"Who are those two?" A student asked.
"Rather than who they are, I think the more apt question is what are they?"
Several discussions started among the students when Arlo and Joe entered the hall.
While Joe became a bit flustered, Arlo remained calm before looking around the hall.
He saw five students standing alone with no other student daring to approach them.
Just from their auras, he could tell they were outstanding compared to others.
But he didn't care, his gaze merely lingering a while longer on them.
After finding an unoccupied area, he walked there calmly, with Joe tagging behind him.
Once he was there, he silently observed the students.
He noticed that there was a slight difference between the other student's uniforms and his and Joe's own.
The other students seem to have emblems attached to the chest area of their uniforms.
But he soon noticed the emblems were of different designs.
Thinking about it for a moment, he soon deduced it had something to do with factions or their family background.
Of course, the girl's uniforms were different from the boys.
It was a dark dress with several complex designs.
"Huh! Isn't he that human!"
A student suddenly exclaimed, drawing everyone's attention.
He grew scared for a moment before he seemed to gather enough courage:
"Isn't he the boy our liege warned us about a few weeks ago?"
"Huh!"
Sure enough, the students gasped upon recognizing Arlo.
He was indeed the boy they were warned about.
They didn't recognize him immediately, as Arlo seemed to have changed.
While there was no difference in his outside appearance, his entire bearing was unlike a few weeks ago.
He exuded confidence and added to his calm appearance, it didn't feel like they were looking at an eight-year-old.
"And who is the boy behind him?"
Joe shrunk his neck further, as he drew closer to Arlo.
The discussion continued.
While some conversed with their spiritual sense, some opted to converse verbally but Arlo didn't care about them.
Students were still walking into the hall so he studied them since he had nothing better to do.
Soon after, an imperceptible glint flashed past his eyes.
Entering the hall were five students among which were two he recognized.
They were Bon and Judi, Tibu's kids.
Arlo deduced from the atmosphere around the group and the lack of attention they drew, that they didn't seem to rank high among the students.
And to think he had been placed in such a dangerous position by them just some days ago?
How laughable.
The group blended normally into the students before they discussed among themselves.
A commotion suddenly rang out.
"What is Ric doing?"
One of the five students who had been standing arrogantly with an entire area to himself suddenly walked toward Arlo.
He had short dark hair with white streaks.
Standing at one and a half meters tall, he had the biggest build among all the students.
The uniform also did a splendid job of highlighting all of his muscles.
Arlo looked at him calmly. He had noticed the boy among the students standing alone in the hall.
"Who the hell are you?" Ric looked down at Arlo.
Looking up, Arlo locked eyes with him but remained quiet.
Upon receiving no reply, Ric's brows furrowed, "Are you deaf?"
He released his aura as he tried to intimidate Arlo but Arlo continued to look at him impassively.
Joe behind him was having a hard time.
His body trembled from the pressure released by Ric's aura but he gritted his teeth and stopped himself from stepping back.
'I can't fall behind him too much if not how can I remain as his friend?' he thought as he looked at Arlo's small yet firm back.
A calm voice suddenly drifted into everyone's ears.
"What do you think you are doing?"
Arianne questioned immediately when she entered the hall.
There were two other girls following behind her.
Nobody saw her enter as they had their entire attention on Arlo and Ric.
Ric turned around in anger as he was about to roar in annoyance at the person who dared to interfere in his matter, but upon seeing Arianne approach, his anger disappeared as if it had never existed.
"Your Highness!" he bowed his head.
"Your Highness!" Every other student followed.
Even the other four outstanding students who had remained quiet all this while were no exception.
Placing her hands on her waist, Arianne looked at the tall Ric and reprimanded:
"How dare you ask my friend who he is? And who the hell are you?"
Ric's face twitched but he didn't dare to flare up.
Arianne was about to continue when Arlo suddenly chuckled, "No need to bicker with kids."
Arianne turned and looked speechless at him, 'Aren't you a kid?'
Ric narrowed his eyes at Arlo, an angry light flashing within. But the latter ignored him.
He harrumphed before walking away.
All those on his path made way when they saw the displeased look on his face.
Arianne was about to continue talking when she saw Arlo look at the girls behind her, his intentions clear.
Turning around, Arianne shooed them away, "You can leave now!"
"But Your Highness, we..." One of them tried to voice out her dissent but upon seeing the annoyed look on Arianne's face, she swallowed the rest of her words.
"Let's go," she said to the other.
"Who does that boy think he is?" the other girl questioned in anger, not bothering to lower her voice as they walked away.
Arianne was about to flare up when Arlo patted her on the shoulder, "It is nothing." He smiled calmly
He didn't put the girl's words in his eyes.
It must remembered that Arlo grew up with no friends.
So just because he now had Arianne and Joe doesn't mean he has changed.
Joe finally relaxed when the others left.
"Princess!" he nodded at Arianne.
She rolled her eyes back at him when she saw his previous scared expression disappear, 'Scaredy cat!'
It must be made known that Bon and Judi have been stealing glances at Arlo and Joe since the previous commotion.
Five minutes later, no other student entered the hall.
The students numbered less than 200 making Arlo confused.
But before he could ask Arianne, some figures flashed into the hall.
Standing on the podium in the hall were five figures; three men and two women.
Standing at the forefront of the group was a middle-aged man.
Arlo's group recognized him as the principal.
The hall suddenly fell silent.
The principal looked around and nodded when he noticed he had the student's attention:
"We already had a gathering this morning but I decided to call another because of two reasons." he looked in Arlo's direction.
"Your Highness, can you please come forward?"
Arianne walked out indifferently upon being called.
Standing beside the principal, she looked at the other students.
There were various emotions on their faces.
Reverance
Respect.
Fear.
Admiration.
Disgruntlement.
Annoyance.
The last two emotions were shown by the two girls she had chased away and Ric respectively.
She ignored the two girls, one of them was the girl the principal arranged to guide her while the other was her friend.
So she didn't care about them.
As for Ric, she looked down on him. If he didn't know his place, she didn't mind teaching a lesson.
"This is Omars Arianne, the princess. She will be joining you guys. Be sure to treat her with care." the principal introduced briefly.
But the truth is there was no need to. Every noble vampire knew of her existence, only a few plebians had no idea who she was.
Now that they do, their gazes turned respectful.
"As for the other two..." the principal stopped for a moment as he looked at Arlo and Joe, "They are not important."
"What the hell are you doing?" Arianne suddenly shouted from the side.
She really felt the principal was hateful.
Even Joe gritted his teeth in anger upon being dismissed like nothing.
Only Arlo remained the same, unperturbed as he looked at the principal.
A smile of derision appeared on Ric's face as he looked at Arlo.
'Keep acting cool, idiot!'
"I think it is time I announced the other matter." The principal suddenly smiled at Arianne.
Arianne had a bad feeling but the principal continued without care:
"By order of our liege, progenitor Scarlett, Princess Arianne shall be stripped of her status as royalty until she graduates from the academy. From now henceforth she is only a student of the Drakblood academy and should be treated as one."
"Impossible!" Arianne roared.
Even all the students had looks of disbelief on their faces, including Ric.
"It is not impossible." the principal said calmly before taking out a blood-red seal.
Seeing the seal, Arianne's face paled.
This seal represented her grandmother and it could never be used lightly.
It is only used when Scarlett doesn't wish to pass out an order in person.
'Grandma, why?' Arianne's emotions were in turmoil.
A myriad of emotions flashed on the student's faces.
But there were a few who had gloating looks. Among them was the huge Ric.
'This is turning interesting.'
The principal ignored the stunned Arianne and addressed the students.
"I have already introduced your teachers to you this morning." he pointed at the five figures behind him.
"As for those who aren't familiar with them, they will introduce themselves again when lessons start tomorrow."
"Don't forget, every weekend, there will be a ranking war where the students are required to fight it out. The top ten will be given certain rewards and privileges, so try to do your best."
"The awakening ceremony will be held in a week's time, so get ready."
"That is all, you are dismissed."
Before the students could even react and leave as told, the principal and teachers disappeared, leaving the still-stunned Arianne alone on the podium.