Hey guys! Back here with a NEW fanfiction. This one will be my second multi chapter fanfiction! It's going to be an Alternate Universe one in a magical world with Erina being the princess of the kingdom of Totsuki. Will be similar to the canon story at times but will also diverge at times. Main pairing will be Soma x Erina but I want to include some side pairings with more development as well. Already have some ideas on some Alice x Ryo scenes. I hope you all enjoy, your feedback and suggestions are much appreciated!

It was a warm day in the Kingdom of Totsuki, and not a single soul stood still. After all, today was the day which the new palace knights would be chosen. Each year, all the men of Totsuki that were 16 made their way to the royal families castle and took an aptitude test. The test assessed all sorts of valuable skills from swordsmanship to magic and even non fighting skills such as forging.

However, while becoming a knight was an honor, taking the knights test was required by everyone. The reason for this was that the kingdom wanted their strongest warriors to defend the royalty, so they took measures to make sure no one was missed. The kingdom never forced anyone to be a knight, but if they saw potential they would try their very hardest to convince them into joining, through a healthy pay usually. After all, the best knights salary could support an entire village, and there were definitely some of those villages which would be much better off by producing a knight.

This year, Yukihira Soma, from the small town of Sumiredori, was 16 and was on his way to participate in the knights exam. While his town wasn't bad off, it certainly would have made the peoples lives much easier during the winters if he was able to help them out with his salary. Soma wasn't sure whether or not he wanted to be a knight yet, but he decided that he would give his all in the test no matter what

"A girl likes a strong man." Soma remembers his father telling him when he was younger. After all, his father was a knight but had to retire a few years ago due to his increasing age. It was in the knights where his dad met his mom, and the rest was history. Soma put that thought in the back of his mind though, he was mostly confused by it actually.

After travelling for a few days, Soma had finally reached the castle. It was huge, bigger than he had ever imagined. There was a bridge over a moat which he crossed and before getting to the castle gate where the guards were

"Young man, I presume you are here for the knights exam?" One of the guards asked. He was a chiseled bald man wearing chain mail armor, just what you would expect when you think of a military man.

"Yes sir!" Soma saluted the man

"Let me just get your name and hometown over here." The man said as Soma proceeded to follow him and write down the information as well as his signature. Once the man had gotten the information he instructed Soma as to where to go

"Ok Yukihira Soma, so you're going to go through that metal gate you see right in front of you, and then take a right immediately and that should place you into the training grounds. The knights test starts soon so I would advise you to make your way there quickly. Also, it doesn't seem like you have very much gear on you, but bring any personal items you would like to use during the exam there. There will be gear provided by the royal family if you don't have any so you're welcome to use any of that as well. Good luck!"

"Thank you sir!" Soma smiled at the man before heading to where the man instructed him.

It was true that Soma didn't have very much gear on him. He was wearing a common cotton shirt under a cloak, with an ordinary pair of black trousers. It was evident to anyone that he had just come from the countryside based on his appearance. In fact, the only variances from that country look were a steel shortsword on his right hip. This was the weapon

Soma's father had given to him once he became a teenager, and he had used it for hunting the beasts around the village since then, so it felt comfortable at his side.

Upon entering the courtyard, Soma saw a large number of boys his age scattered around, talking in groups. Some were more dressed than others, obviously coming from a more noble background. Not that Soma really cared about that, but he had been warned that some people could only see a person for their class, and not based on who they were as a person.

To pass the time, he walked up to the first person he saw who wasn't with anyone, and started talking, mainly to pass the time. Or that was what he planned on doing but on his way he bumped into someone.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!"

Soma looked back to see a blonde haired kid, dressed in full metal armor that he seemed to be having trouble with. Soma could help but think the boy looked a little funny in all his gear.

"Hey there. Sorry bout that." Soma apologized. "You were wearing so much armor I thought you were the armor rack where I could pick up a spare helmet." Soma joked.

A taller, brown haired boy appeared behind the blonde and began laughing at Soma's joke. Annoyed, the blonde shouted at the taller boy in a familiar way

"Isami! What are you laughing for?! Are you trying to encourage the competition?"

"Sorry brother, it was just too funny. I couldn't help but think you looked a little funny in the armor too, considering how small you are."

"It doesn't matter if I'm small! I'm going to become a knight along with you for our home country and as long as I'm concerned this guy right in front of us will be the first stepping stone to that!"

"That sounds interesting." Soma replied "But you mentioned for your home country. Does that mean you're not from around here?"

At this the blonde covered his mouth with both hands, realizing that he had said something he shouldn't have.

"F-forget about tha-"

"Yeah, me and my brother here are from the small country to the west of here, called Trattoria.

"Isami!"

"Oh, I don't think we've introduced ourselves yet. I'm Isami Aldini, and this is my twin brother Takumi. And you are?"

"Yukihira Soma, from a small town in the south edge of this kingdom called Sumiredori. It's nice to meet you!"

"It's nice to meet you too, Soma. And don't worry about my brother. While he may be a bit aggressive at times, the reason why he's like that right now is because it is really important for us to become knights for Totsuki. It's the first step to securing the alliance between our nations for the years to come."

"Yukihira Soma!" Takumi shouted pointing at Soma, the face guard of his steel helmet slipped over his face with the drastic movement, so after he quickly fixed it and moved it up again so he could make eye contact with Soma he continued, a little less confident now.

"I-I'd just like to let you know. From now on, you are my rival!"

"Sounds good Takumi, I wouldn't want it any other way." Soma remarked.

Just then, the newly acquainted group of boys could hear the rest of the courtyard begin to murmur, as if something big was about to happen. All at once, the boys got down on one knee, and quickly realizing as to why, Soma followed suit.

"Greetings potential knights. As you probably know, I am the king of Totsuki, Senzaemon Nakiri! It is my pleasure to welcome you all here today, you may be at ease."

At this command all of the boys returned to a standing position, but still kept their focus on the king. While he was elderly, he still had a strong voice and a strong build with several scars, clearly showing why he was respected and that he was no stranger to the battlefield. He continued.

"All of you are here for the knights exam, and I would like to get started because I am excited to find out who our new knights will be as well! But I would like to also let you know that I alone am not going to be your examiner today. My granddaughter, the crown princess Erina Nakiri will also be assisting me in the assessments. While she is still quite young only being the same age as all of you, she is quite an accomplished mage herself so I hope you will take her remarks as strongly as you would mine."

Out from behind the kind, Erina made her appearance to the boys. She was certainly beautiful. With her long blonde hair and purple eyes and a figure that filled out her fancy blue dress perfectly, she was what one would consider a princess right out of a fairy tail. However, Soma noticed something seemed a bit… off about her. She wore an almost disgusted look on her face, as if all the people she was looking at were beneath her, and didn't deserve her attention at all. She also had a servant with her it seemed, which didn't surprise Soma as she was a member of the royal family after all. She spoke up

"Grandfather, I can't say I'm impressed by the group of candidates this year. They mostly seem like a bunch of lowlifes trying to push their luck into becoming knights, if nothing else. I can't believe you joked the other day about me finding a husband in this group of commoners! Will they even be useful as knights?"

A few of the boys shuddered at her words, their dreams already crushed, but Soma paid it now real mind and he could tell that Takumi and Isami were really bothered by it either based on the unwavering looks on their faces.

"Now Now Erina, you can't say that before you know them. Every knight we add is very valuable to our kingdom, this years group will be no different."

"We'll see." She responded haughtily.

"She seems like a bitch." Soma could hear one of the more confident boys near him state.

"Well without further ado, let's begin the exam!" Senzaemon declared. "The first part of your exam is quite simple, there are practice dummies on the far end of the courtyard. One by one you take turns and attempt to destroy the dummy in any way you choose, but I'll let you know it won't be easy as they are made of solid steel! After that any of you are free to demonstrate any special skills you have and we will assess them accordingly."

Soma got in line for his shot at the practice dummy, but decided to wait until the very end to see what everyone else could do. It was clear to him that most of the candidates were just hopeless. Some would go charging in with a standard sword and no blade technique, and would swing the sword with all their might and expect the steel dummy to break. Needless to say, it was the opposite that happened, and several examinees broke their wrists from this. Both Erina and Senzaemon observed each candidate carefully on both their form and the amount of damage they did to the dummy. It was easy to see that no one had been impressing Erina, but Senzaemon wrote down a few candidates who caught his eye.

After nearly an hour of candidates, it was Takumi and Isami's turn. They elected to go at the same time, and they each used a powerful water spell which left their respective training dummies crumpled to pieces. They had two of the better showings compared to all of the other candidates up until that point. Finally, it was Soma's turn.

Soma had been eyeing the princess the whole time, because he could tell that there was something different about her. She had barely reacted to any of the candidates so he wanted to change that. He walked up to the line, and instead of firing off some spell, he locked eyes with the princess and began

"Princess… Erina Nakiri. I have been observing all the candidates just as you have but it seems that none of them have impressed you. Anything I can do to change that?" He remarked, sounding borderline teasing at the end. He knew he was pushing the limits but it hadn't ever gotten him into trouble yet.

Erina was a little caught off guard by this red haired kid speaking to her out of nowhere. "The audacity of this commoner!" She thought.

"Excuse me? Didn't anyone ever teach you not to speak unless spoken to by members of the royal family?! And besides, about your question, I doubt there's anything a commoner like you could do that could impress me, even a little bit. I suggest you return to whatever small town you came from and continue on with your insignificant life, peasant."

"I doubt you have any friends if you act like that all the time. I'll prove my worth right now, princess!"

Soma cockily looked in Erina's eyes and was surprised to see a flash of sadness before they returned cold and devoid of emotion. "The princess is indeed interesting, as I thought."

"I'll give you a special treat." Soma said, taking his sword out of its sheath.

With the sword in his right hand, he imbued his magic into it causing it to turn the sword into a flaming sword. Senzaemon was a bit surprised seeing this action as Soma was the only one to apply the use of magic to something other than its raw form, an application which usually took years of training. He ran over to the practice dummies, and sent a slash at one, slicing it clean in half, and the residual flames from his sword reduced two more of them completely to ash. He smiled and looked back at the princess

"Well, how'd I do?"

Erina was indeed a bit shocked, never expecting this display of power to come from this unsuspecting boy. It was near her own power, if she had to guess, and that scared her a bit. She was always told she was leagues above commoners in every way. After the shock wore off she composed herself, and replied

"Y-you fail!"

"Huh?"

"I'm saying you fail, you failed to meet the requirements for this test, no ifs and or buts about it!"

"But I literally did the most damage to the training dummies out of everyone here. Do they all fail too?"

"Maybe, but you certainly do!"

A little bit amused by the interaction going on between his granddaughter and this new commoner boy, Senzaemon spoke up to offer his input. It wasn't often he had since Erina act this way, in a way that was not cold or completely formal.

"Now now Erina, may I ask why you think this boy… um?"

"Yukihira Soma, your majesty."

"Ah thank you. Why do you think Yukihira Soma should fail this exam? You've just seen with your own eyes what he can do. Be honest now."

With her grandfather Erina felt a need to be at least somewhat honest, so she began saying things in a way which attempted to give Soma the least amount of credit as possible.

"Well grandfather, I agree that while Yukihira Soma was at least able to do demonstrate something, I don't think this is enough grounds to accept him as a knight based on the other things he has shown."

"And what other things has he shown?" Senzaemon questioned

"He talks back, doesn't submit to my authority and doesn't know his place. I think his personality would clash with members of the royal family and I also think that he's annoying!"

Erina looked over her shoulder to see Soma grinning at her smugly. She frowned at him and flicked her hair over her shoulder in an attempt to demonstrate her superiority. Senzaemon laughed at Erina's response.

"Erina, while I value your opinion very much, I believe you are wrong with this boy. He may be just what we need. I, Senzaemon Nakiri, as king of Totsuki, grant you, Yukihira Soma, the title of knight in training from this day forward! You are to meet the rest of the candidates who passed near where you filled out the forms, they will tell you and your fellow knights in training about your living arrangements and your schedule for the next few months. That is all for today.

And with that Senzaemon turned around to return to his chambers, leaving a stunned Nakiri princess behind.

"Well princess, I'll be seeing you around now."

"I hope not!"

And with a wave Soma turned around to find out who else passed, excited with what his new life as a knight would bring

How'd you guys like it? Erina is cold to begin but It'll be pretty satisfying when Soma conquers her lol. If you have any ideas for potential scenes in the future you would like to see, let me know!

Until next time,

~TheGoodGuy20