Brandon was in a pickle.
' Sir Rovenin , what exactly were you thinking?'
------ A while ago ---------
Brandon and Chris were on the first floor talking about the exam and the distribution of territories for development discussed in the royal council. Around that time Brandon happened to look outside the window. The sight he saw on the ground made him clench his teeth. Chris's eyes followed Brandon's gaze and he too frowned.
"Again?!" Chris cried.
" That Anel is a shame in the name of nobility. Just because he could not get the first place in his class, he's bullying Rishi who was first."
" How convenient for him, Rishi just happened to be a former slave. Shall we go help him?"
" No, let it be." Brandon said in a cold voice.
" What are you saying? I thought you acknowledged him."
"I do. However, we cannot afford to be on swords with the aristocratic faction right now. The construction of Lake Palker's bridge is under way. It is US who will be in trouble if the joint project decides to stop halfway."
He was glaring at Chris while clenching his fist and continued,
" Besides, look. Those guys with him are students from the swordsmanship department. Pretty decent ones as well. At Least his life is not in danger. "
"But those students are commoners! Do you think they will stand up against them?" Chris yelled as he squished Brandon's shoulder.
" Let us at least get a senior or an instructor!"
Brandon shook his head.
" It will be too late by then. The best course of action right now is to wait at the 'usual' place. I am sure Rishi will bring them the ones who are hurt there."
Chris gave an exasperated sigh.
" Do you even know how hard it is for me to secretly heal him every time while he smiles despite being through all that?"
" Do you think I like watching you guys do it? But if we were to to break this thin ice and the construction of the bridge stops there will be thousands more like Rishi crying.... "
"Dear Lord! "
Chris cried.
" Ugh... Just bear with me this once. Once the project is over I swear I will kill those ras-"
" That's not it!"
Chris yelled as he made a frightened expression looking outside the window.
"Huh?"
Brandon saw what he was pointing towards. It was a catastrophe. Rishi was on Carseain's shoulder and wore a clearly annoyed expression which could be seen from the first floor.
"Chris"
"Yeah?"
"Run"
"What?"
"I said run before the Mad Hound hunts!"
Brandon yelled as he ran downstairs. Chris followed him without a wasted moment.
"Brandon, I thought you made sure that the guys involved with the bridge project would never encounter our Lil beast."
" Of course, I did but I did not expect him to come during the theory exam season."
" Did you not hear the rumours? He was going to write all the theory papers without fail."
" I was studying, goddammit! I need to maintain my rank."
" Okay sure, Mr. Smarty pants. So, I started running but what are we to do?"
" I'll go to the scene directly and try to buy some time. You go, get Sir Rovenin to help!"
Chris nodded.
"Gotcha"
" If you are looking for me I am right here."
They heard a voice right when they were about to go separate ways and stopped. Turning back, they saw Rovenin right in front of the eyes who was calmly watching the situation unfold that they ran to stop.
" Sir Rovenin! How could you be so calm right now? I believe I told you to keep him away from those guys."
" Ah, Young Lord. It will be fine. Why don't you go check up on him yourself?"
------------
' Although Sir Rovenin was smiling quite reassuringly. It doesn't seem like the situation will resolve without violence. Haa.... Dear Brandon's bridge..... Brandon's beloved bridge.... Goodbye.' Chris sent his condolences internally.
" If only there was a way to distract him...." He mumbled as he healed a bruise and Emel could hear it.
" Can you heal an internal injury?" He asked suddenly.
" It's a dicey call but yeah." Chris replied, a little sceptical.
"How about if you don't know where the injury is or what the problem is?"
" Well , then we'll need a doctor. I'm not trained as a medic yet."
" Aw... sweet. Although I don't know what's going on, if you just want him distracted I can help you." Emel said, grinning.
______________________
Carseain was imbuing his clenched fist with magic imbued on it as he curled his lips down with annoyance. Brandon shook his head as he gave up.
'Looks like I'll have to use 'those' to cover up the losses for Carseain rather than destroying them for good.
Geez... why am I even going through all this? If only Carseain was a little more...'
Carsein stomped on the ground just once and there were pieces of broken stones underneath his foot. An early depiction of his power and the state of those brats in a few minutes.
" It's still not too late to run away with your tail between your legs." Brandon mumbled.
" Apologize and I'll let you go." Carseain said as everyone could feel his rage from the magic in his surroundings was running amok causing gusts of winds to blow. There was already an audience gathering on site despite the exam time nearing and the whispering began.
" Look, it's the Mad Hound. It's true that he was giving the exams..."
" Huh?! Does he look like he's come to give exams?"
" Causing an uproar just before a test...Tsk Tsk...."
" Can't he just stay at his place and not disturb people who're actually studying...."
" Say that in front of him if you have the guts, as****e..."
" Haa... even the other students look jobless, why are they even gathering up for a shit show? Go study for exams..."
_________
Anel did not quite understand what he meant.
" Young Lord of Esselgarde, I apologize if I offe--"
" You fucking bastard!" Carseain yelled. "I'm telling you to apologize to the life you called a 'thing'!"
Rishi's ears perked up as Brandon and Chris widened their eyes.
Young Sir of Anel clenched his fist. ' This as****e wants me to apologize to a slave! Is he humiliating me?!!!'
One glance at his face and Carseain knew he was the type who needs to have the shit beaten into him. Carseain imprisoned him into an electric cage made out of his magic.
" An advanced level spell? But....Without a chant?" They gasped.
As soon as Carseain took the first step towards him, he heard a very bad, loud and hoarse cough. His eyes widened imagining a scenario that made him turn blue as he turned back.
Cough cough cough .... blergh....
A person spat out blood holding his own neck while others tried to help him. 'James Jr?' Carseain gritted his teeth as he ran towards him while the lavender electric cage dissipated into thin air. Young Sir Anel stomped his way towards Carseain in a fit of rage while his followers were trying to run away before getting hurt beyond recognition. Striking while the iron was hot, Brandon grabbed the opportunity to intercept him.
" Outta my way, Nerdy Oscar."
" I'm doing this for your own good, Loser Anel."
" Don't you think it'll be too bad if the bridge didn't have any bricks?" He chuckled.
"Don't worry. I don't think Viscount Anel would go that far for a small scratch on his 'second son'. " Brandon smiled brightly.
'Does he mean my father won't care about me just because I'm not the heir? I'm not any less competent than my elder brother!' His face was sucked in but he still wore a wry smile.
" Don't you think you're being a little bold for someone who went out of their way to plan out things just so that we don't meet?"
" I think you're misunderstanding something. I did all of that out of goodwill. Even now, I'm telling you to leave for your own good or do you want to be 'humiliated' in front of the whole academy apologizing to the 'slave' who beat you, for calling him a 'thing'." Brandon said as he showed him the people who had gathered and were watching intently.
"Carseain Esselgarde will not let you off the hook once you're caught." Brandon continued whispering into his ears like a devil.
" Do you really think that Viscount Anel would wish for a stained history with the Eselgardes for his 'second son ' huh? At least, the 'heir' would be opposed to it taking the future into consideration.
As you would have realized by now that you've calmed down, this situation is not in your favour. So, get going, I'll at least make sure that the Hound doesn't hunt for you."
Young Sir Anel looked down and started walking with clenched fists.
" What do you want in return?" He asked with gritting teeth.
Brandon : 'Ah...that's right. I'm doing him a favour.'
" As we're both from academic families, I'll keep it simple. DON'T MESS WITH RISHI ANYMORE."
"Rishi? Ah...that slave? "
" Yes." Brandon replied with a faltering smile.
" Nerd Oscar, you couldn't have gotten any more boring." He scoffed as he walked off.
' Fuck off already, Bastard.'
Brandon silently sent him off with his middle finger.
' Haa... that's one disaster overturned. I'm glad he's so easy to manipulate. Looks like his relationship with his family has impaired so much that he did not realize that the Viscount was actually looking for an excuse to pick a fight.
If he really had made a big deal out of it, my bridge would really not have any bricks.'
Brandon let out a sigh of great relief.
' Well, I'm glad that I don't have to use 'that' so early.'