Shouto and Tenya headed down to the festival being held in the town square. They could hear music coming from the town.
"Wait," Tenya said, stopping Shouto from going into the town. He pulled out two cloaks from his saddle bag.
"They are to hide who we are," Tenya said. Shouto just looked at Tenya.
"Do you realize I have two different color eyes, hair parts, and a burn on my face?" Shouto asked.
"Of course! I didn't even realize it! I'm sorry, Your Highness!" Tenya apologized. Shouto sweat dropped.
"It's fine, really. Let's just get into the town," Shouto said, although he kind of wished his brother had chosen someone braver and less prone to random outburst. Someone like his uncle, Toshinori. He and Tenya entered the town and tied up the it horses to a post. The closer they got to the town square, the more they could smell delicious food and the happy chatter of people. They got into the town square and could see a whole bunch of food stalls with people laughing and dancing and listening to the music.
"Your Highness, maybe we should get a bite to eat. I brought money," Tenya said.
"No. We have to find people for our journey. The sooner the better," Shouto said, scanning the crowd for someone who looked strong. Not that he could tell very well, looks could be deceiving and nobody had any weapons with them. He supposed it would be a little harder to dance with a sword strapped to your side. Suddenly, his stomach growled.
"Okay. Maybe just a little food," he complied, embarrassingly. They walked to the closest food stall, selling large legs of mutton.
"Meat! Get your meat here!" the food vendor yelled to the crowd. The food vendor gasped as she recognized who was before her. She bowed.
"Your Highness! How delightful! What brings you to my humble food stall," she said, clearly nervous.
"I would like two legs of mutton please. Will this be enough?" Shouto asked, pulling out a silver coin from his purse.
"Oh, I couldn't take that. I wouldn't have enough change to pay you back," she said.
"That's fine. Just keep the change," Shouto said.
"Thank you, Your Highness!" the food vendor said, bowing more. She picked out the two biggest legs of mutton she could and handed them to him. He then handed one to Tenya.
"I couldn't take it. Not without paying you back, first!" Tenya said, searching his armor for any money he had on him.
"It's fine. You don't have to," Shouto said. Suddenly, a cobbler rushed past them, bumping rather roughly into Shouto, and spilling all of his shoes onto the ground.
"Oh no!" the boy said, crouching down to collect all the shows. He blew and brushed off the dust as he went, trying to get as much off as possible. He had green hair and very, very red shoes. Tenya and Shouto bent down to help pick up the shoes.
"You don't have to help me! It was my fault. I was just in a rush and I didn't see where I was going and ended up falling," the boy said, quickly. He looked up for a moment and gasped.
"Y-your the prince! Prince Shouto!" he exclaimed. Todoroki nodded.
"I just bumped into the prince!" the boy said, in shock.
"And I'm Tenya Iida. It's a pleasure to meet you," Tenya said.
"No, the pleasure is all mine. My name is Izuku. Izuku Midoriya," he said. They helped him gather the shoes back into the basket.
"I'm terribly sorry for bumping into you. Thank you for helping me with the bread!" Izuku said, cheerfully. He was about to head off when Shouto grabbed his arm.
"Your Highness. You know it's rude to grab people like that," Tenya scolded Shouto for a second. And then he realized he was scolding a prince and immediately clamped his mouth shut and apologizing profusely. Shouto, however, completely ignored him.
"Wait. That's a nice sword you have they at your hip," he said.
"Thank you. It was gifted to me by a um mentor," Izuku said.
"Do you know how to fight with it?" Shouto asked. With such a nice sword, this boy would surely be a good asset to his team.
"I do. But, not super well yet. I just got it a few months ago," Izuku said.
"Really? Then would you care for a duel?" Shouto asked.
"A duel! With the prince!" Izuku exclaimed and then turned away.
"Well, a duel with a prince would surely be a good lesson because princes have learned such things as sword play so I would learn a lot but at he same time it's the prince to the kingdom so is it really a good idea? Also-"
"Excuse me. Let me be a bit more clear. I am looking for strong people to join me on my quest and I wanted to test your strength," Todoroki said, interrupting Izuku in his ramble.
"Okay then. I accept!" Izuku said. Thus, the two of them found a spot away from the middle of the town square where there weren't any people and got into fighting stance. Shouto ran at Izuku first, who barely managed to block his first attack. He swung his sword at Izuku, and Izuku barely managed to block each time. For such a nice sword, he sure wasn't the best fighter. They parried for a bit more, before Izuku got a shot in that Shouto barely managed to block. Then, he knocked Shouto over, who managed to roll away just in time as the sword came down and get back up.
"Your Highness! Why are you only using your right hand! It would be much more effective if you used both hands," Tenya called from the sidelines.
"No! My left side... my left side reminded my mother of him! I won't ever use it. I don't want to use anything that caused her so much pain," Shouto spoke out, blocking Izuku's attacks, who now had the upper hand. Everybody in the kingdom knew about the way that the king had mistreated his queen, before she had killed herself. (I know, a bit dark but they didn't really have any mental hospitals back then.)
"Thats moronic!" Izuku said. Even though he didn't know the prince well, he seemed... sad.
"You aren't even beating me! Some commoner who spent most of his life baking! So how do you expect to defeat any of your enemies" Izuku yelled. He wanted to help the prince. Maybe knock some sense into him.
"No! I just have to get stronger! That's all I need to do to protect people! To be a good ruler," Todoroki protested, as Izuku's attacks became more ferocious.
"Don't be ridiculous! How could you become a good ruler if don't accept who you are. It's your body, not his!" Izuku yelled, causing Shouto to still for a moment. He barely managed to block this time, causing him to slide back for a moment. Shouto thought back to the last words his mother had ever said to him:
"I just want you to know that I love you, Shouto. Your left side... it doesn't mean anything different from your right side to me," she said, her voice full of guilt for having burned him.
Shouto gripped his sword with both of his hands and faced Izuku, who grinned. They charged at each other, swords at the ready and then Shouto overpowered Izuku, not only knocking him to the ground, but also sending his sword flying. Shouto pointed his sword at Izuku's neck for a second, breathing heavily, and then put it back into his sheath. He then proceeded to help Izuku up.
"Well, Izuku. Would you accompany me and my knight on our quest?" Shouto asked.
"Im extremely honored, but I'm sorry! I can't. The owner of this sword, he entrusted me to complete a quest that he himself couldn't," Izuku said.
"Okay then. If I may, What is the quest you are partaking of?" Shouto asked.
"This may sound crazy, since he was just beaten a few years ago, but I have to defeat the Demon King once and for all," Izuku said.
"What! That's the exact same quest that we're going on!" Tenya said.
"Really?" Izuku asked.
"Yes. A princess from the neighboring kingdom-"
"Actually, it's technically a princessdom, Your Highness."
"From the princessdom came with a furrier who had said she'd seen a goblin," Shouto finished.
"Well then, I would be honored to join you on your quest. I even have another recruit for you," Izuku said.
"Really? What great luck we're having. Two people in ones day," Tenya said.
"Yep. She wanted to take down the Demon King with me because she had heard about all the treasure he had. Her names Ochako," he said.
"Well, where does she reside. We must pay her a visit."