The Imperial Academy was a prestigious school that was internationally famous for its educational system that nurtures future knights and mages. It had nurtured many historical figures. Even Promethius, the first hero graduated at this school.
There were other departments besides magic and knight classes like the institute of Economical And Business Studies. Anna had studied that course for her full seven years school career.
Arnold was enrolled in the knight division and was currently in his fourth year. Olivia was in the Military And Tactics department that raised future generals. As expected of such a course, there weren't many women in her class so she was always surrounded by men. She was always underestimated as well due to her gender.
The only time she was seen with women was when she had tea parties or study sessions. Celeste was usually always by her side. Said person was enrolled in the same department as Anna was before she graduated. Although she does a little politics to the side as well as an extra subject.
If Luke were to be enrolled then he would join Arnold in the Knight Division.
After graduating then he'd have to do active service for the Imperial Knight Order for one full year before he can officially get a knight rank. Other noble boys usually stay in the knight order and never leave. Others would join the army and become soldiers.
That is because they can get a knight peerage if they earn enough merit. A peerage would allow them to establish their own households, disassociated from their parents. That was how most of the great noble families of today came into existence.
The Berkley family also started from a single boy's dream who wished to become a great general and have a harem of women. He made his efforts and abilities known to the world of nobility and became part of the noble society as well.
If one were to pursue magic arts, you would be able to join the many Magic Towers across the continent. Working under the senior wizards of Magic Towers was a big achievement by imperial graduates since they would work under the elite of the empire.
'If Luke were to join then he'd be a laughingstock for the seniors.' That had never been a problem for Arnold himself since even the seniors respected(feared) him.
The privilege of having a trainer such as Sebastian and the future Sword Master was not something many could have. There were probably only a handful of people who could train under such amazing people.
"Aah…" When Arnold tried to grab the salt to season his meat, he felt his hand touch someone else's. He looked over.
"Ah, my apologies, young master." The one who pulled her hand back was Claudia. There was a small blush on her cheeks. She looked away immediately after apologizing.
Thankfully, no one saw that since everyone was busy having their own discussions. Adrianna was speaking to Luke about what he could expect in the coming weeks to prepare for his training. Olivia was asking Anna some tips on how to cut down on production and trading costs effectively. Claudia was helping Melina wipe her mouth since she was a messy eater. Even her dress was stained quite a bit.
Noticing that, Adrianna spoke:
"Jeez, Melina. Now I need to clean you. Aren't you big enough to use forks?" Adrianna had a troubled expression on her face when she saw the messy Melina who was grabbing spaghetti with her bare hands.
"Don't be so hard on her mother." Arnold spoke with a smile. "She is a little slow so forgive her."
Adrianna sighed helplessly. It was true that Melina wasn't the brightest of the bunch even though she had the genes of two powerful noble families inside of her.
She couldn't tie her own shoelaces, wipe herself or even write her own name. It was very similar behaviour to a toddler so that was why they called her slow; her mental development stalled somewhere. She was often bullied for it at school and would come cry to Arnold. Being the loving big brother that he was, Arnold would beat up the bullies even if they were kids. And if their parents came then he would beat up the parents too.
The two had grown inseparable as siblings which was why she was so emotional whenever he gets hurt.
"Would it be alright if I took her to clean herself, miss Adrianna?" Claudia offered.
"My, that is very generous of you. Ask one of the servants to guide you."
"Yes. I will be back in a bit. Please excuse me." Claudia stood up with Melina in tow.
The reason Adrianna or any family member had to go with Melina was because they couldn't leave her alone with the servants. There was no way of telling if one of the servants was a spy from another household so someone of the family had to accompany Melina.
Many households did this since it was unwise to leave a child in the presence of a servant. Well, unless the servant was trustworthy.
Everyone continued speaking after Claudia left.
"Luke." Arnold called out to the hero who was sitting two seats away.
"Yes, big brother?"
'Ugh. Please stop calling me that…'
"Has your training begun yet? You don't seem like someone who had been exercising," Arnold asked because he himself knew how brutal Sebas' training was. There were days when his arms would grow limp and never move until only a month later. He would vomit, excrete or pee blood. There were even times where the villain, Arnold was on the verge of losing his mind.
But he persevered. If Arnold could do it then Luke could as well. The two were equals when it came to martial talent and swordsmanship, after all.
"Actually…" Luke smiled wryly. "Miss Flora and mister Sebastian is still busy rearranging my regime due to some…errors…"
'What the fuck? Why can't that stubborn old man just accept that Flora is the sword instructor!?'
Arnold clicked his tongue. He had so graciously gone out of his way to bring Flora back so that she could teach Luke the way of the sword. Sebas' only job was to train Luke's physical body using a range of exercises.
Handling thousands upon thousands or blessings and the spirit of the [Holy Sword of Star] was going to take more than his limitless will and pure soul. His body must be able to handle all that power.
"Tell them to start immediately from tomorrow onwards." Arnold said sternly.
"B-But…"
"That is an order from me. You need to start training immediately."
'You need to grow stronger as soon as possible. This is the last thing I'll do to help you become the hero so that I can go live in peace somewhere. That bastard Sebas has too much pride as aa warrior.'
The hero had to get stronger before the academy reopened in two months. If he could only gain control of even a fraction of that golden aura then that would be enough for his first big fight.
"But why should I hurry up my training?" Luke tilted his head.
'Shit. What should I tell him? I can't just say that he needs to fight a monster to save the academy's students…'
If possible, Arnold didn't want to be present on that day. He would much rather be on a date with Victoria and have her feed him like she was doing now.
"That is because I want to have a rematch with you." Arnold finally spoke. "Yes, that's it. I want to fight you again since we didn't have a proper match. I can't accept my loss just like that."
Victoria rolled her eyes from the side and muttered: "Same old pettiness."
'S-Shut up.'
"R-Really…?" Luke's eyes widened. "B-But I could never become as strong and amazing as my big brother…"
"You want to impress that savage girl, don't you?"
"Savage girl…? Ah, you mean Norn?" Luke seemed to finally know who Arnold was talking about.
"I was only taunting you in our fight but you got so worked up over just a few words." Arnold harrumphed. Luke's face flushed red.
"W-Was that what it was…?"
"That's right. People do it to lower their opponent's guard. Although my words had the opposite effect. It seemed to only anger you instead."
Arnold grunted remembering that huge wall of golden aura that engulfed his body.
Since golden aura was part divinity, it was very effective against demonic bodies. Arnold could be classified as such a being since his infamy was so insanely high. That was why he was knocked out after being engulfed by the aura. It was a fact he only found out after his fight with Lancelot.
"I can tell that you love that girl by your anger alone."
"L-L-Love!?" Luke's loud shout made everyone at the table looked at him. The two of them were speaking softly up until now so as to not disturb anyone else.
"What's this I hear?" Olivia seemed interested in what they were talking about. "Who loves who exactly?"
'Why are you looking at me exactly? I'm not playing cupid.'
"Could it be that Luke loves that girl who kicked Al in the back? Her name was Norn, right?" Anna put her finger on her lip in wonder.
'You already knew that, didn't you!? You just want to feign ignorance!'
"Oh?" A smile emerged ln Olivia's face. Her eyes were narrowed in suspicion.
"That is very rude, young master. Speaking of a woman while your beautiful wife is sitting right here." Olivia said coldly.
'Who calls themselves beautiful?'
"N-No…Ah, that is…" Luke stuttered under Olivia's pressure.
He looked at Arnold for help.
"Are you seriously jealous?" Arnold asked.
"Pardon?" Olivia seemed surprised that Arnold would speak up without permission.
"I'm saying that who Luke loves has nothing to do with any of us so long as he fulfils his duty of marrying you and giving you a child. That is your role as a woman of royalty after all."
Olivia's face hardened menacingly. Arnold was composed on the outside but his heart was beating in fear on the inside. Just one word from her could make Neguard tear Arnold to shreds.
Murmurs of agreement came from all the servants when they heard his words.
"I'm saying this only once: don't think Luke is some kid you can control. Let him have his normal childhood even while being the heir of a noble family."
He was saying this specifically because there could come a time when Olivia orders Luke to kill Arnold for her. There were many instances in the game where that happened. It depended on which route you took.
As the game was largely centred around one's choices, what you choose to do has a large impact on the future.
If Arnold allowed Olivia to know that the current Luke was someone she could control then there was a chance that she could become an even more dangerous enemy.
Forget the Spirit Beasts that she could control, having the Hero as a lapdog was even more ridiculous. There were many ways how she could go about making Luke loyal to her: promising to make his wishes come true, manipulating him, blackmailing, etc…
The most important thing was keeping an eye on the two of them so that nothing goes awry.
Olivia seemed speechless at Arnold who opposed her.
"Al is right, Olivia. Luke should have a normal life outside of this marriage." Adrianna agreed when she heard Arnold's words. "Although he cannot have a second wife officially due to circumstances, he can at least have a child and a secret life with that Norn girl. As she is Claudia's daughter, I welcome her as a family member. If she has a child then we, as a family will do everything to protect the two."
"I-I see…I was only worried that some stray cat will use her claws to steer him wrong…" Olivia lowered her head.
"It is alright. Let us leave it at that for now." Adrianna said so that the dinner can continue. It was almost time for dessert.
Arnold didn't miss Olivia glaring at him out of the corner of his eye.
◇
Grace was confused.
Why was Arnold and Luke getting along so well? Shouldn't they be sworn enemies?
She looked at the two of them with narrowed eyes. They were speaking about Luke's training and stuff about his education. It was like looking at a pair of siblings. She found it so utterly ridiculous that the Arnold von Berkley could be that close to some country boy.
'Are they comrades in arms or reunited childhood friends? I'm confused. No, that doesn't make sense. I should know everything about him and have seen nothing that says that the two of them have met before.'
Arnold treated everyone besides his family and close friends like trash.
'Ever since this girl, Grace has known him, he's been a bastard and a womanizer.'
'What the heck? He's defending young master Luke from Olivia's scolding now?'
Grace found the situation get even more ridiculous when she heard Arnold opposing Olivia. Even his mother and elder sister were agreeing with him!
'Why aren't they finding this weird? Or is it just me?' Grace looked at Jurius and noticed him looking at Arnold with a scowl on his face.
'Oh dear lord…Please don't do anything drastic that will further damage my reputation as well.'
That was her thought when Jurius casually stood up with a glass in his hand. He reached over the table to grab a bottle of wine that was already open.
"Whoops~!" Then he fell forward, his hand hitting the bottle of wine. Coincidentally or not the bottle of wine was near Arnold.
The bun that Grace was about to take a bite of fell to the ground as she lost her grip seeing the situation before her.
The wine had stained Arnold's formal suit and was dripping onto his lap.
""""...""""
The air in the backyard froze. The family members gazed in shocked silence at what happened.
Arnold's vintage black pants and white shirt that was imported from a faraway nation was stained with the purple liquid of the wine that was bought from the winery downtown.
The servants and knights who had experienced Arnold's tantrums looked the most shocked. The girl who had spilled tea on Arnold before was shivering when she saw that scene of the prince falling and accidentally making the bottle of wine fall down.
Everyone gazed back at Arnold's face as he looked down with an expressionless face. His eyes didn't even blink.
'Shit. Shit.' Grace felt that she had to leave as soon as possible before she was also cut down by Arnold's Aura Sword.
"Ah, my bad. It seems the heel in my shoe needs some checking out. I'll need to drop by the shoemaker and put in a complaint. Jeez I paid so much money for these." Jurius casually sat back down and scratched his hair.
"…Bring a spare shirt from the young master Al's room." Victoria looked at one of the maids and ordered.
The maid hurriedly left as if she didn't want to stay there.
Victoria grabbed a bunch of wipes out of her pocket and began cleaning the table. She then tried to wipe Arnold's clothes dry. The damage wasn't how wet he was but how much the wine stained his clothes.
"Hey, hey. Why is everyone so tense? It was just an accident~. Nothing that us mortals could do to change fate that already happened." Jurius casually continued eating, ignoring everyone's shocked gazes.
As if she had been waiting for a moment to show up, Claudia returned with Melina. Melina was wearing a big cloth around her neck so that she doesn't stain her clothes again.
Claudia tilted her head upon noticing the silence in the garden.
"W-What happened?" She sensed the tense atmosphere and timidly asked.
Claudia looked at Arnold in bafflement. His suit was ruined and there was a bottle of wine that was lying flat on the table.
"Ah, nothing much. I fell and that caused the bottle of wine to fall too." Jurius nonchalantly said with a shrug.
"Is, is that so?" Claudia sat down on her previous seat. She glanced at Arnold and noticed a frozen smile on his face. His eyes were also silently looking at Jurius.
Grace, along with everyone else got a shiver up their spine. Olivia seemed to be trying her best not to look at the exchange of her brother and Arnold.
'This bitch. So she won't get involved even though she heard him say that he wants to kill Arnold!? Will she turn a blind eye to murder too!?' Grace couldn't believe how trashy of a personality Olivia had. No, she already knew what kind of person Olivia was but never expected this amount of ignorance. This man was her childhood friend for god's sake!
Grace looked at Arnold. She immediately saw a very familiar expression he always made when he targets someone he absolutely loathed.
He was smiling. It was a genuine smile that could charm a woman in a heartbeat.
"You okay, buddy?" Jurius seemed on the verge of laughing and looked at Arnold in amusement.
"Hahaha. Yes. It was indeed an accident, your highness." Arnold chuckled, although his laugh sounded cold and lifeless. "We cannot change what already happened, hm? Yes, that is exactly right. That is fate after all."
A disgustingly eerie grin emerged on Arnold's face for a second. Though only Grace could see it from where she sat.
"Please do excuse me. I'll need to go and change."
"Ah, I really do apologize for what happened. I re~ally am sorry." Jurius repeated his words with a brighter tone.
In response to Jurius' words, Arnold silently smiled and stood up.
Grace looked at Jurius with eyes that had lost all hope.
'….I will turn a blind eye to whatever your future holds in store for you.'