The left side of the second floor was littered with decorations on the walls. White and blue ribbons wrapped the ceiling and windows, posters made by the students plastered the walls that prompted the festival with a crudely made picture of King lucian.
Though to Lucian, it was a form of art. Besides being into the rubees business, he also was interested in the arts. I heard that his room was filled with paintings made from across the world, much to his wife's dismay. I believe he also tried to get Chris into art, but it never worked as the boy always ran off.
Speaking of Chris…
"Richard, where is Chris?" I asked the white haired mage, the absence of the boy wasn't really much of a rare thing as he was off exploring a lot.
"That boy? Well he's been locked in his room for some weeks now. The boy managed to run off again before being caught, Lucian was fed up and well…The boy is troublesome." Richard said in dismay. "But it's for the boys' protection."
"Well, if lady Marika is looking for him. He should always be watched." I said. "The fact that Lucian hasn't offered any more protection for the boy is more worrisome."
"Ah, well the kingdom is quite guarded on the north gate. Our army is fairly good for what it is. It's just Lucian's focus is on that Gate and the traded goods at the port."
I scoffed. "Yeah, not like the people in the city feel like shit." Richard gave me a doubtful look when I said that. King Lucian was farther ahead of us, so he wouldn't hear our conversation.
"The man is trying his best. Don't forget that he gave you this job." Richard's tone shifted into a more tense one. "If Lucian even slips at focusing on the north gate, who knows what'll come out of that area."
We started to slow down our walk, staring at each other "What, you mean People? Isn't King Lucian still not letting people in on that side? Like the beast kind or Demons?"
"Those aren't people." Richard coldy said. I gave him an irritated look when he said that. "Beasts are humanoid freaks and those demons are the embodiment of chaos. You should know from your travels as an adventurer."
"Not all of them are bad. No need to group them all into one thing." Richard waved his hand in dismay, but I persisted. "Not sure where this hostility is coming from…" There was an uneasiness between us. Richard gave me a glare as he then walked faster, getting ahead of me.
"No need to dwell in our past, should we?" He glanced back. "Let's just say that my View of them is reasonable and one that you will not change." He let out a sigh and made a more friendlier face. "Now come on, we are almost there."
With the tension now easing, I sped up my walking so that we arrived at the door of Tera's class. King Lucian waited at the door, swaying his head as he hummed to himself.
"Took the two of you long enough." The king said, watching the two of us arrive.
Richard gave him a bow and glanced up at him. "My apologies, I've gotten caught up with talking with Kale on the way. He has his ways with words."
"I do have a talent for that." I said, nodding.
"How are you finding the school to be?" Richard asked. King Lucian rubbed his beard and thought for a moment.
"Very impressed. The drawings for the festival are quite good. I'd say much better than last year." He took a gander at a poster on the other side of the wall; a Festival poster that had the castle on it along with ink wordings of "Lucian Festival" on it. "The students are quite artful. It'll please passersby when they shop and wander during the festival."
"I see. How do you think the students are with magic?"
"I wouldn't really know. I would always go with what you say, Richard. So what do you think?"
Richard went and grabbed at the door handle of the door. "Why don't we find out?"
"By all means, open it. Let's see what these students are like!" King lucian pumped himself up, the king looking excited at seeing this student.
I was also curious about what was happening in the room. Tera was supposed to teach the kids some dance, but it's been quite quiet in the room…Either they left or somehow something worse has happened. Actually? Don't put that thought in your head, Kale. We probably can't hear them past this door…Hopefully.
***
[Kota]
"C'mon! Move in a circle together!" I heard Tera say.
It's been about almost Three hours and I'm exhausted. Learning this dandelion dance has proven to show my stamina limits when it comes to footwork. It was the same with Griffin who laid next to me on the floor, the both of us breathing heavy as Lilith and Sura briskly followed Tera's instructions. The two girls didn't even seem exhausted at all by this, Either It was because of Sura's determination or Lilith's unyielding stamina. Whatever it was, it had me and Griffin out of it.
"H-hey…You think this'll be it for this?" Griffin muttered out. The green haired boy was lying on the ground, on his stomach. "I-I can't go on…" He huffed and looked at me.
"I-I can't either…" I choked out. I laid face up, looking at the ceiling. I tapped out thirty minutes ago when Tera had me and Lilith do a full routine. Lilith was aggressive and her footwork was top notch. Meanwhile, my footwork was absolute shit and I ended up using more energy to keep up with her.
"Sura! Stay with me!" Lilith barked. She was the dominant one in the dance as she briskly did the dance, Sura was sweating as fiercely following.
"Y-you know you can slow down, right? Right?!" Sura yelled, The two circled around each other as they prepared to do the final part of this dance. An underarm turn, something I couldn't do with Lilith since I felt like she was going to break my arm when doing it.
"Kale says there's no time to slow down when your adrenaline is kicking in!" Lilith then lifted her arm, it looked weird as she was shorter than sura. "Now twirl!"
Tera watched with intense emotions. Her face was in near focus as she looked at the two. She had given up on me and Griffin when we collapsed and focused on the girls. At first she was surprised that me and Griffin fell first, I guess she thought somehow our stamina would've been larger than the girls.
Sura nodded her head and then twirled underneath Liliths lifted arm; she barely managed to get underneath due to Liliths size. As Sura twirled, Griffin flipped himself to watch as The two girls seemingly finished their dance. Sura fiercely clung onto Liliths as they held each other's hands, Sura heavily breathing as Lilith gave her a focus stare.
"Marvelous! Look at you two!" Tera said with pride. "You give these two boys a run for their rubees in terms of dancing!"
"E-easy work…" Sura huffed. "I think I should be dancing with Lilith instead of Griffin.." She took a glance at him. "Are you capable of getting up?"
Griffin groaned as he got up, I got up as well. The both of us struggled to get up. " Ah, you know…Not all about how long we can go, it's about how much effort you put into it!" Griffin said breathlessly.
"T-true." I mumbled out. I really did put my effort into dancing with Lilith. but in terms of speed and determination, well she beat me by a landslide. I should give her a compliment for her efforts too, she'd probably like that.
Griffin held a fist up towards me, a gesture of true bromance. I held my fist up and bumped our fist as he spoke. "That's what it means to be loyal friends."
The two girls let go of each other's hands, looking towards Tera.
"Oh, you two got a hang of it! I wouldn't mind seeing you two dance together, but sadly the festival does not allow that sort of thing." Tera sullenly said. "You'll have to make do with…The boys."
"Boo!" Griffin groaned. "We tried!"
"You gave up after the first hour and sat on the floor for another hour. At least Kota kept going." Tera scoffed, her focus now on me. "Still, I expected a little more from you…"
"I was also trying. I can't keep up with l-." The sudden rattle of the door interrupted my sentence.
Tera looked at the door intrigued. Hey, wasn't kale supposed to come visit us when we finished? He probably finished up with whatever he was doing and just came.
The door swung open as two men came inside, a white haired man and a brown haired man. I only recognized one of them.
"What the-I mean…King Lucian. Good afternoon." Tera seemed caught off guard by this. "What brings you here?"
King Lucian walked slowly into the room. Along behind him was the white haired man, who stared at me and Griffin. Then finally, Kale crept through the door with his arms folded.
"Oh, just a visit. No need to be alarmed, Ms. Cereal. Heh." King Lucian looked around, Observing us all. "These are your students?"
With quick motion, Tera grabbed the shoulders of me and Griffin and shoved us next to Sura and Lilith. King Lucian watched in amusement as Tera got behind all of us and smiled. "Yes, these are my students. Besides this one right here." She pointed at Lilith. "This one here is Kale's. Her name is Lilith."
Lilith jolted at her sudden name drop. She quickly looked at the white haired man for a moment before looking at King Lucian and bowing. "G-good evening!"
"Afternoon…" Tera corrected her.
"Ah, forgive me!" Lilith turned more red as she bowed even lower than before. The king let out a laugh as Kale looked like he was sweating.
"Haha! No need, young lady." King Lucian waved a hand playfully. "There's no need for formality with kids."
The last time I saw the king was when he went to get Chris from the forest. And the last time I remember…He wasn't as friendly. Maybe it was his own kid or something, but right now he seems more relaxed.
"Ah, well…if you'll excuse me, king Lucian." Kale moved awkwardly past the two men, almost like a robot as he got close to tera. She looked at him with raised eyebrows.
"Tera…" Kale greeted her with a blank face, everyone else in the room stared at him. Though the white haired man seemed fixated on tera for some reason…
Tera brushed a hand through her hair, not even smiling. "Hello, Love. Did you get the festival off?"
"Pfffft." He tried to keep the poker face. but as his face grew redder, it was obvious that he was embarrassed by that nickname. He took a deep breath and relaxed himself. "Yes…Those days are off. How was teaching the kids, HONEY?" He emphasized the last word.
Tera almost cracked a smile before quickly recovering. "Fun. Lilith and Sura are very good dandelion dancers."
I saw King Lucian nod in appreciation of that, the white haired man also as well. I'm assuming this white haired guy is a bodyguard of sorts for King Lucian?
"Uh. Forgive me for interrupting this lesson of yours. I'm sure you can tell that this really isn't a normal visit." King Lucian coughed to get our attention. His eyes looked at me. "Kota!"
I almost jumped at the call of my name, I looked around to see if anyone else was surprised as well. Lilith had a confused look, Griffin and sura did as well, but Tera was smiling. The only person who didn't really react was Kale. As I switched my focus back to the king, the man was already walking towards me.
"Boy." He began. "I've heard that your mana is quite a hefty one. I believe I recognize you from some time ago, near the south entrance. When my son was lost." He eyed me as he seemed to be waiting for a response.
"I-uh, yes!" I blurted out. "I was out there with Kale to do a bounty and ended up stumbling upon him and this…"
"Demon. Something from the Demon continent. More precisely…" King Lucian glanced at Kale and The white haired man. "Urrok was the beast's name. One of the commanders for lady Marika."
Can't believe a gigantic…bird is a commander for a demon.
The white haired man stepped forward and spoke. "Urrok was one of the lower commanders for her forces. Though he is quite formidable, you are lucky you weren't trapped in his demon magic."
"Demon magic?" Sura asked curiously.
"The magic we know is quite differently used by demons. In fact, we haven't even cracked the surface of what their magic can truly do." The white haired man explained. "Hell, we don't even know much of our own magic."
"Language, Richard." The king warned him. "These are younglings."
"Apologies. A slip of my tongue." Richard then backed away. The king gave him a look before focusing on me again.
"I will ask. Did you assist Kale in taking down Urrok?"
Kale almost said something but quickly shut his mouth. As I recall, Kale got injured during that fight and it was just me and Lilith fighting it. I'm quite sure that Lilith dealt the killing blow to it. Also, Urrok? Sounds like something you'd hear in WoW…
"It was more like trying to live, king Lucian. It was me and Lilith's first day as Adventurers." I glanced at Lilith. "Plus, Lilith did most of the work."
"Do you recall what spells you used?" Richard stepped up again. "Are you able to reproduce what you did in that forest?" Both Richard and King Lucian looked with intrigue. They paid no mind to Lilith as their whole focus was on me.
"I can cast them again if you like." I shrugged. I used two spells during that Fight, so it wouldn't be that hard. I held out my hand and aimed away from everyone. The room was huge, but I still needed to figure out the length it should go. And thus, I imagined a flame firing, like JetFire blazing. And quickly enough, a burst of flame shot out and went a few feets. After a few moments of spewing the flames, I stopped the spell and looked back at the two men.
Richard's eyes shot up as he watched me cast this spell without chanting of any sorts. King Lucian watched with even more intrigue.
"Well, this is truly something. Right, Richard?" King Lucian said. "I guess Principal Ghale was correct then."
"Then whatever else he said was true too…" Richard then began to frown. "Which means he really did do that to the Desmond boys."
"I see…" King Lucian began to scratch his beard. "That is a problem we shouldn't have in this university."
Tera began to walk, placing herself beside me. Her gaze was serious as she looked at the two men. "Kota only fended off those students due to sexual harassment. Sura was the victim. I assure you that Kota was right. Those Desmond boys though…"
"I know of the Desmond boys." King Lucian spoke. "I was referring to those boys. No anger felt towards the young boy here." He smiled as he said that. Tera's gaze relaxed at those words, she gave me a glance and patted my head.
"I'd like to see more of this silent casting of yours, kota." King Lucian raised his brows, a hand held out. "How would you feel to come to the castle with Kale and show us once the festival is over?"
Kale's look and along with everyone else seemed to hold shock and surprise at that.
"It's very rare to have someone be able to do that." Richard explained. "I also see a large amount of mana residing in you, far more than what's usual…Were you born with a large amount?" His blue eyes stared into me as he said that. More specifically, my eyes.
Tera moved a little forward, blocking Richard's eye sight of me so that he was looking at her. "I assume Principal Ghale has told you of his…Trait." She gave a quick glance at King Lucian. " I assure you that it hasn't gone rampant or anything, far from that."
Richard's eyes were fixated on her, his blue eyes squinted. "I see, so the Duvul Trait was also something we didn't believe in…This is extraordinary…Very…"
It took me a moment to realize that Richard was only squinting to fixate on one thing. Tera's chest area. It seems he lost himself in the mountains.
But Tera ignored that, I don't even think she even noticed as she continued to talk to the two. "My students are under my close watchful eyes when they are in my class and outside of it."
"Ah, well if you insist, Ms.Tera." King Lucian cooly said. "There's no hostility from us, this is just a visit…and an offering to the young boy." King Lucian turned to me. "If you like to think about this, you can find me at the festival. Though on the last day, I'll be having a meeting of sorts with one of the other kings. But other than that, I will be in the halls of this school." He quickly turned towards Richard. "…What are you looking at?"
"Ahh…Nothing, your highness." Richard's eyes darted to Kale, along with the sound of Kale's snicker. The hell was that all about?
King Lucian ignored that as well. "We should be taking our leave then, You recall the meeting for the festival today?"
Richard cleared his throat. "Ahem. Yes, we should. Kale, it was nice of you to accompany us." Kale nodded at the response, thought it kinda looked like it was a forced one as King Lucian also looked at him.
"Right then, off we go." King Lucian waved us a goodbye, the rest of us gave him a small wave. However I noticed his stare at me when he finally waved at me. It was a look of pure interest, I always thought that the Duvul trait was a sort of curse for people. One that would make people exiled, but King Lucian and Richard seemed unfazed by it, perhaps interest is overlapping their fears of it now.
Kale moved ahead and gave The king and Richard a hand shake. As Richard went in to give Kale a shake, he pulled kale in closer. He seemed to be mumbling about something before Kale grinned, pulling back and finishing the handshake. Seriously, what the hell is up with the two?
Within moments, the two left the room. The room went quiet as well, it was like everyone was unsure of what to say at the fact that the king was randomly strolling around the university and decided to visit me.
"Sooo…The king likes us?" Griffin broke the silence. "Or does he not?"
"I despise him." Tera said. "And that mage of his was looking at me a lot."
"Richard was probably looking at your mana…" Kale said walking back from the door.
"The mana…in my breast? You expect me to not notice that?"
"Uh…You want him to look at your face then?"
"I prefer he doesn't look at me at all. He was eyeballing me." Tera frowned. "You were snickering too. What did you say to him?"
"Ah-well, look at the time!" Kale quickly avoided the question, he let out an awkward laugh. "Boy, you guys did a lot of dancing, huh? Hey, let's see how you guys dance!"
"I destroyed Kota in a dance!" Lilith proudly said. Her amber eyes gleaming with pride. "I left him sweating on the floor because of me!"
"Haha…what? Don't say it like that." Kale gave her a confused look.
"Can't lie about the truth." Griffin said, he began to stretch out his arms. "Brought a swordsman into a mage classroom to dance with mages who don't even workout like she does."
"I don't think it works like that. She just has better footwork." Kale dismayed that with a hand. He then looked at Tera who was already looking at him. "I think you should have a real dancer help them with this dance."
Tera's brows furrowed at that response. She began to tap her feet as she spoke in a somewhat irritated way. "Oh? Am I not good enough to teach my students? You've seen how I move."
Kale jerked back at the response, I don't think he noticed that he landed himself in a hole right now. "W-well, yeah. But for a proper actual understanding…" he slowed down as he saw Tera getting more irritated by his words. "…Maybe you should…get a dancer?"
Tera didn't say anything for a moment before she moved forward into the center of the room, eyeballing Kale as she did. Griffin, sura and Lilith moved aside as Tera stared at him.
"…come here."
Kale hesitated, holding a finger up as if he was warning her. "I…sense danger from you. Tera, Darling. You should relax, I onl-."
"Come. Here." Tera said assertively.
"I-Alright…" Kale awkwardly walked into the middle, leaning back as if he was prepared for her to pounce on him. "So, what are you planning? A wind blast into the ceiling? A jab to my stomach? A-ah!" Tera swiftly grabbed his hands and forced him into getting closer. The two were about to do a dandelion dance together.
"Listen here." Tera spoke. "I'm going to show you how to dance." She gripped his hands tighter. "And I won't stop until you figure it out…"
Kale gulped as he looked around at everyone else. "H-hey, relax. I haven't done this dance in a while, but I get what you're trying to say. C-can you loosen your grip on m-agh!"
And for the next two hours, All of us watched as Tera ruthlessly danced with Kale.