Chapter 17 - Chapter 16

I do not own the characters, every right belongs to their respective authors. I make this story for fun.

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In a castle entwined with flower stems, where a beautiful woman is floating, wrapped by these stems, two people stand beside her: a young boy with white hair, but more precisely, a child, and an adult smoker.

Both met briefly and, despite their clashes, helped each other to reach the castle (lie, Satoru was thrown like a baseball). Once inside, they were supposed to find a solution to this situation, but instead, they started arguing.

Charlotte doesn't know what's happening. A moment ago, she was desperate and giving in to her curse, but now she sees a teenager and an adult insulting each other, and she is quite sure that it won't be long before they start hitting each other.

"DO YOU WANT TO FIGHT, OLD MAN!!!!"

"NO PROBLEM FOR ME, BRAT."

"YOU'RE RAGING, OLD MAN."

Both, angry and excited about what will happen, Yami releases his killing intent along with his magical power, and Satoru releases almost all of his cursed energy plus a bit of killing intent since he hasn't fully developed it yet.

There is no hesitation, fear, or doubt; both only want to fight to see who is the strongest. Satoru wants to test his power against a future captain, while Yami wants to see Satoru's power because it gives him a similar feeling to someone he knows.

But before their confrontation begins, they are interrupted by several stems coming towards them along with Charlotte's scream for them to be careful. Yami immediately draws his katana to cut all the stems, while Satoru directs his hand towards some stems and clenches his fist tightly, causing the stems to bunch up and squeeze together like a ball.

Exchanging a glance, they both know that the fight has to be postponed, and they need to solve this first.

"Alright, old man, it's all yours. Save your princess."

"Princess??? Where do you see a princess???"

"What! Seriously, there, the dear and beautiful lady, go and save her, old man."

"And why should I???"

"Because you know her."

"So what? I don't have the duty to do it. Besides, you destroyed her wall, so go and save her."

"Damn old man, what's it cost you to go and save her?"

"It costs me too much, so it's all yours, save her."

Without wasting time, Yami turns around, smoking a cigarette, and starts walking away. Satoru stands still, watching Yami walk away without wanting to turn back. Turning his gaze to Charlotte, who is looking at him with doubt and confusion, Satoru can only let out a tired sigh.

He jumps from the spot and starts walking towards her. Seeing that she is floating by the stems but unable to do much as he hasn't mastered flying yet, he looks around and sees some debris. He finds a large enough piece to use as a platform and uses blue to attract it to him before starting to lift it.

"Good afternoon, beautiful lady. How are you today?"

"Who are you, and how did you get here?"

"Let me introduce myself, I am Satoru Gojo or Gojo Satoru. Satoru is my first name, and Gojo is my last name. Now, how I got here was thanks to the help of that muscle-headed tobacco addict gorilla who never leaves the bathroom unless he runs out of paper or someone destroys the bathroom."

Not knowing what to say about Satoru's description of Yami, she knows that Yami is strong but has a rather vulgar attitude and vocabulary. But seeing the young man describe Yami perfectly, she doesn't know how to respond.

"Well, you have quite a strong problem. Your magical power went out of control because of this curse that seemed to have a timer activated by age, but now it seems to be fed by your mana."

"Wait!!!! You know about my curse?"

"Yes and no. I don't know about the curse, but I know how it's working. But I imagine you already know how to break it, right?"

Turning her head so he doesn't see the embarrassment on her face because she knows how to break the curse and the only way is to find true love, to fall in love with someone is the only way to break the curse.

Satoru sees that she is embarrassed to say it, although he is curious to know what it is, he decides not to ask since it might be difficult to do. Focusing more on Charlotte's belly button, he sees how the cursed energy is constantly moving and pulling her mana to make it stronger.

"You are quite a strong person carrying a great burden."

Charlotte is surprised by this and turns to see the young man, but upon turning, she is surprised by what she sees. A young man who seemed to be between 15 and 16 years old (cough actually 12 years old) with hair as white as snow, dark glasses slightly lowered, allowing her to see half of those fascinating blue eyes showing an image similar to the sky.

Although she has met quite handsome people, this is the first time she has seen such beautiful eyes. Besides, she feels the sensation of not being able to hide from these eyes. But putting aside her impression, she concentrates on the young man's words.

"You strive for everything, let everything fall on you, and don't let anyone help you. You want to do everything by yourself. It's pathetic to carry all that weight."

"But you know, it's something great to want to help everyone, but it's also not bad to ask for a little help."

"If you want, give me some of that weight, and I'll help you carry it so you don't suffer anymore."

Simple words but with a great meaning. These words reached her heart, and soon all the stems surrounding the castle and her started to glow and then began to disappear.

Satoru notices this and is surprised because he didn't expect this to be resolved so easily. Charlotte lands on the ground thanks to the stem that lowered her safely, but still remembering the young man's words, a small blush appears on her cheeks because it seemed more like a confession to her.

But for Satoru, these words were admiration for her strength, knowing her as a future captain, and what he meant by carrying some of that weight was using his cursed energy to try to control her cursed energy so she could control the curse and possibly have a cursed technique.

Simple words but with great meaning.

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The situation was resolved quickly and safely. Several knights arrived at the castle to see what had happened, but seeing this, Satoru decides to escape to avoid being interrogated, in addition to being asked how he could use such a strong attack without having a grimoire. Satoru quickly says goodbye to Charlotte and then disappears from there.

Charlotte was initially surprised that Satoru spoke to her, but seeing him say goodbye, she wanted to say something, but when she turned around, she saw that there was no one there. She felt a pang of pain in her chest without knowing what it was. She was still confused because seeing how the curse was undone, she understood that this young man had just taken her heart, but this sensation is quite confusing for her.

Outside the castle, a few blocks away, Yami was sitting in a restaurant eating soup in a somewhat destroyed place. But how he got his soup after this disaster, well, he just had to say a few nice words about how he would cut off the person's head if they didn't give him a soup.

Satoru appears behind him and sees Yami eating his soup calmly and unconcerned about what just happened.

"So, how was it with the princess?"

"Well, it was resolved in an unexpected way, but everything is fine."

"I see."

"Yes."

An uncomfortable silence appeared between the two, one eating calmly and the other not knowing what to do. Seeing the situation, Satoru decides to turn around to leave, but he is stopped by Yami's words.

"How long until you get your grimoire?"

"Hmm?"

"How long?"

"For what or who?"

"JUST ANSWER ME, DAMN BLIND KID."

"Don't get mad, lady. Three years left. Why do you want to know?"

"Three years, eh? It seems like months, but your appearance doesn't fool me. You emit a rather dark aura but very young at the same time."

"Once you get your grimoire, take the magic knight exam, and who knows, maybe I can help you join a squad or join mine."

"You have a squad?"

"Not yet, but knowing that blonde idiot, it seems like I'll have one."

"... and why help?"

"Because I felt like it."

"Would you let me join your squad?"

"Do you have a choice? A commoner with no magical power but can use spells seems like a strange situation, but knowing those nobles with their ugly rules, I doubt they'll let you in."

"I see. Well, I'll see what happens in the future. See you, old smoker."

"Get out of here, damn blind brat."

Without saying anything else, Satoru starts walking away from the place, and Yami continues blowing on his soup to cool it down so he can eat comfortably.

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Author: Gentlemen, a moment of inspiration

Word Count: 1579