After few minutes princess was finally tired. She was standing next to Nick, panting angrily. Then she scratched her head and thought for few moments.
"Hahaha!" Suddenly Zia began to laugh and then fell down on the floor beside Nick, "Those stupid and arrogant sisters! Hahaha, not so pure anymore!"
She continued to laugh while convulsing on the floor, holding her belly with both hands.
Nick wasn't sure if she knew what 'purity' actually meant, but at least understood, that the sisters didn't quite saw eye to eye, at least not fully. Although he was still very upset, since it was unlikely for the incident to end like this.
Finally Zia calmed down. Her face was still read from the laughter when she looked at Nick. Then she chuckled again, "How was it, did you like it?"
"Like hell! Do you understand that if anyone noticed me, there is no chance I will live?" Nick seriously explained.
Zia also turned serious. Although he was a boy, he was her friend after all. As far as she knew there was no difference between them, just that they were not supposed to look at each other until marriage. Nick was right, to see a naked princess for any man, even a boy meant the death penalty.
"No one saw you. They noticed the open door only after you ran out." Zia finally said.
"Are you sure? Thank god!" Nick finally caught a break.
"That is if I don't tell anyone! Hahaha!" Zia started to laugh again.
"Why are you doing that? Do you understand how much pain I am in right now?" Nick pouted.
"What will you give me if I don't tell on you?"
"Seriously? A blackmail?" Nick grabbed his head in his hands again.
It was the common knowledge that a blackmail never ended, at least that's what they were showing in all the movies. One of the parties always died in the end and he knew very well he wouldn't survive the current fight. But he also knew he didn't really have a choice.
"Sigh, fine. I have a secret I could tell you and even give you something very special, something you can't get anywhere else in the world, if you promise to never ever tell anyone! And I mean – anyone! Also, I want you to swear it to me on your mother's love!"
They seriously looked at each other. Zia didn't really plan to tell anyone, it's just that her mom was very important to her, she loved her very much.
"Alright, I swear. We're friends after all." She smiled at Nick.
"Good!" He finally relaxed.
Although he knew that a female heart was not eternal, he will survive at least for today, "Yesterday all night I prepared a secret ingredient no one knows about in this world. It will be ready after approximately two months and then I will cook it in a special way. Even your father's cook doesn't know the recipe. There is no guarantee, but if everything goes as planned, you will be able to taste the most wonderful dish in the world!"
"You're not lying to me, are you?" To Zia it all sounded too good to be true.
"Why would I lie to my friend?" Nick smiled back and showed her his fist, "Bump me!"
"What?"
"When friends agree on something, or find something funny or just did something fun, they bump their fists together, like this." He explained her the process like he did few days back to Angel. Although princess was a little girl, he made another friend in this world.
Zia was confused at the beginning, but then quickly bumped his fist with her own, "Hahaha, I've never seen anyone doing it. How did you learn it?"
"We did it back at home." He replied with a sad smile.
This subject was brought up over and over again and Nick slowly grew more and more resilient to his emotional loss, although it still hurt every time.
"So, today you will go and rest, but tomorrow we'll go to the royal library?" Zia already forgot the previous events and thought about more important stuff.
"There are some problems with this. You are a princess and can get in, but even you won't be able to freely see all the literature, at least I think so. The best and rarest books only your father will allow you to read. The next problem lies with me – I doubt anyone will let me enter the royal library even with your help. And Even if you throw a tantrum it won't be of any use. The Royal library should be a very important place and, despite us being friends, I am new to this place and the king has not given me permission to do as I please." Nick calmly analyzed the situation.
Zia's happy mood turned worse, "What do we do then?"
"Every house is built brick by brick, you can't just make a roof and then build something under it." Nick thought aloud, "Let's first understand what you want to achieve, then think of the best path and then we will see what you can start with – should be easy enough, right?"
"I already said, I want to become the strongest swordsman in the world!" Zia stood up to look more heroic.
Nick sighed and shook his head, but then suddenly felt enlightened, 'Why am I trying to judge her? My father supported me although my dream according to his standards was a total waste of time! I don't really know anything about this world, traditions and even my friend is new to me. Why wouldn't I support her?'
"That's not an easy goal." Nick smiled at her after a moment of contemplation, "But I think you can achieve it!"
"Really?" Zia was extremely happy.
It was not the happiness like from the laughter a while ago. Someone was supporting her dream! Only another person who has been in her situation could understand it.
"Really. But it's very hard and, probably, painful. You will train with swords, that means you will get hurt and that means – you will have scars. Also, you will have to train your Qi, that means you will have to meditate a lot – it is like sitting all the time and only breathing! It's really, really hard." Nick continued to smile, "But I believe you can do it!"
"Can you teach me all of that?" Zia was all fired up again.
"I can't teach you any sword techniques or what to do with them, but I can teach you the basics of Qi and how to become really fast." Nick grinned, "Of course, you'll never be faster than me, bet I'll never be stronger than you because you will train your sword skills."
"Alright, it's decided! Now then, how do we start?"
"I need to think about it. Serious exercises need serious planning. Also, I need to find a way for me to cleanse the poison in my body before it's too late." Nick turned serious again, "Let's do it like this. Since you have chosen to be a Qi sword master, you have to know everything about it. Despite being boring, take those biographies and read them from cover to cover. To not go crazy – read only one book each day. Soon you will be done."
"'Only'?! You think the whole book is 'only' one?" Zia was confused. Nick began to read almost before he walked, and that is in both lives, but she had always found reading boring and never cared for it.
"You have to understand that reading is also a form of training. Do you think your father doesn't read? I bet he reads a lot! Even the boring stuff." Nick said, "This would be a good start, at least for now. I will think of a plan how you could train better. Also, if you want to train your endurance, you need to start running. And I don't mean running like we just did here in the corridors. You will need to go out in the park and run every day until you are so tired you just want to pass out. Wait, it's winter outside, you can catch cold. Do like this – make the longest possible route within the palace and run till you are out of strength. In the spring you will do that outside. We can try to train in the Royal woods together as well. That could be fun!"
Princess's eyes shone with excitement – fun in the woods!
While Zia escorted Nick to the kitchen, he explained in few words the basics on the diet she should follow if she wanted to get stronger. Many things in this world were similar to Earth, including milk, fruits and vegetables, honey, nuts etc., therefore it was not too hard to give her similar system to the one his mother prepared specially for him when he was at her age.
They decided to meet the next day and to Nigel's confusion bumped fists as goodbye. Zia's laughter still was in the air, when Nick turned to Ben, "You were right, I got in trouble today. Can anyone tell me why would she think I am a girl?"
"Hahaha!" Both men laughed with tears in their eyes.
"Look at yourself." Ben finally pointed at Nicks robe.
Earlier Nick didn't really pay much attention to it. The robe was comfortable and he was not afraid of cold, so it didn't need to be particularly warm. Now that he looked closer, the fabric did have a pattern of small animals and flowers and the style was a bit like that of a dress.
"I'm going to kill Stefan!" Nick angrily blurted out while both Ben and Nigel couldn't stop to hysterically laugh.
An hour later angry Nick and still giggling Ben arrived at the tailor shop. Stefan didn't even manage to say anything when Nick kicked him. Maybe the kicking was contagious, but it felt good – now he understood why Zia kicked anyone she wanted. In the end Nick ordered a pair of trousers and a jacket and warned that if those will look in any way girly, Stefan would find them inside his backside. Unfortunately both men only kept laughing at the adorable boy.
When Nick saw his threat did not work, he turned back to the kicking tactics. This time his flexibility was shown and he managed to kick Stefan few times in the chest. Nick didn't know if it hurt, but at least no one was laughing anymore.
Today they arrived home early and Nick immediately turned to his 'project pizza'. He massaged three of the curd sacs with salt and hung them in the corner of the basement, then he took one of the buckets, filled with fresh water, added salt and dropped in the fourth sack.
'Can I really make mozzarella like this?' He thought, 'Anyway, let's hope at least one of the four turns out edible.'
Then he took the rune paper he bought yesterday and created a small and very simple formation to keep mice and rats away.
After cleaning everything up he turned to Ben and said, "If everything goes as planned, it will take approximately two months, maybe a little more. The only thing left is for us to find where we can bake some bread."
Ben scratched his head, "In that case it's the easiest part, let's go."
It really turned out to be the easiest part. Right next door was a bakery. In fact, it belonged to one of the neighbors Ben shared the small courtyard with.
They got acquainted and sampled a fresh bread, but afterwards Nick returned home to sleep and Ben went out – maybe to meet some buddies for a drink or he really had some business.
Wile lying on the bed, Nick recollected the recent events. It was quite a day – he almost got killed for only seeing something, even if it was against his will. The sight of a naked girl was nothing new to him, he had few girlfriends before and he was intimate with 'Cindy the whore' for a few months as well. Although Cindy was licentious, she was beautiful and tended to her body meticulously.
But what Nick saw today was something he could not unsee anymore. It might even haunt him in his nightmares for the rest of his life … those … those … huge bushes that any self respecting girl shouldn't have! The hairy armpits, pelvises and even legs! For the 21st century youth such horror was unbearable!
Nick clenched his small fists and said to himself, 'I have to find a way to educate them on the beauty of the body! I have to save all the men of this world! I have to save the world!'
It was years later when by overhearing conversations in taverns he realized his efforts payed off and he did manage to 'save the world', although it brought a small revolution along the way. But a revolution of beauty had never been a bad thing. But it was still some time till the event that triggered this revolution.