soon enough Arthur told us to spar against each other.

“Alex don’t hold back this time. Even though he’s a prince and you are his knight, right now the both of you are students of mine.”

Alex nodded and faced me in the same stance as I saw him earlier. His eyes looked like they were filled with fire as he looked at me but also apprehension as if he was struggling to find it in him to hit me. I adopted the stance for the Ashura style and hopefully conveyed my feelings of wanting to fight Alex through my eyes. I was apparently successful as I no longer saw apprehension. I smiled and Arthur said, “Begin!”

I dashed as quick as I could towards him and he slashed at me downwards. I parried and used the momentum to twist and was about to elbow him when I was pushed back.

“You’re too open!” shouted Alex.

I couldn’t see behind me but I then knew that it was over as I saw the wooden sword touch my neck.

I was shocked. Shocked that Alex was holding back a lot if I was beaten this fast. “Alex, release him,” said Arthur.Alex released me and went back to his spot. I looked at him as I rubbed my neck.

If Alex wasn’t my friend and he had a real sword...

“Prince Zed, if it’s too much please tell me,” Arthur said looking at me with concern. “No,” I said biting my teeth and making an angry expression, “Let’s continue...”

I was determined, my life can be easily taken away from me. I didn’t want it to happen again. I needed to be able to protect myself.

Arthur must’ve seen my determination as he nodded and said, “Begin!”

We sparred at least ten more times after that. Each one ended in my defeat when Arthur said, “Enough.”

Alex helped me up as our last match ended with me on the ground and Alex’s sword against my throat again. I grabbed his hand and Arthur came towards us.

“Alex, you’re swings have become sloppy. Correct that until next week,” said Arthur holding out his left hand.

“Yes master,” said Alex as he gave back the sword he was holding.

Turning to me Arthur said, “Prince Zed, it is only natural that you lost so many times. Alex has been training under me for some time so he is far more advanced than you. That being said, your moves were excellent for a beginner. I think that if you master the movements that I showed you earlier, you would be a little bit more of a match against Alex. You’re sword style is his weakness.”

As he said this he reached out his right hand and I gave him my sword and said, “Thank you... master.”

“Prince Zed, you do not need to call me master,” said Arthur laughingly.

“But you are teaching me and Alex also calls you that, it is only natural that I also call you master.”

“Is that so? If that is his highness’ wish then I have no reason to object. Go and rest up. Tomorrow the both of you will be just practicing what I had told you to practice.”

“We will be doing a sparring match each week to see how well you’ve grown. Hopefully by then, Prince Zed will be a match for you Alex,” said Arthur as he went to place the swords away and left to his room.

Alex and I went to take a bath. When we got in the water Alex said, “I’m sorry.”

I looked towards him and he looked like a kid that just broke his mother’s favorite vase. I half swum half walked towards him and said, “It’s alright. This way I can protect myself and it’ll make your job that much easier.”

“B-but,” he raised his head and was about to say something else when I said, “This is something that I want. Are you going to let your prince not have something he wants?”

He looked down and went quiet. Since the atmosphere was a bit too gloomy for my taste I said, “I still haven’t forgiven you for yesterday and today.”

He looked up confused and was helpless to do anything when I forced him down the water. I kept him there for one second and he came back up and said, “What was that for!”

“For holding back and not telling me that Arthur had no taste,” I said looking smug and swimming away. He grabbed my ankle and made me sink down.

Our relaxing bath turned into a game as we got rid of the tension.

When we finally finished playing around and changed clothes, both of us were in my room and not even an hour passed by when Alex said, “I can do it! I can do it now!”

I looked at Alex confused when Malakir said, “He’s able to manipulate the mana around him now.”

I was pleased at his accomplishment and went back to training as Malakir told Alex to create an orb of mana. Everyone was capable of manipulating mana directly, they just needed to be taught how to do it. Ethereal mages have the best aptitude for it but everyone else can do it if they were persistent enough.

Soon it was midnight and we both slept.

Tomorrow was a new day but who knew that they would come that day. Why those people would come visit me at my mansion must’ve been Finda’s way of saying that trouble will always follow me.

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