Sent to Another World to Protect an Unfriendly Princess

Chapter 13 - Waking Up in an Unknown Place in Another World

It felt as if only a second had passed since the fight.

It was always weird, how it feels when you pass out. The time between passing out and waking up is instant, but you never know how long it's been.

I looked around the room. It was a shabby little room, the bed I was laying in was no larger than I was in length. There was no blanket on me, nor any covering, I was just laying there, still, in the clothes, I was in when I passed out.

Oh yeah, I got sliced in the face.

I touched the middle of my face, feeling what had become of the injury. There seemed to be some bandage or something. It stung a little when I touched it.

No one's here?

I was all alone in the room. I assumed that someone had taken me here, but they were nowhere to be seen. 

Maybe they're in another room?

The wound on my hand had mostly healed. It was nothing more than a red line on my skin.

I slowly pulled myself up and sat at the edge of the bed. My head still felt weird, it wasn't necessarily painful, but it felt as if something was missing. 

Was it amnesia?

It couldn't be, I still had all my memories of what had happened. The feeling was similar to what I felt when I first arrived in the goddess realm, the afterlife of sorts. It

was an empty feeling, subtly an eerily scratching in my head.

I got up and ambled to the exit. It was a single wooden door. As I looked around a bit more, I noticed that this room was the entirety of the shack. All the furniture was in this room, a little couch, a crudely constructed oven and a kettle on a wooden benchtop. 

I gently pulled open the splintering door. 

Was this the same house that we fought in?

It wasn't, the furniture was arranged differently, anyways, the other shack got destroyed alongside many other things during the fight.

"Hello...? Anyone there?"

There wasn't a response.

This was odd.

I noticed that my sword was still strapped on my waist which was reassuring. Still, I was expecting at least Chloe to be nearby. 

I probably should wait for them to come back...

But I had no idea how much time I had already wasted. It's already been around three days since I was sent here and I still haven't even seen the princess.

I gripped the handle and drew my sword. My body was a little sore but considering how many techniques I used that day, it seemed that this after effect seemed to be lacking. It seemed that I had many to regain fragments of my precious memories. 

I held the sword in my hands, my left hand stung a little but other than that the sword was as light as ever and I could move it around freely.

I wasn't going to spend any more time waiting here.

I began walking down the dirt road.

Suddenly a girl wearing a small purple dress with a short white cape tied around her neck appeared in front of me. Without a moment of hesitation, she swung her sword at me. I barely dodged the attack by swiftly stepping backwards.

I just don't get a break, do I?

She quickly recovered and swung again, I parried the attack with my sword but the strength in her slash forced me into a bad position. She slashed at me again, this time forcing her entire body towards me. The power of her attacks was incredibly heavy. I planted my feet into the ground and parried her sword as hard as I could. 

The momentum of her attack forced her to do a front flip over me before stabilising on her feet again.

Suddenly, I saw her giggling to herself. I looked at her face and she didn't seem to show any malice towards me. It felt completely different to when I was fighting Lucia's guard.

Why was she attacking me?

Before I even had time to speak, she spun and swung her sword straight towards my neck. I managed to block her sword. The two of us traded attacks for a little, swinging at and parrying each other.

Eventually, she slowed down to catch her breath.

"You're pretty strong, unlike the other people I fought, it's fun."

"Huh?"

Fun?

"Why are you attacking me?"

"This is just my training."

Training?

After panting for a little while she raised her sword and charged at me again. Her eyes looked cold but she had a small, gentle smile. 

She constantly swung her sword at me, with me barely managing to parry her attacks. The entire forest was filled with the clanging sound of our swords hitting each other.

"Well this was fun, I wish I could do this all day but I'll have to finish this soon."

What? 

"Royal Arts, Blooming Azalea!" 

A red flower shape appeared at the base of her sword. I could sense that the power had increased significantly, just the pressure it was emitting on me was incredibly intense.

I guess I'll also use a move.

"Universal Sword, First Form, Unstable Current!"

Our two swords clashed with each other causing a large explosion in the middle.

"Hehe, I see you also have special moves."

My arm wasn't as weakened after using the form. It seemed that I became more resistant to the after-effects. It was still somewhat numb from the attack, though.

"Well, this has just gotten exciting, maybe I'll stay a little longer."

Her long black hair swayed from the shockwaves of the blows. 

"Royal Arts, Peaceful Dahlia."

Her movements suddenly became much more smooth, like the gentle flow of a river. Tiny pink petals appeared from her sword and slowly floated to the ground trailing her sword.

"Universal Sword, Second Form, Arctic Blizzard!"

I swung my sword sending a large shockwave towards her direction. She ended up being carried back by the wind, she was as light as a feather, floating in the air. The subsequent mountain of ice managed to separate us for a little while. 

I was starting to feel the pain from the attacks. The sword suddenly felt like it weighed twice as much, like holding a dumbbell in my hand.

It was the first time I had actually been in a sword fight that had lasted a significant amount of time.

The ice eventually melted and she continued her attack. She dashed at me whilst smiling brightly. She had a subtle look of happiness on her face, however, her dark obsidian eyes still remained the same.

"Royal Arts, Blitzing Orchid!" 

Her sword began gleaming with a slight tint of white.

If I used another form, I would probably be unable to hold my sword any longer. 

Without any other choice, I attempted to deflect her Royal Art just using my sword. As I tried to position my sword to block hers, the speed of her swing suddenly increase twice fold. The sword landed on the side of my neck before I could react.

The blade tenderly touched my neck, drawing a light stream of blood. She had stopped her swing right before cutting my head off. Afterwards, she withdrew her sword and slipped it back into her sheath. 

"So what's your name?"

"Ritsu."

"It was fun practising with you!"

"Practising?"

"Yeah, you were having fun too, right?"

I couldn't deny that the fight was at least a little bit enjoyable.

"Um, so what was your name?"

"It's Lily."

"Nice to meet you...?"

"Likewise."

The two of us were still catching our breaths after the prolonged fight.

"Well, what are you doing all the way out here?" She asked.

"I'm not sure honestly, I passed out and now I'm here." 

"Oh well."

"Actually, do you know where we are?"

"We're on the outskirts of Gavaria."

"How far are we from the capital?"

"I'd say around two hours on horse."

Oh, so I'm not that far from where I was for that quest, I think.

"You want to come back with me? I'm sure that she'd like to meet you."

"Who's she?"

"My mentor."

Interesting, I needed someone to stay for the night, so I guess I'll go along.

The two of us trekked down the dirt path.

"So, um, what exactly were you training for?"

She looked towards me with her dark crystal-like eyes.

"I want to become one of Princess Lucia's guards."

"Oh..."

I had a not very nice experience with one of Lucia's guards.

"I had been training for a pretty long time but only just recently one of them died somehow, so they're looking for more people."

I see...

"By the way how does the 'Royal Arts' work?"

She giggled teasingly.

"I can't tell you~"

"Alright."

Eventually a small farmhouse came into view.

Standing out front was another girl, they seemed to not be very old either, she looked as if she was around the age of 20.

"Lilith! What took you so long?"

"Sorry Miti."

"I told you not to call me that... Anyways who is this boy with you?"

"Oh, we were just having some fun, fighting."

"I told you not to fight random people..."

"Sorry, I couldn't help it. Hehe." 

She smiled and eventually her mentor gave up. Lily took off her boots and rushed into the house.

Her mentor walked over to me.

"So what brings you here?"

"Uh, I guess I'm lost?"

"This better not be your way of trying to sleep with Lily, you might thinks she's adorable but I wont allow anyone to come and exploit her."

Not even close.

"No, I'm definitely not here to do that."

"You better not, if you lay a hand on her, you better expect to not have any hands the next day."

A shiver went down my spine.

"I understand..."

"Very well."

Eventually, she led me inside.