The Princess who Wanted to Fight

"Well, that was something... I didn't expect Air to be kind enough to give that kind of punishment to her... If you can even call it a punishment when Emma was happy about it", Jeffrey commented as we walked away from the Skytouch mountain, continuing our long journey.

"She has a connection with Emma. We weren't there before the incident to see how their relationship actually was, but they seem to be really close... Do you remember? Emma said she studied the goddess and talked with her while Air put her on the second most important person of the village... They wouldn't do those if they didn't have anything special", I commented, but soon Beech interrupted us, starting to jump to get our attention. When we were finally paying attention to it, Beech jumped into the shoulder bag, bringing out both the paper with the riddles and the map on its mouth.

"You're right. We shouldn't speculate about other people's lives, we have to focus on the next element", I said and picked up the papers from his mouth, seeing the words of the next paragraph to appear.

"With the elements of air and water now gathered, we must make something solid. The next element is with him whose appearance makes it look tough, whose hideout's darkness makes him look scary, but deep inside, a soft kind core is what he has. May you find the green path that leads to him".

"Huh... Solid... Well, I guess it can only be Earth the next element we are actually searching", Jeffrey was the first to comment after we read the riddle.

"True... This riddle is actually pretty easy compared to the others... The green path... It can only be somewhere like a forest or somewhere similar, although many forests are still on the map that we have...", I commented and looked at each of the forests to see if they had something that would make them special... But... they all seemed to be unique in their own way... And we had no time to look up at each of the forests that exist in the world.

"Umm... I have no idea of which one of those could be...", Jeffrey said and closed his eyes as he tried to think. The fox would suddenly jump and point to the word "darkness" in the paragraph and point to the forest named Daylight Darkness... Where even during the day the forest remains dark...

"Huh... It's not impossible, I remember to have heard of rumor speaking of a temple in that forest, it must be Earth's lair", Jeffrey said once he heard... Correction, he "saw" Beech's suggestion.

"Aren't you so smart... I am glad we are in this together!", I said to the fox and caressed it to show how grateful I was and it smiled, accepting it with comfort. "Well, we should get going now, it's a long way...", I said and started walking, following the map to this forest we had just spoken of.

"Hey, Dagger..." Jeffrey started to say after we started our travel. "I was a little bit curious about your story...".

"About my story? What are you curious about?", I asked him and he tilted his head to the side a little.

"Well... Relationships are not simply born... Much like Emma and Air, they chatted together and that must be how they have gotten closer as friends. But what about you, Dagger? I know that you loved the princess and she loved you back to the point you wanted to kiss each other... But I have no idea how you had developed your relationship with her..."

"Oh, you want to know how I and the princess met then?", I asked for confirmation... It's a story I didn't tell anyone yet, I was a little bit surprised to be suddenly asked about it...

"Yes... But not only that, how you have gotten closer as well", he said.

"I see... Well... I think I can tell you that story... If I am not mistaken, it was about a month after I became a knightess of the Coventry Kingdom..."

________

It was finally time to give myself some rest after some extensive nocturn training. To be honest, there was no better time to train... At night there is no one by the training range and no other soldiers to keep staring at me while my sword hit the training doll.

Today, however... I felt like someone was there... I felt the presence of a pair of eyes, coming from the door that leads to the hall. He or she probably thinks I haven't noticed... So I left the training range and entered the hall, walking peacefully while I heard the footsteps of someone trying to follow me.

"It's not so respectful to spy on others without their authorization...", I told the person while slowly turning to where I knew he or she was hiding. A humble woman, dressed in poor clothes and with her hair hidden within a hoodie, revealed herself when I said that.

"What are you doing here? Only the military is allowed in these areas", I told her. She looked a bit at the floor and held her hoodie nervously... Perhaps I sounded a little bit aggressive? That wasn't my intention...

"I am sorry, I didn't mean to be rude. But you could be in serious trouble if someone else caught you here...", I told her.

"I... I am the one who should apologize. Miss Everblade, right? You see, I abandoned my dream of becoming a knightess a long time ago... But after hearing about you, I thought I could have a chance... But I have no one to train with... And... And...", she started to say, but quickly fell in silence again. I sighed a little, I knew where she was getting at.

"And you thought watching me would help you train, right?"

"Y... Y-yes... B-Besides, you train at night... It's easier to watch you without people to spot me...", she explained and I sighed once more. I knew how it was to have a dream that was said to be something that only men should do... It's not an easy task to overcome the people who say you can't do this. And by sharing this feeling with her, I felt inclined to help her.

"Well... Be careful then. I will be waiting for you next time, so you might as well enter to have some more experimental practice rather than just visual", I said and smiled a little at her. She retributed my smile with another, full of excitement, and then she bowed, grateful for what I was doing for her.

"I... I don't know what to say, I am so glad, thank you!", she said and then left that place running without saying a second word.

As expected, she came on the following day and entered the training range, allowing me to teach her the basics of what I knew in fighting, firstly unarmed. She was a fast learner and quite stubborn... Once she learned a new tactic, she would stick with it for a long time, until I myself showed her the problems with it.

After about three weeks of training in secret during the night, I knocked her down to the floor, just messing with her... We had become quite friends at that point, so I thought there would be no problem... And we were both laughing, so it didn't seem like a problem... Until I looked at the face and the hair that were not so clear under the hoodie she worn...

"Princess Isabelle?", I asked, gasping in surprise... Shock. She seemed troubled and even more shocked than I was when I said her name and she quickly ran away from there... As though she didn't want me to know she was the princess... But I couldn't possibly see what was the problem of I training a humble woman of the city or the princess of the kingdom I serve. True, this changes things a lot, but doesn't cause any trouble to us, does it?

____

"So, what happened after?", Jeffrey asked curiously and I smiled a little. I wanted to let him a little bit curious about my story.

"Well... That's more story for later... For now, let's just focus on our journey, shall we?", I said to him, and with a pained expression and a disappointed sigh, he accepted what I said while we continued to walk forward, looking at the future now instead of my past with the princess.