“Nell!! I missed you sooo much!!” Charlotte jumped into Nells voluminous chest with the force of a lonely dog that hasn’t seen its master in a long time finally getting to reunite. Unto those bountiful twin hills that the smaller friend lacked did she leap.

“Hey, I just realized, but you look like you’re better now, Nell! Wait, not just that, you’ve grown, haven’t you?” And to confirm their growth, Charlotte felt that those titties deserved a good fondling. And large they were. Charlotte’s small hands couldn’t possibly cup them in their entirety. So they’ve grown even more have they? So jealous... Charlotte groaned internally, but in the first place, Charlotte said that her friend had grown with the double meaning that she now gave off a more mature air than when she last saw her.

Before her breakdown that is. Nell had seemed to have fallen into a deep depression before Charlotte got grounded, but the girl in front of her looked to be at peak health.

“Yes, I’m all fine now, as you can see.” Nell told her with a smile, “I’m sorry I caused you to worry, Charl.”

“Hey, It’s all good as long as you’re better!” Charlotte reassured her. Then with a knowing smile, “I know. Iskia must’ve been a big hurdle for you. But you came out of it a better person, and that’s all that matters.”

She didn’t know exactly what exactly caused this change in her winged friend, but she wouldn’t pry. She also wouldn’t pry as to what bra size the well endowed princess currently wore even though she could clearly feel that they’d gotten larger.

“Welcome back, Charl. You yourself look about the same as ever.” Safiel said as she naturally went behind Charlotte to cop a feel of her ass. A friendly act of female skinship, if you will. “But it seems these buns have grown a little.”

“Hey, watch it!!” Charlotte yelped as she leapt into the air like a frightened cat. Safiel’s bespectacled Amethyst Gaze eyes let off a sparkle at her friends over the top reaction which she dearly missed this past month.

“The king must’ve put you through the ringer.” Safiel commented in an amused tone.

“Don’t remind me! I thought I was gonna die, so many times!” Mentally as well as physically, Charlotte meant.

Each spank by the man dubbed strongest of Spada, the one known famously as the Sword King, hurt like a bitch. They hurt a lot. Charlotte could barely maintain her sanity during the ordeal. The punishment-cum-torture demonstrated that the king still maintained pin-point accuracy in his technique so as he didn’t let his daughter fall unconscious while maximizing the pain.

“Ugh. It was so awful...” Charlotte recalled, “I thought I’d rather die so many times... it stung everytime, and it was so embarrassing... at some point he got into a rhythm too, just so messed up...”

Charlotte’s punishment, days upon days of agonizing spanking that accumulated into a staggering 7,010 total spanks, had left a deep trauma on her. She trembled with tears gathering in her eyes at the mere thought.

Safiel’s eyes widened listening to that. She badly wanted to see it.

“You look fine to me!”

“I’m not fine at all, idiot!!”

Kai had come along and completely dismissed Charlotte’s pain and endurance which greatly pissed her off. Kai often got railed at by his own parents, so he figured that she should just walk off the minor punishment. Charlotte didn’t want to deal with this idiocy.

Though that wasn’t the end of her frustrations.

“Nero, what gives!” She yelled, “I’m finally back after so long, the least you could do is put on a smile! How come you look angry at me!!”

“You damn well know why. It’s because of you that we have to take the emergency quest now.” What a pain in the ass, Nero’s face seemed to say.

Charlotte was used to getting attitude from the foreign prince, but this time, she couldn’t help but feel irked. Why can’t you think about my feelings for once! She wanted to complain, but swallowed it back down before it left the tip of her tongue.

“Oh shut it.” Charlotte said with a sigh. “You wanted to take it too.”

“No, I really didn’t.” Nero said firmly. “But the vote’s done, so――”

Charlotte, the last remaining member of Wing Road, had cast her vote in favor of accepting the emergency quest. Nero and Safiel had voted against, and Nell, Kai and now Charlotte were all for. Meaning that Wing Road would be taking on the quest titled Join Gladiator in the War for Spada. This turned the tide opposite to Nero’s intentions but,

“―― Let’s find out how tough this war is.”

“All right! I’m rarin’ to go!!” Cheered Kai, and while watching his simple minded friend to the side, Nero addressed the pressing issue,

“So how’s this going to work?” He asked Charlotte. “Are they even going to allow you to do this?”

Charlotte was a princess first, adventurer second. And similar to the Elrod brother and sister, she too was likely to be disallowed from participating in any war.

“It’s fine,” the red haired girl said aloofly, “Father did it too back in his day.”

Once upon a time, when Leonhart was still 2nd prince of Spada, he had dived into the battlefield without his own father, the King’s, permission. He had done this not once, but twice. Two charges, no regrets.

The first was when Dragon King Garvinal marched his army into Spadan land in what would be later known as The Second Invasion of Galahad. Leonhart, 13 years old at the time, had skipped his entrance ceremony at the Spada Royal Academy and ran all the way to the mountain fortress of Galahad to join the fight.

The second time was when many of the beastkin clans of southern Pandora formed an alliance and attacked Fahren, a neighbouring state. This was not even a war for Spada, yet the young prince had used his status as an adventurer to take part anyway. He was 18 years old by then, and had this time skipped his academy graduation ceremony to join the warfront.

But even that unruly prince was now a well-respected king of Spada. Many say that he’d mellowed out with age.

“You know, I thought about it a lot.” Charlotte said solemnly. “Father’s punishment was harsh, but it really slapped reality in my face.”

“Don’t you mean, on your bum?”

“You shut up, Safi!”

That aside, Charlotte really did think about it in her own way, and though she felt a bit embarrassed, she decided to open herself to her friends.

“I think that Father is testing me.”

And no, she didn’t mean that in the sense that he wanted her to reflect on her failure at Iskia.

“If I don’t go now, if I stay put like I’m supposed to... there won’t be a second chance.”

Which wasn’t a bad thing, at least for the country, as being gentle and meek can be said to be the desired attributes for a princess.

“If there’s one thing I don’t want to be, it’s a weak little princess who sits protected in the castle. I won’t let myself become a tool for some political marriage!”

Charlotte, as has been mentioned, was the third princess of Spada. Which implied that she had two older sisters.

But neither of them were at Spada anymore. Her eldest sister was in Fahren, and the middle sister in Rune.

Among the nobility, the person Charlotte respected most after her father, was her eldest sister. She was her hero.

The first princess was strong. Charlotte believed that her eldest sister was much stronger than herself, even back when she was the same age as her. She was a wall of a role model, swinging bulky greatswords in one hand like it was nothing, the spitting image of their father in his youth.

Although, she did have a bit of a hotblooded streak; her sword would move first and foremost. Yet she was filled to the brim with integrity and empathy for the people. She was worldly and broad minded, a trait lacking in many young noble ladies, and she was loved for it.

Young Charlotte had always looked up to this strong elder sister who forged her own path in life. One could say her current personality was directly influenced by this. She of course, couldn’t compare to the first princess in terms of forcefully having her own way.

In spite of all that, her sister, with her indomitable spirit and will, had been reigned in by marriage. Her partner was to be the prince of Fahren. A dark elf, naturally.

The first princess had no propensity for discriminating on race. She merely could not accept that she was to be used as a political tool to bolster the unity between nations. She had not had a lover at the time, but she hated the premise that she would not be allowed to choose her partner in marriage, what would be perhaps the greatest event of her life.

Enraged by the fact that she’d been engaged to a man she hadn’t even met, the first princess had taken up her sword to challenge her father, king Leonhart, on one peaceful day when the king was supposedly performing his daily duties.

However, as it turned out, Leonhart had been calmly awaiting his daughter to take action, in his own hand, the legendary sword allowed only to a true king of Spada.

This duel within the throne room between father and daughter would be forever carved down inside the tomes of Spadan history.

As for the result, it need not be said, as the events that followed were such that the first princess did in fact marry the Fahren prince. She had lost the duel and had thus bent to the will of the victor. She was a Spadan in heart and soul, and so offered no complaint to settling matters in such a fashion.

Charlotte still felt heartache over the grief and regret her sister must’ve felt as she had surely swallowed down her pride. She couldn’t bare to look at her sister’s eyes on the marriage ceremony where she had surely forced herself to smile.

Her husband to be was nowhere near the sort of strong man her sister would approve of. He was small, and had a delicate, feminine figure. And her sister, who was his wife to be... had smiled, laughed, put on the act that it really was the happiest day of her life. At least, that’s what young Charlotte believed. And this hurt her to no end.

This act continued even now, surely to maintain friendly relations between Spada and Fahren. Once a year, the eldest princess would visit home, and with a bottle of fine Spadan wine in hand, she would tell everyone of her fulfilling married life. She would grab her younger brothers, first prince Eisenhart and second prince Wilhart, by the scruff of their necks, and spend the night away bragging.

Charlotte was saddened that her sister had remained the same, a woman who did her best to not make her family worry for her. Would she also be that way one day? No, she refused to have such an end!

Or at least, her middle sister, the second princess did.

The second princess, in complete contrast to the first, was a quiet child. Similar to Wilhart, the middle sister had no talent for the martial or magical arts. She was a studious, refined, and well mannered young lady, all the ideal traits of a princess.

Charlotte wasn’t very close to this placid natured sister of hers. They had such contrasting personalities that Charlotte had been troubled as to how she would start a conversation. And as such, they never talked much. Young Charlotte would see her from time to time, quietly reading a book inside the castle archives.

She had thought that this sister, being the well mannered princess she was, wouldn’t fight her own eventual betrothal to some foreign noble―― but reality was quite different.

The Second Princess of Spada has Eloped with a Lower Noble of Rune!? was the rough front page headline of all the news papers on that day. And this title was no lie.

It was in light of this incident that Charlotte, for the first time, felt like she understood her second eldest sister. She understood all too well, as she also had a person set in her heart. And she respected her for it, for the willingness to go to any means for the sake of love.

Fortunately, Leonhart showed tolerance for his second daughter’s brazenness and tacitly accepted the arrangement. The middle princess also visited home from time to time, and also spoke about her happy life.

Charlotte, the third princess, had witnessed the divergent lives of her older sisters, and had built herself in their image. She would be strong like her eldest sister and she would also have true love like her middle sister. As such, she would surely attain the greatest happiness.

“Which is why I need to get even stronger!” Charlotte proclaimed. “I’ll carve my own legend in this war and make Father recognize my strength!”

Both Nero and Nell knew of the state of affairs surrounding Charlotte’s elder sisters, and understood the amount of resolve their friend had to have mustered to make this proclamation. In fact, as her childhood friends, the Elrod siblings also had fond memories of those sisters, and so believed that Charlotte, who greatly admired both, had picked her words neither in the spur of the moment, nor in childish rebelion.

“You’re getting too excited, Charl.” Nero said with a slightly exasperated tone. “We’re still a party, remember? Let’s just do what we always do, and it’ll work out. Don’t go and push yourself.”

“Mm...” Charlotte nodded meekly. She faintly blushed as she felt Nero’s genuine care despite his lazy words. “Thanks, Nero.”

“Ahem,” Safiel coughed, “now that that’s decided, I suggest we go get started.”

Safiel was a necromancer, a specialized class that requires much more preparation than most. Hence her call to hurry things up. While a warrior or swordsman may need to sharpen their weapons, she would need to perform meticulous and time consuming maintenance for her undead servants, tens if not hundreds of them.

“Heheh,” laughed Kai, “you’re damn right about that.... I know, I’ll go find Kurono and have a match!”

“Be sure to avoid getting knocked out from a single gut punch now.” Safiel teased.

“You bet I won’t! I’ll take it standing this time!”

“So we’re going on the premise that he’s punching you again?” This is too idiotic, even for me, Safiel sighed, and the pair left the mess hall.

“Right,” Nero said as he saw them off, “so I guess I’ll head to the guild to formally accept the quest.”

“Fufun~” Charlotte hummed, “I’m coming with you.”

“No thanks.” Nero said, not because he didn’t want to but he saw no reason in it. Charlotte however, felt disheartened by the cold rejection, and her expression changed to a clear frown that was just at the right angle that Nero wouldn’t notice.

“Onii-sama,” said Nell out of consideration, “please do go with Charl this time. She hasn’t seen you in a whole month, so I’m sure she has a lot to talk about.”

“N-Nell!?” Charlotte flustered.

“Haah,” Nero sighed, “alright I’ll bite.”

“W-w-wait, don’t get the wrong idea alright!?” Charlotte yelled desperately. “I wasn’t lonely or anything, so don’t go and misunderstand!”

“Uh, yeah, well, we did go on a lot of quests without her. I’ll just tell her about those.”

“T-th-th-that’s it! I want to hear about the quests! Just that!”

Charlotte who kept making frantic excuses to whom only she knew, and Nero who wasn’t really bothered by his childhood friend’s eccentricities at this point, seemed to be getting along just as usual, as they left their seats and headed outside together.

“My brother can be so dense sometimes.” Nell said to herself with a sigh. She was the only one remaining and also stood up to leave. “Well, good luck, Charl.”

She wouldn’t need to return the 4 people’s worth of tableware that had been left there, as waiters were tasked with that job. So, without anything else to do there, Nell was about to leave when,

“Good afternoon, Princess.” Someone, a somewhat familiar voice called out to her from behind. She felt like she should recognize who that was, but she just couldn’t place it.

This strange disconnect was due to the fact that, in her memories, this voice held a much more childlike tone of speech.

“... Lily, -san?” She turned around to find the fairy she had a deep history with. The devilish woman who had haunted her nightmares for who knew how long.

“May I have a bit of your time? I have a little something to discuss.” Said the fairy who, on the outside, looked no different from the adorable little girl who’d become a famous sight at the academy.

But her current demeanor showed none of that purity and innocence. Seeing this, Nell concluded that it was all an act, that this, right in front of her, was her true, devious nature.

“Of course. Please go ahead.” Nell spoke normally, with her dignity as a princess, but she could feel that her expression had turned ice cold.

This was certainly not due to fear. For she was not weak anymore. No, this was Nell facing her own worst enemy, facing it with the trained vigilance of a seasoned adventurer.

“Thank you.”

Two gazes clashed quietly. The suspicious fairy’s emerald green, and the unwavering princess’ ice blue.

“But not here.” said Lily. “Let’s speak in a place where we can be alone, yes?”

“Sure, if you have anywhere in particular, please lead the way.”

To onlookers, the princess of Avalon and the cheerful little fairy had happily left the academy’s mess hall together.

But as far as Nell was concerned, her enemy, Lily, who had finally shown her true colors, had brought on an implicit duel. And she had dauntlessly accepted it.