Inside a room of the River's residence, the incessant provocations that Arslan had to face were teaching him how to keep calm even in troublesome situations. But surely, it was easier said than done,
"It seems you have finally remembered what your position in this house is." Eveline said in satisfaction, as she kept her head up and her arms folded.
After hearing these words, Arslan gritted his teeth in frustration, but, thinking that being patient would keep his sister safe, he started to feel better. Luckily she was in another room and couldn't see her brother being bullied like this,
'I wonder how uncle Joseph can get along with this evil woman.'
"Hey loser, it seems that finally, you are gonna get kicked out of the Imperial Academy today," Troy said, as he got closer to him, looking down on him, with an unsettling grin on his face. He was tall, at least 15 centimeters taller than Arslan with twice his muscles' size, his hair was red like his mother's, and his eyes were brown,
"Without having even awakened your bloodline, you won't have even a single chance of winning today's examination," He continued, "Your sister will never be safe with a trash brother like you by her side..." He got his mouth close to Arslan's ear and whispered, "Maybe in a few years... I should be the one protecting her..."
Arslan's eyes widened, as a fire of anger rose inside him. He clenched his punches and watched Troy directly into his eyes. Troy was still grinning.
"You will never have my sister!" Their faces had just an inch of distance between them, as they stared at each other in their eyes and feel each other's breath on their faces.
"Let's see this afternoon how much courage you will still have to talk back to me hahaha," Troy replied, as he turned back and directed out of the room, while laughing, "See you later looser."
"You should thank us that you are still alive, kid." The woman said as she followed her son, while Arslan kept looking at them till they disappeared from his sight.
'Finally, they left. They really know how to make me hate them. But, thanks to uncle Joseph, Elma and me are safe, and this is the thing I care about the most. Now let's prepare for this afternoon.'
"It will be quite difficult to win, considering that the Academy keeps giving me just junk techniques, thanks to that woman's influence on the elders who are supposed to give us, disciples, suitable techniques with our personal abilities." Arslan muttered, worried about the martial examination he had to attend to. It was a type of organized matches that disciples out of the ranking had to take part in. He had been an Imperial Academy's outer disciple for 2 years and had never been in the ranking of the best 100 outer disciples. Thus, it was the first time he had to participate in this martial competition, where the new levies, who passed the entrance test, could challenge one of the outer disciples not in the ranking. The loser would have had to leave the Academy. In this way, outer disciples were more motivated to practice harder and those who remained outer disciples for 5 years, would get automatically kicked out of the Academy, as there was no place for weak people in such an academy.
2 hours later,
"Finally, I'm ready to go. But first, let's go to see sis Elma." Arslan said happily, as he thought to his sister, while he was leaving the room. She was in the little building next to his.
The River residence was made of 4 big stone buildings: one for the guards and the maids, who were separated on 2 different floors, one for the training grounds, used by soldiers and family members to exercise, another one for herbs and pills, that could be used to improve and stabilize one's cultivation or to heal, and the biggest one for the main family, which was obviously the most astonishing of the whole western part of Capital City. Near the maids' building, there were also 2 new little dwellings, that were built especially for Arslan, whose one was wooden made, and his sister, who had it made of stone. This was decided by Eveline, who saw both of them as troublesome dogs, but Joseph was able to get at least Elma to live in a better environment than his brother's. Indeed her living space and furnishing were much more similar to those of the main River family. All these buildings were located in a huge garden surrounded by high and mighty stone walls, representing the River family's strength.
Outside the walls, there were other houses of less visual impact but with no less importance and they were the houses owned by the other Rivers' family members. They were more than 200 people and were kept outside the walls in order to avoid killing attempts to steal Joseph's position as patriarch of the family.
'Surely this building is way better than the one I live in,' He thought as he compared where Elma lived in, to the scrapped room he stayed at, 'But her comfort is more important than mine.' He continued with the mind appeased.
"Hey, sis! Can I enter?" The boy asked as he got in front of her room's door. He was a bit nervous to see her because he wanted to look confident even if he wasn't certain of how the competition would have gone.
"Brother! Is that you? I'm coming!" A happy voice came out of the room as a little figure started coming closer to the entrance.
She opened the door and rushed in his brother's arms in a warm hug. They could feel the warmth of each other's bodies,
"Hey Elma, you should already be quite grown up to still hug your brother like this." He said as he stroked her head, with a smile on his face, referring to the fact that she turned 11 years old just a few days earlier.
"Even if I grow up, I want my brother to still cuddle me as if I were a child!" She said all satisfied from the feeling of him stroking her head.
"Hahaha ok, you are my only little sister anyway, so I don't see why I shouldn't. I just hope you won't forget your beloved brother once you will get married." He said, while laughing, to tease her a bit.
"I will never get married!!" She answered as she pouted, "No one can be better than my brother!"
"Ok, now I feel a lot of pressure in order to fulfill your expectations." He answered, still smiling.
"I know you are worried about today's examination, but don't worry brother, you'll kick their asses without problems! I'm sure of this." She said as she took a step back from him, with a cute smile on her face and her hands behind her back.
'She is such a joy in my life. I will never let someone hurt her. I must become stronger than anyone else, to protect her properly.' He thought,
"Where did you learn these bad words?! I'm sure it is not my fault. I always talk in such an aulic way." He said proudly to the young girl.
"You are a liar! You always use these bad words!! It is obvious that I take after you." She said confused as he continued teasing her.
"Hahaha ok ok, I will admit that maybe you could be right." He said as drying a teardrop from his left eye, due to the too much laughing, "Now I have to go little sis. I will do my best." He said as the atmosphere started getting a bit more serious.
"Yes brother, I know you will succeed." Both of them were staring at each other.
'She is becoming such a beauty.' He thought as he looked at her. And he was right. This young girl, the more she grew up and the more she resembled her mother, except for her black hair and brown eyes.
At that point, he turned and directed towards the near Imperial Academy, as his sister continued watching him till she couldn't see him anymore. He was lucky though because the Academy was built in the western part of the city. Thus, he didn't have to walk more than 30 minutes to reach it.
As he approached his destination, an endless property was getting more and more visible in front of his eyes. It was a city in the city. It could keep 1000 disciples: 500 outer, 300 inner and 200 core, each one of whom had a house or a room, depending on their status and strength, and could get graduated only after reaching the core disciple level. If at the age of 20, they still couldn't reach it, they would get expelled. If a core disciple got 1 of the first 16 spots in the core disciple's quarterly competition, then they could graduate regardless of age. Every 3 months there were entrance tests for youngsters reaching the age of 14, because of the bloodline awakening. Only the five Great families didn't have to take part in the test and had 2 years of protection from being challenged by new levies. The Academy was divided into 3 parts by 3 huge stone walls with wooden gates, as the main entrance was represented by the outer gates, while, inside, there were the inner and the core gates. To reach the core gates, it was needed to first pass through the inner gates, so many outer disciples, who never became inner disciples, were never able to see them. Each of the 3 parts had a reception hall, a library, an infirmary, a herb warehouse, and a building containing cultivation rooms. That was the outstanding Imperial Academy.
"Will I ever be able to get a good house to live in?" Arslan asked to himself as, after passing through the Academy's outer gates, he stared at his half-destroyed wooden dwelling in distance. It was placed quite far from the other dwellings and was barely able to stay up.
As he got in the place he should have been calling home, he got on his uncomfortable bed and laid down for 10 minutes, "I have to win at all costs." He said as he pointed his fist towards the ceiling.
Then, he headed for the arenas on which the matches would have been held...