Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
"Mirel, wake up! Get ready, Master Tobias said we're going in an hour!"
Lucivar banged on Mirel's door, he was the earliest to wake up so Delilah asked him to wake up the others. It was time for them to leave the town for the House of Valerius' territory as it seemed Tobias' work in the town was done.
It has been more than a week since the incident regarding his first wing.
He had been accustoming himself to his newfound strength and was doing very well.
In addition to that, Bakar, Ravenna, and Mirel had been teaching him martial arts.
Since he was basically untrained for combat, throughout his life, he learned many things from them. Bakar taught him the fundamentals of striking and blocking, Mirel taught him numerous ways to close the distance and defense, while Ravenna taught him advanced footwork.
Overall, he was not the same anymore, he had grown considerably stronger.
Even though he still couldn't even defeat Bakar—the weakest out of the others, he could tell that he had gotten way stronger than before. It was only that the others were freaks as well, it would be hard for Lucivar to catch up to them.
As he knocked on the door some more, Mirel finally woke up and shouted, "Alright, alright!"
"Delilah said if you sleep again, you'll be left behind!" Lucivar replied and moved on.
He proceeded to wake up the others, who were all grumpy from being woken up so early.
Eventually, Lucivar reached a particular door and before he could even knock on the door, it suddenly swung open, revealing Leandra who had already woke up but was still in her black pajamas.
Both of their eyes met, and there was tension in the air.
Giving nothing but a glance, Lucivar didn't say anything and walked over to another door.
Leandra and Lucivar had this weird tension after the day of the yellow portal.
It was natural as Leandra tried to kill him, and they both also had an argument after that.
"Are you not going to say anything to me?" Leandra suddenly asked.
Upon hearing this, Lucivar pivoted his body to the side to look at her coldly, "No,"
Leandra clicked her tongue in displeasure—seeing that Lucivar was having an attitude and was even looking at her with such coldness in his eyes, as if she was not the senior, in this place, 'Isn't he the one who was supposed to apologize to me? I know I tried to kill him but that was because he attacked Master Tobias. We're going to be in the same academy, and he's treating me like this? I'll not help you even if you beg me later'
Gazing at Lucivar in silence, she squinted her eyes with curiosity filling her eyes.
She started to be interested in Lucivar ever since that night.
...
It was the moment right after Tobias distributed the resources from the yellow portal.
Leandra went out of her room in a bad mood, "I forgot to apologize to the others..."
She massaged her forehead as her mistake haunted her mind.
Remembering that it was her fault for not being able to properly barricade the western part of the forest inside the yellow portal, causing the dog creatures to slip past her—and break into the town, she intended to apologize to Darwin, Ravenna, and Bob.
After all, Lucivar won the contribution battle because of her mistake.
Had that not happened and they found the Teal Coin, Lucivar wouldn't have won.
"More importantly, Master Tobias must be disappointed in me..." She bit her lower lip lightly.
Leandra clicked her tongue as the thought of disappointing Master Tobias disturbed her.
But as soon as she stepped out of her room—however, her attention was pulled to the door across her room. It was Lucivar's room, and Delilah came out of there, with what seemed to be blood on her face.
Upon seeing this, Leandra reacts and instinctively hides behind a pillar, 'Why am I hiding?'
As she thought of that, she peeked at Delilah and found her panicking.
She wanted to ask what was wrong, but she could feel that it would be a bad choice.
Even though everybody practically knows that Delilah has been helping Lucivar—in dealing with his issues, this situation doesn't seem to be the case. She looked both concerned and also afraid.
"Just what is happening in Lucivar's room...?" Leandra uttered lightly.
...
Back to the present.
Leandra thought about that night, but she still couldn't find the answer to that.
Of course, there was no chance she would ask Lucivar directly.
'I'll ask Delilah later,' Sighing lightly, she was about to enter her room again but stopped.
She suddenly hears a commotion.
"R- Ravenna! Your... Your clothes, they're not there! You're not wearing any clothes!"
"Huh? I sleep naked, silly. Is that a problem?"
"It's not, but it became a problem when you open the door without wearing something first!"
"A problem? Oh, I see, did I wake up your junior? Good morning, mister junior"
Overhearing their conversation, starkly different in tone and atmosphere, Leandra was a little bit annoyed inside, 'Why am I being like this? I don't care about his relationships at all, there's no need for me to be like this... but why is he getting along with the others?'
Deciding to ignore them, she flicked her hair and took a step inside her room.
But once again, she stopped mid-track.
"Oh, you cutie pie... Am I the first naked woman you see? Come here you, don't be shy"
"Please don't do this, we're not even married!"
"Let's worry about marrying later, and focus on taking care of that hard thing in your pa-"
"Hey!" Having enough of the commotion, Leandra rushed towards the neighboring room with thumping steps, and slammed the door open. "This is a fucking respectful household so stop this indecent act at once!"
Moments later.
Several carriages complete with their drivers could be seen parked in the front yard.
Before getting on the carriage, however, Tobias called them to gather in the main room as he would be briefing them. Lucivar and the others were now sitting on the sofa or the ground as Tobias stood before them in his formal attire that of a noble.
Making a sweep with his eyes, Tobias looked at each one of them before clearing his throat.
"Today, we're going to make our way to Sunhold City, an independent city within the Valerius' territory," He announced with a firm tone. "As some of you might already know—all of you are going to be applying to an academy of my choosing"
Upon hearing this, the others nodded as all of them already knew about this.
Even Lucivar already knew, Mirel mentioned it to him.
'I'll see how the city looks and make my escape there,' He pondered, scheming for his escape already. No matter what—he would pave his own path, so that he could focus on himself. But as he thought of that, his eyes landed on Delilah on the side.
Realizing that Lucivar was looking in her direction, Delilah gave him a faint smile.
Seeing her made him waver, 'Let's just see how this goes...'
"But unlike what you might expect—you are not going to enroll in the academy, as students," Tobias continued, surprising the others who were expecting them to be normal students. "As opposed to being students, all of you would aim to become the academy's hunters instead"
Listening to this, Lucivar frowned and asked Mirel, "What are academy hunters?"
"Rejects, I think. If I'm not mistaken, the academy hunters are those who almost made it into the academy, and they could redeem themselves to be students of the academy by proving to the institute that they are worthy," Mirel replied, also frowning in confusion.
He didn't expect Tobias to ask them to be academy hunters.
Knowing that they all have questions—Tobias continued, "Of course, the academy is a place to learn—but all of you have learned from me the way of a Hybrid, the academy's curriculum would do you no good. Instead—your goal is to show practical skills in fighting the Crossers, and shutting down portals"
"For now, your goal is to get stronger than your current self," He added.
Shifting his gaze to Darwin, Ravenna, and Bob, Tobias said, "All three of you, would need to be strong enough to complete a B-rank mission—while the rest would be a C-rank mission. Only then would I give you your next objective. Remember, I'm doing this to help you all get stronger, your strength is the top priority"
Upon hearing this, the others nodded in understanding.
Even though none of them was aware of what a C or B-rank mission was or how hard those missions would be, they were all determined to achieve that. Lucivar scanned the room and found the others were extremely determined.
It was clear that they held Tobias in high regard, and would do anything he said.
Guess they are all the same as me, owing their lives to Tobias.
Despite already being here for a month, none of the others had told him about how they got to meet with Tobias. It seemed they were all keeping it a secret, and from that alone Lucivar could tell the others were the same, saved by Tobias.
Regardless of Tobias' agenda, he did save lives, and that's all that matters.
After the briefing, they depart for the Sunhold City.
Unlike Veegend City, Lucivar's home city, Sunhold City was not a slave city so it was entirely free from the monthly or yearly sacrifice, such as the Death Volunteers. It was a city reigned under Viscount Cassius, and located near the border between the Ashbournes' territory, and also the Valerius' territory.
In addition to that, the city was extremely developed.
'I heard the roads in free cities are not dark when it's night, I wonder how they do that...'
Looking out of the carriage, Lucviar began to daydream.
Of course, other than Hybrids being a hot topic everywhere in his home city—the developed lifestyle in free cities, was also a topic of discussion. He was curious about street lamps—he heard the roads in free cities used that to keep the road bright even if it was night.
Back in his home city, the road was extremely dark when it was night.
Since the torches couldn't reach far, it was hard to navigate if the sun was already down.
Due to that, activities began to dwindle the moment the sun was down.
Both excited, and curious about Sunhold City—Lucivar leaned his head back as he could not wait to reach the city. Delilah sat beside him, her familiar scent lulling him into a very drowsy state but his eyes jolted open at the sight of something.
Delilah was tidying the contents of her bag, and Lucivar caught a glimpse of her phone.
"Wait, you have a phone?" He asked curiously.
His eyes were fixed on Delilah's white flip phone with a rose sticker on the back.
Upon hearing this, Delilah stopped what she was doing and turned to him, "I have one, I am not from an independent city, but Tobias was—and he gave me this one. It has one contact number, Tobias' number"
"Cool, mine can only be used for announcements from the mayor," Lucivar commented.
Rubbing his head gently, Delilah smiled, "We'll get you one after we get there"
Lucivar was excited about this prospect, but he couldn't endure his sleepiness any longer.
Being near Delilah made him sleepy.
Tobias said that the journey would take weeks if not months depending on their luck.
Since they were going to cross bandits' territory, they might be intercepted.
But being Hybrids, they were not afraid of small groups of bandits.
As the carriage moved out of the town, rocking left and right due to the bad terrain covered in snow, Mirel took out a ukulele and began playing a song. He lilts notes of a cheerful song, lifting spirits and inviting smiles from the others.
Even Leandra slightly smiled when Bakar's voice broke when he joined in to sing the song.
Mirel's song lightens the atmosphere, he has a natural charm in this kind of thing.
On the other hand, Lucivar looked at them having fun before he leaned his head back tiredly.
With nothing to do, he decided to give in to the sleepiness.
...
An unknown amount of time passed, and when Lucivar woke, it was already night.
He had slept for hours, too comfortably nestled in the carriage.
Looking around, he saw Mirel, Leandra, and Bakar who were inside the same carriage asleep as well. Seems like all of the singing—and laughing earlier, made them tired. Groaning lightly, Lucivar stretched and took a deep breath of fresh night air.
"I guess I'll meditate, I still have a little bit of the blue power crystal to absorb," He mused.
Just as he thought of that, his breath was caught in his throat.
A frown crept to his face as he leaned forward upon hearing noises that sounded like people.
Checking the road behind the carriage, Lucivar saw a family of three coming out from a small cave and waved at them—seemingly stranded and needing a ride. He rubbed his eyes to see if he was still dreaming but he wasn't.
'Let's ignore them...' Lucivar pondered as he leaned back.
However, his expression clearly states that he was troubled by his decision to remain silent.
At that moment, a voice rang from the side, "Stop the carriage!"
Upon hearing this, Lucivar glanced to the side and realized that it was Delilah who said that.
Not even waiting for the carriage to stop, Delilah got down and headed to the family.