A Visit from the Princess
1813 Words
“Optimus est, optimus ibi fuit, optimus ibi semper erit.”
The best there is, the best there was, the best there ever will be.
This is the motto of the Lebenswasserheim Royal Academy Military School.
The reason why the motto's in another language is that according to the official history of the Royal Armed Forces, the very first general of the Lebenswasserheimische military, Samuel Guinobatan Tesorero, is an immigrant from what is now the State of Langmorn; and the motto is in his native language.
And yes, I've just learned of that in today's Military History 101 lecture.
I wonder if that's auspicious timing, given the fact that it's none other than Her Highness the Princess herself who will be visiting our school today.
Well, color me pleasantly surprised, then!
“Well, according to a more detailed military history book I've just borrowed from the library, Her Highness Princess Mahalia Murasaki Polidario Almarius is a distant descendant of the kingdom's first general. She also has distant relatives from the Far Eastern Kingdom of Tsukuba, explaining her exotic second given name. That's truly amazing, brother!”
Yulissa declares this to me with her usual cheerfulness.
Because of the sudden announcement, classes after the first one are temporarily suspended for today, as Her Highness will be reportedly visiting every cadet in their rooms, checking out what they're up to and stuff.
Cpl. Ben-Kulera declared this right after the first class.
There are still lunch break and dinner sessions as usual; and in the afternoon, there will be a mock battle tournament where Her Highness will serve as a referee.
9 ante meridiem.
A carriage containing Her Highness and is surrounded by the royal guard enters the military school campus.
And from the carriage, out comes a 15-year-old girl with straight and long jet black hair and black slightly-slit eyes and wearing an exquisite lavender dress.
Her Highness Princess Mahalia Murasaki Polidario Almarius is promptly welcomed by the school's management, which is led by the superintendent, Lieutenant General Russel Alphonse Caralde.
“Good morning and salutations, Your Highness. The weather is indeed fine today,” declares the superintendent.
“Well, since His Highness the King is currently busy with his meetings today, I will take over touring duties for the meantime.”
“Yes. His Highness has a lot on his plate today, though fortunately they're not that urgent. But still, His Highness focuses on what should be done.”
“Alright then. I want to meet your cadets as soon as possible. And preferably, I must go at it alone. I'm used to touring solo, but of course I need to ensure my safety.”
“Ha ha. You don't need to worry about your safety, Your Highness. Yes, there may be some cadets who will be head-over-heels at your astounding beauty, but they must also know when to restrain themselves.”
“Come on. Enough flattery. Let's get this over with, shall we?”
Right now, we three are in our own room, anticipating the arrival of Her Highness.
We just wait until the door opens.
And once that happens...
We all promptly stand up straight and salute Her Highness.
She looks so stunning, with her lavender dress and her facial features inherited from her distant Tsukuban relatives.
As she approaches us one by one, she declares the following in a flowery yet honest tone.
“Good morning, cadets. First of all, it's quite rare to see actual siblings together as cadets. Usually, one sibling is either a civilian or an adventurer, and the other is a soldier or constabulary officer, or vice-versa. Now please tell me, Floribunda siblings. Why did you sign up here in the first place?”
I answer in the best way I can.
“Your Highness, my sister, my childhood friend, and myself all pledged to become soldiers when we were young.”
“Ah yes! I recall it now. His Highness used to tell me about the Littleland River Pagoda Tragedy. You three are among the survivors, yes!”
Laika follows.
“When Keenan saved me, I felt a power burning within him, Your Highness. That was the point where I pledged my full loyalty to him. Of course, if he did something wrong, I had to straighten him out.”
“And you, Cadet Miss Floribunda?”
“I can say with confidence that brother is the only knight for me! But of course, I need to hold out on my own and protect him too, Your Highness.”
The princess then concludes...
“Well said! Even though I'm mostly confined to Lebenswasserheim Palace, I actually have quite the interest in military things. Probably that's because I have the blood of the kingdom's first general flowing in my veins. And...”
She approaches me, with quite an odd request to make.
“Cadet Sir Floribunda... you've quite the collection of novels.”
“Your Highness... I've completed reading them all. I just brought them here to stave off boredom.”
“I see. May I... borrow that novel? That one where a guy discovers that the girl he's in love with is secretly a writer of... uh... off-brand stories?”
“Ah... The Queen of Off-brand, right?”
“Yes. I've been meaning to read it, but unfortunately, physical copies are hard to come by nowadays.”
“Alright.”
I rummage my bedside table for that one specific novel, which surprisingly doesn't contain any explicit scenes (and thus is OK by Laika's and Yulissa's standards), and then give it to Her Highness.
“Here you go, Your Highness. Take care of it as much as I do.”
“Indeed. And when I'm done reading it, I'll have a messenger return it to your room. Thank you.”
She then leaves our room, but not before announcing the following...
“I'm sure you three have bright prospects! May we meet again, you hear?”
We three then salute Her Highness while firmly answering, “Yes, Your Highness!”
The way Her Highness talks to us three is pretty casual, which is not that surprising since His Highness the King pretty much acts the same way, as a “king of the people”.
It's more than just noblesse oblige.
Our kingdom's founder was formerly a commoner; and his descendants, the royal family, make sure to remember their roots.
After the usual lunch break and some rest, we cadets are all being invited to the training hall for the mock battle tournament.
Her Highness arranges the tournament lineup based on the number of participants who signed up (which number 20, including us three); and for the sake of time, the tournament format will be an elimination one.
And in what I perceive to be a twist of fate, three familiar faces will face us three.
“Preliminary Round: Cadet Keenan Floribunda versus Cadet Ivanka Wallis. Ready yourselves... commence the duel!”
With Her Highness's declaration and the starting bell, I begin to employ the same defensive tactics.
But now, Ivanka's much different.
I can sense in her a more aggressive aura. If I'm not careful, she might break through my defenses.
Turtling won't get me anywhere this time! I must fight fire with fire!
With my more attack-oriented paradigm, I deliberately counter her swings with much stronger swings of my own.
And in the end, she tumbles to the ground, my saber aimed at her face.
“Duel over! Cadet Keenan Floribunda wins!”
As I assist Ivanka in getting up, she whispers to my face.
“You were really on fire, huh? Maybe... I can learn something from you.”
“Preliminary Round: Cadet Laika Santiaguel versus Cadet Hershey Aedoll. Ready yourselves... commence the duel!”
Laika knows beforehand that feline land-type feralkins are not to be trifled with due to their physiology.
And grabbing Hershey's tail is not just a cheap move, but is also a sign of disrespect.
Knowing these, she still employs her flowing attacks and dodges.
Hershey, meanwhile, lives up to her race and does acrobatic dodges that sometimes catch Laika off-guard.
After a five-minute battle of attrition, Laika prevails by finding an opening in Hershey's dodging jump and then doing a feint attack.
“Duel over! Cadet Laika Santiaguel wins!”
Hershey rises from her fall and never hesitates to offer Laika a handshake, to which Laika readily accepts.
“It's been a honor dueling a feralkin. May you do better next time, OK?”
“Yes, nya!”
“Preliminary Round: Cadet Yulissa Floribunda versus Cadet Joey Ramon Fermoze. Ready yourselves... commence the duel!”
My sister not just hops around to dodge.
She quickly learns that her opponent is employing more brutal swings that more often shake the ground; which is quite odd, since sabers are usually wielded on one hand, but he wields his like a claymore or a zweihander.
Good thing the training hall is built to withstand swordplay-related damage.
She then learns that his moves are too predictable and telegraphed; so when he attempts to do a spin attack, she intentionally trips him, destroying his momentum.
“OK! I give up!”
“Duel over! Cadet Yulissa Floribunda wins!”
The cadet named Joey Ramon Fermoze readily accepts his defeat, as he tells her...
“Yulissa, I wanted to deliberately change my strategy, but it seems that didn't stick.”
“No worries. You shouldn't copy a common technique wholesale. Just adapt and fine-tune it to your own fighting style, OK?”
“I understand. But you know what? Your lightning-quick moves may inspire me to invent my own finishing move.”
“Cool! I look forward to the day I see it in action!”
“But a fair warning, my lady: This finisher will be actually dangerous to perform on real humans – and elves and half-elves and feralkins, too – so I'm gonna go with a training dummy first.”
“That's fine with me.”
In the end, we three have won in the preliminary stages of the tournament, but sadly didn't make it beyond the semi-finals.
That's fine with us. We still have lots to learn as cadets.
The evening dinner, meanwhile, is where things take a rather interesting turn.
Her Highness calls upon a carriage's worth of donuts of various flavors, which she ordered with her own money.
“I don't mind having a little sugar rush. But all the same, eat in moderation, please!”
Sticking to Her Highness's word, the head chef's assistants give a donut each to us cadets, with the flavors being totally randomized.
And once the dinner ends, Her Highness declares something via the public address system that surprises the heck out of us all.
“Can I stay here at the military school for one more day, pretty please?”
- Writer
