[Kale]
"And here is My classroom, Second floor and the farthest down." Tera explained to Sarah. I found myself behind the two as we gave Sarah a tour of the place. Meandering the halls of the Library, to looking into some Classrooms as Tera professionally told Sarah of each of them. Turns out, Tera had a sort of bad reputation with some teachers here. The only exceptions were The front desk man and a Teacher who taught healing classes. The others were just more disappointed at her teaching methods and her attitude to things.
Seeing first hand how she was teaching the kids the dandelion dance? Yeah, I can see why.
"It's a spacious room." Sarah complimented the room as she walked in. Tera opened the door for her to look inside.
"Oh really? Most of the other classes are bigger than this one."
"Yes, but theirs serve a different purpose. For a classroom for Three students, this is quite big."
As the two rambled on about Tera's classroom. I decided to stay out in the halls, observing the walls and…floor. Eagerly waiting for this to end so I can just stuff my face with Tera's.
That sounds a bit horny. I thought to myself. Absolutely. When you finally manage to find time one day to mess around, Your apprentice and another apprentice's kid waltz in with a grown woman in the middle of it. Talk about embarrassment! I had to ask for forgiveness from Sarah after that, I still remember slamming my head to the floor and begging.
I already made plans with Tera the day before to use this dance as some alone time, something she agreed with. And now here we are.
"Pondering much?" Someone said, I turned my head to the left of me to see who it was. A bald man with a moustache, wearing some quite hefty armor on him. He stood in the middle of the hall, looking like he was looking for someone.
Wait, that someone might be me. If I recall, I noticed this man was with Sir Issac before being dismissed. Sir Issac and Lucian are probably dancing right now. So why is this guy looking for me?
"Perhaps you don't remember me on The day of Drinking. I was there when you passed out. I am Admiral Furor." The man moved closer to me and held his hand out. "One of the Great Eight."
Day of Drinking? Shit, I don't remember anything from that. I just recall waking up the next day with Tera laughing. Also, One of the Great eights?
Hold on, this is Admiral Furor…Oh shit, this is one of the Great Eights!
"U-uh..Yes! Admiral Furor, pleasure seeing you!" I shook the man's hand, though he seemed to be gripping mine quite hard. The admiral's eyes beaming into mine.
"Your name?" He asked.
"Kale Goodman. King ranked In Fire style." Furor nodded at the name, looking like he was taking great appreciation of it.
Suddenly, the man clasped my hands again. Not hands sandwiching one of mine.
"A beautiful name for a beautiful man." Furor said, his eyes glimmering.
I looked down at the hands sandwiching mine. A silence taking hold of the space between us.
"Wwwwhhhhhaaaatttt do you mean by that?" I slowly spilled out.
"Are you single?"
"No! My girlfriend is in there!" I quickly pulled my hands away from this man. What the hell was up with this guy?
"Oh…" Furor mumbled in dismay. His arms now loosely swinging by his sides. "Forgive me. It's just I've never seen someone as beautiful as you."
"I'm flattered? But I don't swing that way."
"You'd lose a chance to be with one of the Great eights?"
"Look." I held my hands up. Not that I wouldn't…but in the way he wants it to happen. The fact that I'm talking to one of the Great eights is extraordinary to me. But I don't swing that way. "I'm not interested."
"Hmph." Furor crossed his arms, staring at me. "Is it that Dark skinned woman?"
"Eh?" I turned around to see Tera and Sarah peering out the door. Tera giving me a concerned look.
"Admiral Furor." Sarah greeted him. The bald headed man bowed to her.
I'm sorry, Sarah knows of Furor? Wait, what the fuck happened when I was passed out drunk that day?
"A pleasure Miss Sarah. The cat Cafe was a beauty to be in."
"It was."
What kind of fever dream was I in? Did they go to the Cat Cafe in the Market district? I was going to take Tera there! Wait, focus! Furor and Sarah!
"Wha-how-when…How did you meet him?" I asked Sarah. The door of the classroom opened wider to let the two women enter the hall.
"Me and the kids were looking for Edward and Furor kindly offered his assistance." Sarah simply answered. "Edward was one of the people I came with here and he has acquaintances with Gerald."
Ah, I see. So that's what happened that night. Damn it! I shouldn't have drank that much!
"The dark skinned woman, you are Kale's Girlfriend?" Furor looked at Tera. Looking at every nook and cranny of her. "Hmph, I see Kale has good taste."
"As he should." Tera plainly said. "And you are Admiral Furor. I saw you at the other stand that day."
"Oh, and I saw you too! I thought you were a friend of kales, but it seems it is more."
Taking this conversation they were having as a chance, I quickly beamed my way behind Tera. "H-hey, he got all touchy with me!"
"What? Stop being a baby, Now you want to do this Mother roleplay you've been asking me for?" Tera said, smiling. That was something I didn't want her to say out loud.
"No! I mean he swings that way!" I pointed at myself. Tera raised an eyebrow, looking at Furor and then back at me.
"..eh, I don't see it happening. I mean…Hm…" Tera thought.m to herself.
Why was she thinking about this?! Wait, she can't be thinking about this seriously, is she?
"Eh…furor, what are you doing up here?" Sarah moved forward, now in between. "Wouldn't you be down in the central room, dancing?"
"Haha, no. My bulkiness in my armor wouldn't bode well in there! Sir Issac has given us this time to be used as a break of sorts. I came up here to find Kale as I watched you three come up here." The man Scratched at his moustache. "Tell me, why are you up here?"
"To have a tour of this university before I head off…" Sarah trailed off. But she quickly recovered and stared up at the man again. "Where is Lady sierra?"
"Off with that Edward boy and his group. Did you know of the other bald man they have? Quite a reckless fellow. And that small woman with them…Reeks of mercenaries. Lady sierra is trifling with some wrong people." Furor rubbed his nose in disgust. "But, it's not my say anything. She can be with whom she wants to be with."
Thinking about it now, I haven't met Derrick yet. Edward was there when Lilith sparred with Kota. Not that I really cared that Gerald's friends missed something they could've gone to, but still.
"My, are you that hungry?" Tera said in a sultry tone. "You've been grasping at something."
Why yes, my hand has been all over her ass this whole time since I got behind her. But who can blame me? There's a whole bakery back here.
"Look, let's end the tour and have some fun?" I asked. But Tera shook her head.
"Down boy. We have to ask Sarah first." Tera then winked at me and turned to Sarah. "Sarah, would it be best to end the tour here? Kale is getting quite rough with me and I'm not sure how long he'll wait."
Sarah looked back at us, smiling. "Of course, have your fun. I will be accompanied by Furor, yes?"
Furor bowed to Sarah. "Of course. It is a pleasure to speak with you. Come on, let us talk of your journey and maybe not of Kale."
"What'd he say?" I asked, but no one seemed to care about the question.
And thus, Sarah and Furor walked off. Leaving me with Tera. Still at the entrance of the Classroom door.
"Well, it's just us now." Tera simply put it out. She moved away from me, now standing in front of me with her arms crossed. "We can do two things, Kale. We can go dance in the center room or 'relax' in the classroom."
"Just two options? Why would we want to…relax…" The sudden realization hit my head with what she meant by Relax. "Ah…How much trouble will we get into?"
"I'd lose my job." Tera casually said. "But…I think you should know that I'm quite a risky person."
"Is this some sort of fetish for you?"
"Same as you asking me to be your mom."
"Don't say it like that!"
"Well, what'll it be? Dance or Sex? If it makes it any better for you…" Tera licked her lips. "I'll make sure the doors closed and the blinds are down."
Alright, that was the crossing line for me. My indulgence in this woman has reached a boiling point that explodes. My eyes narrowed and I looked at her seriously.
"To the classroom." To which Tera whistled at.
"Hmph, thought so. Now let's hurry! I still want to dance!"
***
[Kota]
My hands Gripped Liliths as we pushed our way through the crowd of people. The area we wanted to get into was the center of the room, which was the dance floor. It was quite open, so there should be a lot of space for us even with all these people here.
"Lilith, remember! Follow my pace!" I looked back at her when I said that. "Otherwise, we'll just stumble on each other!"
Once we emerged out of the crowd that made a large circle, we found ourselves on the dance floor. The sound of music being played was heard loud and clear, from the other side of the room was a wooden stage floor made by the students here. On it, There was a band who were playing odd looking instruments. The only ones I recognized were the Drums and what I assumed was a guitar. They all looked vaguely familiar yet we're completely different from their counterparts in my world.
What music they made though was familiar, it was classical music. Or what I'd assume was classical music to them. The name Mozart comes to mind when hearing them. Now, I wasn't that fond of this sort of music, but it fit the tone of what was happening today.
"Kota, Hold on!" Lilith stopped us from moving forward. When I turned to her. She had a quivering smile that went along with her reddened face. "W-we don't need to go to the center to dance!" She squirmed as she said that.
"Yeah, but it's more open if we go closer to the center?" I didn't really see the problem here, why would she want to dance in a much more claustrophobic area?
"Look, I just don't want to be in the middle of it!" Lilith then tugged me closer to her, her hands grasping mine as we took on the Dandelion dance position. "I don't want to be in the center with everyone, that's like being in the center of attention!" Her lips quivered as she said that.
Aw, she doesn't want to be seen by everyone. Forgot that Lilith was shy when it came to people. Though that hasn't really shown much in recent months, I guess it was because she had people she was comfortable with. But today might be a completely different story with all these different people around her. Still, very cute.
"Ok, I guess we can just dance…" I looked around for a spot to dance. Even with the dance floor being open, there were some spots that people left open within the crowd. I mean, we could just dance here. Some people were just dancing in the crowd, people obviously avoiding them to not intrude.
Actually, with this line of sight where we were at, I could see the door and whoever came in. This spot was a perfect place for me to keep check if Lucian and Issac came in or out! This way, I'll be sure to keep tabs for Arael.
"…We can dance here!" Some people noticed what I said and moved to make a somewhat circle for me and Lilith.
"O-ok. Er…Who goes first?" Lilith asked confusingly. Her legs looked like they were going to give out. Her nervous look made me chuckle to myself. Wait, did she forget how to dance?
"Do you seriously not remember?"
"I-I do! It's just…I don't like it when people stare."
"Man, you were so confident when we took the lessons."
"That was because it was just us!" Lilith's eyes darted around us. It was pretty clear that her nervousness was getting to her.
Ok…How do I deal with nervousness? Uh…Shit, what did mom used to say to me? During Middle school I had to do a Band concert and perform it, I remember having stage fright about it. Wasn't it like…
"Ok…Here." I gripped the waist of Lilith tighter with my right hand, pushing her closer to me. "Keep your eyes on me. Make me your center of attention. Don't worry about everything else. Just focus on me." I stared into Liliths amber eyes, I held onto her right hand with my left as we stared at each other.
"E-eh?! A-alright!" Lilith frantically nodded and intensely looked back. Her breathing was quick at first before slowly slowing down to a much normal pace. "Just…focus on you…Center of my…Attention…"
The rest of the people in here didn't matter at the moment to me as I took my own mother's advice at the moment. Thanks synthi-Wait…Thanks Mom from my other life. And thus, we began our dandelion dance.
Each step in sync. Lilith's feet moved when mine did, it was like we were one. As Lilith focused on me, the nervousness on her face gradually changed to a happy face, a smile forming and growing as I then Spun her around. Grasping onto her again, she made a small giggle when we began to continue our dance.
"Hehe…It's nice looking at you."
"Same for me." I smiled back at her. I don't think we've ever had this sort of intimate situation before. Dancing isn't one of my strengths, but…I feel comfortable with dancing with Lilith.
"Hey, give me another twirl!" Lilith said, the mix of her blushing and small smile moved something in me as I spun her around again. Watching her silver hair move in the air as her dress moved in a fashionable way. The way her hair seemed slightly fluffed up from the twirl, the way she grabbed my right hand and placed it on her waist again after she finally finished her twirl. She pulled herself closer to me so that her head rested on my chest.
Holy shit, I'm in love with this girl. Even more so when I first met her.
The amber eyes seemed to glow profoundly as they looked into mine. All of my focus was on her now, nothing else.
…Nothing else…
Three figures appeared from the Central door. It was Griffin, Sura and Amelia. Sura in the lead, her hand gripping Griffins as they seemed to be looking for us.
"Seems like The other three are here…" I said to Lilith.
"Mhm." She only murmured out. She seemed to be lost in her own mind as she buried herself into my chest.
"Well…I guess they can wait." It seemed like we weren't really dancing anymore, rather just moving in place as we swayed left and right. "Are you enjoying yourself?"
"Yeah…I thought I'd be more into dancing…But this feels much better to me." Lilith said. "Actually…This feels much better than dancing. With my head against your chest. I can hear your heartbeat…It's fast."
"Ah ok…that's a little weird, maybe it's because I'm holding someone I hold dear to me."
"Mmm…" as she mumbled that, I looked back up to see that Griffin and Sura had moved off to the left, entering the crowd that way. I guess they decided to leave Amelia behind as She stood confused near the entrance. Man, it sucks to be a third wheel…
And that's when some more figures appeared behind them.
Two figures seemed to have entered the center room. A man with a beard and the other with purple hair. King Lucian and Sir Issac have arrived to the dance. They seemed to be alone together, just watching every dance and converse. There seemed to be no intention of them wanting to dance. Or at least I thought before Sir Isaac Spotted Amelia by herself. The purple haired man bent down to her and offered his hand. I wasn't sure what they were saying…But I think it was obvious he was inviting her to dance as she happily obliged by giving her hand to him.
King Lucian watched for a moment, saying something to Sir Isaac before walking back out of the Central door into the main hall of the university. Was it now that King Lucian would have a talk with Sir issac? Maybe after his dance with Amelia, he'll head out to see King Lucian…which means I have to stop him before he speaks to him…somehow.
It still baffles me that this was the actual task that Arael gave me. Does it really take someone to stall them enough to not have them kill someone over a request? Couldn't I just stop Sir Isaac from killing him before he strikes? Wait, I could just follow him when he has his conversation with King Lucian and make sure that he doesn't try to kill him. That sounds much better than talking the man out of it. Still…I need to get out of this room and make sure I keep my distance.
"Hey, Lilith…do you want to go outside?"
Lilith looked up at me, interested. "Outside? For what?"
"Er…It's just that it's getting a little crowded here and I just thought it'd be more intimate to dance outside? Like On the grass?" I'm pretty sure my excuse was pretty shit, But somehow…Lilith took it. She tried to speak for a moment, almost like the words were caught in her mouth.
"O-o-of course! Yeah, we can do that! I mean, it is crowded here!" Her frantic response was kinda cute.
Ok, now that I had some sort of plan. I guess I should execute it. Really, all I needed to do was wait outside and hope King Lucian is out there, hide myself as he and Issac talk it out and if Issac attacks, I'll just hit him with my Dry Ice spell! See, Easy and Simple!
Er…Wait, I forgot about Lilith in this situation. Since she will be out there as well, she'd probably see it go down. Hm, maybe she'd actually want to help? I don't recall Arael saying anything about not having anyone with me to help. Plus, I'd think Lilith would be fast enough to stop an attack. Hmm…
"Wanna head outside now?" I asked, gripping Her hand. I could just fill her in once I'm outside.
Not even a second passed after that when Lilith hastily moved her way out of the crowd, with me in tail. She seemed to be glad that we were getting out of this crowded area.
Pushing our way out, I kept watch as I saw Sir Issac try his best to dance with Amelia. The difference in size was pretty prominent with Amelia standing on her tippy toes just trying to keep pace with him. As much of it looked like a hassle, it seemed Sir Issac was quite enjoying it.
Finally, me and Lilith made our way out of the Central room and into the main hall, Where Gorwin sat at his reception desk. The elf man was reading a book, I don't think Gorwin was interested in dancing either, kinda reminded me of Sura in a way.
As me and Lilith walked past him, he took notice of us and gave us a rather suspicious look.
"Leaving already?" He asked.
"Er…just getting fresh a-."
"He wants us to dance in the grass!" Lilith answered quicker. Gorwin let out a chuckle at the response, closing his book as he leaned onto his desk.
"That is precious. Good for you to do that, Kota!" Gorwin smiled, the complement of his made me avert my eyes with him just out of embarrassment. Lilith wasn't supposed to just say that up front.
My own embarrassment must've caught Godwin's attentions as he seemed to back off on teasing me, rather focusing on Lilith to talk to.
"Do you read, Lilith?"
"Erm…Kota has been trying to teach me about it. I can somewhat read…" Lilith looked at the man, intrigued by his question.
"Hmm…once you learn to read, I have a recommendation for you. This book right here." Gorwin held up the book in his hand. I took a glance at it to see what it was as well as Lilith. The book had a brown leather cover, with there being words etched into it .
"Book of symphony and Poetry' By Derald Currey." Gorwin read aloud. "I've had a taste for music for some time, perhaps you'll have the same taste?"
Lilith looked at the book with intrigue. I think this is the first time I've seen Lilith interested in something other than me and training. She held her hands to it and touched the book cover. Drifting her hand along it before pulling back.
"I'll…can I borrow the book after our dance?"
"Sure. There is another copy of this in the library, though not up to date as this one. But it should suffice." Gorwin put the book down and glanced at me. "Any interest in music?"
How do I answer this question? Is there even any sort of category for music in this world? No hip hop music? I've only heard what I assume was classical music…why'd they even have a drum in the band? Hold on, I could just say what instrument I liked. The cool looking guitar thing looked like the safest thing to say.
"The…I don't have a particular taste in music…but I liked the wooden looking instrument that had…strings on…it." I slowly said. Gorwin looked at me with a face that looked like it was about to laugh.
"You mean…a violin? A Guitar?" He tried to say without snickering.
Look man, I don't know how much of this world is familiar to mine. Now I just look like a weirdo.
"…yes." I awkwardly spat out. I heard Lilith chuckled as well. Haha, laughing at the guy who was unsure of things…
"I suppose you like stringed instruments then? Very nice." Gorwin nodded to himself. "Well…I must be wasting your time. But maybe perhaps my chat with you was all to pump the two of you up for this dance of yours. Interpret it your way."
He waved a hand at us, telling us to go along and do what we intend to do.
That was a very weird conversation…but it looked like it actually did something. I heard the sound of shoes tapping along the floor behind us. Someone has left the center room.
However, it was just some nobles who walked out. I wouldn't expect Amelia to be letting Sir Issac off the hook with just a simple dance. Thanks hope for letting me think.
"Uh, excuse me Gorwin… I thought King Lucian and Sir Issac were together? I saw the two seperate when me and Lilith were dancing." I asked Gorwin.
"Hm? Oh yes, Lucian wanted to converse with Issac, but Issac wanted to dance. So Lucian is outside waiting for him." Gorwin studied me for a moment. "Why do you ask?"
"Just an observation I made when dancing." I shrugged.
"Ah I see. Well, do your best to keep your distance from the two. I shouldn't waste both of your time when you could be dancing." Gorwin opened up the book in his hand and used his free one to wave us away.
"Guess that's our chance to go." I looked at Lilith, who nodded in agreement.
***
Outside of the door to the main hall, I stood with Lilith. It was quite dark out here to be honest, not what I expected. There were no lanterns or such out here to begin with besides the front gate and its walls. But inside, there were only lanterns on the walk paths. The large statue of Lucian shimmered from the lights around it. Off to the right, there was a pathway that led somewhere. It was most likely for the bell tower. The left pathway actually led to the other side of this building, the back side. It had plenty of trees and such, maybe Lucian went that way?
"Where are we going?" Lilith asked, eyeing me. "Left or right?"
"Well the left goes to the back of the building. You wanna see the back of the building?" I asked her. The back side of the university was a pretty big open space for magic practice, though there was a wall since the university was just a district in this Kingdom. I feel like this place would have made some use if it was outside of the kingdom?
"Yeah! Let's see it!" Lilith grabbed my hand and hastily walked both of us onto the left walk path. Strangely…I kinda expected there to be more guards here. The only ones I saw were the ones at the front gate, but there were no signs of anyone on the university grounds.
Walking down this left pathway, the white stoned floor lit up as I casted a fire spell to illuminate the area. We really didn't need to as mana actually lit up the whole area here. The tree glowed a faint rainbow color as a whisk of lines swirled around. The last time I saw this sort of thing was when we were traveling here. It was quite beautiful to look at and witness.
I still found my mind pondering about why Lucian was out here alone. If I recall, Richard should've been with him…so where was he?
The further we went down the pathway, the more dense it became. Tree branches covered the sky above us and the bushes wrapped around the stone path. In daylight, this place would probably look magical.
"Wow, look at all the mana!" Lilith observed. She was ahead of me and looking around and jumping like a kid.
"Yeah, you enjoying our little adventure?" I asked. Lilith turned to me and nodded.
"Yep! Thanks for taking me out here for our dance! Now let's hurry and get to the back side of the building!" She said eagerly. Wasting no time, she almost ran off on the pathway on her own.
Do dragons have night vision? I mean it wasn't that dark, but enough for me to squint to figure out where we were. Hmph, anyways I should catch up to Lilith and make sure she doesn-
"Gaahugh…." A faint groan came from the right side of me. Almost instantly, I dissipated my Fire spell and ducked. Lilith quickly noticing as well and crouched, holding the shortsword she had by its handle. What the hell was that? Did someone just get killed or something?
"He's out cold now…lay him there." A voice spoke. A cold and hard male voice, one that gave me shivers. It was like someone had gone through some shit.
"Are you sure we are doing this the right way?" A familiar voice spoke. A female one.
"I've been through this multiple times. He won't be harmed. Every instance, Richard was found. And not that he'd remember who struck him." The male voice spoke. It was calm, calculated and unnerving.
"There was a fire out here…"
"Hm…A guard, perhaps. Not every instance is the same. Is it gone?"
There was a moment of silence, I could barely make out Lilith except her amber eye and left red eye. They looked at the direction of the voices intensely.
"Yep. Seems like someone got the hibbie-jeebies. Oh!" Just then, I saw a glimmer of red shine as well. "Seems like someone is going through something…"
Lilith began to breathe hard and heavy, I could even hear her grip on her sword tighten.
"It is fine. Just remember, why we are here." The male voice grew farther, it seemed like they were walking off. It puzzled me at first of what they were talking about.
Until I heard the last drifting lines before the voices faded.
"We must stop King Lucian death and Sir Issac's framing and execution."
I felt my own heart drop and I found myself staring at the ground. I…I was supposed to stall Sir isaac. Wasn't he supposed to kill Lucian? What the hell was that guy talking about?! No…Wait, what the hell was going on? Arael, what the fuck was going on?
"L-Lilith? Are you…ok?" As I turned to Lilith to see if she was still there, I tried my best to compose myself, but then I saw her face twisted with anger and fear. Her shortsword now out and in her right hand. She looked ready to fight.
"T-that was dad." She spoke. And then I began to panic. Oh shit…
This was not apart of my plan at all.
A/N: Next chapter will be Big. Action-oriented and bloody. Probably will be the most Shocking with how things play out. There's only a couple of chapters left. And I'm making my moves. Hope you enjoy this chapter!