chapter 25 cousins 2

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[Royal capital: Arthur]

The capital city of the Hendrix kingdom was an eventful place filled to the brim by various individuals from multitude walks of life. It was a place where the various religious groups of the country came ahead, and many members argued relentlessly about why their specific God was the supreme deity of the high plane.

A place where the rich and wealthy went to spend their money and flaunt their riches to the poor peasants who came to the capital in search of opportunity and work. Adventurers came from all over the country looking to take bigger and more rewarding quests and Earn fame.

The streets were filled with life as both human and non-humans engaged with each other, although the numbers were skewed in favour of the humans since it was a human kingdom and the majority of non-humans were simply tourists.

At the center of this bustling city was a grand castle made from beautiful white stone and marble, standing pridefully right where it would garner the most attention from the masses. It was a beautiful castle painted both white and gold, with a 20 meter tall mixed statue of three maidens.

The middle maiden was steadfast in her stance, her eyes looking forward into the future, the maiden on the left clung to the middle one, her face showing fear and uncertainty and the one on the right had her eyes covered, her body facing away from the front and to the side.

Within the castle itself, there was an obscenely large area that had an open roof and served as the training area for members of the royal family. The room was filled with various types of training equipment, including enchanted training dummies that could move autonomously.

The sounds of wooden swords clashing echoed within the area. The young prince, older brother to Princess Renielia, Prince Alexius Sylph De Hendrix, was currently engaged in a mock battle with his instructor in the sword arts.

Xius dodged the overhand strike from his opponent by stepping out of its range before using his own sword to knock his opponent's sword to the side, creating an opening for himself.

He dashed in aiming for the stomach, he smirked as he did so, however that was short lived as he was forced to quickly jump back again as his opponent's blade was swung back at a greater speed, forcing the prince to forgo his advantage and pull back.

The instructor charged in this time. Once the prince pulled himself out, the man chose a forward thrust, hoping to simply touch the prince with the sword.

The win conditions of the mock battle were simple, the first to land at hit was the winner, the aim was to train the prince on how to end battles quicker and more efficiently and the restriction was that neither were allowed to knock the blade off the other's hand.

Both participants were silent and they moved with the fluidity and grace of a flowing yet fast river and their speed was still perceptible to the normal eye but faster than average, both were focused on the training, their eyes tracking each movement their opponent made and preparing to attack or counter attack.

Xius sidestepped the thrust and let the blade go past him before using a backhand swing of his sword, this time ambitiously going for the neck.

The instructor, his name being Solomon, a trusted advisor to the king, is an accomplished swordsman with the skill and strength capable of slaying demons with ease.

Solomon ducked under the prince's ambitious swing, and that left the prince's torso vulnerable, and with an opening like that, Solomon capitalised and quickly thrust his sword touching the prince's torso and winning the match.

"And that's my win, your highness"

Solomon announced, and the two halted the movements, and the prince collapsed onto the floor as he breathed heavily and tired. Sweat trickled down his forehead, and a servant hurriedly came with a canister of water.

"You got too ambitious and went for an attack that left you wide open, when it didn't work, not only that but you were facing a superior opponent meaning you weren't fast enough to pull back and dodge nor were you strong enough to stop the momentum of your swing"

Solomon explained as the prince took big gulps from the water handed to him by the maid. His brows were creased as he drank.

"The point of this training session was to finish the battle efficiently, this means assessing weakness and exploiting them efficiently, this also means ignoring big moves with big risks."

The prince rolled his eyes as he threw the pitcher back at the servant who caught it. He then stood back up and wiped the dripping water off his chin before speaking.

"You're boring me with your talk. Tell me what I should have done without the long-winded explanation."

He said dismissively. He didn't need the commentary on what wrong moves he did. He only cared for what he had to improve.

Solomon heaved a heavy sigh and placed his hand on his waist.

"I'm sure the mages aren't having this much trouble with the Princess. Why must you be so difficult?"

Solomon questioned, not really wanting an answer. The prince was just difficult to work with, that's all. He wondered how the previous instructors felt about him.

"I don't see why you needed to mention my sister when she isn't even relevant to this training"

Alexius stated his brows creased further. Of course, he was going to mention his sister. They always do, always with the comparison. It was like he was supposed to be like her for some reason. She was the younger sibling.

"Apologies, Your Highness. I did not mean to speak like that. Please forgive me."

"Forget it, I'm done training for the day, and I'm going to wash myself"

The prince threw the blade on the floor and began to walk away. His mood was ruined, and he was in no mood to train any longer. He did not really care if he had another few hours left on the training. He wasn't willing to continue after the mention of his sister.

….

Coming out of the porcelain bathroom with a shower and a flushing toilet, the prince felt refreshed after the shower, although his mood was still a bit sour, and so he chose to lay on his bed.

"The sword tournament is a few months away from now…"

He said as he began to think of ways of how to win and get his hands on Dawn.

The tournament was more of royal family affair rather than a tournament as only individual with the blood of the Hero king can participate, meaning only members of the Hendrix kingdom royal family and members of the Dreyer kingdom royal family will participate.

"oh!"

Realisation struck him, amongst both families there were two individuals that completely decreased his chances of winning to zero, the first being his sister, and the other was his cousin, someone who may eclipsed even Solomon in terms of sword skill.

Getting off the bed, he quickly opened the drawer of the nightstand and pulled out a crystalline cube, and the moment he touched it, it glowed a myriad of colors before a screen displayed

At first, the screen was blank. However, it took only a minute before a video image of an individual was shown.

"Cousin!! How delightful of you to call"

A man spoke, his voice cheery and upbeat, conveying clearly his very positive mood. The man had pitch black hair with ethereal deep blue eyes, a defined jawline, and handsome face.

"Hello, cousin Siegfrued, I see you're quite happy."

Xius greeted and noted the man's obvious state.

"Of course I am, the blight of the family has been erased and my oldest sister is officially betrothed, the family looks to be doing great, plus I'm looking forward to the sword tournament in few months"

Sieg informed, with an ever present smile on his face, one that Alexius could not help but resent, the man he was speaking to was another one of those individuals he despised, unlike Reniella, Siegfrued was a warrior as well and was more talented than Alexius.

At least with his sister he can say "well, she's a mage and I'm a warrior, we're incredibly different" as an excuse however Siegfrued was talented in the same thing Alexius was so there was no excuse for being weaker than him.

"If that's how you feel, then I'm glad. Anyway, I wanted to let you know that my Sister is in Rix right now, if you feel like seeing her I'm sure you can catch her before she leaves, you probably have about a week"

He informed, trying his best not to make what he was suggesting obvious.

"hahaha! Quite the jokester you are, there's nothing I would to see Reniella for, and besides Rix is quite far, it would take weeks to get there from here, I will see her in the tournament so there's no need"

Siegfrued said after having chuckled at Alexius' suggestion, and the Hendrix kingdom prince barely suppressed the eye roll before opening his mouth to speak.

"Don't pretend like you don't have the means to reach Rix in less than a week but if you don't want to take this opportunity then fine, although don't blame me If you miss the opportunity"

"Of course I won't. What do you take me for? Anyway I have to go, I have things to do and future brother in law to frighten"

Was all Siegfrued said before the screen became blank again, forcing Alexius to smile and place the box back into his drawer.

"Now I just need wait"

He mumbled to himself as the smile widened, Siegfrued was quite the liar.

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A/N: I hope you enjoyed the chapter.