"Why are you already here?"
Neoma asked with a slight frown on his face. For some reason, seeing the dark haired elf was enough to annoy him.
"It's not even 9 in the morning yet. Did you miss me so much that you couldn't wait any longer?"
He used Juno's own weapon against him. Teasing.
Juno caught all of the knives, which he was spinning in the air, and glanced down at the white haired youth. He hopped off of the branch, landing gracefully on the ground. He didn't say anything as hid the throwing knives in his clothes, the bandages still covering half of his face.
"Since you're here early, let's just start. We don't want to be wasting any time. In a week, you're going to spar with someone. I need to prepare you until then."
As the elf spoke, he walked to the weapon's rack to grab two whips. There weren't any before, since they weren't considered as standard weapons, but after Neoma figured out his most compatible weapon, a few whips were added after Juno gave the order.
"Huh? Me? Sparring someone? Why? I don't even know how to properly use any weapon. Let alone that damn whip."
Neoma's eyes widened before he frowned again. He thought that this was a stupid idea. He assumed that Juno had set him up to spar with someone when he wasn't ready.
"This wasn't completely just my decision. Well… I did decide that you two will fight, but the circumstances were special."
...
9th of Junious, 1503
Current time: 07:54:22
"Did you hear? His Majesty decided to nurture that human and guess who volunteered to train him? The Killing Gale."
A brown haired elf whispered to his friend who was walking beside him. The two headed down the hallways and towards the training grounds. Both were wearing black uniforms with the edges of the clothes dyed white. Each held their training weapons in hand.
"The Killing Gale? The one who denied training anyone? Hmph. That human doesn't even deserve such an instructor. What is the king even thinking? Maybe he really should just leave everything to the administrators."
The other elf scoffed. He was tall even compared to other elves his age. He had short blood red hair and maroon coloured irises. His eyebrows and eyes were sharp, his skin tan from numerous hours spent training in the sun.
The eyes of the brown haired elf widened.
"You shouldn't say that! You can't just question His—"
Before he could finish his sentence, the young elf was cut off by someone else's deep voice.
"Repeat what you just said."
Juno stood behind the two elves, a visible frown present on his face. He glared at the red haired youth who questioned the king's decision.
The red haired elf turned around and his eyes widened. He immediately straightened his back and held the training spear closer to his body, the sharp tip pointing down at the ground.
"I apologise—"
"This has nothing to do with me. You just insulted His Majesty. If anyone else had heard you, you would've been heavily punished."
Juno cut him off, his eyebrows still furrowed. The young elf lowered his eyes, looking down at the ground beneath his feet. He bit his lower lip, realising that he definitely could've been punished heavily for this. He's lucky that Juno is letting him off so easily.
"Thank you, sir…"
He spoke, his head still lowered as he looked at the ground. He was too scared to lift his eyes up and glance at the assassin.
"Even if you realised that what you said is wrong, that won't change anything. I'll prove to you that His Majesty made the correct decision by nurturing that human. And his name is Neoma."
Juno told the other elf as his gaze slowly softened. He sighed softly as he decided on the date and time.
"16th of Junious, at 9 in the morning. You and Neoma will spar. We will come to your training grounds. Be ready by then."
The red haired elf slowly nodded. He didn't have a reason to object. It's more like he knew that this was in a way his punishment. However, he was quite delighted.
'I'll defeat that small bastard.'
He thought as he clenched his fists.
"Oh, right. What's your name?"
Juno frowned as he asked the younger elf.
'He doesn't even know my name.'
His pupils began to shake as he bit his lower lip again. He could feel his anger starting to boil over; however, he managed to still keep it under control. After all, Juno wasn't someone who should be messed with.
"It's Orion, sir."
The red haired elf answered, still looking down at the ground. Juno was just too intimidating for him to be able to make eye contact.
...
"WHAT?!"
Neoma couldn't help but shout out once Juno finished recalling the conversation he had with one of the trainee's of the palace.
"You… You! You were the one who set up the duel!!! And with one of the higher ranking cadets!"
Neoma was fuming as he glared at his instructor. Juno hummed softly as he placed his thumb and index finger on his chin as if he was trying hard to remember something.
"Hmm… I believe his name was something like Scion… Dion? No! Tryon! Wait… That doesn't sound right. Ah, right! I got it. His name was Orion."
The dark haired elf finally got it right. Neoma just stood there as he blankly stared at his mentor.
'You're kidding, right? Out of all the people possible… It just had to be him.'
The human coughed a few times and then slowly rubbed his temples.
"Okay… Do you think I can win the duel?"
He asked Juno as he looked back up at him.
"Of course. He's extremely weak. Even weaker than you."
The elf replied, 100% serious. He was sure that his student will be able to defeat that arrogant and rude brat.
'Weak? He's one of the strongest of the trainees! I'm so dead. No, since some of the instructors will be watching over this sparring, it'll be fine. I'll just get beat up one punch away from death.'
Neoma let out a small sigh. He couldn't call out Juno for lying, since it would be suspicious if he knew a student he never met, especially considering the fact that he only arrived at Aekodora a week ago.
However, Neoma knew Orion well from reading the entirety of "The Elven Hero".
Stupid and evil, arrogant and rude, and ridiculously strong for his age.
It didn't help that his father was one of the administrators of the kingdom of Aekodora. And that elf wasn't nice as well. He hated humans and other species besides the dragons and elves. Orion was his father's exact copy.
'Both he and his father will cause trouble later on in the story… But oh well, it's not my problem.'
Neoma decided to forget about it and glanced back up at his mentor once he heard him sighing.
"You know, I couldn't just do nothing about it. Plus, out of all people, you should be the most grateful for His Majesty. He gave you a place to stay, fed you, clothed you, and took care of you. So don't complain about his duel."
Juno told him as he frowned. He greatly respected the king of Aekodora.
"I understand that. That's why we should begin with the training already… So Orion would really seem weak to me in a week."
...
16th of Junious, 1503
Current time: 08:57:55
On the shared training grounds, many cadets were sparring using various kinds of weapons and types of magic – from wind to water and earth.
However, the sounds of the weapons clashing against one another and the sounds of explosions quickly died down. All of the trainees glanced in the same direction.
A dark haired slender elf with a white haired human stepped onto the training grounds. Neoma stood behind Juno to the side. He was looking around the place, trying to find the tan elf with blood red hair and maroon eyes.
"Juno."
A woman called out the assassin's name as she walked over to the duo. She had dark forest green hair cut in a bob and dull grey eyes. A sword was hanging from her right rip. Her expression was emotionless.
Neoma was able to immediately recognise her.
'Enyo.'
"Good morning, ma'am."
Juno spoke as he looked over at one of the strongest mentors training the cadets.
The woman just slowly nodded as her gaze slowly shifted from Juno to Neoma. Just as their eyes met, the human quickly bowed to her.
'So this is the anti-magic boy, huh…'
She thought and then glanced over at the crowd of students which were watching them with eyes full of curiosity.
"Orion! Prepare for the match. Kids, free the first training field."
Enyo ordered and the cadets immediately began moving. Orion walked out of the crowd of elves as he approached the trio.
Juno placed his hand on Neoma's shoulder as he looked down at the red haired elf.
"You're fighting him today."