Chapter 61: An Unexpected Encounter
The carriage arrived shortly. The capital wasn’t too far from the royal castle.
Although Will had looked up at the castle many times from within the capital, he was still somewhat surprised to arrive there in person. It was different from what he had imagined. He had pictured a castle built on a hillside, with an uneven interior and constructed from cold, hard stone. In reality, the royal palace occupied the entire mountain behind the capital and had undergone considerable renovation. It featured numerous green spaces and gardens, with separate palaces for various families. The castle he had seen from the capital was actually only about a tenth of the entire royal palace complex.
The largest part of the royal palace’s grounds was dedicated to the natural forests and gardens, taking advantage of the mountain’s terrain. Therefore, the total area of the royal palace was about four to five times larger than he had anticipated.
“Welcome, Young Master Will. You may proceed this way. This is Princess Treya’s palace and her usual walking garden. There is still some time before the banquet begins, so you are free to explore here.”
Good heavens. They were directly leading him to where Treya was. Had the servants already started preparing for their married life? Will clearly remembered that information about this banquet had been quite confidential, and very few people knew that an engagement would take place.
“Understood. No problem. Then… you don’t need to accompany me.” This was an opportunity. According to the original story, Treya had been in her training grounds with her sword until two hours before the banquet. He wondered if he wandered around here… he might have a chance to have an unexpected encounter with her.
***
The world in Treya’s eyes was bright. The world in Treya’s eyes was colorful. The world in Treya’s eyes could not tolerate negativity or darkness.
In the gentle afternoon sunlight, within the training grounds.
Treya chose not to wear armor, opting instead for a loose training outfit. She did not use a wooden training sword either, but her actual silver sword – her most frequently used blade. In the training ground, facing ten randomly placed training dummies, she began her attack.
“Entak 11th Style: Slash.”
*Swish.*
Treya left several afterimages in the air, only her silver hair visible. Almost simultaneously, the ten training dummies shattered into pieces, falling to the ground. Treya stood in place, one hand sheathing her sword, the other pushing back a stray strand of hair from her forehead, standing perfectly straight.
“Hah.”
Everyone in Treya’s eyes possessed color. For example… her sister, who had taught her Entak Demonic Sword Arts, her sister who had already made a name for herself as an Adventurer in Dungeons, the Red Demon Sword, Eugenie, was a warm red like the sun. Her father, the King, who had watched her grow up since childhood, diligently managed the affairs of the Entak Empire, yet cared deeply for her, possessing a calm blue like the sky. She too would become a Princess who could stand on her own, just like them, like a princess in a fairy tale. Then, like the white, beautiful clouds in the sky.
“One more time…”
Treya took a new dummy from the side, carefully placed it in the training position drawn for her by Eugenie, and stepped back. Normally, she might train until dark, but… today was the day she would meet her Fiancé. He would undoubtedly be a person with brilliant colors. She looked forward to it. What color person would he be?
“I say, your swordsmanship, tsk tsk tsk, it’s really not good enough to watch.”
A sharp, overly critical remark suddenly came from behind Treya.
“Who?”
She tilted her head, her tone questioning but not angry, very calm. She seemed genuinely curious about the identity of the person who had the unprovoked criticism, without any particular emotional reaction. Standing behind her was a young man with brown hair and glasses. He was slightly shorter than her, but by appearance, they seemed to be the same age. Due to Treya’s Half-elf heritage, her growth spurt was slightly earlier, making her appear a bit taller than her peers. He wore a crisp, elegant suit. Treya hadn’t met many boys her age, but perhaps with the enhancement of wearing a suit from his first appearance, he looked quite handsome to Treya.
“Hmm… Just an ordinary person passing by who knows a little about swordsmanship.”
The young man spread his hands, shrugged, and walked towards her, seemingly unconcerned about her status as a Princess. Many people were attending the banquet today, and surely there would be young masters of her age from various families. Before the start, some early arrivals were allowed to stroll in the public gardens. With this in mind, Treya felt a little more at ease about a stranger appearing in the training grounds.
“Yes, you can tell me, where is it not good?”
“Uh…”
The young man seemed surprised that his aggressive comment had been met with Treya’s sincere, humble, and polite question. He seemed momentarily unsure how to respond.
“Since you know a little about swordsmanship, you should be able to offer reasonable suggestions.”
“Don’t you suspect… that I might be lying, boasting about myself?”
“…Lying to me?”
Treya’s expression didn’t change much; she just tilted her head slightly to the side. She knew the very negative definition of “lying,” and in her eyes, it was something grayish-black, neither bright nor colorful. Therefore, she didn’t immediately assume she would be deceived.
“Sigh, really.”
The young man sighed and walked over to the dummy Treya had already set up. “Miss, may I move your dummy a little?”
“Yes.”
“Thank you.”
The young man circled the ten dummies, seemingly observing their positions. After walking around them twice, he stood by two of the central dummies and lifted one. Treya quietly observed from the side. The training positions for the dummies were set by Eugenie. The Slash technique itself tested the speed and range of the attack, and appropriate positions were necessary to train her attack range within a short time. Being able to instantly shatter these ten dummies was something she had achieved after months of training. However, it was said that her very strong sister could do it within ten days of learning.
“Alright. How about that? Want to try that swordsmanship again?”
The young man seemed to have done nothing particularly remarkable, simply changing the positions of two dummies. Now, the ten dummies were placed relatively close together in the center of the training ground.
“Okay.”
Treya nodded, raised her sword.
“You should step aside a bit. Today we’re training with a sharpened sword, and I’m worried about injuring you.”
“Sure.”
The young man waved his hand, stepped back a little, then crossed his arms and watched Treya with interest. She took her attacking stance, taking a deep breath.
“Entak 11th Style, Slash.”
The sword light flashed, leaving a shadow in the air with her silver hair.
*Crackle.*
The shattered pieces of the dummies fell to the ground. But… only eight dummies shattered as she had trained before. The two dummies adjusted by the young man stood intact on the training ground, gleaming in the midday sun.
