Due to Leonora’s intervention, the fight came to an abrupt end. The first group of attackers were real assassins, but that was not the case for the ones wearing plate armour. The ones that came later were actually knights of Brennan, and the first one was the king himself.

  I rushed over to Tasha when the fight was over and thankfully, she seemed mostly okay. I already knew she was clearly much stronger than a typical Battle-Hardened, but her durability was still surprising. Even after getting hit by the chain, there were only a few small scratches on her. In fact, her pride seemed more hurt than anything due to being knocked down to the ground. The next greatest injury on our side would be my bloodied knuckles. Flora was about to instinctively heal my hand when she saw it, but I stopped her as I saw the king start walking towards us, with his visor now lifted, revealing his face around his eyes.

  “I very much would like to apologize for this misunderstanding and to extend my deepest gratitude to you all for protecting my daughter.” His body language did not seem very apologetic, but from the tone of his voice, and the look in his eyes, I felt his sincerity. Nonetheless, I had multiple reasons for remaining on guard and thinking carefully before speaking my next words. However, Brennan’s king seemed to guess an incorrect reason for my silence. “Of course, I know my words alone are insufficient given the situation. Please, I invite you to my palace so that you can all be treated. I will also prepare an appropriate reward for you as well.”

  Still, I remained quiet. Should I accept this? If I do, will I need to pretend that we are all human? No, would that really be necessary? After my unarmed fight against him, who was wearing plate armour, wouldn’t he already suspect that I may be Battle-Hardened? The fact that he hasn’t said anything about that…

  “Thank you for the invitation…but I am unsure if one with an origin such as myself would feel welcome there.” I did my best to respond in a way to elicit the information I was searching for, but in a way that didn’t clearly state who we were. If he interpreted negatively in one way, I could try bluffing in a different direction, such as saying that the origin I was referring to was in regard to me being an Outlander, a mercenary, or a commoner, and distinguishing me from the other two. Still, I know my wording wasn’t the best but I could only hope that I didn’t make the worst out of this situation as I awaited the king’s response. After a few seconds, the king seemed to make some kind of sigh or grunt.

  “It appears that you are still being wary, but I assure you, on my honor and name as Henrik von Brennan, King of Brennan, that I only mean to express my goodwill for you having defended my daughter, regardless of your status, whether you be a subject of my nation, any other nation, or an Outlander.” His answer was such an ideal response for what I wanted to hear, that I struggled to answer in a way that I thought was appropriate.

  “So, that means you are okay with the Battle-Hardened and Farseers?” I could not see it due to the rest of his helmet, but I thought he smiled.

  “Of course!” Then, I thought I could hear his tone get a bit more serious. “I understand that there are some humans, even within my own kingdom, who hold prejudices against them, but I have always believed that those are misguided beliefs.” Then, he suddenly brought his arms out. “This is Ironshield, the city where the nations of Midgard signed the treaty to mark the end of the War of the Nines! The treaty’s spirit of peaceful cohabitation is the greatest ideal that I have committed myself towards.” I was left speechless by his sudden exuberance. Noting my renewed silence, he brought his arms back to his sides, and said, “I do not know what your past experiences were, but believe me when I say that I will show no different treatment to you or anyone else merely because of their place of birth.”

  “I believe him,” Flora said to me as she suddenly grabbed my injured hand. She did her chant and healed it right in front of the king. I looked at him intently as the injury magically healed. I thought I saw him shift a bit, but he did nothing else. Then, Flora went to heal Tasha’s little scratches.

  “You know, I would prefer if you did say something right now.” I said, breaking the silence with what I realized later was probably a very rude thing to say to a king. The look in the king’s eyes, however, seemed to instead show that he thought he was acting rudely instead.

  “I did not expect to see such rare magic, so my surprise took away my words momentarily. Well, I’m sure you have your circumstances that I have no need to know, and I still hope you will accept my invitation. Even if you do not require treatment, I still wish to accommodate you all while I prepare a suitable reward.”

  Part of me really did not want to get any more involved, especially given how it went with the last king I met, but I was inclined to give this one the benefit of the doubt, and I did want to receive a reward for my troubles. However, for once, I did not want to make a unilateral decision. I looked over at Flora and Tasha, and the king, understanding my intent, walked over to apologize to Tasha directly for injuring her and thanked the both of them for helping Leonora. Flora, unexpectedly, was receptive, although also clearly nervous about being directly addressed. Her actions just a moment earlier was clearly a rare instance of boldness. Tasha, in contrast to her usual flare, looked away briefly before demurely accepting the king’s words. I took this to mean we collectively agreed to the invitation.

  As we travelled to the palace gates, I took closer note of the armour of our royal knight escorts. Just as was always the case, I could not really tell how high quality the armour actually was, but I did spot the crests emblazoned in the center of the chest piece. It was that of a shield with a pair of chains diagonally wrapped around it. The crest was also on the king’s armour as well. If it weren’t for the fact that I was in the heat of battle, I guess I may have noticed it then. I also took a closer look at the chains the king was using. The chain on his left side was attached by the waist of his armour and the chain on the right was attached to a large cuff worn around his right wrist. I could not be sure of the reason for this arrangement, but it was clear to see from the crest that chains did have some symbolic importance.

  After passing through the gates, we were led to a room overlooking the gardens to wait while the king went to go and change out of his armour. The room was the most lavish I had seen thus far. The floors and the furniture seemed to shine, there were many gilded ornaments, and there was even a maid in the room to serve us tea. Flora and Tasha fidgeted around nervously, not even touching their cups as I casually sipped the tea, which was pretty good. I rarely drank tea, but since I thought this was close to the ones I had back home, does this mean I usually had good tea? Home, eh? I felt something almost akin to nostalgia but then bitter memories started to creep their way in through the edges of my mind. I needed to distract myself immediately.

  “What’s the matter with you two?” I asked, turning my attention to the evident uncomfortableness of the two girls. Flora, I could kind of understand, since she almost always appeared to be a bit shy. Tasha, though, was not the kind of person to get so worked up by a sudden environment change, or, at least that’s what I thought.

  “What? Oh, no…is it showing that badly?” Flora asked with a bit of a stutter.

  “A bit more than usual,” I replied. “And you, Tasha?” She looked at me and then the maid, but said nothing. I tapped my tea cup to draw the maid’s attention. “Excuse me, do you mind waiting outside for a moment?” She curtly nodded and stepped outside the room. “Well?” I asked after she shut the door behind her.

  “Um, are you upset?” she asked. Am I upset?

  “What do you mean?” I raised an eyebrow.

  “Well, in that fight, I got knocked down and I…was…” It took me a moment to realize she stopped speaking because my expression grew intense. I opened my mouth and tried to relax my facial features.

  “Well…it’s nothing to get angry about. It happens. Just forget about it.” I smiled and Tasha let out a sigh of relief. I guess that was the reason for Tasha’s timidity back there. Well, I’m not sure I am actually completely over the king whipping his chain at her, but I’ll try not to let it bother me. I then turned my attention back to Flora. “I don’t suppose this was what was on your mind?”

  “What? Oh, no, I mean…it’s not like I wasn’t thinking about that at all…” I motioned for her to just get to the point. “Well, I mean, we are in Brennan’s royal palace. We were invited by the king, and we saved the life of the princess. Isn’t that…just…” Incredible? Amazing? “um…too much to handle…” I blinked a few times.

  “I don’t know, maybe?” I answered nonchalantly. My dispassionate response seemed to only serve to further frazzle her. I sure hope that king shows up soon. In the end, Flora was forced to panic by herself for another half hour before someone came to fetch us. However, it was not the king. Instead, it was a young woman with short, dark blonde hair, probably still in her teens, wearing a deep blue dress. She stood in the doorway as an awkward silence dragged on for much longer than it should have.

  “Hello to you all, I am Leonora von Brennan, Princess of the kingdom of Brennan.” Leonora curtsied. “We’ve met earlier, but, uh…” Her eyes showed panic as she came to that awkward pause.

  “It is an honour to meet you, Princess Leonora. My name is Braith.” I stepped towards her and looked askance past her to see if there was anyone else waiting in the hall. Surprisingly, there was not; even the maids were gone. “Has something changed since we parted?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, is it usual for the princess to come greet guests on her own?” At first, she just looked a bit confused, but then I could tell that she took offense to my question from her change in expression. Her eyes narrowed and her lips scrunched a bit, but she eased her expression just before responding.

  “Our palace is patrolled by scores of guards and knights and there are multiple watchmen at every entrance to and from the courtyard. I do not believe there is an issue with me coming to meet you without an escort.” I was extremely tempted to look at either Tasha or Flora to see their reactions, but I got the feeling that my wandering gaze could only be a greater offense.

  “My apologies,” I began in a calm but strong voice, “I did not mean to suggest anything rude by my earlier question.” Suddenly, a light smile spread across my face. Ah, I think I’m starting to get what she was doing outside the castle now. It would probably be a bad idea to bring that up right now, though. “However, if our presence is no longer warranted here, then we shall immediately excuse ourselves.” I had intended my last sentence to be somewhat of a test, but I regretted it almost instantly. If this princess was even more impulsive than I thought she was, this would only be the beginning of greater troubles.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “No longer warranted?” Her expression seemed to tense up once more, but thankfully, she lightened up again right away. “Oh, no, no! I apologize as well. It seems I still have some ways to go when it comes to conversations. Of course, I don’t want you to leave yet. You saved my life today and both I and my father are extremely grateful!”

  “It was no trouble, Princess,” I said, after giving a mental sigh of relief. Good, the number of royals offended so far remain at one. Finally, I turned back to Flora and Tasha and motioned for them to introduce themselves as well, as delayed as it may have been.”

  “Hi, I’m Tasha.” I almost chuckled at the simplicity.

  “G-greetings, Princess! It is an honour to meet you! I am Flora Tree!” Oh, so she can speak up. Flora blushed heavily, but did not turn away or lower her head. Honestly, though, I did not think this was something to be so concerned about. Given how the princess came to meet us, a lack of formalities was unlikely to pose a problem. Part of me even wanted to tease her on how she could act more like she did in front of the king when she healed us.

  “It is a pleasure to meet you all as well,” Leonora said, beaming. “Really, it is great to see young girls such as yourselves!” She walked over to Tasha and suddenly put her hands on her shoulders. “Armour clearly worn for practicality. Oh, and the way you stand so dignified, it’s magnificent!” She let go of my puzzled daughter and then turned to Flora. She grasped at Flora’s hands and brought them closer to her gaze. “And you, your hands are the tools of a master, perfectly utilizing your bow for deadly precision!” Well, I wouldn’t say ‘deadly’. Flora stood petrified, stupefied by Leonora’s interaction.

  “You give quite the high praise, Princess,” I finally said, seeing that neither of the two girls were planning to speak up.

  “And it is well deserved!” Leonora let go of Flora and walked further into the room. “Tell me, Sir Braith, are you the one who taught them how to fight?”

  “I suppose I taught Tasha initially, but she has far more talent than me. As for Flora, no, I’ve never shot a single arrow in my life. Also, Sir Braith?”

  “Hmmm, I am very curious to know how the three of you came to travel together, but it would not do to keep my father waiting.” She ignored my last question, but she was right, that was the reason we were here after all. “As such, though it may have been more proper to provide you with better clothing to wear for your banquet, what you have on shall do for now.” I could tell from her smiling face that this was exactly what she wanted anyways.

  “You’re right, we should not keep the king waiting any longer than this. May I entrust you to lead the way?”

  “Of course. Oh, and bring your weapons, too.” I raised an eyebrow. “It…um…is very fitting given the rest of your attire.” I almost raised my other eyebrow. Leonora sighed. “Well, as I’m sure you may have already guessed, I have…something of a penchant for the appearance of a warrior.” That was one way of putting it. “It is for good reason, though!”

  “Well, if you don’t mind sharing…”

  “Oh, I do not intend to hide any great secrets from you, but let us set out on our way first.” She patiently waited for us to gather our weapons and we continued our conversation as we walked through the halls.

  “My father, he has…already discussed the matter in detail with me, but I do not wish to give up so simply. If possible, I was hoping you could help me. You see, the one thing our kingdom is best known for is iron. Unsurprisingly, this has led to a culture deeply involved with weapons and armour. As Princess of Brennan, I think it is of great importance that I learn all I can about this, as well as that which is heavily related.”

  “Meaning, battle and war?”

  “So, you do understand my desires, then?”

  “Well, I get why you are so enthused about it, but what exactly is your problem?”

  “Well, the true root of the problem is likely to do with the fact that I am my father’s daughter, and not my father’s son.”

  “That’s not something I can really help with.”

  “I am aware. I have tried to take my own initiatives, such as building up enough strength to wear plate armour, but alas, my father remains unconvinced. My next goal was to gain enough muscle to march in it, but I still don’t know if he would be convinced. However, I am hoping that your companions could influence my father’s opinions to some degree.”

  “You are hoping that seeing some young girls who know how to fight will make him let you get involved with fighting as well?”

  “It would be grand if the results really could happen so simply and immediately. I understand how unlikely that is, though, so I only intend for this to be the first part and I continue to work on whatever other aspects I can. Tell me, Sir Braith, compared to you, how strong are Tasha and Flora? I must admit, I was not in the best state to observe them very well during that ambush.” Okay, Sir is fine for now, I guess.

  “Compared to me, you ask? Well, that’s not that simple to answer.”

  “Why is that? Is it because you cannot fight them with all your strength? In that case, how about compared to my father? I am positive he fought you with everything he had in that alleyway. So, compared to that, how do they compare?”

  “If your father is willing, I am sure that Tasha, at the very least, would be more than willing to spar with him.”

  “I won’t say no to that,” Tasha agreed, her usual confidence having returned.

  “I would be more than willing to have it arranged somehow, but I would need to know how well she would fare. I do want this to be very convincing, after all.”

  “Hmmm,” I started thinking back on that fight with the king. It was a bit hard to focus on the details considering the amount of rage I was feeling at the time, but after a moment, I came up with a rough analysis. “When it comes to a close-quarters fight, I would say that Tasha is even more mobile than I. As far as strength goes, she might have some difficulty dealing with someone much heavier and heavily armoured, but I still would not say she is weaker.”

  “So, she would be at no disadvantage should she spar with my father?”

  “Yeah, I would say Tasha is at least slightly favoured.” I did believe in that appraisal. Yes, Tasha got knocked down by him, but it only barely injured her in the end, and Tasha’s impressive ability to learn from combat was something I witnessed multiple times.

  “Only slightly?” Tasha asked. Leonora gave a hearty laugh.

  “My, you must really be overflowing with talent to be displeased at that appraisal. My father is far from an amateur, even the average Iron Knight would lose to him. If you, a girl barely on the cusp of maturing, could prove to be an even match, I have little doubt that my father would reconsider his opinions.”

  “What’s an Iron Knight?” Tasha asked. “Are they strong?” Leonora paused in the middle of the empty corridor for a moment, wearing a slightly shocked expression.

  “They were the knights who escorted us back to the palace. Also, yes, they are very strong.”

  “How strong?” Tasha pressed. Leonora glanced over at me for a second before turning her attention back to Tasha.

  “Well, their strength varies from one another, but, at a minimum…they are simply much stronger than the average soldier. Believe me.” Leonora ended, apparently giving up on a good measurement. The amusing answer did force me to suppress a chuckle. “In any case, we have been stopped here for too long, let’s carry on our way now.” She started walking again and we continued to follow.

  “So, stronger than a bear?” Tasha asked, her curiosity still not sated.

  “A bear?”

  “Yeah, you know, the big, brown animal. It kind of goes rrrrrrr!” I could not stop myself from laughing this time.

  “No, I mean, yes, I know what a bear is. I- Is that something you normally train against?” I could tell that the question was directed to all three of us.

  “No, it’s just this one bear back in Holtzan. Well, just for Tasha, I never tried fighting it.” Leonora then turned her gaze to Flora.

  “M- Me? Oh, no, no, I, uh, no, never, never a bear. N- Never any animals, r-really!” she stammered out in a panic.

  “Hmmm, the three of you are actually quite different.”

  “Well, coming together was almost incidental,” I responded.

  “Is that so? It appears I was mistakenly under the assumption that the two of them were long-time disciples of yours. May I inquire what the full extent of your relationships are?”

  “Tasha is my daughter, and Flora is the granddaughter of a friend of mine.” Saying that much should be fine, right?

  “Your daughter? Oh my, I would not have guessed that. Oh, not that I’m saying you look nothing alike. Hmmm,” Leonora began intently gazing at the two of us, “yes, I think I’m starting to see it now. It’s…the lips?”

  “No, we’re not actually related. I adopted her when she was very young.”

  “O- Oh! Yes, of course,” she scrunched up her face in embarrassment. “I hope I did not offend you…”

  “No, it’s alright.” Leonora let out a sigh of relief. She really is quite the interesting princess. Although, I suppose she’s the first one I’ve yet to meet.

  “Sir Braith, I must say it has been quite a treat to converse with you thus far. I am sure my father will find your company equally entertaining.”

  “That would be nice.” For some reason, I feel like a hint of sarcasm found its way into my response. Maybe it’s because we already had a somewhat awkward talk earlier.

  “Before the main course, I would like it if you could support me when I bring up the matter of the spar. Assuming nothing has soured the mood up until then, of course.”

  “Well, if it does not take up too much time.”

  “Are you in a hurry to get somewhere?”

  “…Yes.” I hope my pause did not make my answer seem too suspicious.

  “I see. Then, I must apologize in advance for inconveniencing you. Well, if you really do need to get there quickly, I suppose we can forget about my plan…” I was honestly surprised by how quickly she was relenting.

  “No, we’ll do it. I mean, I’ll do it. Right, we can spend some more time here, right, dad?” I was less surprised by Tasha chiming in.

  “Yes, as I said, if it does not take too much time.” Leonora positively beamed at us.

  “Thank you very much!” Her enthusiasm was as clear as day, but I had my own reservations about the outcome of her plan.

  “Although we agreed to your plan, may I ask why exactly you think your plan will work?”

  “Do you not think a young girl besting a powerful warrior in combat would leave an impact.”

  “I’m not doubting whether it is something that people will talk about, but why do you think it will make your father immediately change his mind? You have talked to him about your situation multiple times before, and he has refused each time.”

  “He has, but I realize now that it is because he thinks I am some girl who is better off being coddled than trained. As one of the credos of our kingdom goes, actions speak louder than words!” Oh, they have that here as well. “I may not possess the strength and skill to beat a trained soldier, but I believe your daughter will prove to be a good proxy. She is young enough that even the fact that she is Battle-Hardened should not matter!” I stopped in my tracks.

  “What did you say?” It took a second for her determined expression to loosen. She tilted her head a bit in confusion.

  “Which part?”

  “The last part.”

  “Hmmm, oh yes! Even though she is Battle-Hardened, she is young enough for that to not matter. That is what I believe!” I paused instinctively. “Did I say something wrong?”

  “Why do you say that Tasha is Battle-Hardened? Did you hear that from your father?”

  “No, not all. But, is she not? I figured that all of you were since you clearly are.”

  “Is that what you think?” I know that I should not be acting like this at all, but it was proving a little difficult to change my initial response, especially given the extremism of the True-Bloods.

  “I mean, you overpowered my father in enchanted plate mail, and you were only using your bare hands. I’ve heard about the strength of the Battle-Hardened, but I did not think such a difference could exist! Oh, wait, I’m sorry. Your level of strength is clearly a rarity, right? I did not mean to belittle your years of training and experience!”

  “You… certainly seem to have a pretty positive opinion of us. Is that how you generally feel about the Battle-Hardened?”

  “Hmmmm, no, I’d say I like you all better than what I think about them generally. I know that they are stronger than humans, but the stereotypes that some have about them being monstrous beings is absurd. At least, from what I have learned, most are not actually much stronger than humans, which makes you quite extraordinary. Ah, but I also like you all personally! You seem like such nice people, so it is such a shame that some are so unwilling to get to know you all better. Quite a few of our own citizens view them with contempt, but it is certainly far from a majority view. At the very least, my father and I harbour no ill will towards the other races.

  “I see.” I mentally relented. “Thanks for saying that.”

  “…Okay, then.” Leonora’s clear expression suddenly turned gloomy.

  “Oh, I’m sorry.”

  “Sorry about what?”

  “I realize now that you reacted like that because of some terrible experiences you must have had beforehand. This is something I should have taken into consideration, yet all I could think of was selfishly demanding you to work to my benefit. Truly, I am sorry.” Leonora bowed her head to us and Flora began panicking again, but couldn’t even string together any words this time.

  “Oh, no, it’s fine. Really. Don’t worry about it,” I said. “Let’s just set all of that aside and focus on the present. Come on, we shouldn’t keep the king waiting.” Now that I think about it, this palace is quite large, isn’t it? All this talking and we’re still not there?

  “Oh yes, most of the palace isn’t so elaborate, but it is certainly very large. Let us continue on. Also, thank you for your words, Sir Braith, you really are a very kind and understanding gentleman.” That has got to be the first time someone has said that line to me. As I thought about whether anything similar has been to me in the past, I noticed Flora seemed to be smiling. Well, at least she didn’t look nervous anymore. Leonora continued to chat with us until we finally arrived at our destination.