“Why is my lunch a salad?” Sonara cried out. She was looking forward to something good to eat like what she had for breakfast. But she was vastly disappointed with the dish Mae brought her. Across her, Nix was eating a cake.

“You have to eat healthily. The dark heroes that have done the best are the ones who’ve had to go through the hardest.” Nix replied calmly.

“What about you? Aren’t you coming with me on my journey?” Sonara was confused. She had wanted Nix to come with her.

“Yo-you want me to come? Fi-fine if you say so, I’ll come!” She wasn’t thinking of this originally, planning to support Sonara with her wealth and status but a new plan came into her head.

Let’s go on a journey with her. That way I can escape the crown and be with my wife! She waved a maid over and soon after her cake was replaced with a salad.

“Now that I’m eating a salad, you can’t complain,” Nix said, feeling proud. Sonara thought that this side of NIx was cute.

“So what will we be doing now,” Sonara asked after both of them finished eating. She knew she had a class in fighting, but there was no way she could do it in her school outfit, and expressed her worries to Nix.

“We’re going to go for a fitting!” Nix was excited to go shopping. She rarely left the castle and badly wanted to see Sonara in a dress. She also wanted to see more, like what was underneath as well. Suddenly her face blushed at the indecent thought. Seeing this Sonara got worried as she saw Nix’s face flushed red. Had Nix suddenly gotten sick?

This is a fantasy world. What if there is a super swift disease. She took the back of her hand and put it on Nix’s head to check for a cold. It feels fine. She then saw Nix’s face flush even redder and began to panic.

“Nix are you okay?”

“Yeshhhhh…” she replied, her brain slightly overheating from even more indecent thoughts.

“You don’t sound like it.” She turned to Mae and the other maid. “Can you get a doctor,” she asked and turned back to Nix. “I’m sorry but we’ll have to cancel the outing. Maybe we can go another day?” Hearing this Nix popped back up.

“I’m fine,” she said immediately. She motioned to the two maids to stop.

“You sure? You didn’t seem too well.”

“I was just dizzy,” she replied making an excuse, “but I’m fine now.” She waved over a maid and told her to tell Sigorr that the lesson for the day was canceled.

“If you say so.”

***

“Now try on this dress!” Nix yelled. They had left the castle in a carriage and went to a clothes maker nearby. Sonara saw a very fancy and beautiful town but could tell it was like any major city on Earth with the dark alleyways being filled with the poor. After choosing her training clothes and a uniform(a trench coat because she wanted to look cool) they were now trying on other clothes and currently, Nix was offering her a pure white dress.

“Why do I need a dress?” Sonara was confused.

“For our wedding. Father decided to do it in a month from now.”

“Wedding? When did we plan that?” 

“You asked for it yesterday.” Back then Sonara just asked the first thing on her mind. She didn’t listen afterward or understand what she asked for. But while she was shocked she was still happy about it.

“So will I be the husband or the wife?” Sonara asked, not realizing what she had asked. Then her brain caught with her mouth and she took the dress and ran inside the room. She refused to think about it and silently put on the dress.

I’ve been able to watch what I say since I was young. How the hell is it that whenever I’m with her I can’t control myself? Whenever she was with Nix, she felt happy. Wait, is this love at first sight? That can’t be possible, that doesn’t exist. And this is a date right? Isn’t this going too fast? She tried to come up with distractions and arguments to distract her from her feelings. Finishing up she exited the room.

“You’re done? I wanna-” Nix looked up from the book she was reading and her mouth dropped. “Amazing.” Hearing this, Sonara feels embarrassed. 

Why does Nix have to say so many embarrassing things? I‘m never on my game around her!

“I decided! I want to be the husband!” Nix suddenly said shamelessly. She walked to the attendant and whispered something in her ear. She then turned around and pushed Sonara out of the hall.

“Wait, what are you doing?”

“Come back when the attendant tells you to. I want to surprise you!” Saying this Nix ran back into the room Sonara was using. Sonara took a breath and thought of the last few days. Her task was to beat the heroes. She imagined that she’d have a hard time convincing most of them but there were a few. She hadn’t checked her strength yet and would probably need the help of a team. She needed to convince Nix to be an assassin. Anything above 60% was rare and with Nix’s 78% she seemed to be pretty good. Suddenly the attendant returned and told her the princess had called for her to return. Sonara followed her and arrived at the room she was in earlier and knocked on the door.

“Sonara, are you there?” Nix yelled through the door.

“Yes, it’s me.” Almost immediately the door flew open. There Nix stood in a white suit and red tie. 

Holy-! She’s so hot. At this moment Sonara wanted to take a million pictures of Nix.

“How does it look!” Nix turned around to show Sonara.

“It looks amazing!” This was a lie. She looked like a goddess. Sonara wanted to slowly take it off while teasing Nix. She wanted to see her blushing face as Sonara explored her body. She smacks her cheeks to remove these dirty thoughts from her mind. “Anyways it’s getting late,” she said, seeing the darkening window.

“Well I guess we’re finished now,” replied Nix with a slight frown. She hated the palace and the rules and regulations. She felt free out here. But if Sonara was there she could handle it. “I guess I could also introduce you to Sigorr.”

***

Both girls were standing outside a normal door in the barracks. Nix knocked on the door and a thin, handsome man opened it. He had blue hair, eyes, and black horns coming off of his head. He was another man that her classmates would fall for. 

“Welcome princess,” he said, opening the door further. “Come in.”

“Thank you but I have to meet with Father. I would like you to talk to the hero though,” Nix replied, gesturing to Sonara.

“Hello nice to meet you,” Sonara said, holding her hand out for a handshake. 

“Come in, come in.” Nix takes this time to leave as Sonara enters.

“Welcome hero. May I know the pleasure of knowing your name?” He seemed bored like he’d rather be doing something else.

“Sonara.”

“Well, nice to meet you. My name is Sigorr, the weakest of the 7 demon generals with the moniker of The Tactician. As you know, I’ll be teaching you how not to die.”

“We're beginning today?”

“It’s mostly theory anyway. What, not interested in work anyway with the princess not around? Would you be more interested to hear what's she's probably doing?" 

"Yes," slipping right out of her mouth. "I mean no, it's fine, teach me."

"I can tell that you want to know. Let's make a deal. I tell you what the princess is doing and you have to pay attention. Kay? And I know you'll already agree." 

He's reading my mind! As expected of a fantasy world. Sonara was shocked at him predicting everything she wanted. She decided to look at him with the blessing of truth.

Recommended Job: Psychoanalyst 99.9%

"You're probably wondering how I'm reading your mind," he said smiling. He started to look less bored. "You're quite fun. Not as fun as Samantha, but still fun. I'm not. But I can tell by your actions and body, like your arms, your heartbeat, and your breath as well as past actions, what you're thinking. This is why I am known as the tactician." To Sonara, he looked like he loved to gloat about this to everyone. 

"So tell me what Nix is doing?"

"The princess is arguing with the king, probably asking him to give her permission to go on a journey with you. Your conversation at lunch wasn't a secret and maids love to gossip. The whole castle knows that the sheltered princess is finally breaking free of her cage."

"Wait she wasn't allowed to leave? Isn't that a terrible idea?" Sonara thought she had done something wrong by suggesting the princess leave the castle with her.

"The princess has wanted to be free for a long time you know. Anyways time's a'waisting. I'm cutting you off there and since my end was fulfilled, it's your turn."