"Fire demoness, I didn't hope you will prepare a send-off for me."
Then one of the boot-lickers, who seemed to a noble, heavily rebuked him from the side:
"How dare you violate the laws of the Empire? Follow ranks and bend your knee and pay respect to the princess."
To this both the princess and Charles said together with a sigh:
"In a duel, the only ranks to pay respect to are that of battle prowess!"
"In a duel, the only ranks to pay respect to are that of battle prowess!"
Realizing they finished together, their hostile gazes crossed again and did a battle of their own.
"How dare you"
"How dare you"
They grunted again and did not speak and decided to let their swords talk.
The princess went on the aggressive like always. But Charles was used to her style and kept on dodging. He didn't even raise his sword. This was considered a great disrespect to his opponent.
The princess fumed in anger: "Raise your sword, rascal!"
"Make me" He said mockingly.
Even though he said that, he still raised his sword. The princess was no pushover. Her battle prowess was close to him, while her talent many times better than his. He knows this better than everyone, as their feud started from the start of their classes, 3 years ago.
The battle became intense all of a sudden. Charles could not dodge anymore except a lucky few. The audience were all excited to watch this and they felt their blood boiling inside their 'fighter' veins.
Everything was as it should be, except the slight incongruity that it was a fight between a sharp metallic sword and a wooden sword. But everyone felt this was normal.
There was a reason why Charles was the number 1 genius of Fire Forge Academy. He never fought his peers with a metal sword. The reasons only few knew, like the teachers, his friends and the princess and his family. The students had witnessed him using sharp metallic swords only while training, while his duel, with such swords, against teachers was hidden from their eyes.
Charles blocked and deflected the strikes by striking the body of the metallic sword with his wooden sword. The battle went on for 5 minutes. But both of them were still relaxed. The endurance of the people of this world was comparatively higher than those in his previous one.
A battle did not mean clashing of weapons and endurance alone. One also needed to have experience in the battle of tongues. Decreasing morality of your opponent and playing them with words is the mark of a skilled tactician.
"Has the demoness run out of fuel? Why is your fire so weak?" mocked Charles.
But instead of getting agitated, the princess smiled like she won.
"Do you know my name?" asked the princess with a weird smile.
"Fire demoness!" laughed Charles
"Laugh all you want! Prepare yourself, you puny insect. I am going to use my trump card and crush you! Learn my name in the future and bow when you see me, loser!"
Charles felt a bad premonition. His grip on the sword tightened.
"See you, at the trial by fire, Little EMIL!"
Charles felt his whole world darken at this moment. He barely spoke his words through his growls.
"How did you-"
He figured out who betrayed him half-way through his sentence. Then the real battle began. The sides reversed. Charles was on the aggressive. While the princess, even though defending most of the time, was smiling in extreme happiness, seeing the angry and embarrassed face of Charles.
'Hahaha... I finally broke him!'
The intense battle lasted less than a minute and Charles won easily. But there was no smile on his face. And the loser princess, was not in the least bit sad. She had never won a duel against him. But this time, she could be considered to have won, as she made him fight without holding back and humiliated him at the same time.
The princess was the one who knew him the best having always fought him and as she expected, he said:
"I lost!"
He sighed in sadness.
She knew that Charles talent was the lowest in academy. And after she breaks through to become a knight, the gap between them will be pulled apart exponentially with rising ranks.
Unexpectedly, Charles took the demoness's hand. She felt as if electricity flowed through her hands and she was unable to react even after a few seconds. The audience gasped in shock.
Charles didn't want to give any reasons for him being executed, as he without any delay, placed his wooden sword on her hand and thanked her with a smile that told he wished that his academy years never ended and they could have battled forever.
He turned back and said while walking away in an audible voice:
"Farewell, Princess Rebecca Agnes von Hestia."
Soon, he walked out of the academy, after arranging with his gang to meet after the trial by fire.
Meanwhile, Rebecca, who stood rooted with Charles's wooden sword, felt her heart was in turmoil and a drop of tear forming in the corner of her eyes. She whispered in a barely audible voice: "I hate you, Charles Emil von Novark!"
She tightly held the wooden sword like a treasure and went off the training grounds.
It was just a small interesting event in both the lives of Charles and Rebecca, who had a significant difference of status. It was possible that they would never meet again, in such personal terms.
....
The sun slowly reached its highest point.
Charles walked through the busy capital absent-mindedly and wound up arriving at his destination, the Novark Manor. It was a luxurious manor, at least in this Empire, with a line of beautifully arranged hedges and an elegant marble pavement that led to a beautiful water fountain, in front of the manor by close to 50 metres. The three floored manor, with a cream body and navy-blue roof, was at the centre of the plot and the beauty of the land was enhanced by the carefully grown plant life.
Charles was greeted by the guards at the entrance and was led inside. Everyone in the Novark Manor, respected Charles, not because of his status, but his attitude and genius level potential in battle. As he reached the front of the manor, the doors opened and the family butler came out, a 50- year old man who still looked like he was in his prime, except for the grey fringes of hair on both sides of his head, covered by dark brown hair. He asked in the tone of a concerned elder, while giving a respectful bow:
"How was the evening, Master Charles?"
"It was fine, Roger."
"The luncheon has been prepared. Do you have any plans for the evening?"
"None, Roger. I will be in my room after. Oh... remember to inform me when my sister arrives. Some one is in dire need of 'guidance'."
Roger smiled with all his effort while trying to hold his laughter. The events of the academy, was reported to the influential families without any delay. And none of the events are as interesting as the feud between Princess Rebecca and the youngest son of Baron Novark, which was known to all and a source of entertainment in the capital.
Charles snorted in resentment and had a rich luncheon that included delicacies made from the meat and highly beneficial parts of magical beasts of rank 3 and below and other magical herbs. After the luncheon, he went to his room and lied down on his bed, which was more than enough for four people. He stared at the ceiling of his room as his mind drifted to his goals and how much he achieved.
Ever since Charles realized the world he was reborn to, was one where the power of magic existed, he wanted to be a mage. But he was born without any talent for magic, nor was his talent for being a knight any different. But he persisted, and worked hard to reach where he was now, at the cusp of being a knight. Even though Baron Novark wanted to splurge on his youngest son's cultivation, Charles never allowed him to. Even getting into the Fire Forge Academy, he relied on his power.
But there is a limit to everything. Unless he has lucky encounters, this limit will drag him down and forever widen the gap between him and his peers.