Three days went by in the blink of an eye and Asher, Kio, and Ian were already on their way to Staghaven Junior High. As Kio had previously imagined, Zara did try to pack excessively. From simple pain medicine to a large, silver sword. When Archer asked her about it, she pouted and said: "This is for the young master, of course! He must be protected at all times!"
Unfortunately for Kio and Archer, Zara was adamant about Asher taking that sword with him. Kio and Archer had turned their heads to stare at Asher, silently asking for help. Asher obviously noticed this and was about to reject Zara's idea of bringing the sword with him. However, seeing her slightly worried and determined gaze, Asher could only compromise.
"That sword is way too big. How about something smaller?"
In the end, Zara settled for twin daggers which were later packed in his suitcase. Now, Asher was riding in a small carriage accompanied only by Zara, Pithos, and Archer. Zara was sitting by Asher's side and handing him small sweets like chocolates and cookies while Archer sat in front of them. Pithos was laying in Asher's lap while nibbling on some sweets that Zara had given him. The warm scene reminded Archer of the relationship Asher and Nikola had before falling out.
"Why are we in a different carriage than usual?" Asher asked after rejecting the cookie Zara was handing over to him. She ended up giving the cookie to Pithos who had loudly meowed.
Before the falling out of his family, he had always been sent to school in the same carriage as Kio and Ian. After the fact that he had little potential for magic being revealed, he was always sent to school in a grand carriage coated with wealth. This was because Alejandro wanted to push Asher away from Kio and Ian, but Nikola had none of it. She threatened Alejandro to take away his position of head of the Pierce family if he did not let Asher sit on the same carriage as her other two sons. In response to this, Alejandro sent him to school in a different carriage that, as stated before, was coated in wealth. This time, however, the carriage was one that you could find anywhere. The seats had no cushion and the ride was bumpy and uncomfortable.
Zara frowned. She had obviously noticed the lack of care Asher's family put into choosing a carriage for him. She looked towards her butler companion, Archer, and decided to explain their current circumstances. "Mistress Nikola fought year after year for Young Master Asher to be driven by a splendid carriage. Staghaven Junior High is a school filled with nobles, so all noble parents try to send their children here as lavishly as possible. For Young Master Asher to be taken to school by such an ordinary carriage... the noble kids will laugh and ridicule him."
At the sudden explanation, Archer couldn't help but frown. Asher's current position in the family was not at all favorable, especially after what happened in Zacharia's manor. He could only think about asking Young Master Zacharia to help with Asher's situation since they were currently allies.
Archer wasn't the only one thinking about the problem at hand. Asher himself had also frowned while thinking about how having his truth exposed seemed to only worsen his standing in the family. The only good thing that came out of saying the truth was Kio's acceptance and the deepening of their brotherhood.
"It doesn't matter. I'll just quietly hang out with Kio. No one will bother me if I stay by his side. He promised to stay by my side, anyway," said Asher while sighing and closing his navy-blue eyes. Kio had indeed promised Asher to stay by his side after Asher told him that he had no friends.
The carriage was quiet for the remainder of the trip.
Having almost reached the tall, golden gates, Asher felt nervous. Butterflies danced around his stomach as he unconsciously held Pithos tighter. Pithos meowed as his cat body turned into the size of a growing kitten. He looked at Asher and snuggled back into his embrace. The cute action caused Asher's nervousness to slightly subside.
Finally, both his carriage and the carriage his brothers were riding on reached the front of the gate. There were many students bustling around while sporting normal clothing. They all stood close to the golden gates while talking excitedly with their friends about what they did during their summer vacation. Some of them were even staring at the carriages that were dropping students off to see how many of them were driven by low-class carriages. Once the splendid carriage with the Pierce family crest stopped in front of the gates, most students stopped to stare in awe and jealousy.
Ian came out first out of the lavish carriage. He smiled brightly as his eyes anxiously wandered across the sea of students. He was obviously looking for someone. Some girls couldn't take their eyes off of his while the guys couldn't help but feel inferior to Ian Pierce. Who wouldn't feel inferior? Everyone knew that Ian would be the heir and was perfect in almost every way. His personality, his strength, his looks, and his social standing; he had it all. Everyone wanted to get closer to him to reap the social benefits of being his friend. Unfortunately, before they could do so, a beautiful woman with tanned skin and short forest green hair ran towards Ian in what others perceived as an unladylike manner. She crossed her arms with Ian's and dragged him away while chatting excitedly.
Everyone sighed in regret as they watched them leave. Out of the Pierce brothers, Ian was the most open and charismatic one. It was much easier to get along with him and strike a conversation than with the second brother. And speaking of the second brother, Kio stepped out of the carriage as a servant magically appeared by his side and handed him a note. Some girls couldn't help but swoon while seeing Kio as they all admired his cold and mature nature. The guys praised him for his cool-headedness and magical talents while feeling envious over the amount of attention he was getting from the noble girls. All girls like mature men nowadays. Kio was one of the most popular guys in school not only because of his social standing but also because of how he handles himself within any given situation.
Kio glanced at the carriage behind his and frowned. He whispered something to the servant before walking away in a specific direction, disappearing within the crowd of students that tried to avoid him in fear of disrupting him. The servant who had received the young master's orders turned to open the door of the ordinary carriage.
The student's eyes followed the movements of the servant in curiosity. Why was the Pierce family's servant opening the door to the ordinary-looking carriage? Well, their question was soon answered.
From the ordinary carriage first came out the tanned-skinned Archer. Both male and female students gasped in surprise. This was no ordinary servant, ah! This servant had the mannerisms of a noble himself!
Archer held his hand out and helped Zara out of the carriage. Zara's cheeks a small blush as she had never been escorted out of the carriage. She felt oddly embarrassed and thankful for Archer's thoughtfulness. And finally, the person everyone was least expecting to come out appeared.
Asher came out of the carriage with a grimace. That carriage was no joke. His body still wasn't fully healed, and the ride to the school had only made his bruises slightly more. Other than that, Asher's physical appearance was absolutely perfect. Clean clothes and neatly styled hair all thanks to Archer. In his arm laid Pithos' in his smaller cat form, his tail swinging from side to side in a lazy manner.
"We have to go to the office and receive the key to my room, right?"
Zara nodded while handing Archer one of Asher's suitcases. "Yes, Young Master Asher. After that, we will organize your things and head towards the auditorium where the principal will give a welcoming speech. We will then accompany you to eat lunch. Archer and I will have to settle our things in the servant quarters. During that time, you can do whatever you wish to do."
After that, Zara led Archer and Asher to the office. Asher was given a small golden key and was told to not lose the key, otherwise, they'd have to charge him the cost of the key. Next, they went to Asher's designated room.
"Room 000... here it is!"
Asher excitedly opened the door with his key and was greeted by a medium-sized and strangely messy room. There were two small beds that were on either side of the room. On the left side was a clean and untouched bed, which Asher assumed is his. On the right side was a bed with an open suitcase on top of it and clothes strewn everywhere. There was also a school uniform on the ground which appeared to already have been worn.
Smiling helplessly, Asher said: "It appears that my roommate has already gotten here..."
"It appears so, Young Master Asher.'
Archer stood behind Asher while staring at the messy room. He couldn't stand such disorder, however, this was not his nor Asher's problem. Archer began putting Asher's things away while Zara mumbled about her young master suffering injustice. She took out the twin daggers and gave them to Asher, in which Asher replied:
"But having weapons during school hours is prohibited, Besides, I have Pithos with me."
Zara had found out after Pithos turned smaller that he was a magical beast. She made Asher promise to keep Pithos by his side at all times and, after Asher promised, she smiled in satisfaction and went to help Archer with his work.
Twenty minutes had already passed by since they arrived at the school. Asher's roommate was still nowhere to be found, but Asher was unconcerned. What he was concerned about was having to start this new school life.
Asher had a few friends when he was a young boy. After he began to grow up, those friends grew up as well and they all went their separate ways. Despite being a child filled with light and curiosity, Asher found it hard to make friends. He was always shy around strangers. And after his family 'split up', Asher turned into a shyer version of himself, he barely spoke to people and never participated in class. He was a shadow; a ghost that no one cared about. Even if someone did try to break him out of his shell, they always ended up giving up halfway, making Asher feel even more disappointed with himself and with others. Hence, he decided to stay away from people.
Even if the Asher he was today was different from the Asher from before, those feelings of wanting to stay away from others were still there. On the other hand, he also had feelings of wanting true friends and being able to stick with each other through thick and thin. Unfortunately for him, he was already accustomed to being a loner.
Once inside the auditorium, Asher had subconsciously headed towards the farthest corner of the room. He had not yet seen Ian, but he could spot Kio from a mile away thanks to his fiery red hair. Kio was talking to a blonde-haired student and Asher didn't want to interfere, so he stayed in his corner with Zara, Archer, and Pithos.
A few minutes had gone by and Kio was turning his head to look around the room. Asher remembered that he made Kio promise to stay by his side, which made him guess that he was currently looking for him. The principal was already walking towards the podium, but Asher still whispered into Pithos' ear to go to Kio and tell him that he is okay.
Pithos followed his little human's request. His small and nimble body skillfully dodged the incoming feet of the students. A few of the students caught a glimpse of the ruby-eyed cat, but Pithos was quick to disappear from their sight.
"Good evening, my dear students, and welcome to Staghaven Junior High,"
Having reached Kio, Pithos pawed at Kio's leg and caught his attention. Knowing Pithos' temperament, he didn't pick the black cat up and only stared at him for a few seconds before nodding.
"I've never been good with speeches, so I'll end this quickly. Make sure to give it your all. Don't slack off in your studies nor your training. If you want to become an influential person, you must first defeat all of your obstacles. The faculty in Staghaven Junior High is responsible for presenting you with some obstacles and teaching you how to overcome them. You will then be presented with even harder obstacles, but you will not receive our help. You must find a way to overcome that obstacle by yourself. That is when you'll become an independent person capable of becoming a great mage."
Kio handed Pithos a silver ring that had the Pierce crest engraved onto the inner part of the ring. Once Pithos held it in his mouth, the ring shone a faint light blue light before fading away completely. Pithos' ruby eyes shone in understanding before nodding one more time and turning to go back to his little human.
"Now, we will present to you one of our brightest students and the student council president, Second Prince Silas McQuoid!"
The blond student who was staring at Kio with amusement turned his head to look at the principal who had just called him to the podium. The sea of students parted and allowed Silas to easily walk through them and reach the podium.
Smiling gently, he said: "I thank you all for coming here on behalf of the student council. We are here to learn and grow stronger to support and improve not only ourselves but also our country. We cannot do this without all of you. So I'll say this again; thank you for coming to Staghaven Junior High. Make sure to cherish those you meet and the memories you'll create here. We are all students and comrades. I'll be waiting for you to grow stronger so that you'll stand by my side. Thank you."
Every student loudly clapped. Their crown prince was amazing! They couldn't help but want to grow stronger just to become the second prince's pillar of support. Everyone loves the second prince and his kind and gentle nature. So even if he gave a half-assed speech, everyone would still feel the need to admire him.
Since the speech had already concluded, the students began to file out of the room. Some glanced towards the second prince, wanting to talk to him, but they all gave up once they saw who was beside him.
"What a stupid speech," said Kio, his eyes narrowed towards the Silas' smiling face.
"Whatever do you mean, Kio? A good speech is one where the listeners end up feeling motivated to do whatever I told them to. So, in that regard, my speech was outstanding."
Kio rolled his eyes at his friend's stupid behavior. Silas wrapped his arms around Kio as they walked out of the auditorium together.
"Also, what was that cat?" Silas said, his brown eyes shining in curiosity. Kio sighed. What a meddlesome prince.
Still, Kio responded to his friend's question. "That was my brother's cat."
Silas' expression suddenly turned serious at Kio's curt reply. He observed Kio's current expression and analyzed his behavior before genuinely smiling.
"So, when will I meet this brother of yours?"
"Soon."