"Finally I will be free!"

"What do you mean by free?" James furrowed his brows in astonishment, looking at Jasmine, who had suddenly become enthusiastic.

"Of course free from all the burden of the task that was given to me by Father, the task that should be done by you."

James walked over and sat under a shady tree not far from there, with a pair of chairs and a table filled with food and drink. Hugo was the one who filled the table; he was very enthusiastic when he found out that James would be practising swordsmanship today.

"James, what makes you want to practice swordsmanship right now? In the past, even when Father exiled you to this castle, you didn't want to listen to him at all and persisted in your stance not to learn martial arts. What exactly is possessing you now?" Jasmine is curious.

"If you're asking one at a time, Jasmine," James rebuked as he took a sip of the drink Hugo had just poured for him. Not to forget, Hugo also poured it for the Princess, who was looking curiously at James.

"Yes, just answer my questions one by one."

The man put his cup back on the table. James looked up when he heard the sound of birds chirping just above his head—a collection of five birds flying in a row and orderly.

The birds are moving from north to south. The air temperature looks like it will start to cool in the next few days, which is why the winged animals began to migrate in search of a warmer place.

"I want freedom, just like you." The bird that passed through the sky above James's head began to disappear from his sight. His eyes are now back to see his sister, who is still faithfully waiting for an answer from James.

“…”

"Father never let me out of this castle, I feel my movement is very limited and not free. Therefore, I will start to follow his words to change and start learning martial arts, "he said.

Accustomed to living freely like a bird, James doesn't like his life, which always revolves around the castle. He cannot even imagine what the honest Prince James was like spending his days there.

It felt no different than being in prison.

"Why only now?"

"What do you mean?" James asked again.

"Why did you want to change now, it's been two years you've spent in this castle and you only realized it now."

"Yeah, I just realized now, I've spent these two years in vain," he said sarcastically. "Stupid prince," he thought.

Two wasted years.

James thought the honest Prince James was a fool, spending his time in this castle in vain. In fact, according to James, Prince James has a lot of potential in his body.

However, his lazy nature made Prince James unable to grow and progress. He was too busy alone and spent time reading books that James found useless.

"Father will be happy to hear this news."

It had been a long time since Jasmine had seen the interaction between her father and her older brother. Father never wanted to meet Prince James in this castle, while Prince James also had no intention of persuading and asking for forgiveness from his father.

Both men share the same high ego and are very stubborn.

"Don't tell Dad about this first," said James.

"Why, this is good news. Dad would be happy to hear that."

"Just wait until the time is right."

Jasmine did not spend long after that. James forbade Jasmine to tell King Arthur about his desire to learn martial arts. The girl just walked away, annoyed.

Jasmine sulked by stomping her foot hard. James understood Jasmine's feelings; Jasmine must have missed the warmth of their family like before, but this was due to the feud between King Arthur and James.

Their family was like untouched stone, cold.

Plus, the Queen, namely the mother of James and Jasmine, fell ill after James was transferred to the castle behind the palace. The Queen did not accept King Arthur's order to send James there and exiled him.

The Queen protested King Arthur's attitude by going on a hunger strike for several days until his condition worsened and he fell ill. Since then, the Queen has never had a good appetite and has always contemplated on herself in the room.

James knew it was all from Prince James' memories that entered his mind, only because of the actions of King Arthur, who locked him up like now. Their family became pitiful looking like this.

The ones who suffer the most are the Queen and Jasmine. James is determined to return their family to how it used to be when the Queen and Jasmine's smiles never faded from their faces.

The warmth their family always felt and had before; James will return that happiness and reach it in the not-too-distant future. Yes, James will soon make it happen.

James continued to practice with his sword until the sun closed in the west, and the sounds of the night animals began to emerge and sing along. Night had fallen, and James stopped his practice and returned to his room.

On this day, James became the talk of the town among the servants and soldiers who watched him train. James's swordplay was very impressive; even though his movements were a little stiff, they were amazed at the beauty of the movements James made every second.

"I've never seen swordplay as beautiful as this," said Soldier One.

"He played with the sword like he was dancing, but his every move was so sharp and deadly it made my hairs stand on end," replied the second soldier.

They had never seen a sword move like the one James played, which was only natural because James learned the moves of the sword in the future. So, finding the same sword moves as James learned seemed impossible.

In the future, James will be one of the best sword users in his organization. Learning swordsmanship is taboo for modern people; they are more interested in learning self-defence by hitting and kicking.

James also learned all these things; only learning swordsmanship can make James' adrenaline race faster, and it's enjoyable. Not infrequently, his body also often gets cuts and scratches due to sword strokes.

It didn't dampen James' enthusiasm to leave his training, even though his body was covered with all kinds of wounds he had received. He continued to study and strive to master swordsmanship with a burning passion for many years.

Finally, James became a remarkable swordsman, but because he had dreamed of becoming a journalist, he abandoned his sword and focused on his career.

"James the swordsman will be back soon, just wait I'll show you how great my swordplay is," James thought.